The fall of Constantinople led to the ‘Discovery’ of the America

Between Apr. 6, 1453 and May 29, 1453, the capital of the Byzantine Empire — the last
remaining connection to the once mighty Roman Empire — fell to an invading Ottoman
Army, which was under the command of Mehmed II. The impact was far-reaching,
it changed the structure of Christianity in Russia, led to the Islamisation of North Africa and
modern day Turkey, and changed the conditions of established trade and political
relationships.

Since early 15th century Portuguese explorers had been navigating the African continent and
nearby Islands. By the end of the century the exploration, which was fast tracked by change
in control of Constantinople and the resulting changes in trade arrangements, led to the
famous rounding of the Cape Of Good Hope, the setting up of a direct sea link with India and
China, the ‘Discovery of the Americans’ and the mapping of the world. Hence the need to find
a trade route to Asia, resulted in the Americas being found and mapped. This is not meant to
imply that the explorations would not have occurred otherwise, however, the fall of
Constantinople led to a sudden change in trade and commerce which incentivised each
Empires efforts to discover the sea route to Asia.

The Renaissance

Between 1000 and 1650, a series of interconnected developments occurred in Europe that
included the Renaissance, the unification of small states into larger ones with centralized
political power, the emergence of new technology in navigation and shipbuilding and the
establishment of overland trade with the East and the accompanying transformation of the
medieval economy.

In the Renaissance, artists and writers such as Galileo and Michelangelo adopted a view of
life that stressed humans’ ability to change and control the world. As these religious and
political changes were occurring, technological innovations in navigation set the stage for
exploration. Bigger, faster ships and the invention of navigational devices such as the
astrolabe and sextant made extended voyages possible.
A Faster Route to the East

But the most powerful inducement to exploration was trade. Marco Polo’s famous journey to
Cathay signaled Europe’s “discovery” of Chinese and Islamic civilizations. The Orient became
a magnet to traders, and exotic products and wealth flowed into Europe. Those who
benefited most were merchants who sat astride the great overland trade routes, especially the
merchants of the Italian city-states of Genoa, Venice and Florence.

Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco de Gama and Pedro Álvares Cabral

Portugal led the others into exploration. Encouraged by Prince Henry the Navigator,
Portuguese seamen sailed southward along the African coast, seeking a water route to the
East. They were also looking for a legendary king named Prester John who had supposedly
built a Christian stronghold somewhere in northwestern Africa. Henry hoped to form an
alliance with Prester John to fight the Muslims.

During Henry’s lifetime the Portuguese learned much about the African coastal area. His
school developed the quadrant, the cross-staff and the compass, made advances in
cartography and designed and built highly maneuverable little ships known as caravels.

After Henry’s death, Portuguese interest in long-distance trade and expansion waned until
King John II commissioned Bartolomeu Dias to find a water route to India in 1487. Dias
sailed around the tip of Africa and into the Indian Ocean before his frightened crew forced
him to give up the quest. A year later, Vasco da Gama succeeded in reaching India and
returned to Portugal laden with jewels and spices.

In 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered and claimed Brazil for Portugal, and other
Portuguese captains established trading posts in the South China Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and
the Arabian Sea. These water routes to the East undercut the power of the Italian city-states,
and Lisbon became Europe’s new trade capital.
Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus launched Spain’s imperial ambitions. Born in Genoa, Italy, around
1451, Columbus learned the art of navigation on voyages in the Mediterranean and the
Atlantic. At some point he probably read Cardinal Pierre d’Ailly’s early fifteenth-century
work, Imago mundi, which argued that the East could be found by sailing west of the Azores
for a few days.

Columbus, hoping to make such a voyage, spent years seeking a sponsor and finally found
one in Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain after they defeated the Moors and could turn their
attention to other projects.

In August 1492, Columbus sailed west with his now famous ships, Niña, Pinta and Santa
María. After ten weeks he sighted an island in the Bahamas, which he named San Salvador.
Thinking he had found islands near Japan, he sailed on until he reached Cuba (which he
thought was mainland China) and later Haiti.

Columbus returned to Spain with many products unknown to Europe–coconuts, tobacco,

sweet corn, potatoes–and with tales of dark-skinned native peoples whom he called
“Indians” because he assumed he had been sailing in the Indian Ocean.

Although Columbus found no gold or silver, he was hailed by Spain and much of Europe as
the discoverer of d’Ailly’s western route to the East. John II of Portugal, however, believed
Columbus had discovered islands in the Atlantic already claimed by Portugal and took the
matter to Pope Alexander II.

Twice the pope issued decrees supporting Spain’s claim to Columbus’s discoveries. But the
territorial disputes between Portugal and Spain were not resolved until 1494 when they
signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, which drew a line 370 leagues west of the Azores as the
demarcation between the two empires.
Despite the treaty, controversy continued over what Columbus had found. He made three
more voyages to America between 1494 and 1502, during which he explored Puerto Rico, the
Virgin Islands, Jamaica, and Trinidad. Each time he returned more certain that he had
reached the East.

Subsequent explorations by others, however, persuaded most Europeans that Columbus had
discovered a “New World.” Ironically, that New World was named for someone else. A
German geographer, Martin Waldseemüller, accepted the claim of Amerigo Vespucci that he
had landed on the American mainland before Columbus. In 1507 Waldseemüller published a
book in which he named the new land “America.”