Age of Exploration and Trade PP

Age of exploration and trade

Age of exploration and tradeUnit 15Key Terms1. circumnavigate9. scientific method2. allies10. Age of Enlightenment3. plantation11. social contract4. cash crops12. separation of powers5. mercantilism13. popular sovereignty6. geocentric14. bourgeoisie7. Scientific Revolution15. coup d'tat8. heliocentric16. abolitionismEurope Gets Ready to ExploreIn the 1400s and 1500s, countries in Western Europe began exploring the world. They wanted spices, silk, and other goods from Asia.A Greek geographer named Claudius Ptolemy had drawn maps of the world. Europeans began studying his maps.

By the 1400s, four kingdoms were looking for a sea route to Asia. All of them had ports on the Atlantic Ocean.The race was on between England, Portugal, Spain, and France.Early voyages of discoveryIn the early 1400s, England and France were still fighting each other, and Spain was battling the Muslims.Portugal was free to lead the way to explore new trade routes to Asia.In 1488 Bartolomeu Dias reached the southern tip of Africa.Nine years later, Vasco da Gama rounded the tip of Africa.An Italian navigator then came up with a different plan to get to Asia. His name was Christopher Columbus.He decided to sail west, not easy, across the Atlantic Ocean.Columbus had three ships: the Santa Maria, the Nina, and the Pinta. They left Spain in 1492 and headed west.After many weeks, they finally saw land. Columbus thought he was in Asia. He did not realize he was in the Americas.Europeans eventually realized they had found a new continent.In 1520 Ferdinand Magellan sailed south along the coast of South America. He found a way around the continent. He then went west. His sailors almost starved.After four months at sea, they reached the present-day Philippines. There, Magellan died in a battle between local groups.His crew then went west across the Indian Ocean. They went around Africa and back to Spain. They were the first known people to circumnavigate, or sail around, the world.The Spanish conquer mexicoBy 1519 Hernan Cortes was in Mexico and hoping to find gold.He defeated the Aztecs by using guns and horses; creating allies with other Native Americans; attacking first; and, disease weakened the Aztec.Spain conquers peruSpanish explorer Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca people, eventually becoming governor of Peru and appointing a new Inca emperor who had to obey him.Even after Pizarro died, Inca rebels continued to fight the Spanish. However, the conquest of Peru allowed Spanish rule to move into much of South America.Settling the americasBy the 1600s, Spanish settlers were growing sugarcane on large farms called plantations.At first, Native Americans did all the work. Then disease and mistreatment caused most of them to die.Spain brought enslaved Africans to work on the plantations and in the gold and silver mines.The Portuguese also used enslaved Africans to do their hard work in Brazil.The French came to North America to set up fur trading posts.During the 1600s, the English came to North America for many reasons. Some people wanted to make money. Others wanted religious freedom.Tobacco became the first cash crop of the English colonies. A cash crop is grown in large amounts to sell and make money.World trade changesEuropeans came up with the idea of mercantilism. This is a theory that a countrys power depends on its wealth. Countries can increase their wealth by owning more gold and silver.A global exchangeEurope, Africa, Asia, and the Americas changed through trading.The world traded people, goods, tools, ideas, and even diseases.This is called the Columbian Exchange, after Christopher Columbus.The Americas would send corn, potatoes, squash, beans, tomatoes, chocolate, chili peppers, and peanuts to Europe.Europe would send wheat, oats, barley, rye, rice, horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens, and coffee to the Americas.Not everything that passed between Europe and America was good. Europeans gave germs to the Native Americans.Some diseases were deadly and killed millions of people.Early scienceIn the 1400s, people started to explore the world. Because of this, Europeans were able to make better maps. These maps helped explorers reach far-away lands. They brought back new information about oceans, continents, animals, plants, and diseases.Scientists organized it all.New ideas about the universeIn the 1500s, scientists in Europe began to experiment and started the Scientific Revolution.Nicolaus Copernicus stated that the Earth and other planets move around the sun.Johannes Kepler stated that planets move in ellipses.Galileo Galilei used the telescope to support the heliocentric view of the universe.New scientific advancesIsaac Newton came up with the law of gravity.Andreas Vesalius studied how the human body works by dissecting, or cutting open, dead bodies.Robert Hooke began to use a microscope.Antonie van Leeuwenhoek improved the microscope by adding more powerful lenses.Robert Boyle proved that matter is made up of elements.Francis Bacon came up with the scientific method. This method is an orderly way to collect and study facts.Reason and politicsDuring the 1700s, educated Europeans saw reason as a light that could reveal truth. As a result, this time period became known as the Age of Enlightenment.Thomas Hobbes argued that people were naturally violent and selfish. He believed that natural law meant people needed strong rulers to tell them what to do.John Locke believed that natural law gave all people basic rights from birth. These included the right to life, liberty, and to own property.Britains American coloniesThe English settled thirteen colonies in North America.The southern colonies had large plantations. They used enslaved Africans to work the land.The northern colonies had smaller farms because of the cooler climate and rocky soil.Road to revoltThe American colonies provided raw materials to Britain but they also bought manufactured goods such as clothing and furniture from the country.Britain tried to control this trade using the Navigation Acts (required the colonies to sell goods only to members of the British Empire).The war with France to control North America had left Britain deeply in debt. The British government then decided to add taxes to items sent to the colonists.Britain needed the money to pay back its debts.The colonists were angry and began to boycott British goods.A war for independenceTension in the colonies led to a battle at Lexington, Massachusetts, between the British soldiers and the colonists.On July 4, 1776, Congress issued the Declaration of Independence (all men are created equal, people have rights that no one can take away, governments must protect peoples rights, and people can overthrow governments that do not protect their rights).The U.S. would win their independence.