Christopher discovered America. Who Discovered America First? See what the "Discovery of America" is in other dictionaries

The lands were the most common: the founding of cities, the discovery of deposits of gold and wealth. In the 15th century, navigation was actively developing, and expeditions were equipped in search of an unknown continent. What happened on the mainland before the arrival of the Europeans, when Columbus discovered America, and under what circumstances did this happen?

History of the great discovery

By the 15th century, European states were distinguished by a high level of development. Each country tried to expand its sphere of influence, looking for additional sources of income to replenish the treasury. New colonies were formed.

Before the discovery, tribes lived on the continent. The natives were distinguished by their friendly character, which favored the rapid development of the territory.

Christopher Columbus, while still a teenager, discovered such a hobby as cartography. A Spanish navigator once learned from the astronomer and geographer Toscanelli that if you sail westward, you can reach India much faster. It was 1470. And the idea came just in time, as Columbus was looking for another way that would allow him to get to India in a short time. He assumed that it was necessary to make a route through the Canary Islands.

In 1475, the Spaniard organizes an expedition, the purpose of which is to find a fast route by sea to India across the Atlantic Ocean. He reported this to the government asking for support for his idea, but received no help. The second time Columbus wrote to King João II of Portugal, however, he was refused. Then he again turned to the Spanish government. On this occasion, several meetings of the commission were held, which lasted for a year. The final positive decision on funding was made after the victory of the Spanish troops in the city of Granada, liberated from the Arab occupation.

If a new path to India was discovered, Columbus was promised not only wealth, but also a noble title: Admiral of the Ocean-Sea and Viceroy of the lands that he would open. Since the ships of Spain were forbidden to enter the waters on the west coast of Africa, this step was beneficial for the government in order to conclude a direct trade agreement with India.

What year did Columbus discover America?

1942 is officially recognized as the year of America's discovery in history. Having discovered undeveloped lands, Columbus did not expect that he had discovered a continent that would be called the "New World". In what year the Spaniards discovered America, we can say conditionally, since a total of four campaigns were undertaken. Each time the navigator found new lands, believing that this is the territory of Western India.

Columbus thought that he was following the wrong route after the Vasco de Gama expedition. The traveler arrived in India and returned at short notice with rich goods, accusing Christopher of deception.

It was later revealed that Columbus discovered the islands and the continental part of the Americas.

Which traveler discovered America earlier?

It is not entirely true to say that Columbus became the discoverer of America. Before that, the Scandinavians landed on the land: in 1000 - Leif Eriksson and in 1008 - Torfinn Karlsefni. This is evidenced by the historical records "The Greenlandic Saga" and "The Erik the Red Saga". There is also other information about travel to the "New World". The traveler Abu Bakr II, a resident of the Celestial Empire Zheng He and a nobleman from Scotland Henry Sinclair arrived from Mali to America.

There is historical evidence that the Normans visited the New World in the 10th century after the discovery of Greenland. However, they failed to master the territory due to severe weather conditions, unsuitable for agriculture. In addition, the journey from Europe was very long.

Visits to the mainland by the navigator Amerigo Vespucci, after whom the continent was named.

Christopher Columbus is the discoverer of South and Central America. Columbus expeditions.

