1. Getting to Asia
The Age of Exploration

2. I. Marco Polo A merchant from Venice, Italy.
Traveled overland to East Asia.
Lived in China from
Returned with stories of the wealth and grandeur of the East.

3. I. Marco Polo (cont.)
His book greatly influenced Europeans to find a water route to Asia.
“I didn’t tell half of what I saw, because no one would have believed me.” – Marco Polo

4. II. Portugal
Convinced the best water route to Asia is going SOUTH around Africa.
1) Bartolomeu Dias – 1488.
First European to successfully round the Cape of Good Hope.

5. Cape of Good Hope

6. II. Portugal (cont.) 2) Vasco da Gama – 1497.
Rounded Africa and continued on to India.
First European to successfully sail to Asia and back.

7. India

8. II. Portugal (cont.) 3) Pedro Cabral – 1500
Sailed for India but drifted west of da Gama’s route.
Landed on present-day Brazil.
Claimed the land for Portugal. (Treaty of Tordesillas )

9. Spain
Portugal
Spain
Line of Demarcation
Brazil

10. III. Spain
Sold on the idea that the short cut to Asia was going WEST to get east.
1) Christopher Columbus – 1492
Sailed west and landed in the Bahamas; thought he was near India and China.

11. Indies

12. III. Spain (cont.)
Columbus would make 3 more trips.
Explored the entire Caribbean looking for a path to Asia.
Established the first European colony in the Americas on Hispaniola.

13. III. Spain (cont.) 2) Amerigo Vespucci – 1499, 1501.
Followed up on the voyages of Columbus.
Coined the phrase “New World.”
Americas are named after him.

14. North
America
Old World
New World
South
America

15. III. Spain (cont.) 3) Vasco de Balboa – 1513.
Hacked through the jungle in Panama and reached the “South Sea.”
Claimed the sea and all surrounding lands for Spain.

16. Pacific Ocean (a.k.a. “South Sea”)
Hispaniola
Pacific
Ocean
(a.k.a. “South Sea”)

17. III. Spain (cont.) 4) Ferdinand Magellan – 1519-22.
Set out to finish the voyage of Columbus.
Can you go west to get east?
First voyage to sail all the way around the world.

18. First circumnavigation of the globe
Magellan killed
Strait of Magellan

19. IV. England
Believed in the existence of a “Northwest Passage” to Asia.
1) John Cabot – 1497.
Reached the east coast of what is today Canada.
Claimed the lands for England.

20. Newfoundland

21. IV. England (cont.) 2) Sir Francis Drake – 1577-80.
Set out to raid Spanish settlements on the west coast of the Americas.
Traveled as far north as S.F. bay looking for west end of NW Passage.
Finished by going around the world.

22. Nova Albion
(New Britain)

23. IV. England (cont.) 3) Henry Hudson – 1609, 1610.
Sailed in search of the N.W. Passage.
Explored Hudson River for the Dutch.
Led to the establishment of “New Amsterdam.”
Explored Hudson Bay for England.

24. Hudson Bay
Hudson
River

25. V. France
Also sent explorers in search of the fabled Northwest Passage.
1) Giovanni da Verrazano – 1524.
Explored the east coast of what is now the U.S..
Claimed the land as New France.

26. New France

27. V. France (cont.) 2) Jacques Cartier – 1534, 1535.
Followed up Verrazano’s voyage.
Explored the St. Lawrence River.
Got as far inland as Montreal.

28. Montreal

29. The Americas ca. 1750