The Age of Exploration
a.k.a The age of Discovery
SSWH10. The student will analyze the impact of the age of
discovery and expansion into the Americas, Africa, and Asia.
a)Explain the roles of explorers and conquistadors; include
Zheng He, Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus,
Ferdinand Magellan, James Cook, and Samuel de
Champlain.
b) Define the Columbian Exchange and its global economic
and cultural impact.
c) Explain the role of improved technology in European
exploration; include the astrolabe.
STOP, THINK, REVIEW
What is the definition of
“Push Factors” and “Pull
Factors”?
Push factors are those
that make you leave
an area
Pull factors are those
things that draw you
into a new area
STOP, THINK, REVIEW
What are some push and
pull factors causing
individuals to migrate from
one place to another?
Almost all of the Push and Pull factors during
this time can be summed up into an easy
term called…
SSWH 10 (a) a)Explain the roles of explorers and conquistadors
4th period
7th period
• As members of a universalizing religion, Europeans had
always seen spreading Christianity as a good thing
• Especially after the Reformation, competition will
spring up
• Colonization will become a race to convert native
peoples to a particular brand of Christianity
• Jesuits (Catholics) are some of the most active
SSWH 10 (a) a)Explain the roles of explorers and conquistadors
• Gold was a hot item that explorers were looking for, but
remember that it is really wealth, not just literal gold that
explorers were after.
• Europe needed gold (and silver) to fuel the rising banking
system
• Europeans also desired spices (Da Gama’s voyage to India
made him a 3000% profit!)
• Other natural resources would come to be sold for profit as
well (timber, sugar, tobacco, ivory, etc.)
• This competition will be enhanced by the idea of
mercantilism that emerges, the idea that there is only so
much wealth in the world, and that to make your kingdom
strong you must have more gold and wealth than the other
SSWH 10 (a) a)Explain the roles of explorers and conquistadors
kingdoms
• Just like the second G, Gold, Glory was a
relatively new idea in Europe
• Came out of the Renaissance ideal of Humanism,
and the focus on individual achievement
• With the rise of the printing press, the idea of
gaining fame for one’s actions was more possible
• Also, individual kings wanted glory for their
kingdoms, competition spreads
SSWH 10 (a) Explain the roles of explorers and conquistadors
So now we know what the main reason, motivations…or roles
the explores were working toward. (3 G’s).
PRINCE HENRY “The Navigator”
• The first to encourage new
ship explorations was Prince
Henry of Portugal, known as
“Prince Henry the Navigator”
• Started an institute for
seafaring and exploring
• Combined ship technology
learned from Islam with new
European innovations
•
By the time of his death in 1460, Portuguese
had sailed as far south as the Gold Coast of
West Africa
SSWH 10 (c) Explain the role of improved technology in European exploration; include the astrolabe.
Improvement #1- Improved
Map making
Using reports of explorers and
information from Arab geographers,
European cartographers were able to
create accurate land and sea maps.
They also created maps that showed
exact location.
Better instruments were also developed
for navigation.
SSWH 10 (c) Explain the role of improved technology in European exploration; include the astrolabe.
SSWH 10 (c) Explain the role of improved technology in European exploration; include the astrolabe.
Improvement #2- Improved
Ship building
The caravel was a new, faster,
more maneuverable ship
Older ships had square sails,
caravels had triangular sails
(easier to change direction)
Bilge pump system enabled
ship to float higher (less likely
to run aground, easier to
explore coasts and rivers)
SSWH 10 (c) Explain the role of improved technology in European exploration; include the astrolabe.
Improvement #3- Improved
navigation equipment
Magnetic Compass- Compass that pointed toward the
poles…so you could know your directions when far from
home…and at night.
Astrolabe- measured the position of the starts, sun, and their
position in the sky. (helped to determine latitude and if you were
going in a straight line)
Later on
Sextant- invented in the 1600’s to measures two points in the
sky (usually a star and the horizon)
SSWH 10 (c) Explain the role of improved technology in European exploration; include the astrolabe.
Explain the role of improved
technology in European
exploration; include the
astrolabe.
SSWH 10 (c) Explain the role of improved technology in European exploration; include the astrolabe.
After the Vikings, nearly 500 years passed before Europeans returned to the Americas. During this
time, most Europeans did not travel to unknown places. People believed it was too dangerous to go
too far out into the ocean. Sailors were afraid to travel out of sight of the coast line. They did not have
the tools to help them find their way. Once out of sight of land, they were unable to find their way back to
port. Most people of the time had very unusual ideas about the unknown ocean. They thought, if ships
went too far out into the ocean, they risked horrible sea monsters swallowing up their ships. Most
people did not understand the shape of the Earth. They thought the sun was so hot at the horizon that it
made the sea boil. Most knew it was round…but that could be sphere, bowl, or circle shape…so
understanding shape didn’t really help, but few thought it was flat.
It was a long time before Europeans had the technology that made long term sea travel possible.
Three factors kept Europeans from exploring the oceans. First, square-sailed ships were used by
European sailors. These ships were slow and could sail only with the wind. Square-sailed ships were
not able to sail into the wind. Sailors knew this could prevent them from returning home, if they had to
sail into the wind. With that worry sailing a long way from home wasn’t something they wanted.
Second, there were not many maps or good navigation equipment. Maps were different from one
another. No one knew which maps were correct. Ships' captains used a Jackstaff to determine their
location. This method was not very accurate. Captains had to guess how far they had traveled. With the
