Europeans explored distant lands between 1400-1800 motivated by profit and religion. Portuguese led the way in exploring Africa's coast and reaching India, establishing trading posts. Other European powers like the Dutch and English later challenged Portuguese control of Asian trade. Spain's exploration led to the colonization of the Americas, where crops and animals were exchanged between the hemispheres while diseases devastated native populations. Demand for American goods led to the growth of the transatlantic slave trade to supply labor.

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Caravel, a small, light ship with triangular
sails.
An Age of Explorations and Isolation,
1400–1800
Motivated by Christian
faith and an even
bigger desire for
profit, Europeans
explore distant lands,
while Japanese and
Chinese rulers isolate
their societies from
Europeans.

2. BELL RINGER: WHAT DOES
THIS QUOTE MEAN TO
YOU?

3. BELL RINGER: WHAT DOES
THIS QUOTE MEAN TO
YOU?

4. BELL RINGER:
INTERPRET THIS QUOTE

5. REVIEW: COMMERCIAL
REVOLUTION
After the fall of the western
Roman Empire, western
Europe was fractured, but as
leaders consolidated power
and created unified
kingdoms, travel became
safer, cities arose, and
demand for good increased.
The banking sector grew,
credit was issued, and more
people had access to money
to fund trade expeditions.
The Mongols made the Silk
Road safe and trade between
East and West increased.
More trade = more goods =
more affordable goods= =
increased demand.
The Muslim world capitalized
on the European demand for
Eastern goods and created
new trade networks.

6. TRADE GOODS

7. FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE 1453
After Ottoman ruler Sultan Mehmed II takes Constantinople
from the Byzantines. Many Christians flee to the West.
Trade from East to West through the city declines. This
causes Europeans to look for alternate trade routes.

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For “God, Glory, and Gold”
Europeans Explore the East
Early Contact Limited
• New desire for contact with Asia develops in
Europe in early 1400s
Europeans Seek New Trade Routes
• Main reason for exploration is to gain wealth
• Contact during Crusades spurs demand for Asian
goods
• Muslims and Italians control trade from East to West
• Other European nations want to bypass these powers
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Continued . . .

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The Spread of Christianity
• Desire to spread Christianity also spurs
exploration
• Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias wants to
serve God and king
continued For “God, Glory, and Gold”
Technology Makes Exploration Possible
• In 1400s, the caravel makes it possible to sail
against wind
• Astrolabe makes navigation easier
How an Astrolabe works
• Magnetic compass improves tracking of direction
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Portugal Leads the Way
(Portugal is the Man!)
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The Portuguese Explore Africa
Prince Henry “The Navigator,” the son of Portugal’s
king, supports exploration
• In 1419, he founds navigation school on coast of
Portugal
• By 1460, Portuguese have trading posts along
west coast of Africa

11. BARTOLOMEU DIAS
Dias voyage

12. VASCO DA GAMA
Portuguese Sailors Reach Asia
• In 1488, Dias sails around southern
tip of Africa
• In 1498, Vasco da Gama sails to
India
• In 1499, da Gama returns to
Portugal with valuable cargo

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Trading Empires in the Indian Ocean
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Portugal’s Trading Empire
• In 1509, Portugal defeats Muslims at
Battle of Diu, takes over Indian Ocean trade
• In 1510, Portugal captures Goa, port city in
western India
• In 1511, Portugal seizes Malacca, on Malay
Peninsula
• These gains break Muslim-Italian hold on Asian
trade
Continued . . .

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Other Nations Challenge the Portuguese
• English and Dutch begin moving into Asia in 17th
century
• Dutch have more ships (20,000) than any other
nation in 1600
• Dutch and English weaken Portuguese control of
Asian trade
• Dutch then overpower English
• Form Dutch East India Company for Asian trade
continued Trading Empires in the Indian Ocean
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Continued . . .

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European Trade Outposts
• In 1619, Dutch set up trade headquarters at
Batavia, on Java
• Throughout 1600s, Dutch trade grows
• Amsterdam, Dutch capital, becomes wealthy city
• Dutch also control southern tip of Africa
• The Dutch wanted a monopoly on the nutmeg trade.
Nutmeg was a popular spice and drug in Europe, and it
grew only on a few islands in Indonesia. In 1621 on the
Island of Banda Dutch massacred a majority of the island's
inhabitants, the Dutch systematically beheaded islanders
and drove large groups of inhabitants off the edge of cliffs.
Anyone who managed to avoid these grizzly fates were
either deported to other nearby islands or enslaved
replaced them with Dutch workers.
•
England’s East India Company gains strength in
India
• France also gains trade foothold in India
continued Trading Empires in the Indian Ocean
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Spain Also Makes Claims
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A Rival Power
• In 1492, Christopher Columbus sails
for Spain
• Convinces Spanish to support plan to
reach Asia by sailing west
• Reaches the Americas instead
• Opens Americas to exploration and
colonization
• In 1493, pope divides these lands
between Spain and Portugal
• Agreement formalized by
Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494

