Transcript Early Exploration

Early Exploration
Viking Voyages
 100’s of years B4 Columbus
 Scandinavians called
Vikings sailed west
reaching NA
 800’s and 900’s CE visited
Iceland and Greenland
 Established settlements
 1000 CE- Leif Eriksson
(son of Eric the Red)
attempted to create
settlement in “Vinland”
 Now Newfoundland
Growth of Trade
 Traders could make a fortune
selling these goods
 Rich Europeans wanted these
spices, perfumes, silks and
stones
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Cost was high because of
“middlemen”
Travel over land was expensive and
dangerous

Thieves waited along “Silk Road”
 Began to look for all-water route
to bypass Arab merchants and
thieves by road
 2 Options
 Around Africa
 Sailing West to get East

Earth is a sphere
Slowly but Surely
 Neither had been done B4; no one
even seen open ocean or coastline
of Africa
 Portugal leads the charge
 Prince Henry the Navigator
 Sets up school for navigators and
sailors
 Info they share greatly helps his ship
captains
 Armed w/ info and $$$ from Henry
set out to explore Africa and
possible water route to Asia
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1445- Dinis Dias reaches “Western
Bulge”
1470’s- cross Equator
1488- Bartolommeo Dias sails
around southern tip… turns around
b/c crew scared
1498- Vasco da Gama sails around tip
all the way to India
Early Ideas of Exploration
 By 1400’s- few believe
world is flat
 But…
 Did not know there was
land b/t Europe and East
Asia
 Most estimate over 10,000
miles to sail from Europe
to East Asia
 No ship could carry
enough food and water to
make such long journey
Cristoforo Colombo
 Disagreed w/ distance
estimates; thought less
than half that
 Italian guy but…
 Was turned down by Italy
 Approached several other
countries to find backers
for trip ($$$)

All turned him down until…

King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella of Spain
Friday, August 3, 1492
 Niña, Pinta, and Santa
Maria set sail
 After not seeing land for 3
weeks…
 Crew gets scared and begs
to turn back

Continue on for 2 months
and 8 days B4 signs begin to
appear
 By moonlight around 2 am
on October 12th the Pinta’s
spotter cries, “Tierra,
Tierra!” (Land, Land!)
st
1
Impressions in Americas
 Landed on small island in
Bahamas (believed he was
in Indies)
 He explored for months
but…
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He found no spices, rugs,
silks
 Claimed land for Spain
 Named it San Salvador
 Natives approached them
bearing gifts
 Columbus gave them bells,
beads, and bits of cloth
Communicating with Natives
 With hand gestures,
natives spoke of other
islands
 Columbus moved on
 Found many new plants
and animals never B4
seen by them
 Reaches Cuba…

Always expecting to see
India trading post… DUH!
“Gold in ‘dem dare hills!”
 Locals told him gold
could be found in
Cubanacan
 middle of Cuba
 he thought they said, “El
Gran Khan”
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
the Great Khan
Columbus tells Spain there
to visit China’s emperor
Kublai Khan to get gold
Hispaniola
 December 1492 They land on present-day
Haiti / Dominican
Republic
 He names Hispaniola
(Spanish Isle)
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Finds natives here have
great amount of gold, but
they could not find source
Santa Maria Wrecks
 Hits bottom of coast… is
abandoned
 Columbus orders crew
to stay on island

Built fort with timbers and
remnants of ship
 He leaves on the Niña for
Spain
 Believes triumphant!!!
March
th
15 ,
1493
 Columbus returns to Spain
w/ crowds waiting to
honor him
 People stared at Natives,
birds, animals, and plants
he brought back
 Ferdinand and Isabella
name him Viceroy, or Lord
to the Indies
 No one sure where new
territories were, but
Columbus claimed for
Spain
Territories Divided
 Portugal claimed all land
west of Africa was theirs’
 Big Problems NOW
 Pope Alexander VI
divides ocean at 400
miles west of Azore
Islands
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West of line… Spain
East of line… Portugal
 Lined named… Line of
Demarcation
Treaty of Tordesillas
 1494 line moved in
agreement to new
“Treaty” 700 miles
further west when
realized how much
more land there was
 Columbus makes 3 more
trips claiming land for
Spain
Columbus Kicks the Bucket
 He gains some wealth,
but not much
 Most power later taken
away by King
 Died almost forgotten in
1506
 He never accepted the
fact that he was not in
India
Exploring America
 1499- Amerigo Vespucci began
mapping SA coastline
 Concluded this was new
continent not Asia
 By 1500’s European map
makers begin calling land
America
 Vasco Núñez de Balboa
 Governor of Panama to Spain
 Heard stories of “great waters”
beyond mts.
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1513- forms a party to hike
through the jungles
After weeks, sees Pacific Ocean
1st European to do so!!!
Sailing Around the World
 Spanish wanted to find sea route through or around SA to Asia
 1519- hire Ferdinand Magellan, actually Portuguese though
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5 ships
Sail across Atlantic then down east coast of SA
 November 1520 finds and sails through a narrow strait (now bares his
name)
 Names the ocean on other side Pacific, meaning peaceful
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Expects trip across Pacific just a few weeks
Lasted 4 months
Crew ran out of food
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Ate sawdust, rats, and leather to survive
 Magellan dies in the Philippines
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Crew continued
 Trip took 3 years
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Only 1 of 5 ships
Only 18 of 200+ crew members
1st to circumnavigate, or sail around the world