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
►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:
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