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The Age of Exploration
Causes of European Exploration
• The Crusades had exposed Europe to luxury
goods from Asia
• The Black Death and the dissolution of the
Mongol Empire had disrupted Asian trade
routes
• As Europe pulled itself out of the Middle Ages
and into the Renaissance, demand for Asian
goods had increased.
• Goods included silks and other luxuries, but
the most valued trade items were spices
• Cloves, cinnamon, pepper, etc.
• Used to preserve and add flavor to food, make
medicines, make perfumes
Motives for European Exploration
• Trade between Europe and Asia was dominated by Italian and Muslim
merchants at this time
• As a good passed from merchant to merchant its price increased
drastically
• To avoid increased costs, Europeans wanted to find their own trade
routes and get the items for much less
• Goal was to find routes to Asia that bypassed the Mediterranean
Spice
trader
Muslim
merchant
to Italy
Italian
Merchant
to Europe
Bought
by
European
Improved Technology
• Printing Press allowed new books to be
printed, including geography, sea travel,
and technology
• Gunpowder was used to help equip ships
with cannons
• Improvements in naval technology
helped European explorers cross oceans
• Cartographers created more accurate
maps
• Astrolabe- instrument used to help
determine latitude location in the ocean
• Caravels- ships developed by the
Portuguese that combined European
square sails and Arab triangular sails,
made it easier to sail across/into the wind
Portugal Leads the Way
• The Portuguese led as early pioneers,
exploring and searching for a passage to India
• Prince Henry (known as Henry the Navigator)
was enamored with Africa
• Felt he could convert Africans to Christianity
• Wanted to find the source of the gold
controlled by Muslim traders
• Wanted to find an easier way to reach Asia
that bypassed the Mediterranean
• Founded a school to teach mapmaking
(cartography), sailing techniques and training
for captains and crew.
• Established small forts in West Africa to collect
food and water and make repairs
Bartholomeu Dias
• Explored the Western Coast of Africa with
his crew. A storm blew them off course, but
luckily carried them past the southern-most
tip of Africa in 1488.
• This is a turning point in the search for a
sea route to India. He named the southern
tip of the continent the Cape of Good
Hope, because it gave hope of reaching the
spice lands.
Vasco da Gama
• Da Gama led a group of Portuguese sailors around the
Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean. He is
the first European to reach the Indian Spice market
directly.
• Da Gama landed in Calicut, India and loaded tons of
spices onto his ships. In India he paid a mere 6 cents
per pound of spice. In Europe, he sold them for nearly
$6 a pound.
• Left Portuguese merchants in India whose job it was to
buy spices when prices were low and store them until
fleets returned
Christopher Columbus
• Italian navigator from Genoa who wanted
to reach the East Indies (part of today’s
Indonesia) by sailing west across the
Atlantic
• Portugal refused to sponsor him, but he
convinced Ferdinand and Isabella of
Spain to finance his voyage
• It took Columbus and his crew 10 weeks
to reach the Caribbean Islands
• When Columbus landed in the Americas
he believed he had reached the East
Indies, so he called the people of the
region “Indians”
• Later Europeans realized that Columbus
had found a route to continents
previously unknown
New World Fight
• Portugal and Spain each wanted to claim the islands Columbus had
discovered
• With support of the pope, both countries signed the Treaty of
Tordesillas, which divided the non-European world into two zones
• Drew line of demarcation- Spain had trading and exploration rights
to the West, Portugal had
same rights to the East
• Allowed Spain and Portugal
to claim vast areas in
their zones, and spurred
other European nations
to challenge Spanish
and Portuguese clams
and build their own
trading empires
Magellan
• Once the Europeans realized that there were other continents in the
way of India, they began to search for a route around or through the
Americas to reach Asia
• Portuguese nobleman Ferdinand Magellan got funding from Spain to
find a way to reach the Pacific
• Found a passage in the southern
tip of South America that was
later named the Strait of Magellan
• Crew wanted to return the way
they had come, but Magellan
insisted on pushing across the
Pacific to the East Indies
• Although Magellan didn’t make it, those who did were the first to
circumnavigate the globe
Europeans in Africa
• Other European countries followed Spain and Portugal’s examples and
sought to expand their own trade networks
• Dutch, French, and English established footholds only the coast of West
Africa
• Dutch settled at the southern tip of Africa and built the city of Cape
Town, the first permanent European settlement in Africa
Europeans in Asia
• After Vasco da Gama, another
Portuguese explorer named
Afonso de Albuquerque headed
back to the Indian Ocean and
worked with Indian princes to
establish holdings along the
coast of the Indian Ocean
• A group of Dutch merchants
form the Dutch East India
Company, which had full
sovereign powers to build
armies, wage war, negotiate
peace treaties, and govern overseas territories
• Spain captures an archipelago and names it the
Philippines after Spanish king Philip II- this
becomes a key link in Spain’s trading empire
China’s Explorer
• From 1405-1433, Chinese explorer Zheng He led 7 expeditions to
explore the coasts of East Africa, Southeast Asia, and India, as well as
the entrances to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf
• However, Zheng He was not impressed by the technology of other
civilizations. He believed China’s civilization and accomplishments far
exceeded those of the Europeans.
Isolation
• As the Europeans continued to find quicker and more direct routes to
trade, they established trade routes to South East Asia, including China.
• However, the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans did not find value in the
barbarians from the west, so they chose to isolate themselves
Chinese Isolation
• Ming China- had no interest in Europe
• “Our empire owns the world”
• Portuguese wanted to trade for spices, but since their
goods were inferior to China’s, the Chinese demanded
payment in gold/silver
• Only allowed European traders to trade at trading post
at Macao under supervision of imperial officials, and
had to leave at end of trading season
• Qing China- dynasty established by the Manchus from the
northeast
• Maintained Ming policy of restricting trade, but
Europeans kept pressing
• 1793- British Lord Macartney brought samples of
British goods, Chinese thought they were tributary
gifts to the emperor
• Macartney insisted on an audience with the emperor
but refused to perform the traditional kowtow, and
further insulted the Chinese by speaking of the natural
superiority of the English
• Isolationist policy proves disastrous for China in the long run
Tokugawa Isolation
• Japanese welcomed Western traders at first
• However, Tokugawa shoguns grew
increasingly hostile towards foreigners,
especially after hearing the Spanish had taken
the Philippines
• By 1638 the Tokugawa barred all European
merchants and forbade Japanese citizens
from travelling abroad
• Japan remained isolated for more than 200
years, and flourished