Name ___________________________________

AE.3 a & b

For your test, you will need to know the following things:

The hazards the explorers faced in their travels

The reasons they ignored the hazards their motivation to explore

The results of their explorations

The Indians ideas about the world before the Explorers came and how they interacted with the Europeans

How the Indians were affected by their coming to America

Know which country each explorer represented and where each explorer claimed land in the New World for his home country

Marco Polo

Occupation: Explorer and Traveler

Born: Venice, Italy in 1254

Died: January 8, 1324 Venice, Italy

Best known for: European traveler to China and the Far East

Biography:

Marco Polo was a merchant and explorer who traveled throughout the Far East and China for much of his life. His stories were the basis for what much of Europe knew about Ancient China for many years. He lived from 1254 to 1324.

Where did he grow up?

Marco was born in Venice, Italy in 1254. Venice was a wealthy trading city and Marco's father was a merchant.

The Silk Road

The Silk Road referred to a number of trade routes between major cities and trading posts that went all the way from Eastern Europe to Northern China. It was called the Silk Road because silk cloth was the major export from China.

Not many people traveled the entire route. Trading was mostly between cities or small sections of the route and products would slowly make their way from one end to the other trading hands several times.

Marco Polo's father and uncle wanted to try something different. They wanted to travel all the way to China and bring the goods directly back to Venice. They thought they could make their fortune this way. It took them nine years, but they finally made it home.

When did he first travel to China?

Marco first left for China when he was 17 years old. His father and uncle decided to return. They had met the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan during their first trip and had told him they would return. Kublai was leader over all of China at the time.

Where did he travel?

It took Marco Polo three years to get to China. Along the way he visited many great cities and saw many sites including the holy city of Jerusalem, the mountains of the Hindu Kush, Persia, and the Gobi Desert. He met a lot of different types of people and had many adventures.

Living in China

Marco lived in China for many years and learned to speak the language. He traveled throughout China as a messenger and spy for Kublai Khan. He even traveled far to the south to where Myanmar and Vietnam are today. During these visits he learned about different cultures, foods, cities, and peoples. He saw many places and things that no one from Europe had ever seen before.

Marco was fascinated by the wealth and luxury of the Chinese cities and of Kublai Khan's court. It was nothing like he had experienced in Europe. The capital city of Kinsay was large, but well organized and clean. Wide roads and huge civil engineering projects like the Grand Canal were well beyond anything he had experienced back home. Everything from the food to the people to the animals, like orangutans and rhinos, were new and interesting.

How do we know about Marco Polo?

After twenty years of traveling, Marco, along with his father and uncle, decided to head home to Venice. They left home in 1271 and finally returned in 1295. A few years after returning home, Venice fought a war with the city of Genoa. Marco was put under arrest. While he was under arrest, Marco told detailed stories of his journeys to a writer named Rustichello who wrote them all down in a book called The Travels of Marco Polo.

There were very few copies of The Travels of Marco Polo, since they all had to be done by hand. In the mid-1400s more of these books were printed they became very popular. It was translated into multiple languages and read throughout Europe.

During the 1400s there were a lot of nomads and marauders on the Silk Road. This made traveling very dangerous. With each robbery and murder of the traders moving the goods back and forth, people realized they needed to be able to go to the Far East by way of water.

Two Hundred Years Later

The Age of Exploration (also called the Age of Discovery) began in the 1400s and continued through the 1600s. It was a period of time when the European nations began exploring the world. They discovered new routes to India, much of the Far East, and the Americas. The Age of Exploration took place at the same time as the Renaissance.

Why explore?

Outfitting an expedition could be expensive and risky. Many ships never returned. So why did the Europeans want to explore? The simple answer is money. Although, some individual explorers wanted to gain fame or experience adventure, the main purpose of an expedition was to make money.

How did expeditions make money?

Expeditions made money primarily by discovering new trade routes for their nations. When the Ottoman Empire captured Constantinople in 1453, many existing trade routes to India and China were shut down. These trade routes were very valuable as they brought in expensive products such as spices and silk. New expeditions tried to discover oceangoing routes to India and the Far East.

Some expeditions became rich by discovering gold and silver, such as the expeditions of the Spanish to the Americas. They also found new land where colonies could be established and crops such as sugar, cotton, and tobacco could be grown.

