The Age of Exploration
Jan 02, 2016
The Age of Exploration
Underlying Causes
1. Desire for Greater Wealth
2. Expanded Knowledge
3. Desire to Spread Christianity
4. Technological Advances
1. Desire for Wealth
A.The Crusades exposed Europeans to new products.
1. Desire for Wealth
B. Marco Polo’s stories excited Europeans about the riches of the East.
1. Desire for Wealth
C. Italians controlled trade in the Mediterranean Sea.
2. Expanded Knowledge
-- Geographic information from both Classical and Muslim scholars motivated Europeans toexplore.
3. Desire to Spread Christianity-- the Crusades had awakened an interest in converting the non-Christian peoples
-- ex. The Jesuits
4. Technological Advances
A. The Caravel -- a ship that allowed open ocean travel
4. Technological Advances
B. The astrolabe – allowed a captain to pinpoint how far north or south of the equator he was located.
4. Technological Advances
C. The magnetic compass
Early Exploration
Portugal and Spain
Portugal Led the Way1. 1419 -- Prince Henry (the “Navigator”)
established a school of navigation on the southwest coast of Portugal.
Portugal Led the Way2. Numerous Portuguese voyages mapped the coast
of Africa and established trading posts.
3. 1488 – Bartolomeu Dias reached the southern tip of Africa
Portugal Led the Way
4. 1498 – Vasco da Gama reached the coast of India
Spain “discovers” America
1492 – Columbus reached the Caribbean islands
Spain “discovers” America
-- Later Spanish explorers claimed most of Central and South America for
Spain, as well as much of North America
Conflict between Portugal and Spain
1493 – Pope Alexander VI drew the Line of Demarcation to divide Spanish and Portuguese territories.
1494 – Treaty of Tordesillas shifted the line westward