The Age of Exploration500 A.D. – 1609 A.D.

CiceroHistory Beyond The Textbook

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What would have motivated people more than 500 years ago to get in a

boat and sail around the world?

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The Three G’s!!!!

• Gold – They wanted to get rich!

• God – They wanted to spread Christianity around the world!

• Glory – They wanted to become famous!

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•A thousand years ago people had no refrigeration and food often spoiled easily. With no way to improve the flavor of their food, the people of Europe were desperate for a solution.

•During the Crusades (1096), knights from Europe were exposed to new spices from Asia.

•While Europeans could buy spices from Venetian traders (who had monopolized the trade), they had to pay very high prices. *Pepper was worth its weight in gold!!

•Determined to secure these spices for the people of Europe, explorers set out to find a water route to Asia.

•Many of the spices came from the Maluku Islands or “Spice Islands” in present day Indonesia.

The Spice of Life

Cinnamon (Tropical Evergreen)

Pepper Plant

Nutmeg FruitThe Spice

Islands

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TOOLS OF THE TRADE

How did early explorers find their way?

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Navigational Tools

Magnetic Compass

Instrument that uses a magnetized needle that points north. Invented by the Chinese more than 2,000 years ago.

Astrolabe

Invented by the Greeks, it measured the altitude of a heavenly body above the horizon.

Hourglass

Measures time

Back-Staff or Quadrant

Measured the angle of the sun to the horizon. This improved instrument meant that mariners no longer had to stare into the sun. Invented in 1594 by John Davis. Cross-Staff

Measured the angle of the sun to the horizon. Invented by Claudius Ptolemy, who lived around 150 A.D.Cicero © 2007

The Caravel

• The caravel is a light sailing ship that was developed by the Portuguese in the late 1400's.

• The caravel was an improvement on older ships because it could sail very fast for the time (about 5 miles per hour) and also sail into the wind!

• They were about 75 feet long, 25 feet wide and could carry roughly 130 tons of cargo.

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The Galleon“Ship of the Line”

• A galleon was a large, multi-decked sailing ship used primarily by the nations of Europe from the 16th to 18th centuries.

• Galleons were an evolution of the caravel and carrack.

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Early Explorers

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St. Brendan 484 A.D.

St. Brendan of Clonfert was born in Ireland around 484 and went on to become a priest. He is said to have traveled to the west, discovering a new land with vegetation. Brendan named it the Isle of the Blessed. He also claimed to have been attacked by a sea monster while on this voyage. His stories would fuel the fears of the open ocean and inspire map makers to place warnings on maps of the Atlantic. When Columbus set out in 1492, one of the maps he carried showed Brendan’s Island located in the western Atlantic Ocean.

Historians are unsure of what land St. Brendan actually saw. While many claim it could have been America, it is impossible to know for sure.

Leif Erikson c. 980-1020

• Son of Erik the Red.• Sailed to the East coast

of North America to a place he named Vinland (probably present day Newfoundland) around 1000 A.D.

• The Viking’s settlement failed due to attacks from native people.

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This statue of Leif Erikson has him wearing a helmet with horns. In reality, while Vikings are often depicted this way, their helmets did not really have horns. The horns probably came from their European victims who depicted the Vikings as devils.

Marco Polo ca. 1254-1324

• As a teenager Marco Polo traveled to China (then known as Cathay) with his father and uncle.

• After his return to Venice Polo collected the stories of his travels into a book, The Travels of Marco Polo.

• According to legend, Polo introduced pasta to Italy.

• His stories of the East would inspire future European explorers like Christopher Columbus and Vasco Da Gama.

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Cheng Ho (Zheng He) 1371-1433

• Cheng Ho sailed from China to many places throughout the South Pacific, Indian Ocean, Taiwan, Persian Gulf and Africa in seven epic voyages from 1405 to 1433.

• This was 80 years before Columbus's voyages.

• Cheng Ho’s flagship was about 400 feet long compared to the Santa Maria, which was 75 feet long.

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Cheng Ho’s Expeditions

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Prince Henry the Navigator 1394-1460

• Prince Henry ruled the country of Portugal.

• He established a school in 1418 to teach navigation, astronomical skills and mapmaking to sailors.

• He commissioned a number of voyages to map the West coast of Africa.

• As a result of these voyages, the Portuguese began to trade for African slaves and discovered a route to Asia.

• While Prince Henry was a champion of sailors and explorers, he became horribly sea sick whenever he tried to go out on the water.

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Christopher Columbus1451-1506

• Italian explorer who sailed for Spain in search of a western water route to Asia.