Christopher Columbus biography

1 expedition. Discovery of America by Columbus in 1492

The first expedition Christopher Columbus assembled from three ships - "Santa Maria" (a three-masted flagship 25 m long, with a displacement of 120 tons, the captain of the Columbus ship), the "Pinta" caravel (captain - Martin Alonso Pinson) and "Niña" (captain - Vicente Janes Pinson) with a displacement of 55 tons and 87 people of the expedition.
The flotilla left Palos on August 3, 1492, turned west from the Canary Islands, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, opening the Sargasso Sea and reached an island in the Bahamas archipelago (the sailor of the "Pinta" Rodrigo de Triana was the first to see American land October 12, 1492). Columbus landed on the coast, which the locals call Guanahani, hoisted a banner on it, declared the open land the property of the Spanish king and formally took possession of the island. The island is named after him San Salvador.
For a long time (1940 -1982), Watling Island was considered San Salvador. However, our contemporary American geographer George Judge processed all the collected materials on a computer in 1986 and came to the conclusion: the first American land seen by Columbus was Samana Island (120 km southeast of Watling).
On October 14-24, Columbus approached several more Bahamas, and on October 28 - December 5, he opened part of the northeastern coast of Cuba. December 6 reached the island of Haiti and moved along the northern coast. On the night of December 25, the flagship Santa Maria landed on the reef, but the crew escaped. For the first time in the history of navigation, by order of Columbus, Indian hammocks were adapted for sailor bunks.
Columbus on "Niña" on March 15, 1493 returned to Castile. From America, Columbus brought seven captive American natives, who were nicknamed Indians in Europe, as well as some gold and plants and fruits unseen in the Old World, including an annual plant corn (in Haiti it is called maize), tomatoes, peppers, tobacco (“ dry leaves, which were especially appreciated by the locals "), pineapples, cocoa and potatoes (because of their beautiful pink and white flowers). The political resonance of Columbus's voyage was the "papal meridian": the head of the Catholic Church established a demarcation line in the Atlantic, indicating different directions for the rivals of Spain and Portugal for discovering new lands.
The first landing of Christopher Columbus on the shores of the New World: in San Salvador, Wisconsin, October 12, 1492.
Author of the painting: Spanish artist Tolin Puebla, Theophilus Dioscoro Dioscoro Teofilo Puebla Tolin (1831-1901)
Publisher: American firm Currier and Ives (prints, lithographs, popular prints), published 1892.

2 expedition of Christopher Columbus (1493 - 1496)

The second expedition (1493-96), led by Admiral Columbus, in the position of viceroy of the newly discovered lands, consisted of 17 ships with a crew of 1.5-2.5 thousand people. On November 3-15, 1493, Columbus discovered the islands of Dominica, Guadeloupe and about 20 Lesser Antilles, on November 19, the island of Puerto Rico. In March 1494, in search of gold, he made a military campaign into the interior of the island of Haiti, in the summer he discovered the southeastern and southern coasts of Cuba, the islands of Juventud and Jamaica. For 40 days, Columbus explored the southern coast of Haiti, the conquest of which he continued in 1495. But in the spring of 1496 he sailed home, completing his second voyage on June 11 in Castile. Columbus announced the opening of a new route to Asia. The colonization of new lands by free settlers, which began soon, cost the Spanish crown very dearly, and Columbus proposed that the islands be populated by criminals, halving their sentence. With fire and sword, plundering and destroying the country of ancient culture, military detachments of Cortes marched through the land of the Aztecs - Mexico, the troops of Pizarro - across the land of the Incas - Peru.

3 expedition of Christopher Columbus (1498 - 1499)

The third expedition (1498-99) consisted of six ships, three of which Columbus himself led across the Atlantic. On July 31, 1498, he discovered the island of Trinidad, entered the Gulf of Paria, discovered the mouth of the western branch of the Orinoco Delta and the Paria Peninsula, marking the beginning of the discovery of South America. Out into the Caribbean, he approached the Araya Peninsula, discovered Margarita Island on August 15, and arrived in Haiti on August 31. In 1500, on a denunciation, Christopher Columbus was arrested and, shackled (which he then kept all his life), was sent to Castile, where he was awaited by his release.

4 expedition of Christopher Columbus (1502 - 1504)

The most important event in the history of great geographical discoveries, and indeed of world history in general, was the discovery of America - an event as a result of which the inhabitants of Europe discovered two continents called the New World, or America.

