Download Age of Exploration

Age of Exploration
1415-1476 A.D.
Europe Explores the Sea
• Europeans traded with Asia
long before the Renaissance.
• Spices – especially pepper- was
very valuable
– Over $10 per ounce
• By 1400s- Europe wanted other
spices
– Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and
pepper
Spice Islands
• Used spices to preserve food, add flavor,
medicines, and perfumes.
• Chief source of spices was the island of
Moluccas in present day Indonesia
Europe Explore the Seas
• Europeans wanted to gain direct access to the
spice markets.
• Portugal and Spain looked for alternate routes
to bypass the Mediterranean route to Asia
• Other motives:
– Desire for ‘crusades’ against Muslims
– Renaissance spirit of adventure
Improved Technology
• New inventions allowed
travel on the high seas
– Cartographers created
more accurate maps
• Astrolabe
• Created by Greeks,
perfected by Arabs,
– Used to determine latitude
at sea using the stars
Caravel
• Combined square sails with Arab lateen, or
triangular sails.
• Made it possible to sail into the wind.
Portugal Sails Eastward
• Portugal led the
way in exploration
• Strong enough to
seize territory in
Muslim North
Africa.
• Inspired Prince
Henry – Henry the
Navigator
Henry the Navigator
• Embodied the crusading drive
and the new spirit of exploration
• Hoped to expand Christianity
• To find the source of African gold
Mapping the Africa Coast
• Prince Henry gathered scientists,
cartographers, and other experts
– Redesigned ships
– Prepared maps
– Trained captains and crews for long voyages
• Goal was to explore the west coast of Africa
• Henry died in 1460
Bartholomeu Dias
• Portuguese navigator
• Rounded the southern
tip of Africa
• Known as the Cape of
Good Hope
– Opened the way for sea
route to Asia
Vasco Da Gama
• 1497, led four ships around the Cape of Good
Hope
• 10 month voyage reached Calicut, India
• Long voyage home
– Lost half of ships
– Sailors died of thirst, hunger and scurvy
• Highly profitable journey
– Cargo of spices sold at a profit of 3,000%
Vasco da Gama
Vasco Da Gama
• Second voyage 1502
• Treaty of Friendship forced on ruler of Calicut
– Set up shop to buy spices and store them
• Portuguese seized key ports around Indian ocean
• Established a vast trading empire.
Columbus Sails West
• Christopher Columbus from
Italian port of Genoa
• Wanted to reach the Indies
by sailing west
• Most educated people knew
the earth was round.
• Two mistakes
– Underestimated the size of
the earth
– Two continents in his path
Voyages of Columbus
• Enterprise of the Indies financed by King
Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain
• 1492 sailed west aboard
– Nina
– Pinta
– Santa Maria
• Reached landfall on October 12th
• He thought he had reached the Indies
Voyages of Columbus
• Sailed around Caribbean
– Called the locals “Indians”
• 1493 returned to a
heroes welcome in Spain
– Convinced he a reached
the coast of East Asia
• Europeans realized he
had reached continents
unknown to them before.
Line of Demarcation
• Spain and Portugal both claimed lands Columbus
explored
• 1493, Pope Alexander VI stepped in to keep the
peace
• Set up a line dividing the non-European world
into two zones
– Spain had trading and exploration rights west of the
line
– Portugal had trading and exploration rights east of the
line
Naming the New World
• 1507, German cartographer
read about the “new world”
– Written by Amerigo Vespucci
• He named it America
• Area explored by Columbus
became known as the “West
Indies”
Vasco Nunez de Balboa
• With Native American help found passage
through the tropical forest of Panama
• Discovered what he called the South Sea in
1513
Ferdinand Magellan
• Sailed five ships along the
coast of South America
looking for passage around it
• November 1520 – entered
bay that become the Strait of
Magellan
– Entered the “South Sea”
• Renamed it “Pacific” –
meaning peaceful
Circumnavigation
• Crew wanted to return to Spain the way they
had come.
• Magellan convinced another three weeks to
the Spice Islands
• Sailed for four months before reaching the
Philippines
– Magellan killed in a local dispute
• One ship and 18 sailors complete the voyage
back to Spain – circumnavigating the globe
Search for the Northwest Passage
• English, Dutch and French explorers looked for
a passage around North America
– Called the Northwest Passage
• 1497 King Henry VII of England set Venetian
explorer John Cabot
– Discovered rich fishing grounds that he claimed
for England
Search for the Northwest Passage
• The French sent Jacques
Cartier to explore the
St. Lawrence River
• Henry Hudson sailed for
the Dutch
– Explored the Hudson
River Valley
• Northwest passage
never found?