A.

Age of Discovery and Exploration

-Trade laid the foundation of civilization in one locality to another
- Trade existed in antiquity that linked the people from africa to europe and from europe to asia.
-Spices such as pepper, cinamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger were indigenous to the East and
considered as valuable trade goods
-these oriental goods became the most demanded products among the Europeans because these
were used in the preservation of meat especially during winter season.
-Gold, slaves, silver and silk are the other valuable trade goods.
-these precious trade goods that reached Europe originated from the far east.
-Unfortunately, the rise of power to the islamic empire cut europe access to prosperous trading
centers.
-The muslims controlled the 3 routes (northern, middle and southern route) that ended the monopoly
of trade once enjoyed by the europeans.
-With great loss of profit, they began to find means to discover a new trade.
-This eventually paved the way for the additional pages in the history book for a period that came to
be known as THE AGE OF DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATIONS

1B Pioneers of European Explorations

A. Portugal
-was the first european state to build an empire which colonies that stretched from africa to the new
world (referring to the continent of the america) and onward to asia.
-Portugal’s colonial supremacy was greatly attributed to the efforts of Prince Henry (1394- 1460)
Prince Henry- won fame for his contributions to maritime explorations
-It was prince Henry who made series of his inventions or navigational instruments
-He devoted much of his time in the study of astronomy and made contacts with scholars,
astronomers, and experienced sailors.
-he studied the positions of stars, direction of the winds movement of tides and currents, and above
all, locations of unfamiliar waters.
-His dreams for the country to stand in fame and glory was realized with the series of land explored
and claimed in the name of portugal.
-Portuguese became the sole trade dealer of oriental goods such as silk, porcelain, dyes, drugs, and
spices in europe.
-However, the glory of portugal’s supremacy did not last long
-A very small country with vast colonial empire, portugal lacked the capability to manage her colonies
with limited numbers of personnel.
-The death of King henry leaving no immediate heir was taken advantage by Spain.
A.Portugal:
Africa – the first portuguese exploratory
Bartolome diaz and Vasco De Gama – pioneering explorers to africa.

Bartolome Diaz – 1488

- Southern tip of africa (now called Cape of Good Hope ) open a route to africa.

Vasco de Gama – 1497

-Sailing around the Cape of Good Hope moved further and crossed the Indian ocean
-Ended up into the harbor of Calicut, India May 19, 1498
-Diplomatic and commercial ties were soon secured with the indians (referring to the people of India)
B.Spain
Spain- was the greatest rival of portugal for colonial supremacy
-Portugal gained the lead in land explorations
-Spain got a major break when Christopher columbus, a native from genoa, italy sailed to the
unknown seas to find a new route.

Christopher columbus- 1451-1506

-presented his plan to King John II 1455- 1495 of portugal.
-since the route followed was that on sailing around africa, the king did not support his proposal.
-in disgust, he went then to spain and sought an audience with King Ferdinand 1452- 1516 and
Isabella 1451-1556
-the monarchs took his new route plan and with all out support, the queen personally funded the
expidition.
-The successful expiditions embarked by columbus that opened a new route had been used by the
succeeding spanish explorers.
-Spain got much of the foothold in the lower part of northern america and most of the south america
1550- spain controlled most of the south america, florida, cuba and asia – the philippine island
-Christopher columbus made spain the undisputed master of the colonial world
-Unfortunately, due credit was not given to him when the new world was named after a certain
wealthy merchants by the name Amerigo Vespucci

The spaniards came to the philippines and asia because of these reasons:
1.God- spread the Roman Catholic Religion
-at that time spain was the greatest champion of catholicism ot the world.
-The spanish king spent vast sums of money to convert more people to Catholicism
2. Gold- aim of spain was to get rich
-it wanted to control the spice trade in asia
-Spices ( peppers, ginger, garlic etc) were very much in demand in europe.
-IF spain could control the spice trade, it would be the riches nation in the world, but it did not
success in this aim.
3. Glory- political glory
-When the spain conquered the philippines in asia, it became the greatest empire in the world during
16th century
-Philip II was the first king to boast that the sun never set on his kingdom because it was sunset in
manila it was also sunrise in madrid, spain.

