Summary (discoveries)

Cristopher Colombus, a navigator believed to be from Genoa, thought he could reach the Spice Islands by crossing the Atlantic. Hw knew the Earth was round but he thought taht it was much smaller. He did not know thta the continent of America existed.

Colombus presented his project to the Catholic Monarchs. Quenn Isabella signed the Capitulations of Santa Fe in 1492, agreeing to finance his voyage.

Colombus project was based on two ideas:
 - The Earth was round.But he calculated the diameter incorrectly.
 - The ocean was the only thing separating Europe and Asia. He didn't know about America.

In 1513, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa led an expedition taht crossed the isthmus of Panama. It was there that he discovered a new ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and confirmed that America was a new continent.

The name of America comes from Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian navigator who explored the coasts of the New World after Colombus. He claimed to be the first person to set food on the new continent.

In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan led an expedition to find a sea route connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.This expedition was the first voyage around the world.