Age of Discovery

period of European global exploration

from early 15th century to 17th century

The Age of Discovery or Age of Exploration

was a period from the early 15th century
that continued into the early 17th century,
during which European ships traveled
around the world to search for new trading
routes and partners.
They were in search of trading goods such
as gold, silver and spices. In the process,
Europeans met people and mapped lands
previously unknown to them. Among the
most famous explorers of the period were
Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama,
Pedro Álvares Cabral, John Cabot, Yermak,
Juan Ponce de León, Juan Sebastian
Elcano, Bartholomeu Dias, Ferdinand
Magellan, Willem Barentsz, Abel Tasman,
Jean Alfonse, Jacques Cartier, Samuel de
Champlain, Willem Jansz and Captain
James Cook.
This south-oriented map, made by Arab geographer
al-Idrisi in 1154, was one of the most accurate world
maps prior to the age of European exploration.

Portuguese Empire
Henry the Navigator started by paying
Portuguese sailors to explore the west
coast of Africa. In 1419 Joao Goncalves
Zarco discovered the Madeira Islands.
Later in the 15th century, Vasco da Gama
reached the southwestern tip of Africa and
established the city of Cape Town, a
Portuguese colony. This opened the way to
the Indian Ocean. In the next two
centuries, the Portuguese created a great
trading empire on coasts of Africa, the
Arabian Peninsula, and India. The
Portuguese Empire eventually weakened
after the Dutch East India Company rose
as the major power in Indian Ocean trade.

Spanish Empire
In a hurry to compete with Portugal for a
colonial empire, Spain sent Christopher
Columbus to the opposite route of the
Portuguese. Instead of going south along
the west coast of Africa, Columbus sailed
across the Atlantic Ocean. He believed
that he came to Asia. Later, some Spanish
sailors found out that this land was a
different continent than Asia. It is now
called the Americas.

In the 16th century, Spanish conquistadores

gained the whole of what later became
Latin America, except some British and
French colonies in northeastern South
America, and Brazil, which belonged to
Portugal. The Spanish concentrated on
conquest, unlike the Portuguese who
focused on trading. They eventually
developed a vast colonial empire, in
contrast to the Portuguese who ruled a few
islands and coastal cities along the Indian
Ocean. When Spain and Portugal were
united under King Philip II of Spain , their
combined empire was the largest on earth.

In 1522 the fleet of Ferdinand Magellan

returned to Spain. The survivors were the
first ever to sail all the way around the
world.

Britain, France, and the

Netherlands
In the 17th century, political and religious
wars with Britain, France, and the
Netherlands weakened the Iberian
Peninsula. These three nations emerged as
the main winners of the wars and became
major powers like Spain and Portugal. In
the next two centuries, the world became a
battlefield of the three nations. Britain
and France held land in North America, in
India and other distant places. The Dutch
colonized smaller parts of the Americas,
took the former Portuguese trading
centers around the Indian Ocean, and
conquered Indonesia. These three new
great powers also had influence all around
the world.

Eventually, the result was a series of wars

that were fought both in Europe and
overseas, with Britain emerging victorious.
The British took the former land of French
Canada and India in the 18th century. They
seized power in the Indian Ocean and
defeated the Dutch navy. By 1763, the
British Empire had become the second
global empire after Spain. However, in
1776, thirteen colonies of British America
declared independence. With help from the
French, Dutch and Spanish, they defeated
Britain in the American Revolution.

Exploration of the Southern

Pacific Ocean
In 1778, Captain James Cook of Britain
sailed across the South Pacific Ocean
looking for a mysterious continent in the
Southern Hemisphere. He landed on two
large islands. Then he sailed west and
found a bigger piece of land. The first, was
modern New Zealand; the second was
Australia. Captain Cook claimed these
lands for Britain. He then explored the
Pacific world for another year and died in
a fight with the Hawaiians.

Effects of the Age of

Discovery
Many slaves brought from Africa were
brought to the Americas which was claimed
to be found by Christopher Columbus
himself. In conclusion, the Portuguese
were weakened after the Dutch rose in the
Indian Ocean trade route. Spain gained
almost all of Latin America and a massive
amount of silver.

When Christopher Columbus tried to find a

new trade route to Asia, he thought that he
could travel around the world. Instead, he
had found a New World. Vikings had briefly
visited Vinland around 1000 A.D.

Related pages
 Colonialism
Exploration

References
Cipolla, Carlo Cipolla. European Culture
and Overseas Expansion.
DeVoto, Bernard (1952). The Course of
Empire. Houghton Mifflin.
Fiske, John (1892). The Discovery of
America: With Some Account of Ancient
America and the Spanish Conquest.
Houghton Mifflin.
O'Sullivan, Daniel. The Age of Discovery.
Perry, J.H. The Discovery of the Sea.
 Penrose, Boies. Travel and Discovery in
the Renaissance: 1420–1620.
Sletcher, Michael Sletcher (2005).
"British Explorers and the Americas". In
Will Kaufman and Heidi Macpherson
(ed.). Britain and the Americas: Culture,
Politics, and History. Oxford University
Press.
Wright, John K. (March 1947). "Terrae
Incognitae: The Place of the Imagination
in Geography". Annals of the Association
of American Geographers 37(1): p. 1-15.

Retrieved from
"https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Age_of_Discovery&oldid=6801650"

Last edited 4 days ago by ChenzwBot

Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless

otherwise noted.