Chapter 2

The Age of Exploration

(1350-1550)

Chapter 2The Age of Exploration

Section 1

Europeans Set Sail

The European Economy Grows

Black Death – plague swept through Europe, killing approx. 30 million Created a shortage of workers

Commercial Revolution – great change in European economy; merchants and craftspeople became more aggressive about making profit cities became rich trading centers

The European Economy Grows (continued)Capital – money or property used to

make more money; merchant families wanted more – higher prices = more profit Medici family opened banks in Florence to

make loans to monarchs, nobles and other merchants; bankers gained increasing influence around Europe

Joint-stock companies – investors share profits and losses of company; helped merchants raise money (reduced individual risk)

The Renaissance Renaissance – rebirth of the arts and learning of ancient

Greece and Rome; began in Italy mid-1300s, spread through Europe through early 1600s

Europeans used new wealth to support education and the arts

Belief that human beings could achieve anything motivated Europeans to explore the rest of the world

Leonardo da Vinci – “renaissance man;” Mona Lisa Johann Gutenberg – movable type for printing presses

Made it easier and less expensive to copy books Technological advances led to exploration

Magnetic compass; astrolabe – charted position of the stars = ship position

Trade with Africa and Asia

Great wealth came from trade with Africa (gold, ivory, salt, slaves) and Asia (silk and spices)

Long overland routes to Europe (ex. Silk Road) Western European nations wanted to find sea

routes to Africa and Asia because land routes were less reliable and had to depend on others (those who controlled land); prices increased because trade goods passed through hands of many different merchants

Marco Polo’s book about his travels in Asia were popular

Europeans wanted to learn more about the world, spread Christianity and make a profit

The Portuguese Explore Africa

Portugal = leader in overseas exploration (early 1400s)

Prince Henry “the Navigator” built a navigation school on the coast of Portugal (finest mapmakers, sailors, and shipbuilders) developed the caravel – small ship with triangular

sails; could sail against the wind; improved the compass

Paid for expeditions to explore the west coast of Africa – began the European trade in African slaves; consequence = more warfare among West African Kingdoms

Bartolomeu Dias – first to sail around southern tip of Africa (Cape of Good Hope)

United Streaming Video

The Great Age of Exploration

Chapter 2The Age of Exploration

Section 2

Voyages to the Americas

Columbus’s Bold Idea

Believed Asia (Indies) = west across the Atlantic

Portuguese would not fund voyage because the king preferred Dias’s route around Africa

After the Reconquista (ongoing struggle to drive Moors from Spain), Ferdinand and Isabella agreed to pay for voyage bring back wealth, claim any lands he explored for

Spain Would become viceroy (royal governor) of lands

explored

Crossing the Ocean

Left Spain in August, 1492, land spotted October, 1492 (33 days from Canary Islands)

Nina, Pinta, and the Santa MariaVoyage was daring because many

people believed that such a long voyage would be impossible

Columbus’s First Explorations

Landed on island in Bahamas – called it San Salvador (Holy Savior) – believed it to be off the coast of China or Japan

Taino – natives on Hispaniola; he called them Indians (believed he had landed in the Indies)

Spent more than two months exploring; built small colony on coast of Hispaniola – La Navidad

Europe Learns of Columbus’s Voyage

Ferdinand and Isabella excited about news of findings, made Columbus admiral and a governor

Isabella wanted to convert Taino to Christianity Columbus believed it was acceptable to enslave Taino

As a result of Columbus’s discovery, Spain persuaded the pope to create the Line of Demarcation securing its right to lands west of the line – Portuguese king objected

Treaty of Tordesillas – signed by Spain and Portugal – moved line giving Portugal more opportunity to claim lands unexplored by other Europeans As a result, Portugal was able to set up the colony of Brazil

Columbus’s Later Voyages

Returned to La Navidad in 1493 – found it destroyed, everyone killed

Spent time exploring even though he was governor

Living conditions poor partly due to difficulty growing crops

Problems made Ferdinand and Isabella unhappy

Columbus never made any further discoveries, etc.

