NEW INVENTIONS, IDEAS, & INTERESTS LEADing TO AN

AGE OF EXPLORATION

Social StudiesMs. Lancaster

1450-1600 A.D

An Age of ExplorationAn Age of Exploration

• An overland trading network existed throughout North, Central, and South America before Europeans arrived

• Trade goods came overland from Asia to the trading centres of Europe

• When trading goods overland became too expensive, European traders began to seek ocean routes to Asia

• European Explorers searched for a passage through North America to Asia

• They came across a huge new land mass that existed between the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean

Trading Overseas

• Ocean voyages were very costly $$$• Wealthy European merchants and

Monarchs provided money for these voyages

• Monarchs wished to find out more about the world and gain power and riches from Asia– They hired mariners to send ships to

seek a route to Asia.

Looking for an ocean route to Looking for an ocean route to AsiaAsia

Explorer Map

• The Northwest Passage

Trading Overseas

• Portugal and Spain were the first European countries to send ships to seek a water route to Asia

• England and France sent expeditions shortly after

• While searching for trade routes, the Europeans explored North and South America

Now what????

• After the Northwest Passage was discovered the Europeans acquired new knowledge of the world’s geography

• They wanted to make the very most out of their new discovery

• This meant…….

New Inventions

• New technologies were create or improvements were made on old gadgets to enable sailors to navigate better– Such as : Compass, astroblabe, ruder,

and lateen sail

New Weapons

• Cannons were added to trade ships to protect them from pirate attacks– Pirates would kill members of the

crew and steal all the cargo

Availability of Knowledge

• With new areas of the world being explored also came new knowledge which lead to stories of travel and explorations– Johann Gutenberg invented the

printing press which used type letters to make words (early typewriter)

– Books were made faster and cheaper and became widely available

Map CreationS

• Many areas of the world were previously unmapped because they were unknown

• European sailors explored more of the world and new information was added to maps and corrections were made to existing maps

• Maps were created to record where they had been and to mark trade routes

Any Questions???

• Powerpoint lesson will be available on the website if you missed any important notes.

• Ms. Lancaster