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Leif Eriksson, discovered Greenland around 1200 CE.
Norse sailors explored and settled limited areas on the shores of present-day Greenland and Canada. -
France afounded colonies in the Americas:
•Eastern North America,
•a number of Caribbean islands,
•and small coastal parts of South America. •Portugal:
•Colonized Brazil -
Collapse of Byzantine Empire cut off Europe from overland trade with East Asia Extensive European colonization began in 1492
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Period of the Columbian Exchange, dramatically widespread exchange of animals, plants, culture, human populations, communicable disease, and ideas between the American and Afro-Eurasian
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•Spain to be the first European power to settle and colonize the largest areas, from North America and the Caribbean to the southern tip of South America.
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•Treaty of Tordesillas 1494
•Ratified by the Pope, these 2 kingdoms divided the entire non-European world into 2 areas of exploration and colonization -
•Vasco de Gama – 1497 sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to India and helped establish European trade in the Indian Ocean.
•Ferdinand Magellan – 1519 proved the world was round by circumnavigating the globe.
