Beginnings of Exploration

Starting in the fifteenth century and lasting through the nineteenth century, European explorers launched a series of voyages which led them to establish a vast network of colonies and global empires which changed the course of global history. What led Europeans to embark on these dangerous voyages? How were the explorers able to navigate the oceans and conquer large native empires without modern technology, weapons, and vastly superior numbers of troops? All of these questions will be discussed in this lesson.

Motivations (Why Explore?)

A variety of factors motivated Europeans to seek out new lands and opportunities on the oceans. Put quite simply, European motivations can be summed up with the phrase “God, Glory, and Gold.” Europe is geographically small when compared to Asia and the rest of the world; therefore, a huge motivation was the desire for resources (gold, spices, sugar, etc.). The desire of African gold, which Europeans then used to pay for Asian goods, was a prominent factor. Trade with the rest of the world was not a new concept, and the Silk Road had long served as the primary trade route between Europe and Asia. However, the disruptions caused by the bubonic plague, warfare, and the sheer amount of time required for overland travel to Asia increased the European desire to gain direct access to Asian and African trade routes via the ocean. As a result, Europeans would no longer have to use Arab traders as middlemen and therefore would increase their profits. Another critical motivation was the desire to spread Christianity throughout the world, as Christianity is at its core a missionary religion. Thus, overseas exploration gave Europeans the chance to spread the faith, which led to disastrous consequences for many native inhabitants who resisted conversion.

Hernan Cortes

Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztec Empire for Spain in 1521, inaugurating an almost 400 year period of Spanish imperial rule in the New World.

Technology (How to explore?)

European exploration and colonization of the globe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries would not have been possible without a combination of important technological developments. These advances in technology were not solely European developments, however, as Europeans borrowed ideas from Chinese and Arabic sailors which then combined with their own knowledge to create a new generation of seafaring. The use of rudders on ships, a Chinese invention, increased the maneuverability of ships on the high seas as did the use of square and lateen sails which allowed ships to catch any winds available to them. The magnetic compass and astrolabe both increased the ability of European sailors to navigate the oceans with increasing accuracy. The compass, a Chinese invention, and the astrolabe, an Arabic invention derived from ancient Greek/Persian technology, played critical roles in the ability of Europeans to determine their latitude and accurately chart their course. Prince Henry the Navigator, of Portugal, established the first school dedicated to teaching sailors the technological knowledge which had been acquired through cultural interactions with Arabic and Chinese merchants, as well as the practical knowledge of winds and currents obtained by early European explorers.

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