• Columbus left from Palos, Spain on August 3, 1492 with three ships; Nina, Pinta and his flag ship the Santa Maria.

• A lookout named Rodrigo de Triana spotted land (probably San Salvador or modern day Watlings Island) at 2:00 a.m. on October 12, 1492. Thinking he had landed in India, he called the native Taino people “Indians”.

Replicas of Columbus’ ships Cicero © 2007

Columbus went on to make three more voyages to the New World.

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Amerigo Vespucci 1454-1512

• Italian explorer who mapped the coastline of South America and explored the Amazon River.

• German mapmakers thought so highly of his detailed maps, they named the new land in his honor.

• It was do to the Germans skill in the use of the printing press, which had been invented by a German man named Johannes Gutenberg in 1455, that maps referring to the new world as America (The sound “go” is pronounced as “ca” in German) became common.

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Martin Waldseemuller’s 1507 Map

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This is the first known map to label the New World as America.

John Cabot c. 1451-1499

• In 1497 Cabot sailed from Bristol, England in the Matthew to what is now eastern Canada.

• In May of 1498, he and 300 crew members set out from Bristol, on a second voyage, but were never heard from again.

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Vasco de Balboa 1475-1519

• Spanish explorer who traveled throughout Central America.

• The first European to set eyes on the western ocean, which he named “Pacific”, or tranquil.

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Juan Ponce de Leon 1460-1521

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Spanish explorer who had become well known for his bravery in battle during the Spanish war to drive out the Muslims from Spain.

Later in life he traveled to the New World with the hopes of becoming rich. After hearing of a wondrous fountain that could restore a person’s youth, de Leon set out through what is today Florida in order to find the famed “Fountain of Youth”.

Ponce de Leon actually made most of his money capturing native people to be sold into slavery. His practice of setting war dogs (bull mastiffs) on natives led to his removal by Spanish authorities.

Hernando Cortez’ 1485-1547

Tenochtitlan

(Aztec Capital)

Aztec Temple

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Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec empire with the help of native allies and the fact that the Aztecs believed him to be the god Quetzalcoatl. However, modern historians are beginning to question this.

The Spaniards also brought European diseases with them such as smallpox, which wiped out millions of Native Americans in a span of fifty years.

Ferdinand Magellan 1480-1521

• Spanish explorer who led the expedition that was the first to circumnavigate the globe (sail around the world). 1519-1522

• Unfortunately, Magellan was captured by natives in what is now the Philippines and eaten.

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Giovanni Verrazzano 1485-1528

• Italian navigator who sailed for France.

• In 1524, he explored the northeast coast of North America from Cape Fear, North Carolina to Maine while searching for a Northwest passage to Asia.

• The Verrazzano Narrows Bridge, a suspension bridge that spans New York Harbor, was named for Verrazzano.

Verrazzano Narrows Bridge New York Cicero © 2007

Francisco Pizarro 1478-1541

• Spanish conquistador who traveled through much of the Pacific coast of America along Peru.

• He conquered the Incan empire in 1533.

• He was later assassinated by some of Cortez’s men, who wanted the Incan treasure for themselves.

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Jacques Cartier 1491-1557

• French explorer who led three expeditions to Canada, in 1534, 1535, and 1541.

• He was searching for the Northwest Passage (an all water route to Asia).

• Cartier named Canada; "Kanata" means village or settlement in the Huron-Iroquois language.

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Hernando De Soto c. 1500-1542

• Spanish explorer who was the first European to explore Florida and the southeastern US.

• De Soto helped Pizarro conquer the Incan empire and is believed to be the one who strangled the Incan ruler Atahualpa.

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Francisco de Coronado 1510-1554

• A Spanish explorer, he was the first European to explore North America's Southwest.

• He searched fruitlessly for treasure that was rumored to exist in northern Mexico: the fabled seven Golden Cities of Cibola.

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Juan Cabrillo 1499-1543

• In 1542, Cabrillo became the first European to explore the Californian coast.

• He died in 1543 after a fight with local Indians near what is today Santa Barbara, California.

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Samuel de Champlain 1567-1635

• French explorer and navigator who mapped much of northeastern North America and started a settlement in Quebec.

• Champlain also discovered the lake named for him (Lake Champlain, on the border of northern New York state and Vermont, named in 1609.

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Henry Hudson 1565-1611

• English explorer and navigator who explored parts of the Arctic Ocean and northeastern North America.

• Hudson was also searching for a Northwest Passage.

• The Hudson River, Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay are named in his honor.

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