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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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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