The Age of
Exploration
Europeans in the New World
On IN Page 50….
• Set up Cornell Notes
• Title: The Age of Exploration
• Essential Question: What was the Age of Exploration and what
were its effects?
The Age of Exploration
• Who: An explorer is a
person who travels in
search of geographic
or scientific
discoveries.
Explorers came from
European nations
(Spain, Portugal,
France, England &
the Netherlands)
The Age of Exploration
• What: A time period
when Europeans
began to explore the
rest of the world.
When: Early 15th
century to 17th
century
The Age of Exploration
• Where: Areas
explored include
Africa, Asia, North
America & South
America
The Age of Exploration
• Why: Nations were
looking for gold &
spices, to expand
their empires and to
spread Christianity to
new parts of the
world.
God. Glory. Gold.
The Age of Exploration
• How: Improvements
in mapmaking, ship
building and
navigation made this
possible.
Compass
Caravel
Astrolabe: used to find
position of stars
Mercantilism leads to Exploration
• Mercantilism: an economic system that attempts to increase
the wealth of a country by creating a favorable balance of
trade.
Exports are goods that a
country sells to another
Imports are goods that a
country buys from another
Mercantilism leads to Exploration
• In order to keep a “favorable balance of trade,” one country
would need more exports than imports.
• Example: Spain sells $500 in sugar to France and France sold
$300 in cloth to Spain. France would also have to pay Spain
$200 worth of precious metals (gold & silver) to cover the rest
of the cost for the sugar.
• Spain would have a favorable balance of trade because the
value of its exports (sugar) was greater than the value of its
imports (cloth). Spain would become richer because of the
precious metals it received from France.
Mercantilism leads to Exploration
If European nations could acquire
new land and set up colonies in
North & South America, they would
be able to use all of the resources to
create goods and would also be able
to sell the goods in the colonies.
Spain Claims an Empire
The Line of Demarcation
• 1493: Spain & Portugal
compete over land in the
Americas
• Pope Alexander VI drew
the Line of Demarcation
on a map
• The Line allowed
Portugal to claim all nonChristian lands to the
east and Spain to claim
all non-Christian lands to
the west
Treaty of Tordesillas
• Leaders of Spain &
Portugal met in 1494 to
redraw the line
• They moved the line
more than 800 miles
farther west
Conquistadors
• Spain sent many
explorers to the
Americas including
conquistadors
(conquerors) to claim
the new land for
Spain
• They used force and
successfully took
land away from
natives
Reasons for Spanish Victories
1. Spread of European
diseases killed millions of
Native Americans
2. Better weapons
3. Spanish alliances with
other local Native
Americans
4. Use of brutality
The Columbian Exchange
The Columbian Exchange is the movement of
plants, animals & diseases between the Eastern
& Western hemispheres.
A Northwest Passage
• While Spain & Portugal
were conquering areas
in the southern
Americas, explorers
from France, England
& the Netherlands
were looking for a
Northwest Passage
• They hoped to sail
through North America
into Asia
Code Marking-Repetition #1
• Go through your notes about The Age of Exploration and
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Highlight important information
Circle key terms (vocabulary)
Put stars (*) next to possible test quesitons
Put question marks (?) next to things you don’t understand (and
then actually ask me those questions!)
Warm-Up (IN Page 55 TOP)
1. Write a COMPLETE definition (in your own words and using
complete sentence(s)) of “The Age of Exploration” that
includes the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY & HOW.
2. What are the 3 “G’s” when it comes to why Europeans
wanted to explore the world?
3. What is Mercantilism?
4. How are imports different from exports?