Age of ExplorationTo what extent does the Age of Exploration represent a major change in the world?

Section 1- IntroductionOn November 16, 1532, two worlds came face to face in the highlands of Peru. On one side was a small band of Spanish soldiers, representing the most powerful kingdom in Europe. On the other was the massive Incan army, representing the greatest empire of the Americas. Although vastly outnumbered, the Spanish used superior weapons and the element of surprise to inflict a deadly blow on the Incas. They were able to capture the Incan emperor and conquer his empire. They went on to build their own empire stretching across the Americas east to west from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

A century before, these events would have been impossible for people of the time to imagine. In 1400, the people of Europe and the Americas knew nothing about each other’s lands. Much of the world was disconnected. Even large parts of Asia and Africa were shrouded in mystery for those not living there.

Over the next few centuries, however, many of the geographic and cultural barriers that divided the world came down. Europeans, in particular, traveled the globe, making discoveries and conquering new lands. They created networks of trade and cultural exchange that began to bring the world together. It was the first global age.

The conquest of the Americas triggered in an era of global encounters, bringing the disconnected regions of the world together. Although Europe emerged as the major political and economic force, this new power worked in connection with other emerging states such as India, China, and Persia. The peoples and cultures from these lands, along with those of Africa and the Americas, all helped to shape the new global world.

Section 2 - The Causes of European Exploration

Source: Teachers Curriculum Institute, adapted by Erik Andracek

Source: Wikipedia CommonsReplica of caravel ship introduced in mid-15th century for oceanic exploration

Why did European exploration begin to happen in the 1400s? Two main reasons stand out. First, Europeans of this time had several motives for exploring the world. A motive is a reason for doing something. Second, advances in knowledge and technology helped to make the Age of Exploration possible.

Motives for Exploration European states had various reasons to promote sea travel. A state is a nation or geographic area under the control of a single government.

The first motive was to increase trade. During the Crusades, Europeans had developed a taste for spices and other luxury goods from Asia. Muslim traders carried these goods to the eastern Mediterranean, where they sold them to Venetian merchants who then brought them to Europe. These goods were expensive because the various middlemen involved all made a profit. In addition, the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 put the trade routes at risk. European countries wanted to establish direct sea routes to Asia so they could reduce costs and gain better access to Asian goods.

A second motive for sea travel was to increase political and military power. During this time powerful states were created in Europe. Kings in Europe seized power from local lords to rule over an independent, geographic area. These king sruled over what we would think of today as a country. Increased trade and commerce would help European states accumulate wealth and pay for larger, more powerful armies. This, in turn, would give them an edge over their European rivals. Exploration also offered these states the chance to form overseas empires, thus adding to their wealth and power.

A third reason for sea travel had to do with ideas. European rulers, supported by the Catholic Church, wanted to spread their religious beliefs and win converts to Christianity. Some Europeans also wanted to learn more about the world.

Advances in Knowledge and Technology  The Age of Exploration began during the Renaissance. The Renaissance was a time of new learning. A number of advances during that time made it easier for explorers to venture into the unknown.

One key advance was in cartography, the art and science of mapmaking. In the early 1400s, an Italian scholar translated an ancient book called Guide to Geography from Greek into Latin. The book was written by the thinker Ptolemy (TOL-eh-mee) in the 2nd century C.E. Printed copies of the book inspired new interest in cartography. European mapmakers used Ptolemy’s work as a basis for drawing more accurate maps.

Source: Teachers Curriculum Institute, adapted by Erik Andracek

Source: SCEhardt/Wikipedia CommonsEurope’s Age of Exploration produced key advances in cartography. This map dates from the 1400s. How accurate is it compared to a modern map?

Discoveries by explorers gave mapmakers new information with which to work. The result was a dramatic change in Europeans’ view of the world. By the 1500s, Europeans made globes, showing Earth as a sphere. In 1507, a German cartographer made the first map that clearly showed North and South America as separate from Asia. In turn, better maps made navigation easier. The most important Renaissance geographer, Gerardus Mercator (mer-KAY-tur), created maps using improved lines of longitude and latitude. Mercator’s mapmaking technique was a great help to navigators.

