Download Exploration Timeline

Exploration Timeline:
1432
1441
ca. 1450
1450
1453
1470-84
1487
1492
1494
1497-98
1497-98
1499-1501
1511
1513
1519
1519
1521
1522
1530
1534-5
1577
1609-10
1681
1768
1770
1778
1779
Portuguese navigators discover the Azores.
Portuguese navigators cruise West Africa and reestablish slave trade.
Prince Henry the Navigator establishes a Naval observatory for the teaching of
navigation, astronomy, and cartography.
Invention of the printing press spurs wide distribution of navigation tables and
ship plans. Ptolemy's geography is published and widely accepted.
Turks overrun Constantinople, shutting off the overland trade route.
Portuguese explorations discover Africa's Gold Coast and the Congo River.
Bartholomeu Dias barely touches the Cape of Good Hope.
Columbus sets sail.
The Treaty of Tordesillas divides the world between Spain and Portugal for the
alleged purpose of spreading Christianity.
Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope and reaches India.
John Cabot sites "new found land" while searching for Northwest Passage.
Amerigo Vespucci made two voyages to South America and was the first person
to identify the Americas as separate from Asia.
Portugal defeats the Arabs in a major naval battle at the Straits of Sunda, taking
control of the Spice Islands as the center of Far East trade. (The Straits lie
between Java and Borneo, now Indonesia.)
Ponce de Leon, of France, sets out to find the Fountain of Youth in Florida.
Magellan begins his journey to circumnavigate the world with five ships and 270
men.
Hernan Cortes, of Spain, conquered the Aztec Empire
April 27, Magellan killed by natives in the Philippines.
September 6, eighteen of Magellan's crew and one ship return.
The Spanish Conquistador Francisco Pizarro set out to conquer the Inca Empire.
Jacques Cartier enters the St. Lawrence River. Land in Great Lakes claimed for
France.
Sir Francis Drake sets sail from England. He circumnavigates the globe.
Henry Hudson explores present-day New York and Hudson River and claims
them for the Dutch.
La Salle of France explores the Mississippi River between Canada and the Gulf of
Mexico
James Cook begins the first of his Pacific explorations.
Cook documents location of Australia.
Cook explores Hawaiian Islands. He fails to locate Northwest Passage from
Alaskan side.
Cook killed in Hawaii.
Portugal:
Since overland routes to Asia were blocked by Ottoman Turks, Portuguese mariners began their slow and persistent progress down the coast of Africa in
search for gold and trade routes to the east.
From 1419 until his death in [1460], Prince Henry sent expedition after expedition down the west coast of Africa to outflank the Muslim hold on trade
routes and to establish colonies. These expeditions moved slowly due to the mariners' belief that waters at the equator were at the boiling point, that
human skin turned black, and that sea monsters would engulf ships.
Unfortunately, Portugal began slaving operations along the west coast of Africa. Sailors could offer glass beads and colored cloth in exchange for tribal
captives. In 1452, Pope Nicolas V issued his papal bull allowing the enslavement of "pagans and infidels." Prince Henry's interest in the slaves was mainly
to convert them to Christianity.
Spain:
Columbus' ships covered approximately 150 miles a day. His seafaring instincts were extraordinary. His crews used a compass for direction and a chip log
(a knotted line with a wooden weight attached at the end) to measure speed.
A sailor counted how many knots were let off the reel in the time allotted. Multiplying the average rate of a ship's speed by a fixed amount of time gave a
rough estimate of the distance traveled. Columbus, however, relied on dead reckoning, meaning he used his experience, intuiti on, observations, and
guesswork to determine his ships' positions.
Life Aboard Ship
Columbus' crew worked in four-hour shifts measured by eight turns of the half-hour ampolletas (sandglasses). Their duties included pumping bilge,
cleaning the deck, working the sails and checking the ropes and cargo. When they were off duty, they slept anywhere they could find space. Columbus
himself often spent days without sleep. Only the captain had private quarters.
The sailors' lives were hard, and they often died from disease, hunger, and thirst. Religion was the central focus of their lives. Every day began with
prayers and hymns and ended with religious services in the evenings. The crew received one hot meal a day cooked over an open fire in a sandbox on
deck. Their diet consisted of ship's biscuit, pickled or salted meat, dried peas, cheese, wine, and fresh-caught fish.
Everywhere he went, he encountered native people he called Indians. (He assumed they were inhabitants of the Indies.) Initially, relations between the
newcomers and the Indians were friendly.
Ferdinand Magellan and the First Circumnavigation of the World
The discovery of the New World to the west had been a bitter disappointment. Although riches of various kinds were found, the new land did not have the
valued spices of the Orient. The search for a sea route to the East led to what is called the Age of Discovery, a time wherein the greatest sea adventures
and explorations in history were undertaken. Europeans were eager to try new and faster routes to the spice markets of the Indies. Spices were highly
valued because they made the otherwise bland and spoiled food taste better. Spices such as pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, or cloves were like
treasures to Europeans. All these products were produced in India, Ceylon, and the Moluccas (known as the Spice Islands).
Because the spice trade could make them wealthy, explorers were motivated to find a faster and cheaper sea route. The European routes were blocked
by powerful rivals such as the Italian city-states of Venice and Genoa and later the Turkish merchants of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). Their
ships had control of the eastern Mediterranean where trade with the Arabs abounded. After Vasco da Gama's famous voyage around the Cape of Good
Hope, the Portuguese had to battle Muslim forces and rival traders to gain a piece of the spice trade. The rulers of Portugal and Spain sought different
routes to the Indies. While the Portuguese concentrated their efforts to the south and east, the Spanish sought alternative routes to the west.
