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Unit: 1450 – 1750 C.E.
Lesson: Spanish Exploration
Core Content:
SS-HS-2.1.1 Students will explain how belief systems, knowledge, technology and behavior patterns define
cultures and help to explain historical perspectives and events in the modern world (1500 A.D. to present)
and United States (Reconstruction to present). DOK 2
SS-HS-2.3.1 Students will explain the reasons why conflict and competition (e.g., violence, difference of
opinion, stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, genocide) may develop as cultures emerge in the modern
world (1500 A.D. to present) and the United States (Reconstruction to present). DOK 2
SS-HS-3.1.1 Students will give examples of and explain how scarcity of resources necessitates choices at
both the personal and societal levels in the modern world (1500 A.D. to present) and the United States
(Reconstruction to present) and explain the impact of those choices. DOK 2
SS-HS-3.2.1 Students will compare and contrast economic systems (traditional, command, market, mixed)
based on their abilities to achieve broad social goals such as freedom, efficiency, equity, security and
growth in the modern world. DOK 2
SS-HS-3.3.1 Students will explain and give examples of how numerous factors influence the supply and
demand of products (e.g., supply—technology, cost of inputs, number of sellers: demand—income, utility,
price of similar products, consumers' preferences). DOK 2
SS-HS-3.4.3 Students will explain and give examples of how interdependence of personal, national and
international economic activities often results in international issues and concerns (e.g., natural resource
dependencies, economic sanctions, environmental and humanitarian issues) in the modern world (1500
A.D. to present) and the United States (Reconstruction to present). DOK 2
SS-HS-4.1.3 Students will use geographic tools (e.g., maps, globes, photographs, models, satellite images)
to interpret the reasoning patterns (e.g., available transportation, location of resources and markets,
individual preference, centralization versus dispersion) on which the location and distribution of Earth's
human features is based.
SS-HS-4.2.2 Students will explain how physical (e.g., climate, mountains, rivers) and human characteristics
(e.g., interstate highways, urban centers, workforce) of regions create advantages and disadvantages for
human activities in a specific place. DOK 2
SS-HS-4.2.3 Students will explain how people can develop stereotypes about places and regions (e.g., all
cities are dangerous and dirty; rural areas are poor).
SS-HS-4.3.2 Students will explain how technology (e.g., computers, telecommunications) has facilitated
the movement of goods, services and populations, increased economic interdependence at all levels, and
influenced development of centers of economic activity. DOK 2
SS-HS-5.1.1 Students will use a variety of tools (e.g., primary and secondary sources, data, artifacts) to
analyze perceptions and perspectives (e.g., gender, race, region, ethnic group, nationality, age, economic
status, religion, politics, geographic factors) of people and historical events in the modern world (1500
A.D. to present) and United States History (Reconstruction to present). DOK 3
SS-HS-5.1.2 Students will analyze how history is a series of connected events shaped by multiple cause
and effect relationships, tying past to present. DOK 3
SS-HS-5.3.2 Students will explain and give examples of how new ideas and technologies led to an Age of
Exploration by Europeans that brought great wealth to the absolute monarchies and caused significant
political, economic and social changes (disease, religious ideas, technologies, new plants/animals, forms of
government) to the other regions of the world. DOK 2
Objectives:
1. Explain the environmental, technological, economic, and political factors the inspired
Spain to undertake voyages of exploration.
2. Compare the routes, motives, and sailing technologies of those who undertook global
maritime expansion before 1450 to the routes, motives, and sailing technologies of the
Portuguese and Spanish of 1400 – 1550.
Essential Question
What environmental and technological factors led Spain and Portugal to explore new
trade routes in the Atlantic?
Procedures
1. Read pages 386- 389
2. Research how Portuguese exploration encouraged the Spanish Kingdom to find ways
to out do the Portuguese explorers by discovering new trade routes and new wealth in the
Pacific and Indian Oceans.
3. Discuss how the competition between economic powers on the Iberian Peninsula led to
the discovery of a new world filled with riches beyond ones wildest dreams.
Assessment
Answer the following question in paragraph form:
 Explain the phrase: Religious only for justification give several examples of how
this phrase was used and why.
