Which continent was discovered first. Who discovered Australia? What have we learned

Knowledge about the Earth, about the continents, oceans and seas did not come to people immediately. They accumulated bit by bit over many centuries and were systematized by many geographers and navigators.

Nowadays, with the help of satellites, you can easily photograph and explore any corner of our vast planet. However, this was not always the case. People have spent a lot of effort and time in order to discover the world.

The first travelers-discoverers

In the ancient world, the first discoveries of new lands were associated with the laying of trade routes by merchant sailors. In 600 BC, the ancient Phoenicians for the first time in the history of mankind were able to travel around Africa, which made it possible for people to draw the first geographical maps of the continent.

During this sea voyage, islands such as Madeira, the Azores and the Canary Islands were discovered. Another heroic discoverer of the world was the ancient Greeks, who managed not only to discover such lands as India, the south of France, the southwestern lands of Britain, Greenland, but also to draw correct conclusions regarding natural phenomena and structure of the planet.

It was the ancient Greek navigators who first expressed the theory that the earth has a round shape. The ancient Greeks, who traveled through the northern lands, spoke in their state about the northern lights, about the breath of the sea (tides), but their compatriots mistook them for madmen, their stories sounded so implausible.

Great geographical discoveries

Thanks to the development of trade and the improvement of shipbuilding, in the 15-17th century, the period of the Great geographical discoveries, during which people managed to discover the continents and islands, which until then remained under the veil of secrecy.

In 1492, the famous Spanish navigator Christopher Columbus, in search of new trade routes with India, discovered the New World, which was later called America. A significant contribution to the discovery of new territories was made by the Portuguese sailor Vasco de Gamma, who in 1948 discovered several islands in Asia and Oceania.

In 1512 the first trip around the world made by the Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan. During this journey, the first maps of the Indian Ocean were made.

In the 17th century, New Zealand, the Hawaiian Islands and Australia were discovered by Europeans. In the same period, Russian pioneers conquered the entire territory of Siberia and entered the Far East.

The last continent that people discovered in 1820 was distant Antarctica.

The importance of geographical discoveries

As a result of the fact that people discovered new lands, mankind was able to accumulate knowledge about the world order: the movement of the sun, the moon, the change of seasons in different territories, the presence of poles.

Those benefits became available to people and Natural resources that abounded in the new lands. Thanks to geographical discoveries in the period of Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the New Age, we have the opportunity to fully study the geography of our planet.

Wake up anyone in the middle of the night with the question: “Who discovered America first?”, And without hesitation, they will immediately give you the correct answer, calling the name of Christopher Columbus. This is for everyone known fact, which, it would seem, no one disputes. But was Columbus the first European to set foot on a new land? Not at all. Question one: "So who?". But Columbus was called for a reason discoverer.

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How did Columbus discover

In what century did such significant changes for the world take place? The official date for the discovery of a new continent called the Americas is 1499, 15th century. At that time, speculation began to appear among the inhabitants of Europe that the earth was round. They began to think about the possibility of navigation on Atlantic Ocean and opening the western way straight to the shores of Asia.

The story of how Columbus discovered America is very funny. It so happened that he randomly stumbled upon the New World, holding the way to distant India.

Christopher was an avid sailor, from a young age who managed to visit all known at that time. Carefully studying a huge number geographical maps, Columbus planned to sail to India across the Atlantic without passing through Africa.

He, like many the scholars of that time, naively believed that, having gone straight from Western Europe to the east, it will reach the shores of such Asian countries as China and India. No one could even imagine what was in his way all of a sudden. new lands will appear.

It is the day when Columbus reached the shores of the new mainland and is considered beginning of American history.

Continents discovered by Columbus

Christopher is considered the one who discovered North America. But in parallel with it, after the news of the New World spread to all countries, in the struggle for the development of the northern territories the British entered.