Chapter 2The Age of Exploration

Section 3

The Race for Trade Routes

Portugal’s Great Discoveries

Vasco da Gama established trade route between Portugal and India (found India had long history of trade with Muslim and Italian merchants) – Portugal won race for a new sea route to wealth of Asia

Pedro Álvars Cabral accidentally landed in South America; claimed land for Portugal thinking it was a large island Brazil’s eastern shore was on Portugal’s side of the

Line of Demarcation Eventually founded forts, trading posts and settlements

Cabot and Vespucci Explore

John Cabot – Italian sailing for England – found North America (present-day Newfoundland) Became the basis of England’s claim to land

in North AmericaAmerigo Vespucci – Italian sailing for

Spain – coast of S. America German map-maker published his letters and

a map labeled with the name “America” across the new continents in his honor – the name stuck

Balboa Reaches the Pacific

Vasco Nuñez de Balboa arrived in Panama after failing as a farmer in the Caribbean

Heard of another sea – traveled across land until he saw (from a mountaintop) what he named the South Sea No way for ships to cross Panama Attempted to have ships carried across mountains piece

by piece

Success threatened Spanish authorities – charged with treason and executed

Sailing Around the Globe

Ferdinand Magellan (Portuguese captain sailing for Spain) – believed there was a sea passage through South America to “South Sea”

Sailed through narrow strait at the southern tip of S. America – Strait of Magellan

Changed name to Pacific Ocean (peaceful) Magellan killed in battle in the Philippines Crew led by Juan Sebastián de Elcano were the

first to circumnavigate the world (18 sailors remained)

Chapter 2The Age of Exploration

Section 4

The Opening of the Atlantic

A Shift in Trade

Italy lost monopoly on overland trade as Portuguese and Spanish began using the Atlantic; greater profits made because traders no longer dealing with third-parties (ex. Muslim traders)

Portugal controlled as much as 75% of spice trade between Europe and Asia

Other European nations got involved in trade All began looking at Atlantic as gateway to the

wealth of the Americas Portuguese started the European trade in

African slaves

The Columbian Exchange

Transfer of plants, animals and diseases to the “New World;” plants and animals to the “Old World” – Asia, Europe and Africa

Corn, tomatoes, potatoes, tobacco and cocoa to Europe, etc.

Europeans brought horses (never seen by natives before), cattle and pigs; wheat and barley; rice and bananas

Natives had little or no immunity to diseases (measles, smallpox, typhus) – hundreds of thousands died

The Search for a Northwest Passage Spain and Portugal busy with Central and South

America, other European nations looking for Northwest Passage through N. America to Pacific

Verrazano (France) – sailed along coast from present-day North Carolina to Maine

Jacques Cartier (France) – two trips to what is now Eastern Canada – sailed up the St. Lawrence River all the way to present-day Montreal

The Search for a Northwest Passage (continued)

Samuel de Champlain (France) – followed Cartier’s old paths; visited the Great Lakes led by Huron guides; founded small colony on the St. Lawrence River = Quebec; explorations became basis of France’s claim to much of Canada

Henry Hudson (England and Netherlands) – first sailed to present-day New York; returned for England – found huge bay (Hudson Bay)

Northwest Passage was not found by any of these men, but explorations led to increased interest in N. America

Important Info. From Sections 3&4

European race for sea route to Asia was won by Portugal – started the European trade in African slaves

Cabral accidentally discovered the coast of what is now Brazil

French claims to much of Canada began with Champlain’s explorations

Champlain discovered the Great Lakes with the aid of Huron Indian guides

The failure of Verrazano, Cartier, Hudson and others to find a Northwest Passage did not dampen European interest in North America

Sections 3 and 4 (continued) Balboa first saw the South Sea from a

mountaintop in Panama After Balboa discovered the South Sea and

made alliances with American Indians in what is now Panama, Spanish authorities had him executed for treason

Balboa’s discovery of the South Sea convinced Magellan to sail west to reach Asia

The South Sea was renamed the Pacific during the voyage of Magellan

Magellan discovered the passage he sought through South America at the southern tip of the continent

Sections 3 and 4 (continued)

The Strait of Magellan is the narrow sea passage discovered in South America by Magellan

Verrazano was an Italian sea captain who sailed under the flag of France

Henry Hudson was an English captain who sailed under the flags of England and the Netherlands

The North American area explored in the 1500s by Jacques Cartier was what is now eastern Canada