7. Age of Explorations Great Discoveries (MAP: p.

24)

The age of Explorations / Great Discoveries marked the end of the II. Factors that encouraged exploration
Middle Ages (476-1492) and the beginning of the Early Modern Age
(1492-1789) when a new economic, social and ideological system emerged. A, Search for spices and profit: the demand for spices and luxury goods far
exceeded supply. Earlier, Italian merchants had had a monopoly (complete
I. Europe in the 14-15th centuries control of trade) of the spice trade. The new monarchs of Western Europe
Agriculture and industry were characterized by technical development. The (England, France, Spain and Portugal) wanted a share of this profitable trade,
population increased. Estates (clergy, nobility, commoners) were created and so they began to look for new routes to Asia.
estate monarchies strengthened which could support discoveries. A united
Spanish Kingdom was formed with the unification of Castile and Aragon in B, Desire to spread Christianity: Europeans believed they had a duty to
1479 (marriage of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon). Renaissance convert non-Christians, that is why there were always missionaries on the
and Humanism appeared. ships of the great explorers.
Traditional trade routes like Levant Trade, the Hanseatic Sea Trade, the
Silk Route changed: C, Scientific and technological changes which contributed to the
discoveries
 Overland: Instead of south-north trade, east-west trade became more
significant. Long-distance trade was influenced by economic By the 1400s, geographical knowledge increased and became more accurate.
development and population growth in Western Europe. Western Most scientists accepted the hypothesis of Ptolemy that the Earth’s shape
Europe was unable to feed its growing population at a satisfactory level was as a sphere, so it’s spherical. The Earth is a globe.
so it was necessary to import food and agricultural products from
Toscanelli created a new map of the world that may have been used by
Eastern Europe while Eastern Europe imported manufactured goods
Christopher Columbus in planning his voyage.
from Western Europe.
The earliest version of a compass was used by
 On the sea: Trade along the coastline of the Atlantic became more
Chinese merchants. Arab traders carried it to the
important. Turkish expansion encouraged Europe to open up new
Mediterranean, where it became a necessary tool for
trade routes. The Ottoman Turks closed off the traditional
European explorers.
Mediterranean trading routes from the Europeans (the fall of
Constantinople to the Turks -1453) and they controlled and heavily Italian ship-builders developed
taxed the Mediterranean trade. So it led to the ambition to find new a new type of ship, the caravel, which suited long sea
trade routes on the sea which was unfavourable for the Turkish voyages the best. It was the predecessor of all modern
Empire as its revenues from transit trade decreased. ships.
 The other important invention was the astrolabe, which IV. The Spanish explorers
was used to measure how far south or north the Equator was.
A Genoese sea captain, named Christopher Columbus, sailing west
The Chinese began to print books around 600, but the reached a continent that he believed to be India. Before he left, he had
Europeans did not discover how to print books until the 15th spent years in Portugal trying to persuade the Portuguese king to give him
century. Around 1450 Johann Guttenberg invented money and ships to prove his hypothesis that sailing west he could reach
printing (the first printed book – a Bible), so he became known as the ’father India on a much shorter route than circumnavigating Africa. But no loan
of printing’. was given to him in Portugal, so he went to Spain.
The first colonizers were the Portuguese and the Spanish. In Spain, Isabella, the Spanish Queen ordered a special commission to
study the hypothesis of Columbus about the sea route to India by sailing
III. The first explorers from Portugal west. Finally, Ferdinand and Isabella agreed to sponsor a journey west
and Columbus got the ships and money he needed.
Portugal took advantage of its favourable geographical location. As it was the
westernmost land of the European continent, it could be the first to take the In August 1492 three ships / armadas (Spanish and Portuguese word for naval fleet)
lead the trade along the Atlantic coastline. (Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria) left Spain. On 12th October 1492, Columbus first
Arab traders were hostile to the Portuguese as they feared, not without reason, landed on today’s San Salvador, an island belonging to the West Indies
that they might lose their monopoly of sea trade on the Indian Ocean. The (the Antilles, the Caribbean islands, the Bahamas, the Canary
Portuguese could establish several trading posts along the coast of India Islands…), which got its name because Columbus was convinced that he had
and purchased spices very cheaply or simply took them from the natives by reached India. For the same reason, the natives of the Americas are still called
force, thus they could make huge profit. Indians. The three American Indian cultures that existed in the Age of
Discoveries were A., Aztec, B., Mayan, C., Inca.
Henry the Navigator, Portuguese Prince founded an observatory and a
famous school for navigators. Henry organised and paid for voyages to Amerigo Vespucci, Florentine navigator, corrected Columbus’ mistake
explore the Atlantic coastline of Africa. only after his death. He sailed on several voyages to the New World (1499-
Bartholomew Diaz reached the southernmost tip of Africa (the Cape of 1507). He claimed that the land Columbus discovered was not Asia, but a
Storms) (1487-88). The Portuguese king named it the Cape of Good Hope. newly discovered continent, America. Waldseemüller, a German publisher
It opened the way for the import of luxury items from the Far East. named this new continent America in honour of Amerigo Vespucci in his new
map of the world. Columbus was not the first European explorer to reach the
Vasco da Gama, Portuguese sea captain reached India by
Americas, but his voyages led to the first lasting European contact with the
circumnavigating / sailing around Africa in 1497.
Americas. These voyages had an enormous impact in the historical
development of the modern Western world transforming the economy and
consequently the social structure.
V. The first division of the colonies (But soon the English, The French and the Dutch joined, who ignored the Treaty of
Tordesillas.) (A colony is a country or area under the full or partial political control of
The rivalry between Spain and Portugal to claim the newly discovered another country. Colonialism is where one country takes political control over another, often
lands reached such a dangerous level that the pope had to regulate the by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. Colonisers often
question of discoveries. In 1493 the Bull of Demarcation issued by Pope impose their religion, language, economics, and other cultural practices on indigenous
peoples.)
Alexander VI ruled that Spain and Portugal should divide the ’Indies’.
In Central and South America, the Conquistadors (Spanish conquerors)
Finally, according to the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494: The earliest
European colonial powers, Spain and Portugal divided the world. A line destroyed the advanced Indian cultures, subjugated the Inca and Aztec
of demarcation was drawn: states and wiped out the majority of the Indian population. Hernando
Cortez conquered the Aztec Indians in Mexico and the Mayan Indians in
- Spain received the territories to the west of the line (eg. the Americas). Central America in 1519. Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca Indians
- Portugal received the territories to the east of the line (eg. Africa, Asia). in Peru in 1531.
The appearance of the Spanish conquerors changed the life of the natives /
VI. Magellan’s voyage round the Earth indigenous/aboriginal population. Colonization was characterized by open
exploitation when the treasures of the natives were taken by force. They
Ferdinand Magellan, (Portuguese explorer who was appointed admiral of treated the natives cruelly and slaughtered them in great numbers. Hundreds
the Spanish Fleet) wanted to circumnavigate the Earth and find a direct of thousands of natives died in the fights, because of cruel treatment and
sea route between Europe and the Spice Islands (Indonesia) sailing west. His many more died of epidemics (smallpox).
voyage lasted for three years – 1519-22 –and only one of his five ships
could return back to Europe. Magellan himself was killed by the natives. Those aboriginal inhabitants who survived were made to work in mines
They found a direct sea route to India sailing west by circumnavigating South and in the plantations. Slave trade and plantation agriculture started.
America. The passage at the southernmost tip of South America was named The Europeans' hunger for treasure and gold led to the mining of
the Straits of Magellan. The discovery of the maritime passage was an precious metals. The conquerors established precious metal mines.
important step towards the utilisation of the Pacific coast of the New However, for this slave labour was needed, because the natives could not
World. His voyage proved: the Americas were separate continents that lay cope with the really difficult working conditions.
far from Asia. The Earth was much larger than anyone had thought before. They also employed slave labour on newly established plantations. To
ensure this they started to forcibly bring in Africans. On plantations
specific plants - cash crops were produced for the market in great
VII. Early colonisation by force quantities - were grown: such as coffee, sugar cane, tobacco, cotton. Lots
of unknown plants were introduced from the New World: corn, potato,
Following the geographical explorations, the Spanish and the Portuguese tomato, paprika, sunflower, cocoa, vanilla, pineapple or squash, etc.
founded colonies on the newly discovered lands. New World referred to the
newly discovered Americas, whereas the Old World referred to the earlier known three
continents - Europe, Asia and Africa.
The following factors contributed to the military success of the European Decline of guilds - new forms of production
colonists: The Europeans had the military advantage: the use of
metal/steel/iron weapons, gunpowder, armour and horses. Unknown There was an increasing demand for both agricultural and manufactured
diseases like smallpox were brought by the Europeans → the majority of goods. It was impossible to fulfil the increased demands within the limits of
Indians died of diseases. guilds. Instead of guilds, manufactories were established. Products were
made by hand. Each worker performed a single task so they acquired a
specific skill. Because of the division of labour, production was much
faster in manufactories. This made it possible to produce cheap mass
products. As a consequence, large numbers of artisans went bankrupt as
guilds could not bear the competition of these new forms of industry.

