Section 2 - European Exploration and Settlement

Marco Polo’s book became widely distributed throughout Europe because of the invention of the printing press.
Columbus would be inspired by Marco Polo’s trip.
Columbus was looking for funding, and would be funded by the monarchs of Spain.
Columbus would wash up in the island of Taino, Columbus would mistake the island of Taino as the Indies, and claim it in the name of Spain.
There was an exchange of crops and animals from the Americas to Europe that:
- sent corn, squash and pumpkins to Europe
- and sent horses to the Americas.
Slavery would wash up in the Americas.
Smallpox would be very deadly in the Americas, as there was no natural immunity to it in the Native American’s immune system.
There was two major conquests of Spain:
- 1: The Aztec conquest
- 2: The Peruvian conquest.

The trip to Florida was managed by a guy named Juan Ponce De Leon.
- The motivations of which the trip was for, was to find the mythical fountain of youth.
- However, he instead found “flowery” Florida, and would attempt to colonize it, in doing so he would be shot by a poisoned arrow and die.
There was an tale of the “Seven Cities of Cibola”
- The Seven Cities of Cibola would be rumored to hold great riches,
- These prospects would attract several journeys to find these sacred cities, all coming fruitless.
In the prospect of finding the Seven Cities of Cibola, a man named Fransisco Vaquez de Coronado would be one of the multiple travelers to search for these sacred lands.
- Starting a trip from Mexico City, our traveler travelled over 7,000 miles to find 7 villages of Cibola instead of a city.
Catholic missionaries would be tasked with spreading Christianity at all costs.
For the Indians, they were able to get new vegetables, and learn new techniques to grow plants.
Smallpox and other diseases that natives would not have protection against. This would limit the populations to dozens of people from thousands.

France would send Jauques Carter in 1534 to claim land in Canada.
France would settle the colony in 1608 and would call it Quebec.
New France became the hub for fur trappers and explorers.
Unlike Spain, France did not enslave the Natives, instead making them allies and buisness partners.
The search for fur led to Lousiana, and 9 years after abandoning the settlement, Louis Joilet would claim everything south of the River for France, giving an insanely vast amount of land to France.

Jamestown was the first English colony, settled in 1497.
There were other colonies, such as the mystery of Roanoke, which entirely evacuated.
Jamestown was filled to the brim with craftsmen and barters. While this is good for these specific skills, they aren’t the best at finding food.
Thankfully, the Jamestown colony was saved by Pocahantas, which would save the colony from starvation.

In 1626, the Dutch West India Company sent an English sailor to what would be New Amsterdam in 1626.
The Dutch would give the American Indians ample resources to establish diplomatic relationships.
As the fur trade expanded and settlement swelled, the Netherlands would establish it further as an colony.
New England became New York following British threats of invasion.