Ch 2, Sec 2: Early Exploration

Objectives

• Explain how Portugal led the way in overseas exploration.

• Develop an understanding of how Columbus’s plan for sailing to Asia led to the New World.

Early Maps

• Very limited in detail• Created by people traveling coast lines and

drawing what they saw• Only showed 3 continents:– Asia, Europe, and Africa– Ocean Sea-Western (Atlantic) and Eastern (Pacific)

Oceans

Vikings• Reached North America in the 800s-900s– Landed in Iceland and Greenland

• Discoveries were not well known to other people in Europe

• Columbus would be the first European to “discover” the Americas again.

Portugal takes the lead

• Had no port on the Mediterranean Sea• Wanted a trade route to Asia for spices and

Africa for gold• Paid explorers to find that route

Prince Henry

• Leader of Portugal• Started a school for explorers, astronomers,

geographers, and mathematicians to work together

• Known as Henry the Navigator• Started sending ships down the coast of Africa

to trade

Portugal in Africa• West Africa was a good source of gold– Known as the Gold Coast

• Started buying slaves in the 1400s• King John II wanted sailors to find a way

around the tip of Africa to India/China

Bartholomeau Dias

• Explored the Southern tip of Africa• Ran into a storm that pushed him around the

bottom of Africa– Cape of Good Hope

Vasco da Gama• Took Dias’ route to India• Explored Eastern Africa and created trading

stops for future ships• First to reach India for an eastern sea route to

Asia

Alvares Cabral

• Followed in Da Gama’s footsteps to India• Lisbon, India was a new trading center for the

world• Went to far West and hit land in what is now

Brazil– Land was claimed for the king of Portugal– The reason why Brazil is the only country in South

America to speak Portuguese

Columbus

• Italian citizen• Wanted to sail West to go

to India– Thought it would take 2

months

• Started sailing for Portugal for experience

Spain wants to explore

• Saw the success of Portugal• Wanted to gain the advantage of spice trade

with Asia• Italy and Portugal thought Columbus was

crazy for wanting to travel West to India, but Spain supported him

Why did Spain support Columbus

• Columbus promised to promote Christianity to everyone that he came into contact with

• If Columbus was right, he would gain a new/better route to Asia for Spain

Columbus’s First Voyage• Aug 3, 1492, Columbus left Spain heading

West• 3 ships-Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria• 90 men• Had to convince his crew not to mutiny

First Voyage Cont.

• Columbus found San Salvador (Bahamas)• Thought he was in the East Indies– Caribbean Islands=West Indies– Called the people Indians

• This proved a success and Spain under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella decided to fund Columbus’s future trips

Columbus’ next three trips

• Went back to the Americas– Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic), Cuba,

and Jamaica

• Ended up traveling up and down the coast of South America/Central America (Mexico)

• Europe now understood that this was not Asia and that it was a new continent– Still did not understand how big of a land it was

Treaty of Tordesillas• Pope Alexander VI put a line

on the map known as the Line of Demarcation– Spain got land to the West– Portugal got land to the East– Was in Spain’s favor-line was

pushed further West• Split all land between both

countries in the New World

Amerigo Vespucci

• Map maker• Mapped South American coast line• First to call South America a new continent• America was named after him

Balboa

• Governor in Panama• Explored the lands of Central America• First European to see the Pacific Ocean

Ferdinand Magellan• Hired by Spain to find a route around South

America to Asia– Strait of Magellan

• Named the Pacific Ocean– Means “peaceful”

• Died on the trip• Only 1 of 5 ships made it after 3 years with 18 of

300 men• First to circumnavigate the globe