Transcript Age of Exploration 1400s to 1700s

Age of Exploration
1400s to 1700s
What gave rise to the Age of
Exploration?
Crusades brought interest in lands beyond
Europe’s borders.
Marco Polo’s writings about strange
customs and unbelievable riches in the Far
East (Orient).
The Protestant Reformation
New technology from the Renaissance.
Marco Polo
In 1271, Polo left on a journey that would change the world.
Accompanied his father, and his uncle on their second voyage to
China.
Traveled for 4 years until they reached Beijing. Marco Polo became a
favorite of Kublai Khan and became an adviser.
They lived there for 17 years, learning customs and seeing sights that
no other European could have dreamed of.
When they returned, Polo recorded his writings in The Book of Sir
Marco Polo Concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East.
His book revealed a strange black rock the Mongols burned (Coal).
Detailed riches, spices, and other luxuries.
Described the islands of “Cipango” (Japan)
Described the great Pacific ocean beyond “Cipango”.
Would influence Christopher Columbus almost 200 years later.
Motives For Exploration
Search for New Trade Routes
Europeans reopened trade routes with the East.
Merchants traded for diamonds, rubies, silk, porcelain,
Spices were in great demand, and were worth a fortune.
The Silk Road was rugged and often difficult to cross,
and many local rulers charged taxes for passing through
their territory.
Ottoman Turks, the major power in the East, attacked
many European caravans and raided trading posts.
A new route to the Orient (Far East) was needed, and
people began to wonder if they could find a route
totally by sea.
Motives for Exploration (Cont)
Quest for Gold
Stories about great wealth and lots of gold had
circulated since Polo’s writings.
Europeans were willing to lay down for lives for a
chance at a fortune.
Desire for Glory
The Renaissance and Reformation had inspired a spirit
of adventure.
Men wanted to achieve worldly fame, and they hoped
their adventures would bring this to them.
Motives for Exploration (Cont)
Competition Among European Nations
Italian merchants held a monopoly on trade with the
Orient.
As Italian merchants brought back precious gems,
spices and silks from the East, other nations began to
get jealous.
Kings naturally wanted to increase their wealth and
power, and this spurred exploration as explorers began
to claim their discoveries for their country.
Advancements in Technology
The Compass
Initially created the
Chinese, it was refined
by the Europeans.
Helped sailors
determine direction
and follow a definite
course when sailing.
Advancements in Technology
Maps
Became more accurate
in the 15th-16th
centuries.
As more sailors
explored, maps became
more detailed, more
refined.
With the Printing
press, maps were
widely distributed.
Advancements in Technology
Astrolabe
Measured the angle
between a star and the
horizon
Sailors could
determine their latitude
• Latitude – Distance
from Equator.
Fairly accurate position
could be known.
Advancements in Technology
The Caravel
Light, fast vessel
which had several
masts
Large square sails to
provide power
Smaller triangular sails
to provide easier
maneuverability.
Journal 2/19/14
What were the major motives for
exploration?
What major technological advancements led
to the Age of Exploration?
Exploration Begins
Portugal and Spain were the leading nations
during the Age of Exploration
Because Italy held a monopoly on trade with
the Orient, sailors from these nations.
Portugal and Spain learned navigational and
mapmaking skills from the Muslims.
Prince Henry – “The Navigator”
(1394-1460)
Responsible for Portugal’s early navigation success.
Fascinated with the continent of Africa.
Began a school of navigation on the coast of Portugal.
Not a school like what we have today, but a bank of knowledge &
information about navigation.
Henry sent sailors on voyages to explore the coast of
Africa, and every time they went farther and farther south.
Lasting Achievement: Laid the foundation for early
navigation.
Bartholomeu Dias
In 1487, after Prince Henry
died, the King of Portugal sent
Dias down the coast of Africa
to find a sea route to India.
He successfully went around
the bottom tip of Africa, and
found the “The Cape of Good
Hope”, hoping it was a direct
water route to India.
Lasting Achievement: Found
the passage around Africa to
India.
Vasco da Gama
10 years after Dias’ discovery,
the King of Portgual sent Da
Gama around the Cape of Good
Hope.
A year after he left Portugal, he
arrived in India, finding Muslim
merchants dominating trade.
Soon Portugal would break the
Muslim monopoly in the Indian
Ocean, and they would bring
back spices to Portugal
reguarly.
