Download Assignment #7 Answers

Assignment #7: The Portugese & The Spanish, pp. 251 - 260
1. Where and how did the Portuguese kings recognize a great opportunity for trading with other
countries?
- Portuguese already fishing in the Atlantic Ocean & interacting w/ countries in Africa in late
15thc.
- Kings sponsored expeditions down west coast of Africa
2. By 1550, in which countries did Portugal establish trading posts and colonies?
- Africa, India, Brazil, SE Asia
3. Describe the accomplishments of Prince Henry.
- Fascinated w/ships & navigation aka Henry the Navigator
- Sponsored expeditions of exploration, gathering of info on trading routes, dev. of new
navigational equipment
4. In your opinion, why did he never travel on any voyages?
- Popular myths: either suffered from sea-sickness or couldn’t swim
- Also felt that as king, he couldn’t afford to be absent for long periods of time or die at sea
5. Who was Bartholomew Dias and what were some of his accomplishments?
- Portuguese explorer
- Sailed around the Cape of Good Hope in 1488
- Afterwards wanted to travel into the Indian Ocean, crew was scared and rebelled so ended
up not going
6. Who was Vasco Da Gama and what were some of his accomplishments?
- Portuguese explorer
- Tough & ruthless soldier  cruel and barbaric because unlike Dias, overcame the rebellious
crewmen and forced them to do his bidding
- Brilliant navigator  instead of hugging African coast on his way south, he first sailed to the
Cape Verde Islands, several km’s off the west coast of Africa
- - then went SE in a great arc to take advantage of the winds and swoop around to land near
Southern tip of Africa
- - rounded Cape of Good Hope after 93 days & finally sailed into Indian Ocean
- - returned in 1499 w/ cargo of precious spices
- 1502 sailed again for India, this time also capturing other ships, killing all and attacking
Calicut
- - when local leader tried to negotiate, he took some local fishermen as prisoners, killed
them and cut them into pieces which he sent to king of Calicut
- - king agreed to abide by Da Gama’s wishes
7. Look at the routes of Dias and Da Gama. Which explorer was most daring or foolhardy? Explain.
- Dias: travelled approx. 14000 km, passed 80 degrees of latitude from Portugal to the Cape
of the Good Hope
- Da Gama: travelled approx. 23000 km, passed through 125 degrees of latitude as he
travelled up the East Coast of Africa and to Calicut
8. What is the Treaty of Tordesillas? What is its legacy?
- A secret treaty proposed by the pope to the rulers of Spain and Portugal on how to share
the world
- All lands to the west of an imaginary line running N-S through the Atlantic Ocean  Spain
- Everything to the east would go to Portugal
- The final line 46 degrees W – Portugal kept Brazil
- Legacy: Central & South America, except for Brazil speak Spanish; Brazil speak Portuguese
9. Who is Columbus, where is he from and who did he work for? What was his plan to reach Asia?
- Italian explorer from Genoa born in 1451
- Sailed for the Isabella, Queen of Spain
- Estimated that the world was approx. 30, 000 km in circumference (he was off by 8500 km,
didn’t realize that North America was in his way) and that SE Asia was about 8000 km west
of Spain and planned to take a ship across the Atlantic and establish a new trade route to
Asia
10. What happened instead?
- Sailed first to the Canary Islands and then went west along the 28th parallel (took a month)
- Had to plead w/ his crew to keep going
- After 3 days, sighted the island of San Salvador
- Didn’t find any treasures so continued westward to Santo Domingo
- Started European colonization of the Caribbean Islands, but couldn’t find any gold
- Instead became a slave trader to hunt down and capture these people (who had earlier
welcomed him)
- Became colonial ruler, very incompetent & brutal, executed anyone who was against him
- Eventually arrested and sent back to Spain, died bitter & poor in 1506
11. Who was Ferdinand Magellan and what did he do?
- Portuguese navigator working for the Spanish monarchs
- Travelled to the Philippines via the Indian Ocean
- Found an alternate passage to the Spice Islands in Indonesia through Tierra del Fuego and
Patagonia (aka the Straits of Magellan)
- Although killed in the Philippines, his last ship was able to return to Spain w/ spices
- His sailors became the first people to circumnavigate the world (took 2 years), proved that
the world is round
12. Who was Vespucci and what was he famous for?
- Florentian merchant
- Made 4 voyages across the Atlantic for Spain
- Visited the mainland of S. America in 1497
- Sailed down the coast of Brazil
- America derived from his first name, Amerigo
13. How did Columbus and the other Spanish explorers treat the Aboriginal peoples they
encountered?
- Better to be feared than loved (Machiavelli)
- Wanted only the wealth, didn’t care about the colonized people or their way of life
- Brutal & barbaric
- Killed or took them as slaves back to Spain and Portugal