• SSWH10 The student will analyze the impact of the age of discovery and expansion into the Americas, Africa, and Asia.
• a. Explain the roles of explorers and conquistadors; include Zheng He, Vasco da
Gama, Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand
Magellan, James Cook, and Samuel de
Champlain.
• b. Define the Columbian Exchange and its global economic and cultural impact.
• c. Explain the role of improved technology in
European exploration; include the astrolabe.
Why?
• Reasons for the Age of Discovery:
– Economic
• Monopolies
– Muslim, Italian
• Goods from Asia:
– Pepper
– Cinnamon
– Silk
Why?
• “Gold, Glory, God”
– Gold: make money
– Glory: become famous
– God: spread Christianity
Famous Explorers
• Zheng He
• Prince Henry the
Navigator
• Bartholomew Dias
• Christopher
Columbus
• John Cabot
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•
•
•
•
•
•
Vasco da Gama
Pedro Cabral
Ferdinand Magellan
Henry Hudson
James Cook
Samuel de Champlain
Jacques Cartier
Zheng He (1371-1435)
• Chinese
• Eunuch who served the Ming Dynasty in
China
• Muslim?
Zheng He (1371-1435)
• Completed 7 voyages throughout the
Indian Ocean
– #1 – 1405-7 – 317 ships with over 27,000 men, visited Java in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and
India
– #2 – 1407-9 – similar route/fleet
– #3 – 1409-11 – more concentrated in SE Asia
Zheng He (1371-1435)
• Completed 7 voyages throughout the
Indian Ocean
– #4 – 1413-15 – reached as far as E. Africa
– #5 – 1416-19 – returned to Arabia, E. Africa
– #6 – 1421-22 – returned to Arabia, E. Africa
– #7 – 1430-33 – Records destroyed
Zheng He (1371-1435)
Zheng He (1371-1435)
• Purpose:
– Tribute
– Trade
• Brought back riches, including wild animals (giraffes, zebras, ostriches)
• After 1433, China turned inward
– Why?
Prince Henry the Navigator
(1394-1460)
• Portuguese, son of King Dom João I and
Phillipa of Lancaster
• Commissioned sea voyages to Africa and
India
• Claimed four major island groups in Atlantic
Bartholomew Dias
(c.1450-1500)
• Portuguese
• Voyage (1487-1488)
– Passed Cape of
Good Hope –
First European?
• Died on voyage to Brazil w/ Cabral
Cape of Good Hope
Christopher Columbus
(c.1451-1506)
• Italian (from Genoa)
• Sailed for Spain
• First documented voyage across Atlantic since the Vikings (≈ A.D. 1000)
Christopher Columbus
(c.1451-1506)
• Believed in sea route to Asia
• Incorrect beliefs:
– Asia stretched farther east (about 30° more)
– Japan was 1,500 miles of Asian coast
– Size of earth
• Believed the Canary Islands were only 2,500 miles from Japan
Christopher Columbus
(c.1451-1506)
• Gained support of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile
– Why?
• Portuguese control of sea route around Africa
• Small gamble = big reward
• Promised titles and land if he could find the way
Christopher Columbus
(c.1451-1506)
• First Voyage (1492-1493)
– Three ships: Niña, Pinta, Santa Maria
– Landfall in the Bahamas, October 12, 1492
• “San Salvador”
– Observed natives they called “Indians”
– Visited the Bahamas, Cuba and Hispaniola
Christopher Columbus
(c.1451-1506)
• Second Voyage (1493-1496)
– Founded colony on Hispaniola, explored southern Cuba
– Isabella ordered the “Indians” converted to
Christianity
• Third Voyage (1498-1499)
– Explored Trinidad & Venezuela, arrested due to chaos in Hispaniola
Christopher Columbus
(c.1451-1506)
• Fourth Voyage (1502-1504)
– Explored Central America
– Marooned on Jamaica, rescued and returned to Spain
Christopher Columbus
(c.1451-1506)
Columbus Meeting the Native Americans
Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
• Solves dispute between Portugal and
(Castilian) Spain
– Splits world into Portuguese and Spanish spheres of influence
• Mediation by Pope Alexander VI
– Original line: set by Inter Caetera
(Papal bull of 4 May 1493)
• Later modified by Treaty of Zaragoza (1529)
John Cabot
(c.1450-1499)
• Italian (Venice), sailed for England
• 1497 – “discovered” North America
– Newfoundland (probably)
Vasco da Gama
(c.1469-1524)
• Portuguese
• First European to sail to India around Africa
