Warm-Up Question■If you were planning a long-distance sea voyage during the second half of the fifteenth century to little-known destinations along unknown routes, what problems with the physical environment would you expect to have to deal with during the voyage? ■What problems of human-to-human relations would you expect to have to deal with on board and on arrival at your destination?■What preparations might you make to avoid or minimize the problems you expect? ■What personal characteristics would most help you, and your crew, deal with these problems? ■What solutions to the problems might you try?

■Essential Question: –What factors encouraged the

European Age of Exploration?

•What were 2 effects of exploration?•How did gov’t change because of the

Renaissance & Age of Exploration?•How did world history change by the

end of the 1450-1750 periodization?

From the 1400s to the 1700s, Europe experienced an “Age of Exploration”

As a result of exploration, European nations grew powerful & spread their

influence throughout the world

The Renaissance encouraged curiosity & a desire for trade

MotivationsMotivations: Why did Europeans want to explore?

Gold (Money)A desire for new sources of wealth was the

main reason for European exploration

The Crusades & Renaissance stimulated European desires for exotic Asian luxury goods

Merchants began looking for quick, direct trade routes to Asia to avoid Muslim &

Italian merchants & increase profits

GloryThe Renaissance inspired new possibilities

for power & prestige

Exploration presented Europeans the opportunity to rise from poverty

and gain fame, fortune, & status

Kings who sponsored voyages of exploration gained overseas colonies, new sources of

wealth for their nation, & increased power

GodEuropean Christians, especially Catholics,

wanted to stop the spread of Islam & convert non-Christians to the faith

Explorers were encouraged to spread Christianity or bring

missionaries who would focus only on conversions

The Age of ExplorationMeansMeans: How were explorers able to sail

so far & make it back again?

Before the Renaissance, sailors did not have the technology to sail very far from Europe & return

NavigationTrade & cultural diffusion during the Renaissance

introduced new navigation techniques to Europeans

Magnetic compass made sailing more accurate

Astrolabe used stars to show direction

Maps were more accurate and used longitude & latitude

European shipbuilders built a better ship; The caravel was a strong ship that could travel

in the open seas & in shallow waterCaravels had

triangular lateen sails that allowed

ships to sail against the wind

A moveable rudder made the

caravel more maneuverable

Cannons & rifles gave ships protection

Wind PatternsThe captain of a steam ship naturally chooses the shortest route to his destination. Since a sailing ship is pushed by the winds and currents its captain must find a route where the wind will probably blow in the right direction.

■ The early European explorers were not only looking for new lands. They also had to discover the pattern of winds and currents that would carry them where they wanted to go.

Remarkable new transoceanic maritime reconnaissance occurred

during this time period.

■Which technology do you think played the biggest role in making that possible?

The Age of ExplorationWho were the explorers, where did they go, & how did they change world history?

Europeans were not the first to explore the oceans in search of new trade routes

Islamic merchants explored the Indian Ocean & had dominated the Asian spice trade for

centuries before European exploration

Early Exploration

From 1405 to 1433, Zheng He led the Chinese treasure fleet on

7 expeditions to SE Asia, India, & Africa during the Ming Dynasty

The End of the Golden Age ■Despite the wealth & culture during under

the Tang & Song Dynasties, the Chinese were briefly overthrown by the Mongols–From 1279 to 1368, foreign nomads

called the Mongols ruled China

The Ming emperors encourage overseas trade…

In 1368, the Chinese overthrew the Mongols & established the Ming Dynasty

…and began a series of explorations led by Zheng He to

demonstrate Chinese superiority

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Read the excerpt from Zheng He and the Treasure Fleet Expeditions With a fleet of over 100 ships,

Zheng He led 7 different expeditions

Zheng He explored areas along the Indian Ocean & Africa, expand trade,

& collected tribute from foreigners

Zheng He had better ships & traveled farther than any European explorers would for 100 years

Admiral Zheng He (pron. jung huh) commanded a fleet of over 300 ships carrying 27,000 people that sailed as far as the East African coast.

