A Study of Exploration &

Empire

A Study of Exploration &

EmpirePresentation Created by Ronna

Buckley

In the 1300s Europe

depended on spices from Asia &

India.

In the 1300s Europe

depended on spices from Asia &

India.

Why did they need spices?Why did they need spices?

There was no refrigeration~

The spices masked the scent & taste of the rancid meat

They had no deodorant & they used the spices as perfume

Some spices were used as medicines

If they could find a way around the Muslims,

They could get the spices they needed & save some

money, too!

Europeans were ChristianChristian & did not like giving their money to Muslims

Ships that wouldn’t get swallowed up by the oceanWith a new design!

This began the age of exploration!Exploration required new technology:

Training in NavigationTraining in Navigation

Accurate Maps & Tools Accurate Maps & Tools

The Chinese invention of the compass showed the direction of magnetic north.

The Arabs improved an

invention called the astrolabeThe Astrolabe measured the altitude of the sun, moon, planets and stars.

Mapmakers called

cartographers were unaware of North & South

AmericaA mapmaker named Ptolemy made many of the inaccurate maps for explorers.

No one knew that tribes of Native Americans were living

In a New World not even recorded on European Maps

We shouldn’t judge Ptolemy too harshly. He could only rely on the stories the men aboard ships brought back to him.

There were no satellites to help Ptolemy recognize North & South America

Ptolemy developed a grid system of longitude & latitude lines which we still use today.

Longitude: Lines run north

and south!

Latitude: Lines run

East and West

A New Ship

Portugal created a ship called a caravel.It had a shallow bottomThis allowed it to travel far from the shore & return to shallow water, too!

Instead of one large sail, the caravel had many masts with several smaller triangular shaped sails.

Rather than just oars, the caravel

hadA movable rear

rudder!This helped to steer

the ship.

Portugal Leads The Way

A Portuguese sailor named Bartholomeu Dias sailed to the southern tip of Africa.

Now, the Muslims could be bypassed to get spices from Asia.

The Tip of Africa Passageway

Became Known as

The Cape of Good Hope

Bartholomeu Dias

Bartholomeu Dias found The Cape of Good Hope, but the

first European to actually sail all the way around Africa & reach Asia was Vasco Da Gama

Sail West

Spain’s Quest for RichesAn Italian named Christopher Columbus believed he could find another way to get to

Asia.He wouldn’t sail around Africa. He would sail west tofind Asia.

Columbus finally convinced Spain’s King & Queen to finance his exploration!King Ferdinand

Queen Isabella

In 1492, Columbus sailed from Spain with three ships. Two of the ships, the Niña and the Pinta were small caravels. The third ship,

the Santa Maria, was larger, and was captained by Columbus. The ships were from 15 to 36 meters long.

Columbus touched land on an island of the Bahamas. He thought he was in India, so he called the people Indians.

Columbus died still believing he had found a new route to Asia.

He Was Lost!

Many People Argue that Columbus didn’t discover anything!

What do you think?

It wasn’t until 1507 that another Italian explorer discovered Columbus had been wrong!

Amerigo Vespucci realized he was in a New World rather than Asia.

The new continents began to be drawn into the maps as cartographers heard the news! The Cartographers began to write the name America on the maps in honor of the man who discovered them.

AMERIGO

VESPUCCI

Spain had sent Columbus to explorePortugal had sent Vespucci to exploreBoth countries wanted a claim in the New WorldThey went to the Pope for help

Age of Exploration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVD6f20OG9wClick to view (wear your head

phones)

The pope drew an imaginary line running down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean from the North Pole to the South PoleThis imaginary line was called The Line of Demarcation

Spain owned everything to the west of the Line of DemarcationPortugal owned all the land to the east of this Line of DemarcationSpain & Portugal signed a treaty

agreeing to the terms of the Line of Demarcation---------The Treaty of

Tordesillas

No one recognized the Treaty of Tordesillas except for Spain & Portugal.

