Page 47 - American Stories, A History of the United States

Quick Check natives as “miscreants . . . [who] do not acknowledge their creator and live in part like
1.1 Who were the conquistadores, and beasts.” Many islanders died of disease; others were killed in battle or enslaved. The new
what were their motivations in the Spanish landholders introduced sugar, a labor-intensive plantation crop. They forced
New World? slaves captured in Africa to provide the labor. Dreams of wealth drove this oppressive
1.2 process. Through the centuries, European colonists would repeat it many times.

The Strange Career of Christopher Columbus

1.3 If it had not been for Christopher Columbus (Cristoforo Colombo), Spain might never
have gained an American empire. Little is known about his early life. Born in the Italian
city of Genoa in 1451 of humble parentage, Columbus soon devoured the classical
1.4 learning that had so recently been rediscovered and made available in print. He mas-
tered geography, and—perhaps while sailing the coast of West Africa—he became
obsessed with the idea of voyaging west across the Atlantic Ocean to reach Cathay, as
1.5 China was then known to Europeans.
In 1484, Columbus presented his plan to the king of Portugal. However, while the
Portuguese were just as interested as Columbus in reaching Cathay, they elected to voy-
1.6 age around the continent of Africa instead of following the route Columbus suggested.
They suspected that Columbus had underestimated the circumference of the earth and
that he would starve before reaching Asia. The Portuguese decision eventually paid off
handsomely. In 1498, one of their captains, Vasco da Gama, returned from India with
a fortune in spices and other luxury goods.

Watch the Video How Should We Think of Columbus?

ColuMbus Cristoforo Colombo, better known to Americans as Christopher Columbus, was a fifteenth-century
sailor from genoa. Dreaming of reaching the rich markets of Asia by sailing west from Europe, he instead stumbled
upon the islands of the Caribbean Sea. In doing so, he ushered in a new age of sustained contact between the
peoples of the Americas and the peoples of Europe, Africa, and Asia.
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