In Europe, gold, spices, and other goods were beneficial. Europeans had to navigate long routes to reach them. They were looking for a shorter and better way to get there. Vasco Da Gama was a Portuguese explorer and was the first European to reach India. Since he was very little, Da Gama knew about ships and navigation. At a very young age, he was already the captain of a ship. All his useful skills would make him very successful with his trip to India. Many voyagers attempted the challenging task of opening a trading route from Portugal to India, many were very close, but none of them could accomplish the task. Until the king of Portugal Manuel chose Vasco da Gama to attempt this expedition. He sailed from Lisbon July 8th, 1497 with a purpose of reaching India and open a sea route from Europe to the …show more content…
Da Gama sailed west avoiding the coast of Africa. Da Gama and his crew sailed past the Canary Islands and on July 26 they reached Cape Verde Island. The stayed on the island for about a week and on August 3, they continued their voyage. They sailed down from the South Atlantic to the Cape of Good Hope to avoid storms and strong currents. On November 22, they went around the Cape of Good Hope and three days later set foot in Mossel Bay, South Africa until December 8th when they continued sailing. January, they stayed for a while at the Copper River until they reached River of Good Omens where they established a statue. The reason why many of Da Gama’s crew members died was that of a disease caused by not much exposure to the sun. That’s why they stayed in Rio de Cobre for about a month. After, they arrive at the island of Mozambique on March 2. After a while, they began sailing, stopping shortly in Malindi, what is today Kenya. They sailed through the Indian ocean for 23 days and reached India on May 20, 1498. In Calicut India, the king was not impressed by the gifts Da Gama offered
The king demanded him to go back with bigger and more lavish gifts. They made an arrangement with the Zamorin to trade in Calicut, while this was successful. When they arrived they were confronted by Muslim traders in Calicut which ended up with a Portuguese massacre and a war between the Portugal and Calicut for many years. This means that when The Portuguese tried to trade with Calicut Gama was denied of any profit which ruined Gama. So he returned to his homeland empty handed with no profit. The king demanded him to go back and try again with even more insightful grifts. When he returned with more gifts his men were slaughtered by Muslims. Which lead to war between Calicut and Portugal. This evidence supports the claim that there was conflict between the Portuguese and the people at Calicut, which ended with a killing of many Portuguese people from the people of Calicut committing war on them. All of this lead a man by the name of Zheng He took some safety precautions. In the article, “ Zheng He’s Ship,” written by Ibn Battuta, from 1325-1354. Zheng’s had 317 ships carrying 28,000 men in total each one contained 1,000 men per ship. Each ship accommodated 600 sailors and 400 soldiers, including archers, having shields, and Arbalists. Who had crossbows who threw Naphtha which were
Columbus was just one of many mariners who believed they could reach land by sailing west. Columbus was tenacious in pursuing funding for a voyage west to find a quicker route to India to increase the trading of gold and spices. “His uniqueness lay rather in the persistence of his dream and his determination to realize this "Enterprise of the Indies," as he called his plan. Seeking support for it, he was repeatedly rebuffed, first at the court of John II of Portugal and then at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain.”
Toward the end of pre-colonial times in Europe, due to the fall of Constantinople, many European nations felt the need to find an alternate route to the East Indies. The trade of rare goods such as spices, rice, exotic fruits and silk fabrics were much in demand, but came at extreme prices. In the beginning of the ‘Age of Exploration’, Portugal was in the forefront with the early explorers Henry the Navigator, Zarco and Tristao Vaz Teixeira, and Diogo Silves discovering the Madeira Islands, the Azores, and the exploration of Africa respectively, but King John the II of Portugal was unconvinced by Christopher Columbus’s pleas to fund his plan to sail West to the East Indies. Columbus made many demands for self-profit, including ten percent of any riches with which he returned, and even an ‘Admiralty’. Subsequently, Columbus took his plans to Queen Isabella of Spain. Spain acquiesced, and Columbus set off on his fateful journey. The Roman Catholic Church was very interested in expanding the Christian faith during this time and applied its influence on the monarchy. Religion also played a large personal role as Columbus truly believed that God spoke to him, and guided his hand. Additionally, at this time in Europe, land and food were at a premium. The monarchs of the era were fully aware that the acquisition of more land, slave labor and possible natural resources would greatly increase their power, prestige and subsequent wealth. After learning of Columbus’ successful return and the Treaty of Tordesillas (which divided the New World between Spain and Portugal), King Henry VII of England threw his hat into the ring and sent John Cabot sailing from Bristol on an attempt to find a shorter route to the ‘Indies’. Not to be left out in ...
Christopher Columbus one of the most famous explorers with an extraordinary legacy was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451. He was an Italian explorer and navigator and is very well known for his four voyages and his “discovery” of the New World. Columbus began sailing when he was just a teenager in the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. Later, he moved to Lisbon, Portugal and then Spain where he spent the rest of his life. Columbus’ purpose was to find a passage to Asia by sailing West, but during his voyage he ended up in the Caribbeans and South America. Columbus propose was turned down by King John of Portugal and the rulers of England and France. After several years of being declined, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella funded Columbus’ voyage due
The Gamba, or viol da gamba, is a member of the viol family. The viol family includes treble, alto, tenor, small tenor and bass viols. The viol da gambas were often played as a part of polyphony because their nasally tones were not easy to dance to.