The confusion starts with the names of the continents. There is strong evidence for the version that the lands of the New World were named after the Italian philanthropist Richard America from Bristol, who financed the transatlantic expedition of John Cabot in 1497. And the Florentine traveler Amerigo Vespucci, who visited the New World only in 1500 and after whom, it is believed, America was named, took a nickname in honor of the already named continent.
In May 1497, Cabot reached the shores of Labrador, becoming the first officially registered European to set foot on American soil, two years before Amerigo Vespucci. Cabot mapped the coast of North America from New England to Newfoundland. In the calendar of Bristol for that year we read: “... on the day of St. John the Baptist (June 24), the land of America was found by merchants from Bristol, who arrived on a ship called "Matthew". "
Christopher Columbus is considered the official discoverer of the continents of the New World. Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) knew how to draw maps, navigate ships, knew four languages. He was originally from Italy, came to Spain from Portugal. Finding a familiar monk in a monastery near the city of Palos, Columbus told him that he had decided to sail to Asia by a new sea route - across the Atlantic Ocean. He was admitted to an audience with Queen Isabella, who, after his report, appointed an "academic council" to discuss the project. The members of the council were mainly clergy. Columbus vigorously defended his project. He referred to the evidence of ancient scientists about the sphericity of the Earth, to a copy of the map of the famous Italian astronomer Toscanelli, which depicted many islands in the Atlantic Ocean, and beyond them - the eastern shores of Asia. He convinced the learned monks that the legends spoke of the land beyond the ocean, from the shores of which sea currents sometimes bring tree trunks with traces of their processing by people.
The rulers of Spain nevertheless decided to conclude a treaty with Columbus, according to which, if successful, he received the title of admiral and viceroy of the lands opened to him, as well as a significant part of the profit from trade with the countries where he would be able to visit.
On August 3, 1492, three ships - "Santa Maria", "Pinta", "Niña" - with 90 participants set sail from the port of Paloe. The crews of the ships consisted mainly of convicted criminals. It had already been 33 days since the expedition left the Canary Islands, and the land was still not visible. The team began to grumble. To calm her down, Columbus wrote down the distances traveled in the logbook, deliberately minimizing them.
On October 12, 1492, sailors saw a dark strip of land on the horizon. It was a small island with lush tropical vegetation. Tall people with dark skin lived here. The natives called their island Guanahani. Columbus named it San Salvador and declared it a possession of Spain. This name was stuck with one of the Bahamas. Columbus was confident that he had reached Asia. Having visited other islands, he asked the locals everywhere if it was Asia. But I did not hear anything consonant with this word. Columbus left some of the people on the island of Hispaniola, led by his brother, and sailed to Spain. To prove that he opened the way to Asia, Columbus took with him several Indians, feathers of unseen birds, some plants, among them maize, potatoes and tobacco, as well as gold taken from the inhabitants of the islands. On March 15, 1493, he was greeted in Palos as a hero.
This is how Europeans first visited the islands of Central America. As a result, the foundation was laid for the further discovery of unknown lands, their conquest and colonization.
In the XX century, scientists drew attention to information that suggested that contacts between the Old World and the New took place long before the famous travel of Columbus.
In addition to the frankly fantastic hypotheses about the settling of America by the "ten tribes of Israel", as well as the Atlanteans, there is a number of serious scientific evidence that America was visited long before Columbus. Some researchers even argue that the culture of the Indians was introduced from the outside, from the Old World - this direction of scientific thought is called diffusionism. The theory that American civilizations developed almost completely independently until 1492 is called isolationism and has more adherents in academic science.
The hypotheses about the Egyptians visiting America (an active supporter of the version of the Egyptian voyages to America was the famous traveler Thor Heyerdahl), as well as Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, representatives of Central African states, Chinese, Japanese and Celts, remain unconfirmed.
But there is fairly reliable data on the Polynesians' visit to America, preserved in their legends; it is also known that the Chukchi established an exchange of fur and whalebone with the ancient population of the northwestern American coast, but it is impossible to establish the exact date of the beginning of these contacts.
Europeans also visited the American continent during the Viking Age. Contacts of the Scandinavians with the New World began around 1000 AD and lasted presumably until the XIV century.
