Download The Age of Exploration

The Age of Exploration
What was the Age of Exploration?
• A time period when Europeans began to
explore the rest of the world.
• Improvements in mapmaking, shipbuilding,
rigging, and navigation made this possible.
• Blue water sailing, not just coastal boats.
• Policy of mercantilism drives the exploration.
Motives for Exploration
GLORY AND WEALTH
National
Personal
Motives for Exploration
Spice Market
TRADE CONTRACTS
Asia
Africa
Other lands
Motives for Exploration
SEARCH FOR RESOURCES AND LAND
Oceanic Resources
Wheat
Sugar and Timber
The Explorers:
Portugal
Bartolomeu Dias
• Sailed around Cape of
Good Hope at
southern tip of Africa.
• Found route to Indian
Ocean
• Trade can go from
Europe to Asia by sea.
Vasco da Gama
• Landed in India in
1498.
• Important trade route
from Europe to India
and East Indies.
• His crew made first Ferdinand
round-the-world
voyage.
• Proved for certain
that the world was
round.
• Magellan was killed
in the Philippines, did
not make it home,
but is given credit for
circumnavigating the
globe.
Magellan
Circumnavigate= sail
around the world.
The Explorers: Spain
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
• Believed a shorter route
to Asia could be found by
sailing westward instead
of around Africa.
• Found the Americas
instead. Oops.
Was Christopher Columbus the
first to find North America?
Vikings were the first.
Leif Ericson
Christopher Columbus 1492
Hernando Cortes
• Conquered the Aztecs
Empire (1519-1521)
with 508 men muskets,
and 16 horses
• Defeated Montezuma
• Governor of Mexico
• Mexico becomes a
Catholic country
• Sent enormous amounts
of silver back to Spain
French Explorers
John Cabot
• 1496 King of England
Henry VII
commissioned Cabot to
seek out new lands
• First English voyage to
North America
• 1497 he explored
Newfoundland
Jacques Cartier
• Mr. Nelson’s Favorite
explorer.
He sailed in search of the
Northwest Passage. He
did not find the route but
he did sail up the St.
Lawrence River
MR. NELSON’S HOME
How could they explore?
•
•
•
•
Ship Technology
Navigation
Armaments
Caravels
New Navigation Technology
• Astrolabe
• Magnetic Compass
• Practical knowledge of
wind currents
• Better maps
What was the Colombian Exchange?
• Massive exchange of plants, animals and
diseases.
• These things moved between the New and
Old Worlds.
• Started with Columbus.
• To the Americas: cows, horses, wheat,
smallpox, plus much more.
• To Europe: potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco, corn,
plus much more.
What was mercantilism?
• Policy that said there was a limited amount of
money in the world.
• Each country needs to grab what they can
before it is gone.
• Export more than you import…more money in
your pocket.
• Colonies and markets were needed to keep
everything in the system.
The Slave Trade
• Europeans began to use slave labor in their
colonies to grow crops, mine, etc.
• Native Americans used for a while, but
Africans began to be brought to the Americas.
• The slave trade then became the main focus
of Europe’s relations with Africa.
What was the Triangular Trade?
• System of trade between Europe, Africa, and
the Americas.
• Stage 1: Raw materials to Europe (tobacco,
rum, sugar)
• Stage 2: Manufactured goods to Africa (guns,
cloth, rum)
• Stage 3: Slaves to the Americas to make raw
materials.
The Triangular
Trade