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Age of Exploration

Why did it happen ?


- Demand for spices - Find new route to Asia
- Gain control of the spice trade ( Cinnamon , Nutmeg , Pepper )
- Muslims charged high taxes
- Capture of Constantinople
- Preserved food

- Support of rulers - King and Queen funded voyages


- Gain control of spice trade
- Jewels
- Conquer land
- Spread Christianity

- Improvements in shipbuilding and navigation

- Ships - caravel invented - Small fast and easy to manoeuvre


-Strong
-Decks waterproof
-Carracks invented bigger caravel

- Navigation - Position - Astrolabe - measured angle of the sun


- Cross-staff - measure latitude , not affected by storms

- Direction - Compass - magnetic need pointed to North

- Speed - Log and Line - log attached to rope


- knots pulled in 1 minute is speed
- why ships speed measured in knots

- Renaissance - People began to think differently

- Life on board a ship - Captain in charge of ship


- First mate
- Hardtack biscuits eaten . Became infested with beetles
- Scurvy - absence of fresh fruit and vegetables
- Infected water - dysentery disease
- Storms
Explorers from Portugal
- Prince Henry the Navigator ( 1394 - 1460 ) - Conquered Ceuta (Muslin stronghold) in Morocco
- Wanted to spread Christianity
- Prester John christian king in Africa
- Patron - funded voyages
- Set up school for exploration developed caravel
- Sailors mapped 2,400 km coastline of Africa
- Discovered islands of Madeira and Azores
- Portugal lead the way in exploration

- Bartholomew Diaz (1450 - 1500 ) - 1487 - Expedition 3 ships to Africa


- 1488 - Storm lost sight
- Storm ended rounded tip of Africa
- First European to enter Indian Ocean
- Called the tip of Africa ‘ The Cape of Storms ’
- Renamed by Portuguese King to ‘ Cape of Good Hope ’

- Vasco da Gama ( 1460 - 1524 ) - 3 ships set sail East


- Sailed into Atlantic to avoid dangerous coast
- Lost sight for 3 months
- Landed at the coast of Africa on Christmas - named ‘ Natal ’
- Reached Calicut - trading port for spices
- Loaded up spices
- Return journey 3 months
- 1499 returned to Portugal , spices paid for voyage
- Discovered a new sea route to the East

- Impacts - New Sea route to the East


- Trade links with Africa
- Broke Muslim control of spice trade
Explorers from Spain
- Christopher Columbus - Born in Genoa, Italy 1451
- Believed sailing westwards to reach spice islands
- Proposal ‘ The Enterprise of the Indies ’
- King of Portugal refused to funded voyage
- King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain funded voyage
- Set sail from Palos
- 3 ships - the Nina , the Pinta and the Santa Maria
- Sailed to the Canary Islands - took on supplies and did repairs
- Left Canaries into open ocean
- 12 October land spotted
- Columbus claimed land for Spain ‘ San Salvador’
- Thought he was in India named natives ‘ Indians ’
- Sailed to Cuba though ti was Japan
- Sailed to Hispaniola ( Haiti )
- Here on Christmas Day the Santa Maria crashed and was abandoned
- Reached Portugal and then Spain
- Greeted with a heroes welcome
- Portugal and Spain divided their lands ‘ Treaty of Tordesillas’
- Went on three more voyages
- Died in 1506
- Discovered the New World - America

- Ferdinand Magellan - ‘Treaty of Tordesillas’ divided the world - Portugal and Spain
- No one knew which half the spice Islands were in .
- Born on 1480 - Portuguese sailor
- 1519 Magellan set sail from Seville to prove they were in Spain
- 5 ships - the Trinidad, the Conception, the San Antonio, the Santiago
and the Victoria
- Looked for passage to Spice Islands
- Spent Winter at Port St. Julian
- Magellan crushed attempted mutiny
- Santiago wrecked in storm
- Magellan found passage to the East through straits ( Magellan Straits )
- Reached a calm ocean called it Pacific
- 3 months to cross ocean , crew died from scurvy
- Magellan reached group of islands ( The Philippines ) .
- Got involved in a tribal war and was killed on 26 April 1521
- The Trinidad returned home the same way it came but was captured
- The Victoria went back through the Indian ocean
- The Victoria captained by ‘Sebastian del Cano' , 18 crew
- Reached Spain
- Circumnavigated around the world
- This proved the Earth was round
What happened as a result of it ?
- New empires - New world Spain built an empire - ‘ The Consquistadores ’
- Famous consquistadores - Hernando Cortes and Francisco Pizzaro

- Cortes and the Aztecs

- Cortes went to Cuba and learned about the Aztec Empire .


- went to the capital of Tenochtitlan
- Took the Aztec ruler Montezuma hostage
- Aztecs rose up against them
- Cortes fled after killing Montezuma
- Returned with large force of Spanish and Indians
- Tenochtitlan destroyed after 3 months and Mexico City built on it’s ruins

- Pizzaro and the Incas

- Given permission to conquer Inca Empire in South America


- Pizzaro set sail with 180 me to conquer 12 million empire
- His force met the Incas after a surprise attack. 10,000 Incas died.
- Incas offered to fill a room full of gold for their leader to be released
- He agreed and sent the gold to Spain before he left he killed their leader .
- Pizzaro captured the Inca capital .
- Pizzaro was killed during a dispute
- Gold mines found .

- New goods exchanged between Europe and the New World


- Goods were brought to the New World such as coffee , cotton , pigs and sheep
- Goods and animals were brought to Europe such as sugar , tobacco and the potato

- Discoveries changed the view of the world


- The Earth was round
- The Pacific Ocean separated Asia and America

- Impact on the Natives


- New religions and customs spread
- Diseases spread such as mall pox which wiped out lots of people
- The natives were taken to Europe as slaves Indians and then Africans

- Conflict between European powers


- Counties began to conquer others land for themselves

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