AGE OF EXPLORATION

AND TRADE
Unit 15

1. circumnavigate

9. scientific method

2. allies

10. Age of Enlightenment

3. plantation

11. social contract

4. cash crops

12. separation of powers

5. mercantilism

6. geocentric

7. Scientific Revolution

8. heliocentric

KEY TERMS

13. popular sovereignty

14. bourgeoisie
15. coup d'tat
16. abolitionism

In the 1400s and 1500s, countries in Western Europe began

exploring the world. They wanted spices, silk, and other goods
from Asia.
A Greek geographer named Claudius Ptolemy had drawn maps
of the world. Europeans began studying his maps.

EUROPE GETS READY TO EXPLORE

By the 1400s, four kingdoms were looking for a sea route to

Asia. All of them had ports on the Atlantic Ocean.
The race was on between England, Portugal, Spain, and
France.

In the early 1400s, England and France were still fighting each
other, and Spain was battling the Muslims.
Portugal was free to lead the way to explore new trade routes
to Asia.

EARLY VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY

In 1488 Bartolomeu Dias reached the southern tip of Africa.

Nine years later, Vasco da Gama rounded the tip of Africa.
An Italian navigator then came up with a different plan to get
to Asia. His name was Christopher Columbus.
He decided to sail west, not easy, across the Atlantic Ocean.

Columbus had three ships: the Santa Maria, the Nina, and the
Pinta. They left Spain in 1492 and headed west.
After many weeks, they finally saw land. Columbus thought he
was in Asia. He did not realize he was in the Americas.
Europeans eventually realized they had found a new
continent.

In 1520 Ferdinand Magellan sailed south along the coast of

South America. He found a way around the continent. He then
went west. His sailors almost starved.
After four months at sea, they reached the present-day
Philippines. There, Magellan died in a battle between local
groups.
His crew then went west across the Indian Ocean. They went
around Africa and back to Spain.
They were the first known people to circumnavigate, or sail
around, the world.

By 1519 Hernan Cortes was in Mexico and hoping to find gold.

He defeated the Aztecs by using guns and horses; creating
allies with other Native Americans; attacking first; and,
disease weakened the Aztec.

THE SPANISH CONQUER MEXICO

Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca people,

eventually becoming governor of Peru and appointing a new
Inca emperor who had to obey him.
Even after Pizarro died, Inca rebels continued to fight the
Spanish.
However, the conquest of Peru allowed Spanish rule to move
into much of South America.

SPAIN CONQUERS PERU

By the 1600s, Spanish settlers were growing sugarcane on

large farms called plantations.
At first, Native Americans did all the work. Then disease and
mistreatment caused most of them to die.
Spain brought enslaved Africans to work on the plantations
and in the gold and silver mines.
The Portuguese also used enslaved Africans to do their hard
work in Brazil.

SETTLING THE AMERICAS

The French came to North America to set up fur trading posts.

During the 1600s, the English came to North America for many
reasons. Some people wanted to make money. Others wanted
religious freedom.

Tobacco became the first cash crop of the English colonies. A

cash crop is grown in large amounts to sell and make money.

Europeans came up with the idea of mercantilism. This is a

theory that a countrys power depends on its wealth.
Countries can increase their wealth by owning more gold and
silver.

WORLD TRADE CHANGES

Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas changed through

trading.
The world traded people, goods, tools, ideas, and even
diseases.
This is called the Columbian Exchange, after Christopher
Columbus.
The Americas would send corn, potatoes, squash, beans,
tomatoes, chocolate, chili peppers, and peanuts to Europe.
Europe would send wheat, oats, barley, rye, rice, horses,
cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens, and coffee to the Americas.

A GLOBAL EXCHANGE

Not everything that passed between Europe and America was

good. Europeans gave germs to the Native Americans.
Some diseases were deadly and killed millions of people.

In the 1400s, people started to explore the world. Because of

this, Europeans were able to make better maps. These maps
helped explorers reach far-away lands. They brought back new
information about oceans, continents, animals, plants, and
diseases.

Scientists organized it all.

EARLY SCIENCE

In the 1500s, scientists in Europe began to experiment and

started the Scientific Revolution.
Nicolaus Copernicus stated that the Earth and other planets
move around the sun.
Johannes Kepler stated that planets move in ellipses.
Galileo Galilei used the telescope to support the heliocentric
view of the universe.

NEW IDEAS ABOUT THE UNIVERSE

Isaac Newton came up with the law of gravity.

Andreas Vesalius studied how the human body works by
dissecting, or cutting open, dead bodies.
Robert Hooke began to use a microscope.
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek improved the microscope by adding
more powerful lenses.
Robert Boyle proved that matter is made up of elements.

NEW SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES

Francis Bacon came up with the scientific method. This

method is an orderly way to collect and study facts.

During the 1700s, educated Europeans saw reason as a light

that could reveal truth. As a result, this time period became
known as the Age of Enlightenment.
Thomas Hobbes argued that people were naturally violent and
selfish. He believed that natural law meant people needed
strong rulers to tell them what to do.
John Locke believed that natural law gave all people basic
rights from birth. These included the right to life, liberty, and
to own property.

REASON AND POLITICS

The English settled thirteen colonies in North America.

The southern colonies had large plantations. They used
enslaved Africans to work the land.
The northern colonies had smaller farms because of the cooler
climate and rocky soil.

BRITAINS AMERICAN COLONIES

The American colonies provided raw materials to Britain but

they also bought manufactured goods such as clothing and
furniture from the country.
Britain tried to control this trade using the Navigation Acts
(required the colonies to sell goods only to members of the
British Empire).

ROAD TO REVOLT

The war with France to control North America had left Britain
deeply in debt. The British government then decided to add
taxes to items sent to the colonists.
Britain needed the money to pay back its debts.
The colonists were angry and began to boycott British goods.

Tension in the colonies led to a battle at Lexington,

Massachusetts, between the British soldiers and the colonists.
On July 4, 1776, Congress issued the Declaration of
Independence (all men are created equal, people have rights
that no one can take away, governments must protect
peoples rights, and people can overthrow governments that
do not protect their rights).
The U.S. would win their independence.

A WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE