Motivation for Explorers What motivated European explorers? Gold Glory God Trade New Tools Curiosity

Early Explorers Leif Erickson (1001): Led a group of Viking sailors who reached northern North America.

Life in the Middle Ages for Europeans Land was owned by lords who owed loyalty to a king or queen in a system called feudalism. They lived on a manor which had fields worked by serfs or peasants. (All Christians in Western Europe were Roman Catholics at this time.) A European Manor

POPE MONARCHS LORDS KNIGHTS SERFS

Crusades Th ousands of Christian Knights led a series of attacks to attempt to conquer the city of Jerusalem. (most of which were unsuccessful) Pope Urban II called on the Christians of Europe to invade the Middle East and "take back the Holy Land."

Crusades

Results of the Crusades New trade goods were desired in Europe: ·rice ·spices: ginger and pepper ·silks and rugs Trade between Europe and the Muslim world increased. Europeans learned about: ·Medicine ·Mathematics

Renaissance (Re-Birth) The Renaissance was a burst of learning from around 1300 to The printing press was an important invention that helped to spread ideas quickly.

Tools of Exploration Increased trade brought increased knowledge. Europeans learned of sailing tools: ·Magnetic Compass: needle always points north, helps sail a straight course ·Astrolabe: helped determine latitude by the position of the stars Astrolabe Compass

Tools of Exploration The Portuguese developed the caravel, a ship with triangular sails and a steering rudder. The Portuguese were able to sail around the southern tip of Africa and set up trading routes to Asia.

African Kingdoms Mansa Musa ruled the powerful West African kingdom of Mali in the mid 1300s. Mali had more gold than any other kingdom of its time.

The Songhai city of Timbuktu became a thriving center of trade and culture in the 1400s. African Kingdoms

The Portuguese traded weapons to Africans in exchange for gold, ivory, and statues carved from wood. The West Coast of Africa became known as the Gold/Ivory Coast European Trade with Africa

Starting in the 1400s the Portuguese began trading for African slaves and bringing them back to Europe. African Slave Trade (Islamic Africans from the North bringing captured Africans from the South to be traded to Europeans)