Do Now: If it were possible, would you want to explore a distant galaxy? Why or why not?

Aim: How successful was the Age of Exploration?

I What was the Age of Exploration?

A) From the 15 - 17th centuries, Western Europe increased its exploration of the world. B) This was due to:1. The Renaissance and Scientific Revolution increasing Europeans curiosity about the world2. The Ottoman Turks blocked access to the Silk Road. Europeans needed to find an alternative route to the East for trade.3. Newly formed European nation states competed for colonies overseas. This led to the new economic system of mercantilism.

Mercantilism is an economic system where the parent

nation exploits the resources of its colonies.

II Improved TechnologyPortolan Maps Magnetic

CompassCaravel Ships Astrolabe

Lines on portolan maps radiated out from compass points. Showed navigators how to get to key ports.

The magnetic compass was an improvement on the Chinese compass. Used an iron needle that aligns with the Earth’s north-south magnetic poles.

Caravel ships were built by the Portuguese and Spanish. Unlike medieval ships, they could go against the wind, and long distances.

Astrolabes were used since ancient times. Navigators looked through it at the sun or a star and determined its angle using the degrees marked on the instrument. Helped them determine the ship’s latitude and local time.

Caravel Ships

The smooth, rounded hull

handled high seas well.

Triangular sails enabled the

caravel ship to sail into the

wind.

The large center rudder allowed for quick turns.

III Portugal and Spain’s 1st ExplorersPortuguese and Spanish explorers made the first European voyages into

unknown waters during the Age of Exploration.

Portugal and Spain are located right next to the Atlantic Ocean!

Portugal and Spain’s 1st Explorers Continued…Henry “The Navigator”

(1394 – 1460)Bartolomeu Dias(1451 – 1500)

Vasco de Gama(1460 – 1524)

1. Created a naval school to make better maps & ships, and train for long voyages2. Claimed the Azores islands off Western Africa3. Began exploring West Coast of Africa & establishing colonies.

In 1488 he sailed around the Cape of Good Hope (the southern tip of Africa). Due to the intense winds he turned back.

In 1497 he sailed east from Europe, around Africa, then went on to India.

Excerpt from Vasco de Gama’s Journal… 14 or 15 natives came to where our ship lay. The captain… showed them a variety of merchandise… included cinnamon, cloves, gold, and many other things, but it was evident that they had no knowledge whatever of such articles, and they were consequently given round bells and tin rings…

Portugal and Spain’s 1st Explorers Continued…

Christopher Columbus(1451 – 1506)

1. Born in the Italian city-state of Genoa2. With financing from Spain, he sailed 3 ships west looking for India. *He knew the earth was round.3. He landed in the Caribbean, but thought he was in India.4. Columbus opened up exploration and trade to the “New World”.

Ferdinand Magellan

(1480 – 1521)

1. From Portugal. His goal was to circumnavigate (sail around) the world.2. He set sail August 10, 1519 with 5 ships and 251 men.3. In 1521 Magellan was killed in the Philippines.4. In 1522 one ship returned with 18 survivors.

IV The life of a SailorLife was difficult! Journeys could take years; ships only covered about 100 miles a day. The pay was poor; seamen on Columbus’ journeys made less than $10 a month in today’s money. Beatings and floggings were common for disobedience, and mutineers were put to death. 16 was the minimum age for sailors, but some boys started working on ships as young as 7 or 8. Some ships used slaves. A sailor’s diet consisted mostly of salted beef or pork and hardtack (biscuits that are so dry they can break your teeth), often infested with bugs. They drank mostly ale or hard liquor; a salty diet combined with a lack of fresh water led to dehydration. Vitamin deficiencies from a lack of fruits and vegetables gave men scurvy, rotted teeth and gums, open sores and even mental breakdowns. Lice, rodents and foul drinking water spread typhoid fever. Captains didn’t have it much better than their crews. Magellan didn’t make it around the world with his ships; he was killed in the Philippines. A fight over stolen boats ended Cook’s life in Hawaii. Hudson’s crew set him adrift in what is now Hudson’s Bay; he was never heard from again.

IV Consequences of the Age of ExplorationPositive Negative ?

Europeans had access to new resources such as tobacco, chocolate, and potatoes. Native Americans had access to European manufactured goods. The “Old World” (Eurasia and Africa) established permanent contact with the “New World” (the Americas).

European sailors died from syphilis and scurvy. Millions of Native Americans died of European diseases such as smallpox. Europeans began the global slave trade.

Triangular trade was established. Mercantilism became the economic policy of colonizing European nations. Europeans brought Christianity to the New World.

Syphilis and Scurvy

Syphilis is a deadly STD that was spread by Natives of the New World to European explorers.

Scurvy is a disease due to a lack of vitamin C. Sailors prevented it by eating limes or lemons.

V The Global Slave TradeA)Slavery in ancient times was not based on racism. Instead, you became a slave if you owed a debt, were captured in war, or were born into it.B)The Portuguese began using Africans as slaves when they began to explore the west coast of Africa in the 15th century. The Spanish began to use African slaves when Native Americans were dying too quickly from European diseases.C)As Europeans seldom went into Africa’s interior, they relied on African slave traders to seize captives and bring them to coastal trading forts. The slaves were exchanged for manufactured European goods.D)Slaves were considered to be property. To justify the harsh treatment of slaves, Europeans adopted the belief that Africans were biologically inferior (racism).

Slave Holding Chamber, Zanzibar

Triangular trade was a pattern of colonial trade between ports in Africa, the

American colonies, and Europe. It was based on mercantilism; usually the mother country benefited the most.

The Global Slave Trade Continued…E) The Middle Passage describes the middle leg of a 3 leg voyage of a slave ship.Leg One: Began in Europe. Cargo often included guns, gunpowder, iron, cloth, and alcohol.Leg Two: The ship landed at a West African port. The cargo from Europe was exchanged for African slaves. The slaves were branded with an iron and chained together, naked. The ship then sailed to the Americas, where the slaves (who survived) were exchanged for sugar, tobacco, or other goods.Leg Three: The slave ship returned to Europe.

Thousands of slaves died during the Middle Passage from disease, starvation, or even murder.

The Global Slave Trade Continued…I) Olaudah Equiano was sold into slavery at age 11, later acquired his

freedom, and, in 1789, wrote his autobiography.

“…The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced copious perspirations [sweat], so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died... This wretched situation was again aggravated by the gaffing of the chains… and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable...” Equiano, 1789

Key Vocabulary Age of Exploration Astrolabe Bartolomeu Dias Caravel Ship Christopher Columbus Ferdinand Magellan King Henry the Navigator Magnetic Compass Mercantilism Middle Passage Olaudah Equiano Ottoman Turks Portolan Map

Racism Scurvy Syphilis Triangular Trade Vasco de Gama

HW Questions1. List 2 reasons why Western Europeans wanted to find alternative

routes to India and East Asia.2. List and describe 2 new technologies that allowed the Portuguese to

begin exploring Africa and India.3. List 2 Portuguese or Spanish explorers. Where did they go and why?

Were they successful?4. Were the consequences of the Age of Exploration more positive or

negative? Explain.5. Did the slave trade change from ancient times to the Age of

Exploration? If so, how and why? *Use evidence from Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography.

6. Why do you think that the Europeans explored and colonized the New World, rather than Native Americans exploring and colonizing Europe?