🌍 Age of Exploration

"God, Glory, and Gold" – the three key motives behind European exploration

💡 Why Did They Want to Explore?

• 🔥 Interest in Asia & Spices
  
  

  • High demand for spices (pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg) in Europe
    
    

  • Desire for new sources of wealth
    
    

  • Disruption of trade routes due to Ottoman invasions
    
    

  • Ottomans monopolized the Silk Road, making trade expensive and risky
    
    

• ✝ Spread of Christianity
  
  

  • Religious tension with Islam motivated Europeans to spread Christianity
    
    

  • Saw exploration as a way to evangelize new territories
    
    

• 🔎 Seek New Trade Routes
  
  

  • To bypass the Silk Road and reach Asia directly by sea
    
    

🧭 Technological Advancements in Navigation

• 🧭 Navigational Tools
  
  

  • Astrolabe – helped sailors determine latitude
    
    

  • Compass – showed direction for navigation
    
    

• 🚢 New Ship Design
  
  

  • Caravels – sturdier ships ideal for long voyages
    
    

    • Could sail against the wind
      
      

    • Had triangular sails for better maneuverability
      
      

🇵🇹 Portugal: The Pioneers of Exploration

Key Figures:

• 👑 Prince Henry the Navigator
  
  

  • Son of Portugal’s king
    
    

  • Funded voyages to Africa and Asia
    
    

  • Never sailed himself, but opened a navigation school
    
    

• 🌍 Bartholomeu Dias
  
  

  • Reached the southern tip of Africa
    
    

  • Turned back due to exhaustion and lack of supplies
    
    

• 🇮🇳 Vasco da Gama
  
  

  • Continued Dias’ voyage
    
    

  • Successfully reached India
    
    

  • Brought back silks, spices, and gems
    
    

Achievements:

• First European country to set up trading outposts in Africa
  
  

• Took control of the spice trade from Muslim merchants
  
  

• Captured key trading ports in India and Southeast Asia
  
  

  • Goa, India became capital of their trading empire
    
    

• Opened direct sea trade with Asia (but also began violent conflicts in the East)
  
  

🇪🇸 Spain Enters the Scene

Christopher Columbus

• Persuaded Spain to sponsor his journey to find a new route to Asia
  
  

• Reached the Caribbean, mistaking it for Asia
  
  

• His voyage opened the door to European colonization of the Americas
  
  

Treaty of Tordesillas & Line of Demarcation

• 🌍 Pope Alexander VI created a line dividing the Atlantic between Spain and Portugal
  
  

• Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas to honor it
  
  

• Prevented conflict by giving:
  
  

  • Spain: Lands west of the line (Americas)
    
    

  • Portugal: Lands east of the line (Africa, Asia)
    
    

🔁 The Columbian Exchange

The global transfer of plants, animals, people, and diseases during the colonization of the Americas.

🌾 Plants

• 🌽 Corn and 🥔 Potatoes
  
  

  • Became a major food source worldwide
    
    

  • Helped people live longer
    
    

  • Examples:
    
    

    • Sweet potatoes planted in China
      
      

    • White potatoes planted in Ireland
      
      

🐮 Animals

• Horses, cows, pigs, llamas
  
  

  • Revolutionized transportation and agriculture
    
    

  • Improved food supply and lifestyles
    
    

🦠 Diseases

• Spread via trade and warfare
  
  

• Deadly to Native Americans and Europeans alike:
  
  

  • Smallpox, measles, malaria, influenza, syphilis
    
    

• Resulted in millions of deaths, especially in the Americas
  
  

👥 People

• Population boom due to improved diets
  
  

Both voluntary and forced migrations occurred (slavery, colonization)