The name of the Scandinavian navigator and ruler of Greenland Leif Eriksson the Happy is associated with the discovery of the New World. This European visited North America five centuries before Columbus. His campaigns are known from Icelandic sagas preserved in such manuscripts as The Saga of Eric the Red and The Saga of the Greenlanders. Their reliability has been confirmed by archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
Leif Eriksson was born in Iceland in the family of Erik the Red, exiled from Norway along with his entire family. Eric's family in 982 was forced to leave Iceland, fearing blood feud, and settled in new colonies in Greenland. Leif Eriksson had two brothers, Thorvald and Thorstein, and one sister, Freydis. Leif was married to a woman named Thorgunna. They had one son, Torkell Leifsson.
Before his trip to America, Leif made a trade expedition to Norway. Here he was baptized by King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway, an ally of the Kiev prince Vladimir. Leif brought a Christian bishop to Greenland and baptized its inhabitants. His mother and many Greenlanders converted to Christianity, but his father, Eric the Red, remained a pagan. On the way back, Leif saved the wrecked Icelander Thorir, for which he received the nickname Leif the Happy.
On his return, he met a Norwegian named Bjarni Herjulfsson in Greenland, who said that he saw the outlines of land in the west, far out to sea. Leif became interested in this story and decided to explore new lands.
Around the year 1000, Leif Eriksson sailed west with a crew of 35 on a ship he had bought from Bjarni. They discovered three regions of the American coast: Helluland (presumably the Labrador Peninsula), Markland (probably Baffin's Land) and Vinland, which got its name from the large number of vines that grew there.
Presumably this was the coast of Newfoundland. Several settlements were founded there, where the Vikings stayed for the winter.
Upon his return to Greenland, Leif gave the ship to his brother Thorvald, who instead went to explore Vinland further. Thorvald's expedition was unsuccessful: the Scandinavians encountered the Scralling - North American Indians, and in this skirmish Thorvald died. If you believe the Icelandic legends, according to which Eric and Leif made their campaigns not at random, but based on the stories of such eyewitnesses as Bjarni, who saw unknown lands on the horizon, then in a sense America was discovered even earlier than 1000. However, it was Leif who first made a full-fledged expedition along the coast of Vinland, gave him a name, landed and even tried to colonize it. Based on the stories of Leif and his people, which formed the basis of the Scandinavian "Saga of Eric the Red" and "Saga of the Greenlanders", the first maps of Vinland were compiled.
This information, preserved by the Icelandic sagas, was confirmed in 1960, when archaeological evidence of an early Viking settlement was discovered in L'Ans aux Meadows on the island of Newfoundland. At present, the exploration of the territory of North America by the Vikings long before the travels of Columbus is considered a definitively proven fact. Scientists have reached a consensus that the Vikings among Europeans were indeed the first to discover North America, but the exact place of their settlement is still the subject of scientific dispute. In the beginning, the Vikings did not distinguish between the exploration of lands and their
the population in Greenland and Vinland on the one hand, and Iceland on the other. The feeling of another world came to them only after meeting with local tribes, significantly different from the Irish monks in Iceland. For more than 11,000 years prior to this, the continent had already been inhabited by numerous indigenous peoples, the American Indians.
The Saga of Eric the Red and The Saga of the Greenlanders were written about 250 years after the colonization of Greenland and give an idea that there were several attempts to found a settlement in Vinland, but none of them lasted more than two years. There may be several reasons why the Vikings abandoned the settlements, among which were the disagreement among the male colonists regarding the few women accompanying the journey, and the armed clashes with the locals, whom the Vikings called Scrallings, both of which are indicated in written sources.
Until the 19th century, historians considered the idea of Viking settlements in North America exclusively in the context of the national folklore of the Scandinavian peoples. The first scientific theory appeared in 1837 thanks to the Danish historian and antiquarian Karl Christian Rafn. In his book American Antiquities, Rafn conducted a comprehensive examination of the sagas and investigated possible sites on the American coast, with the result that he concluded that the country of Vinland, discovered by the Vikings, did exist.
There is disagreement among historians as to the geographic location of Vinland. Rafn and Erik Walgren believed Vinland was somewhere in New
England. And in the 1960s, a Viking settlement was discovered by excavations in Newfoundland, and some scholars think that this was the site of Leif's choice. Others still believe that Vinland should be located further south, and the open settlement refers to a hitherto unknown, later attempt by the Vikings to settle in America.
History continues to lift the veil of its secrets. Scientists have yet to verify the likelihood and timing of earlier contacts with the American continent of immigrants from the Old World.

