Definition of Discovery of America

In the archipelago off the Bahamas is Watling Island, also known as San Salvador Island. Most historians agree that it was on the coasts of this island where Christopher Columbus's ships arrived at America October 12, 1492. This episode was the beginning of the Discovery of America.

Particularities and curiosities about the Discovery

More than 500 years have passed since then, the origin of Christopher Columbus remains a mystery. Officially it is stated that he was born in the Italian city of Genoa, but it is striking that he did not write in Italian but in Spanish. It is believed that he may have been Jewish and that he wanted to keep his authentic identity in secret.

The first Map of America was made in 1507 by the German Martin Waldessemüller and used the word America in honor of the Italian navigator Americo Vespucci, the first to consider that the new conquered lands were a new continent.

The first indigenous words incorporated into Spanish were canoe, tomato, potato, chocolate and jaguar.

The abuses of the Spaniards on the populationindigenous they were denounced by the Dominican Fray Bartolomé de las Casas in 1511 in his work "Brief relation of the destruction of the Indies".

In 1545 the Potosí silver mine in Peru was discovered. Approximately half of the silver obtained in the world came from these mines. In Spanish, the expression "This is worth a Potosí" means that something has a lot of value.

At the end of the seventeenth century, black slaves from Africa began to arrive in America. Who started the Commerce of slaves were the Portuguese navigators.

On Columbus's second trip to the New World, the first Spanish missionaries arrived. With their presence there was a primary objective: to Christianize the Native Americans.

On his third voyage, Columbus reached the mouth of the Orinoco River and believed that he had found the earthly paradise, as demonstrated in a letter that he sent to the Catholic Monarchs in October 1498.

The mix of races

The Spanish conquerors, unlike other colonial empires, did mix with the indigenous population. Women in indigenous societies were treated as a bargaining chip.

This original circumstance caused a process of miscegenation to take place over time. There were mulattoes or descendants of black and white, mestizos or children of white fathers or mothers and an Amerindian parent and Creoles or descendants of Spaniards born in America.

Photos: Fotolia - Kardd / Juulijs