Simon Mattacks
speaker
2,981 appearances
17 recordings
3 series
first heard Dec 2024
last heard 13 Sep
Simon Mattacks’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 14 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 3.
Appearances
We now know that the Vikings had established a settlement in North America about 500 years earlier.
As we've mentioned, at first, Columbus didn't know he was in the Americas.
He'd been searching for a route to Asia.
Still, keep in mind that in the 15th century, geographical knowledge was still a work in progress.
At the time, one of the few ways people could improve their understanding of the world was to go out and explore, as Columbus did.
After a stormy journey back to Europe, Columbus landed in Spain to a hero's welcome.
He came with accounts of amazing new lands, fertile and beautiful, with rivers sparkling with gold.
He had also come home with evidence of his adventures, which included people he had kidnapped.
We saw how challenging it was for Columbus to raise funds for his first voyage.
For his second voyage, however, there were no such issues.
In September 1493, Columbus set sail from Spain once again.
This time, he had a much larger fleet, 17 ships.
The plan was to establish colonies and spread Christianity, ideally while maintaining friendly relations with the local people.
By early November, Columbus had reached a Caribbean island, which he named Dominica.
Indeed, while traveling from island to island, Columbus went on a naming spree.
Many of these names still survive today.
Montserrat, for instance, and Antigua.
When Columbus returned to a settlement he'd established on his first voyage, La Navidad, he was dismayed to see that the fortress had been destroyed and the men killed.
This was an early sign that things were not going to go smoothly.
Many of the indigenous people resented the presence of the Europeans and were willing to put up resistance.
Showing 1881–1900 of 2,981 · page 95 of 150
← Previous
Next →