Ferdinand Magellan
The first circumnavigation of the globe was led by Ferdinand Magellan. He was born in the spring of 1480 to a family of lower nobility. Educated in the Portuguese
court, Magellan proved himself in many battles in the name of his country. Like Columbus before him, Magellan believed he could get to the Spice Islands by sailing
west. He knew he would have to sail around or through the New World to do so. Like so many explorers before him, he thought the earth was much smaller than it
actually is. Snubbed by the Portuguese king, Magellan easily convinced the teenaged Spanish king, Charles I (also known as the Holy Roman emperor Charles V) that
at least some of the Spice Islands lay in the Spanish half of the undiscovered world.
King Charles approved Magellan's plan and granted him generous funds on March 22, 1518. With money from the king, the explorer was able to obtain five ships
(possibly naos) called the Trinidad, the San Antonio, the Concepcion, the Victoria, and the Santiago. In September [1519], he set sail with 270 men.
A good deal of what we know of the voyage of Magellan came from an Italian crewmember, Antonio Pigafetta. Pigafetta kept a diary of the voyage and
remained a staunch supporter of the Portuguese explorer. Like Columbus, Magellan was a foreigner in charge of Spanish captains, and like Columbus, his
voyage was fraught with problems. Spanish captains Juan de Cartegena of the San Antonio, Gaspar de Quesada of the Concepcion, and Luis de Mendoza of
the Victoria were plotting to kill Magellan.
After a brief stop at the Canary Islands, Magellan's fleet set sail for Brazil on a southwest course. Cartegena, the ringleader of a mutiny attempt, was
relieved of his command of the San Antonio and held prisoner aboard the Victoria. After crossing the equator on November 20, 1519, the crew sighted
Brazil on December 6. Magellan thought it unwise to go near the Portuguese territory since he was sailing under the Spanish flag. His fleet eventually
anchored off the coast of present-day Rio de Janiero, out of the way of the Portuguese, on December 13th. After stocking up on fresh food and water, the
fleet made its way down the east coast of South America looking for a passage to the Pacific Ocean. The farther south they sailed, the colder the weather.
The weather was so bad, the fleet decided to spend the winter in Patagonia. The area where they settled on March 31, 1520, was called San Julian.
When Magellan reached Patagonia (present-day Argentina), another mutiny was attempted. Cartegena, released by captain Mendoza, attempted once
again to take over the fleet and have Magellan killed. The Portuguese explorer was able to put down the rebellion by marooning Cartegena in the barren
Patagonia, imprisoning some, and having Quesada and other rebels executed
During the cold summer months, Magellan sent the Santiago on a reconnaissance mission down the coast to look for a passage to the other side of
the continent. Unfortunately in May, the Santiago wrecked in rough seas. In the latter half of August, Magellan decided it was time to move the
remaining four ships south to look for a passage. Finally in October, the fleet sighted a strait and started through it. Magellan named it the strait of
All Saints, but it later was named after him.
The strait was a tricky passage that took the fleet 38 days to pass through. While sailing at night, the crew saw countless fires from distant Indian camps.
They called the land Tierra del Fuego (land of fire). During the passage, the captain of the San Antonio sailed his ship back toward Spain, taking with him
most of the fleet's provisions. The loss of the San Antonio was a severe blow to the men on the remaining ships. They had to double their efforts to hunt
game and fish to keep from starving.
During the last week of November the three ships emerged from the strait to the open sea of the Pacific. Magellan mistakenly thought the Spice Islands
were a short voyage away. He had no idea of the immense size of the ocean and thought he could cross it in two to three days. The voyage took
approximately four months.
Conditions aboard the ships were abominable. The crew began to starve as food stores were depleted. The water turned putrid and yellow in color. The
crew survived on sawdust, leather strips from the sails, and rats. Without the benefit of vitamin C in fresh fruits and vegetables, the men also came down
with scurvy.
Finally in January, 1521, the crew stopped off at an island to feast on fish, crabs, and seabird eggs, but without fresh fruit and vegetables, scurvy still
plagued the crew. In March, the crew stopped in Guam and were able to supply the ships with food including fresh fruit, vegetables, and water. They
sailed on to the Philippines, arriving on March 28. After befriending an island king, Magellan foolishly got involved in the natives' tribal warfare and was
killed in battle on [April 27, 1521].
Sebastian del Cano took over the remaining three ships and 115 survivors. Because there were not enough men to crew three ships, del Cano had the
Concepcion burned. The two remaining ships sailed from the Philippines on May 1 and made it to the Moluccas (Spice Islands) in November. Both ships
loaded with valuable spices.
In an attempt to guarantee that at least one ship would make it back to Spain, the Trinidad went
east across the Pacific, while the Victoria continued west. The Trinidad did not make it back. The
ship was seized by the Portuguese and most of her crew were killed. The Victoria managed to
elude the Portuguese as it crossed enemy trade routes in the Indian Ocean and rounded the Cape
of Good Hope. On [September 6, 1522], almost three years from the day it began its historic
journey, the Victoria and 18 crewmembers, (Pigafetta among them) arrived in Spain. It was the
first vessel to circumnavigate the globe.
