Europe Exploration Flashcards
Christopher Columbus’ other name
Christoforo Colombo
What did Christopher Columbus believe in on the basis of geography?
He believed that the Eurasian landmass covered 270 degrees of lonngitude and that the earth was a relatively small sphere with a circumference of about 17,000 nautical miles
Why did Portugese mariners not immediately follow up Dias’ voyage
Domestic and foreign problems distracted royal attention from voyages to Asia
What voyage did Vasco da Gama depart to in 1497?
He departed Lisbon with a fleet of four armed merchants ships bound for India
What would happen in Vasco’s voyage?
His fleet went more than 3 months without spotting land, his cargoes excited little interest in Indian markets, and less than half his fleet survived
Which of Vasco’s cargoes was hugely profitable?
His cargo of pepper and cinnamon
Which group of profession financed Christopher’s voyage
Although Fernando and Isabel of Spain approved his voyage, the Italian bankers financed the voyage
Which time period was Christopher Columbus in?
1451 - 1506
Which area of landmass did Christopher Columbus discover on the 12 October 1492
He made landfall at an island in the Bahamas which was called Gaunahani by the natives
What group of natives inhabited the Guanahani?
The Taino
What name would Christopher change the island into?
San Salvador
What would Christopher call the Taino and why?
Christopher would call the Taino as Indians due to the fact that he thought that he had arrived in the spice Islands also known as the Indies
Why would Columbus sail around the Caribbean for almost three months?
In search of gold
What did Columbus do when he returned to Spain
Columbus would report to his royal sponsers that he had reached islands just off the coast of Asia
What were the consequences of Columbus’ voyages?
They established links between the eastern and western hemispheres and paved the way for the conquest, settlement, and exploitation of the Americas by Europe
What did the Spanish military commander Vasco Nunez de Balboa search for in Panama?
Gold
Who started the reconnaissance of the Pacific Ocean basin
Ferdinand Magellan
What did Magellan do while sailing in the service of Portugal?
Magellan had visited ports throughout the Indian Ocean basin and had traveled east as far as the spice islands of Maluku
What did Magellan believe in?
He believed that the spice islands and Asian markets lay fairly close to the western coast of the Americas
What and whose goal would Magellan follow in?
He decided to pursue Christopher Columbus’ goal of establishing a western route to Asian waters
Why would Magellan sail in the service of Spain on his Pacific expedition?
Portuguese mariners had already reached Asian markets through the Indian Ocean
What two thoughts would be in the minds of Columbus and other European mariners while exploring?
Both Christianity and commerce while exploring distant lands
What was Columbus’ calculations of where Japan was located?
By Columbus’ calculations, Japan should be less than 2,500 nautical miles west of the Canary Islands
What would Columbus’ geography suggest about sailing west
His geography suggested that sailing west from Europe to Asian markets would be profitable resulting in his search for a royal sponsorship for a voyage to prove his ideas
What two reasons would the Portuguese decline Columbus’s proposal?
Partly out of skepticism about his geography and partly because Dias’s voyage of 1488 already pointed the way toward India
Who was Vasco de Gama and what did he do in relation to India?
A Portugese mariner who sailed to India in 1497. He traded many goods like gold, pearls and wool textiles for pepper and spices in India.
What did the sea route to the Indian Ocean offer European merchants?
The opportunity to purchase silk, spices, and pepper at the source and to take part in the flourishing trade of Asia described by Marco Polo
What happened between the years 1400-1800?
European mariners launched a series of voyages throughout the oceans.
What was another option merchants have used to buy silk, spices, and pepper?
Through Muslim intermediaries
What structure was built in Calicut by 1500?
A trading post was built
What action did Portuguese merchants take after finding out the cargoes which were hugely profitable in Indian markets?
They immediately began to organize further expeditions toward India
Were the voyages the Europeans went on very expensive?
Yes. Still, private investors and government authorities still funded these voyages in hopes of profit.
What knowledge did the Europeans gain from the voyages?
Knowledge of the world’s oceans and its basins, an understanding of world geography, AND global networks of communication, transportation, and trade.
What did Portuguese merchants do after building a trading post?
They soon called at ports throughout Indian and the Indian Ocean basin
What was the most important motive of the explorations?
Basic resources and lands, cash crops, more trade routes to Asian markets, and spreading Christianity.
What happened by the late sixteenth century?
English and Dutch mariners had followed the Portuguese into the Indian Ocean Basin
Which peoples were most likely to venture into the ocean?
Mariners from the poor and hardscrabble kingdom of Portugal.
What time period was Columbus’ voyage?
1492-1493
What time period was Vasco de Gama’s/Vasco Nunez’s voyage around the Cape of Good Hope?
1497-1498
What time period was Bartolomeu Dias’ voyage around the Cape of Good Hope?
