The Age of ExplorationEuropeans in the New World

On IN Page 50….• Set up Cornell Notes• Title: The Age of Exploration• Essential Question: What was the Age of Exploration and what

were its effects?

The Age of Exploration• Who: An explorer is a

person who travels in search of geographic or scientific discoveries. Explorers came from European nations (Spain, Portugal, France, England & the Netherlands)

The Age of Exploration• What: A time period

when Europeans began to explore the rest of the world.

When: Early 15th

century to 17th century

The Age of Exploration • Where: Areas

explored include Africa, Asia, North America & South America

The Age of Exploration • Why: Nations were

looking for gold & spices, to expand their empires and to spread Christianity to new parts of the world.

God. Glory. Gold.

The Age of Exploration • How: Improvements

in mapmaking, ship building and navigation made this possible.

Astrolabe: used to find position of stars

Compass

Caravel

Mercantilism leads to Exploration• Mercantilism: an economic system that attempts to increase

the wealth of a country by creating a favorable balance of trade.

Exports are goods that a country sells to another

Imports are goods that a country buys from another

Mercantilism leads to Exploration• In order to keep a “favorable balance of trade,” one country

would need more exports than imports. • Example: Spain sells $500 in sugar to France and France sold

$300 in cloth to Spain. France would also have to pay Spain $200 worth of precious metals (gold & silver) to cover the rest of the cost for the sugar.

• Spain would have a favorable balance of trade because the value of its exports (sugar) was greater than the value of its imports (cloth). Spain would become richer because of the precious metals it received from France.

Mercantilism leads to Exploration

If European nations could acquire new land and set up colonies in

North & South America, they would be able to use all of the resources to create goods and would also be able

to sell the goods in the colonies.

Spain Claims an EmpireThe Line of Demarcation• 1493: Spain & Portugal

compete over land in the Americas • Pope Alexander VI drew

the Line of Demarcation on a map • The Line allowed

Portugal to claim all non-Christian lands to the east and Spain to claim all non-Christian lands to the west

Treaty of Tordesillas • Leaders of Spain &

Portugal met in 1494 to redraw the line• They moved the line

more than 800 miles farther west

Conquistadors • Spain sent many

explorers to the Americas including conquistadors (conquerors) to claim the new land for Spain• They used force and

successfully took land away from natives

Reasons for Spanish Victories1. Spread of European

diseases killed millions of Native Americans

2. Better weapons3. Spanish alliances with

other local Native Americans

4. Use of brutality

The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange is the movement of plants, animals & diseases between the Eastern &

Western hemispheres.

It is estimated that more than 20 million Native Americans in

Mexico were killed by European diseases Crops from the

Americas, especially

potatoes & corn, helped

quickly grow the

population in Europe

A Northwest Passage• While Spain & Portugal

were conquering areas in the southern Americas, explorers from France, England & the Netherlands were looking for a Northwest Passage• They hoped to sail

through North America into Asia

Code Marking-Repetition #1• Go through your notes about The Age of Exploration and• Highlight important information• Circle key terms (vocabulary)• Put stars (*) next to possible test quesitons• Put question marks (?) next to things you don’t understand (and

then actually ask me those questions!)

Warm-Up (IN Page 55 TOP)

1. Write a COMPLETE definition (in your own words and using complete sentence(s)) of “The Age of Exploration” that includes the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY & HOW.

2. What are the 3 “G’s” when it comes to why Europeans wanted to explore the world?

3. What is Mercantilism?4. How are imports different from exports?