TheAge of Discovery (c. 1418 – c. 1620),[1] also known as theAge of Exploration, was part of theearly modern period and largely overlapped with theAge of Sail. It was a period from approximately the late 15th century to the 17th century, during whichseafarers from a number of European countries explored, colonized, and conquered regions across the globe. The Age of Discovery was a transformative period in world history when previously isolated parts of the world became connected to form theworld-system and laid the groundwork forglobalization. The extensive overseas exploration, particularly the opening of maritime routes to theIndies and theEuropean colonization of the Americas by theSpanish andPortuguese, later joined by theEnglish,French andDutch, spurred in theinternational global trade. The interconnected global economy of the 21st century has its origins in the expansion of trade networks during this historic era.
The exploration also createdcolonial empires and marked an increased adoption ofcolonialism as a government policy in several European states. As such, it is sometimes synonymous with thefirst wave of European colonization. The colonization reshaped power dynamics causing geopolitical shifts in Europe and creating new centers of power beyond Europe. Having set human history on the global common course, the legacy of the Age still shapes the world today.
The concept of discovery has been scrutinized, critically highlighting the history of the core term of thisperiodization.[7] The term "age of discovery" is in historical literature and still commonly used.J. H. Parry, calling the period theAge of Reconnaissance, argues that not only was the era one of European explorations, but it also produced the expansion of geographical knowledge andempirical science. "It saw also the first major victories of empirical inquiry over authority, the beginnings of that close association of science, technology, and everyday work which is an essential characteristic of the modern western world."[8]Anthony Pagden draws on the work ofEdmundo O'Gorman for the statement that "For all Europeans, the events of October 1492 constituted a 'discovery'. Something of which they had no prior knowledge had suddenly presented itself to their gaze."[9] O'Gorman argues that the physical encounter with new territories was less important than the Europeans' effort to integrate this new knowledge into their worldview, what he calls "the invention of America".[10] Pagden examines the origins of the terms "discovery" and "invention". In English, "discovery" and its forms in romance languages derive from "disco-operio, meaning to uncover, to reveal, to expose to the gaze", what was revealed existed previously.[11] Few Europeans during the period used the term "invention" for the European encounters, with the exception ofMartin Waldseemüller, whosemap first used the term "America".[12]
A central legal concept of thediscovery doctrine, expounded by theUS Supreme Court in 1823, draws on assertions of European powers' right to claim land during their explorations. The concept of "discovery" has been used to enforce colonial claiming and discovery, but has been challenged byindigenous peoples[13] and researchers.[14] Many indigenous peoples have fundamentally challenged the concept of colonial claiming of "discovery" over their lands and people, as forced and negating indigenous presence.
The period alternatively called theAge of Exploration, has been scrutinized through reflections on theexploration. Its understanding and use, has been discussed as being framed and used for colonial ventures, discrimination andexploitation, by combining it with concepts such as the "frontier" (as inFrontier Thesis) andmanifest destiny,[15] up to the contemporary age ofspace exploration.[16][17][18][19] Alternatively, the termcontact, as infirst contact, has been used to shed more light on the age of discovery and colonialism, using the alternative names ofAge of Contact[20] orContact Period,[21] discussing it as an "unfinished, diverse project".[22][23]
The Portuguese began systematically exploring the Atlantic coast of Africa in 1418, under the sponsorship ofPrince Henry the Navigator. In 1488,Bartolomeu Dias reached the Indian Ocean by this route.[24]
In 1498, a Portuguese expedition commanded byVasco da Gama reached India by sailing around Africa, opening up direct trade with Asia.[30] While other exploratory fleets were sent from Portugal to northern North America,Portuguese India Armadas also extended this Eastern oceanic route, touching South America and opening a circuit from the New World to Asia (starting in 1500 byPedro Álvares Cabral), and explored islands in the South Atlantic and Southern Indian Oceans. The Portuguese sailed further eastward, to the valuableSpice Islands in 1512, landing in China one year later.Japan was reached by the Portuguese in 1543. In 1513, SpanishVasco Núñez de Balboa crossed theIsthmus of Panama and reached the "other sea" from the New World. Thus, Europe first received news of the eastern and western Pacific within a one-year span around 1512. East and west exploration overlapped in 1522, when a Spanish expedition sailing westward, led by Portuguese navigatorFerdinand Magellan (and, afterhis death in what is now the Philippines, by navigatorJuan Sebastián Elcano), completed the first circumnavigation of the world.[31] Spanishconquistadors explored the interior of the Americas, and some of the South Pacific islands. Their main objective was to disrupt Portuguese trade in the East.
