CHY 4U1 – Image Analysis
The Age of Discovery – Looking Outward
A Camel Caravan carrying spices and other goods.
Portuguese galleons unload cargo in Lisbon.
Original engraving by Theodor de Bry, 1593
Discussing the illustration:
1. Europeans set out find new routes to Asia in the 1400s for several reasons. The key reason
was economic. Goods from Asia were valuable and in great demand. Can you name some
of these much-desired goods from Asia and why they were so valued?
2. Goods from Asia to Europe were usually carried overland much of the way in caravans
such as the one seen on the right. In most of Europe, this was seen as a highly undesirable,
especially given where these overland routes were and who controlled them. Can you
explain?
3. Port cities like Lisbon, Portugal, which is shown above (left), became centers of the earliest
efforts to find a direct sea route to Asia. What large continent did European sailors first
have to explore and get around?
4. Why were western European nations like Portugal more interested than the Italian citystates like Venice in finding new trade routes to Asia?