Ch9: Age of Exploration

• Reasons to explore:

  • Influence of the Renaissance - people were eager to question their beliefs
  • New trade routes- silk/spice trade was profitable, people discovered new routes
  • Spreading Christianity - Pope encouraged Christians to defeat Muslims
  • Fall of Constantinople - when Ottoman Turks conquered the East, new trade routes had to be discovered
• Life on a ship

  • Captain had his own cabin while most sailors slept on the open deck
  • Sailing and maintaining the ship required hard manual labour (steering, repairing, raising the sails)
  • Mutiny from the sailors (rebelling against captain's orders) was common. In return, the sailors were flogged/abused
  • Food on the ship was very salty for preservation. Ship's biscuit was made when food ran out, consisting of water and flour
  • Sickness was common, a lack of fresh water led to typhoid
• Equipment for exploration:

  • Portolan charts - maps made by the Portuguese which portrayed harbours and coastlines more precisely
  • Quadrant + Astrolabe - determined a ship's latitude with the use of the positioning of the Sun and stars
  • Compass - used to identify where North is
  • Log and Line - determined the speed of a ship
• Impact of exploration and colonisation:

  The Colonised -

  • Population was decimated
  • Development of the slavery triangle
  • Destruction of culture

  The Colonisers (mostly Europe):

  • European states made their own colonies after Spain's success
  • Conflict between captured territory arose
  • Columbian exchange (foods and animals) occurred between Europe and the Americas