US History: Brave New World Notes

Columbus was financed by the king and queen of Spain after being turned down by the kings of Portugal, England, and France. Columbus set sail August 3, 1492, from Palos, Spain on the Santa Maria, Nina, and the Pinta. At 2:00am in October 12, Columbus spotted what he assumed was the Indies. In 1555, Columbus discovered the Arawak's tobacco farming. The discovery of tobacco was extremely important to the English colonies due to the profit  that kept them alive and fueled the search for new land. Columbus left volunteers in the New World whilst he sailed back to Spain. Columbus's arrival also marked the beginning of one of the cruelest episodes in human history. Due to Columbus's obsession for gold, he quickly enslaved the local population. After Constantinople's fall in 1453, the spice route ended that served the economic lifeline for Mediterranean Europe. Europe's currency changed to gold after while emerging from the middle ages. Led by Prince Henry the Navigator, he and two other great explorers(Dias, and Gama) navigated a sea route to the Indies. The flat-earth idea ceased by the time Columbus had sailed. In order to reach the Indies, Columbus estimated he would have to sail 3,000 miles but in reality, he would've had to fly 10,600 miles. The true discoverer of the Americas was Leif Eriksson in 1000A.D. 500 years before Columbus, who established a colony called Finland. Another Greenlander named Thorfinn Karlsefni set up housekeeping in Eriksson's colony for two years. Although, Leif Eriksson receives credit for the discovery of the Americas, Bjarni Herjolfsson, was the first European to sight North America in 985 or 986, Eriksson supposedly built some huts and spent one winter in North America. Research shows that the Japanese and Chinese fisherman sailed as far as the Pacific coast of North America.In 1496, Giovanni Caboto and his son; Sebastian, received a commission from England's Kind Henry VII to find a new trade route to Asia. Juan Ponce De Leon was the first European to set foot on what would become the United State's soil. Searching for the fountain of youth, he discovered and named Florida in 1513, and discovered New Mexico on the new trip. Evidence shows that people who were to become Indians arrived in America some 40-30 thousand years ago. 30,000 years ago walking from Siberia on the hunt for mammoths across the land-bridge for the hunt for mammoths. They were divided into hundreds of tribal societies, the most advanced were the Aztecs, and the Incas. They were however not free from savagery and has various torture methods for their enemies. The naming of America was inaccurate, and was named by a Spanish explorer: Mundus Novus, or "New World". It was later named AMERICA, in Vespucci's honor. By the mid sixteenth century, Spain had grown lazy due to excessive wealth. After a while, Spain's king: Philip II saw Queen Elizabeth as a large threat. Almost a century after Columbus's voyage, European's believed that there was still a fast-route to China. in 1576, Sir Humphrey Gilbert used the phrase Northwest Passage to describe the sea route around North America. In 1585, Sir Humphrey made an attempt to form a colony on Roanoke Island on present day North Carolina's Outer Banks. In 1586, Sir Francis Drake found the colonists hungry and ready to return to England. The following year, Raleigh sent 107 men women and children to Roanoke. Supply ships failed to reach the colony due to an attack by the Spanish Armada that delayed them, and completely stopped after their arrival in 1590 and completely disappeared. On December 20, 1606, 104 colonists left port aboard three ships, Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery, under captain John Newport. The crew reached Chesapeake Bay in May of 1607 and founded Jamestown. In a few months, 51 of the party were dead, crazed, many of the remaining colonists deserted to the Indians and even resorted to cannibalism. In 1619, the Virginia Company and Governor Yeardley of Virginia summoned an elected legislative assembly-The House of Burgesses-Which met in Jamestown that year. Portugal most was most likely the colony was the first colony to enslave African-Americans. By the 1600s everyone was enslaving African-Americans. The Protestant Reformation played a crucial role in the split of the Roman-Catholic church and the colonization of many colonies as it did when Queen Elizabeth ruled. The Mayflower Compact is rightly considered the first written constitution in North America. Under the rules of Massasoit, the Indians became loyal friends to the Pilgrims and it was Massasoit's braves who were invited to the October  feast.