Age of Exploration

Learning Objectives

• Understand the technological factors that facilitated European exploration and expansion from 1450 to 1648

• Understand the motivations for and the effects of European exploration and expansion from 1450 to 1648

Key Concepts

• Advances in navigation, cartography, and military technology enabled Europeans to establish oversea colonies and empires

• European states sought direct access to gold, spices, and luxury goods to enhance personal wealth and state power

• The rise of mercantilism gave the state a new role in promoting commercial development and the acquisition of colonies overseas

From the 1400s to the 1700s, Europe experienced an “Age of Exploration”

• The Renaissance encouraged curiosity and a desire for trade

• As a result of exploration, European nations grew powerful and spread their influence throughout the world- expeditions led to the discovery of new land, new markets, and new technology

Motivations

• Why did Europeans want to explore?

• By the early 1400s, Europeans were ready to venture beyond their borders. The Renaissance encouraged, among other things, a new spirit of adventure and curiosity. This spirit of adventure, along with several other important reasons, prompted Europeans to explore the world around them

• Europeans had not been completely isolated from the rest of the world before the 1400s. Beginning around 1100, European crusaders battled Muslims for control of the Holy Lands in Southwest Asia. In 1275, the Italian trader Marco Polo reached the court of Kublai Khan in China. For the most part, however, Europeans had neither the interest nor the ability to explore foreign lands. That changed by the early 1400s. The desire to grow rich and to spread Christianity, coupled with advances in sailing technology, spurred an age of European exploration

Gold (money)

• a desire for new sources of wealth was the main reason for exploration

• the Crusades and the Renaissance stimulated European desires for exotic Asian luxury

• merchants began looking for quick, direct trade routes to Asia to avoid Muslim and Italian merchants and increase profits

• The primary motivation for European exploration was the desire for new sources of wealth, particularly through the profitable trade of spices and luxury goods from Asia. These goods, introduced during the Crusades (1096–1270), were in high demand in Europe for enhancing bland foods. Muslims and Italian merchants controlled the trade, with Italians reselling goods at inflated prices, which reduced profits for other European traders. By the 1400s, European merchants and monarchs sought to bypass Italian merchants by discovering a direct sea route to Asia.

Glory

• the Renaissance inspired new possibilities for power and prestige

  • exploration presented Europeans with the opportunity to rise from poverty and gain fame, fortune, and status

• kings who sponsored voyages of exploration gained overseas colonies, new sources of wealth for their nation, and increased power

• Renaissance inspired new possibilities (no one explored during the Middle Ages), exploration led to fame for the explorers & sponsor country (found new places & gained more lands), and demand for new land & glory led to competition between countries

God

• European Christians, especially Catholics, wanted to stop the spread of Islam and convert non-Christians to the faith

  • explorers were encouraged to spread Christianity or bring missionaries who would focus only on conversions

Means

• How were explorers able to sail so far and make it back again?

-Before the Renaissance, sailors did not have the technology to sail very far from Europe and return

Navigation

• trade and cultural diffusion during the Renaissance introduced new navigation techniques to Europeans

  • Astrolabe- used stars to show direction

  • Magnetic Compass- made sailing more accurate

  • Maps- more accurate and used longitude and latitude

• European ship builders built a better ship; the caravel was a strong ship that could travel in the open seas and shallow water

  • caravels had triangular lateen sails that allowed ships to sail against the wind

  • a moveable rudder made the caravel more maneuverable

  • cannons and rifles gave ships protection

• While the primary motives for exploration were "God, glory, and gold," advances in technology made these voyages possible. In the 1200s, European ships were unable to sail against the wind, limiting exploration. By the 1400s, the development of the caravel, a sturdier ship with triangular sails adapted from Arabs, enabled sailing against the wind. Navigational tools also improved: sailors used the astrolabe, perfected by Muslims, to calculate latitude and the magnetic compass, a Chinese invention, to track direction more accurately. These innovations facilitated long-distance sea voyages.

Exploration and Explorers

• Who were the explorers, where did they go, and how did they change history?

