Download Chapter 5 Age of Exploration - St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School

Chapter 5
Age of Exploration
Lesson 1
Why did European’s look for sea
routes to Asia in the 1400’s
How Europeans Saw the World
• Three Continents
– Europe
– Africa
– Asia
• Educated people thought the earth was
round
• Technology: knowledge used for making
things
• Europeans knew very little about the
world in the 1400’s. They lacked
technology and $$ to travel far from
their borders.
Reasons for Exploration
• CRUSADES: religious wars
• European Christians fought Muslims to
gain control of Jerusalem & other holy
lands.
• The Crusades led Europeans to the
Mediterranean area where they
discovered trade centers….SILK, SPICES,
GEMS from India, China, and Japan!
• DESIRE FOR TRADE…
DREAMS OF RICHES
• Printing Press Invented (1400’s) made
Marco Polo’s tales available to the public.
Polo was an Italian Adventurer from the
late 1200’s who traveled through India,
China, & Japan.
• SPREAD CHRISTIANITY
Crusades failed but crusading spirit lived on.
Through exploration Europeans hoped to…
• Claim new land
• Spread Christianity
• Get rich (from products from Asia)
Technological Developments
• Navigate: to chart the course of a journey
• Navigation needed so explorers wouldn’t
get lost at sea
Developments in technology (equipment)
• Sails
– Old: square-rigged...could sail only in one
direction
– New: lateen (triangular)…could catch wind
from sides & rear of a ship
• Rudder: ability to steer ship without large
crew of oarsmen
– Portuguese developed the CARAVEL
• Great speed
• Easier to control than other ships of the time
• Key factor in launching the age of exploration
• Navigational Tools
– Compass used since 1200’s
– Astrolabe for use on land (measured latitude)
– Cross-staff more reliable than astrolabe to
measure latitude
– Could not measure longitude
• Weapons
Old: swords, spears, bows, armor
New: guns & cannons…these established
the method of naval warfare & made
Europeans feel powerful
The major technological developments that
made exploration possible in the 1400’s
were caravals, the compass/cross-staff,
guns & cannons
Portuguese Exploration
• What were the most important results of
Portuguese exploration?
• Scholars at Segres, Portugal, in 1420
started the greatest period of exploration
in history
• Muslims controlled the land routes to Asia
• Prince Henry thought they could get there
by sea
• Expedition: an organized journey
Famous Portuguese Explorers
• Prince Henry the Navigator
– School of Navigation
– Ordered experts at Segres to find a sea route
to Africa & Asia
• Bartolomeu Dias
– Southern tip of Africa
• Vasco da Gama
– Africa to India
Spanish Exploration
• What were the most important results of
Spanish exploration?
• Christopher Columbus
– Captain from Genoa, Italy
– Had sailed aboard Portuguese trade ships
– Knew Portuguese were trying to reach Asia by
sailing around Africa
• Columbus studied maps of Ptolemy
– Ptolemy was a Greek geographer from AD
150 circa
– Thought you could reach east by sailing west
across the Atlantic Ocean which would be the
shortest route to Asia
• King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella of Spain
would commission Columbus’s expedition
– They wanted to spread Spanish power
• Columbus didn’t find a shorter route to
Asia by sailing west but he did find a ‘new’
continent and new routes to Asia
• Colony: A settlement governed by a distant
country
• Columbus not really the first to explore the
Americas…the Norse (Scandinavian)
were. King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella
wanted to spread Spanish power
• Columbus explored one of the Bahama
Islands and later Hispaniola (where
Dominican Republic & Haiti are today)
Explorers After Columbus
• Amerigo Vespucci (Italian): Made a
voyage to New World for Spain and
another for Portugal then wrote a book
about voyages
• Vasco Nunez de Balboa 1513: Crossed
Panama by foot & arrived at Pacific Ocean
• Ferdinand Megellan (Portugal) 1521: The
first known trip around the globe
(circumnavigate)
The Search for Gold
• In 1519 Hernan Cortes (Spanish) landed
in Mexico
• Cortes led a march from the east coast of
Mexico to Tenochtitlan- the capital city of
the Aztecs
• Montezuma, the Aztec king, thought
Cortes was a god of Aztec legend &
waited too long to fight off the invaders
Cortes’s army
– Took Aztec gold & jewels
– Destroyed Aztec buildings (Aztec ruins)
– Beat the Aztec empire after a 4 month battle
On the Aztec ruins Cortes built Mexico
City- which became the capital of a
Spanish empire
Treasure Hunters
Francisco Coronado (Spain):
– Searched for gold & silver in present day New Mexico
– Explorations allowed Spain to claim lands in southern
North America
Hernando de Soto (Spain):
– Went on expedition with Francisco de Cordoba not
Coronado
– In 1536 Spain granted him the rights to conquer
Florida
– He was named governor of Cuba in 1537
– He explored Florida
By the mid 1500’s Spain had become the
most powerful nation in Europe
By searching for gold in the Americas the
Spaniards (Cortes) claimed new territories
while conquering native Indian peoples
and destroying their civilization
Lovely isn’t it =)
French, Dutch, & English Voyages
Terms to know:
• Contagious disease: an illness that often
spreads from one person to another
• Scurvy: a non-contagious painful & often
fatal disease caused by the lack of
vitamin C
• Northwest Passage: a legendary water
route to China through North America
Exploration of North America
• Portugal controlled the eastern routes to
Asia, Africa, and part of South America
• Spain claimed Central America and the
rest of South America….
– Spain had most colonies in the Americas
French Voyages
Giovanni da Verrazano (Italian)
• Hired by France to search for the
Northwest Passage in 1524
• Landed near what is now North Carolina
& mapped as far south as Maine
Jacques Cartier
• In 1535 searched for Northwest passage
• Sailed up St. Lawrence River in hope it
would lead him to China
Dutch Voyages
1595 the Dutch sent ships to take over trade
centers in Asia. Portugal operated these
centers
The Dutch started the East India Trading
Company in 1602 to manage their growing
trade
Henry Hudson led the first Dutch expedition
to North America….
Hudson River in New York
English Voyages
1497 John Cabot was hired by King Henry
VII to sail west to Asia
• Newfoundland
England & Spain are enemies
Sir Francis Drake was hired by Queen
Elizabeth to sail a secret mission
Drake
• Stole from Spanish ships & trading centers
• First Englishman to sail around the globe
Impact on American Indians
• Contact with Europeans brought deadly
diseases like smallpox- a contagious
disease. It killed nearly ¾ of the Indians
• Forced into slavery & Christianity
• Items traded to the Indians improved their
lives
Use notes & pg 583 to complete chart
Explorer
Columbus
Cortes
Da Gama
Vespucci
Cartier
Verrazano
Hudson
Drake
Polo
Nationality
Achievements
Explorer
Nationality
Achievements
Columbus
Italian
4 voyages to West Indies &
Caribbean Islands 14921502
Cortes
Spanish
Conquered Mexico 15191521
Da Gama
Portuguese
1st European to reach India
by sea 1498
Vespucci
Italian
Sailed to the West Indies &
South America 1499-1504
Cartier
French
Sailed up the St. Lawrence
River 1535
Verrazano
Italian
Searched for Northwest
Passage; 1524
Hudson
English
Led Dutch expedition to
New York area 1602
Drake
English
First English explorer to sail
around the world; 15571580
Polo
Italian
Africa to India; late 1200’s