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European Exploration of Africa and Asia
Section 1: European Exploration Begins
Why Europe Looked to the East
Other European nations were interested in competing with Italy for trade with Asia. The desire to
spread Christianity also drove Europeans to explore the world.
Portuguese Exploration
Prince Henry of Portugal sponsored voyages along the African coast after the Portuguese
succeeded in taking the city of Ceuta in North Africa. Bartolomeu Dias finally rounded the Cape of
Good Hope in 1488, and Vasco da Gama sailed into the Indian Ocean and to the port of Calicut in
India in 1498.
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European Exploration of Africa and Asia
Section 1: European Exploration Begins
Columbus Sails Under Spanish Flag
Italian sailor Christopher Columbus convinced Queen Isabella of Spain to sponsor his attempt to
reach Asia by sailing west, across the Atlantic. He and his crew reached the Caribbean in 1492,
believing they had succeeded.
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European Exploration of Africa and Asia
Section 1: European Exploration Begins
All the Way Around the World
Once it was understood that Columbus had reached the Americas and not Asia, other Europeans
looked for a passage around or through the Americas. Vasco Núñez de Balboa saw the Pacific
from the Isthmus of Panama, but it was Ferdinand Magellan who reached the Pacific by ship and
landed in the Philippines, where he was killed. His surviving crew members were the first to
circumnavigate the globe.
MapMaster: European Voyages of Exploration
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European Exploration of Africa and Asia: Section 1
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