Chapter 2 Section 1 Spain Claims an Empire

The Age of Discovery  The Renaissance encouraged people to explore their world and as a result started the Age of Discovery –European Explorers especially from Spain and Portugal began to explore the oceans searching for routes to India and China to get a piece of the Spice and Silk trade that Italy had controlled for over a hundred years.

Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal  Began a school for Navigation in the 1400s  His school developed a new ship the caravel that could travel farther and faster the ships built before it.  These explorers sailed down the coast of Africa looking for that route and established trade with African kingdoms as they searched. –This begins the African Slave Trade.  In 1488 a Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias sailed to the southern tip of Africa and named it the Cape of Good Hope.  In 1498 Vasco da Gama followed Dias’s route around the Cape into the Indian ocean and established trade with India giving Portugal control of the Spice trade.

Christopher Columbus  Was an Italian navigator  He convinced Spain’s rulers King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella that he could sail West and reach Asia faster than the Portuguese. –They wanted to share in the rich Asian Spice Trade –Claim New Lands –Spread Christianity  Columbus left Spain August 3 rd, 1492  His crew was near mutiny as they had not spotted land for over a month but on October 10, 1492 that sighted an island (San Salvador) in the Caribbean Sea. –Claiming it and other islands for Spain –Over the next 12 years Columbus sails to the (New World 4 times never realizing he sailed to 2 continents not known to Europeans.

Columbus believe he had reached Asia  Columbus underestimated the distance around the globe. –He believe the Earth to be smaller than it was  He used inaccurate writings form others to make his calculations (Ptolemy)  Columbus also believed that Asia was larger than it was  Columbus found some gold and pearls leading him to believe he was in India (Asia)

Columbus lands on North America

Treaty of Tordesillas  In 1493 Pope Alexander VI drew an imaginary line around the world to decide who would control the lands that sailors were exploring. The Line of Demarcation  In 1494 Portugal was unhappy and believe the line favored Spain.  The Treaty moved the line 800 miles farther west Dividing the Land between Spain and Portugal. –Gave Portugal what is today Brazil  This agreement led to an increase in Spanish and Portuguese voyages of exploration

Amerigo Vespucci  He was an Italian sailor who set out in 1501 to find a sea route to Asia.  Vespucci realized that the land he saw on this voyage was not Asia.  A German mapmaker named the continent America after him  The wide spread use of the Printing Press gave Vespucci more credit than Columbus  Columbus would not believe he had been to a new continent and not Asia

Other explorers and Conquistadors  Spaniard Vasco Nunez de Balboa was the first to European to see the Pacific Ocean in 1510  Portuguese Caption Ferdinand Megellan’s crew was the first to sail around the world in 1519  Spaniard Ponce de Leon 1 st European to see what is the United States when he explored Florida looking for the Fountain of Youth  Coronado, Cabrillo and De Soto explored what is now the United States searching for the 7 Cities of Gold

Balboa Coronado Ponce de Leon

The defeat of the Aztec Empire  Hernando Cortes  The Aztec king Montezuma feared that Cortes was an Aztec god sent to reclaim the throne  The Spaniards formed pacts or treaties (alliances) with native people who hated Aztec rule  The Aztecs were weakened by an outbreak of smallpox that devastated their population.  The Spanish had more advanced weapons and technology.  The Spanish had the horse.

The fall of the Inca  Spaniard Francisco Pizarro and 180 men defeated the Inca a society of 10 million  The Spanish Inca empires by making alliances with their enemies  The spread of European diseases killed millions of Incas  The Spanish acted brutally toward the Inca under their control.  Pizarro killed the leaders of the empire to disorganize resistance.  Pizarro had advanced weapons and the horse.

Mercantilism and the way European nations used it.  Mercantilism is an economic system where countries gain power and security by having colonies. or a favorable trade balance  European nations enriched their treasuries by using the products they collected from their colonies such as crops, gold, and silver that could be sold to help the home country.  This also gave the home country a market to sell its finished goods.