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He was responsible for the early development of European exploration and maritime trade with other continents.
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Columbus finds the New World when looking for a new trade route to India
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Vasco da Gama led a fleet of four ships with a crew of 170 men from Lisbon. The distance traveled in the journey around Africa to India and back was greater than around the equator.
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Columbus reaches Central America
People get new ideas of what the rest of the world looks like -
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He traveled to the New World in 1500 and, after some exploration, settled on the island of Hispaniola. He founded the settlement of Santa María la Antigua del Darién in present-day Panama in 1510, which was the first permanent European settlement on the mainland of the Americas
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In 1501, he crossed the Caribbean coasts from the east of Panama, along the Colombian coast, through the Gulf of Urabá toward Cabo de la Vela. The expedition continued to explore the north east of South America, until they realized they did not have enough men and sailed to Hispaniola.
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He was the first European to lead an expedition to have seen or reached the Pacific from the New World.
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He became known for having organised the expedition that resulted in the first circumnavigation of the Earth completed by Juan Sebastián Elcano.
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Charles I was persuaded by Magellan and granted him a large sum of money to find a route to the Spice Islands by sailing west, thereby giving Spain control of the area, since it would in effect be "west" of the dividing line through the Atlantic.