European exploration

Your Upcoming Exam & What We've Covered
  • Next week's your first big exam, and it's got two parts: multiple-choice and some short answers/map-based questions.
  • Monday's review: We'll go over terms, questions, and what to expect for question counts. We'll also look at modern-day country maps.
  • Wednesday's written part: You'll pick two out of three short-answer questions and do the map identification.
  • Topics covered: Islam, The Inca, Global exploration, and the African slave trade.
Big Ideas & Why Exploration Happened
  • Trade routes through the Atlantic/Trans-Saharan regions were messed up, especially after losing control of places like the Holy Land and Constantinople. This really pushed Europeans to explore.
  • This time, often called the Renaissance (a "rebirth"), was all about finding new paths to India and China. It was driven by the "three Gs": God, Gold, and Glory.
  • Marco Polo: An early trailblazer from Venice who traveled to China and back. His book (written down by Rusticello) made people curious about Asia and sparked later explorations. There's some debate about how accurate it all was.
  • Portolan charts: These were early, mostly Portuguese, nautical maps that made navigating along coasts and the open sea much better, helping with long trips.
  • Cool Tech that Helped: Compasses, better sails (like lug sails), gunpowder, and smaller, quicker ships for coastlines and shallow waters.
  • Iberian Peninsula (Spain & Portugal): Religious and political stuff like the Reconquista and the Edict of Expulsion (1492) meant they really wanted to bypass the Middle East to get to Asia.
  • Making Money from Exploring: The allure of spices, sugar, gold, and later, slaves was huge. The Church and royalty also sponsored these ventures, hoping for wealth.
Marco Polo & His Famous Book
  • Marco Polo's Journey: He went from Venice through Persia to China, then returned via India and Southeast Asia. He told tales of grand places like the Port of Kupolikan (Genghis Khan's grandson) and Asia's riches.
  • The Book's Real Author: It wasn't actually written by Polo himself, but by Rusticello of Pisa, who wrote down Polo’s stories while they were imprisoned.
  • Controversies: People argue Polo didn’t write it, and Rusticello was the main writer. Also, some wonder about its accuracy—like why he didn't mention the Great Wall. Some scholars even think he might have embellished parts.
  • Why it Mattered: It basically reintroduced the idea of wealthy Asian cities and markets to Europe, creating myths of huge fortunes. This fed into the "god, gold, glory" motivation.
  • Maps and Chinese Inventions: Portolan charts and Chinese tech (like navigation tools and maps) made their way to Europe after Polo, making ocean travel possible.
Tools for Navigation & Map-Making
  • Portolan charts (portolanis): Detailed maps that sailors used, mainly from Italian/Portuguese sources. They showed coastlines, compass directions, and estimated distances, which was key for planning routes around Africa to India/China.
  • Navigation Gear: The compass helped with direction, lug sails made ships faster in the ocean, and gunpowder gave explorers military muscle.
  • Map Quirks: Early maps weren't always spot-on. Africa's interior, India, or Madagascar were often drawn incorrectly, showing how knowledge evolved as discoveries happened.
  • The Three Gs (as a navigation guide): God (spreading religion), Gold (getting rich), and Glory (personal and national fame).
Spain & Portugal: The Push to the Atlantic
  • Reconquista: Christian kingdoms in Spain and Portugal took back land and wanted control over trade routes, securing power and wealth.
  • Edict of Expulsion (1492): Muslims and Jews were kicked out or forced to convert, which played a role in pushing them to find new routes.
  • 14921492: A big year—the Reconquista finished, and these expulsions happened. This set the stage for sponsoring voyages to find new ways to Asia.
Prince Henry the Navigator & Portugal's Westward Quest
  • Prince Henry: A royal figure who led early Portuguese exploration. He was also head of a powerful organization linked to the Knights Templar.
  • Crusade of Discovery: His plan to explore and find wealth by sailing around Africa to India/China.
  • Results: Exploring West Africa brought lots of gold and sugarcane, and sadly, started bringing African slaves to plantations (like the Azores and Canaries).
  • Big Profits: Sugar became incredibly valuable, fueling the Atlantic plantation economy.
  • The Slave Trade Takes Hold: This became a key economic activity. Records show big profits, for example, Diaz's trips reportedly earned about 1.081.08 per slave, with the church getting a small cut (1/201/20).
