EUROPEAN EXPANSIONCauses of and The World Prior to.

European Expansion

The Causes: The 3 Gs

GLORY

GOLD

GOD

Gold and Natural Resources

In the 1400s, European countries were

competing with each other for Natural

Resources. They competed for natural

resources such as gold, silk, and

spices.

►Spices were especially valuable

►Many of these things could be found along the

Silk Roads which span from Africa, The Middle East,

India, to Asia.

► The Silk Roads were the first global trade

network. Merchants exchanged goods, literature,

knowledge, and ideas.

►European traders had to travel great distances

over land to get these areas.

► Transporting goods across these great distances

was costly and dangerous.

Gold and Natural Resources► By the time the goods reached Europe they

were sold at extremely high prices.

►European merchants knew that if they could

trade directly with people in Asia, they would make

enormous profits.

►In the 1400s, Europeans began searching for a

sea route to Asia.

► At this time Europeans had no idea the Americas

existed.

GOD

The Rise of Islam:► Islam began in 622 CE and

quickly spread throughout the

world. ► It was spread by conquest

and by Muslim merchants and

traders along the Silk Roads.

► By 750 CE Islam had spread as far as India to the Iberian

Peninsula.

GOD► In1453 Constantinople

and the Byzantine Empire

falls to the Ottoman Empire.

► Some Europeans

believed it was their duty to

stop the rise of Islam and

spread the Christianity

throughout the world.

► They felt that they could

convert the Native people

they met on their journeys

into Christians.

GLORY► As Europeans began exploring

the Coast of Africa, they began

settling Colonies.

► Colonizing new areas added to a

country’s territory (more natural

resources, more wealth).

► Colonizing also opened new

markets as Europeans could force

people in their new colonies to

purchase goods from them.

► European countries could sell

things to the people in these areas

and make even more money.

GLORY► The more colonies a country had,

the more wealth it had. They could take

gold and other natural resources from

the areas they colonized.

► More colonies meant more prestige

or Glory

► Countries began competing with

one another for colonies

► When one Country takes over

another it is called Imperialism

What country started the age of Expansion?

►Portugal

►Prince Henry the Navigator

of Portugal began the age of

European exploration

► Prince Henry began

Portugal’s exploration of Africa in the mid 1400s.

► He hired sailors who

explored the coast of Africa

and opened the way for

future journeys.

► Henry also opened a school

of Navigation in Portugal.

► He wanted shipbuilders, mapmakers, sea captains,

and inventors to learn and

work together.

Prince Henry the Navigator:

What about the Americas?

The Americas

The main theory of the first Americans. Maps of the probable travel routes.

The AmericasPopulation:• Subject continues to be

debated.• Most scholars and

historians estimate the population of the Americas was between 50 to more than100 million people prior to European contact.

• This population would be destroyed by European contact.

►At this point in history Europeans

did not yet know that the Americas

existed although many people

believed the world was round.

► Explorers began to try sailing to

Asia by going east, expecting to eventually reach Asia by circling

the globe.

► The Americas were “stumbled

upon” as Europeans searched for this new route to Asia.

►For the next 200 years, Europe’s

largest countries began exploring

Africa, Asia, and North America.

►They set up colonies and new

markets, took gold and other

precious metals, enslaved native

people, and spread Christianity.

The Americas

Map of the world 1200 CE