*See Chapter Notes on next page*
Spanish Voyages
I. Pure Luck
1. Portugal had a century to prepare and become successful explorers
2. Spain became successful by getting lucky
3. Throughout the 1400’s Spanish kingdoms were preoccupied with
internal affairs
4. Occupied with the conquest of Southern Iberia, unifying a dynasty,
and the expulsion of religious minorities
5. It was not until the latter half of the 14th century when Spanish
Monarchs were ready to explore  Portuguese were already sailing
into the Indian Ocean
II. Christopher Columbus 1451-1506
A. The Man
1. Genoese Mariner
2. Italian explorer who participated in Portuguese exploration of the
South Atlantic and African Coast
3. Was convinced that there was a shorter route to India by misreading an
Arab map believing it stated the Canary islands were only 2400 miles
east of Japan
B. Finding Support
1. Theory of sailing west was radical, dangerous, and absurd
2. Portuguese patrons rejected his plan twice
3. Columbus was given a chance by the ruler of Castile, Queen Isabella
but no commitment
4. A Castilian commission studied Columbus’s theory for 4 years and
determined that a western sea route was very questionable
5. Columbus persisted and eventually gained support from Queen
Isabella and her husband King Ferdinand of Argon
6. In 1492 the agreed to fund a small expedition in celebration of finally
united the Spanish Kingdoms and expelling Muslim rule from Grenada
C. Preparing to Explore
1. Columbus gathered 90 men and prepared to set sail Friday August 3,
1492 toward India
2. Mission  discover and acquire lands in the ocean sea
3. Carried introductions to the Chinese Emperor from Spanish Royalty
4. Took a converted Jew who had great knowledge of Arabic Culture
5. 3 ships  Santa Maria, Santa Clara(Nina), and the Pinta
6. Sailed to the Canaries and replaced the sails of the Nina with square
sails to boost speed
7. Caught the westerly winds and headed west along a southern route
D. A New World
1. October 1492 Columbus reached the Caribbean Islands
2. He called the natives Indians because he believed he arrived in the
East Indies
3. 1493 Columbus returned with the same belief
4. 1498 – 3rd Voyage Columbus was still convinced he was sailing to
India despite Vasco da Gama’s voyage to India around Africa
5. Europeans were convinced Columbus discovered a new world
6. Amerigo Vespucci explored and mapped the new world naming it
America after himself
7. Portugal’s claim and Spanish claims to the new world created a
dispute
III. Competing for America
A. Religious Dominance
1. Spain and Portugal agreed to allow the Catholic church to settle the
property dispute
2. Treaty of Tordesillas 1494 – drew a line down the middle of the
Atlantic Ocean
3. Lands to the east belonged to Portugal
4. Lands to the west belonged to Spain
5. Cabral’s discovery of Brazil gave Portugal claim to some parts of
South America
B. What about the East?
1. If the line of demarcation extended around the Globe who had claim in
the East?
2. It was not clear who had claim to the Moluccas Islands who had
valuable spices
3. 1513 a Spanish adventurer Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the
isthmus of Panama and sighted the Pacific
4. 1519 Ferdinand Magellan sailed from east to west and found a route to
the East Indies
5. Moluccas belonged to Portugal
C. Ferdinand Magellan
1. Voyage to the Philippines laid the foundation for Spanish colonization
in the east after 1564
2. 1554 – Sailed east to the Philippines but died before making the full
trip around the world.
3. Was still given credit for being the first ti sail around the world
4. Portugal and Spain laid claims to all lands around the Globe
5. By the late 1500’s other Europeans were starting their conquest of
foreign lands
D. Legacy of Columbus
1. Failed to find a route to the East
2. However his voyages laid the ground work for large colonial empires
3. Spanish colonial empires promoted growth of an Atlantic Trade
Network the will surpass the Indian Ocean and Silk Roads
4. Immediate consequence - Portuguese dominance in the Indian Ocean
leading to a dramatic increase of European presences and wealth
5. Spanish and Portuguese exploration marked the beginning of European
global dominance that would remain until 1945