An improved ship design also helped explorers. By the 1400s, Portuguese and Spanish shipbuilders were making a new type of ship called a caravel. These ships were small, fast, and easy to maneuver. Their special bottoms made it easier for explorers to travel along coastlines where the water was not deep. Caravels also used lateen sails, a triangular style adapted from Muslim ships. These sails could be positioned to take advantage of the wind no matter which way it blew.

Finally, improved weapons gave Europeans a huge advantage over the people they met in their explorations. Sailors could fire their cannons at targets near the shore without leaving their ships. On land, the weapons of native peoples often were no match for European guns, armor, and horses.

Portugal, a small nation with a long seafaring tradition, pioneered many of these innovations. The Portuguese developed a light, seaworthy ship called the caravel. This ship was nimble enough to slip into small bays but sturdy enough to travel long distances and carry heavy cannons. Portuguese sailors combined Arab knowledge of math and astronomy with their own practical experience of the sea. With the support of the Portuguese monarchy, they set off on voyages of discovery.

Section 3 - World Exploration

Europe’s Great Voyages For the reasons you read about, the Age of exploration was began by the Europeans. European explorers, paid for by their kings and queens, set off to find new trade routes. In the process, they also discovered the continents of North and South America.

Portuguese sailors began exploring to find a sea route to Asia by sailing south and east,

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around Africa. In 1488, a Portuguese ship rounded the tip of Africa. Ten years later, an expedition under Vasco Da Gama reached India. By 1510, the Portuguese had begun to establish forts and trading posts around the Indian Ocean. From there they moved on to the fabled Spice Islands of the East Indies. They established a base at Malacca, in present-day Malaysia, and another at Macao, in southern China. By 1520, they were the masters of the southern seas.

Meanwhile, Spain was launching its own voyages of exploration. Instead of heading east, however, the Spanish sailed west in the belief that Asia lay just across the Atlantic. In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas, claiming these lands for the Spanish crown. He thought he had reached the Indies, but later voyages proved him wrong. In 1519, another Spanish expedition, led by Ferdinand Magellan, set out to reach Asia by sailing around South America. Magellan crossed the Pacific, but was killed in the Philippines. One of his ships made it back to Spain, however, after a three-year journey. It was the first voyage to circle the globe.

Other European countries also sent expeditions across the Atlantic. The Portuguese arrived in Brazil in 1500 and later established a colony. The English, French, and Dutch came to North America and the Caribbean and formed colonies of their own. European states had extended their reach across the Atlantic and connected the Americas to the rest of the world.

Later, in the 1700s, the British sent expeditions into the Pacific Ocean. Captain James Cook explored and mapped Australia, New Zealand, and a number of Pacific islands, including Hawaii. He also landed on the west coast of North America. Cook’s voyages helped bring the Pacific region into the new global system.

The Impact of Exploration The impact of the age of exploration was profound. As a result of these discoveries, people began to have a better understanding of world geography and a more accurate view of the world. The world was also more connected. A world economy emerged as the world trading system nearly doubled. The movement of people, ideas, and technologies also increased dramatically. So did the transfer of plants, animals, and diseases, which had a major impact on the environment. This era also saw the growth of European power and influence. Europe’s cultural influence began to spread around the world. This process of westernization—the spread of European ideas and values—would become a defining feature of the modern era to come.

Section 4 The Columbian Exchange The Columbian Exchange was the transfer of plants, animals, diseases and ideas between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia after Columbus’ voyage. The Colombian Exchange brought many changes to the world. The diseases brought by Europeans to the Americas had disastrous effects on the Native Americans. Because Native Americans had no natural immunities to those diseases, many of them died. Many new people came to America (Europeans and Africans) that changed the governments and culture

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of the Americas forever. There was also a large exchange of crops and animals that benefited the people of America and Afro-Eurasia.

Food and Animals The Columbian Exchange had a major impact on the world’s cultures and environment. Without the Columbian Exchange, the Americas would not have had grains like wheat, rice, and oats. Nor would it have had livestock like horses, cattle, pigs, and sheep. These animals and foods benefited many Americans and made larger populations possible.

For its part, Europe would not have had foods such as potatoes, corn, beans, tomatoes, peppers, peanuts, squash, and chocolate. These crops had major nutritional benefits. Potatoes and corn, in particular, helped Europeans eat better and live longer. As a result, their populations increased.