Driving spirit of the sea voyagers

-The series of exploration carried out in the middle part of the 15th century were triggered by the
various factors mentioned previously.
-All these factors were driven by three G’s namely; ‘’GOD, GOLD, GLORY’’
-The daring sea ventures were undertaken to introduce to the pagan natives the christianity concept
of God
-Out of strong conviction that the east was great source of income for their national treasury , the
voyagers craved to accumulate ore gold used by then as gauge for wealth.
-With wealth came glory foe the European country to hold supremacy both political and economic
aspects over the subjugated lands. As it turned out, powerful nations poured huge capitals to the
daring venture.
Magellan’s Expedition (fleet)

-The spaniards continued to voyage by going to Cebu

April 7- they reached the island
Humabon- chief of the island who welcomed the strangers and later concluded trade partnership with
exchanges of valuable goods.
King humabon and Magellan made a blood compact
April 14, 1521- mass was held on the shore. The magellan placed a cross which still stand at Cebu city
today.

The coming of spaniards in the philippines:

March 16, 1521- spaniards saw the island of samar and group of other islands.
-The following day, the spaniards set foot for the first time on philippines soil.
-The two ships docked on the shore of an islet of Homonhon, south of SAMAR while the third ship was
on stand by.
-They met the natives of homonhon and nearby islands of Suluan, the natives were friendly and
welcome them due hospitality
-March 25 1521- they left Homonhon and after 3 days took sight of Limasawa an islet south of leyte
Rajah Kulambu- leader of limasawa natives, greeted the spaniards.
March 31 1521- first christian mass was celebrated
Fr. Pedro de valderama- officiated the mass.
Summit of a hill overlooking the sea- magellan planted a wooden cross signifying the conversion to
christianity of the natives and mark of spanish territorial ownersip.
-After the mass, the cebuanos were invited to convert Christianity including humabon his wife and son
agreed to be baptized.
-THEY BECAME THE FIRST FILIPINO CATHOLICS.
-The queen was baptized as Queen juana
-She was given a beautiful image of the child Jesus (Santo nino) which is still the patron saint of Cebu
city until today.
-Later, a miraculous cure of the king’s brother astonished the cebuanos.
-Thus, thousand more in the island threw away their pagan idols and became baptized as catholics.
-From cebu, magellan proceeded to Mactan
-Magellan found the atmosphere in the island in great contrast to the previously visited islands.
Lapu- Lapu- the chieftain proved to be straightforward in finding out magellan’s missions.
-Having sensed an intention of intimidation, the former rejected any condition set by the spaniards
-Magellan in great fury prepared in the battle.
-Through lame but with military expertise, he was confident that the natives can easily be subdued
with a show of force.
April 27, 1521- the battle of mactan fought between the spaniards and the natives.
-Magellan was killed and his men rushed to the sea and sailed away from the islands.
-Victory of lapulapu was the first successful armed resistance recorded against Spanish aggression
-LapuLapu of mactan was the first filipino hero
-It was the first battle between the filipinos and the white and was the first victory of the Filipinos.
-In his honor, LapuLApu city in Mactan was named after him