In total, the navigator made four expeditions. The continents that Columbus discovered: the island of Haiti or, as the traveler himself called it, Lesser Spain, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Antigua and many other territories of North America. From 1498 to 1504, during his last expeditions, the navigator already mastered lands of south america, where he reached the shores of not only Venezuela, but also Brazil. A little later, the expedition reached Central America , where the coastlines of Nicaragua and Honduras were developed, all the way to Panama.

Who else mastered America

Formally, many navigators opened America to the world in different ways. History counts many names associated with the development of the lands of the New World. The Columbus case continued:

Alexander Mackenzie;
William Buffin;
Henry Hudson;
John Davis.

Thanks to these navigators, the entire continent was explored and mastered, including Pacific coast.

Also, another discoverer of America is considered at least famous person - Amerigo Vespucci. The Portuguese navigator went on expeditions and explored the coast of Brazil.

It was he who first suggested that Christopher Columbus sailed far not to China and India, but to previously unknown. His conjectures were confirmed by Fernand Magellan, after making the first trip around the world.

It is believed that the mainland was named precisely in honor of Vespucci, contrary to all the logic of what is happening. And today the New World is known to everyone under the name of America, and not in any other way. So who really discovered America?

Pre-Columbian expeditions to the Americas

In the legends and beliefs of the Scandinavian peoples, one can often stumble upon the mention of distant lands called Vinland located near Greenland. Historians believe that it was the Vikings who discovered America and became the first Europeans to set foot on the lands of the New World, and in their legends, Vinland is nothing more than Newfoundland.

Everyone knows how Columbus discovered America, but in fact Christopher was far away not the first navigator who visited this continent. Leif Erickson, who named one of the parts of the new continent as Vinland, cannot be called a discoverer either.

Who is considered first? Historians dare to believe that he was a merchant from distant Scandinavia - Bjarni Herjulfsson, which is mentioned in the Greenlanders' Saga. That's why literary work, in 985. he moved towards Greenland to meet his father, but lost his way due to a strong storm.

Before the discovery of America, the merchant had to sail at random, since he had not seen the lands of Greenland before and did not know a specific course. He soon reached the level shores of an unknown island covered with forests. Such a description did not fit Greenland at all, which surprised him greatly. Bjarni decided not to land and turn back.

Soon he sailed to Greenland, where he told this story to Leif Erickson, the son of the discoverer of Greenland. Exactly he became the first of the vikings who tried their luck to enter to the lands of America before Columbus, which he called Vinland.

Forced search for new lands

Important! Greenland is not the most pleasant country to live in. It is poor in resources, with a harsh climate. The possibility of resettlement at that time seemed like a pipe dream for the Vikings.

Stories about fertile lands covered with dense forests only spurred them on. Erickson gathered a small team for himself and set off on a journey in search of new territories. Leif became the one who discovered North America.

The first uncharted places they stumbled upon were rocky and mountainous. In their description today, historians see nothing more than baffin land. The subsequent coasts turned out to be low-lying, with green forests and long sandy beaches. This historians were very reminded of the description coast of the Labrador Peninsula in Canada.

On the new lands, wood was mined, which is so hard to find in Greenland. Subsequently, the Vikings founded the first two settlements in the New World, and all these territories were called Vinland.

The scientist who was nicknamed the "second Columbus"

The famous German geographer, naturalist and traveler are all one great person who is called Alexander Humboldt.

This great scientist opened America to others on the scientific side, having spent many years on research, and he was not alone. About what kind of partner he needed, Humbaldt did not hesitate for a long time and immediately made his choice in favor of Bonpland.

Humboldt and French botanist in 1799. went to scientific expedition to South America and Mexico, which lasted for five years. This journey brought scientists worldwide fame, and Humboldt himself was called the "second Columbus".

It is believed that in 1796 The scientist set himself the following tasks:

explore little-studied areas of the globe;
systematize all the information received;
taking into account the results of research by other scientists, a comprehensive description of the structure of the universe.

All tasks, of course, were successfully completed. After the discovery of America as a continent, no one dared to conduct similar studies Conclusion

It can be concluded that many prominent navigators discovered America almost simultaneously, but in world history the name of Christopher Columbus will always be the first in the list of those who mastered the territories of the New World.

