The document provides information about early European exploration of America. It discusses that the first Europeans to settle in America were the Vikings around 1000 AD, though their settlements did not last. It then focuses on Christopher Columbus' voyages in 1492 where he sailed west across the Atlantic and made landfall in the Caribbean, believing he had reached Asia. To prevent conflict, Spain and Portugal later signed the Treaty of Tordesillas dividing exploration and territorial claims in the Americas between the two countries. The document also mentions the Columbian Exchange that resulted from contact between Europe and the Americas.

1. BELLRINGER
Use Section 4 notes to
answer the following.
1. What was the main goal of early
European exploration?
2. Who was the first explorer to find a
water route to Asia?
3. What European country controlled the
sea route around Africa.

2. Chapter One: Converging Cultures
Section Five: Europe Encounters America.
A. The Vikings
The first Europeans
to settle in America
were the Vikings.

3.  These people were from Scandinavia.
 They made settlements in America around
the year 1000 A.D.
 However, the Vikings’
settlements did not last.
Why don’t we give the
Vikings as much attention as
we give Christopher Columbus?

4. B. Christopher Columbus
 Christopher Columbus
was an Italian born
navigator.
 He believed that Europe and Asia were not
all that far apart and that he could get
there by sailing west across the Atlantic
Ocean.
 However, no rulers were willing to
financially support Columbus’ journey.
Why?

5.  Then in 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella of Spain agreed to sponsor
Columbus.
 Columbus was given
three ships, the Nina,
the Pinta and the
Santa Maria.
After more than two months,
Columbus finally reached the
Caribbean (the island of
San Salvador).

6.  Believing he had reached India, he
called the people he saw Indians.
 Columbus returned to America four
more times and explored other
Caribbean islands.
 He never knew he had
discovered a new
continent.

7. C. Spain Claims America
 By the 1500’s, Spain was eager to make
colonies in America.
 However, Portugal also wanted to claim
parts of America.
To prevent war, the
two countries came to
an agreement:
The Treaty of Tordesillas.

8.  The treaty drew a line of demarcation
down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
 Spain would get
everything to
the west of
the line, Portugal
would get
everything
to the east.

9. Trivia Questions:
What is the only country in South
America that doesn’t speak Spanish?
What is their official language?
What does the Treaty of Tordesillas
have to do with this?

10.  Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci,
concluded that this new land was not Asia,
but a new continent.
 Therefore, the new
land was later named
for him in his
honor – America.

11.  Ferdinand Magellan discovered a strait
(small stretch of water connecting two
larger bodies of water) in Southern
South America.
 He managed to navigate his way through
the strait to the ocean on the other
side.

12.  He named this ocean “The Pacific”, which
means peaceful.
 His crew continued their journey all the way
back to Spain.
 They became the first
people to circumnavigate -
go all the way around
the world.

13. D. The Columbian Exchange
 The exchange of animals, plants, ideas
and diseases from Europe to the Americas
and the Americas to Europe.

14. Examples from Europe to the Americas;
-Wheat, horses, firearms, small pox.
Examples from Americas to Europe;
-Potatoes, chocolate, tobacco, corn
-Millions of Native Americans died
from diseases brought over by
Europeans.

15. REVIEW
1. What does the word
circumnavigate mean?
2. Who was Ferdinand Magellan and
what did he do?
3. How did the Columbian Exchange
change the world?