Chapter 3
A Time of Exploration
The World in the 1400s
1400-1500
Main Idea & Why It Matters: The world’s cultures (kul-cherz)
became connected in the 1400s. This matters because as people
learned more about the world, they began to trade with faraway places.
Introduction & Setting Reading Purposes: The last encounter or
meeting between Europeans and the North Americas was about 1000
A.D. A group of people known as Vikings (vi-kings) had come to North
America from what is today the country of Norway (nor-way). The
Vikings did not stay long and they met few people. The memory of
their visit soon faded. As a result, Native Americans knew nothing
about Europe.
In the 1400s Europeans knew nothing about the Americas and
very little about the rest of the world. That began to change as new
trade routes connected Europe with parts of Asia and Africa. Read to
find out about the Incas and Aztecs empire and how they expanded
(eks-pand-ud) it. Also read the questions at the end to set more
reading purposes.
The Americas
In the Americas two civilizations developed, the Incas and the Aztecs.
Groups of Native Americans had established powerful empires (empirez). An empire is a collection (ko-lek-shun) of lands ruled by the
nation (na-shun) that conquered (kon-kerd) them.
The Incas: One of the largest and richest empires was ruled by
the Incas of South America.The empire covered 3,000 miles of the
western coast of South America. This area includes what are now the
countries of Ecuador (ek-wuh-dor), Peru (puh-roo), Bolivia (bo-liv-e-uh),
Chile (chil-e), and Argentina (arj-un-tee-nuh). The Incas expanded
their empire by using force to take over other peoples’ land.
In time, they ruled as many as 12 million people, most of whom
lived in villages along the coast, in the Andes (an-deez) Mountains, and
in the rain forests along the Amazon (am-uh-zon) River. The Incas’
capital (kap-uh-tul) city was Cusco (koos-koh) in what is now Peru.
A system (sis-tum) of roads connected Cuzco to all areas of the
Inca Empire. Two major (ma-jer) roads ran the length of the empire.
One road ran along the coast and the other road ran through the
Andes Mountains.
Grand buildings were made from hand cut stones. Ruins in Macha
Picchu show their way of building even today.The Incas kept records on
groups of colored, knotted strings known as quipus (kee-pooz). The
different colored knots stood for words or ideas. For example, a knot
made from yellow string represented (rep-re-zent-ud) the word gold.
A knot made from white string stood for peace. Archaeologists have
found many quipus. Most of what is known about the Incas was written
down by Spanish explorers after they arrived in the Americas.
The Aztecs: For many years the Aztecs lived a nomadic life
moving from place to place in search of food. In about 1200 A.D. they
began to settle in the Valley of Mexico in the central part of present
day Mexico. By the late 1400s the Aztecs had taken control (kuntrole) of much of central and southern Mexico.
The Aztecs ruled over a huge empire that covered about 200,000
square miles. It included more than 5 million people.
The Aztecs built their capital city, Tenochtitlan (tay-nawch-teet-lahn)
on two islands in the middle of Lake Texcoco (tays-koh-koh). Today
Mexico City, the capital of Mexico) stands in this same spot.
In the center of Tenochtitlan huge flat-topped pyramids (peeruh-midz) rose toward the sky. On top of the pyramids stood the great
stone temples (tem-pulls) that were built to honor their gods. Past the
temples was a large, open area where a daily market was held.
The Aztecs recorded (re-cord-ud) information by using pictures
of objects and symbols to represent words and syllables (sih-luh-bulls).
Pictures and symbols were used to make calendars (kal-un-derz) and
keep records.
This system of communication (cum-u-ni-ka-shun) made the Aztec
Empire one of the most advanced (ad-vanst) civilizations (civ-ul-i-zashuns) in the Americas at that time.
Questions
1. How were the two empires alike?
2.How were the two empires different?
Europe
Introduction and Setting Reading Purposes: In the 1400s many
changes were taking place in Europe. Many small land areas owned by
different nobles had begun to join to form countries (kun-trees) like
Portugal (port-u-gull), Spain, France, England, and other European
countries. These countries were ruled by monarchs (mon-arks).
Monarchs were kings and queens. Read to find out about the period of
time called the Renaissance (reh-nuh-sahns). Renaissance is a French
word meaning “rebirth.” Find out how people reacted when they heard
Marco (mar-ko po-lo) Polo’s stories. Also read the questions at the
end to set more reading purposes.
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From the 1400s and 1500s Europeans were making big
improvements (im-prove-munts) in science and technology (tech-nol-ujee). With this new knowledge, they entered into an age of thought,
learning, art, and science. It was known as the Renaissance. During
this time, people were eager to explore (ex-plore) unknown lands.
Johannes (yo-hanz) Gutenberg (goo-tun-berg) invented a new way
to print books. Before this all books were hand written. Books became
more available to people.
In the 1200s Marco (mar-ko) Polo (po-lo), his father, and his uncle
traveled from Venice (ven-us), Italy to explore Asia. In four years
they reached Cathay (kath-ay) which is now China. They also visited
other places in Asia including the Indies (in-deez), the islands off the
China coast, Myanmar (my-an-mar), India, and Southwest Asia.
