The Age of Exploration:

• What possible rewards might come from

exploring the seas for new lands?

• What are the risks involved in embarking on

a voyage into the unknown?

• It is a gray and windy morning in 1430. You are standing on a dock in the European country of Portugal staring out at the dark and mysterious Atlantic Ocean. You, like most people at the time, have no idea what lies beyond the horizon. Now you may find out. You have been asked to go on a voyage of exploration…

• You’ve heard all the terrifying stories of sea monsters and shipwrecks. You’ve heard the warnings that the currents along parts of western Africa are “so terrible that no ship having once passed… will ever be able to return.” You also have heard that riches await those who help explore and claim new lands. Now, as the captain calls for you to come aboard, you must decide.

Would you go? …

…The large hold of your ship could carry back gold, jewels, and other valuable items found in distant lands…

…Raging waves could destroy your ship and leave you at the mercy of the sea…

Motivations for

Exploration

GOLD, GOD, and GLORY!

GOLD! (WEALTH!)

• New spices in Europe (introduced during the Crusades) = demand for the spices

• Europeans wanted to cut out the middle man!(Italy and the powerful Ottoman Empire controlled trade between Europe and the east)

• Europeans try to find new trade routes because they want new sources of wealth

Italians

sell it

to Europe

for

MORE $$$

Europe buys

it for a

higher price

Muslims sold

Spices to Italians

for lots of $

But $ was NOT the only reason for exploration…

Many sought to convert other populations to Christianity

GOD (Spread of Christianity)

• The Crusades pushed Christians to feel it was their duty to

spread their religion and convert people to Christianity

(and not to be Muslim)

• Bartholomeu Dias – “ To serve God and His Majesty, to

give light to those who were in darkness, and to grow rich

as all men desire to do.”

GLORY !

• BEING “The FIRST!”

• First to: Find a spice?

Find an area?

Create a trading port?

Control a COUNTRY!?

TECHNOLOGY HELPS!

Caravel: stronger, sturdier ship with triangular

sails (adopted from Arabs) made travel easier

– 65 feet long = more space for food/people

– Able to explore close to shore

– Larger sails for easier

movement and power

(made it possible to sail

against the wind)

New Maritime Technologies

Hartman Astrolabe (1532) –Developed by the Greeks and

perfected by the Arabs; used to determine latitude (sail by stars)

Better/More Accurate Maps [Portulan]

Sextant

Mariner’s Compass – Chinese invention; magnetically tracked direction

New Weapons Technology

Marco Polo

• Traveled to China

[court of Kublai Khan]

and brought back

stories and goods to

Europe

Portugal was the early leader in the

Age of Exploration

In Portugal, Prince Henry the Navigator started a school of

navigation to train sailors

He brought in Europe’s best map-makers, ship-builders, &

sailing instructors

He wanted to discover new

territories, find a quick trade route to Asia,

& expand Portugal’s

power

Vasco da Gama was the 1st explorer to find a direct trade route to Asia by

going around Africa to get to India

Portugal gained a sea route to Asia that brought them

great wealth

Prince Henry’s navigation school & willingness to fund voyages led the Portuguese to be the 1st

to explore the west coast of Africa

During the Age of Exploration, Portugal

created colonies along the African coast, in Brazil, & the Spice Islands in Asia

The Spanish government saw Portugal’s wealth & did not want to be left out

More than any other European monarch,

Ferdinand & Isabella of Spain sponsored &

supported overseas expeditions

Columbus reached the Bahamas in America

but thought that he had reached islands off the

coast of India

He made 4 trips to “India” never knowing he was in “America”

Like most educated men of the Renaissance, Columbus

believed the world was round & thought he could reach Asia by sailing west

Despite the fact that Columbus never found

Asia, Ferdinand Magellan still thought he could

reach Asia by sailing West

Magellan became the first explorer to

circumnavigate the Earth (go all the way around)

During the Age of Exploration,

Spain created colonies in North & South America

Spain sent explorers called conquistadors to the New World to find gold, claim land,

& spread Christianity

Cortez conquered the Aztecs

Pizarro conquered the Inca

The influx of gold from America made Spain the most powerful country in Europe during the early

years of the Age of Exploration

Amerigo Vespucci

• From Italy but sailed

for Spain

• Sailed around the coast

of South America &

concluded it was not

Asia but a new land

• America was later

named after him for

this vital discovery

The French explorer Samuel de Champlain searched Canada for a northwest passage to Asia

After failing to do so, Champlain founded the

French colony of Quebec

The French would soon carve out a large colony along the Mississippi River from Canada to New Orleans

Unlike other European nations whose kings paid for colonies, the English colonies

were paid for by citizens who

formed joint-stock companies

English colonies formed along the Atlantic Coast of North America by

colonists motivated either by religion

or wealth

The English explorer James Cook was the first European to make contact with

Australia, New Zealand, & Hawaii

Like England, the Netherlands (the Dutch)

allowed private companies to fund exploration

The Dutch had colonies in America & Africa, but the

Dutch East India Company dominated trade

in Asia

The Effects of the European Age

of Exploration on the Americas

The Columbian Exchange & Global Trade

Definition

Columbian Exchange — widespread exchange of crops,

animals, diseases, culture, and ideas between the Eastern

(Old World) and Western (New World) hemispheres

NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA EUROPE, AFRICA and ASIA

THE NEW WORLD THE OLD WORLD

Which 5 do you think had the most significant impact?

Effects of the Age of Exploration• Diseases killed native populations in the Americas

• Slavery (Africans)

• God: Europeans spread Christianity

• Gold: Europeans got money from their colonies

• Glory: Europeans got land & power

• New trade routes

• Migration-movement of millions of people

• Rapid population growth in Europe

• Columbian Exchange

Key Vocabulary

• Mercantilism- a policy set up by Kings and

Queens in which their country would export more

than it import so that they can make money.

• Colonialism- the control of a country to use it for

its resources (human and natural resources)

• Imperialism- extending rule over lands to build an

empire.

Write a summary in complete

sentences.Be sure to include the following information:

• Explain what the 3 G’s are and how

• What new technologies helped Europeans to explore the

world?

• Who were the key explorers and who did they sail for and

where did they explore?

• What was the Triangular Trade?

• What was the Columbian Exchange?

• What were the effects of the “Age of Exploration”?