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The Age of Exploration. What was the Age of Exploration?. A time period when Europeans began to explore the rest of the world. Improvements in mapmaking, shipbuilding, rigging, and navigation made this possible. Blue water sailing, not just coastal boats.
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What was the Age of Exploration? • A time period when Europeans began to explore the rest of the world. • Improvements in mapmaking, shipbuilding, rigging, and navigation made this possible. • Blue water sailing, not just coastal boats. • Policy of mercantilism drives the exploration.
What was mercantilism? • Policy that said there was a limited amount of money in the world. • Each country needs to grab what they can before it is gone. • Export more than you import…more money in your pocket. • Colonies and markets were needed to keep everything in the system.
Goal: get to Asia’s spices by sailing around Africa Prince Henry Started a “navigation school” sponsored voyages encouraged “sharing” of experiences Nicknamed “the Navigator
Bartolomeu Dias • Sailed around Cape of Good Hope at southern tip of Africa. • Found route to Indian Ocean • Trade can go from Europe to Asia by sea.
Vasco da Gama • Landed in India in 1498. • Important trade route from Europe to India and East Indies.
Ferdinand Magellan • His crew made first round-the-world voyage. • Proved for certain that the world was round. • Magellan was killed in the Phillippines, did not make it home.
Christopher Columbus • Believed a shorter route to Asia could be found by sailing westward instead of around Africa. • Found the Americas instead. Oops.
What was the Colombian Exchange? • Massive exchange of plants, animals and diseases. • These things moved between the New and Old Worlds. • Started with Columbus. • To the Americas: cows, horses, wheat, smallpox, plus much more. • To Europe: potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco, corn, plus much more.
The Slave Trade • Europeans began to use slave labor in their colonies to grow crops, mine, etc. • Native Americans used for a while, but Africans began to be brought to the Americas. • The slave trade then became the main focus of Europe’s relations with Africa.
What was the Triangular Trade? • System of trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. • Stage 1: Raw materials to Europe (tobacco, rum, sugar) • Stage 2: Manufactured goods to Africa (guns, cloth, rum) • Stage 3: Slaves to the Americas to make raw materials.
