Transcript The Age of Discovery Early 15th Century to 17th Century

The Age of Discovery
Early 15th Century to 17th Century
Introduction to Exploration
European Exploration was about:
Power:
• Wanted to dominate over the rest of the world
Wealth:
• Competed to become the richest country in the
world.
Trade :
• Wanted to discover new trade routes between
Europe and Asia.
• (Trade=exchange of goods between two different countries)
Causes of Exploration
• Advanced Technology
– Result of Renaissance
– Able to travel great distances
• New trade routes to Asia
– Spices
– Silk
– Food
• Three G’s
– God- spread Christian beliefs
– Gold- new riches & resources
– Glory – become the greatest country in the world
Major European Countries Involved
1. Portugal
2. Spain
3. England
• Monarchies wanted to increase their wealth and power by
controlling major trade routes
• Provided funding to explorers to find direct trade routes
– Middle East, India, and China
Europe
England
Before Exploration
Spain
Portugal
Africa
After Exploration
Cape of Good Hope
Trade Routes to Asia & India
New Technology/Innovations
• Better and faster ship designs
– Able to explore farther distances out into the oceans
• Printing Press
– Maps more widely available
– Able to update more quickly
• Reliable magnetic compass
• New navigational methods
– Astrolabe, sextant, compass
– Realized the world was not flat
– Increased accuracy of maps
• Gun powder and new weapons
– cannons/muskets/guns
The Search For….GLORY!
• Exploration sparked competition
• 1st Place
– Portugal = routes around Africa to India and China
• Spices, silks, food, slaves/land
• 2nd Place
– Spain = routes to Americas and Caribbean
• Land, slaves, sugar, food
• 3rd Place
– England = routes to North America (Canada)
• Land, furs, slaves
European Explorers
• PORTUGAL:
– Prince Henry the Navigator
– Bartolomeu Dias
– Vasco da Gama
• SPAIN:
– Christopher Columbus
– Ferdinand Magellan
– Amerigo Vespucci
• ENGLAND:
– John Cabot
Prince Henry of Portugal
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Catalyst for European exploration
Son of King John I of Portugal
Often called Henry the Navigator
Founded navigation school in
1419
– mapmakers, shipbuilders, scientists
– Goals:
• Discover new trade routes
• Explore West African coast
Bartolomeu Dias
• First European to reach the southernmost
tip of Africa
– 1488
– Named it Cape of Good Hope
Vasco da Gama
• First to sail from Europe
to India
• Around 1498 sailed
around Africa’s coast
and across Indian Ocean
to reach India
• Portugal set up trade
posts in Africa, India,
and China.
Christopher Columbus
•Born in Italy, but sailed for Spain
•Believed he could reach India by sailing
west (not around Africa)
•1492 -The King and Queen of Spain
funded Columbus’ voyage
•Made four voyages to the Americas
Columbus 3 ships:
Niña
Pinta
Santa Maria
Columbus 1st Voyage = (RE)DISCOVERY
• Thought he had reached India
and named the land the
“West Indies”
• Called the natives “Indians”
• Land was actually modernday Haiti/Dominican Republic
in the Caribbean
• Spain later discovers that
Columbus had not reached
the West Indies.
Ferdinand Magellan
• Born in Portugal
• Sailed for Spain
• Proved the new lands Columbus called “West
Indies” were not India
• First expedition to circumnavigate (sail around) the
globe
Amerigo Vespucci
• Italian
• Explored the Americas
• Claimed the new lands were not part of Asia.
– Route to Asia was blocked by two large continents
– N. and S. America named after him.
John Cabot
• Born in Italy
• Sailed for England
• Made voyages to
North America
• Led to the founding
of English colonies
in America.
England
Spain
Portugal
Outcomes of Exploration
Outcomes of Exploration
• Lasting contact between
Europe, Africa, and Americas
• Columbian Exchange
– exchange of goods, ideas, &
diseases between Old World
(Europe) and New World
(Americas)
• Devastated native American
population
• Atlantic Slave Trade
– Forced movement of native
Africans
Columbian Exchange
• Exploration led to an enormous exchange of:
– People
– Plants/crops & animals
– Technology & ideas
– Customs, traditions, & religions
• Changed the lives of people in Asia, Europe, the
Americas, and Africa
Diseases
• Diseases were exchanged from Europeans to natives
• These included:
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Smallpox
Malaria
Plague
Measles
• Reduced native population by about 90%
• Increased starvation
• Lost native knowledge, customs, and religious
traditions
• Weakened tribal leadership
– Allowed societies to be conquered
The Slave Trade
• Existed before the Europeans encountered Africa
– Portuguese replaced European slaves with Africans
• Traded goods with African leaders for slaves
– brought slaves to the new world
• Largest forced migration of people in history
Global Impact of European Exploration in
Europe and the Americas
• Impact in Europe:
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Power
Wealth
Trade
Technological Advances
Land
• Impact in the Americas:
– Spread of disease
– Conversion to
Christianity
– Conquest of natives
– Blending of cultural
customs/traditions
– Slavery
– Colonization &
imperialism
Lasting Impact of Exploration
• Globalization
– international interchange of world views,
culture, ideas, and products
• Colonization/Imperialism
– 17th century
– Expansion of European empires
– Slavery 2.0
• Interdependence
– The Americas dependant on European countries
for modern conveniences
– Europeans dependant on Americas for resources
and cheap labor
• Transculturation
– Blending of cultures to create a new culture