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Between 1492 and 1504, the Italian navigator and explorer Christopher Columbus [a] led four transatlantic maritime expeditions in the name of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain to the Caribbean and to Central and South America. These voyages led to the widespread knowledge of the New World.
The earliest known use of the name "America" dates to 1505, when German poet Matthias Ringmann used it in a poem about the New World. [2] The word is a Latinized form of the first name of Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, who first proposed that the West Indies discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 were part of a previously unknown landmass, rather than the eastern limit of Asia.
Christopher Columbus [b] (/ k ə ˈ l ʌ m b ə s /; [2] between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italian [3] [c] explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa [3] [4] who completed four Spanish-based voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas.
In contemporary English, North and South America are generally considered separate continents, and taken together are called the Americas in the plural. When conceived as a unitary continent, the form is generally the continent of America in the singular.
On October 12, 1492, three Spanish ships under the command of Cristoforo Colombo (Christopher Columbus) landed on the Lucayan island of Guanahani which he names San Salvador (The Savior). On November 14, 1493, a Spanish fleet under the command of Columbus lands on a large inhabited island which he names Santa Cruz (Holy Cross, now Saint Croix).
Although the overseas territories under the jurisdiction of the Spanish crown are now commonly called "colonies" the term was not used until the second half of 18th century. The process of Spanish settlement, now called "colonization" and the "colonial era" are terms contested by scholars of Latin America [2] [3] [4] and more generally. [5]
Illustrative woodcut from the Latin edition of Columbus's letter printed in Basel in 1494. [1]A letter written by Christopher Columbus on February 15, 1493, is the first known document announcing the completion of his first voyage across the Atlantic, which set out in 1492 and reached the Americas.
1492: Columbus reaches the Bahamas, [5] Cuba and Hispaniola. 1492: La Navidad is established on the island of Hispaniola; it was destroyed by the following year. 1493: The colony of La Isabela is established on the island of Hispaniola. [6] 1493: Columbus arrives in Puerto Rico; 1494: Columbus arrives in Jamaica.