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• Renaissance explorers had a strong belief in the potential of the individual. They therefore had enough confidence in their abilities to take on the challenge of a dangerous task
• The desire to explore in the Renaissance 

  came from a sense of curiosity 

  and adventure and the worldview 

  of Renaissance Europeans at that time
• European monarchs supported voyages of exploration

  during the Renaissance. For example, Christopher 

  Columbus had the support of Queen Isabella and King 

  Ferdinand of Spain.
• During the Renaissance, trade grew across Europe as people

  with money demanded more luxury goods. Commerce and

  manufacturing also expanded as merchants, bankers, and 

  manufacturers invested their profits in new business ventures.

  The economic worldview of the time therefore encouraged growth and expansion.
• Many of the luxury goods came 

                     from the east

    Goods from the east were expensive 

       because they were moved great 

                         distances 

    At every step of the way, the price of 

        spices went up 100, 200 or even 

         2000 times their original price

     Europeans resented the high prices 

              they were forced to pay

       Europeans also worried about the 

                security of trade routes
• Europeans believed that a 

  sea route to the East was the

  solution to their trade problems.

  A sea route would give them

  control over their supply of 

  goods, and they hoped to get

  rich by bringing in spices and

  other trade goods to sell on the

  European market.
•  The European economy now depended on trade. Europeans needed to find new resources and luxury items to meet the demand. THey needed to continue to look beyond Europe’s borders so that their economy could continue to grow.
• Religion was very important during The Age of 

  Exploration, especially the idea of spreading Christianity.

  Renaissance explorers and the Monarchs who sponsored their 

  Voyages believed they were following Jesus’ wishes in bringing Christianity to the people in the land they visited
• For Renaissance voyages of exploration, ships that could travel across the ocean

  and navigational instruments that could keep these ships on course,
• Renaissance Europeans now had both the motivation and the means to

  set off on voyages of exploration. In the space of 100 years, they went

  from sailing the seas around Europe to circumnavigating the world.

  They were in competition with one another to establish trade routes for 

  spices and other valuable goods.
• Prince Henry of Portugal, who became known as Prince Henry the Navigator, had a great interest in ships and navigation. Just as wealthy Italians like the Medici became patrons of artists, Prince Henry became a patron of Portuguese explorers. He sponsored many voyages of exploration and established a center where navigators from all over Europe could gather to share their knowledge.
• At the beginning of the Age of Exploration, 

  Portugal and Spain sent out expeditions to 

  find trade routes to Asia. After Columbus discovered what he thought was a trade route to Asia for Spain, Portugal wanted to make sure that it got its share of the Asian trade as well. The rulers of Spain and Portugal could not come to an agreement as to who controlled the route to Asia, so they asked the pope to settle the matter.
• In 1494, the Pope proposed a secret treaty, 

  the Treaty of Tordesillas, that would divide 

  the world between the Spanish and the 

  Portuguese empires Spain would have all the land west of an imaginary line running north and south through the Atlantic and Portugal would have any land east of this line

  Other European rulers were angry when 

  they heard about the Treaty and sent 

  explorers out across the North Atlantic 

  anyway.
• the expansionist worldview turned into “imperialism”. Imperialism is the extension of power over a territory and its resources and people. Portugal, Spain and other European countries wanted more then to expand their world –they wanted power over all territory, resources and people they came across
• The imperialist behavior of the Europeans was partly a result of their attitude toward the Indigenous people they found living in the new territories.

  Indigenous people here were enslaved by Spanish landowners and forced to work in terrible conditions.
• The following are some of the results of European imperialism:

  - By 1600 less than one tenth of the original population of the Americas remained

  Some 90 million Indigenous people died during that time Most died of diseases such as smallpox, measles, influenza, bubonic plague, yellow fever, cholera and malaria brought by the Europeans. Many Indigenous peoples in the Americas completely died out including the   

                        Beothuk, the Ona and the Aztecs
• • The invention of the printing press allowed knowledge and ideas to be exchanged across the whole of Europe and Humanism encouraged people to look beyond the world they knew
  • The rise of trade and business also gave people the motivation to venture into the unknown
  • By the end of the Renaissance, Europeans had traveled to most of the continents in the world and for the first time in history, the people of these continents had made contact with one another
  • Wherever the Europeans arrived however, they imposed their religion, ideas, values and economic system – their worldview - onto others. 
•  Prince Henry the Navigator set up a centre at Sagres where he would invite Cartographers, Mathematicians, Astronomy, Sailors and Navigators to study the world of exploration.
• “ In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue”. He was sponsored by Queen Isabella 1 and King Ferdinand 2 of Spain. The sailor was looking for a new route to Asia. He felt that he could get there faster by sailing Around the world as the Silk Road was becoming very dangerous. As explorers, they were always on the look for Gold, a very precious metal. On their trips, missionaries were brought along to convert the Native peoples to catholic, European explorers travelled extensively throughout the unknown world to expand the people of the world
• While da Gama was convinced that the shortest way to Asia was by going around Africa, Columbus sailed the other direction and found Bahamas, what he thought was India. Therefore the Native people were called Indians.
• Imperialism is an extension of power over a territory, including its resources and people. The Treaty of Tordesillas  gave land to Portugal and land to Spain. England ignored the treaty and King Henry VII gave Giovanni Caboto the authority to conquer new lands. The land conquered by Spain became known as the Spanish Empire. The Spanish government gave land to people who wanted gold and silver to export to Spain.
• Indigenous people were enslaved by Spanish landowners and forced to work in miserable conditions. Millions of people died working in these conditions. The Spanish took tons of gold and silver from the New World and became the richest country in Europe. England’s greatest Pirate, Sir Francis Drake commandeered many Spanish galleons and robbed them of their treasures. By the 1600’s, the majority of the original population of the Americas remained. Approximately 90000000 indigenous people died.
•  The European economy now depended on trade. Europeans needed to find new resources and luxury items to meet the demand. THey needed to continue to look beyond Europe’s borders so that their economy could continue to grow.
• Renaissance explorers and the Monarchs who sponsored their 

  Voyages believed they were following Jesus’ wishes in bringing Christianity to the people in the land they visited
• Expansionism: the actions and attitudes of a state or country whose goal is to increase its power and territory. During the AGe of Exploration, countries sent out explorers on voyages of thousands of kilometers to achieve their expansionist goals. 
• While Europeans were learning about the world, they were also learning about power and wealth. Portugal and Spain took turns being the wealthiest and most powerful countries in Europe. Through imperialism, Europe grew wealthy And continued to compete for new markets and Territories across the globe during the Renaissance
• The Renaissance and the Age of Exploration were the first steps in forming the global village that we live in today. The invention of the printing press allowed knowledge and ideas to be exchanged across the whole of Europe and Humanism with its curiosity, optimism and belief in the individual encouraged people to look beyond the world they knew