(1492-1493) of 91 people on the ships "Santa Maria", "Pinta", "Niña" left Palosa de la Frontera on August 3, 1492, turned to the West from the Canary Islands (September 9 ), crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the subtropical zone and reached the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas, where Christopher Columbus landed on October 12, 1492 (the official date of the discovery of America). On October 14-24, Christopher Columbus visited a number of other Bahamas, and on October 28-December 5, he discovered and surveyed a section of the northeastern coast of Cuba. On December 6, Columbus reached Fr. Haiti and moved along the northern coast. On the night of December 25, the flagship Santa Maria landed on the reef, but people escaped. Columbus on the ship "Ninya" 4-16 January 1493 completed the survey of the northern coast of Haiti and 15 March returned to Castile.

2nd expedition

The 2nd expedition (1493-1496), which Christopher Columbus led already in the rank of admiral, and in the position of viceroy of the newly discovered lands, consisted of 17 ships with a crew of over 1.5 thousand people. On November 3, 1493, Columbus discovered the islands of Dominica and Guadeloupe, turning to the Northwest - about 20 more Lesser Antilles, including Antigua and the Virgin Islands, and on November 19 - the island of Puerto Rico and approached the northern coast of Haiti. On March 12-29, 1494, Columbus, in search of gold, made an aggressive campaign into Haiti, and he crossed the Cordillera Central ridge. On April 29-May 3, Columbus with 3 ships sailed along the southeastern coast of Cuba, turned from Cape Cruz to the South and on May 5 opened about. Jamaica. Returning on May 15 to Cape Cruz, Columbus walked along the southern coast of Cuba to 84 ° West longitude, discovered the Jardines de la Reina archipelago, the Zapata peninsula and the island of Pinos. On June 24, Christopher Columbus turned east and surveyed the entire southern coast of Haiti from August 19 to September 15. In 1495, Christopher Columbus continued the conquest of Haiti; On March 10, 1496 he left the island and on June 11 he returned to Castile.

3rd expedition

The 3rd expedition (1498-1500) consisted of 6 ships, 3 of which Christopher Columbus himself led across the Atlantic Ocean near 10 ° north latitude. On July 31, 1498, he discovered the island of Trinidad, entered the Gulf of Paria from the south, discovered the mouth of the western branch of the Orinoco delta and the Paria peninsula, initiating the discovery of South America. Having then left for the Caribbean Sea, Christopher Columbus approached the Araya Peninsula, discovered the island of Margarita on August 15 and arrived in the city of Santo Domingo (on the island of Haiti) on August 31. In 1500, Christopher Columbus was arrested on a denunciation and sent to Castile, where he was released.

4th expedition

4th expedition (1502-1504). Having obtained permission to continue searching for a western route to India, Columbus with 4 ships reached Martinique Island on June 15, 1502, on July 30, the Gulf of Honduras, and opened from August 1, 1502 to May 1, 1503 the Caribbean coast of Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama to the Uraba Bay. Turning then to the North, June 25, 1503 crashed off the island of Jamaica; help from Santo Domingo came only a year later. Christopher Columbus returned to Castile on November 7, 1504.

