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The Age of Exploration:
1400-1800
The Historical Setting
for Exploration
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Europe wanted trade:
overland routes
expensive
Limited previous
contact with the
Americas had
occurred: Vikings
Marco Polo had
reached China
Vikings
Renaissance Ideas That
Influenced Exploration
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Most educated men
believed that the
world was round
There were stories of
other lands, but they
were not focused on
the Western
Hemisphere
Economic Developments
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The Royal Exchange, London
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Trade routes
expanded: Italians
traded with Asia then
sold to the northern
Europeans
Europeans wanted:
spices(cinnamon,
pepper, nutmeg)
The development of
banking
New Technology
Ships
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Caravels
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Ship technology
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round hulled, carry heavy
arms, smaller
rudder, triangular sails
Armaments
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gunpowder/ cannons on
ships to protect/conquer
New Technology
Navigation
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Astrolabe
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Compass
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Calculate latitude
Determine direction
Practical knowledge
of winds and currents
Astrolabe
Cartography
Early and Medieval Maps
Ptolemaic map
Jerusalem maps
Mappa Mundi
Late Medieval and
Renaissance Cartography
Portolan map
Fra Mauro’s map
Cartography and Projection
• Projection:
how project a
round object
on a flat map?
Mercator map of Europe, 16th century
Motives for Exploration
SEARCH FOR RESOURCES AND LAND
Oceanic resources
like fish, whales
Land resources
like timber
Land for
wheat
Land for
Sugar
Motives for Exploration
MISSIONARY ACTIVITY
Motives for Exploration
National: make country
more powerful and rich
GLORY
Personal: fame,
money and power
Columbus lands in America
In Summary:
Why Explore?
 God
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Missionary work
Gold
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Money to be made
Trade
Glory
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And Because they Can
 Technology
Competition
Fame/riches
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Compass, astrolabe, ships
maps
Weapons
Medical knowledge
Early Endeavors:
The Portuguese
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The Portuguese
began the era of
European
exploration
The Portuguese
were dependent
on the seas
Ocean access
helped Portugal
Connected
northern Europe
to Italy
Prince Henry the Navigator
(1394–1460)
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Son of the king of
Portugal
Had been a crusader in
northern Africa, saw
wealth/goods there
Investigated possible
trade opportunities in
Africa(gold, silver)
Established navigational
school: map makers,
sailors, etc
Motivation: wealth and
religion
Early Portuguese Exploration:
Africa

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West African
coast: looking
for route to India
Trade
developed: gold,
slaves, spices
Portuguese fort on the African coast
Bartolomeu Dias
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Traveled the coast of
Africa
Around the tip of
southern Africa in
1488
Returned to Portugal
Dias rounding the Cape of Good Hope
Vasco da Gama
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1498, sailed for India
Reached India
Sea route
Da Gama in India
Portrait of da Gama
The Portuguese Empire in the
East
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Largest European
empire in Asia
Opened/controlled
trade in India,
Japan, East Indies,
Spice Islands
Eventually lost
control of their trade
empire
Other countries
started to trade
Da Gama landing in Calcutta
Portugal
Japan
East Indies
Spice
Islands
India
Other Traders in the East
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Established East
India Companies
The English, French,
and Dutch
established trade
Dutch settlement in Java, 1665
Afonso d’Albuquerque
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16th-century commander
Seized control of several critical ports
Difficult to secure full control over the area
First governor general in India
The Collapse of the
Portuguese Empire
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Control over the
empire weakened
Portugal taken over
in 1580
Japan adopted a
policy of isolationism
Other European
countries seized
Portuguese interests
throughout Asia
Jesuits in Japan
The Spanish Empire in Asia
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Did not focus on
Asian markets
Established a
colony in the
Philippines
A Spanish galleon
Northern Europeans in Asia
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Latecomers to
Asia
Established East
India Companies
The English,
French, and
Dutch
18th-century French map of Southeast Asia
The Dutch and Java
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Wanted Asian
port
Jan Pieterszoon
Coen established
a trading
monopoly in Java
(Indonesia)
Direct and indirect
rule
Dutch settlement in Java, 1665
Discovering a New World?

Empires in the New World—the result of a
mistake
Christopher Columbus
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Italian navigator
Sought patron($$) for
his exploration idea
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Spain’s King Ferdinand
and Queen Isabella paid
Sail West to get to East
Indies
Sailed with 3 boats in
1492
Columbus’s Journey
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Sailed west
for about 2
months
Found land
in the
Caribbean
Believed he
was in Asia
Discovered
Hispaniola
and Cuba
Columbus’s Subsequent
Journeys  2nd journey
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Puerto Rico
and Jamaica
discovered
3rd and 4th
trips explored
South
America and
Central
America
Amerigo Vespucci
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Geographer who
wrote notes
about land they
found
New World
named in his
honor on a map
in 1507
Portuguese and Spanish
Explorers in the New World:
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Pedro Alvares Cabral:
1500
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Claimed Brazil for
Portugal: sugar
plantations
Vasco Nunez da
Balboa: 1510
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Crossed Panama, saw
Pacific Ocean
Balboa sighting the Pacific Ocean
Ferdinand Magellan
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Explored the coast of South
America
Entered Pacific Ocean
Magellan’s route
Magellan
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Difficult Pacific journey
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Scurvy
Food shortages: ate
rats, leather
Reached Philippines
and Magellan was
killed
Of 280 crew, only 35
survived to end
Hernando Cortes
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Conquered the
Aztec Empire
(1519–1521)
Defeated
Montezuma
Stole gold
Millions of natives
killed by smallpox
Governor of Mexico
Francisco Pizarro
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Conquered the Incas
Held Atahualpa, the
Inca ruler, prisoner
Once he controlled the
area, he exploited the
Incas: taxes, labor in
mines
Spanish Conquest

