Period 3 – Period 4

AP World History: The Age of Exploration

Where is our next frontier?

I What was the Age of Exploration?

A)From the 15 - 17th centuries, Western Europe increased its exploration of the world. B)This was due to

1. The Renaissance and Scientific Revolution increasing Europeans curiosity about the world

2. The Ottoman Turks blocked access to the Silk Road. Europeans needed to find an alternative route to the East for trade.

3. Newly formed European nation states competed for colonies overseas. This led to the new economic system of mercantilism.

Mercantilism is an economic system where the parent nation exploits the

resources of its colonies.

II Improved TechnologyPortolan Maps Magnetic

CompassCaravel Ships Astrolabe

Lines on portolan maps radiated out from compass points. Showed navigators how to get to key ports.

The magnetic compass was an improvement on the Chinese compass. Used an iron needle that aligns with the Earth’s north-south magnetic poles.

Caravel ships were built by the Portuguese and Spanish. Unlike medieval ships, they could go against the wind, and long distances.

Astrolabes were used since ancient times. Navigators looked through it at the sun or a star and determined its angle using the degrees marked on the instrument. Helped them determine the ship’s latitude and local time.

Caravel Ships

III Portugal’s 1st ExplorersA) Portuguese and Spanish explorers made the first European

voyages into unknown waters during the Age of Exploration.

Portugal and Spain’s 1st Explorers Continued…Henry “The Navigator”

(1394 – 1460)Bartolomeu Dias(1451 – 1500)

Vasco de Gama(1460 – 1524)

1. Goal to conquer Muslim lands and trade routes, find gold, and explore West African coast1. Created a naval school to make better maps & ships, and train for long voyages2. Claimed the Azores, Madeira, and Canary islands off Western Africa

Goal to find a route to Asia. In 1488 he sailed around the Cape of Good Hope (the southern tip of Africa). Due to the intense wind he turned back.

In 1497 he sailed east from Europe, around Africa, then went on to India.

Prince Henry the Navigator

Statue of Prince Henry, Lisbon, PortugalThe Azores

Bartolomeu Dias

The Cape of Good Hope

Excerpt from Vasco de Gama’s JournalOn the following day (November

10) fourteen or fifteen natives came to where our ship lay. The

captain-major landed and showed them a variety of

merchandise, with the view of finding out whether such things

were to be found in their country. This merchandise

included cinnamon, cloves, seed-pearls, gold, and many other

things, but it was evident that they had no knowledge whatever

of such articles, and they were consequently given round bells

and tin rings.

Portugal and Spain’s 1st Explorers Continued…Christopher Columbus

(1451 – 1506)

1. Born in Genoa, Italy2. With financing from Spain, he sailed 3 ships west, looking for India. *He knew the earth was round.3. He landed in the Bahamas, but thought he was in India.4. Columbus opened up exploration and trade to the “New World”.

Ferdinand Magellan(1480 – 1521)

1. From Portugal. His goal was to circumnavigate (sail around) the world.2. He set sail August 10, 1519 with 5 ships and 251 men.3. In 1521 Magellan was killed in the Philippines.4. In 1522 one ship returned with 18 survivors.

James Cook(1728 - 1779)

1. Led 3 expeditions to the Pacific.

2. Charted East Australia and New Zealand. Added Hawaii to maps. Explored Alaska and almost made it to Antarctica!

3. Searched for a Northwest Passage linking the Atlantic and Pacific

Christopher Columbus

SIR: Since I know that you will be pleased at the great victory with which Our Lord has crowned my voyage, I write this to you, from which you will learn how in thirty-three days I passed from the Canary Islands to the Indies, with the fleet which the most illustrious King and Queen, our Sovereigns, gave to me. There I found very many islands, filled with innumerable people, and I have taken possession of them all for their Highnesses, done by proclamation and with the royal standard unfurled, and no opposition was offered to me. To the first island which I found I gave the name "San Salvador," in remembrance of the Divine Majesty… Columbus’s Letter to King Ferdinand, 1493

Magellan

… on the last day of March of the year 1520 at the Port of St. Julian… three of the ships rose up against the Captain-major [Magellan]… [the] treasurer of the whole fleet, and named Luis de Mendo‡a; he was killed in his own ship by stabs with a dagger by the chief constable of the fleet, who was sent to do this by Fernando de Magelhaes [i.e., Magellan] in a boat with certain men. The said three ships having thus been recovered, five days later Fernando de Magelhaes ordered Gaspar de Queixada to be decapitated and quartered; he was captain of one of the ships, and was one of those who had mutinied. – Anonymous Genoese Witness, modern history sourcebook

James Cook

The first well-documented evidence for the existence of a frozen southern continent came from the second expedition of Captain James Cook beginning in 1772. He did not actually see the continent but he did cross the Antarctic Circle (67° South Latitude) and saw the icebergs and frigid waters of the far southern ocean. Southpole.com

Syphilis and Scurvy; Diseases You Do Not Want to Have

Syphilis is a deadly STD that was spread by Natives of the New World to European explorers.

Scurvy is a disease due to a lack of vitamin C. Sailors prevented it by eating limes or lemons.

VI Consequences of the Age of ExplorationWhich are positive? Which are negative? Any “gray area”?

Europeans “discovered” the Americas Europeans had access to new resources such as tobacco, chocolate,

and potatoes Europeans began the slave trade, taking slaves from Africa and

Native populations Europeans tried to replace Native culture and religion with

Christianity European sailors died from syphilis and scurvy.

Would America exist without the Age of Exploration?

Focus Questions1. What factors allowed for the Age of

Exploration?2. What were the goals of early European

explorers?3. Which explorers had the greatest impact on

global history? Why?4. Were the consequences of the Age of

Exploration more negative or positive? Why?5. Which primary source do you think is most

reliable? The least reliable? Explain.