Began in 1405, each voyage lasted 2 years & he visited 30 countries around the rim of the Indian Ocean.

★ A Muslim, a eunuch, & an outsider to the Chinese dynasty. He was chosen because he was less of a threat to become powerful.

★ Ship tech was 500 years ahead of the west. The hull technology was later used to build the Titanic. Advanced navigational techniques included being able to calculate speed, direction, latitude & longitude.

★ Chinese already understood the difference between true & magnetic north.

If the Chinese were such great mariners then why is Columbus so much more remembered?

China - Zheng He Chinese Mariner

YouTube Video Link: Engineering an Empire: China (Fleet of Zheng He)33:44

Monument to admiral Zheng He, located in the

Stadthuys, Melaka in Malaysia.

Traces of Zheng He’s explorations remain:★ Type of ginger named after him. ★ On the west coast of India, Chinese fishing nets still

grace the harbor.

Chinese technology ruled the seas, but Zheng He's voyages marked the beginning &

the end of imperial China's seaborne exploration.

By 1430, politicians persuaded the emperor to abandon global ambitions. Emperor Yongle's successors viewed expansion as a waste of time and resources.

"Barbarian kings," wrote one scholar, "Should be greeted like harmless seagulls. The outside world has nothing to offer China."

Zheng He was recalled from sea. The records were destroyed.

Today Zheng He and his voyages are virtually unknown in his own country.

(Although some attention has been brought to his travels in much more educated portions of Chinese culture. But nothing like the attention given to Christopher Columbus in America.)

Chinese Isolation■After the 7th treasure fleet voyage in 1433,

Chinese leaders unexpectedly ended the expeditions & retreated into isolationism–Scholar-officials complained that Zheng

He’s voyages used valuable resources that were needed to defend China

–China’s official trade policy was to keep the influence of outsiders to a minimum

–China’s geography & gov’t policies kept it relatively isolated for the next 300 years until European merchants in the 1800s demanded access to Chinese trade

Assume for the moment that the Chinese had not ended their maritime voyages in 1433.

How might the subsequent development of world history have been different if China expanded?

Chinese maritime voyages could have had a profound impact on the course of world history.

China was the richest, most prosperous, & most technologically advanced civilization in the world at that time.

★ If the Chinese had aggressively competed with their European counterparts, they likely would have prevailed as the preeminent maritime power in the world.

★ Most likely limiting the influence of Western Europe & of Christianity on other regions of the globe.

★ Chinese cultural, economic, & political influences beyond East Asia would have flourished.

But in the late 1400s, the European sailors did what neither Muslim nor Chinese explorers could:

Begin global (not regional) exploration & create colonies to increase their wealth & power

Portugal was the early leader in the Age of Exploration

In Portugal, Prince Henry the Navigator started a school of

navigation to train sailorsHe brought in Europe’s best map-makers, ship-builders,

& sailing instructorsHe wanted to discover new

territories, find a quick

trade route to Asia, & expand

Portugal’s power

Bartolomeu Dias Bartolomeu Dias was the first was the first

explorer to go explorer to go around the tip of around the tip of

Africa.Africa.

Portugal gained a sea route to Asia

that brought them great wealth

Prince Henry’s navigation school & willingness to fund voyages led the Portuguese to be the

1st to explore the west coast of Africa

Vasco da GamaVasco da Gama was the 1st explorer

to find a direct trade route to Asia

by going around Africa to get to

India

During the Age of Exploration, Portugal

created colonies along the African coast, in Brazil, & the Spice Islands in Asia

34:00

The Spanish government saw Portugal’s wealth &

did not want to be left outMore than any other European monarch, Ferdinand & Isabella of Spain sponsored & supported overseas

expeditions

Columbus reached the Bahamas in America but thought that he

had reached islands off the coast of India

He made 4 trips to “India” never knowing he was in “America”