Lasting Achievement:
Discovered an all-water route
from Europe to India
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus heard about Dias’ success with the Cape of
Good Hope.
He believed he could reach the Orient by sailing west.
He thought Japan & China were 300 miles from Portugal.
He secured funding from Spain with three ships:
The Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria.
After weeks of being out of sight of land, his men demanded they turn
back. Columbus persuaded them to wait two or three more days.
On October 12th he saw land, and named it San Salvador meaning “Holy
Savior”.
He had assumed he was in the East Indies, actually he was in the
Bahamas. He sailed south to Cuba, which he thought was China, and and
also to Hispaniola, which he thought was Japan.
Columbus never found the great riches he sought, but he opened up a
“New World” that attracted European exploration and colonization.
The Real Christopher Columbus
Your text describe Columbus as, “a man of
religious devotion who believed he was
commissioned by God to spread the Gospel in
distant lands.
However, it is clear that Columbus had other
motives for exploration:
Pursuit of Wealth
Spreading Catholicism
The enslavement of the Natives.
Columbus – The Pursuit of Wealth
Columbus – Spreading Catholicism
Columbus – Enslavement of the
Natives
Venn Diagram Activity & SRQ
pg. 316
Create a Venn Diagram comparing the
account of Columbus from your book, with
the account of Columbus discussed in class.
The Naming of America
Italian merchant Amerigo Vespucci sailed west following
Columbus to find out if what he found really was the
Orient.
Vespucci realized it was not the Orient, but a new
continent.
He began to explore the Southern continent and a german
mapmaker named Martin Waldseemuller helped me make
maps of the new continent.
He said the lands should be called “America” in honor of
its first explorer.
The name stuck and it was applied to both continents.
“North and South America”.
Line of Demarcation
With Columbus’ discovery of
the New World, Spain and
Portugal competed for trade
rights and territory
In 1493, Pope Alexander VI
issued the Line of Demarcation
which ran North & South down
the Atlantic Ocean.
Portugal could claim lands
East of the Line
Spain could claim lands West
of the Line.
A year later, it was agreed to
move the line farther to the
West.
Impacts of the
Line of Demarcation
1) Encouraged Portugal to
colonize in Africa and the
East Indies
2) Gave Spain the right to
nearly all the New World,
except Brazil.
3) Cut Spain off from
going east around Africa
to get to India and China.
Who do you think
received the better deal?
Ferdinand Magellan
Due to the Line of
Demarcation, Spain needed a
Westward route to the Indies.
Magellan left Spain with five
ships to circumnavigate the
globe.
Would complete journey with
only one ship remaining.
Magellan himself would be
killed by natives in the
Philippines.
Lasting Achievement: First
person credited with
circumnavigating the world
Amerindian Civilizations
Columbus called the natives who lived on the land “Indians” after the
East Indies.
These peoples had lived in the Americas several thousands of years
before the Europeans arrived.
5 Major Tribes in North America:
Northwestern – Five tribe confederation led by Iroquois
Southeastern – “Mound Builders”
Central Plains – “Hunters & Roamers”
Southwestern – “Cliff Dwellers”
West Coast – Totem Poles
3 Major Civilizations in South/Central America
Mayan
Aztec
Inca
Mayan Civilization
Not unified, but many
independent city-states very
similar to Ancient Greece.
Built pyramids, temples, and
altars.
Studied astronomy and
computed the length of a year.
Religion: Polythestic
Began to decline during the 9th
& 10th centuries.
When the Spanish arrived, only
traces of the Mayans were
found.
Aztec Civilization
Established after the Mayans
declined.
Aztecs were barbaric fighters who
instilled fear into their captors.
Every able man fought in the army,
and they conquered more than 5
million people.
Aztecs were terrible governors, and
they never developed into a real
empire.
Religion: Extreme Polytheism and
Barbaric Rituals
Many times the army took POW’s
and sacrificed to their gods.
Aztecs also practiced cannibalism
by eating the flesh of their human
sacrifices.
Inca Civilization
Incas ruled an Empire
They abolished human
sacrifices and
cannibalism.
Cities were planned
carefully and roads were
constructed connecting
them.
A courier system was set
up that could deliver
messages over 150
miles/day.
Spanish Exploration
Early Spanish explorers found that the
Indian tribes could easily be conquered.
Spain claimed rights to the New World and
sent “Conquistadors” (Conquerors).
