Causes of European Exploration Causes of European Exploration

Causes of European Exploration

Causes of European Exploration After the Crusades, Europeans wanted Asian goods - Things like Cause spices, silk, cotton, gunpowder, & precious minerals Italy dominates trade because it had developed a trade network in the Mediterranean during the Crusades. Italy begins making a bunch of money selling Asian goods in Europe Cause

Other European Countries want a share of the profit to be made by trading and selling Asian goods. - England Cause - France - Spain - The Dutch - Portugal These nations begin looking for a water route to Asia. Why was a Water Route so important?

Why was finding a water route so important? Why not just continue using the Silk Road (the Overland Route)? �Ships could carry more than carts, wagons, an camels �Sea routes were safer than over land routes – like the Silk Road �Raiders and Plunders �Sea routes were generally faster than overland routes

Portugal Leads the Way �Portugal took the lead in the search to find the first water route to Asia. �Portugal decided to spend as much money as was needed to reach the goal. �The Portuguese were the first Europeans to explore the unknown world, and they were the first to sail around the southern tip of Africa.

Prince Henry 1394 -1460 �Prince Henry established a school for the study of navigation, mapmaking, and shipbuilding in 1420. �His goal was to find a route to the rich spice trade of the Indies and to explore the west coast of Africa.

Designing New Ships �The ships of the day were too slow and too heavy to make long ocean voyages. �Under Prince Henry’s direction, a new and lighter ship was developed, the caravel, which would allow sea captains to sail further and faster.

Caravels �The caravel was an improvement on older ships because it could sail very fast and also sail well into the wind. �Caravels had 2 or 3 masts with square sails or triangular sails. �They were up to about 65 feet long and could carry roughly 130 tons of cargo.

Vasco da Gama 1497 -1499 �Vasco da Gama sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to India. He was the first European to chart an all water route to Asia �He took four ships and 170 men. �After reaching Calcutta India, he sailed back to Portugal with his ship full of spices but only returned with 55 of his sailors. �Da Gama finally found a sea route to Asia.

Christopher Columbus 1492 �Columbus believes he can reach the Indies by sailing west from Europe. �Europeans did not know that the America’s existed. �Columbus begins his first voyage in 1492 and “discovers” the Americas. �Really he really discovered the Island in the Bahamas.

John Cabot 1497 �John Cabot explored the East Coast of North America while searching for a Northwest Passage. �The Northwest Passage was a fabled water route through the North American continent to Asia. �England would later claim the East Coast of North America as its own due to Cabot’s exploration. �England (Britian) established the 13 original colonies in the territory Cabot explored.

Amerigo Vespucci 1499 -1504 �Amerigo Vespucci was the first person to suggest that Columbus did not find the Indies, but a new continent previously unknown to the Europeans. �Vespucci explored the east coast of what is now Brazil and Argentina. �The Americas are named after Amerigo Vespucci.

Ferdinand Magellan 1519 -1522 �Magellan is the explorer who is credited with being the first person to sail around the world. �Magellan was killed in the Philippines during the voyage, however. �His men and ship continued on and finished the journey though.