Henry the Navigator

The Age of Exploration began in the nation of Portugal under the leadership of Henry the Navigator. Henry sent out ships to map and explore the west coast of Africa. They went further south than any previous European expedition and mapped much of western Africa for the Portuguese. In 1488, Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to sail around the southern tip of Africa and into the Indian Ocean.

Christopher Columbus

Soon the Spanish wanted to find a trade route to the Far East. Explorer Christopher Columbus thought that he could sail west, across the Atlantic Ocean, to China. He could not get the Portuguese to fund his expedition, so he went to the Spanish. Spanish monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand agreed to pay for Columbus' trip. In 1492 Columbus discovered the New World of the Americas.

Portugal and Spain

Portugal and Spain became the early leaders in the Age of Exploration. Through the Treaty of Tordesillas the two countries agreed to divide up the New World. Spain got most of the Americas while Portugal got Brazil, India, and Asia.

Spain sent over conquistadors to explore the Americas and to conquer the peoples there. Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico and Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire in Peru. They made Spain rich with the gold and silver they found in the Americas.

Portugal sent out Vasco da Gama who found a trade route around the southern tip of Africa and to India. They also explored much of the Far East and were the first Europeans to establish a trading colony in China at Macau.

Colonies

Other countries such as Great Britain and the Netherlands established colonies in the New World. Eventually Great Britain would surpass all of the European nations in terms of the size of their world wide empire including the thirteen colonies in the Americas that later became the United States.

Geography

The Age of Exploration was one of the most important times in the history of world geography. A significant portion of the unknown world was mapped during this short period. Also, many advances were made in navigation and mapping which helped future explorers and travelers.

Interesting Facts about the Age of Exploration

During the Age of Exploration Europeans referred to the entire area of Southeast Asia and India as the "East Indies".

The first expedition to circle the globe was led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. Unfortunately, Magellan was killed during the expedition and did not complete the voyage.

Some areas of the world were not fully mapped or discovered until well after the Age of Exploration including Eastern Australia, the interior of Africa, the Arctic, and the Antarctic.

Many explorers such as Captain James Cook and Sir Francis Drake searched for a Northwest Passage to East Asia, but it wasn't until 1906 that explorer Roald Amundsen completed the journey.

The first Americans are believed to have arrived in North

America over 10,000 years ago. They crossed a land bridge

that existed between Asia and North American in the area that

is now the Bering Straits. The Native Americans developed

individual groups or nations. It is estimated that when the first Europeans arrived in 1492 there were 15 to 20 million Native Americans living in the land. They spoke over 1,000 languages.

Native Americans believed in the power of the spirits. The spirits were found in nature. Their religious leaders were called Shamans. Native Americans believed that people should live in harmony with nature. They did not believe that people should own land because the land belonged to everyone.

The Race is On!

TheRenaissanceled directly to the Age of Exploration. Italy dominated the Mediterranean. Other European powers envied the Venetians and Genoese their leadership position in trade with the East.It was a lucrative trade that originated on the far side of Asia and came through Arab traders of the Middle East. Other Europeans wanted to get a piece of this action. Their imagination was further excited by the travels of a gentleman from Italy namedMarco Polowho had seen the wonders of the East and co-authored a popular book about his experiences. The Portuguese were the first power to determine that there might be a better way to these Asian markets than the long, arduous caravan routes over land.

They understood that it wasfar less expensive to transport goods by sea. A route might be far longe by sea; nevertheless, it could be vastly more lucrative. Although the huge continent of Africa was in the way, the Portuguese believed it could be gotten around. With the encouragement and financial support ofPrince Henry the NavigatorPortuguese sailors began to work their way down the coast of Africa, and in the process found that by establishing "factories" (really trading stations) along the coast they could turn a profit that

would finance furtherexploration.

Spices Spur Sailors

But what was it that the Portuguese were after? The answer: Spices such as cloves,vanilla,cinnamon, andpepperthat could not be grown in Europe. Some were produced on only a few islands in the Indian or Pacific oceans.Teawas another delicacy craved by the Europeans. Whoever could control the trade of these items would become rich. A single successful trade voyage to the orient would bring back untold riches.