From 1495, the French, English, andDutch entered the race of exploration, after learning of Columbus' exploits, defying theIberian monopoly on maritime trade by searching for new routes. The first expedition was led byJohn Cabot in 1497 to the north, in the service of England, followed by French expeditions to South America and later to North America. Later expeditions went to the Pacific Ocean around South America, and eventually by following the Portuguese around Africa, into the Indian Ocean; discovering Australia in 1606, New Zealand in 1642, and Hawaii in 1778. From the 1580s to the 1640s, Russians explored and conquered almost the whole ofSiberia, andclaimed Alaska in the 1730s.
After thefall of the Western Roman Empire largely severed the connection between Europe and lands further east, Christian Europe was largely a backwater compared to the Arab world, which conquered and incorporated large territories in the Middle East and North Africa. The ChristianCrusades to retake theHoly Land from the Muslims were not a military success, but they did bring Europe into contact with the Middle East and the valuable goods manufactured or traded there. From the 12th century, the European economy was transformed by the interconnecting of river and sea trade routes.[32]: 345
Before the 12th century, an obstacle to trade east of theStrait of Gibraltar, which connected the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean, was Muslim control of territory, including the Iberian Peninsula, as well as the trade monopolies of Christian city-states on the Italian Peninsula, especiallyVenice andGenoa. Economic growth of Iberia followed theChristian reconquest ofAl-Andalus in what is now southern Spain and thesiege of Lisbon (1147 AD), in Portugal. The decline of theFatimid Caliphate's naval strength, which started before theFirst Crusade, helped the maritime Italian states, mainly Venice, Genoa and Pisa, dominate trade in theEastern Mediterranean, with merchants there becoming wealthy and politically influential. Further changing the mercantile situation in the eastern Mediterranean was the waning of ChristianByzantine naval power following the death of EmperorManuel I Komnenos in 1180, whose dynasty had made notable treaties and concessions with Italian traders, permitting the use of Byzantine Christian ports. TheNorman Conquest of England, in the late 11th century, allowed for peaceful trade on theNorth Sea. TheHanseatic League, a confederation of merchant guilds and their towns in north Germany, along the North Sea and Baltic Sea, was instrumental in the commercial development of the region. In the 12th century, the regions ofFlanders,Hainault, andBrabant produced the finest quality textiles in northwest Europe, which encouraged merchants from Genoa and Venice to sail there from the Mediterranean, through the Strait of Gibraltar, and up the Atlantic coast.[32]: 316–38 Nicolòzzo Spinola made the first recorded direct voyage from Genoa to Flanders in 1277.[32]: 328
Technological advancements that were important to the Age of Exploration were the adoption of themagnetic compass and advances in ship design.
The compass was an addition to the ancient method of navigation based on sightings of the sun and stars. It was invented during the ChineseHan dynasty and had been used for navigation in China by the 11th century. It was adopted by Arab traders in the Indian Ocean. The compass spread to Europe by the late 12th or early 13th century.[33] Use of the compass for navigation in the Indian Ocean was first mentioned in 1232.[32]: 351–2 The first mention of use of the compass in Europe was in 1180.[32]: 382 The Europeans used a "dry" compass, with a needle on a pivot. The compass card was also a European invention.[32]
The ships of the Age of Discovery post-dated the fusion of the northern European[a] and Mediterranean ship-building traditions. Prior to the late 13th/early 14th centuries, northern European ships were typicallyclinker built,[b] with a single mast setting asquare sail and a centre-linerudder hung on thesternpost withpintles andgudgeons. Their counterparts in the Mediterranean were built withcarvel hulls, had one or more masts (depending on size) which setlateen sails, and were steered with quarter-rudders positioned on the side of the hull.[34]: 65–66
Trade, pilgrimage and war brought ships from each tradition into the other's region, ultimately leading to the copying of features that were new to each. Over the early 14th century, square sails started to be used in the Mediterranean, with the mainmast setting square rig and the mizzen carrying a lateen sail. In the first two decades of the 15th century this arrangement was copied in northern Europe where, by the late 1430s, some ships were built with carvel hulls. The end result of this merging of traditions was thefull-rigged ship, a carvel hull with a sternpost-hung pintle-and-gudgeon rudder and three masts: the foremast and mainmast setting square sails and the mizzen a lateen sail. Alongside this type of vessel, thecaravel was used. This type was also carvel built with a sternpost-hung rudder but could be completely lateen rigged or have some square sails.[34]: 68–72
Very few wrecks of Age of Discovery ships have been found and archaeologically investigated. More is known about Roman and Greek ships ofclassical antiquity than those of this period. The caravel is particularly poorly understood, despite the number of "replicas" that have been constructed.[35]: 2 However, a particular set of hull construction characteristics have been identified from wrecks of this time, referred to as Iberian Atlantic shipbuilding tradition. They are found in theMolasses Reef wreck, Highbourne Cay wreck, theRed Bay wreck and some sites in European waters.[36]: 636 [35]: 2
ThePeriplus of the Erythraean Sea, a document from 40–60 AD, describes a newly discovered route through theRed Sea to India, with descriptions of the markets in towns around Red Sea,Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, including along the east coast of Africa, which states "for beyond these places the unexplored ocean curves around toward the west, and running along by the regions to the south of Aethiopia and Libya and Africa, it mingles with the western sea (possible reference to the Atlantic Ocean)". European medieval knowledge about Asia beyond the reach of theByzantine Empire was sourced in partial reports, often obscured by legends,[37] dating back from the conquests ofAlexander the Great and successors. Another source was theRadhanite Jewish trade networks of merchants established as go-betweens between Europe and the Muslim world during the time of theCrusader states.
