Iberian Conquest : 151 



Magellan's work was that he defined the limits of the mainland of 

 South America and thus of the southwest boundary of the Atlantic 

 Ocean and he also, of course, for the first time revealed the relation- 

 ship between the Atlantic and the other oceans of the world. 



These years were important not only from the point of view of 

 exploration but also for their development of colonization and of 

 ocean traffic. The discovery of the Grand Banks fisheries and of the 

 whaling and sealing waters between Greenland and America was fol- 

 lowed up by annual passages of large numbers of whaling, sealing 

 and fishing vessels coming from Denmark, England, France and Por- 

 tugal. By 1550, for example, a fleet of 400 vessels was sailing each year 

 from Portugal to the Grand Banks. 



On his first voyage, Columbus left some of his companions behind 

 on Hispaniola to hold his claim to the land and this was the first 

 and unsuccessful attempt to found a Spanish setdement in the New 

 World. It was evident at once that the West Indies were a rich find 

 from an agricultural point of view and that they could be quickly 

 exploited by employing the Indians as servants and slaves. Coloniza- 

 tion therefore was rapid and this in turn stimulated the shipbuilding 

 industry of Spain and set up commerce between Spain and the West 

 Indies that was to endure for centuries. As rapidly as discoveries and 

 colonization took place, the course of commerce was also expanding 

 to include Florida in the north and the coasts of Panama and South 

 America as well. 



