1. It was not Christopher Columbus!!

2.  Fold your paper into thirds to create three columns on each side of your computer paper  Label the first Column “Notes”  During this interactive presentation…take your “Notes” there! Notes

3.  Strait-a narrow passage that connects two bodies of water  Circumnavigate-to travel around the entire world  Conquistador-soldier adventurers from Spain who set out to explore and conquer a world unknown to them

4.  Why do you think that people would have wanted to explore new territories across the Pacific?  What motivations could have driven them?

5. European fisherman may have fished off the coast of North America for centuries before Columbus arrived.

6. In Newfoundland, scientists have found the remains of a settlement of Vikings, a seagoing people who originally lived in Scandinavia. According to an old Viking story, in 1001, Leif Erickson and 35 other Vikings sailed from a colony in Greenland to Newfoundland. For a short time, the Vikings explored the region, which they called Vinland. Here is proof that Columbus was not the first European to arrive in the “New World”

7. In 1969, a modern explorer named Thor Heyerdahl sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in a reproduction of an Egyptian reed boat. The Phoenicians and the Greeks had the same type of boats. So, is it possible that all three groups also sailed to North America?

8.  Stone heads found in Mexico have African features  Ancient Negroid skulls and skeletons have been found in California, Mexico, Central and South America

9. Vikings Leif Ericson led an expedition to Greenland Ruins in Newfoundland Phoenicians, Greeks, Egyptians Had seaworthy vessels Modern explorer proved it could be done Africans Stone heads in ancient cities Skeletal remains in North and South America

10.  Travel around the room to meet and greet a few explorers who arrived in the New World prior to Columbus. Use the columns on your foldable to take notes on each. Label your remaining 5 columns now.  Hernan Cortez (Conquistador)  Vasco Nunez do Balboa (Conquistador)  Eric the Red  Bjarni Herjulfsson  Leif Ericsson  For each column, read the explorers biographical information and get the who, what, when, where, why notes for each in the remaining five columns of your foldable.  Smile! You just met 5 explorers

11.  Guiding question: How did Spain establish an empire in the Americas?

12.  Even though Columbus never realized that he reached an area previous unknown to Europeans, his four voyages gave Spain a head start in colonizing the Americas.  What is a colony?

13.  By the 1500s, Spain had a strong foothold in the Americas  Using their colonies in the Caribbean as a stepping stone, Spanish Conquistadors set out to explore and conquer new land. Each was in search of gold and glory.

14.  Cortez sailed from Cuba to Mexico in 1519 with more than 500 Spanish soldiers  The first Native Americans he encountered greeted him with gifts of gold. Cortez burned his own fleet of ships! Why?!  On November 18, 1519 Cortez and his soldiers marched in the interior of Mexico and toward Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan

15.  As they neared the capitol city many neighboring tribes joined the Spanish march (why?)  They had been conquered by the Aztec’s and hated their harsh rule…and sacrifices  Upon arrival, Aztec leader Montezuma met with Cortez and attempted to convince him to leave by offering gold

16.  This offering had the opposite effect….why?  Cortez got greedy and wanted all of the Aztec’s gold, not just what Montezuma offered him.  Cortez took Montezuma hostage and took control of the city, claiming it for Spain  However, the Aztec’s soon rebelled and forced the Spanish out

17.  A year later, Cortez returned with a much larger Spanish force and recaptured the capitol city turning it into Mexico City, the capital of the Spanish colony of New Spain