England
The Endeavour made its way to Java in the East Indies in October, 1770. Once there, Cook's men became very ill with Malaria and dysentery. Despite all
his efforts to keep his crew safe and healthy, they were no match for these diseases. He lost 30 men and had to sign on new crew in South Africa in order
to make it back home to England. The Endeavour made it back to Dover, England, on July 13, 1771, after a three-year voyage. Cook was formally
presented to his majesty, King George III following the historic journey and made a naval commander.
See a map of James Cook's voyages.
Cook's Second Voyage
Cook's second voyage began on July 13, 1772 from Plymouth, England. He took two Whitby colliers (refitted coal ships), the Resolution and the
Adventure. The Adventure measured 97 feet in length with 80 crewmen and scientists aboard. The Resolution, Cook's flagship, was 111 feet in length
with 110 crewmen and scientists aboard. His orders were to find the southern continent. He plan was to search for the continent and circumnavigate the
globe. He was bound to find the fabled continent this way.
'By 1400 A.D. many people in the various countries of Europe were attracted by the wealth of
the East. For nearly 300 years they had had glimpses of the luxuries that it offered. Arab
merchants had brought some of them across to the Syrian coast and to Constantinople and from
here Italian merchants, mainly from Venice and Genoa, had brought them to Europe. Spices
from Ceylon and the East Indies such as cinnamon, pepper and ginger, cotton goods from India,
fine silks from China, rice, sugar, dyes, such as saffron (yellow) and madder (red) and precious
stones-all these were known in Europe, though only the very rich could afford them.
Then, from about 1350, Europe had been cut off from Asia. In 1368 the Ming Dynasty took over
from the Mongols in China and refused to have anything to do with foreigners. Moreover, the
Ottoman Turks conquered the Middle East and it was some time before trade was reopened with
them. However, Europeans longed for more goods from the East and gradually they began to
look for new routes which would lead them to its riches.
They were able to do this because about this time, various Europeans had developed the skills
and equipment which were necessary for voyages of exploration.
i) There were men with a growing experience of deep-sea sailing. Sailors, particularly from
Spain and Portugal which bordered on the Atlantic, grew confident and expert enough to explore
the oceans, where, so far as they knew, men had not sailed before.
ii) Ships were developed which borrowed from the Arabs the use of a large sail, in the shape of a
triangle, and known as a lateen sail, which made ocean sailing now a real possibility. The square
sails which Europeans had used before were not suitable for sailing in the heavy winds which
ships would meet in the great oceans. However, the ships using both square and lateen sails,
which Europeans now built, were very successful. It was in these 'caravels' and 'carracks' built by
the Spanish and Portuguese that men explored and discovered new worlds.
iii) Men became more skilled at map and chart making. Sailors could now acquire atlases which
would help them in their voyages. As various voyages were made and new information brought
back, so the map makers would make new and better charts.
iv) Some new aids to navigation were developed. The compass and the astrolabe (an instrument
for taking altitudes) were now accurate and reliable enough to help sailors find their directions
and positions, using the sun and the stars.
v) The development of gunpowder and guns which could be mounted on ships made the
explorers well-armed fighters and gave them confidence in going out into the unknown, where
they might meet fierce native tribes. The Spanish called their explorers not merchants, but
conquerors-'conquistadores'.
vi) There were people of wealth in Italy and South Germany who were willing to lend their
money so that the Spanish and Portuguese seamen could search for the wealth of the East or
West Indies. They expected a profit in return, but if they had not been willing to equip
expeditions, the age of discovery would not have taken place when it did.
(An account of the Voyages of Discovery, written in 1974.)
They should be good servants and intelligent, for I observed that they quickly took in what was
said to them, and I believe that they would easily be made Christians, as it appeared to me that
they had no religion. I, our Lord being pleased, will take hence, at the time of my departure six
natives for your Highnesses, that they may learn to speak. I saw no beast of any kind except
parrots, on this island."
Ship’s recorder of Columbus.
'We have come to look for Christians and spices."
(Vasco da Gama on arriving at the Hindu City of Calicut (Calcutta) on the West Coast of India in
1498)
"We went to serve God and His Majesty [The King of Spain], to give light to those who were in
darkness and to grow rich as all men desire to do." (Bernal Diaz (1492-1581), a soldier in the
expedition of Hernan Cortes which conquered the Aztec Empire of Mexico, 1519-1521.) Diaz
wrote about the expedition in The Conquest of New Spain.
'Many interested readers have asked me why the true Conquistadores who won new Spain and
the great and strong city of Mexico did not stay to settle, but went on to other provinces. I think
this question is justified, and I will give them an answer. Learning from Montezuma's accountbooks the names of the places which sent him tributes of gold, and where the mines and
chocolate and cotton-cloths were to be found, we decided to go to these places; and our resolve
was strengthened when we realized that there were no gold or mines or cotton in the towns
around Mexico, only a lot of maize and plantations from which they obtained their wine. For this
reason we thought of it as a poor land, and went off to colonise other provinces." (Bernal Diaz,
The Conquest of New Spain)
"My ancestors having always been servants of the Crown, and my father and one of my brothers
being in the service of the Catholic Kings, Don Ferdinand and Dona Isabella, I wished in some
sort to emulate them. When, therefore, in the year 1514 a gentleman named Pedrarias Davila
went out as Governor of Tierra Firme (the Spanish Main, a settlement on the coast of Panama), I
agreed to accompany him to the newly conquered country and after an uneventful voyage we
arrived at Nombre de Dios as it was called." (Bernal Diaz, The Conquest of New Spain.>
Extracts from translation by J. M. Cohen, Penguin Classics series)
"That we might form a great friendship, for I knew that they were a people who could be more
easily converted to our Holy Faith by love than by force, I gave to some of them red caps and
glass beads to put round their necks, and many other things of little value, which gave them great
pleasure, and made them so much our friends that it was a marvel to see." (Christopher
Columbus (1450-1506) Journal of the First Voyage, 1 October, 1492)
"Finally, and speaking only of what has taken place in this voyage . . . their Highnesses may see
that I shall give them all the gold they require, if they will give l me but a little assistance; spices
also, and cotton, as much as their Highnesses shall command to be shipped; and mastic, hitherto
found only in Greece . . .; slaves, as many of these idolators as their Highnesses shall command
to be shipped. I think also I have found rhubarb and cinnamon, and I shall find a thousand other
valuable things."
