Chapter 15

The First Global Age: Europe and Asia 1415 - 1796

Section 1 – The Search for Spices

I. Europeans Explore the Seas

I. Europeans Explore the Seas

The Crusades introduced Europeans to many luxury goods from Asia

I. Europeans Explore the Seas

In the 1200s and 1300s, goods came toEurope along Mongol trade routes

A. Motives: Trade was disrupted by the Black Death andthe breakup of the Mongol Empire

By the 1400s, Muslims and Italians controlledtrade between Asia and Europe

A. Motives:

The chief source of spices was the Moluccas,also called the Spice Islands

A. Motives:

Portugal and Spain sought a route to bypassedthe Mediterranean

A. Motives:

Improvements resulted in better navigationaltools and larger ships

B: Improved Technology

During the 1400s, Portugal led the way inexploration

II. Portugal Sails Eastward

Prince Henry (Henry the Navigator) hoped toexpand Christianity and find African gold

A. Mapping the African Coast

Henry gathered experts who redesigned ships,prepared maps, and trained crews for longvoyages

A. Mapping the African Coast

In 1488, Bartholomeu Dias rounded thesouthern tip of Africa and opened a route to Asia

A. Mapping the African Coast

In 1497, Vasco da Gama led a 10-monthvoyage and reached Calicut, India

B. On to India

Da Gama acquired a cargo of spices that hesold at a profit of 3,000 percent

B. On to India

The Portuguese seized key ports and createda vast trading empire

B. On to India

Christopher Columbus believed he couldreach the Indies by sailing west across theAtlantic

III. Columbus Sails to the West

Salvador Dali – The Dream Of Christopher Columbus

From Spain, Columbus sailed west on August3, 1492, with the Nina, the Pinta, and the SantaMaria

A. Voyages of Columbus

On October 12, Columbus reached theCaribbean and spent several months cruising the islands

A. Voyages of Columbus

In 1507, a German cartographer read about the "New World" written by Amerigo Vespucci and labeled the region America

B. Naming the "New World"

The islands Columbus explored in the Caribbean became known as the West Indies

B. Naming the "New World"

Europeans continued to seek new routes around or through the Americas

IV. The Search Continues

In 1513, Vasco Nunez de Balboa (Spain) crossed Panama and reached the Pacific

IV. The Search Continues

In 1520, Ferdinand Magellan charted a passage that became known as the Strait of Magellan

IV. The Search Continues

In March 1521, Magellan was killed by natives in the Philippines

IV. The Search Continues

On September 8,1522, the crew was hailed as the first to circumnavigate the world

IV. The Search Continues

Other Europeans searched the coast of North America for the “Northwest Passage”

IV. The Search Continues

Explorers included John Cabot (England); Jacques Cartier (France); and Henry Hudson (Dutch)

IV. The Search Continues

John Cabot

• Giovanni Caboto ?– Italian but moved to

England

• Set to do for England what Columbus did for Spain

• One of first to land in North America

• http://www.johncabot.edu/

Jacques Cartier

• French• Trying to find a

Northwest Passage• Some credit him with

the discovery of Canada

• http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/0_MAPS/0_map_world_2002_enlarged.jpg

Henry Hudson

• Main goal was to find a passage to Spice Islands

• Tried to go north of Russia, in the arctic

• Tried to go through North America– Delaware Bays– Chesapeake Bays– Hudson River

• http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/0_MAPS/0_map_world_2002_enlarged.jpg

The European age of exploration set off a period of conflict between Europe and other civilizations

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/documents/documents_p2.cfm?doc=194

IV. The Search Continues

For Gold, God and Glory Igor V. Babailov

Dedicated to the great discoveries of the new worlds

http://babailov.homestead.com/ColumbusForSale.html