space.template.Age+of+exploration

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 * Historical Data

****Debbion Hyman, Contributor ** Last week, we examined the societies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Now, we turn our attention to the Europeans who would soon make their arrival in the Americas. In this series, we will be examining the factors which accounted for the beginning of exploration by the Europeans.  For almost 1,000 years, Europeans had mostly remained in one area of the world. At the end of 15th century, however, they set out on a remarkable series of overseas journeys. What caused them to undertake such dangerous voyages to the ends of the Earth? Let us briefly identify and discuss some of the developments that encouraged and supported maritime exploration.  Europeans could not have made their sea voyages without a certain level of knowledge and technology. The Renaissance (rebirth of learning) had produced a period of immense learning and discovery. This entailed an increase in ideas in science, politics, religion and geography. Europeans had developed remarkably seaworthy ships and had learnt how to build ships large and strong enough to sail in any waters.  Their cartographic (map-making) skills also improved to the point where Europeans had accurate maps of the known world. Prior to that, sailors had to rely on hand-drawn maps (portolani) which were usually inaccurate. In addition, they developed new navigational instruments, such as the compass and the astrolabe. The compass showed the direction in which a ship was moving and the astrolabe used the sun or star to ascertain a ship's latitude.  Other devices included the quadrant, hourglass, sextant, sundial and cross-staff. In addition, there was an improvement in ship designs. Bigger ships, known as carracks, were built that could carry a larger amount of traded goods. These new technologies provided the Europeans with the catalyst to undertake exploration.  Second, there was a religious zeal among Europeans to spread the Christian faith. By 1492, the Spanish and Portuguese had driven the Muslims Moors out of Europe. The Catholic faith was an integral part of European life and, as such, they had a deep desire to spread the faith to 'pagan' peoples. Religious zeal was high among the adventurers who went out to explore on behalf of their nation. This saw them exploring with the aim to spread Christianity to distant lands.  Third, the desire to gain mineral riches pushed European expansion. Countries measured their wealth in the amount of gold and silver (bullion) that it physically held. It was, therefore, in the best interest of each country to secure as much of the world's bullion as possible. Since the theory held that one nation could only prosper at the expense of another, voyages of exploration were seen as necessary to find new lands and untapped reserves of bullion before other competing nations found them.  <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Last, an economic motive stimulated European exploration. A lucrative trade had developed between Europeans and Arab traders. European products, such as linen cloth, wine, furs and woollen goods, were exchanged for jewels, ivory, gold, perfume, cotton, silk, coffee, dye and spices. Merchants, adventurers and government officials were optimistic of finding precious metals and expanding the areas of trade, especially for the spices of the East. Many of these spices were used to preserve meat, as well as to add flavour to food. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Arab traders who had a monopoly on the trade route primarily provided these spices. However, overland trade routes were quite dangerous since they were plagued by bandits. The Portuguese thus sought to achieve a sea route to the East to trade with India and China for these spices. The Portuguese sought to gain access to the spice trade by sailing eastwards through the Indian Ocean. Later, the Spanish, in an effort to decrease Portugal's trade in the East, sought after an alternative trade route to the East. It was this desire by Spain to find an alternate trade route to the East that would see Christopher Columbus reaching the Americas. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: rgb(153, 0, 153);">An age of exploration
 * <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: rgb(255, 153, 51);">Improvements in nautical devices **<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">[[image:file:///C:%5CUsers%5CMaximus%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_image001.jpg width="113" height="129" caption="http://youthlinkjamaica.com/cxc/images/20081007/history.jpg"]] ||
 * <span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">A compass **<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> ||
 * <span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">A compass **<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> ||
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">[[image:file:///C:%5CUsers%5CMaximus%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_image002.jpg width="96" height="105" caption="http://youthlinkjamaica.com/cxc/images/20081007/history1.jpg"]] ||
 * <span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">An astrolabe **<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> ||
 * <span style="font-size: 7.5pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">An astrolabe **<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> ||
 * <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: rgb(51, 153, 255);">Desire to spread Christianity **<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">
 * <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: rgb(0, 153, 51);">Desire for mineral wealth **<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">
 * <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; color: rgb(255, 153, 102);">Desire for a trade route to the East **<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">