1.3 European Exploration in the Americas

   Learning Target: Explain the Causes of Exploration and Conquest of the New World by various European nations

• Until the Late 1400’s, the world was unaware of the Americas and traded with Asia, Europe, and Africa.

• Religion and Economic efforts brought Europeans to explore in the Americas

The European Context for Exploration

• Colombus’s Voyages helped bring more people into contact

Technology prompted the expansion of knowledge

• Gunpowder (invented by the chinese)

• Sailing compass (adopted by arab merchants)

• Printing Press

• There was religious conflict between the catholic church and the ottoman Turks

• The Spanish were on a power trip to claim that they were better than the Turks, The Spanish funded Colombus’s trip to the Americas

• With spreading to the new world, they also wanted to spread Christianity to the New World

Europe Stablizes

• Climate Warmed

• Improved agricultural productivity

• More food= more babies, more babies= higher population

• desire for Asian luxury goods

• GOLD, GOD and GLORY

Economic Motives

• Demand for eastern luxery goods

• improved banking states

  It began with portugal expanding trading posts around african coasts and throughout the indian ocean

• CC Went to spain in 1492

Religious Motives

(Dominant religion is Catholic Christianity)

Simony: Buying and selling important church positions

Could pay to wash away sins

Catholic Christianity vs Protestant Christianity

• No seperation of church and state

• Lead to political fued’s and power struggles

Spains kingdom’s combine

• Marriage of Isabella of castile and ferdinand II of Aragon

• Lead spanish inquisition

• Eliminated religious dissent in spain

• expelled 200k jews in spain

Political Movements

• Wanted to shift balance of power

• New public reality: the nation state

• A political entity that governs a single, unified people