Key learning points

1. During the Renaissance, European thinkers began to learn more about navigating the globe.
2. Christopher Columbus was able to sail across the Atlantic Ocean and land in the Americas in 1492.
3. First European involvement in the Americas was for trade and exploration.
4. Europeans called the Americas the 'New World'.
5. Europeans began to claim land in the 'New World' for themselves.

Keywords

• Renaissance - the Renaissance was a period of new thinking and ideas in Europe inspired by Ancient Rome and Greece

• Empire - an empire is a group of countries or provinces ruled from the centre by a person or group of people

• Native American - Native Americans are members of any of the peoples who were the original inhabitants of North and South America and the Caribbean Islands

• Colony - a colony is a country or area under the control of another country and occupied by settlers from that country

• Settlement - settlement is the process of establishing new communities in an area

Common misconception