We talked about the search for the mysterious Southern continent, located, according to ancient scientists - geographers, in the high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth, in the first geographical book "How people discovered their Earth" in the "Your Outlook" series. And this is our book about the oceans and their integral part - the seas. But each expedition had to overcome the difficult sea route through uncharted waters ... But there were no reliable ships. Yes, and the vast ocean expanses frightened people. Let's take a look at a little history...

The Spaniards were the first to search for the southern mainland in the 16th-17th centuries. It was the second period of the era of the great geographical discoveries. Spanish ships dominated all oceans. And gold in South America was beginning to dry up. At that time, it was believed that the further south the land is located, the more precious metal is in its bowels and rivers. In search of the elusive Southern mainland, the Spanish captains discovered and conquered the Philippines; put New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and even the northern coast of Australia on secret maps ... But they never reached the southern mainland.

The Dutch took over from the Spaniards. The merchants of the Dutch East India Company demanded that their captains find islands rich in gold, silver and spices.

In the middle of the 18th century, the British and French began to search for the shores of the Southern Continent, which eluded everyone. In the waters of Australia and Oceania sailed professional sailors, pirates and amateurs - losers.

Finally, James Cook - a man of a cold mind and great curiosity, appointed commander of the three-masted barque Endeavor - went on his first trip around the world. Open the Southern Continent by all means! That was the secret instruction to the captain of the sailboat. The British really wanted to be the first to place bid posts on the shores of new lands ... Officially, the Admiralty announced that Captain Cook had been sent to the southern seas to observe how the planet Venus would pass across the solar disk.

Bypassing New Zealand, Cook proved that this is an island, and not part of the southern mainland, as some thought. A year after his return, he set sail again, now on two ships and with an official assignment to find the southern mainland and “stake out” it for the glory of Britain ... Returning and dropping anchor in the English harbor, the famous navigator said: “I went around the Southern Ocean at high latitudes and did it in such a way that he undeniably rejected the possibility of the existence of a mainland here, which, if it can be found, is only near the pole, in places inaccessible to navigation ... An end has been put to further searches for the southern mainland, which for two centuries has invariably attracted the attention of powers…”

Half a century has passed, and two Russian military sailing ships - the sloops "Vostok" and "Mirny" under the command of Faddey Faddeevich Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev oh! covered the southern continent - Antarctica.

If we compare sailing ships with modern oceangoing ships, both sloops were quite small. The displacement of each is less than a thousand tons. The deck dimensions, for example, of the Vostok sloop were forty meters long by ten meters wide. And one hundred and seventeen people were supposed to work on this site at the same time ... You ask: “Why so many?” Nothing less, because the only force to control two thousand square meters the sails were sailor's hands.

This expedition, sent "for the purpose of acquiring the fullest knowledge of our the globe”, is rightfully considered one of the most remarkable for its time. The most valuable information about the nature of the Southern Ocean and the entire Southern Hemisphere was brought by Russian sailors to their homeland. Twenty-nine islands were discovered, navigation charts and current charts were refined.

On board the Vostok, the first bathometer was constructed - a device for sampling sea water, which I have already mentioned. The expedition members watched the waves, the distribution sea ice and icebergs. Conducted experiments on freezing salt and fresh water and compared the results. Bellingshausen himself was the first to calculate the coordinates of the magnetic pole in the Southern Hemisphere. And finally, Russian sailors, having discovered Antarctica, dispelled the myth about the inaccessibility of Antarctic waters.

The well-known Soviet oceanologist N. Zubov wrote: “... The results of a wide variety of observations and studies of the Bellingshausen-Lazarev expedition allow us to say that it occupies a brilliant place not only among the Antarctic expeditions, but also among other expeditions to explore the World Ocean.”

Man's acquaintance with the continents of the planet lasted for a whole historical period. Obtaining important geographical information and a number of important finds began to bear the name of the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries. This knowledge of the Earth continued for two centuries.

