1. Age of Exploration
1450 – 1750

2. Technological Advances
1. Improved navigational methods:
- magnetic compass and astrolabe
- improved maps and charts

3. Example- the caravel ship - allowed sailing with and against the wind
2. Improved ship designs
Example- the caravel ship - allowed sailing with and against the wind

4. - gunpowder and cannons
3. Improved weapons
- gunpowder and cannons
Why would this be important?

5. Motives for Exploration
The 3 G’s
1. Wealth (GOLD)
2. Religion (GOD)
(convert new people to Christianity)
3. Fame (GLORY)

6. “Gold” aka- wealth
Tried to gain access to the spice trade, including sugar and silk (Arab and Italian merchants had a monopoly)
Tried to find new sources of wealth (gold and silver) and to expand their markets

7. Portugal and Spain Portugal led the way in exploration
-Prince Henry the Navigator encouraged exploration and the study of improvements in seafaring.
-He set up a navigational school to teach Europeans the newest sailing techniques

8. Portugal
Location,
location,
location!

9. Portugal –
Explored Africa
while trying to
get to India

10. Portuguese explorers:
1. Bartholomeu Dias - first to sail around the southern tip ofAfrica
2. Vasco da Gama - discovered an all water trade route between Portugal and India.

11. Spanish Explorers 1. Christopher Columbus:
-Sailed West to try to reach Asia.
-1st to reach the New World during the Age of Exploration

12. 2. Ferdinand Magellan:
-attempted to find a western route to Asia -the first to circum- navigate the earth. ( )

13. 3. Hernan Cortes:
-arrived in
Mexico in 1519.
-defeated the Aztecs.

14. 4. Francisco Pizarro:
-arrived in central America
-defeated the Incas.

15. -Explored the coast of the newly discovered lands in the New World
5. Amerigo Vespucci
-Explored the coast of the newly discovered lands in the New World
-Suggested Columbus had actually discovered a new world
-Vespucci’s name begins to appear on maps of the New World
-The Americas were named after him

17. Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
Spain and Portugal signed a treaty dividing the newly discovered lands between the two nations
An ancient instrument used widely in medieval times by navigators and astronomers to determine latitude, longitude, and time of day. The device employed a disk with 360 degrees marked on its circumference. Users took readings from an indicator that pivoted around the center of the suspended device like the hand of a clock.