1. Let the competition begin!
The Age of Exploration
Let the competition begin!

2. Cartography - the science of making accurate maps and globes.
By 1300, inventions such as navigational charts, triangular sails, and magnetic compasses made sailing easier. These discoveries helped Renaissance mapmakers develop cartography.
Cartography - the science of making accurate maps and globes.

3. Marco Polo from Italy published a book about his travels
Marco Polo from Italy published a book about his travels. This book increased European interest in Asia.
Portugal led the search for a sea route to Asia. They sailed in caravels - small, light ships.

4. Henry the Navigator, a Portuguese prince, paid for voyages to Asia.
Bartolomeu Dias - First explorer to sail around tip of Africa
Vasco da Gama - First to reach India
Portugal ended Italy’s control over trade with Asia.

5. Spain didn’t want to be left out!
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella from Spain paid for Christopher Columbus’s voyage.
Spain didn’t want to be left out!
Columbus thought he was going to Asia,
but landed near America instead!
The first explorer to actually reach America was Leif Ericsson during the Viking explorations 400 years earlier!

6. Columbus helped Spain start an empire in the Americas.
Spain sent conquistadors (conquerors) to seize new lands. They set up plantations, or large commercial farms.
Columbian Exchange - European ships brought animals, food plants, and diseases to America and America sent new foods and gold and silver to Europe. (See chart p. 435)

7. Explorers came to North America:
To claim land for their countries
To find gold and spices
To find a northwest passage
Northwest Passage - a route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans along the northern coast of North America.
(They never found it!)

8. A three-stage pattern of Atlantic Trade
Triangular Trade
A three-stage pattern of Atlantic Trade
that carried goods and enslaved people between Europe, Africa, and America.

9. Triangular Trade
The passage between Africa and America was called the Middle Passage. It was the most dangerous part because slaves could be taken before they reached America.

10. King Louis XIV Versailles
As European city-states grew in size, the kings believed that they should have unlimited power. (Absolutism)
Two famous powerful kings were Philip II from Spain and King Louis XIV from France.
King Louis XIV Versailles