Chapter 2
Warm – up

Please as soon as the bell
rings start answering the
warm-up questions
individually and in complete
sentences. Thanks! 
Warm - up

What do you think led Europeans to explore
distant lands?
What reasons would make you want to join
a voyage of exploration?
What reasons would keep you from joining
such a voyage?
Essential Question

 How did European
ideas affected
colonial America?
So why did Europeans explore the world
during the Age of Exploration?

Many different European countries paid for explorations for
many different reasons. Some of the reasons that they
explored were:
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



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Sea route - To find a sea route to the spices of Asia
Wealth - To find gold, silver, and precious stones
Learning - To expand their knowledge of the world
Expansion - To control a larger empire
Religion / Faith - To expand Christianity
Business - To find animal furs
Age of Exploration

Causes
 European desired for
new trade routes
Effects
European Exploration
 New knowledge of Africa ,
Asia & the Americas
 New spirit of
adventure
Adventure
 Clash of Europeans &
Native American cultures
 Desired for Power &
wealth of European
nations
Curiosity about the
world
 Transportation and
Enslavement of Africans
 Competition among
nations
Learning
 New plants & animals in
Europe & the Americas
 Spread of Christianity
 Rivalry/ competition of
European nations in the
Americas
New Routes to Asia

 1400s - no refrigeration
 Needed salt & spices to prevent meat from spoiling &
to cover up the taste of the salted or spoiled meat.
 Spices not grown in Europe only in Asia ( China,
Japan, India) It was very difficult and dangerous to
get the spices from Asia to Europe.
 Dangerous : Bandits, mountains, deserts, storms
 Very expensive
New routes to Asia

 In 1453 –land route from Asia to Europe was cut-off
by the Turkish Empire
 Spices became even more expensive and difficult
to find in Europe
 European nations decided to try to find a route
around the Turkish Empire. If a country could find a
way to get these valuable spices to Europe, the rulers
would be very rich.
 While Portugal
began the Age of
Exploration,
England, France and
Spain dominated the
New World.
Expand Knowledge
& Adventure

 Late 1400s, Europeans did not know much about the
world
 Most of them had never been outside of Europe.
 The European map of the world included only
Europe, Asia, and the top of Africa.
 They thought there was only one ocean, the Ocean
Sea.
 Most thought the world was flat, educated
Europeans knew that it was round. The problem was
they had no idea how large the world was.
Larger Empires

 Some European rulers, especially the King of Spain
and the King of Portugal, wanted to claim as much
land as they could. They wanted to take all of the
natural resources from this land and use the people
that lived there as slaves to do their work.
 Treaty of Tordesillas – Line of Demarcation
Spread of Christianity

 Christianity - In the late 1400s, only religion in Europe.
 Religious conflicts
 England/ Protestant
 Spain / Catholic
 The European rulers were very religious. They wanted to
convert everyone to Christianity.
 Missionaries / missions
 Native Americans
Looking for gold - wealth

 European nations fought many wars
 against each other and against the Turkish Empire
 Wars were very expensive
 so they needed to find lots of gold, silver, and precious
stones to pay for them. They believed that Asia was
loaded with gold, silver, and precious stones, so they
decided to find it and bring it back.
Economics

 By increasing their wealth, European countries could
gain power and security.
 European nations created colonies in the new discover
land
 Colony / Colonies – a region or people that is politically
and economically controlled by another country ( like in a
landlord /tenant situation)
 Plantations – Large cash crops farms (Spain/ Native Ameri)
 Cash crops – crops grown for profit $$$
 Columbian Exchange
 Mercantilism
Columbian
Exchange
Transfer of plants, animals,
& diseases from European,
Asia & Africa into the
Americas.
Mercantilism

Mercantilism: is an economic policy…Wealth is
power, key to wealth is export more than
import
European countries competed for world power
and needed colonies to provide necessary raw
materials.
Colonies’ role: provide raw materials (so mother
country does not have to import from other
nations) and markets for exports
Favorable balance of trade for England
Mercantilism

 Economic system in which a nation increases its
wealth by exporting more than it imports.
For sell ( going out)
To buy ( in)
Triangular Trade

Mercantilism &
Triangular Trade

 British mercantilism
manifested itself in the
form of the triangular
trade. Trade routes
linked the American
colonies, West Indies,
Africa and England.
Triangular Trade - goods

Triangular Trade & slavery

 Trading people
 Africans had traditions
of slavery
 Europeans started
trading goods for slaves
 European brought
slaves to their colonies
in America for labor
Middle Passage

 Voyage across the
Atlantic Ocean
 From Africa to America
 Slave Trade
 Took Months – harsh
conditions
 Slaves brought to
America
Summary

 CAUSE / Why
 Effects / Results
National
Competition
Desired for
Wealth
Destruction of
Aztecs & Incan
European
Exploration of
the Americas
Columbian
Exchange
European
Colonies in
America
Spread Cristianity
Slavery