Would you sail into the unknown?

It is a gray morning in 1430. You are standing on a dock in the European country of Portugal, staring out at the mysterious Atlantic Ocean. You have been asked to go on a voyage of exploration. Yet, like most people at the time, you have no idea what lies beyond the horizon. The maps that have been drawn show some of the dangers you might face. And youve heard the terrifying stories of sea monsters and shipwrecks (see map below). You also have heard that riches await those who help explore and claim new lands. Now, you must decide whether to go.

When Christopher Columbus set out in 1492 to seek a route to the riches of Asia, there was much that was misunderstood about the world and the seas outside Europe.

Columbus' flagship "Santa Maria" - Mercatomuseum, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium

It was this unknown element that made voyages of exploration so dangerous. Before the end of the 15th century, European sailors had never crossed the oceans or encountered the mighty ocean currents, mountainous rollers and violent storms.

The geographical knowledge of the time was unsuited to world exploration. In the first place, no one knew for certain that the world was round. The Polish astronomer Niklaus Copernicus said it was and Columbus himself believed it. Nevertheless, many people thought the world was flat, and some sailors imagined they would fall over the edge if they sailed too far out to sea.

There were several important facts geographers did not know. How wide was the Atlantic Ocean? Until he crossed it, not even Columbus knew for certain. How wide was the Pacific? Again, no one knew until the ships of Ferdinand Magellans fleet traversed it in 1520-1522.

How long was the coast of Africa? Vasco da Gama had no idea when he set out from Portugal in 1497 to sail the sea route from to Asia. Da Gama did not know, either, how far away India was.

Explorers also set out into the unknown oceans without proper sea charts or navigational equipment. The charts used for sailing around Europe and in the Mediterranean were plane charts on which the meridians were mainly shown as parallel to each other.

Over short distance this did not matter very much. It was very different, though, when explorers embarked on voyages lasting many weeks and covering very long distances out of sight of land.

These problems were not solved until the Flemish geographer Gerhardus Mercator provided sailors with a chart especially designed for ocean voyaging. But Mercator did not produce his map until 1569, long after the voyages Columbus, Magellan, Vasco da Gama and other early explorers took place.

Getting lost at sea during the Middle Ages often ended in tragedy as sailors ran out of provisions before finding land. Cloudy skies blocking the sun and North Star could cause even the most experienced seamen such as Christopher Columbus to fall disoriented and drifting.

Sailors spent many days at sea -- so they had to take food with them that would last. There was no fresh food. They preserved food by drying, salting, smoking and pickling. They took food which kept naturally, like nuts. Food was often infested with worms, and rats left their droppings in it. Other creatures like weevils got into food too.

Since sailors did not eat fresh food they often had vitamin deficiency. These led to diseases like scurvy making their teeth fall out and giving them lots of sores.

When water is stored at room temperature for a long time it gets fetid. That means it gets foul smells bad and tastes bad, and it gets slime growing on top of it. The sailors had no choice but to drink this disgusting water and be glad to have it because when that ran out, they were REALLY in trouble.

Sailing Technology

Before the 1400s such voyages were nearly impossible. Weather conditions on the ocean made sea travel extremely hazardous. High winds and storms could easily destroy ships large enough to carry a cargo. The other problem was navigation. How could sailing masters find their way around on an endless sea pushed by capricious winds and unseen currents? If they got off course, how could they figure out which way they should go? Another problem was that navigators follow maps. Because no one had sailed east from Europe, no maps had been drawn of this area of the world. To make matters worse, a Greek map maker had actually drawn a map of

the world in about 300 B.C. His map

made Africa about a third of its actual size and did not include

North America, South America, Australia,or Antarctica. This meant he said the world was less than half its

actual size. Another issue was food and water for the trip. They

did not have any means of refrigeration and so they could not have any

fresh food. Water goes bad after a while, so even their water supply would go bad.

Technology during the late fifteenth century finally allowed European sailors to face these hazards. A sturdy ship called thecaravelwas invented, with multiple masts that could take advantage of whatever wind was available. Use of thecompassallowed navigators to determine basic direction. The magnetic compass became one of the most important navigational tools. Its needle worked with magnetized lode-stones to determine a ship's direction. Some believed the needle had mystical powers incurred from black magic or the devil himself, but the superstition did not prevent the magnetic compass from being used extensively by those sailing across unknown waters.

