The Age of Exploration
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
This section is all about the Western Europeans and when they began exploration in the 1400's.
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Trades With Asia and New Technology
The Europeans started having trouble getting goods such as silks and spices. They were having trouble because first the Mongol empire collapsed which made Asian goods more expensive. Next the Ottoman Turks blocked merchants from trading. Because of that the prices went through the roof. They still wanted to trade so they decided if they can't reach it by land, they should try to trade by sea. Still something blocked them from sailing. That was the fact that they didn't have the right technology. It was way to dangerous to sail on the Atlantic Ocean when they couldn't navigate well. They found all of the technology from the Arabs including the compass and how to build better ships.
The Rise of Strong Nations and Did Maps Encourage Exploration?
Soon, kingdoms and towns became stronger. Even with all of the technology, exploration was still dangerous and expensive. Because of how strong the kingdoms were growing this became less of an issue. The government became stronger and four kingdoms emerged. Those four were Portugal, Spain, France, and England and they were desperate to find a route to Asia. A map to do this would make life a lot easier for the Europeans. They found Claudius Ptolemy's drawings of the world and his book called Geography. The Europeans printed it in 1475. The book was very influential and helped exploration. From this they learned the geography of the Indian Ocean and Africa. They started thinking, if they could get around Africa, they could reach Asia.
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Who Was Henry the Navigator?
When the early 1400s rolled around the Europeans were ready to explore. A prince named Henry in 1419 made a research center in southern Portugal. There he invented people to work on the ships such as sailors, cartographers, and ship builders. Soon after when Portugal began mapping Africa's coastline they discovered sugarcane. They didn't have a lot of people to work on the sugarcane fields, so that was when they brought enslaved people to work on the farms. Portuguese started their exploration. One of the first Portuguese explorers was Vasco da Gama. He reached the southern tip of Africa. Finally after all these years a water route to Asia was found.
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an Italian navigator who had big plans to get to Asia. His plan was to, while the Portuguese explored Africa, he would sail across the Atlantic Ocean. He faced problems though, before he could go. One was that he did not have enough money. He tried to convince many kingdoms to give him the money but failed. Finally rulers from Spain gave him the money. Once he had the money he fitted three ships, the Santa Maria, the Nina, and the Pinta. In 1492 he sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. Many weeks passed and they spotted land and claimed it. Columbus thought that he was in Asia, but he realized that he was in the Americas and had stumbled apon two huge continents.
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Who Was Magellan?
Magellan was an explorer who wanted to finish what Columbus had started. In 1520 he left Spain to get to Asia. He found a way around the Americas and the passage he found was named the Strait of Magellan. He passed through and came into a beautiful stretch of Ocean. He thought it was so peaceful he named it the Pacific Ocean. Soon, his passengers became starved. They had to stop for food. They stopped in the Philippines. Magellan was killed by the villagers there which was devastating. The crew continued on and they became the first to sail around the world.
The First English and French Explorers
A man named John Cabot decided to try to find a northern route to Asia just like Columbus did. He found an island on his journey and named it Newfoundland. He traveled south along the coast of Canada, but never actually found a route to Asia. He suddenly disappeared on his second trip. Another man tried to brace the waters. His name was Jacques Cartier. He was the second choice for the French because the French tried once before to find a water route to Asia but failed. Cartier sailed through Newfoundland but was stopped by the Catholics and the French Protestants because they were fighting a civil war.
Spain Fights England
The Spanish became very powerful in America. Spanish nobles traveled to America and conquered the Aztec and Incas. During all of this Spain became enemies with England. Many kingdoms broke apart and become Protestant. Spain did not agree because they were Catholic and tried to stop it in the Netherlands. The Dutch people weren't happy either and when they came after Spain, England came to help the Dutch. A fight broke out. Queen Elizabeth I let her private ships attack Spain. This angered Philip II who was the king of Spain. He was angered so much that he sent a fleet of ships called the Spanish Armada. England defeated the Spanish Armada, but Spain was still strong. That war encouraged exploration of Asia and North America.
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What Is Mercantilism and Trade Empires in Asia.
The Portuguese started setting up a trade empire. They made trading in the Moluccas, or the Spice Islands. They controlled most of the trade at the time. Europeans became jealous of Spain and Portugal and there wealth. They thought of mercantilism. Which is the idea that a country gains power by building up its supply of gold and silver. They did this by exporting, or selling to other countries and doing that more often than they import, or buy from countries. Mercantilism also thought that countries should setup colonies. Also, it encouraged trade too.
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What Are Joint-Stock Companies? and What Is the Cottage Industry?
Trading overseas became very expensive so Historians made up Commerce, the buying and selling of goods in large amounts over long distances. This business created new business people called entrepreneurs. They invested, or put money into a project. It became expensive for the merchants to get goods from the artisans and guilds so they started to get goods from the poor. It was called the "cottage industry" because that was what the poor lived in. They lived in cottages.
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A Global Exchange
The Age of Exploration was over and countries changed. A huge global exchange took place between everyone which spread ideas, technology, goods, and even diseases. The most important foods traded were corn and potatoes. They did so many things such as being good food for animals and humans and they were a lot more efficient to grow than wheat. Animals were brought to America such as pigs, sheep, cattle, chickens, and horses. Although there were many good things that were exchanged bad things were too such as diseases. Europeans carried small pox, measles, and malaria and they were brought over to other countries and threatened Native Americans.
Connections To Everyday Life
This section connected with everyday life in many ways. These explorations helped to shape the world to what it is today. Without them, no one would have known about the Americas and I wouldn't be here today in the United States of America. The global exchange made it possible for all kinds of animals and goods to be transported. Without these we wouldn't have the wide variety of food items that we have today.
Photo by Luz Adriana Villa A.
THE END
I HOPE YOU LEARNED A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE EARLY EUROPEANS AND THEIR EXPLORATIONS
