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Explorers
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New World – New Opportunities
About the year 1,000,Vikings sailed from northern Europe to the coast of N. America.
From 1250 Europeans took part in religious wars in the Middle East called the crusades.
By the 1300s a strong trade grew up between the Europeans and Asia, the Middle East traders had a monopoly.
The Europeans wanted to find a water route to Asia so that they could avoid the high costs of the goods changing hands so many times.
early 1400s Muslims, known as Ottoman Turks, rose to power. They took over Istanbul, a city at the crossroad of Asia and Europe. Europeans were motivated to find a trading route.
early 1400s some countries in Europe began to look for a route around Africa and the Far East trade. They were also looking for the source of African gold.
In 1488 Bartolomeu Dias rounded the tip of Africa and successfully returned to Portugal. Portugal became a leader in world exploration.

During Middle Ages, strong kingdoms in Africa such as Ghana, Mali and Songhai rose to power. They lay at the center of important trade routes
- known as the Middle Kingdoms.
Gold, salt, ivory, leather, iron and other goods passed through their markets. Islam was spread by Muslim traders.
In 1441, a Portuguese sea captain returned from Africa with captured Africans to be sold as slaves. Within 10 yrs. Portugal became the European center for trade in African goods and slaves.
Christopher Columbus – Italian mariner. He was working as a mapmaker in Portugal and asked for the Portuguese to finance a trip to prove his idea that Asia could be reached by sailing directly west from Europe. They REFUSED!
A few years later, Spain’s rulers, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand gave him the money he needed to make the trip. In 1492, Columbus led 3 small ships from Spain. They were bound for Asia. After a brief stop in the Canary Islands, they continued on for 5 weeks. Later they came ashore upon an island in the Caribbean Sea now called the Bahamas. Columbus believed he had reached the East Indies. He called the people living there Indians and took some back to Spain as proof of his discovery.

In the late 1400s Amerigo Vespucci , an Italian, also explored the Caribbean for Portugal. He believed the lands were part of a new continent. In 1507 a German mapmaker named the lands America in honor of Vespucci.

Rivalry between Spain and Portugal. The Pope was asked to intervene. He divided the land. In 1493 Pope Alexander VI drew a “Line of Demarcation” around the world.
Lands W belong to Spain – East belong to Portugal.


Line of Demarcation - Pope drew an imaginary line between areas for Spain and Portugal

Treaty of Tordesillas 1494- moved the line of Demarcation 800 mi. W
area of Brazil now Portugal's

Treaty of Trodesillas, allowed Portugal to claim Brazil. Much of w. hemisphere claimed by Spaniards for their king.

Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460)
Portugese. 3rd son of the king of Portugal. He discovered the Azores, Madiera, and Guinea. The first person to start a school for oceanic navigation. He made Portugal a mecca for shipbuilding. He invited students from around the world to his school.

Spanish Exploration
Explorers all lived between the late 1400’s and mid 1500’s.

Ponce de Leon
Sailed for Spain to claim land
1513 named Florida (full of flowers)
Told by the king of Spain to look for the Fountain of Youth
searched for gold/ set up Spanish settlements

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado
Spanish explorer - sailed for Spain
Searched for cities of gold.
Beg. in 1540 traveled through what later became the SW area of the U.S.

Hernando de Soto
He explored Florida.
He became wealthy by bringing back gold to Spain.
He went on several other explorations.
Died and was buried on the banks of the Mississippi River.

Ferdinand Magellan
explorer, navigator and cartographer
Portuguese, but sailed for Spain
wanted to reach Asia by sailing W around S.A.
Sailed underneath S.A. - Magellan Strait named after him.
He ended up in Philippines where he was killed in a local war.
Magellan's crew became the 1st to sail around the world!

Francisco Pizarro
Sailed for Spain
1531 Pizarro encounters and conquered the Incas
Founded the city of Lima (capital of Peru) in 1535.
Spent many years in Central America.

Vasco Nunez de Balboa
Sailed for Spain
Traveled across the isthmus of Panama
First European to see Pacific Ocean from American shore
When he got to the shore, he raised his sword and claimed all of the land and the ocean for Spain

Hernando Cortes
Sailed for Spain
Conquered the Aztec Empire in MX
18 years old when he sailed to the W. Indies
Served as mayor/judge of Santiago (currently Chile)

Reasons for Spanish Victories
1. The spread of European diseases
2. Superior weapons (guns), they were excellent soldiers and sailors.
3.Native beliefs (thought white man might be a god)
4. Spaniards made alliances w/ Native Americans who were enemies with the Aztecs and Incas

European countries had 3 reasons for exploration
1. wealth
2. expand empire
3. spread Christianity through missionaries

By the middle of the 1500s Spain's colonial empire included lands in N. America south of the Mississippi, Central America, the Western half of South America and the Philippines.

The Defeat of the Spanish Armada
The attacks of Drake and other sea dogs enraged Philip II, the Spanish king. Determined to teach the English a lesson, Philip sent the Spanish Armada to conquer England and restore Catholicism to that nation. This fleet made up of 130 ships, set out for England in the summer of 1588.
The English and Spanish navies met in the English Channel, which separates England from the European continent. In their smaller but faster craft, the English darted among the Spanish warships, firing deadly rounds with their cannons. Confused and crippled, the armada was retreating when it was hit by a severe storm. With half of its ships destroyed, the armada barely made it home.
Spain was still quite strong after the defeat of the armada. It quickly rebuilt its navy and maintained its large colonial possessions. But Spain would never again be as powerful as it was in 1588.

The Dutch and French established colonies and began fur trading.

The Dutch bought Manhattan Island from Native Americans in 1626. They founded the town of New Amsterdam on the site where New York City is currently located.

Know the definitions of the following terms:

encomienda
hacienda
Mestizos
mission
plantations
slavery
African Diaspora
middle passage
mercantilism

The Colombian Exchange
Goods to Europe from Americas: cattle, sheep, grains, coffee beans, diseases
Goods from Americas to Europe:turkeys, peanuts, potatoes, pumpkins, corn

The Spanish and Portuguese used enslaved Africans to provide labor for the following reasons:
1 - Africans were immune to most European diseases.
2 - Africans had no friends or family in the Americas to help them resist or escape enslavement
3 - Enslaved Africans provided a permanent source of cheap labor.
4 - Many Africans had worked on farms in their native lands.




Sir Walter Raleigh
English
Established Roanoke
Explorer/courtier


Vasco De Gama
Portugese
Looked for route to Asia
Sailed around the Cape of Good Hope (Southern Africa)
reached India

Christopher Columbus
Italian
1492 King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain gave Columbus
ships & men to find Asia by sailing West

Went to Caribbean
Named natives "Indians" thinking he had reached Asia

Bartholomeu Dias
Portugese
Discovered Cape of Good Hope
Then went to S. America
1st European to see Brazil