Pioneer Candidates

The first people who settled in America are the indigenous Indians who crossed there about 30 thousand years ago from Asia along the Bering Isthmus.
In the 10th century, around 1000, the Vikings, led by Leif Eriksson. L'Ans aux Meadows contains the remains of a Viking settlement on the continent.
In 1492 - Christopher Columbus (Genoese in the service of Spain); Columbus himself believed that he opened the way to Asia (hence the name West Indies, Indians).
In 1507 - the cartographer M. Waldseemüller proposed that the open lands be named America in honor of the explorer of the New World Amerigo Vespucci - this is considered the moment from which America was recognized as an independent continent.
There is good reason to believe that the continent was named after the English patron of the arts. Richard America from Bristol, which financed the second transatlantic expedition of John Cabot in 1497, and Vespucci took the nickname after the already named continent. In May 1497, Cabot reached the shores of Labrador, becoming the first officially registered European to set foot on American soil, two years before Vespucci (talking about North America). Cabot mapped the coast of North America from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland. In the calendar of Bristol for that year we read: "... on the day of St. John the Baptist, the land of America was found by merchants from Bristol, who arrived by ship from Bristol with the name" Matthew "(" methic ").

Hypothetical

In addition, hypotheses were put forward about the visit to America and contact with its civilization by seafarers before Columbus, representing various civilizations of the Old World (for more details, see Contacts with America before Columbus). Here are just a few of these hypothetical contacts:

in 371 BC. e. - Phoenicians
in the 5th century - Hui Shen (a Taiwanese Buddhist monk who made a trip to the Fusan country in the 5th century, identified in different versions with Japan or America)
in the VI century - Saint Brendan (Irish monk)
in the XII century - Madog ap Owain Gwynedd (Welsh prince, according to legend, visited America in 1170)
there are versions according to which at least from the 13th century America was known to the Knights Templar
in 1331 - Abubakar II (Sultan of Mali)
OK. 1398 - Henry Sinclair (de Saint-Clair), Earl of Orkney (c. 1345 - c. 1400)
in 1421 - Zheng He (Chinese explorer)
in 1472 - João Corterial (Portuguese)

Thor Heyerdahl's version of the Egyptians' visit to America is also known. As part of the evidence, there were expeditions on boats Ra and Ra-2, built using ancient technologies. The first boat failed to reach the Caribbean Islands, but only a few hundred kilometers were missing. The second expedition reached its goal.

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Literature

Bakles D. America through the eyes of pioneers / Per. from English 3. M. Kanevsky. - M .: Mysl, 1969. - 408 p .: ill.
Magidovich I.P. The history of the discovery and exploration of North America. - M .: Geografgiz, 1962.
Magidovich I.P. The history of the discovery and exploration of Central and South America. - M .: Thought, 1963.
John Lloyd and John Mitchinson. The book of common delusions. - Phantom Press, 2009.



Before Columbus

Great sea discoveries

Conquistadors

Mapping

Excerpt from the Discovery of America

While Boris continued to make the figures of the mazurka, he did not cease to be tormented by the thought of what news Balashev had brought and how he could learn it before anyone else.
In the figure where he had to choose the ladies, whispering to Helen that he wanted to take the Countess Pototskaya, who seemed to have gone out onto the balcony, he, sliding his feet on the parquet floor, ran out the exit door into the garden and, noticing the sovereign entering the terrace with Balashev , paused. The Emperor and Balashev were heading for the door. Boris, in a hurry, as if not having time to move away, respectfully pressed himself against the lintel and bent his head.
The sovereign, with the excitement of a personally offended person, finished off the following words:
- Enter Russia without declaring war. I will make peace only when not a single armed enemy remains on my land, ”he said. It seemed to Boris that the emperor was pleased to express these words: he was pleased with the form of expressing his thoughts, but was unhappy that Boris heard them.
- So that no one knows anything! - added the emperor, frowning. Boris realized that this was referring to him, and, closing his eyes, slightly tilted his head. The sovereign again entered the hall and spent about half an hour at the ball.
Boris was the first to know the news of the French troops crossing the Niemen and thanks to this he had the opportunity to show some important persons that much that was hidden from others, he sometimes knew, and through that had the opportunity to rise higher in the opinion of these persons.

