Considering the north atlantic region between 30

COLUMBUS: the portuguese had reached india and china by sailing south and then east. Cristopher columbus, wantes to reach india by sailing west into the atlantic ocean. King jhon 2 of portugal refused to finance an expedition, so columbs asked the catholic monarchs for money. After they had conquered the kingdom of granada, they finally decided to finance his voyage. Columbus set nail on three boats: the pinta, tha niña and the santa maria. On 12 october 1492, they finally saw land, he tought he had arrived in japan. Columbus brought some gold and a few indigenous people back to seville, to show that his expedition had been successful. In 1493, columbus travelled back to the americas. The spanish defeated the tribes that opposed them and took many slaves. However, they didn't find much gold, and they suffered from tropical diseases. Columbus went on four voyages to the americas, an he explored many islands in the caribbean, as well as central and south america. When he died in 1506 he still claimed to have reached asia.

AMRICA CIVILISATIONS BEFORE COLUMBUS:  when columbus arrived in america in 1492, there were 3 important polytheistic civilisations: the aztecs, maya and the incas. The aztecs in 15th century created what is now mexico. They conquered the nearby kingdom, and made them pay tribute. This made them unpopular and they had many enemies. -the aztecs were ruled by an emperor, who led the army in battle. -they produced beautiful jewellery and sculpture. The maya lived in the area surrounding the yucatan peninsula. When the spanish arrived, their civilisation was already in decline, because of the civil wars. However, from 250 to 900, the maya had a very advanced civilisation: they had a writing system, mathematicians and great archiects. They were famous fot theis stepped pyramids made from stone. The incas came from what is now peru, and theis capital was in cusco. They conquered a huge empire, wich stretched from what is now ecuador in the north, to parts of chile and argentina in the south. -the incas believed that their emperor was the son of the sun. - the incas built great cities from huge stones, like machu picchu. They also built 40000 km of roads throught the mountainous landscape, so they could travel quickly around the empire. - they kept llamas and alpacas for their wool and meat.