(Christopher Columbus, Letter to Spanish Treasury, 13 February, 1493)
"I have conquered greater Kingdoms than yours--imposing on them the dominion of the
Emperor, whose vassal I am, and who is King of Spain and of the universal world. We come to
conquer this land by his command, that all may come to a knowledge of God, and of this Holy
Catholic Faith."
(Francisco de Xeres, secretary to Francisco Pizarro (14711541), Conqueror of Peru 1533, from
his account of Pizarro's speech to an Aztec King.)
"You are a very small part of mankind, you Lusitanians [the Portuguese], a very small part even
of God's fold; and yet neither peril, nor self-seeking, nor lukewarmness in devotion to Mother
Church deters you from the conquest of the lands of the infidel.
And what shall I say of you, unworthy Frenchman, who sought for yourself the title of 'Most
Christian' ? You advance claims to the territories of other Christian rulers, as if your own were
not large enough.
These fearsome new inventions of guns and artillery, why have they not been tried out before
now on the walls of Byzantium and Turkey ? The Turks are interfering more and more in the
affairs and wealth of this Europe of yours: why do you not drive them back to their primitive
caves in the Caspian hills ? Madmen that you are, thirsting in your blindness for the blood of
your own ! But here at least, in this small land of Portugal, there will not lack those who will do
and dare for Christendom. In Africa they already hold coastal bases; in Asia none can dispute
their sovereignty; in the New World they are ploughing the fields. Were there more lands still to
discover they would be there too."
(Camoens (1524-1580), the Portuguese poet who wrote The Lusiads in honour of the
explorations of his countrymen)
"He desired to know what lands were beyond the Canary Isles, for up to that time no one knew.
And the second [reason] was the thought that they could bring back to the realm many
merchandises at little cost . . .
The third reason was founded on this . . . because every wise man is moved to know the strength
of his enemy, Prince Henry devised means to send his people in quest of information in order to
know the full extent of the infidels' power.
The fourth reason was this . . . he desired to know whether in those regions there might be any
Christian princes . . . to aid him against these enemies of the faith.
The fifth reason was his great desire to increase the Holy Faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ . . .
namely that lost souls should be saved! "
(From the Chronicle of the Discovery of Guinea, by Azurara, a close friend of Prince Henry the
Naxigator, 13941460)
Whether the unexplored part of the Southern Hemisphere be only an immense mass of
water, or contain another continent, as speculative geography seemed to suggest, was
a question which had long engaged the attention, not only of learned men, but most of
the maritime powers of Europe. To put an end to all diversity of opinion about a
matter so curious and important, was his Majesty's principal motive in directing this
voyage to be undertaken, the history of which is now submitted to the public...
From the Journal of Captain James Cook
The inclinations of men differ according to their varied dispositions; and each one in
his calling has his particular end in view. Some aim at gain, some at glory, some at
the public weal. The greater number are engaged in trade, and especially that
which is transacted on the sea. Hence arise the principal support of the people, the
opulence and honor of states. This is what raised ancient Rome to the sovereignty
and mastery over the entire world, and the Venetians to a grandeur equal to that of
powerful kings. It has in all times caused maritime towns to abound in riches,
among which Alexandria and Tyre are distinguished, and numerous others, which
fill up the regions of the interior with the objects of beauty and rarity obtained from
foreign nations. For this reason, many princes have striven to find a northerly route
to China, in order to facilitate commerce with the Orientals, in the belief that this
route would be shorter and less dangerous.
Quote from Samuel de Champlain’s book Voyages, 1604
Acting upon the information which has been given us by those who have returned from New
France, respecting the good quality and fertility of the lands of that country, and the disposition
of the people to accept the knowledge of God, We have resolved to continue the settlement
previously undertaken there, in order that our subjects may go there to trade without hindrance.
Commission from Henry II, King of France.
Key Concepts
Portugal took the lead in the search to find the first all-water route to Asia. Being
able to control trade with the Asia was very important to Portugal. King John was
willing to spend as much money as was needed to discover an all-water route to Asia.
King John asked Prince Henry to take charge of the search.
Prince Henry set up the first school for training sailors in navigation. Navigation is the
study of how to plan and control the course of a ship. Lessons taught in Prince Henry's
school were kept secret. If a sailor
spoke about a lesson outside of the school, he was put to death.
Prince Henry became known as Prince Henry the Navigator because his school for
navigation was so successful. He thought the most direct route to
Asia would be to sail south around Africa and then sail east to India. Prince Henry
organized more than 50 voyages of exploration. But he himself never went on one
voyage.
Portuguese sailors used a ship called a caravel. It had three masts and a
lateen, or triangular sail. The lateen sail allowed the caravel to sail against the wind.
