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People in Europe read of Marco Polo's adventures to China and other parts of Asia.
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People in Europe began to look to beyond the seas. many wanted to spread Christianity. Above all, people wanted to find riches.
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Europeans started looking for ways to bypass Venice's hold on the Spice Trade. Prince Henry the Navigator urged sea captains to explore southward along the coast of Africa. He was searching for a route aorund Africa to the Spice Islands, near India.
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Columbus led his first exploration to the west. He landed in the Bahamas, whcih he thought were islands near Asia.
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Vasco De Gama, Portugese explorer, was sent to find a route around the continent to the Spice Islands. He found a route and sailed all the way to India.
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John Cabot was an Italian living in England. King Henry the VII sent Cabot on voyage to the west. The English thought that their might be a water route through the Americas that could lead North and West to Asia. This was called the Northwest passage. Cabot landed on the far Northern Atlantic coast of North America. Like other explorers, he failed to find the Northwest Passage. Eventually, the Europeans gave up on their search for the route.
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Columbus found South America on a second voyage. Then later, the New World was labeled America by mapmaker, Amerigo Vespucci.
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Native Americans lived in villages in North Caroolina. They had farming, hunting and trade.
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An exchange of materials from the Old World to the New World and the NEw World to the Old World.
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Juan Ponce de Leon was a Spanish official in the New World. In 1508-1509, he explored and settled on the island of Puerto Rico. King Ferdinand of Spain authorized Ponce de Leon to explore the lands of Northern Cuba.
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In the early months of 1513, Ponce de Leon set out with ships and a crew.
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Ayllon had eyes on the northest coast of the Americas. Ayllon intended to plant a strong colony for Spain along the coast.
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Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon led a group of over 500 men, women, and children to a river but the colony failed due to disease and starvation. Ayllon took the colonists to a site in present day South Carolina, but it ended in disease and starcation also. Ayllon died there. In October, 1526, the remaining 150 colonists returned to Hispaniola.
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In 1542, King Francis I of France sent Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazano westward. Verrazano first reached North Carolinas Outer Banks. Across those narrow islands he belived he saw the Pacific Ocean. In fact, he was looking at the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds. Verrazano submitted a glowing report to the king. However, the French king was now occupied with military challenges at home. He did not sponsor any more voyages to the Americas.
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Spain sent troops under Menendez to Florida. Just south of Fort Caroline, Menendez built a fort at St. Augustine. Menendez captured Fort Caroline and killed most of the French defenders. In the following years, Menendez built forts throughout Florida to strenghten Spain grip. St. Augustine is the oldest permanent European settlement in the present-day U.S.
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In 1566, an expedition set out for Chesapeake Bay. However, they entered an inlet in North Carolina's Outer Banks and sailed into Albemarle Sound. There Pedro, the leader, marked their land by placing a wooden cross on the shore. Afterward they returned to the West Indies.
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Juan and Hernando led a small group of men to the coast of South Carolina. From there they pushed north and west on nearly the same route that de Soto had taken 25 years earlier. The expedition entered the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains wher ethe soldiers built forts. The Spainish abandoned these forts and members of the expedition traded with the Native North Carolinians. Some of the Soldiers returned back to South Carolina.
