Chapter 1 American Exploration Summary

Did you know that the Age of Exploration was one the most important time in history for the world. The Age of Exploration began in the early 1500’s in the nation of Portugal under leadership of Henry the Navigator. The first expedition to circle the globe was led by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. The causes of the Age of Exploration was to look for new trade routes and spread religion. The effects of the Age of Exploration were slavery and disease.

First, exploration was not really a big deal until a simple motive was born. This simple motive was again called God, Gold, and Glory or the three G’s for short. The three G’s sparked in their own way. For “God”, religion was very popular and Europeans wanted to spread Christianity, for “Gold”, they had their eyes set on wealth and riches that they had to go for it, and for “Glory”, it was the

Lewis and Clark are two names forever linked. These two names, the last names of

The Age of Exploration started in the 1400s. Explorers set out to find new trade routes to Asia, in order to gain silks and spices, but instead they ended up in America. During this time, rulers wanted to spread their power to these new lands. These rulers sent out priests and armies to other lands in order to convert people to Christianity. The discovery of the New World opened the Europeans to new cultural lenses. The Europeans embodied the curiosity of their times. They were surprised by what they found in the New World. They saw many new places, plants, animals, people, and activities.

One of the greatest achievements that contributed to the increase of the size of the United States by double is the Louisiana Purchase. While this accomplishment was started through the initiative of a group of American explorers, it was mainly realized because of the efforts and vision of President Jefferson. Since it increased the geographical size of the country, the Louisiana Purchase was a significant historical event that was realized when America's population started to grow rapidly and it was a relatively young nation. Following the expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, this historical event occurred in 1803 after an agreement was ratified between America and France. Actually, this region stretched from the river to the orifice of the Rocky Mountains though with yet to be determined original boundaries. The significance of the Louisiana Purchase is evident in the fact that it currently includes states like Colorado, Montana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Minnesota among others (Stief, n.d.).

European exploration and trade began in the 15th century with Portugal as they played a very significant role to the age of discovery, a period of time that designated Europe as an exploration powerhouse. Portugal paved the path with Prince Henry the Navigator funding multiple endeavors in attempts to spread Christianity and purse the profitable spice trade largely dominated by Muslims. Prince Henry knew that the spices in the European market were obtained from Asia. He also knew that seizing a direct route to Asia without having to use Muslims as a middleman would enrich his country and diminish the religious strength of the Muslims. In order to achieve this goal, Prince Henry establish explorations to seek a route to Asia, instead he came across the coast of West Africa. Relationships with African port cities were founded and trading posts made. Trading started with gold and ended with slaves, as other European

One technology was an upgrade on the sails of the ships. Two different sails were invented, a square sail and a lateen sail (these triangles were triangular). The square sail is able to catch winds from behind, while the lateen sails are able to catch winds from both behind and on the sides. The sails allowed for more maneuverability, but sometimes forced the ship to take a longer route. To aid in the knowledge of winds and currents, Europeans used a method called the Volta Do Mar. This method sometimes forced mariners to take indirect routes, which sometimes proved to be wise. Two navigational technologies that were used by mariners were the magnetic compass and astrolabe. The magnetic compass showed the crews heading and the astrolabe showed the latitude.

Exploring the Americas is going to be one of the most important things that has ever happen. We need to explore and this is the best thing to do. We are to land on the land and find a place to settle in and live. It is time to look for new civilizations and cultures. The king wants to expand his kingdom to new continents. We are almost to the land.

Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, European exploration increased and many new lands and cultures were discovered. European explorers were mainly motivated by the three “g’s”, gold, god, and glory. Funded by rulers wanting more land and money for their country, explorers found North and South America, Africa, India and China. With these new discoveries emerged new cultures, crops, beliefs, and lands. The explorers soon found out that they could receive god, spread their religion, and become known around the globe.

During the age of exploration era, most all people wanted to travel the seas. They wanted to find better trade routes ,and they were curious to see something new. Some people went in search of gold for wealth ,but others were travelling to claim new land for their country.

Do you actually know any names of the explorers that sailed during the late 1400s to the early 1500s? Do you know what the explorers used to navigate and how they made it to their planned destination? European navigators relied on technology to help them explore the seas. Vasco Da Gama, Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan used their handy maps, ships, and even helpful tools to sail at sea. These explorers were mainly looking for a trade route to Asia.

Also, some expert’s claim that African Empires were contained within lands and their ship-based exports were only to Europe, especially after colonization. However, contrary to popular belief, Westerners were not the leaders of navigational progress and European ships of the 15th century, were not superior than those centuries earlier. Navigational knowledge of Spaniards of this time was elementary and seamen were considerably ignorant on navigation according to Columbus (Van Sertima, p.57). Normally, I would not generalize and that there may be some exceptions, but Columbus is said to have spearheaded trans-Atlantic navigation, thus, him saying that Europeans were poor in navigation ought to have considerable weight. Europeans came into possession of such skills during the Renaissance (Daniels/ Hyslop, p.) of the 14th century. Such maritime technologies necessary to cross the Atlantic has been available to other non-Western “civilizations” suchlike the system of longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates that has been available in China since 100 B.C., lateen sail hoisted by Spain and Portugal which came from the Arabs, and the astrolabe, which originated in ancient Greeks, but was diffused and developed for years also came from the Arabs (Van Sertima, pg.57). Zheng He, a successful and famous Chinese commander is said to have navigated decades before Columbus, judging from the year Ma Huan’s compilation finished in 1451 (Mills, p.137-141). Furthermore, Africans themselves navigated the Atlantic prior to Christ (Van Sertima, p.57). This is proven by Thor Heyerdahl of Norway who tested the validity of previous statement by building the exact replica of Egyptian ships, incorporating the same

During the age of exploration, trade, gold and spices were major keys in countries relationships. Gold and spices were extremely important to all the nations involved in trade. Many countries were trying to find new routes to asia because of the italians charging high prices for these wanted spices. The Spanish and Portuguese were the leaders in these expeditions. The countries tried to find a way around the tip of Africa to get to Asia. After 30 years of trying a Portuguese finally completed the journey and reached India; when they left India they left with tons of spices and tons of gold. Furthermore, after many people sailed east to india’ a man named columbus decided he was going to sail west. During his journey, columbus came across a

The Age of Exploration was one of the most influential time periods in European history. This period lasted from the 15th century and to the early 17th century. From explorers like Magellan to Columbus. The voyages they took had a great impact on society. Though the desire to simply explore the unknown and discover new knowledge is a typical human trait, the world's famous explorers often lacked the funding needed for a ship, supplies, and a crew to get underway on their journeys. As a result, many turned to their respective governments which had their own desires for the exploration of new areas.

Though the Europeans were not the first to develop the concept of the ship, they were the first to take this concept and use it to cross the Atlantic. Even before Columbus sailed across the Atlantic to the New World, Europe had a long maritime history. Before the 15th and 16th century European ship design had been relatively slow to advance from its initial stages. But during the 15th and 16th century European ship design accelerated at break neck speeds to advance to the point of enabling the Age of Exploration. Dr. Edwards states, “The major difference in father oceanic sailing was the length of the voyages between landfalls. Longer voyages meant larger crews to man watches through twenty-four hours, the need to carry larger stores of food, wood and water, and the need for more spare equipment such as anchors and cables, sails, line for rigging, lumber, metal work and gear for all kinds of repairs at sea or on distant shores where such things are unavailable”(Edwards. 443). To accomplish this feat many improvements were required on earlier ship designs that were used in maritime activities along the coast of Europe and in the Mediterranean. Though