In 1154, theArab geographerMuhammad al-Idrisi created a description of the world and aworld map, theTabula Rogeriana, at the court of KingRoger II of Sicily,[38][39] but still Africa was only partially known to either Christians, Genoese and Venetians, or the Arab seamen, and its southern extent was unknown. There were reports of great AfricanSahara, but the knowledge was limited for the Europeans, to the Mediterranean coast and little else, since the Arab blockade of North Africa precluded exploration inland. Knowledge about the Atlantic African coast was fragmented and derived mainly fromold Greek and Roman maps based on Carthaginian knowledge, includingRoman exploration ofMauritania. The Red Sea was barely known and only trade links with theMaritime republics, Venice especially, fostered the collection of accurate maritime knowledge.[40] Indian Ocean trade routes were sailed by Arab traders.
By 1400, a Latin translation ofPtolemy'sGeographia reached Italy from Constantinople. The rediscovery of Roman geographical knowledge was a revelation,[41] both for map-making and worldview,[42] although reinforcing the idea that the Indian Ocean was landlocked.
TheSilk Road andspice trade routes which theOttoman Empire later expanded its use of in 1453 and onwards, spurring European exploration to find alternative sea routesMarco Polo's travels (1271–1295)
A prelude to the Age of Discovery was a series of European expeditions crossingEurasia by land in the late Middle Ages.[43] TheMongols had threatened Europe, but Mongol states also unified much of Eurasia and, from 1206 on, thePax Mongolica allowed safe trade routes and communication lines from the Middle East to China.[44][45] The closeItalian links to theLevant raised curiosity and commercial interest in countries which lay further east.[46][page needed] There are a few accounts of merchants from North Africa and the Mediterranean, who traded in the Indian Ocean in late medieval times (see also:Indo-Mediterranean#Medieval era).[32]
The Muslim fleet guarding the Strait of Gibraltar was defeated by Genoa in 1291.[51] In that year, the Genoese attempted their first Atlantic exploration when merchant brothersVadino and Ugolino Vivaldi sailed from Genoa with two galleys, but disappeared off the Moroccan coast, feeding fears of oceanic travel.[52][53] From 1325 to 1354, aMoroccan scholar fromTangier,Ibn Battuta, journeyed through North Africa, the Sahara desert, West Africa, Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, having reached China. After returning, he dictated an account to a scholar he met in Granada,The Rihla ("The Journey"),[54] the unheralded source on his adventures.[55] Between 1357 and 1371 a book of supposed travels compiled byJohn Mandeville acquired popularity. Despite the unreliable and often fantastical nature of its accounts, it was used as a reference[56] for the East, Egypt, and the Levant in general, asserting the old belief that Jerusalem was thecentre of the world. Following the period ofTimurid relations with Europe, in 1439,Niccolò de' Conti published an account of his travels as a Muslim merchant to India and Southeast Asia. In 1466–1472, Russian merchantAfanasy Nikitin ofTver travelled to India, which he described in his bookA Journey Beyond the Three Seas.