1C Magellam expedition
Ferdinand magellan- 1518-1521
-The height of spain supremacy as a world power was made possible through the efforts made by
magellan.
-He was a soldier of the portuguese military force
-After a having a leg injury from a fierece fight against the muslims in morocco, he retired and went
back to his birth land portugal.
-Living a meager life, magellan asked the king to increase his monthly pension but was rejected.
-Saddened by the fact that he gave Portugal the best of his military career, he left and went to Spain
-He met Ruy faleiro- a brilliant cosmographer, finding commonality interest, the two friends spend
most of their leisure time together.
-With his friend magellan sought an audience with Charles I – who later became charles V, The holy
roman emperor.
-The king found his new route plan very convincing and without further interrogation approved his
proposal.
Antonio pegafetta- a italian official chronicler of the expedition
September 20, 1519 – magellan’s fleet considered of five ships and 256 (270) men/crews left San
Lucar Spain.
5 antiquated ships
A. Trinidad – the flagship
B. San antonio
C. Concepcion
D. Victoria
E. Santiago
October 1520- they crossed a narrow passage and was named by magellan as strait of magellan
-Great south seas (now pacific ocean) – magellan’s ships had the longest time travel with only 3 of his
ships left
-The Great South seas was first identified by Balboa but it was magellan who first crossed it.
-Magellan and his men finally reach moluccas, the spice island
-Magellan saw an island known today as SAMAR.
-Since they found it on the feast day of saint lazarus, the island came to be called Archipelago of St.
Lazarus
-Magellan entered the philippines with 3 remaining ships ( trinidad, victoria, concepcion.)
-

Rivalry between Portugal and Spain:

1493- Pope Alexander VI issued four Papal bulls (decrees). One of the papal bulls divided the world
between spain and portugal.
Treaty of tordesillas 1494- the two countries made an agreement, shifting the cemarcation line
(division) made by the pope.
1529- they quarreled again over ownership of the Moluccas (Spice islands).
- They made a new agreement (Treaty of Zaragosa) to fix a new demarcation line.
-The spanish king sold his rights to the moluccas to the portuguese king.
-This was a big mistake for portugal
-It didnt know that the moluccas and the philippines were really included on the side of the line
belonging to portugal
-Portugal only bought what is really owned.
-Portugal really owned the philippines and came here ahead of SPAIN.
16th century- Portugal and spain wre the most bitter rivals for colonies in the world.
-They quarreled because of ownership of these lands

Medieval Travelers

Nicolo Polo (father of marco polo)

-wealthy venetian merchant
-was welcome in the royal court by Kublai khan himself
-Intellectual and cultural exchanges made between nicolo and kublai made a lasting friendship
between the two.
-stayed at peking for a longer time (present day beijing) learned chinese way of life.
-He was an eyewitness to the valuable chinese trade goods such as silk, porcelain, and ceramics.
-After 2 years, he returned back to ITALY bringing with him the fabulous riches of china.
-1271 journeyed back to china with his brother maffeo polo and son Marco polo

Marco Polo – 17 years old then

-famous medieval traveler to the east
-he was veentian by birth
-succeeded to win his sympathy and admiration of the Mongol rules in china.
-His close ties with the mongol rulers traced its beginning with his father’s first visit in china.
- inherited Adventurous spirit from his father who traveled diff parts of china
-trusted and given high recognition because of his father good reputations
-was appointed to envoy to the court
-given a task to inspect and disseminate information on the latest rules imposed by the royal court
- learned to speak fluently almost all of the chinese languages
-his 17 years stay in china ended becaue of civil strife that broke our between Venice and Genoa
-he sailed back to his birth land to serve in the Venetian military force
- he led the war offensive against the Genoans as a commander of the naval fleet.
-He was captured in the naval battle in Curzola (1298)
-He spent many months in his prison cell writing his memorable experience in China as well as its
culture and wealth.
-His book The travel of si Marc Polo described the way of life of chinese, Dynastic government, and
wealth.
-After the war, the book published all over Europe and gained wide readership

Rise to Power:
-Stiff commercial rivalry ensued as kings and wealthy merchants funded experts sea explorers for
adventurous voyages. As a historical pattern of the said time in european continent, the dominant
philosophical thought that prevailed was ‘’more lands discovered, more wealth acquired. With
immense wealth comes fame and power’’
-Thus, this world viewed underlined the course of events during the Age of explorations.

Renaissance Period
-In reality, the renaissance period was an offshoot to the scientific revolution as europe underwent
remarkable technological progress.
-Portugal – lead the inventions of maritime aids and instruments, other countries soon followed with
their perspective improvisations.
Mariners Compass and astrolobe- most important navigational instruments introduced