Exploring the coast of Africa brought new riches for Portugal. They found new
markets where they could trade European goods for African nuts, gold, and slaves.
There was a big market in Europe for selling African slaves as servants.
Key Concepts
Until his death, Columbus believed he had reached the Indies. Although he had
made four voyages for Spain, he never found the gold and spices that he had hoped
would make him rich. Columbus died a very disappointed man.
John Cabot was an Italian sea captain who led a voyage of discovery for
England. Cabot had studied Columbus' voyages. He made a similar trip paid
for by England. Like Columbus in 1497, he sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean.
Cabot kept a more westerly course and landed on Newfoundland.
When John Cabot returned to England, he told everyone he had landed in
Cathay. At the time, Europeans called China, Cathay. The English were very pleased
with his news and made Cabot a hero. That is when they gave him the English name,
John Cabot. His Italian name was Giovanni Caboto.
was a sea captain and navigator who sailed for Spain. In 1499 he
sailed to a place south of where Columbus had landed. In 1501,
Amerigo Vespucci made another voyage to the new world, but this time he
sailed for Portugal. He sailed down the west coast of South America from
present-day Venezuela to Argentina. Vespucci looked for signs that he had reached
Amerigo Vespucci
Asia. Vespucci saw nothing that fit the descriptions by Marco Polo.
Vespucci was able to calculate that he had sailed 6,500 miles across the Atlantic
Ocean. This distance was three times as far as Columbus had thought he had sailed.
Vespucci new that the land Columbus had found had to be another continent, or "new
world."
Martin Waldseemuller was a German map maker or cartographer. In 1507,
he drew a map that included the new continent Amerigo Vespucci had
discovered. Waldseemuller named the new continent "America" after
"Ameriga" Vespucci. He published 1000 copies of the map. At the top of the
map was a picture of Amerigo Vespucci.
1. Evaluation of this activity is up to the teacher. Some suggested answers are shown below.
GOALS:
o
o
o
Spain's initial goal was to look for gold and silver and later to convert the Indians
to their religion.
France's initial goal was to find the northwest passage and later to develop the fur
trade.
England and the Netherlands' initial goal was to look for the northwest passage
and later to establish settlements in the New World and to develop the fur trade.
LOCATION EXPLORED:
o
o
o
Spain explored the areas of South America, Central America, Mexico, the West
Indies, Florida, California, and the southwestern part of the United States.
France explored the areas of the Great Lakes region, the St. Lawrence River, parts
of northern Canada, and the Mississippi River.
England and the Netherlands explored the Hudson Bay area and the Hudson River
area up to Albany.
CONTACT WITH INDIANS:
o
o
o
Spain's contact with the Indians was often brutal; they looted and destroyed cities,
murdered many Indians, and enslaved many Indians.
France's contact with Indians was generally friendly; they traded with them.
England and the Netherlands' contact was sometimes friendly; they traded with
them; but at other times the Indians were shot at or taken captive.
RESULTS:
o
o
o
Spain took many treasures from the New World and claimed large areas of
southwestern United States as well as Mexico and parts of South and Central
America.
France claimed the area of Nova Scotia, Canada, and the area of the Mississippi
River. They did not find a northwest passage to China, but they established the
settlement of Quebec.
England at this point did not have one colony established in the New World. The
Dutch had the colony of New Netherland.
The history of the European voyages of exploration may be conveniently divided into two areas:
the drive to the East, which was pioneered by the Portuguese, and the expansion westwards
across the Atlantic to the New World, which was initially led by the Portuguese but eventually
dominated by the Spanish. The two differ in that Europe had known of India and China for
centuries, whereas the existence of America was totally unsuspected. When Columbus landed in
the Bahamas in 1492, America was still viewed as little more than a barrier between Europe and
the true prize of the Indies in the East.
The odds were against the European explorers who sailed in frail wooden ships and were guided
by crude and primitive instruments into uncharted seas, where shoals were unmarked and
shifting currents were a perpetual mystery. These challenges of exploration were great but so
were the motivations: a lust for gold and glory, missionary zeal for converting the "savage", and
the desire to gain knowledge. Although Portugal and Spain had both developed seafaring
traditions over the previous three centuries, neither one was prepared, at the beginning of the
fifteenth century, for the imminent age of discovery, exploration, and worldwide commercial
development that required knowledge and skills that greatly surpassed the existing resources
available. The following sections examine the progress made by the Europeans in addressing
these logistical obstacles to their efforts at exploration.
In the early period of European exploration, captains had rudimentary navigation techniques and
a fairly detailed set of Mediterranean portolanos (charts) showing the bodies of water,
landmasses, and ports. These charts were not drawn to a grid system of degrees, but were based
on compass findings and estimated distances. From this point of view, cartography was very
similar to early astronomy in that the product was paradoxically the result of both scientific and
metaphysical endeavours. Some astronomers were attracted to the study of stars because of their
interest in astrology. The same is true of cartographers whose main purpose was not to discover
what actually existed but, rather, to rationalise the world around preconceived notions of religion
and philosophy
The ships used in the early period of European exploration were called barcas and barinels but
their square sails were clumsy and the ships were slow to respond. One reason for this was that
in order to fill their sails properly these ships had to travel into the wind at a minimum angle of
67 degrees. Thus, once the ships were caught sailing into the wind, it was difficult, if not
impossible, for them to turn around. The Portuguese quickly realised that a new type of ship and
new sails were needed. The Portuguese modelled their new ships on this principle and the result
was the caravela, which had an axled rudder and earlier models had two to three masts all using
lateen sails. Future versions of the ship would have four masts, with the fourth mast forward (the
mast closest to the bow) being square-rigged. Two of the three ships in which Christopher
Columbus made his voyage in 1492 were caravels, the Niña and the Pinta.