These overland journeys had little immediate effect. TheMongol Empire collapsed almost as quickly as it formed and soon the route to the east became more difficult and dangerous. TheBlack Death of the 14th century also blocked travel and trade for a time.[57]
Religion played a critical role in motivating Europeanexpansionism. In 1487, Portuguese envoysPero da Covilhã andAfonso de Paiva were sent on acovert mission to gather intelligence on a potential sea route toIndia and inquire aboutPrester John, aNestorian patriarch and king, believed to rule over parts of the subcontinent. Covilhã was warmly received upon his arrival in Ethiopia, but forbidden from leaving.[58]
An idealized depiction of the Pilgrims and the American Indians who gather to share aThanksgiving meal.
During the Middle Ages, the spread ofChristianity throughout Europe fueled the desire to sermonise in lands beyond. This evangelical effort became a significant part of the military conquests of European powers, likePortugal,Spain, andFrance, often leading to the conversion of indigenous peoples, voluntarily or forced.[59][60]
Religious orders such as theFranciscans,Dominicans,Augustinians, andJesuits partook in most missionary endeavours in theNew World. By the late 16th and 17th centuries, the latter's presence increased as they sought to reassert their power and revive the Catholic culture of Europe, which had been damaged by theReformation.[61]
"Mao Kun map", believed to be based onZheng He's travels, showing sailing directions between ports of SE Asia and as far as Malindi, inWu Bei Zhi (1628)
The Chinese had wide connections through trade in Asia and been sailing toArabia,East Africa, andEgypt since theTang dynasty (AD 618–907). Between 1405–21, the third Ming emperorYongle sponsored long rangetributary missions in the Indian Ocean under the command of admiralZheng He.[62]
A large fleet of newjunk ships was prepared for the international diplomatic expeditions. The largest of these junks—that the Chinese termedbao chuan (treasure ships)—may have measured 121 metres, and thousands of sailors were involved. The first expedition departed in 1405. At least seven well-documented expeditions were launched, each bigger and more expensive than the last. The fleets visitedArabia,East Africa,India,Malay Archipelago andThailand (then calledSiam), exchanging goods along the way.[63] They presented gifts of gold, silver,porcelain andsilk; in return, received such novelties asostriches,zebras,camels,ivory andgiraffes.[64][65] After the emperor's death, Zheng He led a final expedition departing from Nanking in 1431 and returning to Beijing in 1433. It is likely this last expedition reached as far asMadagascar. The travels were reported byMa Huan, a Muslim voyager and translator who accompanied Zheng He on three of the expeditions, his account published as theYingya Shenglan (Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores) (1433).[66]
The voyages had a significant and lasting effect on the organization of amaritime network, using and creating nodes and conduits in its wake, thereby restructuring international and cross-cultural relationships and exchanges.[67] It was especially impactful as no other polity had exerted naval dominance over all sectors of the Indian Ocean, prior to these voyages.[68] The Ming promoted alternative nodes as a strategy to establish control over the network.[69] For instance, due to Chinese involvement, ports such asMalacca (in Southeast Asia),Cochin (Malabar Coast), andMalindi (Swahili Coast) had grown as key alternatives to other established ports.[c][70] The appearance of the Ming treasure fleet generated and intensified competition among contending polities and rivals, each seeking an alliance with the Ming.[67] The expeditions developed into a maritime trade enterprise, with imperial control over local markets and court-monitored transactions, generating revenue for China and its partners. They boosted regional trade and production, caused a supply shock in Eurasia and led to price spikes in Europe in the early 15th century.[71]
The tributary relations promoted during the voyages manifested a trend toward cross-regional interconnections and earlyglobalization in Asia and Africa.[72] Diplomatic relations were built on mutually beneficial maritime trade and China's strong naval presence in foreign waters, with Chinese naval superiority being a key factor in these interactions.[73] The voyages brought about the Western Ocean'sregional integration and increase ininternational circulation of people, ideas, and goods. It provided a platform forcosmopolitan discourses, which took place in locations such as the ships of the Ming treasure fleet, the Ming capitals of Nanjing as well as Beijing, and the banquet receptions organized by the Ming court for foreign representatives.[67] Diverse groups of people from maritime countries congregated, interacted, and traveled together as the treasure fleet sailed from and to China.[67] For the first time, the maritime region from China to Africa was under the dominance of a single imperial power and allowed for the creation of a cosmopolitan space.[74]
These long-distance journeys were not followed up, as the Ming dynasty retreated in thehaijin, a policy ofisolationism, having limited maritime trade. Travels were halted abruptly after the emperor's death, as the Chinese lost interest in what they termed barbarian lands, turning inward,[75] and successor emperors felt the expeditions were harmful to the Chinese state;Hongxi Emperor ended further expeditions andXuande Emperor suppressed much of the information about Zheng He's voyages.
