The Age of ExplorationChapter 18, Section 1

1. How did trade with Asia change?2. What technologies were created?

3. How did strong nations help lead to exploration?

I. Trade with Asia1. In the 1400s, it became hard to buy goods from Asia.

2. The Mongol Empire, which had kept the Silk Road open, had collapsed.

a. More taxes on merchantsb. Asian goods are very expensive

3. The Ottoman Turks conquered the Byzantine Empire in 1453, blocking Italian merchants in the Middle East

4. Europeans still wanted Asian goods, so they began looking for a new route to East Asia without going through the Middle East

II. New Technology

1. Europeans could not explore without the right technology—the ocean was too dangerous and difficult to navigate.

2. By the 1400s, the Arabs introduced the ancient tools of the astrolabe and the compass, used to find latitude and magnetic north

3. Europeans still needed better ships. In the 1400s, they used Arabs’ triangular sails that allowed them to zigzag into the wind

a. Many masts, smaller sailsb. New rudder to help steer easierc. The caravel combined all of these elements

III. Rise of Nations

1. Exploration was expensive and dangerous—for most of the Middle Ages, European kingdoms could not afford to explore

2. The rise of towns and trade in the 1400s helped make government stronger

a. monarchs taxed trade b. created armies c. Strong central government

3. Four strong kingdoms, Portugal, Spain, France, and England developed in Europe with harbors on the Atlantic Ocean for exploration