EXPLORING THE AMERICASSECTION 1: A CHANGING WORLD

MARCO POLO BIO

MARCO POLO JOURNEY

EXPANDING HORIZONS• Merchants could make a fortune selling goods

from the Orient

• Wealthy Europeans wanted cinnamon, pepper, cloves, silks, perfumes, and precious stones

• Goods were bought from Arab traders in the Middle East and sent by caravan back to Italian ports

• Arab merchants charged very high prices

• As demand for Asian goods increased, Europeans looked for their routes to the East that bypassed expensive Arab merchants

• If Europeans could buy spices and silks from the East directly, without going through Arab cities, they could earn huge profits

• They looked for alternatives to the overland route through the Middle East

TECHNOLOGY’S IMPACTBetter Maps

• Most maps were inaccurate because they were drawn from the impressions of traders and travelers

• Cartographers, or mapmakers, gradually improved their skills

• Better instruments were developed for navigating the oceans

• Sailors could determine their latitude while at sea with an astrolabe, an instrument that measure the position of stars.

• Acquired the magnetic compass, a Chinese invention that allowed sailors to determine their direction when they were far from land

• Parts of an Astrolabe

Better Ships• The stern rudder and the triangular sail made it

possible for ships to sail into the wind.

• The Portuguese developed the three-masted caravel which sailed faster and carried more cargo and food supplies.

• Could also float in shallow water allowing sailors to explore inlets and to sail their ships up to the beach

OTHER IMPORTANT WORLD POWERS- AFRICA

Ghana• Located between the salt

mines of the Sahara and gold mines of the south, this empire prospered

• Became Muslim as a result of their trading with North Africans• NA traded salt, cloth, and

brass for Ghana’s gold and salt

• Almoravids attacked Ghana and people found alternate trade routes to avoid violence- Ghana declined without trade

Mali• Developed their own

trade routes to the North Africans

• Their greatest king, Mansa Musa, made a pilgrimage to Mecca• Pilgrimage is a journey to

a holy place

• Returned to Mali with an architect who built great mosques- Muslim houses of worship

• Mali became an important center of Islamic art and learning

Songhai• Lived along the Niger

River and overcame the Mali empire

• Built a navy to control the Niger River and took over major trading city of Timbuktu

• Askiya Muhammad brought this empire to its height• Strengthened his country

and made it the largest in the history of West Africa

• Built many schools and encouraged European trade

BOOK JACKETS!

• Use information in this section to design a book jacket for Marco Polo’s book Travels. You will need to complete the following tasks:

• Design front cover (must include an appropriate illustration and the title)

• Write front flap copy about the author

• Write back cover about the book

EXPLORING THE AMERICAS

SECTION 2: EARLY EXPLORATION

SEEKING NEW TRADE ROUTES

Portugal• Did not have access

to a Mediterranean port, so wanted to find alternate route to China and India

• Also hoped to a more direct way to get West African gold

VoyagersBartholomeu Dias Vasco de Gama

* Explored southern Africa * First Portuguese

* Went around southern tip explorer to reach

of Africa India by going

* was renamed “Cape around Cape of

of Good Hope” Good Hope

Bartholomeu Dias

Spain (aka King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella) is jealous of Portugal and wants

to get in on the exploration game

+Christopher Columbus needs money to sponsor his rather expensive voyage

Columbus’ First Voyage

COLUMBUS’ FIRST VOYAGE

• In 1492, Columbus set out on his first voyage with 3 ships: the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria and a crew of about 90 men

• For Columbus to sail westward was for his fleet to sail into the unknown- after a month, crew began to worry

• Tensions were rising and mutiny began to settle on the minds of many crew members

• Scared of being overthrown, Columbus altered the ship’s log to convince the crew they had not traveled that far from home

LAND!!!!!!

• Two months after departure from Spain, the ship’s lookout shouted, “Tierra! Tierra!” (Land! Land!)

• They came upon an island (modern day Bahamas) and claimed it for Spain, naming it San Salvador

• Columbus and his crew believed that they were in the Indies and therefore named the natives they encountered “Indians”.

• Once returned to Spain, he was received as a hero and given the title “Admiral of the Ocean Sea.”

