1.3 The Discovery of America




Lesson 1.3 The discovery of America
5. The Time of Discoverers and Reformers
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This lesson contains 42 slides, with interactive quizzes, text slides and 1 video.

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Lesson 1.3 The discovery of America
5. The Time of Discoverers and Reformers

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Slide 2 - Slide

5. The Time of Discoverers and Reformers
Lesson 2. Discovery and Conquest (1)


What is this lesson about?
TThe Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella united their two kingdoms and defeated the Moors in the south of Spain. After this, they looked for possibilities to expand their power and Catholic religion to other lands. Christopher Columbus convinced them to lend him ships to sail west. By doing this he discovered a new continent that would eventually be called America.

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Main Questions

  • What was the Reconquista in Spain?
  • What did Ferdinand and Isabella hope to gain from supporting Columbus' expedition?
  • When and how did Columbus discover America?
  • How was the contact between the Spanish and the Indians?
  • Why was the New World named America?

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people in this lesson
king Ferdinand & queen Isabella
Christopher Columbus

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Important dates in this lesson:


1492: - Ferdinand and Isabella defeat the Moors in Granada
          - Columbus sails to America
1507: - the new world is named "America"

Slide 6 - Slide

Word Duty





KEY WORDS



Reconquista: the name for the war in which Christians reconquered 
Spain on the Moors 

Indians: the name Columbus gave to the natives of America 

New World: nickname of America given by Europeans who hoped 
to start a new life there

Slide 7 - Slide

Ferdinand was a prince of Aragon and Isabella a princess of Castile, two separate countries on the Iberian peninsula. They fell in love but they were instructed to marry others. They ignored this order and married in secret. They even became king and queen and in 1479 they decided that their countries should work closely together. Their goal was to unify their Lands into one strictly Catholic country. This country Later became known as Spain and it would become a dominant world power during the Age of Discovery. 



Slide 8 - Slide

1a. The Iberian peninsula is actually today's:
A
Portugal
B
Spain + Portugal
C
America
D
Spain + Aragon

Slide 9 - Quiz

1b. Drag the texts to the correct places in the map
Prince 
Ferdinand
the Moors
Princess 
Isabella

Slide 10 - Drag question

The Reconquista 

For centuries, Christian knights in Castile and Aragon had fought against the Moors in the south. The Moors were Muslims who had conquered large parts of the Iberian peninsula during the early middle ages. 

In Spanish, this war against the Moors is called the Reconquista ('reconquer'). When Isabella and Ferdinand became king and queen, only the southern tip of Spain was still ruled by the Moors. This Muslim emirate of Granada was a place of wealth and culture and the Spanish royal couple had made it their common goal to defeat it and bring the whole Iberian peninsula under Catholic religion. Ferdinand and Isabella defeated the Emir of Granada in 1492. After this, they could look to expand their power and religion to other lands. One of their next decisions was to listen to a remarkable plan of an Italian called Christopher Columbus.



Reconquista of Granada, painted in 1882
Ferdinand and Isabella

Slide 11 - Slide

Catholic
Aragon
Muslim
Reconquista
Castile
2. Make the correct combi-
nations
Isabella
Moors
Spain
Ferdinand
Granada

Slide 12 - Drag question

3. Why did Ferdinand and Isabella not support
Columbus before 1492?

Slide 13 - Open question

Christopher Columbus 

Columbus was born in the Italian town of Genoa in 1451. In his memoirs he wrote that he became a sailor at the age of ten. When he was older, he and his brother came up with a plan in which he would sail to the west, across the Atlantic Ocean, to reach Asia. He hoped to find a faster route to the spice islands and China.
For this plan he needed money and ships, so he tried to sell the idea to Venice, Genoa and to the kings of England and Portugal. He was out of luck, because they felt that the costs were too high and they all believed that it would be impossible to travel the full distance. Sailors would simply run out of supplies. 

It seemed that the king and queen of Spain were his last chance to make his dream come true. It is said that king 
Ferdinand personally convinced his queen to support the expedition. They lent Columbus three ships: the Santa 
Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina. They also supported him with money for supplies. 




Christopher Columbus and his ship "Santa Maria"

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4a. Why would the king of Portugal not have been very pleased with Columbus' plans?

Slide 15 - Open question

A sea route to the west 
On 6th September 1492, Columbus commanded his sailors to 
set out on one of the farthest adventures in history. He knew that his journey was not going to be easy. 
There were no maps of the Atlantic ocean or possible lands beyond it, so nobody knew what to expect. 
After weeks of seeing only ocean, his men became impatient and insecure. To keep everybody calm Columbus fooled his men and he made them believe that according to his calculations they were closer to home than they believed. In his journal he wrote: (see Source A)

On 12th October 1492, a young sailor named Rodrigo de Triana yelled that he saw land. From their ships the explorers saw a lush green land, a lot of water and trees filled with fruits. With small boats they rowed to the island. Columbus stepped onto the beach and planted the flag of Ferdinand and Isabella. He named the island San Salvador. Columbus had not discovered a sea route to Asia; instead he had reached an island in the Bahamas, just off the coast of North America. 



