Chapter 1 American Exploration Summary

The Age of Exploration was a time period that has had significant influences in the modern world. It was the moment in which Europe was brought out of the Dark Ages and into an era of discovery. The risks taken within the 15th and 18th century allowed both positive and negative outcomes to be introduced to the European Exploration. There were many motives for this era, and many outcomes came about. However, they were both negative and positive. To summarize the motives of this age, a simple combination can be stated. The main purposes of the Age of Exploration was God, Gold, and Glory.

European nations in the 15th century began exploring new lands with three motives: religion, wealth, and glory. It was made possible by advances in naval fleet building and navigation, first pioneered by the Portuguese. Europeans began to be involved in extensive exploration, coming in contact with Africa, Americas and their prime target Asia. The main targets of the pioneering Portugese and Spanish was to find and alternate trade route for the Indies trade and also promote Christianity to the new lands. As the century unfolded, the search for newer territories to colonize and shortern routes to the exotic land of spices and silk became the initial driving force for the intensive early exploration by the Europeans .

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

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.).

*The Age of Exploration saw searches of wealth, new lands, and conversion of christianity. Europeans ed the first globe trading empires and would they would make trips to the western hemisphere.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

The desire to explore the unknown has been a driving force in human history since the dawn of time. From the earliest documented accounts, ancient civilizations have explored the world around them. Early adventures were motivated by religious beliefs, a desire for conquest, the need for trade, and an unsatisfying hunger for gold. The great Age of Exploration, beginning in the late 1400s, was an important era in the discovery and development of lands yet unknown to the Europeans. During this period, Europe sought new sea routes to Asia in pursuit of economic gain, increased glory, and opportunities to spread Christianity. Although these were motivations for explorers, the impact from the discoveries resulted in significant changes and

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