COLUMBUS SAILS AGAIN

• Makes 3 more voyages from Spain- one to the islands of Hispaniola (present day Dominican Republic and Haiti), one to Cuba and Jamaica, and one along the coasts of Central and South America

• Originally thought he was in Asia, but realized late he had found an unknown part of the globe

• In the years following Columbus’ voyages, Spain explored most of the Caribbean region

• Subsequent explorations established the Spanish Empire in the Americans

EXPLORING AMERICA• Amerigo Vespucci: explored the

coastline of South America and determined that it was a continent, NOT part of Asia

• Vasco Nunez de Balboa: governor of Panama and first man to climb the mountains and see the waters of the Pacific Ocean (from the Americas)

AROUND THE WORLD

• Ferdinand Magellan: hired to find a way around South America and to Asia

• Led an expedition around South America

• Discovered a strait at the tip of South America that is now named for him, The Strait of Magellan

• Took four months to cross the Pacific Ocean and reach Asia

• Magellan was killed in a small battle in the Philippines, but remaining members of crew continued on

• Only one of the five original ships and 18 of the original 200 crew members returned 3 years later

• 1st men to circumnavigate the world

DIFFERING PERSPECTIVESIn your notebooks, please write two short stories in response to this prompt:

1. Imagine that you are an explorer who arrived in America with Columbus. Describe the people and climate you encounter in America. Compare the way people live in America to your way of life in Europe.

2. Imagine that you are an American native. Describe the people you see as Columbus and his crew arrive. What do you see? How are they dressed? What did they bring with them? Compare the way these men live to your way of life in America.

3. On the back of your paper, create a Venn diagram which compares and contrasts the two ways of living- European and American

Each response should be ½- ¾ a page long. Please include one visual per response.

EXPLORING THE AMERICAS

SECTION 3: SPAIN IN AMERICA

SPANISH CONQUISTADORS• Spanish explorers in America were known as conquistadors

• Explored and established settlements in the Americas in exchange for giving Spain 1/5 of any gold or treasure they discovered

• Hernan Cortes landed on the coast of what is now known as Mexico looking for gold and glory

• Soon ran into the great Aztec Empire and its capital of Tenochtitlan

• Was welcomed by Aztec emperor, Montezuma and given food and shelter

• Cortes took advantage of hospitality and took Montezuma as his prisoner

• After many long and bloody battles, the Spanish eventually seized control and the Aztec empire disintegrated

• Francisco Pizarro sailed down Pacific coast of South America, found the Inca Empire, quickly captured its ruler, Atahualpa, and destroyed much of their army

• Falsely accused Atahualpa of crimes and executed him

• Without a leader, the Inca were not able to fight effectively

• Within only a few years, Pizarro had gained control of the vast Inca Empire

WHY WAS SPAIN SO SUCCESSFUL?!?!1. The Spanish arrived with strange and

advanced weapons- guns and cannons

• Also rode horses and had huge ferocious dogs

2. Many Native Americans hated their Aztec overlords and assisted the conquistadors in overthrowing them

3. Disease played an extremely large role in the Spanish conquest

• Native Americans had no immunity to the diseases Europeans had brought with them

• Epidemics of smallpox and other diseases wiped out entire communities and did much to weaken the resistance

SPAIN IN NORTH AMERICA

• Juan Ponce de Leon made the first Spanish landing on the mainland of North America, arriving on the coast of present-day Florida

• He hoped to find not only gold and riches, but the legendary fountain of youth, “a spring of running water of such marvelous virtue” that drinking it “make old men young again”

• His exploration led to the establishment of the first Spanish settlement in what is now the United States, Saint Augustine

• Hernando de Soto led an expedition to explore Florida in search of the legendary “The Seven Cities of Cibola”- seven cities with walls of emerald and streets of gold

• As they traveled, they took advantage of the natives, usually taking the chief hostage and demanding food and supplies

• Francicsco Vasquez de Coronado also led an expedition in search of the seven cities

• Traveled through present-day Arizona and New Mexico

• Never found any gold, but discovered strange “shaggy cows” (buffalo)

