Exploring the Americas

The Growth of Trade

Searching for New Trade Routes• 1400s• European countries competed to find a sea route to the Indies (islands located

southeast of Asia).• Why?

• The Indies were a source of valuable spices. (Spices used for flavoring/medicine/etc.)

• Sailors from the country of Portugal were the first to find a new route. • sailed south along the west coast of Africa, around Africa's southern tip, then

eastward to Asia.

(Let’s look at a map…)

• Italian-born Christopher Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean. (Finds East Indies)

Better Ships = Better Sailors

• New technology (the use of scientific knowledge to solve practical problems) helped make Columbus's voyage possible.

• Advances in shipbuilding and navigation meant his ships could sail across the open ocean, well beyond sight of land.

• ships were faster and able to handle the sea better. • The carrack comes about. (Very sturdy and much larger than pre-

existing boats). • The caravel was smaller but easier to manage.

• Caravels could also sail close to shore because they were better equipped for shallow water.

By the time of Columbus’ voyage, precise maps for both the Mediterranean coast and the coasts of Europe and North Africa existed.

How were we able to have these precise maps? What is a person that creates a map called?

• The compass was invented in the 1100s. • a compass showed which direction was north (even in bad

weather).

• The astrolabe measured the positions of the sun and stars. • made it possible for a sailor to determine distances north and

south from a given position.• helped sailors to chart their location on a map.

Let’s Review…

Which tools helped sea travel expand and improve?

CompassPrecise Map

Caravel

CarrackAstrolabe

Exploring the World Is technology all you need in order to begin a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean?-What about $money$?

• Queen Isabella of Spain agreed to fund the expedition. • Why? 1. Columbus promised to bring Christianity to any lands he found. 2. she knew if Columbus found a new/quicker route to Asia, Spain would grow

rich from the increased trade. – Great investment opportunity!

• August 3, 1492, Columbus begins his voyage from Spain.• “1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.”• 3 ships—1. the Niña2. the Pinta3. Santa María. (Columbus headed this ship, the largest of the three.)

-ships carried about 90 sailors and a six-month supply of food and water.

Columbus Explores the Carribbean • October 12, 1492 land was finally spotted. (Over 2 months after they left

Spain.)• spotted a small island in the Bahamas. • Columbus claimed the island for Spain, and named it San Salvador.

Columbus believed he had arrived in the East Indies, the islands off the coast of Asia. • maps at the time did not include the Caribbean islands or the Americas. • Only showed three continents—Europe, Asia, and Africa—as one gigantic

landmass. • At the time, no one realized that the Americas existed.

• Columbus explored the area for several months. • he called the native people "Indians” because he thought he was in the East

Indies. COMPLETELY different direction to where he actually was.

(Again, let’s look at a map.”

When Columbus returned to Spain, Queen Isabella and the Spanish king, Ferdinand agreed to devote funds to his future voyages.

Columbus made three more voyages to the Americas from Spain in 1493, 1498, and 1502. • explored the Caribbean islands of Hispaniola (present-day Haiti

and the Dominican Republic), Cuba, and Jamaica. • sailed along the coasts of Central America and northern South

America. • claimed the new lands for Spain and started settlements. • also mapped the coastline of Central America.

Columbus was just the beginning…

• 1502 Amerigo Vespucci (Italian) sailed along South America's coast.

• concluded that South America was a continent, NOT part of Asia.

• 1513 Vasco Núñez de Balboa (Spaniard) led an expedition westward.

• Discovers the Pacific Ocean

• 1520, Ferdinand Magellan (Portuguese sailor working for Spain) reached the southern tip of South America.

• Continued and sailed into the Pacific Ocean.• He dies, but his crew sailed on and reaches Spain two

years later. • first known people to circumnavigate, sail around, the

world.

Let’s Review… Who were the four explorers that we have covered thus far? What are they accredited for?

The Columbian Exchange

The voyages of European explorers brought together two parts of the • Europe, Asia, and Africa • the Americas in the other.

Columbian Exchange - voyages led to the exchange of people, plants, animals, and germs from each continent to the other. great effect on the world's cultures. - example, the horse

Were these effects always positive?

Home Learning -

1. What advances in technology paved the way for European exploration? What did each advancement do?

2. What does the term circumnavigate mean?3. What were the results of Columbus’s voyages across the

Atlantic?4. Out of the four different explorers that we covered today, who

played the most important role in the exploration of the Americas and why? (Your opinion, support your answer.)

5. Why was the Age of Exploration a major turning point in history?6. Why did Spain decide to finance Columbus’s voyage?