Age of Exploration Chapter 19, Section 1

Why Explore? God, Glory, and Gold God: As a result of the Crusades Christian Europeans felt sense of duty to spread Christianity Glory: Desired to give glory to country/leader and enlarge territory; beginnings of nationalism Gold: Desired to grow wealthy; sought gold and other costly goods such as spices, silks, and furs. Also wanted to cut out middle men in trade process.

Why was Exploration Possible? Funding from monarchs that wanted to gain territory and use of raw materials New sailing technologies: astrolabe, caravel, compass Desire for knowledge from new and unknown areas

Technologies The Astrolabe: an ancient astronomical computer used to show how the sky looks in a specific place at a given time and to calculate latitude. The Caravel: Triangular sails solved the dilemma of sailing against the wind that plagued early European travels.

Map of the Known World, 1484

Portugal Leads the Way Advantageous geographic location, strong government support, and use of technologies allowed Portugal to be leader of early exploration First European country to establish trading outposts along the west coast of Africa Heavy support for exploration came from Prince Henry the Navigator

Prince Henry the Navigator

Prince Henry Never personally sailed Was highly interested in both gaining wealth and spreading Christianity through exploration Funded a school for navigators and hopeful explorers where they could learn skills and perfect mapmaking and shipbuilding Put himself in debt funding 14 voyages to Africa

Famous Portuguese Explorers Bartolomeu Dias: Rounded tip of Africa in 1488, explored SE coast of Africa Vasco da Gama: Explored east coast of Africa, in 1498 reached Calicut in India, giving Europeans the first direct sea route

Spain’s Role in Exploration Christopher Columbus: 1492 convinced Spanish monarchs to try to find their own route to Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic; landed in Caribbean. Both Spain and Portugal thought his landing spot was in the East Indies, leading to conflict. Results: opened Western Hemisphere for colonization; increased tensions between Spain and Portugal.

Treaty of Tordesillas Following Columbus’s voyage and landing in the “East Indies” Portugal and Spain disputed what lands belonged to which country In 1493 Pope Alexander VI suggested drawing an imaginary line through the Atlantic to determine what lands belonged to each nation The Line of Demarcation was marked and agreed upon in the Treaty of Tordesillas Spain would have all lands west of the line and Portugal was granted lands east of the line

Map of Treaty of Tordesillas

Indian Ocean Trading Empires As the Europeans discovered water routes to Asia, they scrambled to set up trading posts in key locations Fighting erupted between Europeans and native peoples over the building of trading posts Establishing trading posts allowed goods to be brought back to Europe at steep discounts, making them affordable to more people

European Expansion By 1514 Portugal had established trading ports at Hormuz, Goa, and Malacca, controlling the valuable spice trade The Netherlands and England challenged Portugal’s dominance Asian trade The Dutch and Spanish eventually took over much of the areas originally controlled by Portugal

East India Companies The British, Dutch, and French set up agreements that would ensure close relations between the governments in Europe and the areas they took over in Asia; also monitored trade. Dutch East India Company: 1602-1798, Indonesia, Malaya, Sri Lanka, Spice Islands British East India Company: 1600-1873, India

East India Companies, cont. French East India Company: 1664-1769, islands off the coast of Africa

Major Explorers See Handout Questions for Review: Why did exploration occur? Why was exploration possible? What were some of the outcomes of exploration?