2. Why exploration?
• New Trade Routes
– Wanted to increase profits
– Didn’t want to pay the middle man anymore
• Gold
– Tales of great riches
• Adventure
– Renaissance spirit of curiosity & individual
achievement
3. • Religion
– Wanted to convert the heathens
– Mostly Roman Catholics, spreading their religion,
not salvation through Jesus Christ
• Competition among European nations
– Italy-monopoly on trade
– Other nations want to bypass Italy
– Kings wanted riches for their own country
4. Tools for Exploration
• Maps
– Not very useful in
exploring new
lands
– Every time an
explorer returned,
he added onto a
previously made
map
6. Instruments
• Astrolabe
• Quadrant
• Cross staff
– All measured angle
between horizon and
North star
– Used to measure
latitude
– Not accurate on a
moving ship
7. Sea Going Vessels
• Arabic sails • Viking Sails
– Good on the ocean – Good maneuverability
– Only control small boats - Change directions and
• Not enough room for men move around things
and supplies
• Caravel
• combination of triangle and
rectangular sails
• Light and fast
• Good for ocean travel
9. Portugal
• Leads in Exploration • Dias
– Surrounded by water – Sailed around south tip of
– Learned skills from Moors Africa
• Navigation • De Gama
• Map making skills – Sailed around south tip,
• Henry the Navigator reached India
– Never sailed • ***Portuguese broke
– Loved navigation Muslim monopoly on
– Sponsored captains, trade in Indian Ocean***
mapmakers, geographers,
etc.
10. Spain
• Christopher Columbus • God planned on the
– Italian, sponsored by New World being
Spain discovered ONLY after
– Wanted to reach Asia by the truth of the Bible is
sailing East now becoming more
– Ptolemy and Marco Polo well known.
– Leaves August
• October spots land
• San Salvador, Bahamas
• Thinks it is Japan
12. BECAUSE OF THE LINE OF DEMARCATION
THE SPANISH COULD NOT SAIL AROUND
THE AFRICAN CONTINENT TO INDIA.
THEY HAD TO FIND ANOTHER ROUTE….
13. Ferdinand Magellan
• 1519- Sail East by going West
– 200+ men; 5 ships; 3 years
– Sail around southern tip of S.
America
– Named Pacific Ocean (peaceful)
• Only 18 men; 1 ship made it back
to Spain
– Magellan dies in Philippines
• 1st time- Circumnavigate world
– Found alternate route to East Indies
15. Native Americans
• Natives had lived
here for thousands of
years
• Farmers/gatherers,
hunters
• Worship nature gods
• Small tribes rather
than large nations
16. Natives of Central & S. America
• More advanced than N. American natives
– Large cities
– Traded with neighbors
– Created art/literature
• Maya (300-900 AD)
• Aztec (1300s AD)
• Incas (1380 – 1570 AD)
17. Maya
• Many city-states
• Pyramids
• Paved highways
• Hieroglyphs
• Astronomy
• Computed length of year
365 ¼ days
• Worshipped false gods
• Declined before Spanish
arrival
18.
19. Aztec
• After Mayan decline
• 1345- founded city of
Tenochtitlan
– City on lake
– Central Mexico
– Temple in center, canals
through city
– Fighters
– Conquered over 2
million people
– Human sacrifices to their
gods
21. Inca
• West coast of S.
America (Peru)
• Families in tightly knit
communities
• Mostly farmers
• Had an empire
– Ruled over conquered
people
– Well planned cities and
road system
22. • The Incas excelled at terrace farming. Land is very uneven in Peru.
• They knew how to use the land they had to successfully grow: corn,
potatoes, quinoa…… and cocoa beans for CHOCOLATE
