Name: Rica H.

Vargas Date Passed:

Course & Section: BSTM 102TM Subject: Readings in Philippine History

Age of Exploration (Spain and Portugal)

Age of Exploration/Discovery

The Age of Exploration or Discovery is one of the most important events that happened in
the history of the western world. This period happened from the early 15th century continuing into
the early 17th century wherein European ships traveled around the world. Some scholars refer to it
as the Contact Period or the Age of European Expansion in more recent times. During their
exploration, they happen to meet new people and were able to identify new lands that they didn’t
know exist. The Age of Exploration help the growth of technologies and ideas growing out of the
Renaissance. We all know how essential the development of technologies to people. It helps us in
our everyday lives. It also includes the advances of people in terms of cartography, which is the
science or practice of drawing maps, navigation, and ship-building. Among all the developments,
the invention of Carrack and Caravel in Iberia is the most important one. It is a combination of
traditional European and Arab designs that happened to leave the relatively passive Mediterranean
and safely sail on the open Atlantic. The Age of Exploration or Discovery permanently alter the
world and transform geography into the modern science which we have today.

When the Ottoman Empire, an empire that is created by Turkish Tribe, took control of
Constantinople in 14th century, it causes the blockage of European to commercial access in
Mediterranean and the ancient sea routes from the East, severely limiting trading of goods from
other country. Additionally, they also blocked the access to North Africa and the Red Sea which
is a two very important trade routes to the Far East. Red Sea is one of the saltiest bodies of water
in the world, which is known with its connection to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal. It
is one of most famous and heavily traveled waterways between Europe and Asia. That is why
blocking this means huge limitation to the trade industry. Furthermore, one of the reasons behind
the birth of Age of Exploration or discovery is because of the breaking up of the empire of the
Mongols towards the end of the 14th century. Mongol people is a member of Central Asia
ethnographic group who live mainly on the Mongolian Plateau which shares a same language and
nomadic tradition. In view of the fact that Mongolian people are breaking apart, western merchants
are no longer assured of safe-conduct along the land routes.

Reason of Spain and Portugal for Exploring

Given the facts that led to the realization of Europeans to explore and travel the world by
sea, one of the main reason why the Europeans wants to explore is because they want money.
Although some of the individual explorers do expeditions to gain fame or experience in adventure,
to tell the truth, it is about money. As what is stated earlier, when the Ottoman Empire captured
Constantinople in 1453, many accessible routes to India and China were shut down causing them
to have a hard time trading their goods and when there is an issue when it comes to trading, it will
also affect the money that their country is earning. It negatively affects their economic growth and
the people will experience famine. Through expeditions, they’re able to earn money by bringing
expensive products such as spices and silk. They also discover gold and silver, and land where
colonies could be established and crops such as sugar, cotton, and tobacco where it would healthily
grow. Additionally, they believed that they need to spread their religion which is Christianity.

Portugal and Spain rose to prominence during the Age of Exploration as early leaders. The
Treaty of Tordesillas was an agreement between the two countries that they will divide the New
World in half. Spain received the majority of the Americas, whereas Portugal received Brazil,
India, and Asia. Portugal’s Prince Henry the Navigator is the one who leads his country’s
exploration in Africa and the Atlantic in the 1400’s. Due to his assistance, Portuguese seafarers
were able to successfully navigate an eastward path to Africa, establishing a presence there that
would later serve as the foundation of their nation's trading empire during the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. They built an empire in Atlantic through colonizing Canary, Cape Verde,
Azores Islands, and the island of Madeira. They used these places to serve as a debarkation points
for their subsequent journeys. They use these places to be their destination to drop the goods that
they find during their exploration. Employing that kind of strategy helps Portugal to spread their
empire down to the western coast of Africa to the Congo, along the western coast of India, and
hereafter to Brazil on the eastern coast of South America. They are also able to established trading
posts in China and Japan. Although they didn’t rule over a huge landmass, their strategy help them
to have unrivaled control of nautical trade routes and a global empire of trading posts during 14th
century. Through the travelling of Portuguese traders in Western Africa, the birth of African Slave
trade occurs. Since they realize that this kind of source of labor will help them to grow the
profitable crop of sugar on their Atlantic islands, they began exporting African slaves along with
African ivory and gold. Due to this, their Atlantic islands became known as home to sugar
plantations. Other European countries benefited from the trade of these slaves, which provided
desperately needed human capital to the Portuguese. As the years goes by, the European
exploration spreads, as well as slavery. In time, much of the Atlantic world would become a
gigantic sugar-planting facility that Africans have been working to produce for European buyers
the very profitable commodity.

