1. God, Gold, and Glory - Motives for the exploration
A. Prior European contact
- crusades(1100's-1400's),
- Marco Polo (1275)
- Main reason is for money. Spices and goods from Asia made that money
- Merchants started charging very high prices on the goods from asia that were in high demand,
- Problem - Muslims/Italians controlled the trade routes.
- Muslims would sell to the Italians and Europeans would have to pay a price for the middleman to get their goods from them
- This made them want to scheme for ideas to get to Asia easier
- European Monarchs encouraged people to explore and travel different lands and find different trade routes to increase their nations wealth
- Europeans wanted to explore to spread Christianity - Convert people to Christianity
- Caravel (A new type of ship that was sturdier, had new types of sails that allowed it to sail against the wind,
- Navigational Techniques - Astrolabe (used to determine where the ship was, latitude/longitude), Sextant ( Replaced the astrolabe in the 1700's, was used for the same things)
A. Portugal leads the way with exploration
- Prince Henry - In 1415 he helped conquer a Muslim city in north Africa, this is when he got the idea of the wealth that Europe had (spices, golds, silvers). He also wished to spread the Christian faith. In 1419 he founded a navigational school and in a few years Portuguese ships began sailing down the west coast of Africa. The Portuguese established a series of trading posts along Western Africa(They traded for gold, ivory, and tactics such as slaves) Henry established many resources for the Portuguese by the time he died in 1460.
- Bartolomeu Dias - Sailed around the tip of Africa: In 1488 he sailed down the coast of Africa until his ships reached the tip of Africa. There was a huge storm there that blew them off course around the tip to the other side. There they explored the southeast coast of Africa and then returned home
- Vasco de Gama - In 1497 he began exploring the east African coast. In 1498 he reached the southwestern coast of India. They returned to Portugal with many new spices and gold so Vasco de Gama gave a direct route to India so they could continue to trade with them
B. Spain
- Spain became envious of Portugal because The Spanish also wanted a direct sea route to Asia
- Christopher Columbus sails the ocean under the Spanish name in 1492. Columbus thinks he reaches the east Indies but instead lands in the Americas.
- The pope steps into make peace between the countries
- Line of Demarcation(1493) - Imaginary dividing line between the Atlantic ocean - all land west of line belongs to Spain, and all land east of the line belong to Portugal.\
- Treaty of Tordesillas(1494) - SPain and Portugal agree to honor the line of Demarcation
- Violence between Asia and Europe
- Portuguese - Portugal built a trading empire throughout the Indian ocean and took control of the spice trade from the Muslim merchants. In 1509 Portugal extended its control over the area. In 1514 they strengthen the control of the region by building a fort. In 1510 Portugal captured a port city on India's west coast and made it the capital of the trading empire. In 1511 Portuguese attacked a city in the East Indies region (Indonesia)
- Dutch - Begins to emerge as the dominant power over the Indian ocean trade Began to challenge the Portuguese around the 1600s. In 1619 The Dutch establish their trading headquarters on an Island named Jaba. The Dutch then seized the spice islands from Portugal as well.
- All the countries are competing for direct trade routes through Asia
- British and French - Become a dominant force of power in the Indian trading routes in the 1700s
