Foundations of European Exploration Today’s LEQ: What encouraged European exploration during the 1400s and 1500s? Foundations of European Exploration

Age of Exploration Between 1400 & 1700, a new world opened up for Europe Voyages to new lands led to colonization, wealth, power, & the diffusion of goods & ideas

Why Explore? The Three G’s: Gold Glory God

The First G: Gold Gold = hot item explorers were looking for but it’s really wealth they were after Europeans also desired spices Other natural resources would come to be sold for profit as well timber, sugar, tobacco, ivory, etc.

The First G: Gold This competition was enhanced by the idea of mercantilism – a nation’s strength depends on its wealth More money = better military Fixed amount of wealth

The Second G: Glory The Renaissance fostered humanism – explorers hoped a great discovery would bring honor to their names; kings wanted glory for their country Printing press made this possible The Triumph of Fame, a Flemish tapestry from 1502.

The Third G: God After the Reformation, competition springs up among Christian sects Colonization & missionary work became a race to convert native peoples to a particular brand of Christianity

Advances in Technology Advances in technology made the Age of Exploration possible Navigational technology like the compass and astrolabe allowed sailors to plot courses even when out of sight of land The caravel was a light, fast sailing ship that was easily maneuverable and could be armed

How did these explorations begin? 1st to encourage new explorations was Prince Henry of Portugal, known as “Prince Henry the Navigator” Started an institute for seafaring and exploring Combined ship technology learned from Islam with new European innovations

Explorers Chart Using pages 74-75 in your textbook, map the voyages of Portugal (purple) and Spain (blue) On the back of your map, list each explorer and explain the significance of their voyages