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PACIFICOCEAN- ,
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TIltr"'rlora'i,,,,,/lidst nlrmrm
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Thejour neysof1l11.'nsuchasd e SoreandCorona do
gaveSpaina claim to a largeamo untoflandin North
America.Theyalsoledto th e fou ndi n g ofsomeof
the earliestpermanentEu ro peanscn lcmcntsthere.In
15(lS Span ishsettlersfounde dSr.Augustineon the
coastofp resent-dayFlorida.In 16(1)o the rsettle rs
foundedSantaFe in N ewMe xico.
ThegrowingwealthofSpa in mad e otherEuropean
nationsenv io us. Theybecam eeagerto sha reth e
riches of the N ewWorld. In 1497 Kin gI IcnrvVIIo f
Englandh iredall Italianseam an namedj ohn Cabot
toexplore rhc newlandsandtolookagain fo rJ
passagl'toAsia .Cabotsailedfar t o the northofthe
route Co lu m bushad followed.Even tua lly he
reached the rockycoast of'Ncwfoundland.Atfi rst
Cabo tthou ghtth atthis wasChina.A yearlaterhe
made a secondwestwardcro ssmgoftill'Arlnutic.
Thistimehe sailed sout h alo ng rhc coasto f North
Americaasf.1TasChesapeakeBay,
Cabotfound 110 goldand no passagetotill'East.Bu t
hisvoyageswerevaluablefortheEnglish, In later
yearsEngli shgovcmmcnrs usedth emto su ppo rt
theirclaimstoownmostofth e cast coastofNorth
America.
The French also sent explorers toNorthAmerica. In
1524 theFren chkin g ,FrancisI.sentan Italiansailo r
named Giova nniVcrraza no forth e samep urposeJ.S
ColumbusandCabot- to findlan dsrich in gold and
a newsearouteto Asia.Vcrrazanosailed [hefull
lengthofthe eastcoastofAmerica.but found
neith er.Howe ver ,he anchored his ship inwhatis
nowthehar borofNewYork,T o d aya b ridgewhich
carrieshis nam e,theVerra zanoNarrowsBridge is
oneofthecity'smostimpr essive sights.
Ten yearslateranothe r Fren chexplorer.a fisherma n
fro mNorman d yn amedJacquesCartier,discovered
th e Sf. Lawrence River .H e return edto Fran ce and
reportedth atth e forestslining th e river 'ssh o res were
full o f fur - bearinganimals andth atits w aterswere
fulloffish.The next yearhesailedfu rther u p the
river.reaching thesiteofthepresent-daycityo f
M o n trea l. Car rierfailedtofindth e waytoAsiath at
Ill'waslooking for .buthegavePran cea claimto
w hatwouldlater become C anad a.
C laiming thatyouowned land ill theN ew World
w aso nethin g ,Actu ally making ityoursw as
somethi ng quited ifferent .Euro pean scouldo nlydo
thisbyestablishingsett leme ntso f'thci rownpeo ple.
Hy theseven teen thcenturyp lent yo f peoplein
Eur o pewereread ytosettleinAmerica.Somehoped
to becomerich by doingso,Othersho pedtofin d
safetyfromreligiouso r politicalpersecut ion.Inthe
hun d red years after 1600 .European ssetupmany
colon iesIIINorth Ameri cafo rreaso nslike these.
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