1400-1625

Exploring the Americas

Essential QuestionWhat events and technological advances paved

the way for European Exploration?

Exploring the Americas

The Renaissance “re-birth” changed the way Europeans thought about themselves and the world.Period of intellectual and artistic creativityMerchants, bankers and monarchs sought

greater profits through foreign tradeWanted to make their countries stronger and

wealthierPaved the way for an age of exploration and

discovery

The Renaissance and the Growth of Ideas

Advances in technology paved the way for European voyages and exploration.

Better maps and instruments: Cartographers improved their map making skills as they acquired techniques and information from Arab map makers.

AstrolabeMagnetic Compass

Technologies Impact

Based on Arab designs, European ships improved greatly.BiggerStrongerCould sail into the wind

With increased competition for foreign trade, countries like Portugal and Spain worked hard to better their ships and launched an era of exploration!

Better Ships

Answer the Essential Question: What events and technological advances paved the way for European Exploration?

European interest in Asia due to growth of trade

Increased wealthImproved maps and navigation instrumentsAdvances in ship designDesire for gold and slaves from Africa

Making Connections

Essential Question: Why did Spain and Portugal want to find a sea

route to Asia?

Early Exploration

Prince Henry the Navigator helped lay the groundwork for the era of exploration in the early 1400s.

Portuguese ships travelled along the coast of West Africa trading for gold and ivory.Area became known as the “Gold Coast”

Vasco da GamaSailed around Cape of Good

Hope (tip of Africa)Explored east coast of AfricaDiscovered eastern sea route to Asia

Early Portuguese Voyages

Six months after da Gama’s return, 13 ships left Portugal for the east.

Course swung so wide around Africa, they reached Brazil.

Gave Portugal a stake in the Americas.Eventually reached India and returned with

spices, porcelain and other goods that helped them set up a trading empire.

Portuguese Trading Empire

Centuries before Columbus, northern Europeans called Vikings sailed to North America.

800s and 900s – Established settlements in Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland.

Viking voyages to other lands were not well known.

The Viking Voyages

Spanish were envious of Portugal’s trading success with India and Asia.

Columbus sought sponsorship from Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain who agreed for 2 reasons.Promised to bring Christianity to any lands he

foundSpain would become wealthy through any

trade Columbus opened up

Spain Backs Columbus

August 3, 1492 – sets out with ships the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria.

October 12, 1492 – “Tierra! Tierra!” Finds small group of Islands (Bahamas)

Convinced he has found the East Indies (Islands off coast of Asia)

Columbus’s First Voyage

Explored Caribbean islands of Hispaniola, Cuba and Jamaica.

Claimed lands for Spain and mapped Central American coastline.

Eventually realized he had found new lands (America) and began to set up settlements.

Columbus’s Later Voyages

Both Spain and Portugal want to protect their claims in America.

Line of demarcation (1493)Imaginary line running down the middle of the

Atlantic from North Pole to South PoleSpain got everything to the westPortugal got everything to the east

Dividing the World

Amerigo VespucciSailed along South America’s coast – came to

the conclusion that it was not part of Asia

Ferdinand MagellanReached tip of South America and sailed

through a strait to the Pacific OceanHis crew was first to circumnavigate, or sail

around the world

Other Explorers

How did Henry the Navigator further exploration?

Answer the Essential Question: Why did Portugal and Spain want to find a sea route to Asia?If the Portuguese and Spanish could find a sea

route directly to Asia, they could trade directly with India and China.

Making Connections

Essential Question: How did Spain’s conquests affect the economic

and social development of the Americas?

Spain in America

Main Idea!Spanish explorers conquered Native American

empires and found new lands.

Spain in America

Hernan Cortes formed alliances with many of the people the Aztecs had conquered.

Cortes enters Tenochtitlan with over 500 soldiers, horses, cannons and Native American allies.

Emperor Montezuma welcomed them to the city but is taken prisoner.

Aztec capital is destroyed in 1521 and Spanish take over the region.

Cortes Conquers the Aztecs

Francisco Pizarro (conquistador) sailed down coast of South America.

1532 – Captures and executes the Incan ruler Atahualpa.

Without their ruler, Incans could not fight effectively.

Pizarro gained most of the Incan empire for Spain.

Pizarro Conquers the Inca

The conquistadors victories over the Aztec and Inca were quick and lasting. How could Cortes and Pizarro, with only their small armies conquer such mighty empires?Weapons (Guns, Cannons)HorsesSpanish seemed godlikeDislike of Aztec overlordsDisease! No immunity to European diseases!

Why Spain Succeeded

Throughout the early 1500s, more and more settlements were set up by the Spanish. Spanish law called for 3 kinds of settlements in the Americas…Pueblos – towns established as centers of tradeMissions – religious communities including a

small town, farmland and a churchPresidios – Forts usually built near missions

Spanish Rule

*In the 1500s, the Spanish government granted conquistadors the right to demand taxes or labor from Native Americans - Encomienda

Social Classes

Spanish priest who condemned cruel treatment of Native Americans.

Claimed that millions had died because the Spanish “made gold their ultimate aim, seeking to load themselves with riches in the shortest amount of time.”

Reports influenced Spanish government to forbid making slaves of the Native Americans.

Not always enforced, but helped correct some of the worst abuses.

Bartolome de las Casas

Main exports from the Americas became tobacco and sugarcane.

Spanish developed plantations and used Native Americans for labor.

Las Casas suggested replacing the Native Americans with Africans.

By the end of the 1500s, plantation slave labor was an essential part of the economy of the colonies.

The Plantation System

How did Spain’s conquests affect the economic and social development of the Americas?Spanish destroyed the Aztec and Inca EmpiresSettled in pueblos, missions and presidiosIntroduced Catholicism, horses and cattleRelegated Native Americans to lower classesIntroduced slaves to support plantations

How did slavery begin in the Americas?Las Casas suggested replacing natives with

AfricansSlave labor became important to the colonial

economy

Making Connections

Essential Question: Why did European nations establish colonies in

North America?

Exploring North America

Era of exploration brought America together with Europe, Asia and Africa.

Contacts led to an exchange in plants, animals and diseases.

Columbian Exchange

Netherlands (Dutch) want to find a passage through the Americas

1609 – Henry Hudson discovers Hudson River1610 – Sent by EnglandDiscovered the Hudson Bay

Hudson’s Discoveries

Eager to explore North AmericaSet up New Netherland colony

New Amsterdam as center on tip of Manhattan Island

Dutch Settlements

Showed little interest in building an empire

Focused onFishingFur trading

1608 – Sent Samuel de Champlain to found a settlement in Quebec

French Trading Posts

How did France’s goals in North America differ from those of other European nations?

Answering the Essential Question: Why did European nations establish colonies in North America?To become wealthy and powerfulObtain resourcesTo trade and sell European products

Making Connections