1. Europe tries to conquer the world!
European Exploration
Europe tries to conquer the world!

2. What did Europe Want?
All of the countries in Europe that sent out explorers wanted the same things:
To spread Christianity
To gain territory-natural resources
To get rich-to market the goods
There were four main players in the game:
Portugal
Spain
England
France

3. Portugal Where is Portugal?
Portugal was an ideal country to begin exploration:
Long shoreline with many harbors
Center of knowledge & technology

4. Prince Henry The Navigator
Coordinated all of the learning mathematical and navigational learning in Portugal
Institute of Sagres
Important research center
Many mathematical breakthroughs and naval technology advances

5. Results of Portuguese exploration
Discovered:
Brazil
Eastern route to India (around Cape Good Hope)
Established trade with China
Although Europeans did not create the slave trade, Portugal were the first Europeans to participate in it.
Need for slaves was great in Brazil, the Caribbean, and the Southern United States
Portugal was able to benefit greatly from the sale of slaves

6. technology
There were many technological advances that made exploration easier:
The compass
The astrolabe
The cross-staff
The caravel

7. Spain Christopher Columbus Italian explorer, who sailed for Spain
Not the first to discover America, but may have made it more “famous”
Initiated communication between indigenous Americans (He called them Indians, since he thought he was in India!)

8. Conquistadors Conquistador means “conqueror.”
Spanish conquistadors claimed land for Spain by overpowering American empires, like the Aztecs and the Incas.

9. The goals of Spanish exploration
The three “G’s”
God
Spanish was a Catholic nation
Forced Americans to convert
Glory
Conquistadors become famous and wealthy.
Gold
American mountains were full of gold
As a result, Spain became very wealthy

10. ENGLAND
Even though British explorers successfully made landfall in Canada in 1497, under the rule of King Henry VII, no attempt to establish a colony was made at that time.
Under Elizabeth I (Henry VII’s granddaughter)
Rivalry between England and Spain
English privateers (pirates) attacked Spanish ships and ports and stole their treasures

11. British America
1607 – Jamestown was England’s first colony (eventually became Virginia)
Virginia was the first of 13 British colonies
The Caribbean colonies were the most important :
Sugar
plantations
Dependent on
slave labor

12. “The Sun never sets”
After colonizing areas in four continents, the British Empire became the largest empire in history!
It was often said that “The sun never sets on the British Empire” because it was so big that the sun was always shining on at least one of its colonies!

13. FRANCE France had two different empires
The first was in the Americas ( )
The second was in Africa & Asia (1830 – 1960)
Quebec
Permanent fur trading post
The French people wanted fur
Canadians wanted metal, guns, alcohol and clothing

14. The fall of the French
Lost Quebec in the Seven Years War to Britain in 1763
Sold North American holdings to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

15. Comprehension questions
What did Europe want?
Why was Henry the Navigator important?
Name two technological advances that helped navigation.
What were the goals of Spanish explorations?
What was the Line of Demarcation?
What nation had the biggest empire?
Which colonies were the most important to England and why?
Why was Quebec important to the French?