SPANISH RULETHE PLANTATION

SYSTEM• To raise the main exports, tobacco

and sugar cane, the Spanish developed the plantation system

• A Spanish priest, Bartolome de Las Casas suggested replacing Native American workers with Africans

• Soon the Spanish were bringing thousands from West Africa

• Plantation slave labor eventually became an essential part of the economy

SOCIAL CLASS• Upper class (peninsulares)- consisted

of people who had been born in Spain

• Owned the land, served in the Catholic Church, ran the local government

• Creoles- people born in the Americas to Spanish parents

• Mestizos- people with Spanish and Native American parents

• Native Americans- most lived in poverty

• Enslaved Africans

• Spaniards established three kinds of settlements:

1. Pueblos (towns)

2. Missions (religious communities that usually included a small town, surrounding farmland, and a church)

3. Presidio (fort, usually built near a mission)

EXPLORING THE AMERICAS

SECTION 4: EXPLORING NORTH AMERICA

A DIVIDED CHURCH

• Martin Luther, a German priest, broke away from Catholicism to begin his own Christian Church

• His protests were the beginning of a great religious and historical movement known as the Protestant Reformation

• John Calvin, a French religious thinker, also broke away from the Catholic Church

• Rejected the idea that good works would ensure a person’s salvation

• King Henry VIII also left the Catholic Church as Pope Clement VII had refused his request to declare his first marriage invalid

• Denied the authority of the pope and recognized the king as the head of the Church of England

ECONOMIC RIVALRY• The promise of great wealth was another factor pushing European nations across the Atlantic Ocean

• According to the economic theory of mercantilism, a nation’s power was based on its wealth

• Increased rivalry between nations

• Several countries in Europe competed for overseas territory that could produce wealth

• Wanted to acquire colonies in the Americas that could provide valuable resources, such as gold and silver, or other materials

• The voyages of Columbus and other explorers brought two parts of the globe together that had previously not had any contact

• This contact led to the exchange of plants, animals, and diseases and is known as the Columbian Exchange

A NORTHWEST PASSAGE• Because the voyage to Asia (either around the southern tip of Africa

or around South America) was long and difficult, England, France, and the Netherlands hoped to discover a quicker way

• The three countries searched for a Northwest Passage to Asia- a more direct water route through the Americas

• England sent John Cabot (an Italian) to look for a northern route to Asia

• Probably landed on present-day Newfoundland

• France Giovanni da Verrazano (an Italian) to look for their northern route

• He explored the coast of North America from present-day Nova Scotia down to the Carolinas

• France also sent Jacques Cartier (an actual Frenchman) who sailed up the St. Lawrence River hoping it would lead to the Pacific

• Voyage got as far as Hochelaga and named the mountain Mont-Royal, which is now the city of Montreal

THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND….HENRY HUDSON

• The Netherlands wanted in on the action too and thus sent Henry Hudson (an Englishman) to the Americas

• On his first voyage, he discovered the river that is now named after him, the Hudson River

• On his second voyage (this time sailing for England), he discovered a huge bay of water, also now named after him, the Hudson Bay

• At first, Hudson and crew thought they had reached the Pacific Ocean

• Spent months trying to find an outlet and crew finally mutinied against him

• Crew put Hudson, his son, and few of his supporters adrift in a small boat, never to be seen again

HUDSON’S MUTINY

FRANCE TRADES FURS

• France had enough troubles at home that they did not desire settlement in the Americas, but rather a place to make money from the business of trade• In 1608, sent Samuel de Champlain to establish a

settlement in Quebec and trade fur with the Native Americans

• From there, the French moved to other parts of Canada, where they built trading posts to collect furs from Native Americans and French trappers

• Trappers were called coureurs de bois, meaning “runners of the woods”

DUTCH SETTLEMENTS • Henry Hudson’s voyage became the start for Dutch claims on the continent

• In 1621, the Dutch West India Company set up a trading colony- New Netherland- in the area Hudson had explored

• In 1624, the company sent 30 more families to settle the area

• The center of this new colony was New Amsterdam, located on the tip of Manhattan Island

• In 1626, they purchased the island and its surrounding areas for 60 Dutch guilders

• This area is now known as New York City