The Age of Discovery. WH1112, Michael Granado

1. The Age of Discovery
(15th-18th Century)

2. “Just why, beginning around 1500, did a
few small polities on the western end of
the Eurasian landmass come to dominate
the rest of the world, including the more
populous and in many ways more
sophisticated societies of Eastern
Eurasia?” –Niall Ferguson

3. •Historical Causes:
•Historically speaking there seem to be some
distinct causes that lead to the European
domination:
1. Competition
2. Science (technology)
3. Property rights
4. Medicine
5. The Consumer Society
6. The Work Ethic

4. 15th century Competition
•By 1500 Europe was a conglomerate of
various “states,” though it did not
resemble the political states that we think
of today, they were more landed estates.
•The mechanisms of commerce, systems of
international finance, ocean-going trading
fleets, an entrepreneurial bourgeoisie,
were all building a recognizably capitalist,
money-based economy.

6. •All of this lead to a very competitive atmosphere, and a
seeming need amongst the newly forming nations to
gain the upper hand on the other. This inevitably lead
to:
1. naval exploration
2. colonization.

7. Exploration
• European medieval knowledge about
Asia beyond the reach of Byzantine
Empire was sourced in partial reports,
often obscured by legends, dating
back from the time of the conquests
of Alexander the Great and his
successors.
• Africa was only partially known to
either Christians, Venetians, or the
Arab seamen, and its southern extent
unknown.

8. Why the need for sea route?
•Basically, the economic driver for
these expansions were the silk and
spice trade, involving spices, incense,
herbs, drugs and opium.
•Spices were among the most
expensive and demanded products
of the Middle Ages, as they were
used in medieval medicine, religious
rituals, cosmetics, perfumery, as well
as food additives and preservatives.

9. Portuguese discoveries
• During the 15th and 16th centuries.
Portuguese sailors were at the vanguard of
European overseas exploration, discovering
and mapping the coasts of Africa, Canada, Asia
and Brazil.
• Bartolomeu Dias reaching the Cape of Good
Hope and entering the Indian Ocean in 1488.
• Vasco da Gama led the first fleet around Africa
to India, arriving in Calicut and starting a
maritime route from Portugal to India, proving
that the Indian Ocean was accessible from the
Atlantic.

10. Spain
• In 1492 the Spanish empire decided to
fund Christopher Columbus's expedition
in the hope of bypassing Portugal's
monopoly on west African sea routes, to
reach "the Indies" (east and south Asia) by
travelling west.
• On August 3, 1492, Columbus and his
crew set sail from Spain in three ships: the
Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. On
October 12, the ships made landfall–not
in Asia, as Columbus assumed, but on one
of the Bahamian islands.

11. Science/Technology
• The caravel of the 15th and
16th centuries was a ship with a
distinctive shape and admirable
qualities.
• A gently sloping bow and single
stern castle were prominent
features of this vessel, and it
carried a mainmast and a
mizzen mast that were
generally lateen-rigged
(triangular sail).

12. •Three Major Civilizations of South
America:
1. Mayan
2. Aztec
3. Inca

13. Mayan Civilization
• -The Maya civilization was one of the most dominant
indigenous societies of Mesoamerica.
• In addition to agriculture, the Maya also displayed more
advanced cultural traits, perhaps the most famous of which
are:
1. Art
2. pyramid-building, city construction and the inscribing
of stone monuments.
3. Calendar

14. Art

15. Mayan Buildings
•The Maya produced a vast array of structures, and have
left an extensive architectural legacy that places the
Maya civilization as one of the great preindustrial
civilizations of the world.
•Masonry architecture built by the Maya evidences craft
specialization in Maya society, centralized organization
and the political means to mobilize a large workforce.
•The Classic Maya built many of their temples and palaces
in a stepped pyramid shape, decorating them with
elaborate reliefs and inscriptions.

17. Mayan Astronomy/Calendar
•The Classic Maya in particular saw the Maya
develop some of the most accurate pre-
telescope astronomy in the world, aided by their
fully developed writing system and their
positional numeral system, both of which are
fully indigenous to Mesoamerica.
•Probably the best preserved is the Dresden
Codex

19. • The Dresden Codex contains:
1. An eclipse table that predicts times when eclipses may occur.
2. A Venus table that predicts the times when Venus appears as
morning star and the other apparitions of the planet.
3. A Mars table that records the times when Mars goes into
retrograde motion. A second Mars table that tracks the planet's
motion along the ecliptic has recently been identified.
• It ought to be remembered though that this is not astronomy, but
is rather what we would today called Astrology.

20. Aztecs
• The Aztec Empire or the Triple Alliance
began as an alliance of three city-states:
Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan.
• Despite the initial conception of the empire
as an alliance of three self-governed city-
states, Tenochtitlan quickly established itself
as the dominant partner militarily.
• By the time the Spanish arrived in 1520, the
lands of the Alliance were effectively ruled
from Tenochtitlan, and the other partners in
the alliance had assumed subsidiary roles.

21. Aztec Government
• The Aztec Empire was an example of an empire that ruled by
indirect means. Like most European empires, it was
ethnically very diverse, but unlike most European empires, it
was more of a system of tribute than a single unitary of
government.
• the Aztec empire was an "informal" empire in that the
Alliance did not claim supreme authority over the tributary
provinces; it merely expected tributes to be paid.

22. Ideology and State
• Rulers were seen as representatives of the gods and therefore ruled
by divine right.
• Political order was therefore also a cosmic order, and to kill a King
was to transgress that order.
• Expansion of the empire was guided by a militaristic interpretation
of Aztec religion, specifically a devout veneration of the sun god,
Huitzilopochtli.
• The time period they lived in was understood as the “Sun of
Movement,” which was believed to be the final age after which
humanity would be destroyed.

23. Incan Empire
• The Inca civilization flourished in ancient
Peru between c. 1400 and 1533 CE.
• Famed for their unique art and
architecture, they constructed finely-built
and imposing buildings wherever they
conquered, and their spectacular
adaptation of natural landscapes with
terracing, highways, and mountaintop
settlements continues to impress modern
visitors at such world famous sites as
Machu Picchu.

25. Government
• The Incas kept lists of their kings so that we know of such
names as
1. Pachakuti Inka Yupanki (reign c. 1438-63 CE),
2. Thupa Inka Yupanki (reign c. 1471-93 CE),
3. and Wayna Qhapaq (the last pre-Hispanic ruler, reign
c. 1493-1525 CE).
The Sapa Inca (King) was an absolute ruler, and he lived a life
of great opulence. Drinking from gold and silver cups, wearing
silver shoes, and living in a palace furnished with the finest
textiles, he was pampered to the extreme.

26. Religion
• The religion of the Inca was preoccupied
with controlling the natural world and
avoiding such disasters as earthquake,
floods, and drought.
• Inca religious rituals also involved
ancestor worship as seen through the
practice of mummification and making
offerings to the gods of food, drink, and
precious materials.
• Sacrifices - both animals and humans,
including children - were also made to
pacify and honor the gods and ensure
the good health of the king.