Portuguese traders built Elmina Castle which is called Ghana on the present day. Its
purpose was to serve as the fortified trading post because they are afraid that there will be a naval
attack from other Europeans than of a land attack from the Africans. That trading post had mounted
cannons facing out to sea in case there will be an attack happening. They shortly began to settle
around the fort and created the town of Elmina. The fort was originally used for trading gold but
eventually by 16th century, they changed their goal. The dungeon of the port are used as a holding
pen for the African slaves while on the upper floors is where the traders ate, slept and prayed. The
slaves are able to live in the dungeon for months until ships arrived and transport them to Europe
or the Americas.

On the other hand, Spanish are the one who established the first European settlements in
the America. They begin in Caribbean and by 1600, they are able to extend throughout Central
and South America. Thousands of the Spaniards went to America because of wealth and status.
They wanted to be known and create a name for themselves. Since they are the popular rival of
Portugal, they hoped to gain advantage during the 15th century. Their goals were to increase the
believer of Catholicism and of course to gain a commercial advantage over Portugal. Due to that,
the King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I sponsored an exploration to Atlantic. Christopher
Columbus, the Spain’s most famous explorer believed that he could chart a westward route to
India, which will help them to expand the European trade and spread their religion which is
Christianity. He asks for help to Genoese, Venetian, Portuguese, English, and Spanish monarchs,
urging them to provide him ships and funds for him to be able to explore the westward route.
Unfortunately, his request from all that is mentioned was declined. They stated that what he
estimated of the width of the Atlantic Ocean were too low. However, after three years of humble
requests, and the completion of Reconquista, which is a series of campaign by Christian states to
recapture territory from the Moors, Ferdinand and Isabella finally agreed to answer the funds of
Columbus’s exploration in the late 14th century. They supplied him with three ships named Nina,
Pinta and Santa Maria. They already know that the Portuguese would soon reach Asia and because
of this, the Spanish rulers decided to take action.

Columbus believed that he have an incorrect views that shaped his thinking about what
would be the possible encounter as he sailed to the west. He thinks that the earth is much smaller
than its actual size and since he does not know that the Americas existed, he fully expect that he
will land on Asia. However, on October 1942, he made landfall on an island in Bahamas and sailed
to an island he named Hispaniola which is called as Dominican Republic and Haiti in the present
day. He thinks that he already landed in the East Indies, so he called it as “Indios”, giving rise to
the term Indian for any native people of the New World. He then returned to Spain and he was
immediately bestowed the title of Admiral of the Ocean Sea. He was named as the governor and
viceroy of the lands that he had discovered. Since he has a great amount of devotion to Catholicism,
he agreed to the King and Queen prior to sail the west that part of the expected wealth from his
voyage so that they can use it to continue fighting against Islam.

In 1943, Columbus sent two copies of his letter probanza de merito, a letter that describes
his discovery of a New World that causes a huge inspiration in Europe, to the Spanish King and
Queen and their minister of finance, Luis de Santangel. Santangel had supported Columbus
exploration and helps him to obtain funds from the King and Queen. The copies of the letter that
he write soon circulates to Europe about the wonderful land that he had discovered. He would
make three more expeditions over the next decade that makes the Spain establish their first
settlement in the New World on the island that Columbus had discovered, Hispaniola. Many of
the European followed the steps of Columbus dreaming of obtaining wealth by sailing the west.
Meanwhile, another Italian named Amerigo Vespucci was sailing the South American coastline
and he realize that the Americas were not part of Asia but it is a land unknown to the Europeans.
Vespucci’s immediately published accounts of his expeditions that causes speculations and intense
interest in the New World among Europeans. One of the people who read Vespucci’s report was
the German mapmaker Martin Waldseemuleler. He uses the firt name of the explorer as a label for
the new landmass, and attached America to his map of the New World in 1507.