The unexpected news of the French crossing the Niemen was especially unexpected after a month of unfulfilled expectations, and at the ball! The Tsar, at the first minute of receiving the news, under the influence of indignation and insult, found that, which later became famous, a saying that he himself liked and fully expressed his feelings. Returning home from the ball, the sovereign at two o'clock in the morning sent for the secretary Shishkov and ordered him to write an order to the troops and a rescript to Field Marshal Prince Saltykov, in which he certainly demanded that the words be placed that he would not reconcile until at least one the armed Frenchman will remain on Russian soil.
The next day the following letter was written to Napoleon.
“Monsieur mon frere. J "ai appris hier que malgre la loyaute avec laquelle j" ai maintenu mes engagements envers Votre Majeste, ses troupes ont franchis les frontieres de la Russie, et je recois al "instant de Petersbourg une note par laquelle le comte Lauriston, pour cause de cette agression, annonce que Votre Majeste s "est consideree comme en etat de guerre avec moi des le moment ou le prince Kourakine a fait la demande de ses passeports. Les motifs sur lesquels le duc de Bassano fondait son refus de les lui delivrer, n "auraient jamais pu me faire supposer que cette demarche servirait jamais de pretexte a l" agression. En effet cet ambassadeur n "y a jamais ete autorise comme il l" a declare lui meme, et aussitot que j "en fus informe, je lui ai fait connaitre combien je le desapprouvais en lui donnant l" ordre de rester a son poste. Si Votre Majeste n "est pas intentionnee de verser le sang de nos peuples pour un malentendu de ce genre et qu" elle consente a retirer ses troupes du territoire russe, je regarderai ce qui s "est passe comme non avenu, et un accommodement entre nous sera possible. Dans le cas contraire, Votre Majeste, je me verrai force de repousser une attaque que rien n "a provoquee de ma part. Il depend encore de Votre Majeste d "eviter a l" humanite les calamites d "une nouvelle guerre.
Je suis, etc.
(signe) Alexandre. "
[“Sovereign brother! Yesterday it dawned on me that, in spite of the straightforwardness with which I observed my obligations towards Your Imperial Majesty, your troops crossed the Russian borders, and only now received from Petersburg a note by which Count Lauriston notifies me about this invasion, that Your Majesty considers himself to be in hostile relations with me since the time when Prince Kurakin demanded his passports. The reasons on which the Duke of Bassano based his refusal to issue these passports could never have led me to suppose that the act of my ambassador was the pretext for an attack. And in reality he did not have a command from me, as he himself announced; and as soon as I found out about this, I immediately expressed my displeasure to Prince Kurakin, commanding him to fulfill the duties entrusted to him as before. If Your Majesty is not inclined to shed the blood of our subjects because of such a misunderstanding, and if you agree to withdraw your troops from Russian possessions, then I will ignore everything that happened, and an agreement between us will be possible. Otherwise, I will be forced to repel an attack that was not initiated by anything on my part. Your Majesty, you still have the opportunity to save humanity from the scourge of a new war.
(signed) Alexander ". ]

