The Age of Exploration
Chapter 3
Lesson 2: A Changing World
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Vocabulary
◦ Isthmus
◦ Treaty
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People
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John Cabot
Amerigo Vespucci
Vasco Nunez de Balboa
Ferdinand Magellan
Places
◦ England
◦ Newfoundland and Labrador
◦ Philippine Islands
England Explorers
Columbus traveled to the “Indies” three times
 King Henry VII of England paid an Italian sailor,
Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot), to make the
same expedition
 Cabot landed in Newfoundland and Labrador
(Canada) and claimed the land for England
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◦ Like Columbus, he thought he landed in the Indies
A New Map of the World
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Amerigo Vespucci was the first to question if the
“Indies” were indeed in Asia
◦ Examined Marco Polo’s writings and compared
them to what he saw: DIFFERENT!
◦ Realized that the lands he, Columbus and Cabot
had found were not yet known to Europeans
◦ German mapmaker, Martin Waldseemuller,
published the first world map that included South
America (named to honor Amerigo)
◦ http://www.biography.com/people/amerigovespucci-9517978
Reaching the Pacific
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Vasco Nunez de Balboa
One of the first Europeans to settle in America
Poor farmer, had to run away from his debts
Left Hispaniola and went to Colombia
He and some Spanish settlers took land from Native
Americans and started a new settlement in modern-day
Panama
◦ 1513: He and other explorers traveled west across the
Isthmus of Panama and reached the Pacific Ocean
◦ http://www.biography.com/people/vascon%C3%BA%C3%B1ez-de-balboa-9196350
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A New View of the World
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Ferdinand Magellan
◦ Portuguese explorer
◦ 1519: 5 ships and 250 sailors
◦ Passed through a waterway at the tip of South
America and found themselves in the Pacific Ocean
◦ Named it Pacific because waters were “peaceful”
compared to the Atlantic
◦ http://www.biography.com/people/ferdinandmagellan-9395202
A New View of the World (cont.)
Thought crossing the Pacific would take a few
days: WRONG!
 Took THREE MONTHS
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◦ Many sailors died to hunger and disease
◦ Magellan was killed in battle in the Philippine Islands
◦ Only one ship made it back to Spain in 1522
 FIRST SAILORS TO TRAVEL AROUND THE WORLD!
A New View of the World (cont.)
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The Treaty of Tordesillas
◦ More expeditions = More lands claimed
◦ Sometimes more than one country claimed the SAME
land
 Spain and Portugal asked the Catholic Church to solve the
problem
 1493: Church leaders drew a line on a map through the Atlantic
Ocean
 Portugal promised land to the East
 Spain promised land to the West
 1494: Spain and Portugal signed the T of T
 Moved the dividing line farther West
 Gave Portugal the land that would become Brazil
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pzudWS7kVU