Causes of European Exploration
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Causes of European Exploration
After the Crusades, Europeans wanted
Asian goods
Cause
Italy dominates trade because it had
developed a trade network in the
Mediterranean during the Crusades . Italy
begins making a bunch of money selling
Asian goods in Europe
Cause
Other European Countries want a share of
the profit to be made by trading and
selling Asian goods.
Cause
These nations begin looking for a water
route to Asia.
Why was finding a water route so important? Why not just
continue using the Silk Road (the Overland Route)?
Ships could carry more than carts, wagons, an camels
Sea routes were safer than over land routes – like the
Silk Road
Raiders and Plunders
Sea routes were generally faster than overland routes
Portugal Leads the Way
Portugal took the lead in the search to find the first
water route to Asia.
Portugal decided to spend as much money as was
needed to reach the goal.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to explore the
unknown world, and they were the first to sail around
the southern tip of Africa.
Prince Henry 1394-1460
Prince Henry established a
school for the study of
navigation, mapmaking, and
shipbuilding in 1420.
His goal was to find a route to
the rich spice trade of the
Indies and to explore the west
coast of Africa.
Designing New Ships
The ships of the day were too slow and too heavy to
make long ocean voyages.
Under Prince Henry’s direction, a new and lighter ship
was developed, the caravel, which would allow sea
captains to sail further and faster.
Caravels
The caravel was an improvement on older ships
because it could sail very fast and also sail well into the
wind.
Caravels had 2 or 3 masts with square sails or
triangular sails.
They were up to about 65 feet long and could carry
roughly 130 tons of cargo.
Vasco da Gama 1497-1499
Vasco da Gama sailed around the Cape of Good Hope
to India. He was the first European to chart an all
water route to Asia
He took four ships and 170 men.
After reaching Calcutta India, he sailed back to
Portugal with his ship full of spices but only returned
with 55 of his sailors.
Da Gama finally found a sea route to Asia.
Christopher Columbus 1492
Columbus believes he can reach the Indies by sailing
west from Europe.
Europeans did not know that the America’s existed.
Columbus begins his first voyage in 1492 and
“discovers” the Americas.
Really he really discovered the Island in the Bahamas.
John Cabot
1497
John Cabot explored the East Coast of North America
while searching for a Northwest Passage.
The Northwest Passage was a fabled water route through
the North American continent to Asia.
England would later claim the East Coast of North
America as its own due to Cabot’s exploration.
England (Britian) established the 13 original colonies
in the territory Cabot explored.
Amerigo Vespucci 1499 -1504
Amerigo Vespucci was the first person to suggest that
Columbus did not find the Indies, but a new continent
previously unknown to the Europeans.
Vespucci explored the east coast of what is now Brazil
and Argentina.
The Americas are named after Amerigo Vespucci.
Ferdinand Magellan 1519-1522
Magellan is the explorer who is credited with being the
first person to sail around the world.
Magellan was killed in the Philippines during the
voyage, however.
His men and ship continued on and finished the
journey though.