The Age of Exploration
&
The Columbian Exchange
What was the Age of Exploration?
• A time period when Europeans began to
explore the rest of the world.
• Blue water sailing, not just coastal boats.
Outline
I. Age of Exploration
II. Columbian Exchange
III. Significance & Analysis
Key Terms
• Fall of Constantinople
• Byzantine Empire
• Prince Henry the
Navigator
• Bartolomeu Dias
• Vasco de Gama
• Ferdinand Magellan
• Conquistadores
• Hernan Cortes
• Francisco Pizarro
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Pre-Columbian
Zheng He
Columbian Exchange
Smallpox
Syphilis
The Road Not Taken (Frost)
Ideological
Ecological
Trade in the Late Middle Ages
• Crusades & Cultural Diffusion
• Venice & the Ottomans
• Constantinople
– Rome split, Western fell, Eastern lived on.
– Byzantine Empire (Eastern Rome)
– Constantinople  capital. Trading hub between
Europe and Middle East / Silk Road
The Fall of Constantinople
• Ottomans defeat Byzantine
Empire
• Last remnants of the Roman
Empire defeated
• Constantinople name change
– Istanbul (not official until 1930)
• Biggest Effect?
– Silk Road cut off from Europe
– How did this cause an economic
opportunity?
1453
Fall of Constantinople
• Overland trade with Asia is now too difficult
• What do Merchants ultimately want?
• How will they get it now?
The Explorers
Prince Henry the
Navigator
• Portuguese
• Son of the King
• Starts a “Navigation
School” at Sagres
• Huge advances made
in blue water sailing
Bartolomeu Dias
• Portuguese
• Sailed around Cape of
Good Hope / southern
tip of Africa.
Vasco da Gama
• Portuguese
• Landed in India in
1498.
• Important trade route
from Europe to India
established.
Ferdinand Magellan
• Portuguese
• His crew made first
round-the-world
voyage.
•
Magellan was killed in the Philippines,
did not make it home.
Conquistadores
God, Gold & Glory
Cortes
Pizarro
• Spanish
• Spanish
• Conquered the Aztecs
• Conquered the Incas
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
• Believed a shorter route to
Asia could be found by sailing
westward instead of around
Africa.
• Found the Americas instead.
Oops.
• Pre-Columbian – belonging to
the time period before
Columbus arrived in America.
– Before 1492
– The Pre-Columbian civilizations
in Central America…
– Pre-Columbian population
Zheng He
• Zheng He
– Great sailor during the Ming
Dynasty (same time as
Columbus)
• Explored all of Asia, African
Coast, Middle East,
Philippines, etc.
Zheng He’s Voyages
Zhen He’s Ships
Columbus
Zheng He
Exploration
Europe
• Saw an economic
opportunity
• Enslaved populations
China
• Demanded tribute
• Other cultures had to
recognize the Emperor’s
cosmic supremacy
• Sought to convert
• Did not rule or enslave
• Sought to rule
• China visited, but did not
stay
Exploration: Analysis
Europe
China
Positive
Negative
Exploration: Analysis
Europe/ China
The Road Not Taken (Excerpt)
By Robert Frost
• At this time, China was
more advanced and
wealthy than Europe
Two roads diverged in a wood, and
I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And
• China turned inward
that has made all the difference.
• Europe looked outward
• Turning point in world
history
II. Columbian
Exchange
• Renaissance Ideas, Art, and Literature
– Artistic, ideological, and literary beginnings of our
modern age
• Age of Exploration / Columbian Exchange
– Economic and ecological beginnings of our
modern age
– Political Power (Region)
Columbian
Exchange
• Definition - widespread exchange of animals,
plants, culture, human populations (including
slaves), disease, and ideas between the Old World
and the New World following Columbus’s voyage.
Old World / New World
Where?
Continents?
Continents?
• Europe
• Africa
• Asia
• The Americas
– North America
– South America
Biggest Impacts
1. Disease
– Smallpox killed 90% of Amerindians
– Syphilis spread throughout Europe
2. Food!
3. Animals
– Primarily horses and cattle
4. People
– African Slavery
5. Ideas
– Christianity / Democracy
Why could this Not have existed before the Columbian Exchange?
1
2
3
4
5
6
Why could this NOT have existed before
the Columbian Exchange?
Why could this NOT have existed before
the Columbian Exchange?
Why could this NOT have existed before
the Columbian Exchange?
Why could this NOT have existed before
the Columbian Exchange?
Why could this NOT have existed before
the Columbian Exchange?
Why could this NOT have existed before
the Columbian Exchange?
III. Analysis & Significance
1. Economy – Rise of Europe / Turning Point
2. Ecology
3. Culture
4. Extinction of an entire race
5. African Slave Trade
6. Consumer Culture & Humanism
http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=HQP
A5oNpfM4