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.
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 Explorers:
Portugal & Spain
Bartolomeu Dias
Portugal
• 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
Portugal
• Landed in India in
1498.
• Important trade
route from Europe to
India and East
Indies.
Christopher Columbus
Spain
Christopher Columbus
• Believed a shorter
route to Asia could be
found by sailing
westward instead of
around Africa.
• Found the Americas
instead. Oops.
Ferdinand Magellan
• His crew made first
round-the-world
voyage.
• Proved for certain
that the world was
round.
• Magellan was killed
in the Phillippines,
did not make it
home.
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.
Colony: An area of land settled
The
Slave
Trade
or conquered by a distant nation
andbegan
controlled
by labor
it in
• Europeans
to use slave
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
Atlantic Slave Trade with
Triangular Trade
One deals ONLY with
humans while the
other deals with
goods moving from
one area to another