Chapter 3 PDF

Europeans Explore the East SOENCEAND European exploration was an Bartolomeu Treaty of TEOINOLOGY Advances in important step toward the Dias Tordesillas sailing technology enabled...

Europeans Explore the East SOENCEAND European exploration was an Bartolomeu Treaty of TEOINOLOGY Advances in important step toward the Dias Tordesillas sailing technology enabled global interaction existing in the Prince Henry Dutch Europeans to explore other world today. Vasco da East India parts of the world. Gama Company SETTING THE STAGE By the early 1400s, Europeans were ready to venture beyond their borders. As Chapter I explained, the Renaissance encouraged, among other things, a new spirit of adventure and curiosity. This spirit of adventure, along with several other important reasons, prompted Europeans to explore the world around them. This chapter and the next one describe how these explorations began a long process that would bring together the peoples of many different lands and pennanently change the world. For "God, Glory, and Gold" Europeans had not been completely isolated from the rest of the world before the 1400s. Beginning around 1100, European crusaders battled Muslims for control of the Holy Lands in Southwest Asia. In 1275, the Italian trader Marco Polo Use the graphic organizer online to take notes on reached the court of Kublai Khan in China. For the most part, however, Europeans important events in the had neither the interest nor the ability to explore foreign lands. That changed by European exploration of the early 1400s. The desire to grow rich and to spread Christianity, coupled with the East This early advances in sailing technology, spurred an age of European exploration. globe depicts Europeans Seek New Trade Routes The desire for new sources of wealth was the Europeans' the main reason for European exploration. Through overseas exploration, mer- view of Europe and Africa chants and traders hoped ultimately to benefit from what had become a profitable around 1492. business in Europe: the trade of spices and other luxury goods from Asia. The people of Europe had been introduced to these items dur- ing the Crusades, the wars fought between Christians and Muslims from 1096 to 1270. After the Crusades ended, Europeans continued to demand such spices as nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and pepper, all of which added flavor to the bland foods of Europe. Because demand for these goods was greater than the supply, merchants could charge high prices and thus make great profits. The Muslims and the Italians controlled trade from East to West. Muslims sold Asian goods to Italian merchants, who controlled trade across the land routes of the Mediterranean region. The Italians resold the items at increased prices to merchants throughout Europe. An Age ofExplorations and Isolation 95 - m.lllall_______ _______ __~ , ~ f; , ".'"~., 1 Other European traders did not like this arrangement. Paying such high prices to the Italians severely cut into their own profits. By the 1400s, European merchants- as well as the new monarchs of England, Spain, Portugal, and France- sought to bypass the Italian merchants. This meant finding a sea route directly to Asia. The Spread of Christianity The desire to spread Christianity also motivated Europeans to explore. The Crusades had left Europeans with a taste for spices, but more significantly with feelings of hostility between Christians and Muslims. European countries believed that they had a sacred duty not only to continue fight- ing Muslims, but also to convert non-Christians throughout the world. Europeans hoped to obtain popular goods directly from the peoples of Asia. They also hoped to Christianize them. Bartolomeu Dias. an early Portuguese explorer, explained his motives: "To serve God and His Majesty, to give light to those who were in darkness and to grow rich as all men desire to do." It ~ I) Howmighi Technology Makes Exploration Possible While "God, glory, and gold" were the phrase "God ~ primary motives for exploration, advances in technology made the voyages of dis- a_nd gold" su'!l· nzethe Europea covery possible. During the 1200s, it would have been nearly impossible for a. Ill' motives for European sea captain to cross 3,000 miles of ocean and exploration? Hi story Mal