Exploration and Expansion
Why all of a sudden did the continent of Europe decide to see the world? They knew it was out there, but neglected it so thousands of years. Reports from Marco Polo and advances in technology made the desire to explore harder to resist.
Contact with the Middle East and the Muslims made it easier to explore because of their detailed maps. The of Latitude and Longitude made charting the land and the oceans easier. Please understand, exploring was still very very uncertain. These steps made exploration better for their time.
Navigators started to use the stars and chart and sail. The magnetic compass
started to be used, and three masted ships were starting to be built. Europeans
used the triangular sail and a rudder for sailing. On top of this, countries
were now sponsoring expeditions for the purpose of making money.
Fish Story
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Portugal was the leader of naval expedition. They were ruthless and creative. Since they had no real way of trading with Asia, Portugal was always behind the rest of the continent. The Portugese pushed for naval exploration around the continent of Africa. Traveling across the continent of Europe and then Asia would be too expensive and long. Africa seemed longer in distance, but water and wind made it faster because of always being in motion.
Prince Henry of Portugal, sometimes known as Henry the Navigator, founded a school for sailors. The following subjects were taught
Astronomy
Geography
Geometry
Simple Math
Portugal had a profitable trade with Africa. It seems the western coast of Africa had an abundance of two materials, salt and gold. Salt was more important than the other. The western side of Africa is called the gold coast. However, around 1460 to 1481, the gold and salt trade slowed down. Portugal pushed around the tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, and made the push to Asia.
The competition between Spain and Portugal grew intense after Columbus found the new world. The Treaty of Tordesillas was created because of a rivalry. Portugal rejected Spain's claim to the Carribean. Both countries the argued that they had the right. Besides the Carribean, Spain and Portugal argued for territory in Africa. The Pope drew a line that ran 1,000 miles going northeast to southwest. The Pope chose an island in the Atlantic Ocean as the base point, the Azores. Everything northwest was for Spain, everything southeast was Portugal.
At the time it seamed that the Portugese had the upper hand since the mostly known land was found in Africa. In the end Spain became the luck ones because they controlled most of North and South America.