When the Polos (po-loze) returned to Venice, Italy, Marco Polo
wrote the book The Travels of Marco Polo.. He told about the journey
(jer-nee) and Chinese inventions (in-ven-chunz) like gunpowder and the
compass (kum-pus). The compass is an instrument (in-struh-ment) used
for finding directions. They also held paper money for the first time.
They saw the palace (pal-us) of Kublai Khan (koo-bluh kahn) who was
the Chinese ruler.
One of the first books printed by the Gutenberg method was The
Travels of Marco Polo.. It became popular with Europeans. They
became interested in the lands Polo had visited and wanted to share in
the great wealth he described. They wanted to buy Asian goods like
silks and spices. Traders from Europe began traveling the long,
difficult land routes that connected (kun-nek-tud) Europe and Asia.
Questions
1. What two men helped to open up the world to Europeans? What did
each man do?
2. How did the people of Europe react to Marco Polo’s stories?
Asia
Introduction & Setting Reading Purposes: Some Asian countries
began to explore (ex-plore) the world by sailing the oceans. Read to
find out about China’s explorations (ex-plor-a-shunz) and what
happened to make China limit its contact with other countries. Also
read the questions at the end to set more reading purposes.
During Yong Le’s Rule: Yong (yuhng) Le (leh) was interested in
exploring the oceans. In the early 1400s he paid for ocean voyages.
Yong Le (yuhng-leh) paid Admiral (ad-mer-ul) Zheng (juhng) He
(huh) to make at least seven voyages between 1405 and 1433. The
admiral and his crews sailed in junks. Junks were Chinese wooden
boats with four-sided sails.
Zheng He sailed to Southeast Asia and to present-day Sri Lanka (sreelahng-kuh). He also visited ports along the Persian (per-zhun) Gulf, the
Red Sea, and the eastern coast of Africa.
After Yong Le’s Rule: A change in interest happened after Yong
Le’s death. Chinese rulers decided to keep China apart from other
civilizations.
 They stopped all ocean voyages.
 They limited trading outside of China’s borders (bor-derz).
 They later ordered that the records of Zheng He’s voyages be
destroyed.
 They moved to limit contact with the rest of the world.
Other Countries in Asia: Other countries like India, Korea (kore-uh), and Japan (ju-pan) continued to develop trading centers. In the
southern part of India, Vijayanagar (vih-juh-yuh-nuh-ger) became an
important trading center for Asian and European countries. It was also
known for its art, writing, and buildings.
Questions
1. Under Chinese ruler Yong Le, what kind of explorations were made?
2. What happened to China’s explorations after Yong Le’s death?
3. What were other Asian countries doing in exploration at this
time?
Africa
Introduction & Setting Reading Purposes: For centuries (sent-yereez) groups in Africa traded with one another. In time, African
trading centers grew. Read to find out about the history of trade in
Africa. Also read the questions at the end to set more reading
purposes.
Eighth Century: Ghana (gah-nuh) became a great African Empire.
Ghana was in western Africa. Ghana had grown from just a small town
into a grand walled city with palaces (pal-us-uz) and busy market
centers. A large market center stood in Kumbi Saleh (koom-by sahlay). Kumbi Saleh is now a desert region of Senegal (sen-uh-gal).
In the 1100s-1300s: The trading center of Ghana began to
move east.The center moved to the cities of Gao (gow), Timbuktu (timbuhk-too), and Jenne (jeh-nay)
These growing market cities formed the empire of Mali (Mah-lee).
The 1400s 1500s: The market centers broke away from Mali
rule. Gao became the head of a new empire known as Songhay (sawnghy). The Songhay Empire controlled many of the market cities. The
Soninkes (sawn-in-kayz) controlled much of the trade across the
Sahara to the north where they traded gold for European goods. The
Soninkes were the people of Songhay.
Sunni Ali was one of the best-known leaders of the Soninkes. He ruled
from 1464 to 1492. He stretched the Songhay Empire more than 1,000
miles. Sunni Ali encouraged more trade. This helped Songhay remain a
strong empire until the end of the 1500s.
Benin (ben-un) was a kingdom in western Africa. Benin was
located in what is now southern Nigeria (ni-jeer-yuh) near the mouth of
the Niger (ni-jer) River. Benin was an artistic (ar-tis-tik) center where
sculptors (skulpt-ers) carved ivory (i-vor-ee) and worked with brass
and bronze.
Groups of people known as the Swahile lived on the eastern coast
of Africa. The groups lived in several city-states. A city-state
included a city and the surrounding area. These city-states grew from
the trading centers that Arab (air-ub) settlers had started at ports
along the coast. Trade centered around gold and ivory. They
exchanged these goods with China, India, and Southwest Asia.
Questions
1. In the 1400-1500s, what were three main empire’s in Africa?
2. How did Emperor Sunni Ali keep Songhey form a strong empire?