Age of Exploration Review

Age of Exploration Review

Reasons for exploration

Discovering new trade or shipping routes meant greater economic power.  Great economic power often leads to greater military power.  European nations competed through exploration and claiming new lands.  (“He who has the most land wins!”)

·       Religion: spread Christianity to the natives to save their souls, colonies also were established in North America as refuges for religious groups

·       Economic Gain: A country’s power depends on its wealth.  Countries can increase their wealth by owning increasing amounts of gold and silver.  To do this a country must export (sell to other countries) more goods than it imports (goods from other countries).  To increase its wealth and power, the European countries needed colonies to gain more raw materials and people to buy the manufactured products they produced.

Multiple Choice

Identify three major reasons for European exploration in the Americas.

• Development of trade routes for economic profit

  Territorial claim and colonial expansion

  Spread of religious beliefs to new populations

• To study the Weather patterns of the Sea and Development of trade routes

• Territorial claim and colonial expansion

  Spread of religious views to protestant populations

  Development of trade routes for economic profit

• Territorial claim and colonial expansion

  Spread of religious beliefs to new populations

  Study weather patterns of the sea

European Explorers

Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese explorer who commanded the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India. 

Bartolomeu Dias was a Portuguese explorer who sailed to the southern tip of Africa in 1488. 

Jacques Cartier was a French explorer who claimed present-day Canada for France.  He explored the eastern coast of Canada on three separate trips.  He mapped and named the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the St. Lawrence River.

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer who was funded by Spain in 1492 to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to reach Asia.  Columbus landed on present-day San Salvador (in the Caribbean Sea) and claimed it for Spain.  He explored the island of Cuba and Hispaniola.  He returned to Spain with proof of his discoveries believing he had explored the coast of Asia. ​

European Explorers

Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer became convinced in 1502 that Columbus had discovered a “new world” and not been on the coast of Asia.  In 1507, early mapmakers labeled what is now the South American continent with the name America.

Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer who led the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe.  In addition to that, he was the first explorer to sail from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and the first explorer to cross the Pacific Ocean.

Henry Hudson was an English explorer whose exploration of present-day New York led in 1609 for the Dutch East India Company led to the colonization of the area as New Amsterdam (later New York).  He explored the region looking for a Northwest Passage to Asia. 

Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer who explored southern North American in a unsuccessful search of gold.  In 1541 the Spaniards saw the Mississippi River for the first time.  After dying in May 1542, De Soto was buried in the Mississippi River.

Multiple Choice

Which explorer traveled around the coast of Africa and eventually reached India?

• Bartolomeu Dias

• Jacques Cartier

• Vasco Da Gama

• Ferdinand Magellan

Prince Henry the Navigator’s influence on exploration and voyages in the Age of Discovery

Prince Henry “the Navigator” of Portugal led the way for all other explorers by funding many voyages of exploration beginning in 1420 along the African coast and west into the Atlantic Ocean.  These voyages were successful in creating trade with African kingdoms, early mapmaking, and seizing Azores, Madeira, and Cape Verde islands in the Atlantic Ocean.

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

​Prince Henry the Navigator’s influence on cartographic improvements and tools related to exploration in the Age of Discovery

·       compass – used to help determine the direction in which they were sailing.  European explorers learned about it from the Arabs.

·       astrolabe – ancient Greek instrument used to find latitude.  European explorers learned about it from the Arabs.

·       caravel – fast small Spanish or Portuguese sailing ship of the 15^th – 17^th centuries

·       Harrison’s chronometer is a precision timepiece that is carried on a ship and employed in the determination of a ship’s position by calculating longitude at sea, essentially the first GPS.  It was invented by Jon Harrison in 1761.

Multiple Choice

Which statement identifies how the voyages of discovery contributed to a changing worldwide view in European society?

• Mercantilism declined due to new discoveries

• Maps accurately depicted new regions

• Powerful monarchs lost power as merchants gained wealth

• Europeans adopted traditional customs from other regions

European Colonization​

Location of European colonies in the “new world.”

·       Spain and Portugal’s territories were in South America, Mexico and the Caribbean. 

·       France and England established colonies in North America.

How did religion impact the location of settlement by each country?