By the end of the fifteenth century, another sail, the sprit sail, was fixed on the bowsprit to help
better control the caravel. Furthermore, improvements in both the durability and strength of
ropes, a result of newer materials, meant that handling square sails became much easier for
sailors. The number of crew members required to handle the ship decreased as a result. Ship
builders also adopted the best sailcloth - either cotton or linen canvas - from merchants in Genoa
and Marseilles, and this newer fabric had the advantage of being more durable.
Beyond the changes to the basic sail structure of Portuguese vessels, builders realised that the
stability of the ship's hull must be improved as well. When sailing in storms or high seas, it is
essential that the vessel remain waterproof. The deck planks on caravels were placed edge-toedge (no gap between planks) and were sealed with oakum (shredded hemp) and covered with a
layer of tar or pitch. Hatches (that allowed sailors to go below deck) and companionways
(stairways from one deck to another) were minimised to help make the ship watertight.
Structurally, the hull was reinforced with the use of skids (larger planks fixed to the side of the
ship that function much like a bumper on a car) to cushion collisions with the dock when the ship
was loading and unloading in port.
Whereas the yard of a square sail pivots on the mast and can turn easily to the required angle
with the use of ropes, to swing the foot of a lateen yard behind the mast and rest the sail in
another direction when the ship was already beating to windward required a great deal of
strength and a large crew. If the sail should happen to break loose during the manoeuvre, there
was the danger that the ship could be turned on its side.
Changes to the ships themselves were not the only problems addressed by explorers. Navigation
techniques on these early voyages were rudimentary to say the very least. The speed of the ship
was calculated by having one member of the crew throw a chip of wood over the side of the
vessel. By judging how far the ship travelled before the object hit the water helped determine
how fast the ship was moving. This technique was later changed by attaching a wooden float to a
line - known as the "logline" - where knots were tied at measured intervals. When the wooden
float was tossed overboard, the speed was calculated by counting the number of knots that
slipped through the fingers of the sailor holding the logline. This process, incidentally, gave rise
to the calculation of a ship's speed in knots. For the most part, a good captain would rely on the
ship's log, his lookout, and his leadsman to determine the location of the ship.
Most ships were equipped with a magnetic compass that was kept on deck in a binnacle that
could be illuminated at night by means of a lamp burning olive oil. Although the compass was in
wide use, most captains did not know why its needle pointed north. In fact, many captains
preferred to keep the existence of a compass on board a ship secret because superstitious crew
members would think that the ship was being guided by sinister forces. Nearby was the sand
hourglass, which was the only reliable method of keeping time on board the ship - provided that
a member of the crew did not heat the hourglass with the lamp, making the sand run faster, in
order to shorten his shift.
Clearly, the most important navigational tool available to sailors was the Stella Maris. Holding
the astrolabe to his eye and sighting along its diameter, the sailor could read the height of the
North Star on the scale. If, for example, the star measured forty degrees above the horizon, the
sailor would know that he was at a latitude of approximately forty degrees north. If the star
measured thirty degrees above the horizon, the sailor would know that he was at approximately
thirty degrees north, and so on. The quadrant, a quarter circle measuring 0 to 90 degrees marked
around its curved edge, was a common instrument to assist in determining latitude. Its straight
edges had tiny holes or sights on each end. A plumb line hung from the top. The navigator lined
up the sights on the Pole Star and the plumb line would hang straight down over the curved area
at a particular point. This would indicate the height of the star in degrees latitude.
Portuguese explorers encountered some unexpected difficulties with this system as they travelled
closer to the equator. They soon discovered that as the North Star dropped closer to the north
horizon it became difficult to fix exact latitudes. Rather than navigating by the North Star, sailors
then turned, quite literally, to the sun. By observing and measuring the height of the mid-day sun,
a pilot could calculate the ship's latitude and, with the aid of tables, determine the distance and
direction to be sailed to arrive at the intended destination.
The problem of determining longitude was not adequately solved during this period. It was only
in the eighteenth century, with the invention of the chronometer, that a solution was found. Until
that time, most sailors relied on dead reckoning. This meant that the pilot had to estimate the
ship's speed with a logline, which was a line with knots in it and a weighted wooden float
attached to the end. The wooden float was thrown from the stern and the number of knots pulled
off the reel by the drifting log determined the ship's speed. Time was measured with one-minute
glasses. This information combined with the known direction of the compass helped to determine
progress along longitudinal lines. Time, distance, and direction were measured each time the ship
changed tack due to wind direction. This zigzag plotting was calculated with a traverse board.
Dead reckoning also included observations of the surroundings. Cloud formations, and wave
patterns and directions, as well as birds and floating debris were all taken into account. Clearly,
dead reckoning was a complicated process and not the most reliable method a sailor could use to
determine his course.
Siege warfare was an unknown tactic in many of the areas encountered by Europeans during
their voyages of exploration. Because indigenous populations fought primarily to obtain labour
or to secure a tribute from the defeated party, rather than to capture territory or acquire strategic
bases, it was believed that the best defence against an attack was either immediate surrender or
temporary flight. For example, the last Muslim leader of the port city of Malacca was not terribly
concerned with the arrival of a small Portuguese squadron in 1511. After some initial resistance
to the Portuguese attack, the Muslim leader withdrew from the city to roughly a day's journey
inland thinking that the Portuguese wanted to loot the city and then leave. Instead, the
Portuguese remained and built the fort known as A Famosa, which was constructed on the ruins
of the Great Mosque with stones gathered from the sacred hill where the sultan's ancestors were
buried. Upon completion of the fort, the walls that surrounded Portuguese Malacca stretched two
kilometres and withstood ten different sieges.
