Lecture 12 the discovery of america, and the puritan experiment

12.1. The earlier history of America's discovery.

12.1.1. The question of the discovery of America is not a new one and it arose again some decades ago when an ancient map, called the Vinland Map, was found in London. According to the map, to the west of Greenland there is a great country the Norsemen called Vinland. The outlines of the coast of Vinland on the map correspond to those of the coast of Newfoundland and North America today.

12.1.2. The early people of Europe and the Near East were slow to disco­ver the West mainly because of their fear of the open sea. But the Icelandic sagas tell of a Norseman, Eric the Red, and his son, about the voyages they made. They discovered Vinland at the end of the 10th century, built houses, wintered there and returned to Greenland. The ancient Norsemen left sailing instructions behind them. It was Leif Ericsson, the son of Eric the Red, who in AD 999 reached the south shore of the land known now under the name of New England and encamped there. An old Saga tells us that his men found there a lot of grape vines and grapes. The Norsemen filled their ship with grapes and a cargo of timber and sailed away, and Leif named the country Vinland (Wineland).

12.1.3. In the late 1400s Spain began searching for another water route to the East. Instead of it, Span­ish explorers found a new continent. A mapmaker called it the New World — the land across the At­lantic that was not part of Asia. Three ships headed by Christopher Columbus left Spain and sailed to the west. On October 12, 1492, Columbus stepped ashore, holding the Spanish flag. Columbus thought that he had reached a group of islands near the coasts of China and India which were called the Indies. That's why he called the people he saw Indians. Columbus made three more voyages to the New World. But he never knew that he had discovered a new world. He was sure that he had approached China and India from the east. But his name America got from another traveler, who proved that Columbus discovered the New World, Amerigo Vespucci.

12.1.4. In the early 1500s a num­ber of Spanish soldiers and adventurers went to Hispaniola and Cuba, islands in the West In­dies. From these islands they were planning to explore other parts of the New World. These ad­venturers called themselves conquistadors, which meant conquerors. One of the conquistadors was Hernando Cortes. In Mexico Cortes learnt about the rich and powerful Aztec In­dians. Cortes led an army to conquer the Aztecs. The Spaniards were amazed by the Aztec city, fine architecture and sculpture. They cap­tured Tenochtitlan, the capital, and took Montezuma, the Aztec leader, prisoner. In the end, the Spaniards defeated the Aztecs. They declared themselves masters of Mexico and sent shiploads of golf and silver to Spanish King Carlos I^. of Spar was pleased.

12.2. The British colonization of the new continent.

12.2.1. John Cabot was an Italian sea captain who explored for England. The English also hoped that Cabot could reach the Spice Islands by sailing west. In 1447 Cabot set sail with one small ship and eighteen men. After five weeks at sea he reached land and claimed it for England. Cabot thought he was in China. In fact, Cabot had landed in what is now Newfoundland. Instead of spices, he found one of the richest fishing areas in the world. The next year Cabot explored much of the north-eastern coast of North America.

12.2.2. The French explorer Jacques Cartier made three voyages to the New World between 1534 and 1542. Cartier was looking for the Northwest Passage — a water route through North America to Asia. He found the St. Lawrence River and explored it as far as present-day Montreal, Canada. French explorers kept trying to find the North West Passage. In 1603, Samuel de Champlain explored much of what is now eastern Canada and northern New York State. He claimed this land for France. He set up a settlement at Quebec and sailed across Lake Huron and Lake Ontario. Robert La Salle, another French explorer, traveled to the mouth of the Mississippi in 1682. He called the surrounding area Louisiana and claimed the entire Mississippi Valley for France.

12.2.3. Henry Hudson was an En­glish navigator who made important explorations for the Dutch and English. In 1609 he set sail from the Netherlands. Reaching North America, he ex­plored the Atlantic shore and sailed up the river that was later named for him — the Hudson River. He claimed the territory around the Hudson River for the Netherlands. It became New Netherlands — the first Dutch colony in the New World. In 1626, Peter Minuit established New Amsterdam, the settlement that became New York City years later. Minuit purchased Manhattan Island from one of the Algonquian-speaking tribes with trinkets valued at the amount of 60 Dutch guilders, a sum later calculated as $24.

12.2.4. The first-ever English settlement in America was Roanoke Colony subsidized by Sir Walter Raleigh. Britons landed at Roanoke in August 1585, but encountered hostility from Native Americans and suffered from serious food shortages. The story of the settlement is full of mystery. It was abandoned and became known as the “lost colony.”

Jamestown became the first permanent English settlement in America 400 years ago, in 1607. The colonists were to look for gold and silver, for a passage to Asia, and for other discoveries that would quickly reward investors. None of their plans worked out, and the settlers began to die of dysentery and typhoid fever. At the end of the first year, only about one-third remained alive. There is a story about one of the founders of the colony Captain John Smith and Indian princess Pocahontas who helped colonists to survive during the hard times. The colony gave up the search for quick profits and turned to growing tobacco. King James I of England made Virginia the first royal colony.