Enclosure in England

The explorations also had religious aspects. Missionary activity started. From the 16th century, both landlords and tenants were interested in
Missionaries travelled to America and the conversion of Indians to the increasing the productivity of agriculture to make profit. Instead of growing
Christian faith started. But as the natives identified Christianity with the crops, sheep breeding was one of the most profitable agricultural activities
conquerors they acted with hostility towards them. to provide the flourishing textile industry. The movement for enclosure
was typical in England. The landlords needed lots of land for sheep
breeding, so they first enclosed common lands, then uncultivated lands and
VIII. The formation of a capitalist world economy finally they took away the lands of peasants who could not pay the rent. A
significant proportion of peasants became wage-labourers. New social
The massive inflow of precious metals into Europe started which led to the
layers appeared: Working class- Artisans who went bankrupt and evicted
devaluation of gold and silver while prices of other products rose. This
peasants who lost their lands. They were employed by the capitalist
process is called ‘price revolution’. Economic relations were formed among
entrepreneurs in manufacturing. Capitalist entrepreneurs - they could
continents. The destinations and product types of the world trade routes:
invest their capital to make profit.
 Western Europe provided
Western European and Eastern European economies developed in
manufactured goods.
different ways. While in Western Europe a major economic
 Eastern Europe and then
transformation has taken place and social development has begun, in
America grew agricultural
Eastern Central Europe second serfdom was appeared which meant the
produce.
preservation of the previous conditions. Second serfdom: The land lords
 The Far East mainly
extended their manors and they started to demand socage work again in
exported luxury products
return for the usage of the lands. The serfs were bound to the soil again, thus
and spices to Europe.
they were deprived of their right to move freely. The burdens on serfs
 Africa supplied slaves. increased, feudal conditions remained.