-Europeans were not the first to explore the oceans in search of new trade routes

-Islamic merchants explored the Indian Ocean and had dominated the Asian spice trade for centuries before European exploration

-From 1405-1433. Zheng He led the Chinese “Treasure Fleet” on 7 expeditions to southeast Asia, India, and Africa during the Ming dynasty

-In the late 1400s, the European sailors did what neither Muslim nor Chinese explorers could: begin global (not regional) exploration and create colonies to increase their wealth and power

Portugal

• Portugal was the early leader in the Age of Exploration

• in Portugal, Prince Henry the Navigator started a school of navigation to train

  • he brought in Europe’s best map-makers, ship builders, and sailing instructors

  • he wanted to discover new territories, find a quick trade route to Asia, and expand Portugal’s power

• Prince Henry’s navigation school and willingness to fund voyages led Portugal to be the first to explore the west coast of Africa

  • Vasco de Gama was the first explorer to find a direct trade route to Asia by going around Africa to get to India

  • Portugal gained a sea route to Asia that brought them great wealth

• During the Age of Exploration, Portugal created colonies along the African Coast, in Brazil, and the Spice Islands in Asia

Spain

• The Spanish government saw Portugal’s wealth and did not want to be left out

• More than any other monarch, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain sponsored and supported overseas expeditions

• Like most educated men of the Renaissance, Columbus believed the world was round and could reach Asia by sailing west

  • Columbus reached the Bahamas in America but thought he had reached islands off the coast of India

Tierra, Tierra!

• October 12, 1492

  • Columbus’ fleet meets land

  • Columbus claims San Salvador for Spain

  • thought it was the East Indies

    • actually the Carribean islands

    • found natives he called “Indians”

  • returns to Spain, and the king and queen agree to sponsor future voyages

Amerigo Vespucci

• 1502: sailed along the coast of South America

• Determined it was not part of Asia

• Decided it was a continent by itself

  • Geographers called it “America”

Ferdinand Magellan

• Portuguese man that sailed for Spain

• Sailed around the southern tip of South America

  • Named the ocean Pacific

  • Comes from the Spanish word “pacifico” meaning peaceful

• Crew sailed all the way to Spain 1522

• Despite the fact Columbus never found Asia, Magellan still thought he could reach Asia by sailing west

• Magellan became the first to circumnavigate the earth

Sailing Around the World

• During the Age of Exploration, Spain created colonies in North and South America

• Spain sent explorers called conquistadors to the New World to find gold, claim land, and spread Christianity

  • Hernan Cortez conquered the Aztecs

  • Francisco Pizzaro conquered the Inca

• The influx of gold from America made Spain the most powerful country in Europe during the early years of the Age of Exploration

Why Spain Succeeded

• Weapons and animals

  • guns and cannons

  • horses and dogs

• Other natives in the area

  • disliked Aztecs and the Inca

  • assisted Spain

• Disease

  • natives didn’t have immunity to European illnesses

Spain in Florida

• Juan Ponce de Leon

  • first Spanish landing in North America

  • east coast of Florida in 1513

  • hoped to find the “Fountain of Youth”

• St, Augustine

  • settled in 1565 in modern Florida

  • first Spanish settlement in North America

The Seven Cities of Cibola

• Mythical empire of great riches

  • rumored to exist in the southern part of North America

• Many European explorers searched but never found

  • Hernando de Sota

  • Franciso Vasquez de Coronado

Spanish Rule

• 3 kinds of settlements

  • pueblos: towns

  • missions: religious communities

  • presidios: military fort

• Encomienda System

  • granted by Spanish government

  • right to demand labor and taxes from natives

  • led to formation of plantations

Social Classes

1. Peninsulares: born in Spain, owned land, and serves the church/ran local government

2. Creoles: born in America to Spanish parents

3. Mestizos: people with Spanish and Native American parents

4. Native Americans: lived in extreme poverty

5. African slaves: only class below Native Americans

Plantation System

• Large profits for Spain from exporting crops

• used natives to work the fields

• Bartolome de Las Casas

  • Spanish priest

  • suggested using African slaves rather than Native American slaves