invention of the magnetic compass, astrolabe, and eventually sextant they now could make these long
trips across vast oceans.
And third, until the 1400s, Europe did not have strong central governments. Europe was divided into
small kingdoms and villages that were ruled by a noble. The nobles were too busy fighting each other
to care about exploration or searching the unknown world.
SSWH10 (a) Explain the roles of explorers and conquistadors; include Zheng He, Vasco da Gama,
Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, James Cook, and Samuel de Champlain.
Full Name – Christopher Columbus
Lived: (c. 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506)
Major accomplishment/known for: was the first
explorer to cross the Atlantic Ocean and find new
land. He though he had found a new route to India
but landed in Modern Day Cuba and the Caribbean
Islands.
Sailed for - Spain
SSWH10 (a) Explain the roles of explorers and conquistadors; include Zheng He, Vasco da Gama,
Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, James Cook, and Samuel de Champlain.
Full Name – Zhena He
Lived: (1371–1435)
Major accomplishment/known for: was the first
explorer from Asia to explore many areas in the
Pacific into India in an age when Europe was in the
mist of the Dark Ages
Sailed for – China (Ming Dynasty)
SSWH10 (a) Explain the roles of explorers and conquistadors; include Zheng He, Vasco da Gama,
Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, James Cook, and Samuel de Champlain.
Full Name – Vasco Da Gama
Lived: (c. 1460 or 1469 – 24 December 1524)
Major accomplishment/known for: was the first
explorer to navigate around the tip of Africa and
find a way to India (1497-1499)
Sailed for – Portugal
SSWH10 (a) Explain the roles of explorers and conquistadors; include Zheng He, Vasco da Gama,
Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, James Cook, and Samuel de Champlain.
Full Name – Ferdinand Magellan
Lived: (c. 1480 – April 27, 1521)
Major accomplishment/known for: was the first
explorer to circumnavigate the world. Although he
would die in the Philippines his crew would finish
the voyage. Of the 237 men that started the trip only
18 would return to Portugal.
Sailed for – Portugal
SSWH10 (a) Explain the roles of explorers and conquistadors; include Zheng He, Vasco da Gama,
Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, James Cook, and Samuel de Champlain.
Full Name - Hernando de Soto
Lived: (c.1496/1497–1542)
Major accomplishment/known for: was the first
explorer to cross deep into the interior of the
modern day United States. First European to
discover and cross the Mississippi River.
Sailed for- Spain
SSWH10 (a) Explain the roles of explorers and conquistadors; include Zheng He, Vasco da Gama,
Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, James Cook, and Samuel de Champlain.
Full Name – Samuel de Champlain
Lived: (c. 1567 – December 25, 1635)
Major accomplishment/known for: Explored
modern day Canada and was the founder of the city
of Quebec.
Sailed for – France
SSWH10 (a) Explain the roles of explorers and conquistadors; include Zheng He, Vasco da Gama,
Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, James Cook, and Samuel de Champlain.
Full Name – James Cook
Lived: (c. 7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779)
Major accomplishment/known for: One of the
foremost explorers of Asia. Although most of the
area was known his detailed island mapping and
contributions to science are his lasting legacies.
Sailed for – England
SSWH10 (a) Explain the roles of explorers and conquistadors; include Zheng He, Vasco da Gama,
Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, James Cook, and Samuel de Champlain.
Contact between any two peoples geographically
separated from one another results in an
‘exchange’ of physical elements
Because Columbus was the first to cross and make this
exchange it was given the obvious name …’Colombian
Exchange’ but that doesn’t mean only what Columbus
exchanged but what all explorers traveling to the
America exchanged.
SSWH10 (b) Define the Columbian Exchange and its global economic and cultural impact.
There are 3 main things that
get moved in this ‘exchange’;
Plants, Animals, and
Microbes
Sometimes these exchange can be
positive or negative. Explain how?
SSWH10 (b) Define the Columbian Exchange and its global economic and cultural impact.
The most damaging of these
In the exchange that started along the coast and was
made widespread by Columbus, disease was the
most negative for Indian peoples.
Fatality rate over a period of two to three generations
was 95% for many tribal groups
In some cases, as in the Mohegans case, the fatality
rate could be 100%
SSWH10 (b) Define the Columbian Exchange and its global economic and cultural impact.
• Not all pathogens traveled from Europe
to the Americas
• Syphilis, polio, hepatitis and encephalitis
were new world diseases
• African slaves were less vulnerable to
European diseases than were Indians
• Europeans succumbed to Malaria easily
SSWH10 (b) Define the Columbian Exchange and its global economic and cultural impact.
• European disease was particularly virulent
• Smallpox, measles, diphtheria, whooping
cough, chicken pox, bubonic plague, scarlet
fever and influenza were the most common
microbial diseases exchanged
• Nearly all of the European diseases were
communicable by air and touch.
• The pathway of these diseases was invisible
to both Indians and Europeans
SSWH10 (b) Define the Columbian Exchange and its global economic and cultural impact.
SSWH10 (b) Define the Columbian Exchange and its global economic and cultural impact.
The “Columbian Exchange”

Squash

Avocado

Peppers

Sweet Potatoes

Turkey

Pumpkin

Tobacco

Quinine

Cocoa

Pineapple

Cassava

POTATO

Peanut

TOMATO

Vanilla

MAIZE

Syphilis
avocado
Guinea
Pig
black
pepper
Chocolate

Trinkets

Liquor

GUNS

Olive

COFFEE BEAN

Banana

Rice

Onion

Turnip

Honeybee

Barley

Grape

Peach

SUGAR CANE

Oats

Citrus Fruits

Pear

Wheat

HORSE

Cattle

Sheep

Pigs

Smallpox

Flu

Typhus

Measles

Malaria

Diptheria

Whooping Cough
Rubber
Lettuce/
Cabbage
SSWH10 (b) Define the Columbian Exchange and its global economic and cultural impact.
Analyze and explain the impact of the
age of discovery and expansion into the
Americas, Africa, and Asia.