Age+of+Exploration



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The Age of Exploration went from 1500 – 1800. During this time period, the Europeans started to expand throughout the rest of the world. For a long period of time, the Europeans had stayed in the same part of the world. Now voyages and journeys were set out to discover and explore new land. This was very risky for some explorers. However others saw it as opportunity and promise. There are many reasons why explorers traveled all around the world.

One reason that voyages of exploration were sent out was to help economics such as the expansion of trade, retrieving precious metals and spices. The expansion of the spice trade was important because spices were needed to flavor and preserve food. This might that spices were very expensive. Others thought that by exploring, they would gain more wealth and power. The spread of Christianity around the world was popular as well. Advances in technology that were invented have helped and influenced life today. Cartography, latitude and longitude, and the invention of the compass all help with direction. Other forms of technology that were found or created would be the cannon, firearms, and better ships. Adventure was appealing to many because they heard stories about great lands. Marco Polo’s book “The Travels” attracted many to Asia. The East fascinated Christopher Columbus himself. Christopher Columbus wasn’t the only explorer who was fascinated by new lands. Many other people were too.

Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese sea captain who heard of a route to India by going around the tip of Africa. He made it to India in May 1498 where he took a cargo of spices back to Portugal. He made a profit of several thousand percent so this route became popular for other explorers. Christopher Columbus was an Italian who had a great impact on Spanish exploration. He thought that he could reach Asia by sailing west instead of sailing around Africa. Columbus thought that he had reached Asia but instead he reached the major islands of Central America. The Portuguese and the Spanish now had both opened up lands for exploration. When other explorers found out about Christopher Columbus’s journey, many other voyages were sent out to explorer the new frontier. John Cabot explored the New England coastline of the Americas for England. Amerigo Vespucci traveled to many different lands and wrote letters explaining his findings. Ferdinand Magellan landed in the Philippines and turned it into a big Spanish trade center in the Pacific. The Age of Exploration led to many new ideas and products that are still useful and important in life today.

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 * __People__**
 * 1. Christopher Columbus:** An Italian explorer who who reached the Americas in October 1492, and believed he could reach Asia by sailing around the world from the west instead of the east because everyone thought the world was round.
 * 2. Amerigo Vespucci:** He was a Florentine who went on many voyages and wrote letters about the land that he saw. The letters he wrote created the word America for the new land after Amerigo.
 * 3. Francisco Pizarro:** Led an expedition in 1550 that took control of the Incan Empire in the Andes. Over the next 30 years, the western part of Latin America was under spanish control.
 * 4. Vasco da Gama:** He traveled around the Cape of Good Hope which is located around the southern tip of Africa. He arrived at the port of Calicut, took a cargo of spices back to Portugal, and made a profit of several thousand percent.
 * 5. Ferdinand Magellan:** He landed in the Philipines and helped turn it into a major Spanish base for trade across the Pacific Ocean.


 * "Believing that you will rejoice at the glorious success that our lord has granted me in my voyage, I write this to tell you how in thirty-three days I reached the Indies with the first fleet which the most illustrious King and Queen, our sovereigns, gave me, where I discovered a great many thickly-populated islands." - Christopher Columbus**


 * __Vocab__**
 * Mercantilism:** A set of principles that dominated economic thought in the seventeenth century; it held that the prosperity of a nation depended on a large supply of gold and silver.
 * Balance of trade:** The difference in value between what a nation imports and what it exports over time, said to be favorable or unfavorable as exports are greater or less than imports.
 * Middle passage:** The journey of slaves from Africa to the Americas, so called because it was the middle portion of the triangular trade route.
 * Bureaucracy:** An administrative organization that relies on non-elective officials and regular procedures and it is also the body of officials and administrators.
 * Triangular trade:** A pattern of trade the connected Europe, Africa and Asia, and the American continents; typically manufactured goods from Europe were sent to Africa, where they were exchanged for slaves, who were sent to the Americas, where they were exchanged for raw materials that were then sent to Europe.

media type="custom" key="12005571" Triangular Trade This is an interactive webiste on the Triangular Trade routes. Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan is credited with circumnavigating the world and this is a biography on his life. Christopher Columbus This is a biography on Christopher Columbus, who was a italian explorer. King Afonso This link goes to a biography on King Afonso of Congo. Francisco Pizarro This is website is about the great explorer Francisco Pizarro's life.
 * __Links__**