The Portuguese… The leaders of Portugal realized early that their nation’s wealth relied on their ability to establish trading routes This relied on their mastery of the seas 1550, with the support and backing of its monarchs, Portugal had established trading posts in Africa, India, Brazil, and Southeast Asia

Prince Henry of Portugal… The Crown Prince of Portugal, Prince Henry, not only encouraged exploration, but also built a school devoted to the study of navigation Known as Henry the Navigator, he also contributed to the ways of the sea by sponsoring voyages of exploration, gathered information on new trading routes, and encouraged the development of new navigational equipment. Prince Henry would encourage his captains to sail past the equator – this was during a time when sailing too far south was doomed to destruction… This worked out in Henry’s favor as new spices and minerals were found Side note, on one expedition his ships came across an Arab Slave ship, they returned with a human cargo, this was the beginning of what was to become the slave trade…

Portugal was not alone… Along with Portugal, Spain was also interested in expanding their sea based holdings With each new discovery came with it new claims of ownership Spain and Portugal made a secret agreement between each other to divide up lands that were “yet to be discovered” This was proposed on the advice of the Pope (why?) This “secret” was kept from the likes of the Emperor of China, the Great Mughal of India, the Emperor of the Aztecs, not to mention the numerous other leaders within these affected lands.

The Treaty of Tordesillas… This Treaty divided the lands to the East and West of the mid-Atlantic to Spain and Portugal East = Portugal; West = Spain These lands were “new” to Europe, but not new to those who already lived there… Spain Portugal Spain Line of Demarcation

Spanish Conquests… Spain quickly came to be a world power on the back of a hired Italian explorer (Portugal turned him down) This explorer: Christopher Columbus Columbus’ most famous discovery the Americas Columbus believed the world was not flat; he studied Ptolemy’s Geography, which depicted the earth as a Globe Ptolemy felt that the earth was 30,000 km in circumference, he was only off by 8,500 kms! Columbus felt that based on these calculations that Asia was 8000 km west of Spain… this of course was wrong – He ended up on the East Coast of North America…

Magellan… He was Portuguese but hired by Spain Following Columbus, Spain’s next most famous Captain to contribute to Spanish sea based knowledge was Magellan He was the first to circumnavigate the globe by rounding the end of South America – proved the Earth was in fact round! Due to the Treaty of Tordesillas, Magellan was forced to sail west to Philippines, not East WEST