What would have happened if Columbus had never found America?
If Columbus had not discovered Americas someone would have found it sooner or later. However, modern world would be drastically different if the contact proved to be a little different. Spanish colonization of Latin America went at a lightning speed due to two very fortuitous events one benefitting Cortes (Aztec) and Pizarro (Inca). Within 40 years of Columbus landing - two of the greatest empires were gone. This lightning change gave no time for the natives to get immunized to Eurasian diseases and learn their technology (especially metals). The native empires were strong and advanced enough to learn these given enough time. Time was not on their side. Incas were hit right at the time a major epidemic was ripping through them. If Pizarro landed a century later, it is possible that the few survivors of the epidemic would have been able to repopulate the fertile region giving the Europeans some challenge. If instead of Columbus, a number of other explorers from nations with less religious fervor came and open to better working with native empires, it was possible for the native civilizations to have survived much longer. For instance, colonization of India took centuries and India came out of the colonization intact. The natives would have learnt and might have begun their own voyages.If Americas were discovered a couple of centuries late, then there might not have been a massive deluge of migrants from England in the 16th and 17th centuries fleeing religious persecution. That might mean that modern US and Canada might not be English speaking and neither might have English become world's lingua franca. If Spain didn't get such a rapid access to Latin American gold and silver, European history would have also been quite different as Spain might have sooner surrendered the dominant power status to Britain and France. If the Latin American silver didn't flood the European markets, it would have been much harder for European colonial empires to have formed elsewhere. With a much different form of colonialism, world would have been very different. Depending on who eventually discovered Americas and when it was discovered, world history would have been quite different.
It doesn't make sense; how can Christopher Columbus discover a country that people already live in?
Thank you for the A2A: Yes, of course, and I was a wee lad nobody mentioned Norse or Polynesians or Africans. My guess is that’s still a general assumption, and may even be taught in elementary schools for all I know. It is of course Eurocentrism, that is was not located until a European located it. On the other hand, the ancient Greeks posited that there was a great undiscovered landmass - to their minds (I forget which mathematician) the earth would naturally create rough balance of landmasses over the globe. This was a belief until fairly late, nobody had any idea about continental drift. SO there being “something” between Europe and Asia was not a completely far-out idea.Most definitely hubris. And we still have it - after all, who are The Orange One and his Mugwumps trying to keep out of the US? Yeah, those same Indians interbred with all the Spaniards from Spain. Because “they’re not supposed to be here”. “Because why” is always a good question. Deport a Hispanic on Columbus Day. Right? (yes I know Columbus was Italian. Genoan actually, but let’s not nitpick)I know “discover” has another meaning. But really now - that’s not what anybody meant until about…. 1970 or something. They meant “someone of worth who is like us came across it and could plant a flag”. It was nothing before that.
What did Christopher Columbus gain from his explorations?
A controversial place on History.Probably more important for him, he had several titles and claims over vast lands and other sources of income that until the day of his death he fought in court against the Crown, as he complained in his testament.However, contrary to what is usually thought, Columbus was a very wealthy man at the time of his death:Columbus’s finances are well known to historians, in particular since Spanish scholar Juan Gil published an article entitled “Las cuentas de Cristóbal Colón” (Christopher Columbus’s accounts) in the journal Anuario de Estudios Hispano-Americanos in 1984.Unfortunately this article is not available online and has never been translated into English, so its information has remained within a rather limited circle of experts.Juan Gil painstakingly reviewed Columbus’s revenues, and concluded that on the day of his death Columbus was a very wealthy man. His annual income added up to more than 4 million maravedis.How much was that worth? For comparison, the annual salary of a pilot who steered ships across the ocean was around 24,000 maravedis – that is, 167 times less. The monthly rent for a good house in Seville ranged between 1,000 and 2,000 maravedis. Four million maravedis was a fortune that would be effortlessly earned by Columbus’ heirs every year to come.Another comparison: the wealthiest man in Spain at that time, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, had an annual income of 20 million maravedis. Columbus ‘only’ made a fifth of that, but that tells us that he was boxing in the top league of Spain’s millionaires.[1]::What did Christopher Columbus gain from his explorations?::Footnotes[1] Historia y Mapas
What were Christopher Columbus' contributions to world history?