It can be concluded that the indigenous populations of Africa, the Americas, and the Philippines
lost their independence largely because Western military technology and tactics gave the
Europeans an advantage. In the aforementioned areas, emphasis was not placed on defensive
fortifications, which, when they existed, were made only of wood and proved no match for the
firepower of the Europeans. The same cannot be said of the peoples of East Asia. Europeans
were kept at bay during the initial period of expansion because the East Asians employed many
of the same practices as the Europeans. Firearms, fortresses, large standing armies, and warships
were part of the military tradition of China, Korea, and Japan. Indeed, bronze and iron artillery
were fully developed in China before the technology spread westward to Europe in the
fourteenth century. As contact between the two diminished, the evolution of firearms took a
different course in the two regions. By the sixteenth century, the iron and bronze guns
manufactured in the West were both more powerful and more mobile than those made in the
East, but European weapons were studied closely and imitated when they were brought into the
region during the 1520's.
The differences in military technology between Europe and Asia are perhaps best illustrated by
the following example. European armies believed what limited the effectiveness of firearms was
the length of time it took for a soldier to reload his weapon. The Japanese, on the other hand,
believed it was more important for the soldier firing the weapon to be accurate with his shot.
Therefore, while Europeans sought to improve loading times, Japanese manuals from the midsixteenth century onwards placed greater emphasis on developing skills to improve accuracy.
Once this was achieved, energy was then devoted to improving the rate of fire from a given unit,
and developing more effective offensive positions and formations (e.g. the practice of drawing
up musketeers to fire in ranks). One Japanese warlord, Oda Nobunaga, experimented with
musketry salvoes in the 1560's - twenty years before Maurice of Nassau and the army of the
Dutch Republic used the technique, and seventy years before it became standard practice in
European armies.
Heavier European weapons, like siege guns, brought about a change in Japanese fortifications.
Prior to the introduction of heavy artillery, it was more important for a fortress to have high walls
in order to prevent an attacker from gaining access. The larger artillery pieces used by Europeans
meant that high walls were no longer as important as walls that could withstand significant
bombardment. As a result of the pressure brought by European technology, a new defensive
fortification soon emerged in Japan that was designed to create a solid mass of rock and soil. The
prototype of this defensive arrangement was built between 1576 and 1579 beside Lake Biwa at
Azuchi. Hilltops and thick stone walls were incorporated to produce a solid foundation that was
surrounded by a seven-story castle.
Although the Japanese were prepared to take Western innovations and adapt them to local
conditions, early modern China did not need to study and adapt Western technology in order to
survive. China had invented gunpowder as early as the ninth century (whereas gunpowder was
first produced in Europe in 1267) and had improved it over the course of centuries. During the
later years of the thirteenth century, the Chinese invented cannons, using gunpowder to fire
projectiles from metal barrels. As a result of this knowledge, their massive fortifications were
designed to resist both artillery bombardment and mining. The Chinese did not build castles or
fortifications. Instead they chose to fortify entire towns by surrounding them with massive stone
walls that were fifteen meters thick in places. Not only did theses walls withstand bombardment
in the sixteenth century, they did so until the nineteenth century. The ultimate result of
fortifications in East Asia meant that siege guns were all but useless.
It is important to remember that the European way of waging war overseas was completely
different from the manner in which wars were conducted in Europe. For the most part, wars in
Europe were normally the product of limited aims and were settled with the capture of small
portions of territory and assets. Those fought abroad were completely different in terms of both
their scope and ultimate objectives. As Geoffrey Parker has pointed out, in lands encountered by
European explorers, the goal was the permanent destruction of indigenous political systems, the
subjugation of the enemy population, and the conquest and exploitation of enemy resources. The
limiting factor in wars fought outside Europe lay not in European objectives but rather, the
number of men and the amount of materiel deployed to fight these battles. However, the use of
ships allowed Spanish forces to choose their points of access in the Americas, and mobilise
reinforcements and supplies. In fact, relatively few soldiers and resources were needed to win
what European commanders called the "small wars" of the sixteenth century. Indeed, consider
that Cortés had at his disposal approximately 500 troops when he defeated the Aztecs, and
Pizarro defeated the Inca Empire with less than 200 soldiers. The entire Portuguese overseas
empire, from Japan to southern Africa, was administered and defended by fewer than 10,000
Europeans. In the case of the Incas and Aztecs, however, the "small war" explanation completely
ignored the Spanish exploitation of indigenous rebellions and European diseases that ravaged
local populations.
From their ships, Europeans, aided by their advanced military technology, had the upper hand.
On land, however, the advantage granted by technology was sometimes lessened or eliminated
altogether. Firearms could be rendered useless by environmental conditions that could dampen
gunpowder. Philosophical differences also served to frustrate European armies fighting abroad.
Trained to mass their forces and attack at a decisive point, European armies were frustrated by
the lack of fixed targets. Without a city or a fort available to draw opponents into a fixed battle,
campaigns in the Americas often forced Europeans to adopt guerrilla tactics to suppress their
enemies. The result was a prolonged and frustrating campaign of minor skirmishes that either
ended in stalemate between the two forces or in a limited victory for the Europeans.
