The Age of
Exploration
Crash Course! (start at 2:06)
http://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=NjEGn
cridoQ
In this unit we will learn
-Increased global interaction accelerates
innovation.
- Global interaction promotes the spread of
disease.
- Competition for resources affects the economic
relationship among nations.
Going Places!
• Global age – 1400s, for the first time,
Europeans had contact with Africans, Asians,
and at the end of the century, Americans… they
wanted to explore the world
• http://freemanpedia.wikispaces.com/Global+Interactions+145
0-1750
Why would countries want to explore other lands?
• They wanted an all water route to Asia.
• Overland trade with Asia was expensive.
• Science and Technology was improving sea
travel.
• The policy of mercantilism
Mercantilism is…
• A policy that said there was a limited amount of
money in the world.
• Each country needed to grab what they can
before its gone.
• If you export more than you import that would
be more money in your pocket.
• Colonies and markets were needed to make
this system continue to work.
Why Now?
What made the 1400s the
right time for exploration??
Motivation for Exploration
1) Crusades – Europeans
went to the Holy Land
to win it back from the
Muslims
Motivation for Exploration
2) Riches – selling goods
like silk and spices/
GOLD!!
Motivation for Exploration
3) Inventions for travel:
• Compass
• Better maps
• Astrolabe – charts by
the stars
• Caravel – smaller,
faster ship/ new,
triangular sail called a
lateen
Motivation for Exploration
• Religion!! Europeans wanted to spread
Christianity
What did monarchs hope to gain by supporting
exploration?
Remember the three Gs!
God, Gold, Glory,
•Spread of Religion (God)
•Increased trade, more territory, and wealth
(Gold)
•Fame and Power (Glory)
The Ming Dynasty
• Yong Le succeeds his father Ming Hong Wu as
emperor of China
• His goal was to restore China’s greatness
• 1) reclaimed Vietnam
• 2) built Imperial city
• 3) strengthened the Great Wall
• 4) sent fleets of ships to explore Southeast Asia,
India, and the Arabian Peninsula
The Ming Dynasty
• Chinese Exploration:
• Largest = 440 feet long
and 1,500 tons… 100
years later, the average
Portuguese ship was 60
feet and 300 tons
• Chinese naval
technology was far more
advanced than European
technology at the time
• Voyages ended after
Yong Le’s death
Portuguese Explorers in Africa
•
•
•
1420 – Portuguese are the
first European explorers
on the African coast
1487 – Bartolomeu Dias
makes a round trip to
Africa
Effect? Portuguese trading
towns pop up along the
African coast/ slavery of
Africans
Portuguese Explorers in India
• 1497 – Vasco de Gama
sailed to Southern India,
filled his ship with
spices, and returned to
Portugal – the round trip
took 2 years!
• Opened up the maritime
trade route between
Europe and Asia
• Bio http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=oFIyuYPP6PE
Prince Henry the Navigator
• Portugal’s Prince Henry
wanted to make trade
cheaper – wanted to
make Portugal rich from
spice trade
• He encouraged sea
captains to make voyages
– set up a school to
teach navigating skills
Columbus sailed the ocean blue in
1492!!
• He had a bold idea: the
world was round not flat!
He wanted to sail West
to go East
• Soooo Ferdinand and
Isabella of Spain
decided to send
Columbus
A New World
• Voyage began on August 3 and ended on
October 12 – Columbus believed that he
landed in the Indies, but he really landed in
Hispaniola and Cuba
• He returned 3 more times to the Caribbean
looking for the Asian mainland
• He thought he reached the East Indies and
called the people he encountered Indios or
Indians
Oh Columbus, you’re so silly!
• It didn’t take Spain and other nations long to
realize that Columbus made a mistake.
• He had not found Asia, he found two unknown
continents – the New World
• Countries went crazy for exploration!!
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My8VdNZ8Qo
The Columbian Exchange
• The sharing of goods and ideas that began with
Columbus's first voyage.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQPA5oNp
fM4
• (stop 3:13, start 4:16)
The Columbian Exchange: Animals
and Plants
• Animals – changed use of land/transportation
• Plants – food!! Large market for importing and
exporting
The Columbian Exchange: Disease
• Disease – most were
passable through air or
touch, illness in Europe was
considered to be a
consequence of sin… Native
Americans had no natural
resistance to diseases that
Europeans brought over,
their populations declined
for centuries after the
Europeans arrived
The Columbian Exchange: African
Slave Trade
• People – establishment
of Atlantic slave trade
• http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=dnV_MTF
EGIY
The Columbian Exchange IN
Activity!
Here come Spain and Portugal!
• Spanish and Portuguese discovered what is now Brazil – decided
wealth/people belonged to them
Spain/Portugal: “This is my land!”
Natives: “Why?”
Spain/Portugal: “Because we have a flag.”
Natives: “But we live here…”
Spain/Portugal: “Hmmm…Do you have a flag?”
Natives: “No…”
Spain/Portugal: “Well then you can’t have it! Sorry, finders keepers.”
5 minutes later…
Spain: “I want this spot.”
Portugal: “No, that’s my spot”
Ms. Lovell: This could be a problem….
Splitting the New World in Two
• Pope Alexander VI (church is still pretty
powerful) divided the New World in 1493/94
with The Treaty of Tordesillas – established a
Line of Demarcation that separated Spanish
(everything west of the line) and Portuguese
(everything east of the line)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x0ZPxoTqA
The Line was redrawn
in 1494 to benefit
Portugal more than the
original Line did.
Spain
Portugal
Overthrowing the Aztecs
• 1515- Spanish controlled most of the islands in
the Caribbean
• Base in Cuba – set out to explore the Central
American mainland
• One of the first conquerors or, conquistadores
was Hernán Cortés
• Bio:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oicgynllrfY
Overthrowing the Aztecs
• 1519 – Cortés, 500 soldiers, some horses, and a
few cannon landed on the Yucatan Peninsula
and began to march inland
Overthrowing the Aztecs
• Cortés continued to
march inland… the
Aztec ruler, Montezuma
waited
• Montezuma welcomed
the Spanish – food,
riches, a palace to stay in
Overthrowing the Aztecs
• Cortés tricked Montezuma into becoming his
prisoner and took control of the city
• 1520 – Aztecs rebelled against the Spanish,
Montezuma died, Spanish fled
• 1521 – Cortés returned with more soldiers with
guns and horses and defeated the Aztecs
• Destroyed the Aztec city and built Mexico City
– temple was replaced with Catholic church
Overthrowing the Incas
• 1520s – Spanish moved
throughout Central
America
• Ventured to the rich Inca
Empire
• Conquistador, Francisco
Pizarro, found the capitol
in 1531
• Bio http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPx6ZG_NDQ&list=PLfC0I5G3cT0QstV
ookV6Bwct9cjW6OcRL
Events leading to the fall
• 1525: Emperor died of plague; civil war broke out
(empire already in chaos)
• 1527: Pizarro wanted to discover wealth; embarked on
his third voyage to the New World
• 1532: Spanish arrived in Peru
• Sept. to Nov. 1532:
The Cajamarca massacre- Pizarro led 160 Spaniards to
slaughterover 2,000 Inca and injuring 5,000
Events leading to the fall
• November 16, 1532:
Atahualpa (leader)
captured by Spaniards,
offered gold for his
freedom.
• Pizarro accepted more
than 11 tons of gold ($6
million+) but never
released Atahualpa.
• July 26, 1533:
Atahualpa was killed
• 1535: Empire lost