Competing for Trade Routes

In the early 1400s, the Portuguese were exploring the western coast of Africa, also called the Gold Coast. Prince Henry, a.k.a. Henry the Navigator established a school of navigation. Soon the Portuguese had the best navigators and maps in Europe.

In 1487 Bartholomeu Dias was sent to explore the southernmost point of Africa, and then to see if he could get to the Indian Ocean. Dias was successful, and was the first known European to sail around the Cape of Good Hope.

Note the route Dias took and the earlier trading outposts established by the Portuguese.

A man named Vasco da Gama was the first to succeed in finding a sea route to Asia. He landed in Calicut in May of 1498 after stopping in several trading cities in eastern Africa.

Note how different da Gama’s route was compared to Dias’.

Portugal wasted no time after da Gama’s success. They quickly sent a fleet to India to begin trading. Pedro Álvares Cabral, the leader of the fleet also managed to explore and claim some of Brazil’s coastline for Portugal.

Christopher Columbus was a well educated man, and a gifted sailor. He learned the newest navigation tricks from the Portuguese. He also read a great deal, like Marco Polo’s Description of the World.

After learning of Dias’s voyage around Africa, Columbus became convinced he could find a better route to Asia. Columbus thought he could sail west from Europe and eventually hit Asia. He thought the ocean was much smaller than other people of the time did.

On Aug. 3, 1492, Chris set sail from Spain for the Canary Islands. From the Canary Islands he took his three ships west. It wasn’t long before the ships were in uncharted waters and crew members started to freak out.

Columbus kept his men motivated with promises of gold and an iron fist. There were also a number of very strange experiences recorded in Columbus’s log book. The crew members eventually began to see signs of land nearby. Finally on Oct.12, 1492, land was sighted. It wasn’t Asia.

Columbus had actually arrived in a group of islands southeast of mainland North America. He and his crew were greeted by native Americans, a tribe called the Taino.

These people greeted Columbus with gifts and curiosity. Columbus wrote that they were remarkable in their generosity… …and that they would make great slaves.

From the log of Columbus: "They... brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned.... They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features.... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane.... They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."

Columbus made three more trips back to the Americas.

During these trips he explored much of the Caribbean and the coasts of Central and South America, claiming them for Spain. He never knew what he had found. During these trips he killed many Indians in the search for gold.

Portugal and Spain continued to explore these new lands. Amerigo Vespucci figured out that South American was in fact a whole continent and not part of Asia. Mapmakers began calling this new continent America.

Vasco Núñez de Balboa was a failed farmer in the Caribbean who stowed away on a ship to South America. After taking over a colony there, he heard rumors of another ocean on the other side of the mountains.

Balboa set out on an expedition and, in 1513, after a long and treacherous journey, laid eyes on the “Southern Ocean,” which would later be renamed the Pacific.

Balboa claiming possession of the South Sea.

Magellan was a Portuguese sailor who convinced Spain that he could sail west to Asia as Columbus has planned. With a fleet of 5 ships he set sail and after mistaking a river for a sea route, eventually sailed around the southern tip of South America.

After finding the “Southern Ocean,” it took the three remaining ships 3 months to cross the vast expanse of water. After landing on the Philippines, Magellan was later killed. His remaining ships decided to continue west.

After another long sail through unknown a dangerous waters, the remaining ship finally reached Spain again in It took three years, and only 18 men survived out of an original crew of 240. These men were the first to circumnavigate the earth.