The Age of Exploration

1. The Age of Exploration 1418-1620

2. Motives for Exploration

3. Spread Christianity • Only one religion in Europe: Christianity (Catholicism) • European leaders were very religious and believed it to be their duty to spread Christianity to others • Explorers read aloud (in Spanish) “The Requirement”. It offered native people the opportunity to convert to Christianity or suffer the consequences.

4. Imperialism • Apolicy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force. • Kings of Spain and Portugal wanted to claim as much land as they could. • Natural resources of the land • Native people as slaves • Larger empire=more power

5. New Trade Routes • SPICES!!! • Preserve food during winter (salt) • Cover up the taste of food that had gone bad • Only accessible in the Indies (China, Japan, and India) • Very difficult, very expensive, very dangerous • Muslim traders brought goods to the East Coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Italian merchants brought them into Europe • Each group raised the price • Bandits and pirates

7. New Knowledge • Knew very little about the world beyond Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East • Few people believed the world was flat • Map included Europe, Asia, and top of Africa • Knew of only one ocean which they called the Ocean Sea

8. Glory, Fame and Wealth • Europe was involved with many wars • Fought each other and fought others • War is EXPENSIVE! • Needed gold, silver, and gems to pay for the wars • Believed Asia was loaded riches. • New ideology: Getting rich and dominating other people was viewed as positive • Europe had recent success in taking over and exploiting island societies (Malta, Sardinia, Canary Islands

9. Review • Spread Christianity • Imperialism • New Trade Routes • New Knowledge • Glory, Honor, and Wealth

10. Advances Allowing for Exploration • People around the world had been traveling by sea for a long time • Prince Henry the Navigator began a school for navigation. His ideas were based on ideas known to ancient Phoenicians and Egyptians • Evidence of earlier journeys between Europe and the Americas • Two Native Americans shipwrecked in Holland around 60 B .C. became major curiosities in Europe • Vikings to Newfoundland in the year 1000 A.D.

11. Cartography • Cartography is the science and art of making maps. • Prior to the 1400s, only portolan charts existed. • Used by pilots to lay courses from one harbor to another • GerardusMercator created a map projection that he designed to help with navigation. The lines of latitude and longitude are straight, and land masses are distorted near the poles

12. Improved Ship Design • A knarr was a Viking ship that routinely crossed the Atlantic Ocean

13. Ship Design Cont. • Portugal and Spain began building new and improved ships known as caravels (from the Egyptian caravos) • Small, fast, easy to maneuver • Specials bottoms made it easier to travel along coast lines where the water was shallow. • Lateen Sails

14. New Navigational Tools • Compass helped sailors know what direction they were going (N, S, E, W) • Magnetic needles. • Astrolabe allowed sailors to determine their latitude (how far north or south of the equator they were).

15. Improved Weaponry • Spanish brought horses. • Sailors could fire their cannons onto shore without leaving their ship.