Europeans Explore the East 19.1
By: Meher, Samantha and Daniela
Essential Question
How did trade influence European countries, like Portugal, to explore?
Causes for the Exploration
❖ Desire for Wealth ❖ Spread Christianity❖ Advances in Technology
■ New vessels, astrolabe, compass❖ Merchants and Traders wanted to benefit from
business■ Spices that Europe wanted was nutmeg,
cinnamon,ginger, and pepper.■ Merchants could charge high prices for these.
❖ New monarchs of England, Spain, Portugal and France wanted to bypass merchants to get the goods.
Portugal Leads the Way❖ Prince Henry (Son of Portugal’s King) or Henry
the Navigator lead the way to Exploration because of strong government support.
❖ Portugal lead trade throughout the Atlantic Ocean and then spread into the Indian Ocean.
❖ Portugal created trading posts on the coast of Africa
■ they traded with africans for gold and ivory. Later on they traded for captives to be slaves.
Sailors reach Asia
❖ The Portuguese people believed that if they wanted to reach Asia they would have to sail on the tip of Africa
■ Portuguese captain Bartolomeu Dias was the one that explored down the tip of Africa, later he encountered a huge storm that put of his exploration for days.
■ All of Dias ships were blown away so he considered exploring India but they were low on food supplies so he went home
❖ Vasco Da Gama continued Dias’ voyage to India■ He reached the southwest coast of india
and found spices, rare silks and gems; he came home and was considered a hero.
Spanish Exploration
❖ Christopher Columbus convinced spain to finance a plan to sail west across the Atlantic to reach Asia.
❖ He reached an island in the Caribbean in 1492, thinking he had reached Asia.
❖ This lead to the European Colonization of the Americas.
❖ There were tensions between Spain and Portugal so in 1493 Pope Alexander VI suggested an imaginary dividing line (line of Demarcation).
❖ All lands to the east of line would belong to Portugal and all land west would belong to Spain.
Portuguese Trading Empire ❖ The portuguese built a huge trading route throughout the
Indian Ocean■ As they took control over the Indian oceans they
started to take control of the spices from the Muslim merchants.
■ Later on in 1509 they took over the Indian ocean fully and they made the muslims leave.
❖ The building of the Fort Hormuz in 1514 helped strengthen the hold the Portuguese had on the Indian Ocean
■ It connected the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea so the Muslims had no way of reaching the Indian Ocean
❖ Later on 1510 the Portuguese captured Goa a port located on India’s west coast. It was made into the new capital for the trading empire
❖ The Portuguese sailed farther down to Indonesia(East Indies)
Cont.
❖ On their way to Goa a portuguese fleet attacked malacca and they accomplished seizing malacca
■ Malacca was very rich in spices so they became known as the Spice Islands
❖ Captain Afonso de albuquerque strived to crush the Muslims chance of participating in Asian trades
■ Portuguese accomplished breaking that tie ❖ Merchants brought back goods from Asia
■ The goods cost half the price of what they were sold from the Arabs and Italians, more europeans could afford it.
❖ This influenced the rest of Europe to create trade routes
Netherlands Dominates the Sea
❖ The Dutch Republic is also called the Netherlands.❖ Netherlands became a seapower.
■ had the largest fleet of ships in the world (20,000 vessels)
❖ The Dutch and English broke Portuguese control of Asia.
❖ Each nation formed an East India Company to establish trade
■ These companies had the power to mint money, make treaties and raise their own armies.
■ The Dutch East India Company drove out England dominated the region.
European Trade Outposts
❖ In 1619 the dutch made their own headquarters at Batavia on the island of Java
■ expanded west to conquer more islands■ While conquering the islands they conquered malacca
and the Spice island from the Portuguese ❖ Throughout the 1600 the Netherlands started to gain control
of the Indian Ocean■ Since there were many goods on the island,
Netherland’s nation capital Amsterdam, became the center of commercial.
■ They ruled most of Indonesia and Southwest Asia.
Cont. ❖ Britain and France also had gained
control in the region.■ They failed to get the larger
areas so English East India company focused more on establishing India.
■ they built a business on cloths in the European market
❖ France tried to do the same thing but the Duchess kept attacking them
■ They were successful but they weren't making profits like England
❖ Europeans continued to gain numerous port cities