19. CONQUEST OF THE
AMERICAS
Columbus lands in San
Salvador 1492
1498: Vicente Yanez Pinzon:
first record of a European
sighting Brazil.
1500: Pedro Alvares Cabral
claimed Brazil for Portugal.
Englishman John Cabot
reaches N. America 1497
French and British explorers
try to find western passage
to Asia over or through N.
America.
Eventually, Brazil, northern S
America, the Caribbean, and
western and southern N.
America are settled.

20. THE COLUMBIAN
EXCHANGE
The Columbian
Exchange
•Columbian Exchange—
global transfer of food,
plants, animals
•Corn, potatoes from
Americas become crops in
Eastern Hemisphere
•New animals, plants
introduced by Europeans
take hold in Americas
•European diseases kill
millions of Native Americans
Horses, cows, & pigs
introduced to the Americas.
Sugar cane introduced to the
Americas: becomes major
cash crop in S. America, the
Caribbean, & eventually
Florida, and Louisiana.
Demand for sugar leads to
demand for coerced labor
(Slavery).
Later tobacco and cotton
become major cash crops

22. COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE CONTINUED
Potatoes, corn, tomatoes,
peppers, and cacao, vanilla,
tobacco, beans, and peanuts
introduced to Europe and
eventually Asia and Africa
Potatoes and corn eventually
become major crops and
introduce a major source of
cheap calories to Europe.
Disease: Natives have no
immunity to diseases from
Europe. Millions die off from
small pox and other diseases
brought over by Europeans.
This makes it easier for
Europeans to conquer Native
lands.

23. CONQUEST OF THE
AZTECS
Hernando Cortez and just
under 600 men conquer the
Aztec Empire, the most
powerful Empire in
MesoAmerica.
Aztecs already devastated by
disease and still using mostly
stone age weapons, were
easy to conquer.
Neighboring tribes helped
the Spanish as they hated the
Aztecs.

24. COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE
LEQ
CC: Columbian Exchange How would the world be
different today if Europeans
had not conquered the New
World?
If the Europeans just traded
with the Natives instead of
conquering them, how would
the world be different? Think
about death, war, slavery,
trade, etc

25. CONQUEST OF THE INCA
Francisco Pizzaro and a group of
fewer than
200 men conquer the Inca.
Like the Aztecs, the Inca had
been devastated by disease, but
also by a civil war between two
princes after their father died of
disease.
Spanish make use of Inca road
system and Spanish had horses
and superior weapons: steel
swords, steel armor, muskets,
and cannon.

26. BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS
Spanish priest who
spoke out against
the harsh treatment
of the natives.
Wrote about how
cruelly the Spaniards
were acting towards
the Natives.

27. TRANS-ATLANTIC SLAVE
TRADE

28. TRIANGULAR TRADE
Boats laden with tobacco, cotton, sugar, rum, molasses, and
other products produced in the new world would sail to Europe.
They would drop off those products and pick up finished goods
such as cloth, tools, cookware, etc. They would then sail to Africa
to trade goods and guns for slaves. The slaves would be taken to
the New World.

29. SLAVERY IN THE NEW
WORLD
The Spanish and Portuguese used both Natives and imported
Africans as slaves.
British and Dutch relied more on imported Africans.
The African Slave trade had existed for centuries prior to
1492, and the New World demand for slaves used existing
slave trade practices: Capture and purchase of slaves from
slave traders: both European and African.
Young, healthy Africans were captured and sold into slavery.
They were packed into ships, often chained down with little
room to move. Many died before ever reaching the New
World.

30. TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE
TRADE, CONT
Middle Passage Justification for slavery
Racism: Whites were superior
to non-whites
Slaves were not useful for
anything other than manual
labor.
Slaves were being
Christianized
Slaves were better off in the
New World than the “savage
jungle”

31. TRANS-ATLANTIC SLAVE
TRADE CONT.
Life Aboard a Slave Ship
CC: Slave Trade

32. COLONIAL LATIN
AMERICAN CASTE SYSTEM
Pennisulares: Born in Spain
Creoles: Born in the Americas to
Spanish parents
Mestizos: Half Spanish/ Half Native
Mulatto: Half Spanish/ Half African
Natives & Slaves

33. COLONIAL LATIN
AMERICAN CASTE SYSTEM

34. SISTER JUANA INA DE LA
CRUZ
The "worst" nun