Transcript Portugal and the Age of Exploration

Portugal and the Age of
Exploration
Created by Christina Dunne
Portugal is a European country.
It borders Spain to the east and the
Atlantic Ocean to the west.
Portugal was the farthest European
country from the Orient. But it longed for
the goods found in China and India.
The cost of items such as spices
from Asia was very expensive.
The spices rose in price as it passed
from trader to trader on its way to
Portugal.
There was a need to find a quicker trade
route and a way to obtain these products
at a lower price. Portugal looked to the
water off its coast for the answer.
Who was Prince Henry of
Portugal?
• He was the ruler of Portugal and was also
known as Prince Henry the Navigator.
• Prince Henry realized the importance of a
water route to the Far East.
Why was Prince Henry so
important?
• He started a school for sailors. At his
school he brought ship builders,
mapmakers, and scientists together. Their
combined efforts helped build fine ships
and developed maps and navigation tools
needed for sailing.
• He was also the first person to require ship
captains to keep logs of their travels.
Sailors began sailing further and
along the coast of Africa
• Prince Henry named the southernmost
point of Africa to show that he had great
hope for further exploration
One of the achievements of the
School of Navigation
• Shipbuilders developed a new ship called
the Caravel. It was an incredibly fast and
easily maneuverable vessel.
Another achievement of the School
of Navigation
• The astrolabe was an instrument used by
sailors to find direction and navigate their
ships.
When Prince Henry died in 1460 a
shorter route had not been found, but
other Portuguese explorers continued
to search for one. Two of these men
were Bartholomeu Dias and Vasco da
Gama.
Who was Bartolomeu
Dias?
Bartolomeu Dias (1457-1500) was a great Portuguese
navigator and explorer who explored Africa's coast. In 1488,
Dias led the first European expedition to sail around Africa's
Cape of Good Hope, leaving Tagus, Portugal in 1487. This
breakthrough of circumnavigating the Cape of Good Hope
opened up lucrative trading routes from Europe to Asia. Dias
may have originally called the southern tip of Africa the
"Cape of Storms"; it was later renamed the Cape of Good
Hope.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/indexd.shtml
Who was Vasco da Gama?
Vasco da Gama (1460-1524) was a Portuguese
explorer who discovered an ocean route from
Portugal to the East. Da Gama sailed from
Lisbon, Portugal, around Africa's Cape of Good
Hope, to India (and back) in 1497-1499.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/indexd.shtml