The Age of Exploration As the European civilization continued to expand, its quest for more land and treasure, particularly into Asia, increased. Land exploration proved to be too tough. The Europeans looked to find a route to Asia by sea. There were three main reasons that the Europeans had for exploration into other parts of the world: the desire for wealth, the desire to spread the Catholic faith to people across the world and the desire for adventure and glory (1)

The Age of Exploration By the 15 th century, the Europeans had developed their power and resources to afford regular, long voyages. Technological advances from the Arab nations also made it possible for increased explorations.

The Age of Exploration Three things that the Europeans relied on were: (2) Cartography – the art and science of map making (3), had progressed through the efforts of the Arabs The Compass – showed the ship’s direction The Astrolabe – showed the ship’s latitude (or distance from the equator)

The Portuguese Trading Empire The country of Portugal (4) took the lead in European exploration –In 1420, Prince Henry the Navigator (5) sponsored expeditions along the western coast of Africa. These trips resulted in accumulation of greats amount of gold. –In 1498, Vasco da Gama (6) went all the way around the coast of Africa and made it to the port of Calcutta in India. Once in India, da Gama and his crew took on what was considered to be a very valuable commodity: spices (7). This trade route to India became very popular and resulted in a vast amount of wealth for the Portuguese. –The Portuguese eventually expanded the trade route all the way over to the coast of China and a group of island called the Moluccas, or the Spice Islands.

Voyages to the Americas The Spanish had more wealth and people than the Portuguese and were able to go to greater distances around the seas. One explorer that took advantage of the Spanish people’s ability to finance exploration was Christopher Columbus (8). Queen Isabella (9) gave the Italian explorer the resources necessary to attempt to find a trade route to India by heading west. In 1492, Columbus landed on the coast of Cuba (10), thinking that he had made it to Asia. He made four trips (11) back and forth from Spain to the Caribbean Islands and parts of Central America, thinking the whole time that he was in China and India.

The Age of Exploration With Spain and Portugal battling for exploration supremacy, the two feared that the other would try to take over their newly found trade routes. In 1494, the two countries signed the Treaty of Tordesillas (12), which placed an imaginary line from north to south through the Atlantic Ocean. The Portuguese would continue to explore the territories on the eastern side of the line, and the Spanish would explore the western side.

The Age of Exploration As other countries realized that Columbus had discovered a new frontier, these countries sent out explorers to become a part of the race to the “New World” –England sent John Cabot (13) to the New England coastline. –Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci (14) went on voyages and wrote letters describing what he saw in the new world. These letters led to the name “America” (after Amerigo) for the new lands that he explored.

The Spanish Empire Because of advanced weapons and fierce determination, the Spanish conquerors, or conquistadors (15), had incredible success overtaking the new lands. By the late 1500s, Spain controlled much of what is known now as northern Mexico and Central America. As the European nations began to overtake these new lands, their religion, culture, language, and government (16) replaced the Native American structures that were already in place.

The Economic Impact Once in these new lands, the Europeans found the resources and wealth to be far more abundant than they could have imagined. –The Spanish explorers sent home gold, silver, sugar, cotton, dyes, vanilla, and hides from livestock. (17) –The Portuguese sent eastern spices, jewels, silk, carpets, ivory, leather, and perfumes from India and China (18)

Competition for Land Explorers from the Netherlands began exploring both towards the east and the west. The Dutch formed the East India Company (19) after landing in India in They also formed the West India Company for trade with those people that had established colonies in America (19) in order to establish a trade route from India to America. The Dutch established a colony in present-day New York called “New Netherlands”. (20)

Competition for Land After 1650, rivalry with the English and the French ended the Dutch commercial enterprise in the Americas. –The English seized New Netherlands and renamed it New York. (21) –The land that is part of present-day Canada became a French colony. (22) The English also established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in (23) By 1700, England had established a colonial empire along North America’s eastern seaboard.

Establishment of American Colonies During the 1500s and 1600s, many European nations established colonies in the Americas, particularly along the East coast A colony is a settlement of people living in a new territory, linked with the parent country by trade and governmental control. (24)

Establishment of American Colonies These colonies greatly increased international trade. They also played an important role in the theory of mercantilism. (25) Mercantilism is a theory of economics that states that a nation’s prosperity depends on a large supply of bullion (gold and silver) (26) because bullion gave a country a favorable balance of trade – the difference in value between what a nation imports and what it exports over time. (27)

Establishment of American Colonies A favorable trade balance means that the value of exported goods is greater than the value of imported goods. Basically, the stuff we are selling makes us more money than the stuff that we are buying. The governments of these colonies did several things to ensure a favorable trade balance: (28) They gave money (granted subsidies) to new industries and businesses They improved transportation systems They placed high tariffs (taxes) on foreign goods to keep them out of the country

Establishment of American Colonies The colonies were important for two reasons: (29) –The colonies were important as sources of raw materials for companies to make goods that were exported to foreign countries –The colonies were also important for establishing markets that sold the companies finished goods