  • Sugar, Slaves, & Religion: Sugar farming on Atlantic islands and later in the Americas created a massive need for labor, shaping centuries of colonial economies. The church has since apologized for its role in the slave trade.
Early Portuguese Explorers & The India Route
  • Bartolomeu Dias: The first European to sail around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and get back to Portugal. This proved the Africa route was possible. His mission took about 2.5extyears2.5 ext{ years}.
  • Vasco da Gama: Followed Dias's route all the way to India, opening direct trade with Indian ports. This gave Portugal a lot of wealth and power in the Indian Ocean.
  • Alfonso de Albuquerque: Set up a strong, lasting Portuguese base in Goa (India), which became the capital for controlling the spice trade from the early 16th16^{th} century until the mid-20th20^{th} century.
  • Key Takeaways: Smaller coastal ships, combined with cannons (thanks to gunpowder), let Europeans control coastal trade and create a spice monopoly. Bypassing Middle Eastern traders saved a lot of money.
  • Pedro Cabral: Accidentally landed in Brazil while on his way to India. This unplanned detour gave Portugal a claim to Brazil and its sugar-growing potential, kickstarting the sugar-based slave economy there.
Spain: Unification, Sponsorship, & Columbus
  • Ferdinand II & Isabella I: Their marriage unified Spain, giving them the power and money to fund huge overseas adventures.
  • Christopher Columbus: An Italian sailor who believed he could reach Asia by sailing west. He got support from the Spanish Crown after being turned down by others.
  • Columbus's Trip: He set sail aiming for Asia but landed in the Bahamas, Cuba, and Hispaniola. He mistakenly thought he'd reached parts of Asia due to bad calculations and limited geographical knowledge.
  • The Big Impact: His voyage led to extensive European contact with the Americas, kicking off centuries of exploration and colonization.
  • Columbus's Thinking: People already knew the Earth was round. Columbus's plan was based on a westward path, even though his distance estimates were way off (he thought it was about 3,000extnauticalmiles3{,}000 ext{ nautical miles} instead of the actual 9,000extmiles9{,}000 ext{ miles}).
  • Amerigo Vespucci & "America": Vespucci sailed similar routes and realized these lands weren't Asia but a "New World." His observations led to the term "America" (from his Latinized name, Americus) being used on maps like the Waldseemüller map.
Balboa, the Pacific, and Panama
  • Vasco Núñez de Balboa: He crossed the Isthmus of Panama from the Caribbean side to the Pacific Ocean (which he called the South Sea). He figured out that a direct water route to Asia by sailing west from the Atlantic was possible.
  • Panama's Role: This crossing hinted at future canal-building and the strategic importance of Central America in global trade.
Ferdinand Magellan & Sailing Around the World
  • Magellan's Goal: To find a westward passage to Asia's spices by sailing all the way around the world. He started with about 280280 sailors.
  • A Brutal Journey: The voyage was incredibly tough, with disease (dysentery), scurvy, starvation, mutinies, and dangerous conditions, especially passing through the Straits of Magellan.
  • Magellan's Fate: He was killed in the Philippines. The rest of the crew, led by Elcano, finished the journey.
  • Huge Significance: This first circumnavigation proved the Earth was round in a practical sense and opened up long-distance sea travel and global trade like never before. It showed just how vast the Earth was and the massive economic potential of new trade routes.
Maps, Cartography, & The New World
  • Portolan charts: These practical navigation tools slowly became more accurate and helped map new territories.
  • Waldseemüller Map: A huge moment in map-making that helped standardize the name “America” for the New World, spreading geographical knowledge across Europe.
  • Changing Worldview: Explorers’ tales and better maps totally changed how Europeans understood the world’s geography and where continents and trade routes actually were.
The Columbian Exchange & Economic Changes
  • This was a massive exchange connecting the Old World (Europe, Asia, Africa) with the New World (the Americas) in terms of plants, animals, culture, and economy.
  • Key Economic Drivers: Lots of gold and silver started flowing, and spices (through controlled routes) and sugar became super important to colonial economies.
  • Sugar's Rise: Sugarcane farming grew hugely in the Atlantic islands and later in the Americas.
  • New Foods: Crops moved around the globe, changing diets and economies everywhere.
  • African Slavery: The demand for labor on sugar plantations dramatically ramped up the transatlantic slave trade.