However, going back to the Columbus time of exploration, his landfall increases the rivalry
between Spain and Portugal, that causes both of them to be determined to find new lands to
discover and conquer. Pope Sixtus IV had granted Portugal the right to land all the places in South
Cape Verde islands, that makes the Portuguese king thinks and claim that the land which is
discovered by Columbus is theirs, not Spain. So Spain’s monarch take action to ensure that
Columbus’s finds would remain their property, they approach and ask for help to a Spanish-born
Pope Alexander VI, who later on issued two papal decrees that gave legitimacy to Spain’s Atlantic
claims at the expense of Portugal. Fortunately, they fix the conflict through creating Treaty of
Tordesillas that drew a line from north to south in South America. Seeing the fact, Spain gained
the territory in the west line while Portugal retained the lands on the east line, including the east
coast of Brazil.

The exploitation of European explorers had a huge impact both in the Americas and back
in Europe. Through exchanging of ideas and funding of expeditions, they are able to connect
European nations in other parts of the world. In Spain, the gold and silver they gathered from the
Americas helped them to create their golden age, the Siglo de Oro, and it is also the time wherein
the Spanish art and literature flourished. Although it is Portugal who is the first one to open the
door or idea of exploration of the Atlantic World, Spanish explorers vastly made their way to the
Americas. They accomplished all of this by combining their intelligence, military strength and
strategic alliances with native peoples. It greatly affects the things that will happen in the present
by the past such as what happened before the Age of Exploration or Discovery. Seeing the fact
that they experienced blockage of access in land, they find a way and that is by exploring the sea
finding a new route for trading. Not only because of that but also of course to expand or spread
their religion to other country which is Catholicism.
Known Personalities during the Age of Exploration/Discovery

Europeans began sailing west over the Atlantic Ocean in the 15th century in search of new
ways to China and the East, but they ended up discovering an entirely new world: North and South
America, as well as a slew of other lands, in the course of searching for new routes.

• Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)

His voyages brought widespread contact between people from the Old World, which
consisted mostly of Africa, Asia, and Europe, and people from the New World, which consisted
primarily of people from the Americas. Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator,
and colonist who played an important role in shaping the history of the world. Columbus was born
in the Republic of Genoa and resided in Portugal before settling in Spain. He is credited with
discovering the Americas. By traveling across the Atlantic, Christopher Columbus hoped to
discover a sea route to Asia. Even though he was unsuccessful in his quest, he went on to conduct
the first European voyages to explore the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, among
other places. During his expeditions, he brought benefits to Europe and paved the way for the
colonization of the Americas. Columbus was the architect of the Columbian Exchange, a historical
event that forever altered the course of human history. He utilized torture and mutilation to rule
Hispaniola on a regular basis; he encouraged slavery; and his expeditions finally resulted in the
demise of the civilizations of the Americas. There are other bad aspects of the results of his voyages
as well as issues of his personal life. However, in this post, we will concentrate on the ten most
significant achievements of Christopher Columbus.

• John Cabot (1450-1498)

He was an experienced Italian seafarer who came to reside in England during the reign of
Henry VII and became a member of the Royal Navy. With 1497, he set out from Bristol in the
hope of finding a more direct path to Asia, which was rumored to be wealthy in gold, spices, and
other luxuries at the time. His explorations culminated in the discovery of what is now known as
Newfoundland in Canada, after a month at sea. Cabot is credited for claiming North America for
England and igniting a century-long period of English transatlantic exploration beginning in the
1500s.

• Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512)

Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci was the first person to distinguish North and South
America as separate continents, which were previously unknown to European, Asian, and African
explorers. In the centuries before Vespucci's discovery, travelers such as Christopher Columbus
had concluded that the New World was a region of Asia. In 1501, Vespucci made his discovery
while sailing near the southernmost part of South America.

• Hernan Cortes (1504-1547)

