the explorers. not a sailor never made an ocean voyage in the early 1400’s brought together...
TRANSCRIPT
The Explorers
• NOT a sailor• Never made an ocean voyage• In the early 1400’s• brought together mapmakers, mathematicians,
and astronomers• sponsored many explorations
• First European country to venture out into the Atlantic
• Beginnings of the Age of Exploration and the Portuguese empire
Prince Henry the Navigator
• Portuguese• 1497, led four ships to find a sea
route to Asia• Made trade connections all along
the West and East coasts of Africa• In 10 months hit India• First discovery of actual sea route
to Asia
Vasco da Gama
• Made three more trips to the Americas• Died in 1506 still believing he had
discovered a sea route to Asia• Was not until 1507 that an explorer
named Amerigo Vespucci suggested that Columbus had discovered a “New World”
Columbus
”With fifty men I could subjugate them all and make them do everything that is
required of them”
~ Christopher Columbus, Journal (14 October 1492)
Columbus
• Spain and Portugal laid claim to all of the newly discovered worlds
• Asked the Pope to settle who gets
what• Line of Demarcation, 1493• Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494
Dividing Up the World
• Portuguese• 1519, with 5 ships and 260 man crew• looking for a route to Asia• Renamed South sea to Pacific Ocean• Because it was so calm• Originally discovered by Balboa of
Spain
Magellan
• Reached the Philippines, killed in a tribal dispute between warlords
• 1522, after 3 years, 18 crew and one ship made it back to Spain
• Proved once and for all• World was round• Columbus had not discovered Asia• The oceans were all connected• The world was much larger than most people
believed
Magellan
• More interested in conquest than trade• Unlike Portugal who was more interested
in trade• Conquistadors – “conquerors”
“We came to serve God and his Majesty,to give light to those who were in darkness,and to grow rich as all men desire to do.”
Spain
• Cortes – conquered the Aztecs
• Pizarro – conquered the Incas
• Slaughtered thousands of Aztecs and Incas
Spain
Cortes told the Aztecs,
“I and my companions suffer from a disease of the heart which can be cured only with
gold.”
Spain
• The encomienda system• Monarchs granted land• And gave those landowners the right
to use the Native Americans as labor • First 50 yrs of Spanish rule• Millions of Native Americas died• Disease, enslavement, working in
mines, and plain ole massacre
Spain
• Bartolome de Las Casas• Spanish priest who fought against the
abuse of the Native Americans• Forced Spain to pass new laws in 1542• Forbade enslavement• Spain was too far away to enforce it
Spain
“The Indians were totally deprived of their freedom and were put into the harshest,
fiercest, most horrible servitude and captivity which no one who has not seen it can understand. Even beasts enjoy more
freedom when they are allowed to graze in the field.”
~ Bartolomé de las Casas, History of the Indies (1510)
Treatment of the Native Americans
So many Native Americans died from Spanish rule that there were not enough laborers left in the colonies to enrich landowners and Spain.
What did Spain do?
Spain