Download World History

The
Age of Exploration
(1500-1800)
Chapter 6
Vikings

Erik the Red and Leif Eriksson – first
Europeans to see Americas, nearly 500
years before Columbus in 1492
Exploration & Expansion

Renaissance ideas spilled over into fields
of shipping, navigation, and exploration
• Portugal, Spain, Dutch Republic, England, &
France rose to economic powers via
worldwide exploration, colonization, and trade
Motives for Exploration

Europeans long attracted to Asia
• Fascinated by Marco Polo’s account
of his Travels (published 1300)
along Silk Road, Far East, and
adventures while living in court of
Kublai Khan
Kublai
Khan
Marco Polo
The Travels
Motives for Exploration
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European powers desired all water
route to Asia due to Ottoman
Empire’s control of Middle East
land routes to Asia
Wealth – precious metals, spice
trade
Christianity – missionaries
Fame & Adventure
“God, glory, and gold”
Ottoman Empire
Making Exploration Possible

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By 15th Century, European monarchies’
appetite for wealth and power =
investment in exploration & colonization
New technology (cartographers,
astrolabe, compass, caravel, weapons)
What Was It Like for an Explorer?

The Known
• Risk of death
• Preparation difficulties
• Chance for fame, glory, and
riches

The Unknown
• Uncharted areas
• Superstition
• Never before seen marine
and animal life
• Completely alien
cultures/civilizations
Portugal

Becomes first European power to
gain stronghold in Asia via water
route, eventually dominates the
“Spice Trade”
• (1420) Prince Henry “The Navigator”
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Sponsorship of exploration, seamanship
education center
Discovery of “gold” along Africa’s west coast
• (1488) Bartholomeu Dias

Rounded tip of S. Africa = Cape of Good
Hope
• (1498) Vasco da Gama

Arrived in India & returned to Portugal with
valuable haul of spices
Spain

Desired route to Asia going
West instead of East
• (1492) Christopher Columbus
 From Genoa, Italy – gains
financing from King
Ferdinand & Queen Isabella,
reached Americas in Oct.,
Hispaniola (Cuba), believed
he was in the Indies, thus he
called natives “Indians”
Santa Maria
Columbus’ Voyages
Line of Demarcation


Portugal & Spain agree to Treaty of
Tordesillas (1494) (Tawr-duh-SEE-yuhs) that basically
grants Portugal control of the East and Spain
control of the West
Regardless of treaty, other European powers
quickly enter the RACE!
Other European Explorers
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See Table page 206
Europeans called these territories the
“New World,” however, civilizations
comprised of millions of people existed
centuries before their arrival
Europeans see opportunity for conquest,
colonization & exploitation” (Pg. 196)
End Section 1
Spanish Conquistadors

(1519) Hernando Cortés
• Overthrows & destroys Aztec Empire giving Spain
control of Mexico

(1532) Francisco Pizarro
• Overthrows & destroys Inca Empire giving Spain
control of large part of S. America

Queen Isabella declares all natives her subjects
& allows them to be used as laborers
Colonization

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By 1535, Spanish had created colonies
throughout the Americas
Forced labor, starvation, murder, and disease all
but wipe out civilizations
Mexico = population 25 million in 1519 reduced
to 1 million by 1630
Roman Catholic missionaries converted &
baptized hundreds of thousands
Economic Impact
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International trade crucial in developing a “commercial
revolution” – Capitalism
European colonies produced products for export back to
Europe (agricultural goods) = trade between “new” world
and “old” = Columbian Exchange (named after Columbus)
Other European powers establish colonies (trading posts)
throughout world (Americas, Africa)
Nations pursuing economic theory known as Mercantilism
= whereby nation attains a “favorable balance of trade” =
export more than you import
Slave Trade
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Slavery, as an institution, not new in 15th Century
Colonial plantations, primarily sugar cane,
increased demand for labor
(1518) Spanish ship carried first boatload of
African slaves to the Americas
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16th Century = 275,000
17th Century = 1 million
18th Century = 6 million
Slave trade had devastating effect on African
societies still visible today
Triangle of Trade
and
Middle Passage