Empire extends into North America
Juan Ponce de Leon claimed Florida
 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado: traveled in
Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, etc
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Many missionaries settled in today’s U.S.
The Impact on the
Spanish Colonies
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Exploitation of
gold and silver
Plantations
established
Trade increased
Natives forced
labor, lower class
Bring language
and
religion(Catholic)
Woodcut of Potosi
Social Classes & the Spanish
Spanish
Creoles
Mestizos
Native Americans
Benefits for Spain
Wealthy empire from silver/gold
 Built navy and army: one of most powerful
European nations
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Spanish Impact
The Spanish in the New World
Built an enormous empire in the Americas
Governmental
Administration
Royal
Administrators
Council
of
the
Indies
Viceroyalties
Religion and the Spanish
Empire
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Christian
missionaries
Christian
missionaries
and Native
American rights
Explorers
in the
New World: North
America French
Spain
Dutch
North
America
English
Brazil and the Portuguese
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Pedro Cabral
Organization and structure of
Brazil
Economic opportunities
Brazilian plantation
British and French
Exploration in North America
John
Cabot
Gaspar
CorteReal
Henry
Hudson
Explorers
Jacques
Cartier
Giovanni
da
Verrazano
The French in North America
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Samuel de Champlain
Furs
Jesuit missionaries
Champlain in Quebec
Further French Colonization
La Salle in Mississippi
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Mississippi and Louisiana
New France remained small
English Exploration
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Henry VIII
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Wants to find
“Northwest Passage”
to Asia
fails
Henry VIII
English Colonization
in North America
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Slow colonization but
sped up in 1600s
Roanoke: failed
colony
Jamestown: first
permanent settlement
The 13 colonies
Causes of migration
English Motvies
economic opportunities, like many of those
who settled in Virginia.
 relief from religious persecution in
England.
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Catholics in Maryland
 Puritans in Massachusetts
 Quakers in Pennsylvania
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The Role of Trading
Companies
Joint-stockinvestors buy stock,
combine wealth
Essential
Elements
Granted
charters
Private
endeavorsno gov’t
intervention
Joint-Stock Companies
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Joint-stock company lets investors share
risk, profits of business
Buy stock
 Get charter from King
• to establish colony
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help fund colonies in America: Jamestown
Triangular Trade: Review
Spain, Portugal
United States,
Brazil
Rum too
Ghana, Nigeria
The Columbian Exchange
Plants, animals,
and foodstuffs
Disease:
smallpoxkilled
Natives
Migration of
people (voluntary
and involuntary)
Columbian Exchange:
Plants and Animals
From the Americas:
Potatoes: most important
Pumpkin
Maize/corn: 2nd most
Beans
Cocoa
Squash
Peanuts
Tobacco
Pineapple
Tomatoes
Turkeys
Llamas
Quinine: treated malaria
Avocados
Columbian Exchange:
Plants and Animals
From Europe:
Wheat
Cauliflower
Cabbage
Citrus Fruits
Peas
Clover
Pigs
Sheep
Horse
Cattle
Onion
Effects of Columbian Exchange
In Europe
-More food=more people
-quinine helped them
colonize Africa
-
In Americas
-horse helps
Europeans defeat/
colonize Natives
-Natives use horse on
plains
-grains for farming
-weeds came too
Columbian Exchange:
European Diseases
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European diseases
kill millions of
Natives
Smallpox, measles,
influenza, and
whooping cough
Smallpox victim
Development of Global Trade

World
connected by
trade
Mining in the colonies
Changing Economies
Wealth from Americas, growth of trade
changes business in Europe
 New economic system—capitalism—
based on private property, profit
 Inflation occurs: prices rise when supply is
less than demand
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New Economic Policy
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Policy of mercantilism emphasizes national
wealth as source of power
2 Ways to get wealth
1. gather gold, silver
2. Favorable balance of trade: nation sells
more goods than it buys
Colonies provide: gold, raw materials used to
make goods(cotton), and market to sell goods

Effects of Economic Revolution
Towns grow
 Merchants gain wealth
 European nations wealthy and more
powerful
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Explorers
in the
New World: North
America
Spain
French
Dutch
North
America
English
The French in North America
•
Looking for water route
to Pacific
•
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•
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Northwest Passage
New France: Quebec
Also explored Great
Lakes, Mississippi River
Dominate fur trade
Jesuit missionaries
arrive
New France remained
small
Champlain in Quebec
French Explorers
Cartier: founded Montreal
 Champlain: founded New France and city of
Quebec
 Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet
traveled into Wisconsin and discovered the
upper Mississippi Valley.
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Further French Colonization
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Robert Cavelier
de La Salle
followed the
Mississippi River
all the way south
to the Gulf of
Mexico

Mississippi and
Louisiana
established.
New Orleans
established
La Salle in Mississippi
The Dutch
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1609 Henry Hudson
explores waterways
for the Dutch
(Netherlands)
Dutch claim land,
found New
Netherland—now
Albany, New York
City
Dutch focus on fur
trade
Colonizing the Caribbean
European nations start colonies in the
Caribbean
 Large cotton and sugar plantations work
by slaves
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New Colonial Rivals