Age of Exploration and Conquest

Bozeman High School – AP European History

McKay et al., 7th ed. – Chapter 15, Section 2 & 3

Causes

Crusades by-pass intermediaries to get to Asia.

Renaissance curiosity about other lands and peoples.

Reformation refugees & missionaries. Monarchs seeking new sources of

revenue. Technological advances. Fame and fortune.

Causes

“God, Glory and Gold”-- Igor Babailov

Causes--Cartography

Waldseemuller’s (1507)

Causes--Technology

Sextant

compassAstrolabe

Causes--Ships

Exploration by Countries

Portugal

Water route to Asia Prester John Prince Henry the

Navigator (1394-1460) School of Navigation Ceuta 1415

Bartholomew Dias (1450-1500) Rounded S. Tip of

Africa

Portugal Vasco da Gama

All water expedition to India 1498

Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512) Explored Brazil “New World”

Brazil Portugal’s

Major colony in the New World

Goods and Slaves

Spain

Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)

1492 Bahamas “Indies” somewhere west

of India

Significance is it ushered in an era of European exploration and domination

Spain

Bartholomew de las Casas (1474-1566) A Brief Account of the

Destruction of the Indies (1552)

Criticized ruthless treatment with Amerindians

Writings spread ideas that Spanish treating them the worst

Spain Treaty of Tordesillas (1492)

Spain

Vasco Balboa (1475-1517)

Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521)

Spain-Conquistadores

Hernando Cortés (1485-1547)

Spain-Conquistadores

Francisco Pizarro (1478-1541)

Spanish Empire in New World

Resembled more the “New Imperialism” of late 19th and early 20th c by outright conquering entire regions and subjugating their population 1545-Potosí in Peru ushered in the “golden

age”Encomienda systemMestizosCreoles

“Old Imperialism” in Africa and Asia

Forts and Posts along the coast not penetrating inland

Alphonso d’Albuquerque (1453-1515) Foundation for Portuguese

imperialism in 16th and 17th Control Indian Ocean Francis Xavier (1506-1552)

Jesuit missionaries to Asia Dutch Republic

Dutch East India Company Expelled Portuguese

France

Northwest Passage Jacques Cartier

(1491-1557) St. Lawrence River

France’s first settlement in New World, not founded until 1608

England

Relatively Late in exploration game

John Cabot (1425-1500) Henry VII not interested in

colonization since no gold and silver

1607 Jamestown Tens of thousands of

Englishmen came to the eastern coast of North America in 17th &18th c.

Slave Trade

asiento Portugal first

introduced slavery in Brazil to farm the sugar plantations

Estimated 50 million Africans died or became slaves during 17th &18th C