AGE OF EXPLORATION (15TH C-17TH C)The period was called age of exploration due to the series of navigations and explorations that took place. Spain, Portugal, France, Great Britain, Netherlands led in the expansion of trade routes beyond the Europe and Asia and North Africa.

INTRODUCTION

The Age of Exploration was one of the developments in Europe during the Renaissance period.

The Europeans in Western Europe explored new routes going to Asia because of:-trade and commerce (spices, slaves and silk)-look for gold-spread religion

They were also inspired by the information brought back by the crusaders, travels of Marco Polo and stories from the Oriental traders.

Western Europeans wanted to go to the East by exploring the other side of the earth to avoid the trade routes dominated by the Ottoman Turks in the eastern Mediterranean.

The Portuguese and Spaniards ventured into the “unknown world” to the Europeans

Their navigations and explorations lead to expansion of foreign territories, colonization, migration of slaves, exploitation of indigenous culture, expansion of religion among others

FACTORS THAT MADE NAVIGATION BEYOND THE MEDITERRANEAN POSSIBLE

Caravel ship Navigational instruments Improved maps

The use of magnetic needles, astrolabe, quadrant, nautical tables and maps. The nautical tables were helpful in charting the tides.

The Map became an important tool in charting location, directions and distance. The use of the Mercator map

EXPLORATIONS UNDER PORTUGAL

Prince Henry the Navigator – built a school for navigation, mapmaking and ship building. Wanted to explore western Africa. Reached Madeira (1419), and Azores (1427).

Prince Henry wanted to explore the west coast of Africa to establish trade relations. The trade between the Mediterranean and West Africa is link by the land trade route in northern Africa via Sahara dominated by the Muslims. Prince Henry wanted a direct sea trade route going to West Africa.

They overcome Cape Bojador (Morocco); establish gold trade and slave trade in Senegal; took control of Cape Verde (near Senegal).

Bartolomew Diaz (1487) – sailed the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa.

Vasco da Gama (1498) – opened a sea route to India by sailing southward around the Cape of Good Hope chartered earlier by Diaz then eastward to India.

Alfonso de Albuquerque – took control of Hormuz (1507), spice distributing center in the Persian Gulf. Controlled Goa (1510) in India, reached Malacca Strait and took control of Malacca (1511) an Islamic empire in SEA

Traded with Japan The Portuguese built forts and colonies in

Elmina (Ghana), Sao Tome, Principe (first sugar producing colony), Luanda (Angola), Mozambique, Zanzibar (Tanzania), Mombasa (Kenya), Socotra (Yemen), Ormuz (Persian Gulf), Calcutta (India), Goa (India), Bombay (India), Malacca (Malaysia), Macau (China), and Timor (Indonesia)

They concentrated on the coastal areas.

EXPLORATION UNDER SPAIN

Ferdinand Magellan – initiated the circumnavigation of the earth. Juan Sebastian del Cano completed the first circumnavigation (1522).

Christopher Columbus – wanted to go to the East by sailing west. He thought the Caribbean was already Asia. Called the natives Indians. He made four voyages in the Caribbean (1492), (1493), (1498), (1502). Reached Jamaica, Haiti, Bahamas, Cuba, Venezuela, Honduras and Panama. First to view the continent of South America.

Vasco Nunez de Balboa – discovered the Pacific Ocean after crossing the Panama Isthmus and saw the ocean’s calm water (1513).

Hernando Cortez – (1519) discovered the Aztec in Mexico

Francisco Pizarro – (1535) overthrew the Incas in Peru (stayed in Panama and went to Peru)

Amerigo Vespucci – (Italian but naturalized Spaniard); followed Columbus in looking for a route to the East

Martin Waldseemuller – In (1507) made map and wrote America to illustrate the New World.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SPANISH VOYAGES

Introduction of the Philippines to the world. Finding a new route going to the east by

crossing the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean.

Exploited the Incas and Aztec civilizations Spice trade Exchange of culture took place

ISSUES BETWEEN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

Territorial demarcation – Treaty of Tordesillas Changing loyalties – some served foreign

countries Exploited indigenous cultures – Aztecs and

Incas Slave trade from Africa to the Americas and

Europe

DUTCH VOYAGES

William Barents discovered the island of Spitsbergen Svalbard.

Abel Janszoon Tasman sailed south in the Indain Ocean, he explored the southern coast of Australia and in 1642 discovered the island now known as Tasmania. Traveling farther east, he eventually came upon New Zealand.

ENGLISH VOYAGES

John Cabot – he sailed westward and reached the northeastern part of North America from Cape Hatteras to Newfoundland

Francis Drake – the first Englishman to sail around the earth. Sailed to the Pacific by the Strait of Magellan then sailed north along the west coast of South and North America, turned back. He returned to England by the way of the Philippines and the Cape of Good Hope.

Walter Raleigh – mapped a large part of the Atlantic Coast of Americas. He is usually credited for bringing the idea of smoking tobacco back to England.

Henry Hudson – continued to search for the northwest passage. In 1610, he discovered the great bay which bears his name.

William Baffin – reached 780 North in the narrow water between Greenland and Ellesmere Island

James Cook – an experienced navigator and surveyor, he reached the Pacific Ocean and settled in some of the islands like Tahiti, and reached Antarctica, discovered Hawaii, explored Alaska, Bering Strait and Australia.

FRENCH VOYAGES

Giovanni Da Verrazano and Italian explorer in the service of France , he became the first person to enter New York harbor.

Jacques Cartier – explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Gaspe peninsula and on his second voyage went up to St. Lawrence to the site of Montreal. He proved that the river is not a passage going to Asia.

FAMOUS EXPLORATIONS

Probably the first European landfall in N. America

Leif Ericson (Norseman)

Travels in Central Asia and China ( 1271-1295)

Marco Polo (Italian)

Voyage around the Cape of Good Hope (1487)

Bartholomeu Diaz (Portuguese)

Exploration of the Caribbean (1492-1504)

Christopher Columbus (Italian)

Landfall in Canada (1497) John Cabot (Italian)

First to sail around Africa to India (1497-1498)

Vasco da Gama (Portuguese)

First sea journey around the world (1519-1521)

Hernando Cortes (Spanish)

Conquest and exploration of Peru (1530-1538)

Francisco Pizarro (Spanish)

Discovery of Tasmania and New Zealand (1642)

Abel Janszoon Tsman (Dutch)

Exploration of the South Pacific (1768-1779)

James Cook (English)

Exploration of Southern and Central Africa (1841-1873)

David Livingstone (Scottish)

First north-south crossing of Australia (1860-1861)

Robert O’Hara Burke (Irish)

Exploration of Central Africa (1874-1889)

Henry Morton Stanley (Welsh)

First man to reach North Pole (1909)

Richard Peary (American)

First man to reached South Pole (1911)

Roald Amundsen (Norwegian)

First man to orbit the Earth (1961)

Yuri Gagarin (Russian)

First man to step on the moon (1969)

Neil Armstrong (American)