The Age of Exploration
standard 7.11.1
Reasons:
The Three G’s:
Greed for land, wealth and power (law of primogeniture)
Gold for the country’s treasury (the Reconquista and other wars were expensive)
God (converts to make the Roman Catholic Church stronger)
Problems:
Lack of Geographical Knowledge
Problems:
Natural Obstacles
“The expedition had left Sanlúcar with 420 casks of wine. All were drained. One by one the other staples vanished — cheese, dried fish, salt pork, beans, peas, anchovies, cereals, onions, raisins, and lentils — until they were left with kegs of brackish, foul-smelling water and biscuits which, having first crumbled into a gray powder, were now slimy with rat droppings and alive with maggots. These, mixed with sawdust, formed a vile muck men could get down only by holding their noses. Rats, which could be roasted, were so prized that they sold for half a ducat each. The capitán-general had warned them that they might have to eat leather, and it came to that. Desperate to appease their stomach pangs, “the famine-stricken fellows,” wrote Antonio Pigafetta, who was one of them, “were forced to gnaw the hides with which the mainyard was covered to prevent chafing.” Because these leather strips had been hardened by “the sun and rain and wind,” he explained, “we were obliged to soften them by putting them overboard four or five days, after which we cooked them on embers and ate them thus.”
-William Manchester, A World Lit Only By Fire
Lack of food
Problems:
Disease: Scurvy!HOW IT IS CAUGHT:
• Lack of vitamin C
SYMPTOMS:
•Spongy, bleeding gums
•Loose teeth
•Bleeding from mucous membranes
•Sunken eyes
•Corkscrewed hairs on arms and legsWORST CASE SCENARIO:
Death (100%)
TREATMENT:
Take vitamin C
Problems:
Things that helped exploration:
Better Maps, Atlases and Rutters
lateen sail
astrolabe
rudder
better cannon
Things that helped exploration:
square-rigged sail
WIND
Lateen (trianglular) sail
WINDW
IND
WIN
D
WIN
D
WIN
D
Spain got the west
Portugal got the east
Spain vs. Portugal
World divided by Pope in 1494: Treaty of Tordesillas
Portugal’s empire:
lots of spices!
Cloves used for:JamVinegarBreath freshenerCures head coldsStrengthens visionClears intestines Clears bladderHelps with the ladies
Black pepper:
2 g silver/kilo in India
30 g silver/kilo in France
Spices = wealth!
Spain’s empire:
lots of gold and silver!
Gold = wealth!
I’M WEARING
PUFFY SHORTS!
I JUST SHAVED
MY LEGS!
LOOK AT MY FANCY
FEATHER.
WHO FARTED?
The Explorers: A Play in One Act
fin
SUMMARYWrite a paragraph that would clearly explain the Age of Exploration to a fourth-grader. Include reasons, problems, things that helped, and the Spanish/Portuguese rivalry.
The Age of Exploration
Holt, chapter 16, section 1
Reasons Greed, gold and God
Problems Lack of geographical knowledge
Natural obstacles
Lack of food
Disease: scurvy
Things that helped exploration Better maps, atlases, rutters
Astrolabe
Better cannon
Rudder
Lateen sail
Spain vs. Portugal World divided by Pope in 1494
Spain gets west, Portugal gets east
Summary Write a paragraph that would clearly explain the Age of Exploration to a fourth-grader. Include causes, problems, things that helped, and the Spanish/Portuguese rivalry.