During the 15th century Europe had numerous changes. The population expanded rapidly which gave rise to new classes of merchants. European nations were very wealthy when it came to spices. Therefore, they traded them on the land route from Asia. These land routes were controlled by the Turkish Empire, which lead to many problems for the countries who were trying to trade these spices and acquire other valuables. This then steered them to begin searching for other routes of trade to essentially cut out the “middle man”. A race then began to erupt between many European countries such as Portugal, Spain, France, and England. These four countries all wanted to be the first to discover new land. However, Portugal pulled ahead and sailed along
During the European exploration, which was in the 15th and 16th century, explorers were sailing around to explore, trade, spread, or get new things. These places were throughout Europe (Spain, Portugal, etc.), America (The colonies), and through Asia. These explorers were sailing through the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. These explorations started from Portugal with Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama and this time of exploration spread to different countries and other explorers such as Christopher Columbus, Hernando Cortez and more. All this exploration was all done with new sailing innovations and navigation schools (which was created by Prince Henry) which taught people to explore and sail across the sea. Some major points of European exploration were the discovery of the new world (America), which was a new place never explored by the Europeans. The exploration of the coastlines of the Indian Ocean and the China Sea, as well as explorers trying to find new and faster sea routes to different places, which was also important. European exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries was motivated by God (spreading Christianity), gold (wealth), and glory (becoming glorious for your country
Although still very inexperienced, in 1497 Vasco da Gama was chosen to lead the first expedition to India. He took four vessels to embark on the journey with him, including his own flagship the St. Gabriel. He chose to sail south along the prevailing winds of Africa in hopes of the journey taking less time than it should. After a few months of his travels, Vasco and his crew arrived at what is now known as Mozambique because the majority of his crew had come down with scurvy. Consequently, they had to reside there for nearly an entire month to rest and repair. Eventually, Vasco and
To begin with, Gold was the most significant motivation of ‘the age of exploration’. ‘The age of exploration’ began in the early 15th century and it lasted until the 17th century. The purpose of numerous explorations at that time was to find gold. Since the trades between the West and the East had started, various kinds of merchandise drastically flowed to Europe. Among the eastern products, what Europeans were most interested in was gold. Royal families and nobles were eager to acquire gold to show off their wealth and power. Merchants in Venetia, or other cities also wanted golden products to make big profits in their transactions. Accordingly, they planned to explore the unknown world in purpose of possessing more gold. In addition, the travelers are obliged to search gold in expeditions by the kingdoms. Since Explorers often had a lack of funding needed for their journeys, they should rely on the kingdoms which can afford the expenses. Ships, crews and sailing utilities were provided for the adventures by the nations. In exchange of these supports, kingdoms required the explorers to search the location of the valuable jewels and offer some of them. Hence, travelers were de...
Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish explorer, was raised with a strict colonial mindset, due to his service in the Spanish army at a young age. Thus, he joined the Conquest of Mexico, leaving his homeland of Spain with five ships to obtain gold and territory, similar to a vast amount of other explorers in this era. This expedition played a huge role in de Vaca’s life, hence foreshadowing the transformation of his views on many circumstances that were yet to come, one being the Native Americans.
One of these trade route strategies that made trading more efficient was the volta do mar, discovered by the Portuguese. The volta do mar, according to the book Traditions & Encounters a global perspective on the past is a strategy that enabled the Portuguese to sail from the Canaries to Portugal instead of sailing through trade winds that made trade safer “ Although the volta do mar took mariners well out of their way, experience soon taught that sailing around contrary winds was much faster, safer, and more reliable than butting up against them” (Bentley, Ziegler, Streets-Salter, 483). This discovery allowed European trade to become more efficient than before because it allowed them to successfully trade and bring more resources to Europe, enabling them to attain better control of trade routes as well as have a better understanding of the world's oceans when navigation was essential in
The Age of Exploration was one of the World History’s most important turning point. Before the Age of Exploration and right after the Crusades, trade between Asia and Europe had increased. However, there was a major setback and that was the prices of the goods that were traded. Starting from China, an object could be traded into India (for example) and then traded into Saudi Arabia for a higher price. And later on it would get traded into Europe for an even higher price. So the Europeans had to pay the bigger price for something that could have been worth less by going to the source itself. That lead to the Age of Exploration. Using big ships with huge sails, Europeans set out to find ways to trade with China and India by going around Africa or by simply going west into the Atlantic to find another way to get to China or India (that’s what Columbus had thought). The Portuguese started off the Age of Exploration by finding a way to get to India by goi...
Bartolome de Las Casas was an important protector of native peoples because the latter part of his life was dedicated to social reforms that called for better treatment of the natives.
Reaching towards the peak of trade, Europe faced difficulties in trading with Asia due to sections of multiple trade routes being dominated by Muslims. This meant that men were lost and it took a great amount of time to be able to give and receive the products being traded. This was when Christopher Columbus proposed a solution, believing that a route which sailed west through the Atlantic Ocean, would be a much safer and faster way of trading with Asia.
Vasco da Gama landed at Calicut, sailing via the Cape of Good Hope in 1498. This marked the beginning of