Dividing the World Was Not Going to be as easy as Signing a

Treaty!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pzudWS7kVU

Click link to watch the video clip about the Treaty Of Tordisillas

Voyage of Magellan 1517

Ferdinand Magellan was from Portugal, but he was sailing for the Spanish.Magellan’s mission was to try to find a western route to Asia.Magellan began his voyage with 5 ships

Three of the ships attempted mutinyTwo captains were unhappy with Magellan’s decision to stay in South America until the springWhen Magellan found out about the Mutiny, he executed one of the CaptainsHe spared the second captain’s life, but left him marooned.

Magellan found a narrow

waterway near the southern tip

ofSouth America. Magellan Strait

was a jagged & rocky waterway that stretched 350 miles

The strong currents & strange winds separated one of the ships from the others.The lost ship was forced to return to Spain.Another ship crashed against the jagged rocks.With only 3 ships left, Magellan made it to the South Sea.He named it The Pacific Ocean!

Magellan finally reached the PhilippinesMagellan became friends with a local chief & even convinced him to become a ChristianThe Chief had an enemyMagellan was killed when he got caught in a fight between Chief and his enemyMagellan’s crew escaped & sailed away on one final shipThey were able to keep The Victoria, Magellan’s ship.

Magellan finally reached the PhilippinesMagellan became friends with a local chief & even convinced him to become a ChristianThe Chief had an enemyMagellan was killed when he got caught in a fight between Chief and his enemyMagellan’s crew escaped & sailed away on one final shipThey were able to keep The Victoria, Magellan’s ship.

The Victoria arrived back in Spain after being gone three years. Though Magellan had been killed on the voyage, since his crew completed the circumnavigation, Magellan was given historical credit.Circumnavigate means to circle the globe

What Did Magellan’s

Voyage Prove?

The World Was RoundThe World Was Larger Than Anyone Imagined

OVERSEASEMPIRES

Pedro Alvares Cabral (Portugal)Led a bloody battle & defeated the Muslim ArabsNow, Portugal controlled the trade over the Indian Ocean

Spain had control of every place in South

America except Brazil.Portugal established colonies in Brazil to grow

cash crops like Sugar, Coffee & cotton.

The Spanish Had 3 Goals AsThey Explored

Spread ChristianityServe the KingGrow Wealthy

One Spanish Conquistador

was Hernan Cortes

He sailed to Mexicoin 1519

with about 600 men bringing a strange

animal the inhabitants of Mexico had never

seen

The Aztecs described the horses as hornless deer that

blew smoke from their nostrils.

Because the Aztecs had never seen horses & Cortes was seated on a horse, the Aztecs believed Cortes was the god-king which was prophesied to arrive from the east.

The Aztecs awaited the god-king Questzalcoatl & Cortes appeared

to be the fulfillment of this prophesy.

Cortes rode into the Aztec’s capital city called Tenochtitlan

The leader of the Aztecs was MontezumaMontezuma

greeted Cortes with

gifts of gold.

Cortes & his men

were amazed by the

wealth of the Aztecs

inthe city of Tenochtitl

an

Cortes repayed Montezuma’s kindness by attacking him without mercy!

The Aztecs fought back!They melted gold & poured it down the throats of the Spanish. Cortes fled the city and managed to cut off the supply

lines of the Aztecs. Cortes forced them to surrender and he ruled Mexico

for 3 year before returning to Spain.

Aztecs Pouring Gold Down the Throats of the Spanish

In the end, the battles had killed 50,000 Aztecs, but the worst killer of the Aztecs were the Spanish Diseases!

Spanish and Aztecs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvn8OuBDESo

Click the link to watch the video clip

10 Years Later, another Conquistador

named Francisco PizzaroPizzaro invaded Peru where the

Inca lived.

The Incan Leader was Atahualpa

Pizzaro killed Atahualpa’s 2000 bodyguardsPizzaro held Atahualpa for ransomEven though the ransom was was paid, Pizzaro did not release AtahualpaAtahualpa was executed

Pizzaro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPAkqcRBRrk

Click and view the first 15 minutes of this Video.

