Transcript European Exploration part 1

1400 - 1800
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Many factors encouraged explorations
◦ To seek riches
◦ To spread Christianity
◦ Sea route to Asia
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Main reason for exploration = new sources of
wealth
Trade of spices and other luxury goods from Asia
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Nutmeg
Ginger
Cinnamon
Pepper
Italians and Muslims controlled the Mediterranean
Sea Trade
◦ Italians sold the goods to the rest of Europe at high prices
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Europeans wanted to avoid the Italians & find a sea
route to Asia
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Crusades left feelings of hostility between the
Christians and Muslims
Europeans felt they needed to convert nonChristians throughout the world
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Caravel
◦ Ships with triangular sails to be able to sail against
the wind
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Magnetic Compass
◦ To know what direction they are going
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Astrolabe
◦ Could tell how far north/south of the equator you
were
How Does the Astrolabe Work?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwDU0VFWl
Q8
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Prince Henry founded a
navigation school in
Portugal
“Henry the Navigator”
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Map makers
Instrument makers
Shipbuilders
Scientists
Sea captains
By the time of Henry’s
death in 1460, the
Portuguese established a
series of trading posts
along the shores of Western
Africa
◦ Traded gold, ivory, and
slaves
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Primary motives:
◦“God, Glory, and Gold”
1488 = Bartolomeu Dias was the first to sail
around the tip of Africa to the Southeast
coast of Africa
1498 = Vasco da Gama reached Calicut, a
port on the southwest coast of India
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Increasing envy of Portugal
Wanted a route to Asia
1492 = Italian sea captain, Christopher
Columbus convinced Spain to finance his
journey to Asia as he sailed west across the
Atlantic Ocean
◦ He reached an island in the Caribbean
 Opened European colonization in the Americas
 Increased the tension between Spain and Portugal
 Portugal thought that Columbus claimed land for Spain that
they had already reached
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1493 = Pope Alexander VI tried to keep
peace between Spain and Portugal by
creating the Line of Demarcation
◦ Everything west of the line Spain could claim &
everything east of the line Portugal could claim
 Portugal complained that Spain received more land, so
the line was moved over
 Now, Portugal had some ports available in modern-day Brazil
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1494 = Treaty of Tordesillas
◦ Spain and Portugal agree to honor the line
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European nations scrambled to establish
outposts along the shores of South and
Southeast Asia while fighting with the
inhabitants and each other.
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Scattered trade posts along the coast of
Africa and Asia
Controlled trade in the Indian Ocean
Portuguese would bring spices back to
Europe at cheaper prices than before
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1521 = Ferdinand Magellan claims the
Philippine Islands for Spain.
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Early1600’s = Dutch and British challenge
Portuguese in Indian Ocean
◦ British
 East India Company
 Dominates India
◦ Dutch (or Netherlands)
 Dutch East India Company
 Dominates Southeast Asia and the Cape of Good Hope
◦ Together they drive out the Portuguese