Search for riches
Evangelize the Indians to Spanish Catholicism
Establish the authority of the Spanish Crown.
“The Requerimento”
Conquistadors were required to read the Indians a
document from the King of Spain before they
waged war on them.
Stated that the eternal God gave the Pope in Rome
the authority over all men and the Pope in turn
gave authority to Spain over the New World.
If they refused, the document called for
enslavement and disposal of the Indians. *Read
pg. 321*
Hernando Cortes
Called the “Greatest of the Conquistadors”.
Landed at Mexico and intentionally sunk all his ships so his men
would not desert him.
Marched on the Aztec Capital. The Aztec king Montezuma thought
Cortes was Quetzalcoatl, a God who was supposed to return from
across the sea.
Montezuma welcomed him with open arms and gave him gifts of gold
and jewels.
Cortes and the Spaniards lived peaceably among the Aztecs waiting for
their chance to strike.
Montezuma was stoned to death by his own people and called a traitor.
Cortes turned against the Aztecs and sieged the city for four months
before their capital and the Aztec Civilization was destroyed.
Francisco Pizarro
Was known as the cruelest of all the conquistadors.
He came to the New World for one reason: Gold.
The Inca were rumored to be very wealthy, so in 1531 he and his men
set out to find the Inca Empire.
They marched through jungles for six months destroying villages as
they went along.
They captured the Inca ruler, Atahualpa and held him for ransom.
Atahualpa promised to fill a room with gold and silver and buy his
release. He paid Pizarro over 13,000 pounds of gold and 26,000 pounds of
silver.
Pizarro broke his promise to Atahualpa and executed him, and conquered
the Inca Empire.
Later Pizarro would be attacked and killed in his own home by other
Spaniards and his gold would be stolen.
Other Spanish Explorers
1539 – Hernando De Soto
discovered the Mississippi
River.
1540 – Francisco De Coronado
explored modern day New
Mexico, Arizona, Kansas and
Texas, and found the Grand
Canyon
Both expeditions resulted in
finding natives, but no gold.
Spain decided to focus
primarily on South America,
and this left North America
open to other European
Nations. (France, England)
French/Dutch Exploration
French Explorers
Jacques Cartier – 3 voyages to Eastern Canada
Samuel De Champlain – founded Quebec
Jacques Marquette & Louis Joliet – Explored the
Mississippi River and claimed the entire Mississippi
Valley for France calling it “Louisiana” in honor of
King Louis XIV.
Dutch Explorer
Henry Hudson – Englishman hired by the Dutch. Found
the Hudson River, and founded New Amsterdam which
is now New York City.
English Exploration
John Cabot –First European after the Vikings to set foot on
North America.
Paved the way for the founding of English colonies in North
America.
Jamestown (1607) – First permanent English settlement in
the New World.
Captain John Smith used strict regulations to ensure the success of
Jamestown
During “Starving Time” (1607-1608) over half of the population
died from starvation
Spring would bring new colonists and also the very first slaves
from Africa into North America.
The African Slave Trade &The
Middle Passage
All along the coast of
Africa there were sixty
European ports that acted
as trading posts.
Sailors brought rum, cloth,
and guns to these posts
and traded for human
beings.
They were transported
across the Atlantic and
Sold to slave owners in
the New World.
The Process of Slave Trade: “Death
Marches”
Potential slaves were
kidnapped from their
homes and forced in slave
caravans to the coastal
forts.
Only half the slaves
survived these “death
marches”.
Those took sick or tired to
keep up were often killed or
just left to die.
The Process of Slave Trade:
Underground Dungeons
Once they reached the
coast, they were
chained in
underground dungeons
where they would stay
until they were
boarded upon ships.
Sometimes they were
held in dungeon for up
to a full year.
“The Middle Passage”
The Middle Passage was the
transporting of slaves across the
Atlantic Ocean.
A typical Atlantic crossing took
30 days, but some lasted up to
2-3 months.
Slaves were stuffed into spaces
too low for standing. (4 foot x
18 inches)
Men were chained in pairs,
wrist to wrist or ankle to ankle
Slaves had to lie in each other’s
feces, urine, and blood.
Disease and Death was
rampant, with an estimated 2
million slaves dying during the
crossing.
The diseased and dead were
tossed overboard to stop a
major epidemic from spreading.
