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European Exploration and Empires: The Age of Discovery

Explore the factors that drove European exploration, including the pursuit of Gold, Glory, God, and Gadgets, leading to the era of global expansion and colonization. Learn about key figures like Prince Henry the Navigator and Bartolomeu Dias, as well as the mythical kingdom of Prester John. Delve into the motivations and innovations that propelled European nations to seek new lands and trade routes in the quest for riches and influence. Follow the adventures of early explorers who paved the way for future voyages and conquests. Discover the impact of technological advancements and religious motivations on the age of exploration.

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European Exploration and Empires: The Age of Discovery

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  1. As Europe stepped out from under the middle ages into the renaissance and scientific revolution a new spirit of exploration and economic competition was sparked.

  2. Why They Went; Fuels of the global age • The Four Gs; Gold, God, Glory, Gadgets • European population grew • Nations Began to build strength • Technology increased • Religious reformations created new churches and competition for expansion

  3. Gold: after the Ottomans captured Constantinople the Muslim Empires controlled the flow of expensive textiles (silk and cloth) and spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and pepper) from the far east. Europeans sought to find a way around the Muslim monopoly. • As European explorers started to map out new lands the myth of easy riches beyond the sea drove many more people to seek their fortunes. • After the age of exploration entrepreneurs and Empires found more practical profits in trade and colonization. SOL Factors contributing to exploration: Demand for Gold, spices, and natural resources…

  4. God: Missionaries followed explorers to distant lands to convert local populations to Christianity by choice or by force. • Later people would flee Europe to escape religious persecution. SOL SOL Factors: Political and economic rivalry between European empires. Factors: Support for the diffusion of Christianity. Glory: Adventurous individuals sought to make a name for themselves while countries began to fight for influence and power overseas.

  5. Gadgets: new navigation • inventions made it • possible for ships to leave • the sight of land • without getting lost. • The compass and the astrolabe helped mariners to pin-point their position on featureless seas. SOL Factors: Innovations in the navigational arts. • New ships such as the caravel were developed to help sailors navigate faster and against the wind. • As a result of these inventions new and more accurate maps could illustrate what lay beyond the Mediterranean.

  6. Prince Henry the Navigator • Prince Henry was a Portuguese noble who funded expeditions across the North and West African coast. • Henry gathered cartographers to map out what his ships had found. • Under his leadership a group of navigators developed the Caravel adopting the triangular sails of Muslim mariners. • Henry was driven by a desire to find the source of the west African gold trade and the legendary kingdom of Prester John. SOL Factors: Pioneering role of Prince Henry the Navigator.

  7. Henry’s ships stumbled across many islands across the West African coast including the Azores which they claimed for Portugal.

  8. Prester John • Prester john is a mythical Christian king said to have lived to the eat among the Muslim empires. • Prester John was supposedly a descendent of one of the three Maji who brought gifts to Jesus on the day of his birth. • Preseter john’s kingdom was as close to heaven on earth as a land could get, rich with wealth and strange creatures.

  9. Bartolomeu Dias • Bartolomeu Dias was a Portugues nableman who was commanded with the task of finding a sea route around Africa to the riches of the east. • Like Henry the Navigator Dias also wanted to find the mythical Prester John. • Aboard his three ship fleet Dias travelled with six African natives who were to be let off at intervals down the African coast. • These natives carried samples of spices and precious medals which the Africans were supposed to inquire about when they landed. • They also were told to praise the king of Portugal and seek out an audience with prester john. SOL Creation of empires and destruction of native peoples.

  10. Dias Reached the Cape of good hope calling it the “Cape of Storms” Dias and his crew sailed past a stone pillar which marked the furthest any European explorer had traveled south After being driven south by a strong storm for 13 days Dias reached the African East Coast and the Indian Sea

  11. As trail blazers such as Prince Henry the Navigator and Bartolomeu Dias opened the door to European exploration, new adventurers would strike out farther into unknown waters in the name of expansion. Already in this vainglorious business Delusions are possessing you, Already, ferocity and brute force Are labelling strength and valour, The heresy 'Long Live Death!' is already Current among you, when life should always Be cherished, as Christ in times gone by Who gave us death yet was afraid to die. The Diary of the First Voyage of Vasco Da Gama The Lusiads, by Luis vaz de Camoes

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