Transcript File
EUROPE GOES
EXPLORING
CAUSE
• Renaissance
• Encouraged pursuit of knowledge
• People were curious about the world
• Crusades
• Created a demand for goods from the East
• But didn’t want to trade with the Arabs (Muslim) for the
goods
• Could sail around them and get the goods directly
• No middlemen
NEW TECHNOLOGY
• Astrolabe
• Navigational tool
• Allowed sailors to
determine their latitude
• Caravels
• Small and maneuverable
Portuguese sailing ships
• Special sails allowed ship to
sail into the wind
• Cannons
• Used knowledge gained from
Chinese to apply explosive
powder to weapons
• Made Europe more powerful on
the seas than Muslim empires
HENRY THE NAVIGATOR
• Portuguese Prince
very interested in
exploration
• Set up a school for
navigators
• Sponsored the first
explorers
MOTIVES FOR EXPLORATION
• Curiosity
• Renaissance had created a desire for knowledge
• Wanted answers to the question of “What is out there?”
• Religion
• Could spread Christianity to new people and places
• Discovery of the Far East would destroy the Muslim empires
power and wealth
• Economics
• Lots of money to be made
• Resources: stories of gold and silver
• Trade: control a monopoly on the trade of Eastern goods in
Europe
THE EXPLORERS
• Bartholomew Diaz
• Christopher Columbus
• Vasco de Gama
• Ferdinand Magellan
BARTHOLOMEW DIAS
• Many explorers had tried to
go around Africa and
failed
• Began to think there was no
end
• Dias proves them wrong by
sailing around the tip of
South Africa
• Names it Cape of Good Hope
• Proves that a direct trade
route to India is possible
GOING A DIFFERENT WAY
• Portugal was already establishing an Eastern Trade Route to
India
• Columbus thought could establish a Western Trade Route by
sailing across the Atlantic Ocean
• Convinced it is a better way:
• Safer: Not near Muslims/Pirates
• Faster: Thought it was shorter
• Seeking support
• Needed money for this journey
• Rejected by many
• Portugal
• Italy
• England
• 1492: Gets permission from Spain
• King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
• Given 3 ships:
• Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria
COLUMBUS’ DISCOVERY
• Columbus lands on an island he calls San
Salvador
• Means “Holy Savior”
• Believes it is islands to the east of India
• Actually modern day Bahamas
• Went on to sail to Cuba and Hispaniola
(Haiti/Dominican Republic) before returning
to Spain.
VASCO DA GAMA
• Spanish discovery of the New
World encouraged Portugal
to find route to India
• Da Gama eventually
reaches India
• They begin establishing trade
• Met with violence from the
Muslim and Indian traders who
had controlled the trade
previously
• Da Gama killed many of them
• Set an example.
FERDINAND MAGELLAN
• First to circumnavigate the
world
• Travel all the way around the
world
• Proved the world was round
• However, Magellan did not
actually make it all the way
around the world
• He died in Cebu, Philippines
• Was killed by a tribal leader
named Lapu Lapu
• His crew finished the journey
back to Spain
IMPACT OF THE VOYAGES
• Spain and Portugal both want to extend
their Empire.
• Pope Alexander VI got involved to prevent
conflict.
• Line of Demarcation (1493)
• Drew an imaginary line dividing the
Atlantic Ocean
• Spain can claim west of the line, Portugal
east
TREATY OF TORDESILLAS
• Line of Demarcation gave all of the “New
World” to Spain
• Portugal found this unfair
• Spain and Portugal signed a treaty to
avoid war.
• Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
• Moved the demarcation line 800 miles
West
• Gives Portugal Brazil
EXPANDING THEIR EMPIRES
• Portugal begins settling colonies in Africa,
India and Brazil
• Spain begins conquering the “New
World”
CONQUISTADORS
• Spanish soldiers/explorers who were sent to
the New World to claim the land for Spain
• Take land and resources
• Killed off the native populations or enslaved
them
• Encomienda system: Settlers tax the
natives, or force them to work, in
exchange for protection and conversion
to Christianity
VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA
• Traveled to Columbia after
living in Hispaniola as a farmer
• Eventually became governor
of a Spanish colony there.
• Explored west in 1513 and
became the first to see the
Pacific Ocean from a peak in
Panama.
• Eventually charged with
treason by a jealous rival and
was publically beheaded
PONCE DE LEON
• Sailed with Christopher
Columbus on second voyage
and remained in the New
World.
• Went on an expedition in 1513
to find a legendary “fountain of
youth”
• Landed in Florida, but thought it
was an island
• He was shot by an arrow from a
Native on his second trip to
Florida and died.
HERNANDO CORTEZ
• 1518, Cortez picked to establish a
colony in Mexico.
• Montezuma, the Aztec ruler,
welcomed Cortez thinking he
was one of their gods.
• Aztecs gave Cortez a bunch of
gold only fueling his desire for
more
• Montezuma was eventually
taken hostage, and the Aztecs
were destroyed in battle.
FRANCISCO PIZARRO
• Began as apart of Balboa’s crew
• Led his own expedition to Peru.
• Encountered Inca tribe and leader
Atahualpa
• Atahualpa had invited Pizarro to a
celebratory feast
• Pizarro attacked the Incas. Killing
thousands and kidnapping
Atahualpa.
• Atahualpa offered huge ransom for
his release
• Pizarro took the treasure and still killed
him
• Incan Empire was now destroyed
• Pizarro was assassinated in Lima,
Peru
TREATMENT OF THE NATIVES
• All of these Spanish
Conquistadors fought with
and/or slaughtered the Natives
they encountered
• Spanish Advantages
• Weapons:
• Guns and swords beating
spears and arrows
• Germs:
• Natives were not immune
to the European diseases
NOT EVERYBODY WAS CORRUPT
• Bartolome de Las Casas
• A priest in New Spain who spoke
out against the atrocities
happening there.
“We can estimate very surely and truthfully that
in the forty years that have passed, with the
infernal actions of the Christians, there have
been unjustly slain more than twelve million
men, women, and children. In truth, I believe
without trying to deceive myself that the number
of the slain is more like fifteen million.
Their reason for killing and destroying such an
infinite number of souls is that the Christians
have an ultimate aim, which is to acquire gold,
and to swell themselves with riches in a very
brief time and thus rise to a high estate
disproportionate to their merits.”