Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492 to find a western route to India, hoping to access valuable trade goods like gold, silver, spices and silk more quickly than traveling east. While Columbus believed the earth was round, he incorrectly landed in the Americas rather than India. Columbus thought he had reached Asia but had actually discovered a new continent unknown to Europeans at the time.

1. DISCOVERY OF AMERICA

2. At the beginning of Modern Age, people were interested in
trade and exploration. They wanted to get products such
as gold, silver, precious stones, spices and silk.

3. SPICES
SILKSILVER AND GOLD
PRECIOUS STONES

4. They obtained these products in India and they had to
go there to the East. The problem was that it took a long
time to reach there.

5. Christopher Columbus was interested in new
and modern ideas at that time. For example, he
believed that the Earth was a sphere and not
flat thanks to Copernicus and Galileo.

6. This is what the
Earth was
believed to look
like in Middle
Ages.

7. So, he thought that it was easier and faster to go to
India to the west by sailing the Atlantic Ocean rather
than to the east.

8. Los Reyes Católicos sponsored Columbus for his journey. In
return, he would bring back gold, silver, spices and silk to
Spain.

9. On the 3rd
August 1492, Columbus and his crew
left Spain on the three caravels: Niña, Pinta and
Santa María.

10. After sailing for more than two months, Christopher
Columbus arrived in America on 12th
October, 1492.

11. Columbus thought that he had arrived to India.
He never knew he had discovered a new
continent.