The document discusses the reasons for European exploration beginning in the 15th century. It summarizes the motivations and activities of the major exploring powers of Portugal, Spain, England, and France. Portugal's Prince Henry the Navigator established a school of navigation and sponsored voyages down the coast of Africa. Spain sent Columbus to find a route to Asia, leading to Spanish conquests in the Americas. England and France sought riches, gold, silver and furs, leading to the establishment of global empires, with England eventually controlling a quarter of the world's population and land area.

1. Reasons for Exploration
 God – spread of Christianity
 Gold – to trade and become wealthy
(gold and spices)
 Glory – explorers were seen as
heroes if they discovered new lands

2. Crusades, the start of it all…
• Military expeditions were sent out by the
Catholic Church to capture the Holy Land from
the Muslim Turks.
– This was not successful but it did have positive
results
• Europeans learned how to draw better maps and build
better ships
• Exposed Europeans to spices and goods from the East.

4. 3 Would
you like
some
spices?

5. 3
Follow
the silk
road to
get back
to Europe

6. 3

7. 3

9. Follow
the silk
road to
get back
to Europe

10. Exploration Begins
 European countries were looking for trade
routes to India and China
 Did not want to go through Mediterranean Sea,
dangerous territory
 Wanted access to the spices that were
available
 Cut out the Middle man and get products cheaper

11. This increased the empires of …..
The 1400s were a time of discovery and
exploration for Europe.
Main countries involved in exploration:
 Portugal
 Spain
 England
 France

13. P

14. PORTUGAL
 1st Europeans to explore the unknown New
World
 1st to sail around the tip of Africa to Asia
 Also wanted to spread Christianity
 Mainly explored what is now Brazil in the New
World--this is why Brazilian culture today is
heavily influenced by Portugal

15. Prince Henry the Navigator
 Son of Portuguese king
 1418: started the first school for navigation
(taught map making, navigation, and
astronomy)
 1434: sent an expedition to sail around
dangerous West African coast
 Made more than 50 trips down Africas west
coast

16. Prince Henry the Navigator
• Unable to make money trading gold, so he
tried creating sugar plantations.
• Sugar cane – very profitable crop, but very
labor intensive
• So, Prince Henry imported slaves from Africa
to work on the fields.
• Encouraged a slave trade that lasted another
400 years

17. Prince Henry the Navigator

18. Institute of Sagres
• The Institute of Sagres was an important
research center in Portugal where several
breakthrough discoveries in mathematics and
naval technology occurred.

19. Institute of Sagres

20. Technology Advances!
• the compass
• the astrolabe
• the cross-staff
• the caravel

21.  According to legend, beyond this point in an area known as the "Green Sea of Darkness," the
sun was so close to the Earth that a person’s skin would burn black, the sea boiled, ships
caught on fire, and monsters hid waiting to smash the ships and eat the sailors. It took
fourteen voyages over a period of 12 years until a ship finally reached the equator.

22. Portugal’s Empire
• For the next 300 years, Portuguese sailors
continued to explore West Africa where they
established trading forts and posts
– By 1571, a string of outposts connected Portugal
to Africa, India, South Pacific Islands and Japan
• Portugal grew wealthy from these trade
routes, but its most profitable colony was
Brazil.

24. Spain
 Very curious about the New
World
 Wanted to have a larger empire
 Searched for spices, gold, and
silver
 So they began searching for a quicker
route to Asia through or around North
and South America
 Used missionaries to spread
Christianity
 Needed gold and silver to pay for
wars with the Turkish Empire

25. Christopher Columbus
 King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella (Spain) sent him to
find another way to Asia
 1492: first expedition--landed
in the Caribbean and called it “
the Indies”- established
colonies for Spain
 Made 4 trips to the Caribbean
from 1492-1504

26. Four Voyages of Columbus

27. Spain’s Empire
 Huge empire that spanned the globe
 Spanish conquistadors conquered civilizations
in South America.
 Looking for gold and spices
 Missionaries converted natives to Christianity
 Claimed huge areas of North and South
America and ruled them for over 300 years.

28. Line of Demarcation
• The Treaty of Tordesillas signed in
1494, divided the New World into
Spanish and the Portuguese
territories along the meridian 46
degrees West.
• The lands to the east would belong to
Portugal and the lands to the west to
Spain.
• Pope Alexander VI drew the line to
avoid conflict.

29. Line(s) of Demarcation

31. ENGLAND
 Searched for riches, gold, and silver (like
Spain, but navy wasn’t as powerful)
 At one time Great Britain controlled: Canada,
Australia, India, parts of Africa, and many
islands
 Controlled America until 1776, Canada until
the 20th century
 Colonized Australia and used it as a penal
colony (prison colony)

32. The Sun Never Sets
• Eventually, after colonizing parts of Africa and
Asia, the British Empire became the largest empire
in history.
• At the peak of its power, it was often said that
“The sun never sets on the British Empire" because
it was so big that the sun was always shining on at
least one of its many colonies.

33. One-fourth of the World
• By 1921, the British
Empire controlled
about 458 million
people (a quarter of
the world's
population at that
time).
• It covered about 14.2
million square miles,
about a quarter of
Earth's total land
area.
• Cartoon showing Brit, Cecil Rhodes and his
desire to control all of Africa.

35. FRANCE
 Wanted a large empire, spices and riches, and
to spread Christianity
 Also really wanted animal furs (beaver)
 Enjoyed wearing hats and coats made out of animal
skins

36. France’s Empire
 France possessed colonies around the world
from 1600 to 1900.
 Also dominated much of the European
Continent
 By 1812, France controlled much of Germany,
Italy and France
 Heavy influence on parts of Canada (Quebec)

37. French Empire
France had two different empires.
The first (1608-1803), was in the
Americas. The second (1830-1960),
was in Africa and Asia.

38. In Canada, Quebec’s people traded
their furs for many French goods
such as metal objects, guns, alcohol,
and clothing.