Transcript European Exploration in the East

Wednesday September 8, 2010
“Open 24 Hours. Except 2 AM to 8 AM.”
- Sign at a pizzeria
Welcome!
1. Come in, sit down, and smile!
2. On a piece of paper write the following:
1. Name
2. If you could go to dinner anywhere, where it would be
3. Something cool you have done
4. Anything you know about Christopher Columbus
European Exploration in the East
Why did they start exploring?

1.Renaissance

Sparks curiosity and need
for adventure

2. Looking for new ways
to get rich
Asia had spices (nutmeg,
ginger, cinnamon, pepper)
 Demand was bigger than
supply so merchants could
raise prices
 Muslims and Italians
control trade over land
 Europeans looking for other
route


3. Spreading Christianity
“gold, God, and glory”
 Must convert “savage”
Muslims


4. Technology

New technology made it
possible to explore further
and easier
Triangular sails
 Improved boats
 Better navigation (magnetic
compass)

Portugal
First to explore
 At first, along West Coast
of Africa, later finding
route to Asia
 Trade in Africa for gold,
slaves

Prince Henry the Navigator
Son of the King
 Found lots of treasure
during conquests
 Wanted to spread
Christianity
 Founded navigational
school and sponsored
earliest explorers


Mapmaking, shipbuilding,
etc.
Heading to Asia

At first, though they had
to sail around Africa
Bartolomeu Dias
Reached tip of Africa
(Cape of Good Hope)
 Storms blew him around
tip
 Wanted to keep going, but
crew couldn’t

Vasco da Gama
Reached Southwest tip of
India
 Found spices, silks, gems
 Got direct trade route to
India
 Made da Gama very
popular

Spain

Christopher Columbus
Wanted to find route to
Asia by sailing West
 Thought he reached West
Indies (actually hit the
Bahamas in the Caribbean)
Sets stage for settling New
World – often credited with
“discovering” America
(Columbian exchange)
 Claimed all of the islands
for Spain


Creates problems between
Spain and Portugal
Portugal v. Spain



Line of Demarcation –
imaginary line dividing claims
of Spain and Portugal
Portugal thought Columbus
claimed their land
Treaty of Tordesillas –
agreement to honor line (Spain
gets West, Portugal gets East)
Ferdinand Magellan (Spain)
First to circumnavigate
(sail around) the world
 “Finds” Philippines
 3 year trip
 Only 18 men out of 230
made it back

Eventually
Portuguese dies out
 Dutch and English are in
(compete)

Dutch
Netherlands
 Have largest fleet by 1600
AD
 Form Dutch East India
Company

The Spanish in the Americas
Pedro Alvares Cabral

Discovered Brazil
Amerigo Vespucci
Realized the places they
were exploring was a
“New World”
 America was named after
him

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

First European to see
Pacific Ocean
Conquistadors
(Conquerors)
Hernando Cortez
Had 600 men
 Wanted Aztec gold
 Montezuma II (Aztec
leader) though Cortez
was a god
 Aztecs and Spanish
fight
 Cortez wins (conquers
Aztec civilization)

Why Cortez won
1. Better weapons
(horses, cannons, etc.)
 2. Help from other
surrounding tribes
 3. Disease (measles,
mumps, smallpox, typhus)

Francisco Pizarro
Conquered Incas using
only 200 Spanish v.
30,000 Incas
 Incan ruler was Atahualpa

Ponce de Leon

Claims Florida for Spain
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado

Claims Arizona, New
Mexico, Texas,
Oklahoma, Kansas
(weren’t called that at the
time)
Pay attention to people and words in red (those that you
filled in). Also, define:
Mercantilism and John Cabot
Additionally, answer the following question:
•Identify and briefly describe the negative consequences
of the Spanish encomienda system. Were there any
positive consequences?