CH. 2 NEW EMPIRES IN AMERICA1450-1750

SECTION 1Early Voyages of Exploration

THE SEARCH FOR A SEA ROUTE• Italian city of Venice held monopoly (sole control)

• Over European trade with Asia• Silk Road, shipped across Mediterranean Sea

• Other European nations wanted share of this trade

• Goal: Find sea route to the East (Asia)

• Portugal Led the Way

BARTOLOMEU DIAS1487 Portuguese captain• led expedition along African coast• Found Southern tip of Africa

• “Cape of Good Hope” • Trading post created

• Traded cloth, armor, and guns for gold, ivory, and slaves

• Europeans felt it acceptable to enslave non-Christians• Enslaved Africans worked on farms

in colonies

COLUMBUS’S BOLD IDEA• Christopher Columbus –

experienced Italian sailor from Genoa

• Convinced he could reach Asia by sailing West on Atlantic

• King Ferdinand, Queen Isabella of Spain funded his voyage• Claim any land for Spain, take

riches

COLMBUS’S VOYAGES1492-1504

COLUMBUS• Landed in Bahamas• Called island San Salvador “Holy

Savior”• Believed it was China or Japan

• Explored other islands• Called inhabitants Indians

• Brought plants, animals, some gold

• Returned to Spain

EUROPEANS LEARN OF COLUMBUS’ VOYAGE

• King Ferdinand convinced Pope Alexander to gain Spain all founded territory

• Line of Demarcation – the boundary of Spain’s exploration and monopoly rights• All land west of the line would

belong to Spain and lands east to Portugal

• 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas• Spain and Portugal agreed to

move line farther West

• Gave Portugal rights to all of eastern Africa and Brazil

SECTION 1 REVIEW• Did the Spanish think that

Columbus’s first voyage was a success? Explain.

• Do you believe Columbus’s voyage was a success? Explain.

• Section 1 Review • Qs 1, 3, 4

SECTION 2Europe Looks to the Americas

EARLY EXPLORATIONS• Portugal’s King Manuel

• Believed best route to Asia was Eastern sea route• Follow Bartolomeu Dias’s course south and east around Africa

• King chose Vasco da Gama to lead • 1498 da Gama’s fleet rounded Africa’s Cape of Good Hope• Sailed to India thru Indian Ocean

• Portuguese built trade forts in Africa, India, & China

VESPUCCI

• Amerigo Vespucci – 1501 Italian explorer

• Reached coast of South America• Believed he found new land, not

China• German mapmaker created large

map showing new continents based on Vespucci’s writings

• Labeled them “America”

• Europeans realized Asia lay beyond Americas to the West

• Vasco de Balboa – Spanish explorer

• Landed in Panama • Told of a “South Sea”

FERDINAND MAGELLAN

• Portuguese sea captain• Learned of Balboa’s “South Sea”• Convinced he could sail west to

Asia by way of South Sea 1519

• Found the Strait of Magellan• Strait – narrow sea passage

• Led to the Pacific Ocean

• Landed in the Philippines• Killed in battle (helped Philippines

w/ war)• Magellan’s crew then

circumnavigated – or sailed completely around the earth

THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE• “Old World” – Europe, Asia, and

Africa• “New World” – the Americas

• The Columbian Exchange – the transfer of plants, animals and diseases between the Old World and the New World.

• The Exchange changed the world dramatically

• Europeans brought smallpox, measles, and typhus to the New World

• Natives had not developed an immunity, staggering loss of life