Probably the most significant contribution of Columbus was the discovery and use of the Atlantic trade winds. Columbus's first voyage across the Atlantic is the first documented use of the trade winds to cross from Europe to the New World and back again. There is some evidence that Columbus had at least surmised the existence of these wind patterns from his experience sailing the eastern Atlantic from Iceland in the north to Central Africa in the south. The fact that he turned west at the Canary Islands rather than the Azores suggest that he was attempting to catch the winds from east to west; on the return trip he first sailed north from the Caribbean until catching the winds from west to east. This discovery of the trade winds - and his detailed and exciting description of his voyage, which was widely published - enabled almost any competent sea captain to replicate his voyage. This knowledge opened up an unbroken era of contact between the Old and New Worlds, and with it brought both progress and devastation. But what it undeniably did is open a new era in world history. Prior to Columbus, the different continents and hemispheres had developed largely independent of each other, with each having unique plants, animals, and cultures. In fact, it was the desire for exotic spices from the orient that drove much of the exploration in 15th century Europe. With Columbus, the eons-long period of divergent world development began to reverse, and the world began to develop in a convergent way. Today, the same crops are grown in similar climates around the globe. Columbus's voyage marked a great turning point and the beginning of a sustained period of convergent world development. Imagine Thai cuisine without hot chilli peppers, Italian cuisine without tomatoes, Irish history without potatoes, France without French fries, or life without chocolate. Yet before Columbus, these products existed only in the New World. The fact that you can now buy a Big Mac in Minneapolis, Moscow, or Malaysia is one of the legacies of Columbus.
How did the renaissance encouraged european exploration?
The main reason for European exploration was the desire to enrich the countries doing the exploring. Christopher Columbus's voyage was undertaken to find a passage to India to facilitate trade for instance. Once the New World had been discovered, finding gold was the main aim of the explorers. 'Renaissance' rulers wanted more power and more wealth. the 'Renaissance' was not an era of peace, but an era of violent and bloody warfare, countries warred with each other continously throughout this period. The exploration of the New World led to violent and bloody campaigns of annihilation against the natives of South and Central America.
Why were Europeans so interested in exploration in the 1400s and 1500s?
A.They wanted to spread Christianity. B.They believed it was their destiny to spread across the globe. C.They needed land for their growing populations. D.They sought knowledge, power, and riches.
How did Europe react to Columbus?
Not at all. Columbus „discovered“ the Caribbeans, but thought it was Asia, sailed back to Europe and died.People heard there was a shortcut to Asia now, sailed over and figured that this is a whole new continent!The first to break this news to a big audience was Amerigo Vespucci, whose letter Mundus Novus was copied and spread all over Europe. He wrote about Native Americans in Brazil and how he thought everything over there was like a paradise (except the Natives whom he unfortunately thought of as primitive).In retrospective this letter had a huge impact and shaped European’s thinking of the New World. And yeah, a German cartographer even named the continent after Amerigo Vespucci: America.
Why is Christopher Columbus important to history?
I´ll repeat here the answer I gave to a similar question posted on Quora:Probably the most significant contribution of Columbus was the discovery and use of the Atlantic trade winds. Columbus's first voyage across the Atlantic is the first documented use of the trade winds to cross from Europe to the New World and back again. There is some evidence that Columbus had at least surmised the existence of these wind patterns from his experience sailing the eastern Atlantic from Iceland in the north to Central Africa in the south. The fact that he turned west at the Canary Islands rather than the Azores suggest that he was attempting to catch the winds from east to west; on the return trip he first sailed north from the Caribbean until catching the winds from west to east.This discovery of the trade winds - and his detailed and exciting description of his voyage, which was widely published - enabled almost any competent sea captain to replicate his voyage. This knowledge opened up an unbroken era of contact between the Old and New Worlds, and with it brought both progress and devastation. But what it undeniably did is open a new era in world history. Prior to Columbus, the different continents and hemispheres had developed largely independent of each other, with each having unique plants, animals, and cultures. In fact, it was the desire for exotic spices from the orient that drove much of the exploration in 15th century Europe.With Columbus, the eons-long period of divergent world development began to reverse, and the world began to develop in a convergent way. Today, the same crops are grown in similar climates around the globe.Columbus's voyage marked a great turning point and the beginning of a sustained period of convergent world development. Imagine Thai cuisine without hot chilli peppers, Italian cuisine without tomatoes, Irish history without potatoes, France without French fries, or life without chocolate. Yet before Columbus, these products existed only in the New World. The fact that you can now buy a Big Mac in Minneapolis, Moscow, or Malaysia is one of the legacies of Columbus.
How was the USA formed after being discovered by Columbus?
Like someone said, Columbus never set on the United States mainland, that honor goes to Ponce de Leon who set his foot on Florida's shores in 1513 and there were already people living on this mainland for thousands of years with their own government and grouped into tribes which can be counted as countries.Although Columbus opened the flood gate for Europe to pour in, Ponce did not settled Florida as he was killed by the Natives, the United States was not permentaly settled until 1565 with the founding of St. Augustine. Before 1565, the United States was a Spanish exploration ground.The first serious development that begins the formation of the United States took place in 1598 when Juan Don Onate entered New Mexico, in 1603, England decided to try to settle the land once more and succeeds, soon the French followed. So the formation of the United States began when we started to push westward, adding the Mexicans, French and Native Americans into the territory and with disease carried by the Europeans, many Natives died, leaving the lands empty for the Europeans to settle, as the result many native people were displaced and mostly got killed in the wars.Columbus did not found the United States, the British did along with proxy contributions by the Native Americans, French and the Mexicans/Spaniards.