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Unit 2: The Age of Exploration and the Atlantic World (1400 – 1800) . Europeans Explore the East. Breaking Out: Early European Contacts in Asia. The Crusades (1096-1270)
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Unit 2: The Age of Exploration and the Atlantic World (1400 – 1800) Europeans Explore the East
Breaking Out: Early European Contacts in Asia • The Crusades (1096-1270) • 1275 – Italian trader Marco Polo reached Kublai Khan’s court in China, but Europeans didn’t have the desire or ability to explore. • Early 1400’s new tech. & desire to spread Christianity and get rich changed their minds.
The Goals: God, Gold, and Glory! • God = To spread Christianity to Asia and Muslim-controlled areas • Gold = To become wealthy through spice trade and new discoveries of resources • Glory = To achieve personal fame and fortune; Renaissance encouraged a new spirit of adventure
Europeans Desired New Trade Routes • Desire for spices: nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and pepper • Muslims sold to Italians, Italians sold in Europe • Monarchs of Spain, Portugal, England, and France sought to bypass Italians – Greed! • They wanted a new sea route directly to Asia!
New Technology Makes it Happen! • Caravel (1400s) – sturdy, 65 ft. long, low keel, triangular sails – it could sail against the wind • Astrolabe – adopted from Muslims, used rings to site stars and calculate latitude and longitude • Magnetic Compass – adopted from Chinese
Portugal Leads the Way! • 1415 – Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460, the son of King Henry, helped Portugal conquer Ceuta in North Africa. • He desired wealth and to spread Catholic faith. • Founded a navigation school in SW Portugal. • Financed 14 voyages along Africa’s west coast and established trading posts there. • Died heavily in debt.
Portugal Reaches Asia by Sea! • 1488 – Bartolomeu Dias reached Africa’s Cape of Good Hope and was “blown around” the cape by a storm to the east coast. • 1498 – Vasco da Gama reaches Calicut, India on the SW coast. His cargo of spices was worth 60 times the cost of the voyage – 27,000 miles in all!
What About Spain???? • Oct. 1492 – Christopher Columbus, sailing west across the Atlantic, reached the Caribbean Sea south of Florida. • He thought he was in India; so did the Portuguese. • Bitter rivalry began between Spain and Portugal. • Why was Columbus’ voyages so important if he really didn’t discover anything? $1 million ?
Pope Alexander VI Has to Referee! • Do you remember me? Think Luther! • 1493 – He drew a line N-S through the Atlantic Ocean; All lands W of the Line of Demarcation were Spain’s and all E were Portugal’s • 1494 – Treaty of Tordesillasmoved line farther W into modern-day Brazil to make more fair to Portugal. • Colonization was “on like Donkey Kong!”
Portugal Dominates Indian Ocean! • Da Gama’s voyage led to Portugal’s domination of India; Muslim-Italian trade monopoly crushed by 1514! • Built forts in Arabia, India’s W Coast, and Molouccas (the Spice Islands of Indonesia) • Sold goods in Europe at 1/5 price of what Italians and Muslims charged! See Map Pg. 100
What Made Portugal So Tough? • The Portuguese Man of War! Not the Jelly Fish by the same name • What made these ships different from Muslim, Chinese, and Indian vessels of the era? • Where there is smoke there is fire!
Other Nations Trade With Asia • 1600 –Holland (1581 free from Spain) had 20,000 ships – the largest fleet in the world! • With England – they battled Portugal for control of Asia. • Dutch East India Co. was richer than British East India Co. so Holland won control of the region and South Africa. Flying Dutchman?
Dutch Trade Outposts • 1619 – Dutch set up trade headquarters at Batavia on Java & seized port of Malacca and the Spice Islands from Portugal. • Amsterdam became a leading trade center for Europe. • 1700s – Cape of Good Hope and many trading posts in Asian nations.