On June 13, at two o'clock in the morning, the sovereign, having summoned Balashev and read him his letter to Napoleon, ordered him to take this letter and personally hand it over to the French emperor. Sending Balashev, the sovereign again repeated his words to him that he would not reconcile as long as at least one armed enemy remained on Russian soil, and ordered him to convey these words to Napoleon without fail. The sovereign did not write these words in the letter, because he felt with his tact that these words were inconvenient to convey at the moment when the last attempt at reconciliation was being made; but he certainly ordered Balashev to hand them over to Napoleon personally.
Leaving on the night of June 13-14, Balashev, accompanied by a trumpeter and two Cossacks, arrived at dawn in the village of Rykonty, at the French outposts on this side of the Neman. He was stopped by French cavalry sentries.
A French hussar non-commissioned officer, in a crimson uniform and a shaggy hat, shouted at Balashev, who was approaching, ordering him to stop. Balashev did not immediately stop, but continued to walk along the road.
The non-commissioned officer, frowning and grumbling some kind of curse, advanced with the chest of a horse on Balashev, took up his saber and rudely shouted at the Russian general, asking him if he was deaf that he did not hear what was being said to him. Balashev identified himself. The non-commissioned officer sent a soldier to the officer.
Not paying attention to Balashev, the non-commissioned officer began to talk with his comrades about his regimental business and did not look at the Russian general.
It was unusually strange for Balashev, after closeness to the highest power and power, after a conversation three hours ago with the sovereign and generally accustomed to honors in his service, to see here, on Russian soil, this hostile and, most importantly, disrespectful attitude of brute force towards himself.
The sun was just beginning to rise from behind the clouds; the air was fresh and dewy. On the way, the herd was driven out of the village. In the fields, one by one, like bubbles in water, larks were sprinkled with a sense of smell.
Balashev looked around him, expecting the arrival of an officer from the village. The Russian Cossacks, the trumpeter, and the French hussars occasionally looked at each other in silence.
The French hussar colonel, apparently just out of bed, rode out of the village on a handsome well-fed gray horse, accompanied by two hussars. The officer, the soldiers, and their horses had an air of contentment and panache.

Dioscoro Pueblo. "The landing of Columbus in America" (painting in 1862)

Discovery of America- an event as a result of which a new part of the world became known to the inhabitants of the Old World - America, consisting of two continents.

Expeditions of Christopher Columbus

1st expedition

The first expedition of Christopher Columbus (1492-1493) of 91 people on the ships "Santa Maria", "Pinta", "Niña" left Palos de la Frontera on August 3, 1492, turned from the Canary Islands to West (September 9), crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the subtropical belt and reached the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas, where Christopher Columbus landed on October 12, 1492 (the official date of the discovery of America). On October 14-24, Christopher Columbus visited a number of other Bahamas, and on October 28-December 5, he discovered and surveyed a section of the northeastern coast of Cuba. On December 6, Columbus reached Fr. Haiti and moved along the northern coast. On the night of December 25, the flagship Santa Maria landed on the reef, but people escaped. Columbus on the ship "Ninya" 4-16 January 1493 completed the survey of the northern coast of Haiti and 15 March returned to Castile.

2nd expedition

3rd expedition

4th expedition

Pioneer Candidates

The first people who settled in America are the indigenous Indians who crossed there about 30 thousand years ago from Asia along the Bering Isthmus.
In the 10th century, around 1000, the Vikings, led by Leif Eriksson. L'Ans aux Meadows contains the remains of a Viking settlement on the continent. This historical and archaeological site (L'Ans aux Meadows) is recognized by scientists as evidence of transoceanic contacts that took place before the discovery made by Columbus.
In 1492 - Christopher Columbus (Genoese in the service of Spain); Columbus himself believed that he opened the way to Asia (hence the name West Indies, Indians).
In 1507 - the cartographer M. Waldseemüller proposed that the open lands be named America in honor of the explorer of the New World Amerigo Vespucci - this is considered the moment from which America was recognized as an independent continent.
There is sufficient reason to believe that the continent was named after the English patron of the arts Richard America from Bristol, who financed the second transatlantic expedition of John Cabot in 1497, and Vespucci took the nickname in honor of the already named continent [ ]. In May 1497, Cabot reached the shores of Labrador, becoming the first officially registered European to set foot on the North American continent. Cabot mapped the coast of North America from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland. In the calendar of Bristol for that year we read: “... on the day of St. John the Baptist found the land of America by merchants from Bristol, who arrived on a ship from Bristol with the name "Matthew" ("Metic") ".