1486-1488
What was San Salvador also known as?
Watling Island
What did Portugese seamen originally search for in their voyages?
Fish, seals, whales, timber, and lands where they could grow wheat to supply their kingdom.
What islands did the Portugese discover in the early 14th century?
Azores, Madeiras, and the Canary Islands.
Which peoples inhabited the Canary Islands?
The indigenous Guanche people.
What was increasing in demand during the early 14th century?
Sugar.
What happened because of the increasing demand of sugar?
The prospect of establishing sugar plantations on the Atlantic islands was very tempting.
Which peoples did the Portugese mariners work with to establish sugar plantations on the Atlantic islands?
Italian entrepreneurs.
Name the islands the Portugese established plantations on:
Cape Verde Islands, São Tomé, Principe, and Fernando Po.
What was the most alluring motive of the voyages?
Establishment of maritime trade routes.
During the Mongol empire, what did the European merchants get from China through trade?
Porcelain, silk, spices, and other Asian goods.
What led to the decrease in safety on the Silk Roads?
The collapse of the Mongol empires and the spread of the plague.
How did the Italian merchants and the Muslim mariners trade with each other?
Muslim mariners brought Asian goods through the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea to Cairo, where the Italian merchants bought them.
Why did the Europeans want to seek the Asian goods by themselves instead of buying them in Cairo?
They were sold at super expensive prices.
What item was extremely prized as an expensive necessity?
Spices like cloves, ginger, pepper and nutmeg.
What other place did the Europeans heavily trade with?
Africa, for goods like gold, ivory and slaves.
How did the Europeans trade with the Africans?
The trans-Saharan trade route using camel caravans.
Why was the gold from Africa important for the Europeans?
It was the principal form of payment for Asian luxury goods.
What does the journal of Columbus’s first voyage present
It clearly communicates Columbus’s first impressions of the peoples he met in the Caribbean Islands
What year did Magellan leave Spain?
1519
After sailing out of the tricky and treacherous strait how long would Magellan’s fleet sail before taking on fresh provisions at Guam?
4 months
What kind of diet did Magellan’s fleet have during the time period in which his crew sailed to Guam?
They survived on worm-ridden biscuits, leather, water that had gone foul, rats, ox hides
Why would many of Magellan’s crew die on the journey to Guam?
Lacking fresh fruits and vegetables in their diet, most of the crew fell victim to the dread disease of scurvy.
How many of Magellan’s crew would die on the journey to Guam?
Scurvy would kill 29 members during the voyage
Which area would Magellan travel after arriving to Guam?
He would proceed to the Philippine Islands
What did Magellan do in the Philippine Islands and what consequences would occur?
Magellan became involved in a political dispute on the Philippine Islands which would take the lives of Magellan himself and 40 members of his crew
Where would the rest of Magellan’s crew go after Magellan’s death?
They would continue on to the spice islands of Maluku, where they took on a cargo of cloves
how long would it take for the remaining crew of Magellan to return to Spain
It would take about 3 years until they returned to Spain
Compared to the original amount, how much of Magellan’s crew remained?
Of Magellan’s five ships and 280 men, a single-spice laden ship with 18 of the original crew returned
How long would it take European explorers to chart the Pacific Ocean?
Almost 3 centuries
Based off of the information from Magellan’s expedition what did Spanish merchants do?
They established a trade route between the Philippines and Mexico, but they did not continue to explore the ocean basin itself
What did Sir Francis Drake do in the sixteenth century?
He scouted the west coast of North America as far north as Vancouver Island
What did the French mariners do by the mid-eighteenth century?
They had joined English seafarers in exploring the Pacific Ocean in search of a north-west passage
Who was Vitus Bering?
Vitus Bering was a Danish navigator who was commissioned by Russian officials to undertake two maritime expeditions in search of a northeast passage to Asian ports
What did Vitus Bering do to complete his task?
He sailed through the icy Arctic Ocean and the Bering Strait, and reconnoitered north Asia as far as the Kamchatka peninsula
What did Russian mariners do by 1800?
They were scouting the Pacific Ocean as far south as the Hawaiian Islands.
What did Russian Mariners do for a few years in the early nineteenth century?
They had built a small fort on the island of Kaua’i and engaged in trade there
Who was Captain James Cook?
He was one of the most important Pacific Explorers who led 3 expeditions to the Pacific and lived from (1728-1779)
What did Captain James do for the evolution of geography?
He added New Caledonia, Vanuatu, and Hawai’i to European maps of the Pacific
What were the two desires of Chinese fleets as they reconnected the Indian Ocean
1- To expand boundaries of Roman Catholic Christianity
2- Profit from commercial opportunities
Which country emerged as early leaders in both Atlantic exploration and markets in the Indian Ocean?
The Portuguese.
