Download Age of Exploration

Age of Exploration
(1420-1600)
What caused Europeans to
begin exploring new areas of
the world in the early 1400s?
• Cause: Growing power, population, and wealth of many
European nations.
• Effect: Europeans begin to clash with each other, and
with Native people of newly discovered land.
• Cause: European nations desire new trade
routes.
• Effect: Knowledge grows about different
regions of the world.
• Cause: Competition for
trade.
• Effect: Slave trade begins to grow among
European nations and their colonies.
• Cause: Missionaries have a desire to spread Christianity
by converting the Native people of the newly discovered
lands.
• Effect: Rivalry in the newly discovered lands, like the
Americas, reaches a boiling point.
Why did Portugal take the lead in exploring
the boundaries of the known world?
• Portugal’s geographic
location!
• No Mediterranean
port!
• Needed a better trade
route to India and
China!
Portuguese Explorers:
Bartholomeu Dias
• In 1487, King John II
•
•
sent Dias to explore the
southernmost part of
Africa.
A ferocious storm carried
Dias of course and
around the Southern tip
of Africa.
Now known as the “Cape
of Good Hope.”
Portuguese Explorers:
Vasco da Gama
• In 1497, da Gama
•
•
left Portugal with
four ships in an
attempt to sail to
India.
An Arab explorer
helped da Gama
navigate the Indian
Ocean after leaving
the East Coast of
Africa.
He reached India in
1498 – he was the
first.
Spanish Explorers:
Christopher Columbus
• Believed that he could
•
•
reach Asia by sailing
west.
Italian Columbus was
financed by King
Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella of Spain.
He discovered the
Americas in 1492 with 3
ships – the Nina, the
Pinta, and the Santa
Maria.
Spanish Explorers:
Juan Ponce de Leon
• Landed in present day
•
•
Florida in 1513.
He was in search of
the “Fountain of
Youth.”
In 1565, he
established St.
Augustine.
Spanish Conquistadors:
Hernan Cortes
“Dios, Oro, y Gloria”
• Landed in present day
•
•
Mexico in 1519.
Spanish Conquistadors
were on a mission for
God, gold and glory.
He destroyed the Aztec
empire in 1521 when the
capital of Tenochtitlan
was demolished and the
emperor Montezuma was
killed.
Spanish Conquistadors:
Francisco Pizarro
• In 1532, Pizarro sailed
•
down the Pacific Coast of
South America in search
of the wealthy Inca
empire.
He captured and killed
the Inca emperor
Atahualpa, and then took
over most of the Incan
empire.
Dutch Explorer:
Henry Hudson
• English Hudson was
financed by the
Netherlands.
• He was the first to
sail what is now
known as the Hudson
River and Hudson
Bay.
French Explorer:
Samuel de Champlain
• In 1608, Champlain
established Quebec in
what is now Canada.
• One of the first to
make an agreement
with Native Americans
– fur trading.
Review Questions:
1. List the four main causes and effects of
European exploration.
2. Which country took the lead in exploring the
edges of the known world? Why?
3. Who was the first person to sail from Europe to
India?
4. Who discovered the Americas? Where was he
from? Which country financed his expedition?
5. Which explorer would you like to have joined?
Why?