Америка в прошлом и настоящем. Часть I. Горчакова Е.П - 24 стр.

17. But in all these years, Columbus never realized that he had arrived in a
continent unknown to the Europeans. Columbus died in 1506, still confident that
he had sailed west to Asian islands.

EARLY SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE EXPEDITIONS TO AMERICA
18. Little by little, the explorers who followed Columbus learned the truth.
Before the beginning of the sixteenth century, they came upon many other islands
in the Caribbean. Then some explorers reached the eastern shores of Central
America. Others traveled along the northeast coast of South America. Year after
year, exciting reports continued to reach the court of Spain. "The mainland1 is large
- much larger than the islands where we first landed. The coastline here seems to
stretch forever to the north and to the south."
19. Naturally, these reports encouraged new sailors, new merchants, and new
dreamers. "How wide is this land," they wondered. "How long is it from north to
south?" The Great Age of Adventure had begun.
20. Soon it became clear that the mainland was indeed enormous. From Portugal
a fleet commanded by Pedro Cabral sailed southwest in 1500 and reached the
coastline of Brazil. In 1504, another Portuguese fleet followed to explore this new
territory. One of the members of the expedition was an Italian merchant, Amerigo
Vespucci. His report on the new western lands was immediately popular
throughout Europe. Vespucci, in fact, did more than report on his voyage. He
actually made it seem that he had reached America on another voyage before
Columbus! Believing this story, a German geography professor, Martin
Waldseemuller, suggested a perfect name for the new western lands: America.
21. Of course, the explorers were not satisfied with traveling along the coastline
of America. They wondered what the land was like beyond the shore. One explorer,
the Spaniard Balboa, questioned the people in present-day Panama. They told him
about another vast2 ocean on the western coast of the continent. Immediately,
Balboa decided to find this great sea.
22. Under a burning tropical sun, Balboa traveled through miles of thick jungle.
Many of his men died of hunger and disease. They sometimes fought with the
Native Americans. Still Balboa continued. Finally, in September, 1513, he crawled3 to
the top of a cliff and looked down. Below him, stretching for miles, was an
incredibly4 beautiful sight. Balboa was the first European to see the Pacific coast
of America.
23. But was the Pacific Ocean just a large sea, like the Mediterranean? Were
these lands perhaps connected to Asia, as Columbus had thought? Until 1522, no
one was really sure. But after Magellan's ship, the Victoria, returned to Spain in
September, 1-522, the truth was finally known. The crew of the Victoria had
1
  mainland: continental territory
2
  vast: huge
3
  crawl: creep
4
  incredible: impossible to believe

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