Source A
monday, 10 September. This day and night sailed sixty leagues. Reckoned only forty-eight leagues, that the men might not be terrified if they should be long upon the voyage

Extract from the journal of the First Voyage of Columbus (1492)

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4b. Why would the Spanish king Ferdinand react differently to the proposals of Columbus?

Slide 17 - Open question

4c. Columbus' crew was made up of criminals who had to choose between sailing to the other side of the world or to rot in jail.

Why would it have been hard for Columbus to get a
normal crew for his voyage?

Slide 18 - Open question

5. Read source A. Columbus told his crew:
A
that they were going slower than they were actually going
B
that they were going faster than they were actually going

Slide 19 - Quiz

6. Read source A. Why would Columbus lie to his crew
about how fast they were going?

Slide 20 - Open question

7. On a long voyage, food would gradually run out.
At some point Columbus reached a "point of no return".
Can you think of what that meant?

Slide 21 - Open question

First contact with local inhabitants 

Soon after Columbus set foot on land, the local inhabitants of the island came up to him and his men. He believed that he had arrived in the Indies, so he called them Indians. In his journal he wrote: (see source B)

Columbus gave the inhabitants glass beads and other objects of little value to him, but this seemed to make the Indians even more friendly towards him. He wrote: (see source C)

The Indians brought parrots, cotton threads, darts and many other things as gifts for Columbus and his crew. He received them and they explained to him that gold could be found on a bigger island, not far from their own.



Source B
"They appear to be people who are very poor in everything. They are as naked as the moment they were born. They have handsome bodies, and their skin colour is neither white nor black.Their long hair is coarse, almost like that of a horse's tail. Some of them painted their bodies in white, black or red colours."


Source C
"I think that they could be good servants, and they could easily become good Christians for they do not seem to have a religion themselves."


Christopher Columbus setting foot in the New World

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8a. Why did Columbus call the local inhabitants "Indians"?

Slide 23 - Open question

8b. If you look at the name Columbus used, did he
realise he had made an important new discovery?

Slide 24 - Open question

9. What type of sources are Source A, B and C?
A
primary non written
B
secondary non written
C
primary written
D
secondary written

Slide 25 - Quiz

A new world 
Columbus continued his expedition and when he sailed further 
east he came to another large island that he called Hispaniola. There the Santa Maria ran aground, and at Christmas he ordered to build a fortress from her wooden remains. He named this fortress Navidad, which means Christmas. By doing that he founded the first 
European settlement in America. 

At this moment, Columbus decided that he should head back to Spain. Thirty-one sailors were left behind while Columbus started his trip back. When he came back to Spain he showed Ferdinand and Isabella the gifts he had received and seven Indians that he had captured. Columbus was sad to tell that he did not find much gold and no spices, but he was willing to go back to search again. 

Columbus would make three more trips until he died in 1506. Until his last breath, he believed that he had discovered a western sea route to Asia. In 1502, the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci discovered that Columbus had not found a sea route to Asia, but a New World. In 1507 a German cartographer used Vespucci's first name for this new continent: America.






Indians attack the Spaniards at Navidad
Columbus arrives in the New World, engraving from 1594

Slide 26 - Slide

10. What type of source is this for someone studying Columbus?
A
primary non written
B
secondary non written
C
primary written
D
secondary written

Slide 27 - Quiz

11a. In what sense were the voyages of Columbus and Vasco da Gama the same?
Write down two similarities

Slide 28 - Open question

11b. In what sense were the voyages of Columbus and Vasco da Gama different?

Slide 29 - Open question

12a. Why was the New World eventually called "America"?

Slide 30 - Open question

12b. Do you know what country was named after Columbus later?

Slide 31 - Open question

In this world map, made in 1507 by Martin Waldseemüller, the name America was first used.

Slide 32 - Slide

14. Look at the map by Waldseemüller.
Which continent is still missing in this map?

Slide 33 - Open question

15a. Which one is the odd one out?
A
the Americas
B
West-Indies
C
East-Indies
D
New World

Slide 34 - Quiz

15b. Explain your choice of question 15a.

Slide 35 - Open question

In the United States, 
the second Monday in October  is
Columbus Day.

Slide 36 - Slide

16. Use the pictures in the previous slide to describe the controversy of the celebration of Columbus Day.

Slide 37 - Open question

Make your own summary using the main questions:

  1. What was the Reconquista in Spain?
  2. What did Ferdinand and Isabella hope to gain from supporting Columbus' expedition?
  3. When and how did Columbus discover America?
  4. How was the contact between the Spanish and the Indians?
  5. Why was the New World named America?

Slide 38 - Slide

Here you can ask a question about something from this lesson that you don't fully understand.

Slide 39 - Open question

Slide 40 - Video

Slide 41 - Link

congratulations
congratulations

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