Age Of Explorations

Why?
1. Influence Of The Renaissance.
2. New Trade Routes
3. Wealth and Fame for Explorers
4. Marco Polo's book.
5. Wealth for Countries.
6. Spread Religion.
How?
1. New Ships, Caravels
  1. Clinker Built.
  2. Square and Lateen Sails.
  3. Rudders.
  4. Castles (Look out posts).
2. Navigation.
  1. Compasses.
  2. Latitude and Longitude.
  3. Maps.
3. Speed.
  1. Log and Line.
  2. Knots.
4. Depth.
  1. Lead and Line.
5. Log Book.
  1. Recorded details of the trip.
Who?
1. Portuguese.
  1. Prince Henry the Navigator.
    1. School for Navigation.
  2. Bartholomew Diaz.
    1. Left Lisbon in 1487.
    2. Found the Cape Of Storms (later re-named the Cape Of Good Hope)
    3. Caught in a storm and blown southwards for nearly two weeks.
  3. Vasco Da Gama.
    1. 1497, Vasco + 170 men walked in a procession through Lisbon.
    2. At Malindi (present day Kenya) he hired an Arab pilot to guide him across the Indian Ocean to Calicut.
    3. Went to India.
    4. Returned after two years and was given a title, pension and land by the King
2. Spanish.
  1. Magellan.
    1. 1. Born in Portugal but had a dispute with the Portuguese government so went to Spain to get funding from King Charles V
    2. 2. King Charles gave him 5 ships and made him governor of any land he may find.
    3. 3. In 1519, he sailed from Seville with the 5 ships (the flagship: the Trinity, the San Antonio, the Conception, the Victoria and the Santiago) in search of the strait 'El-Paso'.
    4. 4. Stopped at the Canary Islands for supplies.
    5. 6. Forced to spend the winter in Port St. Julian (on the coast of present-day Argentina.)
    6. 5. Afterwards, he found El-Paso between the mainland of South America and Tierra del Fuego. El-Paso was later named the Straits of Magellan.
    7. 7. The ships got stuck in the Pacific Ocean for 3 months. Many died from Scurvy.
    8. 8. Magellan eventually reached the Philippine Islands where he converted a chief to Christianity. Magellan was killed when he helped the chief during a war with another Island.
    9. 9. The two remaining ships, the Trinity and the Victoria, set sail for the spice islands. In 1522, they finally made it home to Spain with the spices.
  2. Hernando Cortes.
    1. 1. In charge of 11 ships and 500 men on a trip to Mexico in 1519.
    2. 2. He landed in Vera Cruz and he destroyed his ships to show that he was not turning back.
    3. 3. He was helped by native tribes that had been conquered by the Aztecs.
    4. 4. The Aztecs believed that Cortes was their God, Quetzocoatl, so they let him in with no problem. As Cortes came near the capital, Tenochtitlan, Motezuma, their chief, came to greet them.
    5. 5. Trouble soon broke out amongst the Spaniards and the Aztecs and Montezuma was taken prisoner and his own people killed him as they thought he had betrayed them.
    6. 6. Cortes got help from the neighbouring tribes and led 100'000 men against the Aztecs and captured the city. The city was destroyed and rebuilt as New Mexico and the Aztecs were made work as slaves.
  3. Pizzaro.
    1. 1. He was 60 when he set out to conquer the Incas in Peru. He left Panema in 1531 with two ships and 170 men. He also had horses, two cannons and three muskets.
    2. 2. After landing, Pizzaro headed further south into the Inca Empire and surprise attacked the Incas at Cajamarca and captured their chief Atahualpa.
    3. 3. The Incas offered a room full of gold and silver in return for their chief. After they had filled the room, Pizzaro killed the chief, who was looked upon as a God by his people.
    4. 4. Pizzaro and his men then marched south to the Andes and captured the capital city Cuzco. They stole the Inca treasures and melted them down for gold. However, Spaniards fought amongst themselves and Pizzaro was killed by his own soldiers.
    5. 5. The Spaniards next found the gold and silver mines. For the next 100 years, gold and silver was mined by the Incas. Spain was made very wealthy as a result.
Results.
1. Rise of Empires i.e. Spain
2. Decline in Mediterranean/ Rise in Atlantic.
3. Slavery.
4. Spread of Christianity.
5. Decay of Empires.
6. Geographical knowledge.

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Age Of Explorations

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	Created by cbbrownbear almost 11 years ago