Download European Exploration - Scott County Schools

Early European Exploration
Bell Ringer
• Why did European nations begin exploring the Atlantic and Indian
Oceans?
• What were some possible consequences of this exploration?
Reasons for Exploration
(talking mainly about Spain and Portugal)
Reason #1: The idea of Reconquista
• Wars in Iberian Peninsula
between Christians and Muslims
• Outcome: Christians win and
kick Muslims out of Iberian
Peninsula
• Creates a sense of nationalism
which leads to more and more
people with expansionist
feelings
Reason #2: Collapse of Pax Mongolica
• Muslims took control over the trade routes
• Silk roads become a dangerous place to be (especially for Christians)
thus leading to a sharp decrease in trade from it
• However, Europeans had gotten used to these items and still wanted
them so desire was still high
Reason #3: Desire and new technology
• Improvements to maritime and
military supplies
• Sextant, compass, astrolabe,
gunpowder
• Desire to find a new route to
trade with Asia
• Governments were more willing
to throw money into exploration
Portuguese Exploration
• Made sense for Portugal to
explore Atlantic due to geography
• Prince Henry the Navigator
• Opened a maritime school
• Example of government backed
exploration
• Studied navigation and cartography
• Made improvements on sailing
instruments
• Developed the caravel ship
• Not unlike all the other countries,
Portugal explored because of
their desire for gold
•Main goal of Portuguese
exploration was to find
alternate trade routes
•As they moved down the
African coast…
•Portugal leased a West
African trade port from
Songhai and traded for gold
& ivory
•African rulers wanted guns,
cannons, & metal goods
•Were NOT strong enough to
dominate but did take several
seaside towns and set up
trading posts
Sugar & Slaves Trade Begins
• As Portugal & later Spain moved
into the Atlantic, they
encountered tropical islands
• Diseases that they brought killed
off the native people and they
began using slaves purchased in
West Africa to grow sugar
• A new “Atlantic System” of
trade develops
• At first, Africans controlled slave
trade
• Traded POWs for guns
Despite Europeans being the ones that discovered
America, Africans had higher migration numbers
there (however it was forced)
Slaves soon became the world’s
#1 export and stayed that way for
a hundred years
Portuguese Reach the
Indian Ocean
• 1497-1498: Vasco da Gama
sailed around Africa and
reached India
• He traded at the port of
Calicut for luxury goods
• This wide swing around West
Africa to catch the ocean
currents led to the discovery
of South America
Changes in IOMS Trade
• Before = no central control
• Traders operated independently of governments
• Portuguese introduced use of organized gov’t military
force to the IOMS of trading
• European governments like Portugal & later the
Netherlands invested in the success of trading
operations
Portuguese possessions at their height
Red = actual ownership
Pink = areas of influence
Blue = area of first European Exploration
LESSON: EUROPEANS GAINED SMALL “COASTAL
ENCLAVES” in the IOMS– THAT’S IT!
Spanish Exploration
Spanish Exploration
• Spain needed a non-Portuguese-dominated route
• Spain’s monarchs purposefully sponsored voyages by
Christopher Columbus
• The goal was NOT to find a “New World” or to explore without
purpose. The goal was to get to Asia by going around the other
side of the globe
• Treaty of Tordesillas (1494): Pope Alexander VI drew an
imaginary line down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean – splitting
the world’s territory in “½” between just Spain and Portugal
Spanish Conquests
• Christopher Columbus’s discovery
of the Caribbean allowed Spain to
expand sugar-growing enterprises
• Spain also sent “conquistadors” to
create colonies in the Americas
• Aztecs – conquered in 1519
• Incas – conquered in 1532
• When conquering Incas and Aztecs,
Spain was helped by groups
previously conquered by those
empires
• Diseases like smallpox helped the
small government of Spain conquer
these huge empires of millions of
people
Spain’s Empire
The Atlantic Trade System
• Also known as the “Triangle of Trade”
• After Portugal and Spain’s explorations, Europe finally has a trading
system they can participate in again.
• Other European nations like the Netherlands, England, and France
soon get in on the trading game.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjEGncridoQ