Columbus's voyage was about the acquisition of spices and gold. When starting his voyage he had planned to sail to India so he could get both spices and gold. He mistakes the new world(America) for India and named the natives Indians. We all should be thankful to Columbus because we might not have been here today in America if he wouldn't have found it :).
France under the Ancien Régime (before the French Revolution) divided society into three estates: the First Estate (clergy); the Second Estate (nobility); and the Third Estate (commoners). The king was considered part of no estate.
