1. The Age of Discovery and Exploration Unit 1, Notes 3

2. Reasons for Discovery and Exploration  Crusades  Introduced Europeans to eastern products (silk, spices, etc.)  Europeans sought better ways to establish trade with Asia  Renaissance  “Rebirth” of European culture, learning, and activity  Led to innovations in sailing and cartography  Humanism (essence of the Renaissance) drove mankind to seek adventure and discover the unknown  Protestant Reformation  Martin Luther’s 95 Theses attacks Catholic Church  Split of the Roman Catholic Church that resulted in the creation of the Protestant sect  Led to religious wars and persecution  Europeans sought to escape persecution and seek religious freedom elsewhere

3. Portuguese Sailors/Explorers  Portugal was the 1 st European nation to begin financing voyages of exploration  Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460)  Interest in finding riches, spreading Christianity, and discovering uncharted lands  Patronized sailors, mapmakers, astronomers, shipbuilders, and instrument makers to find a trade route to India and Far East (Asia)  Founded a school for sailors  Inspired innovations in cartography: science and practice of projecting an area of the Earth’s surface on a flat plane or sheet of paper; cartographer = mapmaker  Astrolabe: navigational device that determines direction and latitude by the position of the sun  Navigational discoveries led to Age of Discovery  Bartholomeu Dias (1450-1500)  Discovered sea route to Asia when he led the first European expedition around the Cape of Good Hope (southern tip of Africa)  Vasco de Gama (1469-1524)  First European to reach India by sea

4. Spanish Sailors/Explorers  Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)  Believed earth was round and Asia could be reached by traveling west across Atlantic Ocean  Portuguese turned down his proposal  King Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain funded his voyage  Set sail in August of 1492 aboard the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria  Discovered the New World (Americas) when he reached the Bahamas and made the first contact with Native Americans  Discovered Cuba and Hispaniola  Led other voyages but died frustrated he had failed to discover water route to Asia

5. Spanish Sailors/Explorers  Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521)  Discovered the Strait of Magellan: water route near the southern tip of South America linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean  Named the Pacific Ocean  Killed by Filipino warriors  After his death, the remaining sailors of his expedition became the first men to ever sail around the world

7. Spanish Sailors/Explorers, continued…  Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512)  Made several voyages to the Western Hemisphere to follow up Columbus’ discoveries  One of first explorers to believe that Columbus had not discovered part of Asia but a “New World”  “America” became the official name of the “New World” in honor of Amerigo Vespucci’s voyages  Ponce de Leon (1474-1521)  Explored the Caribbean for the “Fountain of Youth”  Discovered Florida  Endured several conflicts with the natives he attempted to colonize and died of arrow wounds

8. The Rights of Settlement  Treaty of Tordesillas (1494): treaty signed between Spain and Portugal to avoid conflicting claims in the new world that might interfere with their trade; established the Line of Demarcation and gave Portugal possession of all lands to the east of this imaginary line while granting Spain a monopoly of all lands to the west of this line

9. English Sailors  John Cabot (1450-1498)  Led first English voyage to North America  Discovered Nova Scotia and explored New England coastline  Henry Hudson (?-1611)  Explored the Hudson River and parts of present day New York in search of Northwest Passage  Discovered the Hudson Bay in and explored parts of present day Canada  Victim of mutiny… cast away in a small boat and left in the middle of James Bay

10. French Sailors/Explorers  Jacques Cartier (1491-1557)  Frenchmen dedicated to discovering a Northwest Passage through North America that led to Asia  Discovered the St. Lawrence River and explored parts of North America  Samuel de Champlain (1567-1635)  Explored eastern Canada and the Great Lakes  Founded the settlement of Quebec  Father of New France  Jacques Marquette (1637-1675) and Louis Jolliet (1645-1700)  Marquette was a Catholic missionary and Jolliet a fur trader  First Europeans to discover the northern Mississippi River  Rene-Robert de LaSalle (1643-1687)  First European to sail down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico  Claimed the Louisiana Territory for France  Set up several French fur trading posts  Explored Texas where he was assassinated by own men