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The Age of Exploration
What was the Age of Exploration?
• A time period when Europeans began to explore the rest of the world.
• Improvements in mapmaking, shipbuilding, rigging, and navigation made this possible.
• Blue water sailing, not just coastal boats.
• Policy of mercantilism drives the exploration.
What was mercantilism?
• Policy that said there was a limited amount of money in the world.
• Each country needs to grab what they can before it is gone.
• Export more than you import…more money in your pocket.
• Colonies and markets were needed to keep everything in the system.
The Explorers: Portugal
Bartolomeu Dias
• Sailed around Cape of Good Hope at southern tip of Africa.
• Found route to Indian Ocean
• Trade can go from Europe to Asia by sea.
Vasco da Gama
• Landed in India in 1498.
• Important trade route from Europe to India and East Indies.
Ferdinand Magellan
• His crew made first round-the-world voyage.
• Proved for certain that the world was round.
• Magellan was killed in the Phillippines, did not make it home.
The Explorers: Spain
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus • Believed a shorter
route to Asia could be found by sailing westward instead of around Africa.
• Found the Americas instead. Oops.
What was the Colombian Exchange?
• Massive exchange of plants, animals and diseases.
• These things moved between the New and Old Worlds.
• Started with Columbus. • To the Americas: cows, horses, wheat,
smallpox, plus much more.• To Europe: potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco,
corn, plus much more.
The Slave Trade
• Europeans began to use slave labor in their colonies to grow crops, mine, etc.
• Native Americans used for a while, but Africans began to be brought to the Americas.
• The slave trade then became the main focus of Europe’s relations with Africa.
What was the Triangular Trade?
• System of trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
• Stage 1: Raw materials to Europe (tobacco, rum, sugar)
• Stage 2: Manufactured goods to Africa (guns, cloth, rum)
• Stage 3: Slaves to the Americas to make raw materials.
The Triangular Trade