European Exploration The only route from Europe to China was over land Traveling over land was slow, harsh, and dangerous The usual route went through the city of Constantinople In 1453, the Turks of the Ottoman Empire took over the area The Turks changed the name of Constantinople to Istanbul The route to China was suddenly closed A new route to China had to be found

European Exploration New tools for navigating (planning and following a route) were being invented or used Compass helped them know the direction they were traveling in Sextant & Astrolabe helped them know their location based on the position of the sun and stars More accurate maps Improvements in sailing were constantly being made Larger and faster ships (the caravel) Triangular sails helped them sail into the wind Prince Henry’s School of Navigation (Portugal)

Inventions: Sextant

Inventions: Compass

Inventions: Astrolabe

Prince henry The Navigator

Portugal

Caravel

European Exploration All of these inventions and improvements made exploration of the ocean possible With the land route to Asia dangerous and slow, and an ocean route possible, dozens of Portuguese ships made expeditions The Dutch, British, and French quickly followed, heading west to the Indies as well as East

European Exploration Prince Henry believed the quickest route to Asia was to go east around Africa Bartholomieu Dias: First around the tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope Vasco Da Gama: First to India and back Throughout all this exploration, the Europeans had no idea the continents of North America and South America existed

Bartholomeu Dias Vasco da Gama

Vasco Da Gama

1494 Treaty of Tordesillas Line of Demarcation West for the Spanish, East for the Portuguese

European Exploration Explorers had to be entrepreneurs, which means smart businessmen. They had to: Raise money for a ship or ships Raise money to pay for the crew Raise money for supplies Plan and organize the voyage Eventually, Joint Stock Companies would be developed Individual people could contribute to larger companies and they would see a share of the profits Early form of a company Still had to get a charter from a king for permission to do business (like town charters)

In the early 16 th century Indian Ocean, the Portuguese built trading forts and dominated Muslim navies European ships built For stormy Atlantic seas Stronger frames for gunpowder weapons Indian Ocean ships built For more peaceful Indian Ocean Ships sewn together, no mounted guns Prices dropped for European consumers, more demand for Asian goods was created