EXPLORING THE AMERICAS

or

Everything I needed to know was in Italian

MARCO

POLO• An explorer who traveled to Asia

• An author who wrote a book about his journey– Travels– Written from 1296 -97– Inspired Columbus and others to journey to

these lands 200 years later

Centers of Growing Trade

• Venice• Genoa• Pisa

• Spices• Silks• Perfumes• Precious stones

RENAISSANCE

• Rebirth

• Period of renewed interest in classical Greek and Roman learning

• Spread throughout Europe in the 1400s

• Encouraged Europeans – to pursue new ideas and challenges– set the stage for exploration and discovery

THINK

• Why do you think Western European explorers found Asia so interesting?

Powerful Nations Emerge

• Development of large nation-states in Western Europe helped spark foreign trade and travel outside the region

• Monarchies of Spain, Portugal, England, and France looked for ways to increase power and wealth

• WHY?

• Better maps and navigational instruments helped with accuracy

• Astrolabe– Used to determine latitude

at sea. Islamic societies had

been using this technology

since 800 A.D.

Compass

Larger and sturdier sailing vessels, such as the caravel, enabled sailors to travel faster and carry more people, cargo, and food.

THINK

• How was this technology used?

AFRICAN KINGDOMS

• Ghana– Huge trade empire between 400 and 1100– Gold and salt– When power declined, new states emerge

• Mali– Capital was Timbuktu– Important Islamic center– Greatest king was Mansa Musa (1312-1337)– Made a pilgrimage to Makkah (Mecca) the

Muslim holy city

• Songhai Empire– Rose in the late 1400s– Largest in history of West Africa– Ruler was Askiya Muhammad

• Encouraged trade with Europe and Asia• Introduced to his country a legal system, a system

of government, and schools• Empire fell in the late 1500s when Moroccans

attacked its trade centers

• See page 41 of textbook.

• In which region of Africa did the three trading kingdoms develop? Why?

SEEKING NEW TRADE ROUTES

• Portuguese were the leaders of early exploration.– Hoped to find new route to China and India– Also, more direct way to West African gold– Prince Henry of Portugal (Henry the Navigator) set up

a center for exploration for scientists to share knowledge of shipbuilding and sailing

– Ships sailed south along the Gold Coast (West Africa) trading for gold and ivory

– Began buying slaves in the mid-1400s

• 1487 – Bartholomeu Dias explored the southernmost part of Africa

• Named this cape the Cape of Good Hope

• King of Portugal hoped the passage around the southern tip would lead to a new route to India

• 1497 – Vasco de Gama sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, visited East African cities, and reached India in 1498

And now for something completely different . . .

• Vikings reached North America and established settlements in Iceland and Greenland in the 800s and 900s

• Leif Eriksson explored land west of Greenland known as Vinland about the year 1000

• Historians think Vinland was North America

• Queen Isabella of Spain sponsored Chris on his first voyage in August of . . .

• Set out with _______ ships to find a route to _________

• On October 12, ______, he spotted land

• Named it ____ ________ for Spain

• Thought he had reached the East Indies

• Hmmmmmm. Should have had a garvin

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

• Chris made three additional voyages in 1493, 1498, and 1502

• Explored the Caribbean Islands of Hispaniola, Cuba, and Jamaica

• Sailed along the coasts of Central America and northern South America

• Claimed all these lands for Spain

• Treaty of Tordesillas ( Portugal and Spain) clarified line of demarcation between their lands

• Amerigo Vespucci mapped South America’s coastline in 1499– Concluded South America was a continent

and not part of Asia– European geographers called the continent

America in honor of Vespucci

• Vasco Nunez de Balboa claimed the Pacific and adjoining lands for Spain

• Ferdinand Magellan– Sailed from Spain in 1519– Found a passage around South America to

the Pacific• See page 42 of the World Atlas

– Named it the Strait of Magellan– Was killed in an island battle along the way– Small number of his crew made it all the way

back to Spain– Became the first to circumnavigate the world