Hernando de Soto went to the area above Florida and explored the Mississippi River Valley

Francisco de Coronado explored the area of the Grand Canyon

Coronado & De Soto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDH_pB6DzNY

When Spain visited the New World, the explorers took the land from the local people & sometimes enslaved the locals.The Spanish forced the Native Americans to abandon their rituals like dancing around the fire.

The worst enemy of the Native Americans was disease!The Native Americans had been isolated for thousands of years & had no immunities to European diseases.

During the first 50 years the Spanish ruled the Incas in Peru,

the Incan population fell from 10 million to only 1 million.

So many Incans died, the Spanish had to import slaves to do the work

Contact with the Native Americans

The Colonies of the Netherlands

The Dutch won their independence from Spain

The Netherlands were very small with few resources

The transformed one of their cities into the largest commercial city in the world at the time

They had special ships built for cargo and they could transport more than other countries.

The Dutch became great traders & controlled much of the spice trade from Asia

The Dutch soon established a colony in North America calling their colony New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. {New Amsterdam was also known as New Netherland}They also set up a colony in Africa & were very successful slave traders.

Dutch in New Netherlands

French & English ColoniesThe French didn’t really want to

farm because it took too long to make a profit from the harvestInstead, they wanted to get quick profits from the fur trade & from selling the goods others harvestedThe English farmed & sold their harvests to the FrenchThe French sold the goods to the rest of the world

The French did establish sugar plantations on a few islands & used slaves

EnglandEnglish Sea Captains became piratesThe Most famous pirate was Sir Francis DrakeHe robbed ships at seaHe was the first ENGLISHMAN to circumnavigate the globe

The first permanent English settlement in North America was Jamestown (This is where Virginia is now)The second English settlement was in Massachusetts where the Puritans lived.

Slave TradeThe economies of the new colonies in North America were based on agriculture & required intensive labor!Hard Work

There were not enough people in North America yet, so slaves were

imported from Africa.

The Triangular Trade

The slave trade route was called the Triangular TradeIt involved 3 countries:EuropeAfricaTHE NEW WORLD (both north and south)

Slave Ship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDW18FYZd7c

Changing Ways of LifeIt was very expensive to explore

the worldPeople combined their money to form Joint Stock CompaniesA new economic policy was calledmercantilismUnder mercantilism a countries’ wealth is measured by bullion

Bullion is silver and gold

Mercantilism required the mother country to extract wealth from its colonies.The colonies were used for raw materials, then used again to purchase finished productsExample: The colonies were used to grow cotton for EnglandThen the colonies were charged unfair prices for the finished product like curtains which were made back in England

England began to send peasants, homeless and unemployed people over to the colonies just to get rid of them. In England a new social order was

developing!The merchants were becoming more

wealthy than the nobility.Nobles are people born into wealth.Merchants may have been born in the lower class, but they gained

wealth and moved up in social status.

AssessmentDefine: cartographer, conquistadorcircumnavigate, bullion, joint-stock companyline of demarcation, and identify: Quetzalcoatl

List 2 improvements that made caravels

better for exploration.What is the current name of the

country where the Aztecs once lived?What is the current name of the

place where the Inca lived?

• What was the economic policy that measured a state’s power by the wealth of its colonies?

• What was the animal that the Aztecs had never seen?

• What are two goals the Spanish had when they explored?

• Who was the leader of the Aztecs?

• What killed most of the Aztecs, Incas and Native Americans?

• Which Conquistador conquered the Aztecs?

• “ “ the Incas?• Which Spanish explorer reached the

Mississippi River?• What did Fransisco de Coronado

explore?• Which Dutch city became the

largest commercial city in the world?

• Who was the most famous English pirate?

• What was the first permanent English settlement in North America?

• Which 3 countries made up the Triangular Trade?

• Essay: Describe the life of a slave from Africa and the boat trip to arrival of the new world.