European overseas expansion in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries initially took two directions.
The first was towards the African west coast where the Portuguese were involved in raiding and
trading expeditions for products like slaves, ivory, pepper and gold. The second initial direction
of expansion was towards the Atlantic Islands. Here, Europeans found exploitable but not
necessarily inhabited land where they collected wild products like honey and timber. Because of
the lack of arable land in Iberia, colonists eventually returned to settle the land and cultivate
products like wheat and ultimately sugar. Sugar was immensely profitable to produce but
required large tracts of land and a large labour force for production. For these two reasons, the
sugar and slave trade became intimately entwined in the European exploitation of the Atlantic
Islands. This exploitation would eventually spread onwards to the Americas.
The capitalist plantation system was an economic system oriented to producing a highly
commercialised crop using an archaic social form - slavery - to provide its labour. The profits
from sugar production provided the impetus for the development of the plantation system that
matured in the Mediterranean and eventually spread across the Atlantic to the Americas. Other
commercial crops would be adapted to this system such as cotton, indigo, and tobacco, but sugar
was the first.
Sugar cane cultivation had its origins in Southwest Asia. From there it was carried to Persia and
then to the eastern Mediterranean by Arab conquerors in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
Shortly after sugar cane's introduction to the Mediterranean, it was being grown on estates
similar to the later plantations of the Americas. By the fourteenth century Cyprus became a
major producer using the labour of Syrian and Arab slaves. Eventually sugar made its way to
Sicily where a familiar pattern of enslaved or coerced labour, relatively large land units, and
well-developed long-range commerce was established. The Portuguese and the Spanish both
looked to Sicily as a model to be followed in their own colonies in the Atlantic, and in 1420
Prince Henry sent to Sicily for cane plantings and experienced sugar technicians.
An innovation in sugar production, the roller mill, was introduced to the Mediterranean (perhaps
by the Sicilians) and the Atlantic Islands in the fifteenth century. The roller mill reduced the time
and labour needed to prepare the sugar cane, thereby increasing the mill's capacity. It was this
technology, combined with the system of production developed in the Mediterranean, which was
transplanted and expanded to the Atlantic Islands. The final component necessary for the
industry's growth was satisfying its requirement of a large labour force. The solution was the
incorporation of African slaves.
Slavery in Iberia had been an aspect of daily life since the Roman Empire. The continual warfare
between the Muslims and the Christians in Iberia had created a constant source of bondsmen, but
only on a very small scale. There was no dramatic change in Iberian slavery until the Portuguese
conquest of Ceuta in 1415 made the trafficking of North African slaves possible. By the 1440's
slavery had a profound resurgence and this was due to the Portuguese "raid and trade" expansion
down the West African coast. In 1448 more than one thousand Africans had been imported to
Portugal, and this figure increased by 800 to 900 Africans a year. By the end of the century this
increase in the slave trade coincided with the burgeoning cane fields in the Algarve and Madeira.
This need for canefield labour altered permanently the nature of Portuguese slavery from one of
domestic servitude to plantation slavery. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries almost all of the
Atlantic Islands: the Azores, the Canaries, the Cape Verde Islands, São Tomé, and Madeira
experienced sugar booms. In 1425 Madeira was colonised under the auspices of Prince Henry
and by 1460's it had become the largest single producer of sugar in the Western world.
As a young man Christopher Columbus was trained in the Madeira sugar trade. He brought this
experience to the New World on his second voyage of 1493 when he introduced sugar cane
plantings to the Caribbean. But it wasn't until the early sixteenth century that the sugar industry
began to thrive first in Santo Domingo, then Cuba, and soon after in Puerto Rico. Unfortunately
the growth of this industry in the Caribbean was hindered by the constant drain of people and
resources to the mainland, drawn by the lure of gold and silver.
The Portuguese discovered Brazil in 1500. Very early in the settlement process the colonial
office requested a sugar technician. By 1518 the first plantation was in operation but it was not
until the 1530's that sugar agriculture was firmly established in Brazil. In 1591 the sugar industry
was expanding rapidly to meet the growing demand in European markets. By the end of the
sixteenth century the Atlantic slave trade had been regularised, making it a dependable source for
labour. Until this point in time the European colonists had been using indigenous people, who
the Europeans had incorrectly named "Indians", as slaves. The need for skilled slaves was critical
if the sugar industry was to expand. The best slave investment became the West Africans who
had experience from the Atlantic or Caribbean plantations as sugar masters, purgers,
blacksmiths, kettle men, and sugar craters. By the early seventeenth century the shift from
indigenous slaves to African slaves was well under way
The Kingdom of Kongo's nobility was not wealthy in ready cash, but they were wealthy in
slaves. As the major form of wealth in central Africa, slaves played a much more complex role in
African society than they ever could in European society. Slaves were seen as a dependent and
loyal group that the African elites could use not only for the production of revenue, but also for
the performance of administrative and military service. African rulers recognised the value of
slaves who were their private property and absolutely loyal as workers, soldiers, and retainers. In
this system, Africa created many wealthy and powerful slaves. Empires like the powerful
Sudanese relied heavily on slave armies and administrators to keep the local nobility in check.
This internal dynamic of African political and institutional structures was far more responsible
for the African slave trade then any pressure that the Europeans could have exerted. The majority
of Africans outside of Africa were slaves, and in the Atlantic world, they made a profound
economic and cultural impact through their labour and through the cultural heritage that they
brought with them from Africa.