An Age of Exploration Chapter 1 Section 2
The World in the 1400s: The Americas The Americas were home to two powerful civilizations: the Incas and the Aztecs Pg 12
The World in the 1400s: The Americas Farther north (in now North America), people lived in smaller tribes that were different from one another The differed greatly by the land they lived on In now California tribes hunted in small parties In the mid west hunters followed the herds of buffalos, constantly moving In the Northeast tribes had permanent villages and even a complex form of government Pg 12
Pg 12 Trade Networks of Asia and Africa A vast trade network stretched from Africa to China Dominated by Muslims (followers of the religion of Islam Trade and conquest caused the spread of Islam Used camels to travel across the Sahara (world s largest desert) Ships traveled to East Africa Silk Road was used to travel to China (main road traders used to transport silk and spices to China)
Pg 13 China in 1400s In 1405 a Chinese emperor sent Zheng He to explore world Fleet of 300 treasure ships made 7 long trips through the South China Sea and across the Indian Ocean Exploration stopped after Zheng He s death The Chinese of the Ming Dynasty were far ahead of Europeans in terms of ship building, although it was the Europeans that reached the Americas first. Columbus largest ship was 85 feet long Zheng He s largest ship was 440 feet long
Pg 13 Europe Begins to Explore Between 1100 and 1300, thousands of Christians in western Europe left to fight in the Crusades Goal was to end Muslim rule in the Holy Land, where Jesus had lived ***
Pg 13 Looking Outward After 200 years of fighting, the Crusaders failed to get control of the Holy Land However, trade did grow between Europe and the Middle East *** Europeans learned about magnetic compasses and astrolabes from Muslim sailors In the 1300s, the Renaissance began Europe rediscovered Greek and Roman ideas and the invention of the printing press helped to spread these ideas Astrolabe: useful for determining latitude on land
Pg 14 New Trade Routes Strong rulers emerged in England, France, Spain, and Portugal Wanted to increase wealth by trading with Asia Problem: Muslim and Italian merchants controlled most of the trade routes so they needed to find a new route Prince Henry of Portugal opened a school to improve sailing skills Hired cartographers (mapmakers) to produce more accurate maps and sea charts Hired ship builders to design newer, faster ships In 1497 Portugese explorer Vasco da Gama rounded the southern tip of Africa and reached India providing Europe with a new trading route
Pg 14 Columbus Reaches the Americas Christopher Columbus believed that sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean would be faster than sailing around the tip of Africa He did not know there were two huge continents in the way He convinced the Spanish rulers, Isabella and Ferdinand, to pay for his voyage They hoped this would give Spain the advantage over Portugal in the spice trade
Pg 14 Landing On October 12, 1942, after more than a month at sea, Columbus landed with part of his crew on one of the islands of the Bahamas He thought he had landed in the East Indies and called the people Indians Were actually the Tainos people When he returned to Spain he told the rulers that he had reached Asia, found gold, and that the people were peaceful people who could be converted to Christianity and used for slave labor
Pg 14 Spain s Empire Eventually they figured out the Columbus had not really reached Asia The name America first appeared on a map in 1507 Within a few decades, Spain conquered the Inca and Aztec Empires and set up colonies from Mexico to South America Colony: a group of people who settle in a new place but are ruled by the government of their native land
Pg 14 Biography: Christopher Columbus 1451 1506 : died at years old After his first voyage he was showered with honor After his third he was led off his ship in chains Was in charge of the Spanish colonies but failed to produce as much wealth as the King was expecting Was a brutal ruler over the Natives ***
Story Time Christopher Columbus left home in Genoa, Italy, as a teenager to become a sailor on the Mediterranean Sea. In the late 1470s he settled in Lisbon, Portugal, where he worked closely with master navigators and adopted the then-radical idea that land specifically Asia could be found by sailing west. (At the time, many Europeans believed that a ship sailing west would eventually drop off the edge of the world.) It took Columbus years to find sponsors for such a westward journey; finally, on August 3, 1492, he sailed for Spain with three ships: the Santa Maria (which he commanded), the Pinta, and the Nina. After a stopover in the Canary Islands, Columbus sailed west from September 6 to October 7, and then southwest. Because the length and risk of the voyage alarmed the crew, Columbus kept secret his own log of distance traveled, and created a false log for the crew that indicated a lesser (and therefore less frightening) distance from Europe. Nevertheless, mutiny nearly occurred on October 10, just two days before reaching land in the Bahamas. After visiting numerous islands of the West Indies, Columbus returned to Portugal in January 1493, and on March 15 received a hero s welcome in Spain. On Columbus s second voyage (1493 1496), he sailed for the West Indies with seventeen ships to establish colonies for Spain. But within months of the colonists arrival in Hispaniola considered the most promising site tens of thousands of natives had died from European diseases, forced labor, and murder at the hands of the Spanish. On his third voyage (1498 1500), Columbus explored Trinidad and some of the South American mainland, and learned that conditions in Hispaniola had grown worse. When reports of Hispaniola reached Spain, Spanish officials were sent to arrest Columbus and bring him back in chains. Columbus was permitted to make a fourth voyage (1502 1504), but after landing in Honduras, he was stranded on Jamaica for a year and had to be rescued by the Spanish. He died two years later, still believing that he had reached Asia. Columbus s explorations changed the course of western history. As a result, he remains a controversial figure. While some admire his bravery and consider him a hero, others condemn his role in the colonization of the Americas and the genocide of native peoples.
Pg 15 The Columbian Exchange Exploration led to a new age of global connections Columbian Exchange: animals, planets, and ideas were passed back and forth across the Atlantic; all started with Columbus
Pg 15 New Products and Ideas Columbian Exchange brought American food to Europe Potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, cocoa, peppers, avocado, turkey, tomatoes, beans, squash, peanuts and pineapples Fad of smoking tobacco spread to Europe Natives also taught Europeans how to make medicines out of tree barks and herbs Also brought things from Europe to the Americas *** Chickens, cow, sheep, goat, and horses Bananas, oranges, lemons, wheat, rice, peach, pear, sugar cane, watermelon, lettuce, and figs New religions and new forms of government Disease: smallpox, typhus, influenza
Pg 16 Disease Before the Europeans the Natives had never encountered diseases such as smallpox, typhus, and influenza Within 75 years after Columbus arrival, 90% of the natives in Mexico and Caribbean Island had died from European diseases *** Typhus Smallpox
Pg 16 Growth of Slavery The Spanish enslaved the Natives to work in gold and silver mines and on plantations Plantation: a large estate farmed by many workers Many Native American died due to disease, accidents, or being worked to death Eventually African people were used as slaves Suggested by Bartolome de las Casas (a Spanish priest) It was suggested that they would be resistant to the diseases that were killing off the American Natives They already had the needed skills
Pg 16-17 Growth of Slavery Slavery already existed in Africa, most were captured during war and were only slaves for a few years after which they were a equal part of society However, in America slaves were seen as property and children were slaves from birth As the need for slaves in America increased a slave trade network arose Local African rulers captured rivals in war and sold them to African traders *** African Traders then sold them to Europeans who took them to the Caribbean, Brazil, and North America Middle Passage: the crossing from Africa to the Americas Estimated 10 million Africans were sold