The Foundations of European Exploration

1
The Foundations of European Exploration
2
What factors encouraged exploration?

• Three factors encouraged exploration
• Technological advances
• Economic changes
• Social changes

3
Improvements in Technology

• Europeans needed to find new sea routes if they
  expected to compete with other traders throughout
  the world
• Needed to have safe passage to China, India, and
  islands of Southeast Asia

4
Technological Advances

• Mapmaking added information from Renaissance
  mapmakers Africa Asia
• Navigators focused on new sea routes to the East
  across the Atlantic
• By sailing east they opened new worlds to trade
  and settlement the Americas

5
Technological Advances

• Navigation and Navigation Tools
• Development of better maps
• Development of compass magnetized needle on
  card marked with directions

6
Technological Advances

• New Ships
• Longer and larger than previous ships
• Changes size and shape of sails
• Moved rudder from side to back of ship
• Ship now able to sail against the wind, travel
  faster and steered more easily

7
Economic Changes

• Commercial Revolution
• Standardized money encouraged international
  trade and banking
• Banks could store money and lend to govt and
  businesses wishing to explore overseas
• Merchants created joint-stock company owners
  raised money by selling shares investors became
  co-owners and shared profits raised large
  amounts of money that aided in exploration

8
Economic Changes

• European monarchs supported exploration
• Made them more powerful than rival countries
• Portugal, Spain, and France emerged as overseas
  empires

9
Economic changes

• Mercantilism economic political changes bring
  new economic theory
• Mercantilism govt should do all they can to
  increase wealth, measured by amount of gold and
  silver
• Belief world contained a fixed amount of wealth
  and to increase own wealth, one country had to
  take wealth from another country

10
Economic Change

• Wealth acquired in two ways
• Mining of gold and silver or sell more goods than
  it bought from foreign countries
• creating a favorable balance of trade - or sell
  more goods than it bought from foreign countries
• To achieve favorable balance of trade a country
  could 1. reduce the amount of foreign goods by
  placing a tariff or import taxes on goods
• 2. encourage exports wool and natural
  resources, control overseas sources of raw
  materials and precious metals fueled race to
  gain colonies

11
Economic Change

• Colonies
• Claimed regions that produced natural resources
  not available to them at home
• Control of colonial markets and raw materials was
  key to a nations success
• Home countries provided markets for colonial goods

12
Social Change

• Curiosity and spirit of discovery moved people to
  explore outside Europe
• People willing to risk difficulties to become
  rich in colonies colonies, gold silver
• Religious and political persecution within Europe
  gave opportunity for people to come to new
  colonies