Female slaves were sometimes
taken and raped during the
passage.
Diagram of Middle Passage
The “Zong” Tragedy
Had been twelve weeks since it
left the coast of Africa with 417
slaves on board.
Rampant disease broke out, and
the ship was getting
dangerously low on supplies.
The ship’s captain ordered the
slaves who he thought were too
sick to recover to be thrown
overboard.
Over the next two days, 132
slaves were thrown overboard.
Causes of Slave Trade
Europeans wanted cheap labor for work
in the Americas
Due to the demands of the agricultural
economies of the New World
The native peoples of America did not survive
the labor
Effects of Slave Trade
Native American civilizations destroyed
European diseases killed millions of Native
Americans
European powers built extensive overseas empires
Large numbers of Europeans moved to Americas
Native American crops (corn, potato, tomato)
brought to Europe [Colombian Exchange]
Demand for African slaves increased
Capitalism expanded with growth of trade
Cultural exchanges occurred [cultural diffusion]
Effects of Slave Trade
Encouraged African warfare
tribes went to war with other tribes to obtain slaves to
trade for guns
Disrupted African culture
it created a legacy of violence, bitterness and social
upheaval
Increased cultural diffusion
Slaves brought their songs and culture to New World
Prejudice against Africans
The Columbian Exchange
Columbus’ voyages May have had greater
consequences biologically than culturally
 The Columbian Exchange - the worldwide
redistribution of plants, animals, and
diseases that resulted from the initial
contacts between Europeans and Natives.
What were the Effects of the
Columbian Exchange?
2. What was the effect of the Columbian Exchange?
a. Both hemispheres were introduced to new
foods and animals that changed entire societies.
b. Potatoes and corn became major food
sources for Europeans allowing populations to
increase greatly.
c. The introduction of pigs, cows, and horses
gave new food sources and new animals for the
Native Americans to use.
What were the Effects of the
Columbian Exchange?
d. The diseases the Europeans brought with
them killed up to 90% of the Native Americans in
the New World. European conquest of the Native
Americans was made easy by the effect disease
had on the Natives.
e. The Native Americans had never been
exposed to these diseases so their bodies could not
fight them. Europeans had lived with these
diseases for thousands of year and were not as
likely to die from them.
The Commercial Revolution
Commercial Revolution – Changes in business
thinking and practice during the 15th and 16th
centuries.
Mercantilism – Wealth should completely benefit
the mother country.
Goal: Obtain as much precious metal (gold) as possible.
Nations wanted to establish colonies to become selfsufficient.
Favorable Balance of Trade – Exporting more than
Importing
• Bringing more gold & silver into their treasury.
Mercantilism
Colonies existed solely for the mother country.
Supplied the mother country with raw materials
and provided markets where goods from the
mother country could be sold.
Not allowed to produce things the mother country
produced, as that would mean competition with
the mother country.
Examples:
Mexican Colonies in South America – Mother Country:
Spain
Weaknesses of Mercantilism
National monopolies were created which
deterred competition.
Interests of the government were above the
welfare of the people in the colonies.
Was a detriment to a country’s agriculture
& industry.
The wealth amassed by the mother country
was seldom used for the good of the people.
Capitalism
Goal was not only to acquire wealth, but advance
wealth through private ownership and investment
Company - people pooled their money together,
sharing the gains and losses together.
Joint-Stock Company
Capital – Money invested which financed the business
venture.
Dividends – profit or losses paid to the stockholders.
Examples: Plymouth Company / London Company
Imperialism
Domination by one country over the
political, economic, or cultural life of
another country or region
Causes
Economic
Social
Need for raw
materials
created by
Industrial
Revolution
Desire for
place to invest
excess capital
Drive to
spread
Christianity
Political
Desire for
great power
status
[White Man’s
Competitive
Burden]
drive to gain
Rule by
control of an
strongest and
area (for
fittest- need to
military)
spread superior
before a rival
culture [Social
could do so
Darwinism]
Positive Effects
Built roads, railroads, and bridges
Education improved
Improved medical care
Food supply increased
Brought stability and unification to some
areas
Created industries, improved standard of
living
Negative Effects
People with common backgrounds separated
Natural resources exploited
Native cultures damaged
Promoted racism
Economic self-sufficiency lost
Destroyed traditional patterns of trade
Cash crop overemphasized
Family life disrupted
Introduced Western vices and diseases