Transcript The Age of Discovery

Europe and the New World
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY
Background
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The Europeans were not ignorant of the outside world
Marco Polo travelled to China and opened up the spice trade
Christian knights went to the middle east to combat Islam
Moors in Spain
By the Renaissance, Europe was actively trading with much of the
known world
However, North and South America and the Islands in the Pacific
were unknown to Europeans because none were accessible by land
However, as time passed, European society became more advanced.
New ship building technology allowed the Europeans to venture
further than ever before
Also, the 15th century was far different than the Medieval Period,
people were not dominated by Catholic dogma and modern business
practices were developing (banks and merchant traders in Italy)
The Caravel: Portuguese ship, gave birth to the age of discovery
The Contributions of
Portugal
 The Portuguese developed the first European ships capable
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of long oceanic travel
They were first based on the designs of fishing boats, but
were steadily improved
Prince Henry (The Navigator) made this all happen
Wishing to gain access to the spice trade, Prince Henry
Established a school in Portugal dedicated to Ship Building,
Navigation and Map Making
Prince Henry sponsored voyages down the coast of West
Africa – were the Portuguese were made rich trading for
Gold and Slaves
Vasco Da Gama, led an expedition around South Africa into
India – further opening European access to the spices and
fabrics of Asia
Christopher Columbus
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Born in Genoa Italy as Cristoforo Colombo, in
1451, Columbus was a self-educated and
ambitious man who was fascinated with
navigation and exploration
He understood that the Earth was spherical
(but so did most educated Europeans by this
point)
But we wildly underestimated the size of the
planet – he believed that the distance from
the canary islands to Japan to be approx 3700
km (in fact, it is almost 20,000 km!)
Columbus planned a voyage to prove his
theories correct and travelled Europe looking
for sponsorship
After being rejected several times, Queen
Isabella of Spain finally sponsored him
With three ships, a vast crew and provisions,
Columbus set sail west into the unexplored
Atlantic ocean in 1492
The Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria
The Impact of Columbus
 Columbus landed on the Island of Hispaniola (present day Dominican
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Republic and Haiti)
He soon realized he had discovered something completely unknown to
Europeans (a new World)
He took what he could (people, animals, plants) as evidence of his
discovery and set back to Europe
A massive chain reaction followed, Columbus was sent out again to
further explore the New World
England and France to a Northern Route discovered North America
Spain took a southern route and discovered South America
Motivated by the loss of power and prestige from the reformation, the
Pope issued a “Papal Bull” and demanded that all new peoples were to be
ruled by Christian Kings
Finally, the new economic theory of Mercantilism developed (the wealth
of the world was fixed, in order to generate wealth, you had to discover new
sources or take from someone else)
These new discoveries and Mercantilism soon led to bitter rivalries
between European powers
Summary
 The Portuguese were the first European oceanic
explorers
 The opened up trade routes to India and Africa
 Columbus’ voyage was based in mathematical
error
 The New World was discovered by accident but
all of Europe wanted to exploit its wealth
 Papal Bull dehumanized the people of the New
World
 The Theory of Mercantilism helped create the
system of exploitation
Homework
 Read all the Columbus articles on the Web Page
 Prepare to debate the question:
“Was Columbus a Hero or a Villain?”