Like most educated men of the Renaissance, Columbus

believed the world was round & thought he could reach Asia by sailing west

Despite the fact that Columbus never found

Asia, Ferdinand Magellan still thought he could

reach Asia by sailing West

Magellan became the first explorer to

circumnavigate the Earth (go all the way around)

During the Age of Exploration,

Spain created colonies in North & South America

Spain sent explorers called conquistadors to the New World to find gold, claim land,

& spread Christianity Cortez

conquered the Aztecs

Pizarro conquered

the IncaThe influx of gold from America made Spain the most powerful country

in Europe during the early years of the Age of Exploration

England, France, & the Netherlands became involved in overseas exploration & colonization as well

The French explorer Samuel de Champlain searched Canada for a northwest passage to Asia

After failing to do so, Champlain founded the

French colony of Quebec

The French would soon carve out a large colony along the Mississippi River from Canada to New Orleans

Unlike other European nations whose kings paid for colonies, the English colonies were paid for

by citizens who formed joint-

stock companies

English colonies formed along the Atlantic Coast of

North America by colonists motivated either by religion

or wealth

The English explorer James Cook was the first European to make contact with

Australia, New Zealand, & Hawaii

Like England, the Netherlands (the Dutch)

allowed private companies to fund exploration

The Dutch had colonies in America & Africa, but the Dutch East India Company dominated trade in Asia

Period 4 (1450-1750) Aim: How did European companies facilitate new global circulation of goods and maintained established

regional markets in Afro-Eurasia?

■ Do NOW: 1. What is Columbus discussing? 2. Who is it addressed to? 3. Why does he use this tone? EVIDENCE?

■ In reference to the transportation of gold from the island to Castile, that all of it should be taken on board the ship, both that belonging to your Highnesses and the property of every one else; that it should all be placed in one chest with two locks, with their keys, and that the master of the vessel keep one key and some person selected by the governor and treasurer the other; that there should come with the gold, for a testimony, a list of all that has been put into the said chest, properly marked, so that each owner may receive his own; and that, for the faithful performance of this duty, if any gold whatsoever is found outside of the said chest in any way, be it little or much, it shall be forfeited to your Highnesses.

Royal Chartered Companies

Companies enabled merchants to band together to undertake ventures requiring more capital ($) than was available to any one merchant or family. WHY?

Formed from the sixteenth century onwards by groups of European investors to underwrite and profit from the exploration of Africa, India, Asia, the Caribbean and North America

Usually under the patronage of one state, which issued the company's charter.

British East India Company■ Commonly associated with

trade in basic commodities, which included cotton, silk, indigo dye, salt, saltpetre, tea and opium WHY these items?

■ The Company received a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth in 1600, making it the oldest among several similarly formed European East India Companies- Why were other countries involved? How does this differ from China’s trade?

Dutch East India Company

■ It is often considered to have been the first multinational corporation in the world. The first company to issue stock.

■ It was also arguably the first megacorporation, possessing quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, coin money, and establish colonies

■ Dutch Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) had military and naval forces of their own that dwarfed even the average European state's armed forces, and adequate funds to buy the best men and equipment, in effect making them a state within a state. BENEFITS? Drawbacks?

Silver from the Americas■ European merchants’ role in Asian trade was characterized

mostly by transporting goods from one Asian country to another market in Asia or the Indian Ocean region.

■ Commercialization and the creation of a global economy were intimately connected to new global circulation of silver from the Americas

Spanish Galleon Trade Routes (Silver Ships) – Effect on Spain? Global Economy?

■ The new global circulation of goods was facilitated by royal chartered European monopoly companies

■ They took silver from Spanish colonies in the Americas to purchase Asian goods for the Atlantic markets

■ But regional markets continued to flourish in Afro-Eurasia by using established commercial practices and new transoceanic shipping services developed by European merchants.

Conclusions

As a result of the Age of Exploration, European knowledge & influence of the world increased greatly