1. Age of Exploration

2. Why did exploration take place?
1. The Crusades
, Christians and Muslims fought holy wars for control of the Holy Land.
Large numbers of Europeans traveled to the Middle East.
Increase in trade with Arabs led to increased knowledge.
Europeans learned about new instruments like the Magnetic Compass that made it easier to sail across large bodies of water.

3. Why did exploration take place? 2. Invention of the Printing Press
With the Printing Press, large numbers of books could be printed at low cost.
Books became more available, more people began to read.
People learned more about the world around them.

4. Why did exploration take place. 3
Why did exploration take place? 3. European monarchs try to increase power and wealth
Rulers of England, France, Portugal, and Spain looked for ways to increase their wealth.
Wanted to trade with Asia, but Arab and Italian merchants controlled trade routes across the Mediterranean Sea, so they looked for a different route to Asia.

5. Why did exploration take place?
4. Wanted a shorter route to Asia to get spices
Why spices?
Preserve food
Improve flavor (cinnamon,
pepper, cloves)
*Merchants knew they could
make more profit if they
traded directly with Asia.

6. Why did exploration take place?
Gold, God, & Glory
Some explorers desired fame and riches
Others- mostly Catholic- wanted to spread their religion
Decrease the influence of Muslims – Spread their culture through trade…Who brought the spices to Europe first?

7. Who were the Portugese leaders in exploration?
Prince Henry the Navigator ( )
Paid for many explorations into Western Africa
Believed path around Africa would be shortcut to Asia
Founded a School of Navigation in 1450 which taught new methods of traveling across seas by using knowledge of ocean winds and currents

8. Who were some other Portugese leaders?
Bartholomew Dias
(1450 –1500)
Rounded the southern tip of Africa in 1488
Named it the Cape of Good Hope
Vasco de Gama
( )
Reached the coast of India
Took 317 days and 13,500 miles
First European to discover a sea route to Asia

9. Who were the Spanish leaders in exploration?
Christopher Columbus
( )
Italian who sailed for Spain
Believed the shortest way to Asia was to sail directly west –tried in 1492
One of first Europeans to discover the Americas –The Bahamas
Was responsible for beginning European exploration to the New World
Voyages led to the eventual establishment of colonies in the New World

10. Christopher Columbus’ First Journey

11. Who was another other Spanish explorer?
Ferdinand Magellan
( )
His crew was the first to circumnavigate the globe which proved the Earth was round.
It took 3 years to return to Spain
He was killed before they got home –died in the Philippines.
Circumnavigate-To sail completely around

12. Ferdinand Magellan’s Trip Around the World

13. Who were some other famous explorers?
Amerigo Vespucci
From Italy
Explored South America
Marco Polo
Traveled the Silk Road to China
Jacques Cartier
From France
Explored the St. Lawrence Seaway
Leif Erickson
From Norway
Explored Newfoundland, in Canada
Pedro Cabral
From Portugal
Discovered the first sea route to Brazil
Hernando Cortes
•From Spain
•Explored Latin America
Ponce de Leon
•Searched for the Fountain of Youth in Florida
Francisco Pizarro
Hernando Desoto
•Discovered the Mississippi River
Vasco de Balboa
•Spain
•Crossed the Isthmus of Panama
•1st to see the Pacific Ocean from the New World

14. What countries held the major colonial empires?
Portugese Empire

15. What countries held the major colonial empires?
Spanish Empire

16. What countries held the major colonial empires?
British Empire

17. What countries held the major colonial empires?
French Empire

18. What were the effects of exploration?
1. Imperialism- One country controls the government or economy of another country in order to form an empire.
Indigenous populations were forced to change their cultural traditions to those of the conquering country.
Indigenous –born and living in a place, rather than coming from somewhere else
Religious Conversion
European monarchs were Christians
Sent missionaries to convert indigenous people

19. What were the effects of exploration?
3. Spread of Disease
Explorers spread disease to indigenous people because they didn’t have immunity (natural resistance to disease)
Smallpox–only disease to be completely eradicated today
Malaria–spread by mosquitoes
Measles –can spread through fluids (nose/mouth) or airborne presents as a rash

20. What were the effects of exploration?
4. Slavery
Increase in slave trade
Purchased to work the land and replace many indigenous (native) people who had died from European diseases.
Estimated million Africans forced into slavery between

21. What were the effects of exploration?
5. European countries became very competitive with one another.
Each trying to become the MOST powerful
Most land, most resources, most money, largest military