The Age of Exploration

Here are a few facts about Europe in the 1500s to give you an idea of how people lived:

Ever wonder why most people get married in the spring Ever wonder why most people get married in the spring? Because in 1500s Europe, people took their YEARLY bath in May. Waiting longer meant the smell grew stronger, so brides carried bouquets of flowers to hide the body odor.

Baths at that time took place in a big tub filled with water heated over a fire. The man of the house got the first bath, followed by his sons and any other man living under the same roof. Then came the women and finally the babies.

Houses had thatched roofs made of thick straw piled high Houses had thatched roofs made of thick straw piled high. It was a nice warm bed for dogs, cats, bugs, snakes, birds, and any other animal or insect that could get up there. When it rained, often the animals would either fall off the roof or cave through into the house. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

The food they ate was cooked in one big pot hung over a fire The food they ate was cooked in one big pot hung over a fire. Every day they lit the fire and added whatever they had to the stew. Supper, then, was the fresh, hot stew of mostly vegetables, and the leftovers would stay in the pot overnight. They would reheat these leftovers until they were gone. This where you get the rhyme "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot, nine days old."

Families that could afford pork were wealthy Families that could afford pork were wealthy. Often, a family that had bacon would hang it up to show it off. It was a sign of wealth if a man could "bring home the bacon."

Wealthy families had plates made out of pewter Wealthy families had plates made out of pewter. It wasn't known at the time, but eating foods with high acid content on pewter plates causes some of the lead to contaminate the food, causing lead poisoning and death. So for the next several hundred years, tomatoes were thought to be poison.

Most people didn't have pewter plates Most people didn't have pewter plates. They used a "trencher", which was a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often, trenchers were made of stale bread, so old and hard it could be reused over and over. Trenchers were never washed, and the wood or bread got moldy, and worms and maggots took up residence in them. Mmmmmmmmm…

The growing population in tiny little England caused drastic burial measures. In some cemeteries, an entire family would be buried in one deep grave, one on top of the other. If there happened to come a flood and the ground gave way, watch out for floating cadavers.

Other times, graves were dug up and the bones of the dead removed and taken to a mausoleum. The graves would then be reused.

When re-opening the coffins of the dead, it was discovered that 1 in 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside. So to keep from burying live people, it became common to tie a string around the wrist of the corpse, run it through a hole in the coffin, and attach it to a bell above the grave.

A person was paid to sit in the cemetery all night (graveyard shift) to listen for the bell. If you were lucky, you could be "saved by the bell," and if someone who had watched your burial saw you walking around later, he might call you a "dead ringer" for yourself.

By the late 1400s, Europe's population was growing By the late 1400s, Europe's population was growing. The Black Plague and waves of barbarian invaders were things of the past, and Europe was becoming a strong, wealthy place again.

The growing population had to eat, and without refrigeration, it was impossible to store food for long. The people needed spices to cover up the rancid taste of their terrible food. And they were willing to pay for these spices.

Most of the spices Europeans loved came from Asia, specifically from India. But Islamic traders controlled the overland routes to Asia, and they drove the prices up. What Europe needed was a way to get directly to Asia without having to go through the Muslim traders. They knew that such a route would be a gold mine for which ever man or nation found it.

Prince Henry the Navigator encouraged sea exploration of Africa, just to the south of the European continent. He hoped that in Africa, he could convert the native Africans to Christianity, while discovering a route around the Muslims to Asian spices.

Prince Henry died in 1460, but Portugese sailor Bartholomeu Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa, opening the door to India. He named the tip of Africa the "Cape of Storms" after the violent seas he found, but King John II renamed it the "Cape of Good Hope", probably out of fear that no other sailor would head for the Cape of Storms.

In 1497, Portugese navigator Vasco da Gama followed Dias's path, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and after a 10 month oversea voyage, he reached the great spice port of Calicut on India's west coast. Da Gama and the Portugese became extremely wealthy from the spices they carried away from India.

Christopher Columbus thought he had his own new say to get to Asian spices from Europe. He knew the earth was round, so he decided to sail west and go all the way around the world, where he thought he would bump into the East Indies (part of Indonesia today.)

He didn't know that two continents stood between him and Asia, and that the world was a whole lot bigger than he thought.

Columbus was an Italian, from Genoa, but no one in Italy would sponsor his voyage. The rulers of Spain, however, decided they would finance his travels, and Ferdinand and Isabella supplied him with three ships, crew, equipment, and supplies.

On August 3, 1492, he set out, expecting to sail for a few weeks before hitting Asia. Wrong. On October 12, finally, with supplies running out and a mutinous crew, Columbus spotted land. Only it wasn't Asia. It was an unknown continent.

Well, unknown to everyone except the Native Americans.

Columbus spent several months exploring today's Caribbean islands, then returned to Spain a hero. He returned three other times in following years, but never was convinced that he had found new continents. He died believing he had just found a new way to the Eastern Asia.

An Italian sea captain named Amerigo Vespucci sailed to Brazil a little later, and wrote a journal describing his trip. In 1507, Martin Waldseemuller, a German cartographer, used Vespucci's journal to make a map of the area, and labeled it "America."

Portugese nobleman Ferdinand Magellan set out in 1519 to find a way to reach the Pacific Ocean. His 5 ships and 234 men sailed to South America, then eased along the coastline, looking for any passage to the Pacific. He discovered a route through the broken islands at the tip of South America that led him into the Pacific. This passage is called the Straits of Magellan to this day.

Ol' Magellan's crew was satisfied and ready to go home Ol' Magellan's crew was satisfied and ready to go home. Magellan, however, told them that three more weeks' sailing would take them across the Pacific to the East Indies. Wrong. For nearly 4 months the ships sailed across the vast Pacific. Finally in March 1521, the ships reached the Philippines, where Magellan was killed.

In a fight with Filipino natives, Magellan's helmet was knocked off his head. He was then hit in the face and the arm by bamboo spears. Magellan stabbed a native with his lance, and tried to draw his sword, but found his sword arm useless from the spear wound. His left leg was cut by a native's sword, and he fell face first onto the ground. The natives then dog piled the captain, finishing him with spears and swords. The survivors got the heck out of there.

On September 8, 1522, nearly 3 years after setting out, the survivors reached Spain. What were the survivors? One ship and 18 men. But these 18 men were the first to circumnavigate, or sail around, the world. One of the survivors, Antonio Pigafetta, said "I believe of a certainty that no one will ever again make such a voyage."

And Columbus probably wasn’t even the first European to discover America. Icelander Leif Ericsson is known to have built a settlement in Newfoundland in Canada around the year 1,000. That’s 500 years before Columbus set sail.

And artifacts found in America hint at the possibility that Chinese explorer Admiral Zheng he sailed to and explored North America in 1421. He may even have traded with the Cherokee.

So as you see, History isn't set in stone. It changes from day to day So as you see, History isn't set in stone. It changes from day to day. That's why we study it. Who knows who will make the next discovery that changes everything we know about the events that led us here? Maybe you.