Instruction

One of the brightest and most exciting is the discovery of a new world - America. Navigator Christopher Columbus set off in search of a sea route from the European part of Eurasia to the Indian shores. In 1492, the ship moored to the shore of the picturesque island. Columbus believed that the crew had arrived at the Indian coast. Because of the confidence of the navigator, the natives of America - the Indians - got their name. Columbus and the crew of sailors were terribly disappointed in their find. Trade with the locals was not promising. And only at the beginning of the 16th century, the navigator Amerigo Vespucci discovered for the inhabitants of Europe New World. He guessed that Columbus on his expedition mistakenly took America for the coast of India.
Acquaintance with the African continent was less intriguing. The inhabitants of Eurasia have known about the existence of Africa from time immemorial. Vasco da Gama is considered the first European pioneer in Africa. In 1497, the navigator's ship left Lisbon towards India. The navigator was the first European to sail across the sea to India, while circumnavigating the African continent. Along the way, Vasco da Gama explored the coast of Africa and made a lot of discoveries.
In November 1605, the navigator Willem Janszon set off on his ship towards the island of New Guinea. Approaching the coast, the traveler did not notice anything strange. At first he thought he had reached the right island. But, having set foot on a damp swampy shore, the navigator suspected that these lands were not at all what he was looking for. The indigenous population of the island met uninvited guests, to put it mildly, unfriendly. Then the sailors realized that they had landed on the shores of a completely foreign land. The island hostile to the travelers turned out to be New Zealand. Willem Janszoon is recognized as the first European to visit Australian shores.
Having made an incredible number of significant discoveries in the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, mankind did not even think that unknown continents remained on the planet. However, in January 1820, an expedition of Russian explorers under the command of Thaddeus Bellingshausen sailed towards the south pole of the earth. Unexpectedly for themselves, the members of the expedition discovered a hitherto unknown mainland. The continent, covered with a thick crust of ice, seemed dead to the sailors. The last discovered continent of our planet was called Antarctica.
The Magnificent Epoch, undoubtedly, has become one of the most significant in the exploration of the expanses of the Earth by man. Talented sailors and researchers have made an invaluable contribution to the development of science and the worldview of all mankind.

Antarctica is the most remote and little explored continent. I associate it with constant cold and huge glaciers. I would like to see the polar lights. But it is only dreams. I'd rather watch videos of this beauty. Many researchers wanted to get to these unknown lands. But only a few have been there.

Who and when discovered the continent of Antarctica

More than two hundred years have passed since the discovery of Australia (1606). People guessed that there is a cold southern mainland. It is located beyond the Arctic Circle, so it is very difficult to find it. The Russians decided to be the first to find the seventh mainland:

at the beginning of 1819 Admiral Ivan Kruzenshtein wrote a letter to Maritime Ministry Russia . The main goal is to send expeditions to the Northern and south pole;
July 15, 1819 Captain Bellingshausen went on a journey with his team;
in November 1819, the ships sailed to the shores;
opened in December new territories (islands). They were named after the lieutenants who were part of the expedition: Annenkov Island, Leskov and others;
On January 27, 1820, the ships crossed the Arctic Circle. The next day, the polar expedition saw the icy expanses of Antarctica.

We are proud of the fact that our compatriots are the discoverers of Antarctica. Only 197 years ago, a Russian expedition aboard the Mirny and Vostok ships was able to reach the shores of an uncharted land. Admirals Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev 16 (28 New Style) January 1820 discovered Antarctica.

Scientists find curious facts about this "ice land" in our time. Now I will give examples of some of them:

discovered on the mainland "space junk". Scientists have found about 16,000 meteorite stones in Antarctica;
tourist Antarctica. All comers tourists in summer can swim to the Arctic Circle;
Antarctica is an area that does not belong to anyone;
Antarctica is the polar Sahara. Its territory is called polar desert. Due to permafrost and constant cold, permanent life on the mainland is not possible. On the territory of the mainland there are polar expeditions that operate only in summer time;
on the mainland is unusual waterfall. The water in it is red. Unusually, very salty water never freezes. The water contains a lot of iron, so it is red.