America before Columbus

Why did these Europeans go to America? This all started when the Europeans lost their Silk Road to the East to the Turks, this meant the decline of foreign trade. The nobles' wealth depended on trading. So they must find a new trade route. One seaman named Columbus had a crazy idea of sailing into the unknown to reach India. He spent five years trying to gain royal financial support for his voyage. In the end, he received the support from the queen of Spain, Isabella. Christopher Columbus's voyage was very successful. His discoveries of riches and lands and gold were soon being known by many many people. The Queen of Spain needed these people to conquer the new found land of her. And in 1493, 17 ships carrying 1200 Spaniards arrived in the New World on an island in the Caribbean Sea. They soon started to explore the New land, some went south, some to the Andes and some along the Mississippi River. They soon conquered south and Central American.

The Spanish conquistadors brought many animals with them, such as horses, pigs, sheep and cattle. Some of them had gone astray. Affected by surroundings, they became more wild. The horses became the mustang and the pigs became wild boars. The animals soon affected the Indians' daily life. The conquistadors also brought something more deadly, smallpox. For the native Americans' immune systems were not capable of protecting them from smallpox, this disease had a devastating impact on Native American populations.

- J a c k X u