1. Age of Exploration
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2. What caused Europeans to begin exploring new areas of the world in the early 1400s?
Cause: Growing power, population, and wealth of many European nations.
Effect: Europeans begin to clash with each other, and with Native people of newly discovered land.

3. Cause: European nations desire new trade routes.
Effect: Knowledge grows about different regions of the world.

4. Cause: Competition for
trade.
Effect: Slave trade begins to grow among European nations and their colonies.

5. Cause: Missionaries have a desire to spread Christianity by converting the Native people of the newly discovered lands.
Effect: Rivalry in the newly discovered lands, like the Americas, reaches a boiling point.

6. Why did Portugal take the lead in exploring the boundaries of the known world?
Portugal’s geographic location!
No Mediterranean port!
Needed a better trade route to India and China!

7. Portuguese Explorers: Bartholomeu Dias
In 1487, King John II sent Dias to explore the southernmost part of Africa.
A ferocious storm carried Dias of course and around the Southern tip of Africa.
Now known as the “Cape of Good Hope.”

8. Portuguese Explorers: Vasco da Gama
In 1497, da Gama left Portugal with four ships in an attempt to sail to India.
An Arab explorer helped da Gama navigate the Indian Ocean after leaving the East Coast of Africa.
He reached India in 1498 – he was the first.

9. Spanish Explorers: Christopher Columbus
Believed that he could reach Asia by sailing west.
Italian Columbus was financed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.
He discovered the Americas in 1492 with 3 ships – the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.

10. Spanish Explorers: Juan Ponce de Leon
Landed in present day Florida in 1513.
He was in search of the “Fountain of Youth.”
In 1565, he established St. Augustine.

11. Spanish Conquistadors: Hernan Cortes “Dios, Oro, y Gloria”
Landed in present day Mexico in 1519.
Spanish Conquistadors were on a mission for God, gold and glory.
He destroyed the Aztec empire in 1521 when the capital of Tenochtitlan was demolished and the emperor Montezuma was killed.

12. Spanish Conquistadors: Francisco Pizarro
In 1532, Pizarro sailed down the Pacific Coast of South America in search of the wealthy Inca empire.
He captured and killed the Inca emperor Atahualpa, and then took over most of the Incan empire.

13. Dutch Explorer: Henry Hudson
English Hudson was financed by the Netherlands.
He was the first to sail what is now known as the Hudson River and Hudson Bay.

14. French Explorer: Samuel de Champlain
In 1608, Champlain established Quebec in what is now Canada.
One of the first to make an agreement with Native Americans – fur trading.

15. Review Questions:
1. List the four main causes and effects of European exploration.
2. Which country took the lead in exploring the edges of the known world? Why?
3. Who was the first person to sail from Europe to India?
4. Who discovered the Americas? Where was he from? Which country financed his expedition?
5. Which explorer would you like to have joined? Why?