Just as important as the compass, thesextantcould measure the angle of an astral body from the horizon. This allowed navigators to solve half the problem of fixing a position at sea. Now a good navigator could at least determine vessel's latitude. (It would take several centuries before exact longitude could be determined.)

Spanish Exploration of the New World

The year 1492 was a really good one for Spain. For much of the last several hundred years, the Muslims had controlled parts of the Iberian Penninsula upon which she was situ ated. Two Spanish monarchs, Isabellaof Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, united through marriage and policy, determined to reconquer territories lost to Muslim expansion.

The subsequent wars became known as the Reconquista. These wars absorbed tremendous resources from Spain, so that while Portugal was exploring the coast of Africa, her neighbor was fighting battles. This was one reason Spain was reluctant to gamble on a proposed voyage byColumbusto seek a new route to China. Yet in 1492 the Spanish completed the Reconquista by taking the southern city of Granada. Suddenly resources were available. A spirit of optimism was in the air. Spain tallied up the cost and found that sending three ships on a voyage into the unknown was about as expensive as entertaining a foreign dignitary for a few weeks. They had seen the benefits from exploration accruing to the Portuguese. Queen Isabella decided to take a chance on Columbus. She and Ferdinand were very religious people and she wanted him to help convert the Indian people to Christianity.

Columbus, with three ships,the Nia, the Pinta, and the Santa Mariafamously sailed west to find the Far East. Columbus made four voyages. In the course of them, he never reached China or Japan.

However, he ran smack into lands previously unknown in Europe. He claimed them for his patron Isabella, the Queen of Castile. Publication of his discoveries sparked a race for colonies in this New Worldthat lasted for the next two centuries.

At first the Spanish expeditions did not show very much profit, but soon silver mines were discovered.

Then gold began to pour into Spain from Mexico City and the conquered Inca Empire. The Portuguese struck it rich with their attempts to go around Africa when Vasco Da Gama not only rounded the Cape of Good Hope, but in 1498 reached Calcutta India where his ship took on a cargo of spices. These successes interested other nations in exploration. The British were especially keen.

Soon the English began to set up colonies in the Caribbean and North America, especially at Plymouth in New England and Jamestown in Virginia. They also moved into India.

Meanwhile in the early 1600s the French under Champlain were busy constructing a colony in present-day Canada called New France. Champlainwas an able administrator and diplomat. Through his efforts New France became one of the few colonies that got along well with the native population. Champlain found wealth for France, not from gold or spices, but from the lucrative fur trade.

Francisco Vzquez de Coronado

(1510-1554)

He came to the Americas at the age of twenty-five as an assistant to New Spain's first viceroy.

Inspired by rumors of seven cities of gold and the travels of Cabeza de Vaca, Coronado led a royal expedition of about 300 Spanish soldiers, over 1,000 Tlaxcalan Indians, and enormous herds of livestock north into what is now the American West.

Coronado and his men found no gold in the Zuni pueblos, which drove them to make even more difficult journeys.

Coronado sent out parties that ranged all the way to the Colorado River on the present border between California and Arizona, exploring the Grand Canyon and much of what is now New Mexico. Coronado himself led a party in search of the city of Quivira and its mythic riches, into what is now Kansas, but found only a small village of what were probably Wichita Indians.

Although he failed in his quest for treasure to enrich the Spanish empire, Francisco Vzquez de Coronado led one of the most remarkable European explorations of the North American interior.

Robert La Salle

Ren-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, or Robert de La Salle was a French explorer. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico.

Ren-Robert Cavelier was born on November 21, 1643, in Rouen, France. La Salle led an expedition in 1669 in which he is alleged (by others, he never made this claim himself) to have reached the Ohio River and followed it downstream to as far as what is now Louisville, Kentucky.

Treatment of the Natives

Much is made of the cruelty of the colonizers to the native inhabitants during this time period. It is true that native populations were exploited economically and devastated by disease.

