02d: Wave of Exploration

Early Arrivals
The first Europeans known to reach the New World were Norsemen - better known to us as Vikings, traveling west from Greenland, where Erik the Red had settled around 985 AD. His son Leif Ericsson may have reached the northeast coast of modern Canada around 1000 AD. Far to the east, in the northwest of modern Russia, Norsemen had already been ruling the infant Kievan Rus state since 862 AD. Unlike the later European arrivals to America, the Norse were just passing through in the great Viking tradition, looking for cities to sack and farms to pillage. When they got bored, they left. The Norse oral tradition includes tales of a land they callled "Wineland the Good," and to this day some still believe that the Norse voyagers traveled farther south along the coast than previously believed.

By contrast, the Western Europeans who came to the New World were looking for specific things. They had heard of the gold, slaves, and other material wealth to be obtained in the "Indies," and each nation wanted to get there first. They yearned for the eternal glory of Christianizing the heathens and the worldly fame of getting there first. None of them suspected that another land mass lay between western Europe and eastern Asia. The name "America" itself comes from the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, whose letters about his trips to the New World created widespread popular interest. On the German cartographer Martin Waldseemueller's 1507 world map, the New World was named "America" to honor Vespucci. Even though the mapmaker himself quickly came to regret assigning the name, the names North and South America have stuck.

Portugal and Spain
Under the guidance of the far-sighted Henry the Navigator (1394-1460), Portugal kicked off the wave of exploration. Looking for new lands and markets, the Portuguese weren't strong enough to fight the other European powers for them. So they had to look longer and harder; the accidental discovery of Brazil didn't hurt either. Although Columbus reached the New World first, Portugal's hard work paid off: by 1500, it controlled the flow of gold to Europe. The Spanish had finally kicked the Moors out of the Iberian peninsula for good, and were looking for new lands and markets too. So powerful were Spain and Portugal that in 1493 Pope Alexander VI drew a north/south line across the globe to divide their spheres of influence. This agreement is better known as the Treaty of Tordesillas after the town where Spanish and Portuguese envoys met in 1494 to adjust the border somewhat. It is a testimony to the arrogance of the crowned heads of Europe and the Catholic Church to think they could divide the New World into two parts.

The second European known to reach the Americas was the celebrated explorer Cristobal Colon, far better known as Christopher Columbus. Chartered by the king and queen of Spain, Columbus's first expedition reached what is now the island of San Salvador on October 11, 1492. He thought he had landed in India. Columbus spent the next five months exploring the area, looking for gold and enslaving the natives, whom he called Indians. Columbus's three subsequent expeditions took him to Cuba, Mexico, Honduras, and Venezuela. He never reached the mainland of the modern United States, much less India. The lands he "discovered" were eventually named after another explorer. But the American toehold he claimed for Spain provided the base for the Spanish triumphs over the Aztecs and Incas.

The Spanish continued to expand their influence as far as possible. Hernando De Soto, an associate of the conquistador Pizarro, left Havana with his expedition in 1539. Landing in Florida, De Soto looked for gold as far west as the Mississippi, but found very little before his death in 1542. He did, however, antagonize every Indian tribe he encountered, setting a bad precedent for European-Indian relations. Francisco de Coronado left Mexico in 1540 to find the fabulously wealthy (but mythical) Seven Cities of Cibola. Like DeSoto, he came back not a sixpence the richer, but did manage to explore a great deal of the Southwest, as far north as modern Kansas. Neither explorer added new wealth or new colonies to the Spanish Empire. But DeSoto and Coronado both left behind an important legacy: dozens of Spanish horses, which bred rapidly and enabled the Plains Indians to become excellent horsemen in a very short period of time.

Other European Powers
The other European powers envied the American wealth pouring into Spain and Portugal. They tried, mostly ineffectively, to catch up. As Spain pushed up from Central America, the French and British explored the northern portions of North America. In 1497, the Venetian explorer Giovanni Caboto, known to his British employers as John Cabot, arrived in modern Newfoundland. The lands Mr. Caboto discovered were not rich, but they established Britain's claims in North America. The French were more energetic. Giovanni da Verrazano, a native of Florence in French pay, reached what is now North Carolina in 1524, and from there the site of modern city of New York, but failed to stake claims. In three expeditions between 1534 and 1542, Frenchman Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence River valley, establishing France's claims in North America. The first French settlers did not find the future Canada too friendly; after a Quebec colony died out, the French tried to settle in northern Florida. Once established, the French Floridians were run out by the Spaniards, who had gotten there first. When finally established, France's North American empire included the land west of the Mississippi (later sold to the US in the Louisiana Purchase) and north of the Great Lakes (Quebec).

In 1578, Queen Elizabeth I sent Sir Humphrey Gilbert to colonize the "heathen and barbarous lands" in North America. Five years later his brother in law Sir Walter Raleigh, finally took up the mission. In 1585 Raleigh founded Britain's first North American colony on Roanoke Island. The colony failed, not just once but twice. Sweden and the Netherlands also made bids for a North American empire. In 1624, the Dutch bought Manhattan Island for a reported price of $24 and named their new settlement New Amsterdam. The city thrived but the colony did not. Neither did the Swedish attempt (1638-1655) to found a settlement along the Delaware River, which ended in them giving their holdings to the Dutch (1755). The Dutch, in turn, gave their holdings to the British in 1674. Britain's North American empire would take longer to establish, and would be problematic when it finally did take shape.