Africa and Asia also partley benefited from the Columbian Exchange. Cassava, or manioc, a root crop native to Brazil, thrived (to thrive means to grow or develop very well) in the poor soils of Africa and nourished millions of Africans. Other crops, including sweet potatoes and chili peppers, became staple foods across Africa and Asia. In fact, more than a third of the crops grown in China today originally came from the Americas.

The exchange of plants and animals had negative effects, too. Some Old World plants grew out of control in the Americas. For example, clover, spinach, mint, and artichoke grew like weeds, choking out native species. Rats brought over on European ships became a plague across the Americas. Worst of all, many Old World diseases spread like wildfire, with deadly effects on Indian populations.

Death and Slavery Native Americans had no immunity to diseases that people of Europe and Asia had been contracting for thousands of years. They had never been exposed to smallpox, measles, influenza, and other illnesses common to the Old World. When these diseases arrived in the Americas, their impact was devastating. Indians began dying in horrifying numbers.

Scholars (highly educated people) estimate that during the 16th century Old World diseases killed at least 50 percent of the native population, amounting to tens of millions of people. Many died even before making contact with Europeans, as viruses spread from one community to another. It was, in the words of one scholar, “the greatest destruction of lives in human history.”

The spread of deadly disease made the European conquest of the Americas much easier. It weakened Indian resistance and opened up the land for European settlement. It also deprived the colonizers of native workers and harmed colonial economies. To remedy this problem, the colonies began to import black slaves from Africa. Spain brought the first African slaves to the West Indies in 1502. But the Atlantic slave trade really began with Portuguese shipments of slaves to Brazil in the mid-1500s. A century later, African slaves were working on plantations across the Americas.

Source: Teachers Curriculum Institute, adapted by Erik Andracek

Source: The Granger Collection, NYCAn illustration from a 16th-century Spanish history text shows Aztecs infected by smallpox contracted from the Spanish. During the 16th century, diseases from Europe killed at least 50 percent of the native population of the Americas.

Section 5 - The Movement of Religion and IdeasThe world of ideas expanded along with the growing connections brought on by exploration, empire building, and trade. As regions became more connected, ideas and religious beliefs spread more rapidly from place to place. This movement of ideas and religion also helped transform the world.

Spreading Faith Several major religions extended their global reach during this period. Christianity was spread to the Americas by European missionaries. In most cases, the religion of the natives would blend with Christian ideas.

Islam expanded during this period, too. The Ottomans carried Islam into southeastern Europe, while the Mughals did the same across much of India. Muslim traders and missionaries took Islam to the East Indies and Southeast Asia. They also continued to spread their faith across Africa.

In Asia, Buddhism gained a wider following. Mongols in Central Asia began converting to Tibetan Buddhism in the late 1500s. Buddhism also gained strength in China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia.

New Ideas in Europe  During this era, new ideas and ways of thinking also arose in Europe. Artists and thinkers of the Renaissance revived classical art and culture and helped shape new views of the world. They promoted humanism, a belief in the value of the individual. They combined religious faith with a secular interest in human society and the natural world.

By encouraging new ways of thinking, the Renaissance helped pave the way for the Reformation. This was a religious movement to change and reform the Christian Church. This movement gave birth to many religious wars and new Christian faiths.

Meanwhile, another major shift was taking place in the world of ideas. By the 1600s, scholars and thinkers inspired by the Renaissance and the discoveries of the global age had begun to study the natural world in new ways. They applied the power of reason to the observation of nature. This new approach to learning is known as the Scientific Revolution. Early scientists made key advances in astronomy, physics, biology, medicine, and many other fields. The methods and discoveries of science would have a profound impact on the world.

In the 1700s, European thinkers also turned their attention to the workings of society and government. They applied scientific principles to the study of human affairs, hoping to bring about a new age of reason. This school of thought was known as the Enlightenment. The enlightenment focused on promoting democratic rights and reforming the traditional government of a monarchy.

Source: Teachers Curriculum Institute, adapted by Erik Andracek

Source: Kevin Tietz | Dreamstime.comThe Catholic Church built many missions in Spanish America to convert American Indians to Christianity. This is Mission

Concepción in what is now San Antonio, Texas.

Source: Teachers Curriculum Institute, adapted by Erik Andracek