Causes of European Exploration
After the Crusades, Europeans wanted
Asian goods
Cause
Italy dominates trade because it had
developed a trade network in the
Mediterranean during the Crusades . Italy
begins making a bunch of money selling
Asian goods in Europe
Cause
Other European Countries want a share of
the profit to be made by trading and
selling Asian goods.
Cause
These nations begin looking for a water
route to Asia.
Why was finding a water route so important? Why not just
continue using the Silk Road (the Overland Route)?
 Ships could carry more than carts, wagons, an camels
 Sea routes were safer than over land routes – like the
Silk Road
 Raiders and Plunders
 Sea routes were generally faster than overland routes
Portugal Leads the Way
 Portugal took the lead in the search to find the first
water route to Asia.
 Portugal decided to spend as much money as was
needed to reach the goal.
 The Portuguese were the first Europeans to explore the
unknown world, and they were the first to sail around
the southern tip of Africa.
Prince Henry 1394-1460
 Prince Henry established a
school for the study of
navigation, mapmaking, and
shipbuilding in 1420.
 His goal was to find a route to
the rich spice trade of the
Indies and to explore the west
coast of Africa.
Designing New Ships
 The ships of the day were too slow and too heavy to
make long ocean voyages.
 Under Prince Henry’s direction, a new and lighter ship
was developed, the caravel, which would allow sea
captains to sail further and faster.
Caravels
 The caravel was an improvement on older ships
because it could sail very fast and also sail well into the
wind.
 Caravels had 2 or 3 masts with square sails or
triangular sails.
 They were up to about 65 feet long and could carry
roughly 130 tons of cargo.
Vasco da Gama 1497-1499
 Vasco da Gama sailed around the Cape of Good Hope
to India. He was the first European to chart an all
water route to Asia
 He took four ships and 170 men.
 After reaching Calcutta India, he sailed back to
Portugal with his ship full of spices but only returned
with 55 of his sailors.
 Da Gama finally found a sea route to Asia.
Christopher Columbus 1492
 Columbus believes he can reach the Indies by sailing
west from Europe.
 Europeans did not know that the America’s existed.
 Columbus begins his first voyage in 1492 and
“discovers” the Americas.
 Really he really discovered the Island in the Bahamas.
John Cabot
1497
 John Cabot explored the East Coast of North America
while searching for a Northwest Passage.
 The Northwest Passage was a fabled water route through
the North American continent to Asia.
 England would later claim the East Coast of North
America as its own due to Cabot’s exploration.
 England (Britian) established the 13 original colonies
in the territory Cabot explored.
Amerigo Vespucci 1499 -1504
 Amerigo Vespucci was the first person to suggest that
Columbus did not find the Indies, but a new continent
previously unknown to the Europeans.
 Vespucci explored the east coast of what is now Brazil
and Argentina.
 The Americas are named after Amerigo Vespucci.
Ferdinand Magellan 1519-1522
 Magellan is the explorer who is credited with being the
first person to sail around the world.
 Magellan was killed in the Philippines during the
voyage, however.
 His men and ship continued on and finished the
journey though.