美国国家介绍课件.ppt

Discovery of the New World 1. The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas and Australia. 2. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia, and Africa (collectively, the Old World). Discovery of the New World The Old World and the New World Marco Polo An Italian merchant who traveled east to China and wrote about the wonders he had seen. This book, called The Travels of Marco Polo, contained a wealth of information about an unknown world and its peoples. Some Europeans were eager to visit Asia and get some wealth for themselves. Christopher Columbus read and believed Marco Polo’s story and devised a plan to sail to Asia. The New World Discovery of the New World In the following years Columbus made three more voyages, and many other Spaniards explored the Caribbean islands and mainland. Columbus departed from Spain on August 3, 1492, on a fleet of three ships---Pinta, Nina Santa Maria. On October 12, 1492, Columbus landed on the island of San Salvador. Because Columbus thought he had reached India, a part of Asia, he referred to the people on the island as Indians. The islands he reached are now called the West Indies. Columbus Day---2nd Monday in October---in memory of Columbus who first landed on America. Across the Ocean Amerigo Vespucci 阿美利哥·维斯普西 (another Italian navigator sent by Spain, 4 times between 1497 and 1500) confirmed that the continent was not India but a new world. He wrote a letter saying, “I have found a new world.” Although Columbus really found the New World before him, he was the first person to call it the “new world”. In 1507, a German mapmaker named the New World “America” in honor of the man he thought had discovered it – Amerigo Vespucci. Columbian Exchange New foods reshaped the diets of people in both hemispheres. Do they belong to