Unit 9: Age of Discovery

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• SSWH10 The student will analyze the impact of the age of discovery and expansion into the Americas, Africa, and Asia.

• a. Explain the roles of explorers and conquistadors; include Zheng He, Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, James Cook, and Samuel de Champlain.

• b. Define the Columbian Exchange and its global economic and cultural impact.

• c. Explain the role of improved technology in European exploration; include the astrolabe.

Explorers and Conquistadors

• For thousands of years the major civilizations of the world thrived in isolation from one another. These civilizations had very little contact with one another, and in many cases had no knowledge of each other.

Explorers• This all began to change during the Dark Ages.

Both Western Europe and China began to send out explorers in an effort to learn about the world around them. These explorers helped to expand the knowledge of their people.

Explorers• As a result of their explorations,

trade routes opened up between civilizations. Each nation specialized in certain types of products and goods. These goods would be shipped to far away nations in exchange for the goods that they specialized in.

Conquistadors • Spain and Portugal

sent out these Soldier/Explorers called Conquistadors meaning “conquerors.”

• The Conquistadors' mission was to find gold, convert new souls to Christianity, and claim new territories for the King and the glory of their country.

• As they explored the new lands, they gained personal fame and wealth by taking a share of the riches they could plunder from the local tribes. Rather than settle, their desire was to make a quick fortune, and they often stopped at nothing to accomplish this.

Zheng He• He sailed from China to

many places throughout South Pacific, Indian Ocean, Taiwan, Persian Gulf and distant Africa in seven epic voyages from 1405 to 1433. His voyages with the "Treasure Fleet“ solidified Chinese control over much of Asia in the 15th century, some 80 years before Columbus's voyages.

Vasco Da Gama • Following in the

footsteps of Bartholomeu Dias, another explorer left Portugal in 1497 A.D., hoping to sail around Africa and reach India.

• He did so and was the first man to sail around the tip of Africa and reach India by sea.

Christopher Columbus

• Christopher Columbus proposed finding a new route by sailing west.

• Columbus thought that if they sailed west, they would eventually circle the globe and arrive in eastern Asia.

• 1492, Columbus left Spain in the Santa Maria, with the Pinta and the Nina along side. He has been credited for opening up the Americas to European colonization.

• Traveling to India around the southern tip of Africa was dangerous and difficult.

Ferdinand Magellan

• In 1519, a Portuguese sailor set sail from Seville, Spain, in an effort to sail around the globe.

• He discovered the southern tip of South America, which is now known as the Straight of Magellan.

Ferdinand Magellan

• He made it to the Philippines where he was killed.

• His remaining crew of 18 men sailed back to Spain, arriving home after being gone for three years.

• It was the first time anyone had managed to sail around the entire globe.

• They proved once and for all that what Columbus had discovered was indeed a new world.

• They also discovered just how large the Earth really was.

James Cook

James Cook• 1st Voyage (1768-1771) He charted New Zealand

and the east coast of Australia (known as New Holland at the time; New South Wales today).

• 2nd Voyage (1772-1775) circumnavigating the southern waters around Antarctica, he indisputably determined that there was no habitable southern continent. During this voyage he also discovered several island chains in the Pacific Ocean to include Easter Island.

• 3rd Voyage (1776-1779) He sailed along the coast of what would become Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska and proceeded through the Bering Straight. His last stop was in February, 1779 at the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) where he was killed in a fight with islanders over the theft of a boat.

• Cook's explorations dramatically increased European knowledge of the world. As a ship captain and skilled cartographer, he filled in many gaps on world maps. His contributions to eighteenth century science helped propel further exploration and discovery for many generations.

• Cook’s voyages are generally recognized as one of the last frontiers in the age of exploration.

Samuel de Champlain

• Samuel de Champlain (1567 - 1635) was a French explorer

• He explored eastern Canada• He founded the city of Quebec as the

first permanent French colony in North America

• He established trading companies in Quebec that sent goods to France

• He was known as the father of New France

• His maps and charts were used by many explorers for years to come.

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• b. Define the Columbian Exchange and its global economic and cultural impact.

Columbian Exchange

• The Columbian Exchange refers to a period of cultural and biological exchanges between the New and Old Worlds.  Exchanges of plants, animals, diseases and technology transformed European and Native American ways of life. Beginning after Columbus' discovery in 1492 the exchange lasted throughout the years of expansion and discovery.  The Columbian Exchange impacted the economical and cultural makeup of both sides of the Atlantic. One important part was the exchange of food plants.

Cultural Impact on the Old World

• The Diet and nutrition in Europe and Africa was impacted.

• Starvation, which had long limited population growth in Europe and Africa, was largely overcome through the transplantation of New World foods.

• With the foods came overpopulation. • Main food from the Americas– The potato, corn, and cassava

Cultural Impact

• In the cases of both Irish potatoes and African cassava, New World plants transplanted to Old World societies helped to sustain millions of lives—lives that were later used as reinforcements in the European colonization of the Americas.

• Other major crops included Cocoa, peppers, and tomatoes.

Cultural Impact on the Old World

Cultural Impact

• European crops that were brought to the New World included coffee, peaches, sugar, and wheat.

Cultural Impact on the New World

Cultural Impact • Farming changed in the New World.• Large plantations were started.• Sugar cane was one of the most important and

culturally changing crops in the New World.• Slaves from Africa were introduced.• Over time there was cultural intermingling that

occurred between Europeans, Africans and Native Americans.

Cultural Impact on the New World

Cultural Impact

• The Europeans brought with them many diseases• The native people did not have any natural

resistance (immunity) to these diseases• Some diseases were smallpox, measles,

influenza, and typhoid fever.• Between 50 to 75 percent of the native

population died due to the diseases brought over by the Europeans

Cultural Impact on the New World

• In the Americas, there were no horses, cattle, sheep, or goats, all animals of Old World origin.

Cultural Impact on the New World

• Except for the llama, alpaca, dog, a few fowl, and guinea pig, the New World had no equivalents to the domesticated animals associated with the Old World.

Cultural Impact on the New World

• The horse was the most significant culturally changing animal brought to the New World.

• It allowed the natives to travel farther and faster.• It was useful in battle and hunting.• It helped natives spread their territory and trade.

Cultural Impact on the New World

Economic Impact

• North America became major producers of – Corn – fields of Nebraska– Wheat – Kansas and the Great Plains– Beef cattle- Texas

• Caribbean and South America came to host the world's greatest plantations. Sugar

• South America– Old World cash crops such as sugar and coffee – Wheat- Pampas (fertile South American

lowlands)– Beef cattle-Brazil

Economic Impact

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• c. Explain the role of improved technology in European exploration; include the astrolabe.

The accomplishments of the Age of Exploration would not have been possible

without several key technological advances.

• Into the 1400s, ships called galleys, were long clumsy ships that could only sail with the direction of the wind.

• Late 1400s, Spanish moved the rudder to the rear of the ship, made ships longer and larger, and changed the size and shape of the sails.

• New ships could sail against the wind.

Improved Technology

• Caravel: a faster and much more maneuverable ship.

Improved Technology• A triangular, or lateen sail– allowed ships to sail in cross

winds, or even against the wind

However, side rudder was old technology

Improved Technology• Rear rudder–Was a more efficient rudder

Improved Technology• Improved Spanish Ship

Improved Technology• Other important technologies include

navigational devices.

• The magnetic compass was used to plot basic cardinal direction.

Astrolabe

• a device used to calculate latitude based on the ship’s position relative to the stars

Sextant

• Later, an even more sophisticated device, called a sextant, was used to calculate both latitude and longitude- like a pre electronic age GPS system.