In the 1400s traders from Europe trav­elled long distances to the east by land and by sea. They exchanged, bought, and sold things to people in Asia. The trade route back and forth to Asia by land was very long and difficult. Ships had to travel all the way around Africa. It was a long and dangerous trip.
An Italian sea captain and mapmaker named Christo­pher Columbus believed that there was an easier way to travel to Asia from Europe. In the 1400s many people believed that the world was flat! Columbus believed that he could travel west across the Atlantic Ocean and arrive in Asia. He believed the world was round. Many people laughed at Columbus, but the queen of Spain believed Columbus was correct. She gave him money, ships, and men. He went to look for a faster trade route to Asia.
In 1492, Columbus travelled across the Atlantic Ocean with three ships. After about 30 days, he reached a land. He thought he had arrived in India. In fact, he had really found islands of North America. He called the people on the island Indians. Of course, they were not Indians.
They were Native Americans whose ancestors had mi­grated from Asia thousands of years ago. They lived in many beautiful cities in over 2,000 separate and ad­vanced societies. Many of these societies were attacked and totally destroyed by the Spanish and Portuguese who came after Columbus in the 1500s. These explorers came to find gold and other riches. They came to take new land for their countries. They killed the Natives, took their women, their gold, their land, and their possessions. These explorers became rich and powerful. Spain and Portugal controlled all of the peo­ple and land in what are now the southern and western parts of the United States and all of Mexico, Central America, and South America. France and England also controlled land in North America.