Cortés was born in the Spanish city of Medelln around 1485. He was the only son of noble,
if not wealthy, parents who raised him. Despite being transferred to the University of Salamanca
at the age of 14, Cortés was restless and uncomfortable in his new environment. Christopher
Columbus' New World voyages captured his imagination, and he grew obsessed with them. As a
young kid, Cortés was present when Christopher Columbus landed at San Salvador and began his
exploration of the West Indies in 1492. Columbus had started out on his voyage in the hope of
discovering a passage to Asia or India. According to Cosme, spices such as nutmeg, cloves, and
pomander from Indonesia's "Spice Islands," as well as pepper and cinnamon from India, were in
high demand. "In the 15th century, Europe, Asia, and Africa were at the epicenter of a worldwide
exchange of goods; at the same time, Europeans continued to discover curiosities from many
cultures throughout the world. This Afro-Eurasian economy forged a web of interconnectedness
between India, China, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, allowing them to trade with one
another." Cortés was ecstatic to be a member of such a burgeoning movement. "For individual
explorers, acquiring public recognition has the potential to make them wealthy," Cosme explained.
He made the decision to travel to Hispaniola in search of money and adventure (modern-day
Dominican Republic and Haiti). Cortés sailed sail for the New World in 1504, when he was just
19 years old.
 • Ferdinand Magellan (1505-1521)

In 1519, the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480-1521) set off from Spain
with a fleet of five ships in search of glory and money. He hoped to locate a western sea route to
the Spice Islands. He made the discovery of what is now known as the Strait of Magellan on his
way to the Pacific Ocean and became the first European to cross the ocean. A long and risky
voyage resulted in only one ship making it back to port three years after it set sail. However, despite
the fact that the ship was filled with expensive spices from the East, just 18 of the ship's original
crew of 270 returned with it. Although Magellan himself was slain in battle during the voyage, his
ambitious expedition demonstrated that the globe could be circumnavigated by ship and that the
planet was significantly larger than had previously been assumed.

• Francisco Pizarro (1524-1541)

Known for conquering the Incas and putting their leader, Atahuapla, to death, Francisco
Pizarro was an explorer, soldier, and conquistador who lived in the 16th century. He was born
about 1474 in the Spanish city of Trujillo. During his military service, he was a member of the
Vasco Nez de Balboa voyage in 1513, during which he discovered the Pacific Ocean. When the
Incan Empire fell, it prepared the way for the Spanish colonization of Peru and the establishment
of Lima as the country's capital city. Pizarro forged a collaboration with fellow soldier Diego de
Almagro in order to conduct his own research and make his own discoveries. During the 1524-
1525 period, he sailed with Almagro and a priest named Hernando de Luque on journeys of
discovery and conquest down the west coast of South America, then again during the 1526-1528
period. The initial mission was unsuccessful, but when Pizarro arrived in Peru in 1526, he was
informed of legends of a great monarch and his vast wealth hidden in the mountains. Upon his
return, he sought authorization to claim the country for the Kingdom of Spain.
Important Facts during the Age of Exploration/Discovery

• For explorers throughout the Age of Exploration, it was critical not only to get there, but
also to get back safely. Early discoveries in Asia and America were not as historically
significant as Columbus' voyage because, in the majority of cases, the voyagers did not
return to their home countries to tell their fellow citizens about what they had seen and
experienced on their journey. After returning home, the Vikings discovered that news of
their discoveries had not reached the majority of Europe, and as a result had minimal
impact.
• Prester John, a fabled priest-king who lived somewhere in the East and was meant to aid
the Crusaders in their efforts to regain Jerusalem, was a goal for many of the early European
explorers who set out on their journeys via Asia and Africa. Portuguese explorers embarked
on a search for him up the Senegal and Congo Rivers in Africa, but were unsuccessful.
• By 1000 B.C., the Phoenicians had risen to become the most powerful seafarers in the
Mediterranean, sailing out of commercial centers such as Sidon and Tyre. A Carthaginian
navigator by the name of Hanno traveled around the west coast of Africa between 500 and
450 B.C. It is not known how far he was able to get. Coins from Carthage dating back to
the fourth century have been discovered in the Azores, a series of islands in the center of
the Atlantic.
• Beginning in 1419, a Venetian merchant by the name of Nicolo de' Conti traveled through
the Middle East and South Asia for 25 years before concluding that it was possible to reach
Asia by sailing around Africa. He was one of the first Europeans to reach Indonesia and
suggest that it was possible to reach Asia by sailing around Africa. For the first time, at the
end of the 15th century, sea routes around Africa were depicted on maps for the first time.
• Looking towards the coast was a common method of navigation for ancient mariners. The
majority of ships were built to follow the coastline. Navigation at night was accomplished
by the use of stars such as the North Star as a reference. It was one of the most difficult
aspects of traveling southward down the African coast was the fact that after seafarers
crossed the equator, the North Star, which served as the primary reference point for celestial
navigation, could no longer be seen any longer.
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