Why were the Europeans able to so effectively over-run huge native empires and powerful Indian tribes, including the Aztec, the Inca, and the Iroquois? The answer, of course, is two-fold. First, the diseases incidentally carried by Europeans were far harder on the native populations than the diseases they gave back to the Europeans. But more importantly, the Europeans hadvastly superior technology in weapons, tactics, and maneuverability. This technological advantage allowed small numbers of Europeans to overcome huge native armies. Ultimately, it was guns, horses, and dogs that allowed Cortezto conquer the Aztecs.

The effect the Europeans had on the American Indians

When the Europeans first came to the Americas, the Indians were friendly and often helped the new people survive winters by sharing food and teaching the settlers how to grow their own foods.

The Native Americans did not have the necessary immune system to combat common European diseases, and therefore many died and entire cultures soon became extinct. When the colonists initially began settling, there was some tension between the Native American people and the European colonists, as the Europeans would often seize the most fertile and favorable land from the tribes. Due to this, the Native Americans often made an attempt at stiffly resisting these hostile takeovers with violence, and despite often having a population advantage, the Europeans were vastly more modernized in warfare than the tribes.The Europeans would trade goods with the Native Americans, and this gave them horses, guns, cloth, etc. Also, many of the Europeans gave the Indians knowledge of Christianity, which many adopted.

Ptolmeys map of the world in 550 B.C. this was used by the first of the European explorers.

So why did Europeans explore the world during the Age of Exploration? Many different European countries paid for explorations for many different reasons. Some of the reasons that they explored were:

To find a sea route to the spices of Asia

To find gold, silver, and precious stones

To expand their knowledge of the world

To control a larger empire

To expand Christianity

To find animal furs

Sea Route in Search of Spices

In the 1400s, there was no refrigeration. To prevent meat from spoiling, people drowned their meat in salt to preserve and dry it (like beef jerky). They also used a lot of spices like pepper to cover up the taste of the salted or spoiled meat.

Land route from Asia to Europe

Unfortunately for Europeans, these spices did not grow anywhere in Europe. They were only found in Asian countries like China, Japan, and India (these countries were known together as "The Indies"). It was very difficult to get the spices from Asia to Europe. Spices had to be brought across thousands of miles of dangerous mountains and deserts by spice traders, with bandits waiting to rob the spice caravans. The alternative was to bring the spices by ship, but the sea voyage was also dangerous because of pirates and storms. Since it was so difficult to get spices from Asia to Europe, spices were very expensive.

Major European powers in 1500

In 1453, spices became even more expensive and difficult to find in Europe when the land route from Asia to Europe was cut-off by the Turkish Empire. The European rulers tried several times to defeat the Turks in battle, but they were turned back each time.

Several European rulers finally decided to try to find a route around the Turkish Empire. If a country could find a way to get these valuable spices to Europe, the rulers would be very rich.

Gold, Silver, and Precious Stones

European rulers fought many wars. They fought against each other and against the Turkish Empire. These wars were very expensive, so they needed to find lots of gold, silver, and precious stones to pay for them. They believed that Asia was loaded with gold, silver, and precious stones, so they decided to find it and bring it back.

Once the New World was discovered, there were many stories about places in America that had gold and jewels. One city was even rumored to have streets paved with gold!

The Power of Land

Each of the European rulers of Spain, Portugal, France, and England knew that whomever had the most land in the New World would have the most access to its treasures, and therefore the most power.

Larger Empires

Some European rulers, especially the King of Spain and the King of Portugal, wanted to claim as much land as they could. They wanted to take all of the natural resources from this land such as wood, animal skins, and gold from their mines.

Expand Christianity

In the late 1400s, there was only one religion in Europe, Christianity. The European rulers were very religious. They wanted to convert everyone to Christianity.

(Animal FursEventually, the French found that animal furs, especially beaver hats, were very valuable in Europe. It became the rage to wear these animal furs, so the demand for them was very high. People were willing to pay anything to be one of the fashionable people with a fur coat, hat, or muff. The French became very rich off of the furs they brought from the New World.)

All of these explorers who came to the New World for their many many reasons, claimed land for their countries. They saw this land as not belonging to anyone. They did not care how the Native Americans felt about this. The Indians were willing to share the land, but as more and more Europeans came to the New World to make their fortune or to spread Christianity, they started pushing the Indians off their land.

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