The Age of Exploration

15th and 16th centuries

Technological Advancements

• Renaissance ideas were applied to exploration– Magnetic compass– Cannon– Caravel

• Smaller, wind-powered ship• Portuguese invention

– Astrolabe• Determined latitude, direction north or south of Equator

– Better Maps

1507 Waldseemuller Map

Why Explore?• God

– Spread the Catholic religion, primarily• Gold

– Financial opportunities: gold, silver, spices– Leaders want more $ and support exploration (Henry the

Navigator)• Glory

– The ability to brag or be the best Euro country.• Gateway

– Access to other markets

#1 motive: Material Profit…$, supplies

Portuguese Symbolism in Art

Portugal: 1st to Explore• Goals of exploration:

– Christianize– Gold– Access to spice markets in

India

• Supported by Prince Henry the Navigator, King Manuel I

• Got in on gold trade in the Mediterranean Sea– Made $ necessary for more

expeditions

• Will own Brazil by 1500– Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494

Treaty of Tordesillas

Spain Portugal

Manuelian Architecture

Portuguese Explorers

• Bartholomew Diaz, 1478– Sailed to the Cape of

Good Hope (Africa)

• Vasco da Gama, 1497-1499– Sailed to India,

returned with spices & cloth

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon, PortugalEntrance Port to Europe

Christopher Columbus

• An Italian who sailed for King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain– Cristobal Columbo– Columbus begged K & Q for $ for exploration

• Spain had gone through the reconquista– Expulsion of the Muslim Moors from Granada

• Bad guy in history– Raped, killed, enslaved natives, – Hispaniola, 1496 (Dominican Republic)– Didn’t find America first– Had no idea where he was. India? China?– Can we judge him?

• Maybe not…no moral compass

Spanish Governing

• Established 4 viceroyalies or divisions of “new world” territory with 4 governors

• Mercantilism: colonies exist for the benefit of the mother country (Spain)

• Didn’t allow for self-rule or native industry– Perhaps a reason why much of S.A. and

Mexico are considered “3rd World” countries?

Moorish Influence

Ferdinand Magellan

• Magellan, Spain 1519– Sailed by order of Charles

V (H.R.Emperor, Spanish Habsburg)

– Sailed around Cape Horn (South America)

– Explored Philippines (named after Philip II, H.R.E.)

– Proved earth was round, bigger than thought

Hernando Cortes

• Cortes, Spain 1519– Explored Mexico– Captured Aztec

leader, Montezuma• Montezuma’s revenge

– Made Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) the capital city of “New Spain”

Francisco Pizarro

• Pizarro, Spain 1531-1536– Explored Peru in S.

America– Destroyed the Incan

Empire– Lima became the

capital city

John Cabot

• Cabot, England 1497– An Italian (same area

as Columbus)– “Discovered”

Newfoundland when trying to get to Brazil (Portuguese land)

– No spices or gold for Henry VII, went back to England

Jacques Cartier

• Cartier, France 1534-1541– Explored the St.

Lawrence River & Canada

– Explored near Quebec• Quebec is a French

speaking province of Canada

Dutch East India Company

• Founded in 1602, The Netherlands

• Government supported company

• Explored solely for material gain

Impact of Exploration

• Columbian Exchange (Columbus)– Exchange of plants and animals:

• Corn or maize, sugar cane• Horses, cows, sheep

– Exchange of disease:• Euros brought smallpox• Natives gave Syphilis• High death toll of natives

– Migration of people to “new world”