In Spanish America, as in Portuguese Brazil, Catholic priests were sent to establish missions (religious communities) to teach Christianity to the Native Americas. 

Multiple Choice

Mexico was colonized by which country?

• France

• England

• Portugal

• Spain

Multiple Choice

Which number represents an area colonized by a Catholic Power?

• Number 4

• Number 3

• Number 2

• Number 1

​Conquistadors

Cortes defeats the Aztec (Mexico) - In 1519, Cortes traveled to Mexico in search of gold and glory.  He arrived with soldiers, sailors, horses, and cannon.  His forces frightened the Native Americans who surrendered.  Many of the Mayan people were unhappy with the Aztec.  During wars with the Aztec, the Mayan people were captured.  The Aztec then sacrificed the Mayans to please their Gods.  The Mayans helped Cortes defeat the Aztecs. The Spanish conquistadors also brought diseases like smallpox and measles that the Aztec had never been exposed to.  It killed the Aztec in massive numbers. 

Pizarro defeats the Inca (Peru) – Francisco Pizarro had been a soldier with an explorer who arrived in present-day Panama in search of gold.  After the explorer was killed, Pizarro continued the search.  The Inca ruled the empire Pizarro was searching for in present-day Peru.  Pizarro attacked the empire in the 1530s by capturing the Inca ruler in battle and then tricking him into paying a ransom to be freed.  The ruler was then tried for treason and executed.  Spain made Pizarro governor of Peru. ​

Multiple Choice

How were the declines of the Aztec and Incan Empires similar?

• They were both caused by famines.

• They were both caused by European invasions.

• They were both caused by natural disasters.

• They were both caused by rapid changes in climates.

Multiple Choice

·       Spanish conquistador

·       Traveled along the Pacific Coast of South America

·       Conquered the Incan empire

·       Brought gold and wealth back to Spain

 

Which historical figure is best described by the list above?

• Amerigo Vespucci

• Francisco Pizarro

• Hernando de Soto

• Hernan Cortes

​Columbian Exchange

Global exchange of people, goods, technology, ideas, and diseases began – known as the Columbian Exchange.​

·       American crops new to Europe – corn and potatoes – corn fed livestock which resulted in more meat, leather and wool; potatoes fed more Europeans.

·       Native American crops for Europeans – squash, beans, tomatoes, chocolate.  Revolutionized Italian cooking and European sweets.

·       European and Asian grains brought to America: wheat, barley, rye, rice. 

·       Caribbean goods brought to America: coffee, bananas, and tropical fruits

• ANIMALS: New to America: pigs, sheep, cattle, chickens, and horses

• Influence on Asia: Sugar, chili peppers, and silver were exported from the Americas to China in return for silk, porcelain and spices

• Influence on Africa: Dependence on enslaved Africans grew with the growth of the cotton industry. 

Multiple Choice

Which of these describes a result of the Columbian Exchange?

• The introduction of the horse to Europe caused an increase in agricultural output.

• The introduction of gunpowder to Europe caused war fatalities to increase.

• The introduction of smallpox to the Americas caused the American Indian population to decrease.

• The introduction of the potato and corn to the Americas caused a famine when crops were hit by disease.

Multiple Choice

What was one effect of the Columbian Exchange on the Americas during the Age of Exploration?

• Extinction of several species of native livestock

• Creation of a confederacy of American Indian peoples

• Introduction of the African slave trade

• Improvements in industrial practices

​Spanish Colonization

·       Mission system - Catholic priests were sent to establish missions (religious communities) to teach Christianity to the Native Americas. 

·       Encomienda system – a system that granted a landowner a certain number of native people, who were forced to pay tribute to the landowner in the form of gold or labor.  The Spanish enslaved and mistreated the Native Americans.  90% died as a result of contact with Europeans.

·       Bartolome de Las Casas – condemned the mistreatment of enslaved Native Americans.  In an effort to stop the destruction of the native population, de Las Casas suggested bringing enslaved Africans to replace the Native Americans.  He regretted this later and turned against the slave trade supporting the human rights of all enslaved persons.

Multiple Choice

Bartolome de las Casa was instrumental in reforming what system in the Americas?

• Indentured servitude

• Encomienda system

• Repartimiento system

• Mission system