Age of Exploration
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Transcript Age of Exploration
Age of Exploration
I. Beginnings Of Exploration
A. After the Crusades, trade with the East was
dominated by Italians and Muslims…China was
the first to begin voyages of Exploration
B. Exploration was influenced by ideas founded in
the Renaissance and Reformation
• Emphasis on worldly goods
• Spirit of adventure and curiosity
• Focus on individual achievement
C. New Technology: new maps, compass, caravel
ships
D. Motives of Exploration
The Three “G’s”
• God- Desire to spread Christianity to
Asia and other lands
• Gold- Hoped to grow wealthy from
spices and luxury goods
• Glory- Individual/ National Achievement
to find faster routes to Asia
II. Europeans Explore the East
A. Portugal and Spain
• Portugal led the way
Prince Henry (son of
Portugal’s king) was the
nations greatest
supporter. (government
support)
Founded a navigation
school on SW coast of
Portugal.
Wanted to find a sea
route to Asia to
increase the riches of
his country.
Bartolomeu Diaz1st to sail to the tip
of Africa (Cape of
Good Hope)
Vasco de Gamasailed around the
tip of Africa and
reached port of
Calicut (SW India)found a direct sea
route to India
Portugal competed with Muslims (and
Italians) to control early trade, were
successful by controlling Strait of
Hormuz (connecting Persian Gulf and
Arabian Peninsula)
Spain- began early exploration.
Spain desired to trade for African
slaves for cheap labor after the
natives began dying from abuse and
disease.
Italian captain Christopher Columbus
convinced Spain to sail west across
the Atlantic to get to Asia
• Reached island in the Caribbean
• Result: Increased tensions
between Portugal and Spain
• Line of Demarcation- imaginary
dividing line (West- Spain, EastPortugal)
• Treaty of Tordesillas- agreed to
honor the line
B. Netherlands (Dutch) and
England
Dutch entered the East Indies
to challenge Portugal- owned
the largest fleet of ships in
the world (20,000)
Both English and Dutch
established East Indian
Trading Companies (these
companies had the power to
sign treaties, make money,
raise armies) or joint stock
companies
Dutch created a monopoly of
the area, ruled most of
Indonesia; traded spices, tea
England and France
established a sphere of
influence in India
C. Chinese and Japanese
Exploration and Reactions
Yonglo- emperor of
the Ming Dynastyhad far-ranging
curiosity about the
outside world
• Launched 1st of 7
voyages of
exploration- all
were led by Chinese
Muslim Zheng He
(known for
magnitude)
Policy of Isolation- (to keep the
influence of outsiders to a
minimum)- European trade was
limited to only three ports in China
China benefited from foods from the
Americas (corn, sweet potatoes)
Qing Dynasty (Manchus)- continued
to enforce isolationism (special ports
and paying tribute)
Japan
Experienced civil war/ feudalism until unified by Tokugawa
Dynasty
At first Japan welcomed Europeans, but eventually wanted
to limit the European influence.
China and Japan rejected/ outlawed Christianity, and closed
their societies to outsiders; developed/ maintained a policy
of isolation
Europeans met with much resistance in their efforts to open
the East to trade; expansion to the West in the Americas
would prove much more successful
III. Atlantic World
A. Spain and Portuguese Conquests
1. Christopher Columbus landed in the
Caribbean, made 4 voyages, started a
colonization policy. Spain claimed the
lands.
2. Amerigo Vespucci- In 1507 a
German map maker named the new
continent America to honor him.
3. Portuguese claimed Brazil while
Spain claimed much of North, Central and
South America.
4. Hernando Cortes: 1519 Landed
in Mexico lured by rumors of wealth.
Met Montezuma II who thought
Cortes was a god.
Indians could not stop the Spaniards.
They were exposed to small pox and
measles which they had no immunity
to.
5. Francisco Pizarro: 1532 marched
into South America and conquered
the Incan Empire.
4. Effects
A. Gained territory and wealth.
B. Intermarriages between the
Spanish and the Indians creating a
mestizo population.
C. The Spaniards forced the natives
into hard labor-known as the
“Encomienda System”.
Destroyed much of the Native
American culture.
B. Competing Claims in North
America
1. Primary reasons for exploration and
colonization: TRADE (established jointstock companies to fund colonies for
trade)
2. France-Canada Great Lakes Region,
lower Mississippi regions
3. Dutch-New York region at first called
the New Netherlands, religiously tolerant,
but did not flourish, lost to the English
who renamed it New York.
4. English established Jamestown: some
settlers came for religious freedom, such
as the Pilgrims and Puritans who were not
religiously tolerant themselves. The
primary reason they came to the Americas
was for economic advantages.
5. Effects- The natives lost their lands to
the Europeans, there were wars and
diseases spread killing many natives.
C. Atlantic Slave Trade
Reasons Africans were valued:
First: Africans had been expose to European
diseases and had built up an immunity to them.
Second: They had experience in farming.
(Would be used for sugar and tobacco plantations
and mining)
Third: They had little knowledge of the geography
of the Americas and were less likely to escape.
• Most slaves were from west Africa.
• Many slaves did not survive the “Middle Passage”.
• Spain and Portugal started exporting Africans to
the New World. Portuguese imported the most
slaves over the longest time period.
The Dutch, French, and English Caribbean Islands
had the most slaves. They were treated poorly
when compared to the Portuguese and Spanish
slaves. (During this time period, Protestants did
not consider Africans human while the Catholics
did.)
Slavery is now based on race and
heredity.
Effects-9.5 million Africans were
imported as slaves to the New World
Why Africans?
• Africans has knowledge about the crops
that Europeans wanted grown in the
new world.
• Africans had immunity from most
European diseases.
D. Columbian Exchange
Advantages: New goods are shared
Disadvantages: Disease, slavery, war
Citations
New World Encountered, The. Rainbow
Educational Media. 1998.
unitedstreaming. 22 January 2007
<http://www.unitedstreaming.com/>
Slave Ship. Discovery Channel School. 1998.
unitedstreaming. 22 January 2007
<http://www.unitedstreaming.com/>
Exploring the World: Christopher
Columbus and the New World. United
Learning. 1999.
unitedstreaming. 23 January 2007
<http://www.unitedstreaming.com/>