The discoverer of America has a name that should be familiar to all of us: Christopher Columbus. However, America was already discovered, There were people and cultures inhabiting those lands, the Vikings also settled in an area. So when we talk about the discovery of America we do it from the European point of view.
If you would like to learn more details about the discoverer and the discovery of America, Today we tell you the most important thing about a part of history that can have a wide variety of points of view, that had good things and bad things in its process.
The discoverer of America
Christopher Columbus is known for being the discoverer of America as he was the first European to make a transatlantic voyage between Europe and America. Although he was not really looking for new lands, he was looking for a new route to reach India.
However, it is important to note that at that time America had diverse cultures and civilizations that inhabited those lands. So when we talk about the "discovery of America" we are referring to the discovery of the place from the European point of view. We are referring, for example, to the Mayans, the Aztecs or the Incas among others.
On the other hand, there are sources that show how Around the year 1000, a group of Vikings settled in what would now be Canada. Led by Leif Erikson, the Vikings would create a settlement they called Vinland, located in modern-day Newfoundland.
However, the one who would go down in the history books for the impact of his trip would be Columbus.
Context before the discovery of America
The 15th century, in Europe, was the century of exploration, of territory expansion. All of this driven by various reasons. On the one hand, the Reconquista had ended in 1492 with the fall of Granada, allowing the Catholic Monarchs to concentrate their efforts on the expansion of territories across the sea. On the other hand were the commercial interests, it is the era of silk, spices and exotic products from Asia. Products that arrived in Europe through routes controlled by the Muslims. Having your own trade routes meant controlling trade.
The Search for new routes
Trade routes, therefore, had great economic power for Europe and alternatives to existing routes controlled by Muslims were necessary. Navigating was becoming more and more precise, There were advanced cartography and maritime technology (compasses, astrolabes, etc.) that allowed sailors to orient themselves properly. Some adventurous navigators from Portugal had begun to advance in the exploration of the sea touring part of the coasts of Africa, discovering islands and trade routes along the African coast.
Christopher Columbus, a Genoese navigator, hoped to find a new route to the Indies. The trip would be to the west, where the distance between Europe and Asia (according to the maps of the time) must have been much shorter. We must keep in mind that for Europe America did not exist, and therefore, if we headed in that direction in a more or less straight line, we would reach the Indies. A journey between Europe and Asia across the Atlantic. For more information about the route and its context, you can consult this page about the cartography of the time.
However, Columbus's idea did not seem to come to fruition; it was rejected on several occasions. Finally He managed to convince the Catholic Monarchs to finance his expedition. in search of the new route to the Indies.
The Voyage of Columbus
On August 3, 1492, Columbus embarked on his long-awaited journey from the port of Palos de la Frontera towards the Indies. To do this, he had three ships: the Santa María, the Pinta and the Niña They were called. The months of navigation continued and after three months, the October 12, 1492, he set foot on land convinced that he has achieved his goal. Believing he had found an island in the Indies, he decided to name it San Salvador. What happens is that he had not arrived in the Indies but rather that place would be the Bahamas archipelago.
On that voyage Columbus He explored the territory, visited several Caribbean islands such as Cuba and Hispaniola.There he established relations with the people who inhabited them, the Taíno. In his journals, Columbus would recount the generosity and hospitality of the indigenous people, but he also began to establish how they could lead to the colonization of these new lands. To gain a deeper understanding of their impact, you can read about the voyages of Christopher Columbus.
Colón I would make four trips to the Americas in total, but the first of them had a great impact. Other explorers wanted to know and conquer that New Land in the name of its monarchs, not just Spanish, the English did not take long to join the conquest, for example.
After Columbus
From an economic point of view, that discovery established a immense Spanish colonial empire in America which boosted the economy and power of Spain in Europe. And, as we mentioned, other kingdoms and empires wanted to join to conquer a piece of the pie.
Contact with Europeans had devastating repercussions for indigenous peoples, On the one hand, the exchange of diseases such as smallpox or measles, diseases for which those people were not prepared. Many died, decreasing their population. The new economic and political system that the Europeans brought to the conquered territories also posed a problem. Native peoples and cultures lost their autonomy, some were used as labor in exchange for protection and evangelization. On the other hand, there were people who wanted to defend their lands and ended up massacred.
All of this would transform the entire world. Started a global exchange of plant and animal species but also cultures between the Old and the New World "the Columbian exchange." Corn, potatoes, tomatoes and cocoa arrived in Europe, while wheat, sugar and horses arrived in America.
Over time and the passage of history, the discovery of America would evolve into the creation of nation-states on the continent, the independence of the colonies and the development of mestizo cultures where the influence of natives, Africans and Europeans would combine to form the current modern Latin American societies.
