Transcript The Age of Exploration

The Age of Exploration
Europe Encounters the World
Why did explorations happen when
they did?
►A
variety of factors all came together to
make the time period (1450-1700) the “Age
of Exploration”
► Some of these factors were pushes, external
forces acting on Europe
► Some were pulls, motivations and things
that attracted the Europeans
What is the easiest way to
remember it all?
► The
Three G’s:
 Gold
 God
 Glory
► Although
a little
simplistic, this
mnemonic is a great
way to remember the
main motivations of
the European
explorers.
The First G: Gold and
Natural Resources
 Gold was a hot item that explorers were
looking for, but remember, it is really
wealth, not just literal gold that explorers
were after. They wanted more than just gold.
The First G: Gold and Natural
Resources
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Europeans also desired spices (Da Gama’s voyage to
India made him a 3000% profit!)
Spices were in great demand by Europeans because meat
and fish spoiled too quickly. No refrigerators!
People wanted to use spices such as salt, pepper, cinnamon,
nutmeg, and cloves to help preserve food and to help improve
flavor.
The First G: Gold and
Natural Resources
Other natural resources would come to be sold for
profit as well (timber, sugar, tobacco, ivory, etc.)
The First G: Gold and Natural
Resources
The First G: Gold and Natural
Resources
► Europeans
wanted the exotic spices and fabrics from
Asia, but transporting spices and goods great
distances by land cost too much $$. (Want/Need)
► Business owners wanted to make bigger profits.
Therefore, a shortcut was needed to get merchandise
from Asia to Europe.
► Ex.
of Supply and Demand
The First G: Gold and Natural
Resources
European merchants knew that if
they would trade directly with
people in Asia, they could make
huge profits.
Africa
In the 1400s, Europeans began
searching for a sea route to Asia.
The Second G: God
► Some
Europeans believed it
was their duty to spread their
Christian faith throughout the
world
► Especially after the
Reformation, competition will
spring up (Split Catholic
Church/Protestant Church)
► Colonization will become a race
to convert native peoples to a
particular brand of Christianity
Cathedral
Of Notre
Dame
Paris, France
The Third G: Glory
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The Triumph of Fame, a Flemish
tapestry from 1502.
Just like the first G, Gold,
Glory was a relatively new
idea in Europe
Came out of the
Renaissance ideal of
Humanism, and the focus
on individual achievement
With the rise of the
printing press, the idea of
gaining fame for one’s
actions was more possible
Also, individual kings
wanted glory for their
kingdoms, competition
spreads
The Third G: Glory
►
As Europeans began exploring
the Coast of Africa, they began
settling Colonies.
 Colonizing new areas added
to a country’s territory
(more natural resources,
more wealth)
 Colonizing also opened new
markets
►European countries could
sell things to the people
in these areas and make
even more money
The Third G: Glory
► The
more colonies a
country had, the more
wealth it had
► More colonies meant
more prestige or Glory
---Countries began competing
with one another for
colonies
When one country takes
over another, it is called
Imperialism
The Known World (pre-1492)
Portuguese Exploration begins...
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Monument to celebrate the achievements
of early Portuguese explorers of the 1400’s
and 1500’s. Prince Henry the Navigator is
in the upper right. (Lisbon, Portugal)
Portugal was a good base
for sailors.
It has a long shoreline
and many harbors and
rivers flowing westward
to the Atlantic Ocean.
Portugal also participated
in a constant exchange of
cultural idea with Islamic
kingdoms, making it a
center of knowledge and
technological
development.
Portugal’s reasons
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Rather than fight across
Spain to trade with other
European countries,
Portugal traded by sea.
The Portuguese also
struggled to expel the
Moors from the Iberian
Peninsula.
 The Portuguese thought
making war on Islam
was their Christian
duty.
How did these explorations begin?
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The first to encourage new
ship explorations was
Prince Henry of Portugal,
known as “Prince Henry
the Navigator”
Started an institute for
seafaring and exploring
Combined ship technology
learned from Islam with
new European innovations
By the time of his death in
1460, the Portuguese had
sailed as far south as the
Gold Coast of West Africa
Prince Henry never sailed
on any of his expeditions
and rarely left Portugal.
Institute of Sagres: Prince
Henry’s School of Navigation
The institute was designed to teach
navigational techniques to
Portuguese sailors, to collect and
disseminate geographical
information about the world, to
invent and improve navigational
and seafaring equipment, to
sponsor expeditions, and to spread
Christianity around the world.
Prince Henry brought together
some of the leading geographers,
cartographers, astronomers, and
mathematicians from throughout
Europe to work at the institute.
What were the new technologies
that enabled explorations?
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The caravel was a new,
faster, more maneuverable
ship
Older ships had square
sails, caravels had
triangular sails (easier to
change direction)
Bilge pump system
enabled ship to float
higher (less likely to run
aground, easier to explore
coasts and rivers)
Compass, astrolabe, maps
and other technologies
from Islamic culture all
helped make explorations
possible
Magnetic Compass
Not reliable because compass points to
magnetic north and not to true north.
Astrolabe
Used to show how the sky
looks at a specific time.
Uses:
1. time of day/night
2. sunrise/sunset
3. Position of the stars,
moon, etc.
*Not a navigation instrument
Cross-staff
Measured the angle above
the horizon of the sun and
stars to determine latitude.
The early explorers could
not calculate longitude.
What factors were pushing
Europeans to explore?
► Decline
of Mongol
Empire in 1400s made
goods from the east
harder to get, more
expensive
► Fall of Constantinople
to the Ottoman Turks
in 1453 was a major
block to trade
Key Words
► Colony
► Exploration
► God
► Natural
► Glory
► Gold
► Spices
► Christianity
► Prince
► Spain
Henry
Resources
► Mercantilism
► Trade
► Slavery
► Malaria
► Magellan
► Portugal