The History of Latin America

The History of Latin America — page 3
INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION N ative peoples had lived in the Americas for thousands of years by the time the first European explorers set foot on their land Although the Italian-born explorer Christopher Columbus was not the first European to reach the Americas Vikings such as Leif Eriksson had visit ed North America five centuries earlier the arrival of his ships in the West Indies in 1492 is an important milestone since it marked the beginning of the colonial era in Latin America Columbus whose voyages were sponsored by the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand II and Isabella I reached the South American mainland by 1498 Within decades the Spaniards would locate and occupy the areas of great est indigenous population and resources in Latin America Other European powers soon followed But if these lands represented a new world for Euro peans they were a very old world for the native peo ples Columbus and his successors encountered These peoples included the Maya of the Yucatán Peninsula the Aztec of Mexico the Inca of Peru and This map illustrates the four journeys undertaken by Christopher Columbus and his crew across the Atlantic Ocean between 1492 and 1504 4