Biographies of the New World

Biographies of the New World — page 3
INTRODUCTION he New World refers to the Western Hemisphere namely what is now North and South America At the time the name originated these regions were first being explored by European navigators such as Christopher Columbus John Cabot and Amerigo Vespucci Peter Martyr d Anghiera an Italian scholar of the era used the term New World in his chronicles of Columbus's voyages and other early Spanish explora tions Vespucci and Giovanni da Verrazzano also used the term when referring to their voyages across the Atlantic These early explorations of the New World beginning with Columbus s voyage of 1492 came during a great period of explora tion known as the Age of Discovery It was a time of great economic expansion for Europe which along with Asia and Africa came to be known as the Old World In the 15th and 16th centuries explorers from Spain Portugal France England and the Netherlands among other powers charted these territories largely in search of new trade routes In addi tion to Columbus and Vespucci some of the most notable names of this era included Juan Ponce de Leon Ferdinand Magellan Hernán