UnIt SuMmArY:

Spain’s desire to find wealthy, non-European lands that were not controlled by their rivals led to the discovery of the Americas as well as the decimation of Native populations. Previous crusades from eleventh to fourteenth centuries informed European countries that there were many luxuries such as silk, spices, and other items that they did not have. Recent explorers, boasting that they had found lands of unmatched riches in India and China, moved the European eye from Africa to Asia. Yet one explorer, Marco Polo, actually stimulated Europe into circumventing their rivals and reach the land of their dreams with detailed tales and even a book of the valuable merchandise to be found in China. Portugal beat Spain in the scramble to find a route to India and China when Victor de Gama found a path around Africa in 1498. This is why when a Genoese explorer and sailor suggested a route west to the Indies, the Spanish crown agreed to give him three ships and a couple hundred sailors. A miscalculation in Columbus’s plans eventually led him to discover Hispaniola. The new world had been found, and little did the natives know that they would be exploited, diseased, and decimated for many years to come.