The Age of Marco Polo (1254(?) -1324)

Around 1275 traveled to China Dictated Travels and completed in 1298 Thought of as fantasy? Many inconsistencies Affected others later – ex. Columbus Reasons for European Exploration

God – spreading religion to “heathens”

Gold – wealth = power

Glory – celebrate self and country Prince Henry “the Navigator”

Inspired by “new” ship technology Opened schools for navigators Provided funds for West Africa voyages Break Arab trade monopoly! New Navigation Technology

Compass Astrolabe Provides Tracked location of direction sun, moon, stars magnetically Helped compensate Developed by for lack of longitude the Chinese Helped determine the time of day or night Caravel

Multi-masted with triangular and rectangular sails Capable of catching in any direction Rudder now in back (not side) for easier steering Smaller, faster ships by later 1500s Cartography

Map makers First used ancient (inaccurate) maps Soon showed findings of sea voyages Continuous updates and editing critical for navigators Currents and Trade

Trade winds move all year in the same direction Made trips across the Atlantic faster Little known about ocean currents Trade Winds and Currents Bartholomeu Dias

1st Portuguese to reach southernmost tip of Africa 1488 Africa passable and not connected land King John II named Cape of Good Hope Hoped to find gold, silver, spices etc. Vasco da Gama

First European to sail south around tip of Africa Direct sea route to India Ports of Goa, Calicut traded between China and East Indies Pedro Cabral

Set up trading posts in India with Dias Solidified overseas trade route for spices 1500 claimed Brazil for Portugal

➢ Columbus theorized smaller world ➢ Thought China could be reached west ➢ Explored Indies looking for Japan, China Christopher Columbus Line of Demarcation 1493-1494

Pope Alexander VI assigns: Portugal - Brazil, coastal Africa, southern and eastern Asia, AND the East Indies! Spain – and the Philippines Amerigo Vespucci

Italian for Portugal explored Suggested Columbus found new continent, not Asia Credited with “discovery” of New World with name “America” on maps Ferdinand Magellan

1519 set out to explore seen by Balboa Died in battle with natives before crew returned home Historians credit for circumnavigating (circling) the

Hernán Cortés Montezuma – Aztec ruler

600 Spaniards defeated 11,000 Aztecs military technology smallpox outbreaks Tlaxcala alliance Cortés devoted his stay in Mexico to converting natives to Catholicism Francisco Pizarro

Army destroyed much of the Inca civilization in their quest for gold by 1532 Killed emperor Atahuallpa Pizarro assassinated by own men England

1585 Roanoke fails (“lost colony”) 1609 Jamestown has “starving time” but becomes successful Tobacco profitable Looser social structures House of Burgesses early representative government Netherlands

Modern Indonesia called Spice Islands under Dutch control Henry Hudson explored west for Dutch northeast Canada and U.S. New Netherland Displaced by British by 1660s France

Verrazzano explored northeast coast Cartier sailed St. Lawrence River Champlain founded Quebec settlement Carefully chosen settlers Small settlements Fur trade Columbian Exchange

❑ Exchange of plants, foods, animals, and diseases between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres Disease

Smallpox, typhoid, measles very contagious Common in Europe No Native immunity exposed by European contact Will kill millions (90%?) Europeans face no real Native resistance Colonial Society

Inflexible system Much resentment of peninsulares for gov’t jobs Creoles own most plantations, mines, etc. Limited or no rights for others Missionaries

Spread holy scripture and “save” Natives on encomiendas Humanitarian ventures helped cultures learn to survive Provided education, job education, language, etc. Slave Trade

Disease reduced Native workers Enslaved Africans replaced in Americas healthier familiar with crops Based on ideas of cultural superiority? Millions brought to Western Hemisphere Triangles of Trade