From the 8th until the 15th century, theRepublic of Venice and neighboringmaritime republics held the monopoly of European trade with the Middle East. Thesilk andspice trade, involving spices,incense, herbs, drugs andopium, made these Mediterranean city-states phenomenally rich. Spices were among the most expensive and demanded products of the Middle Ages, as they were used inmedieval medicine,[76] religious rituals, cosmetics, perfumery, as well as food additives and preservatives.[77] They were all imported from Asia and Africa.
Muslim traders dominated maritime routes throughout the Indian Ocean, tapping source regions in the Far East and shipping for trading emporiums in India, mainlyKozhikode, westward toOrmus in thePersian Gulf andJeddah in theRed Sea. From there, overland routes led to the Mediterranean coasts. Venetian merchants distributed the goods through Europe until the rise of theOttoman Empire, which eventually led to theFall of Constantinople in 1453, barring Europeans from some important combined-land-sea routes in areas around the Aegean, Bosporus, and Black Sea.[citation needed] The Venetians and other maritime republics maintained more limited access to Asian goods, via south-eastern Mediterranean trade, in such ports as Antioch, Acre, and Alexandria.
Forced to reduce their activities in the Black Sea, and at war with Venice, theGenoese had turned to North African trade of wheat, olive oil and a search for silver and gold. Europeans had a constantdeficit in silver and gold,[78] as it only went out, spent on eastern trade now cut off. Several European mines were exhausted,[79] The lack ofbullion led to the development of a complex banking system to manage the risks in trade (the first state bank,Banco di San Giorgio, was founded in 1407 at Genoa). Sailing also into the ports ofBruges (Flanders) and England, Genoese communities were then established in Portugal,[80] who profited from their enterprise and financial expertise.
European sailing had been primarily close to landcabotage, guided byportolan charts. These charts specified proven ocean routes guided by coastal landmarks: sailors departed from a known point, followed a compass heading, and tried to identify their location by its landmarks.[81] For the first oceanic exploration Western Europeans used the compass, as well as progressive new advances incartography and astronomy. Arab navigational tools like theastrolabe andquadrant were used forcelestial navigation.
The Muslim lands in Asia were generally more economically developed and had better infrastructure than Europe at this time, despite Europe's economic changes brought about by theBlack Death allowing for more freedoms for lower- and upper-class people.[82] Thegunpowder empires concealed knowledge to European Christian traders about where lucrative locations such asIndonesia were, spurring a further desire for Christian trade with other Muslim nations besides the gunpowder empires despite European Christians generally having antipathy towards Muslims.[82]
Saharan trade routes c. 1400, with modernNiger highlightedA map ofNorth Africa as it was known to Europeans in 1482, created by German cartographer Lienhart Holl and based onPtolemey's fourth map of Africa
In 1297, KingDenis of Portugal took a personal interest in exports. In 1317, he made an agreement with Genoese merchant sailorManuel Pessanha, appointing him firstadmiral of thePortuguese Navy, to defend the country against Muslim pirate raids.[83] Outbreaks ofbubonic plague led to severe depopulation in the second half of the 14th century: only the sea offered alternatives, with most population settling in fishing and trading coastal areas.[84] Between 1325 and 1357,Afonso IV of Portugal encouraged maritime commerce and ordered the first explorations.[85] TheCanary Islands, already known to the Genoese, were claimed as officially discovered under the patronage of the Portuguese, but in 1344 Castile disputed them, expanding their rivalry into the sea.[86][87]
To ensure their monopoly on trade, Europeans (beginning with the Portuguese) attempted to install a Mediterranean system of trade which used military might and intimidation, to divert trade through ports they controlled; there it could be taxed.[88] In 1415,Ceuta wasconquered by the Portuguese aiming to control navigation of the African coast. The young princeHenry the Navigator was there and became aware of profit possibilities in thetrans-Saharan trade routes. For centuriesslave and gold trade routes linking West Africa with the Mediterranean passed over the Western Sahara Desert, controlled by the Moors of North Africa.
Henry wished to know how far Muslim territories in Africa extended, hoping to bypass them and trade directly with West Africa by sea, find allies in legendary Christian lands to the south[89] like the supposed long-lost Christian kingdom ofPrester John[90] and probe whether it was possible to reach theIndies by sea, the source of the lucrativespice trade. He invested in sponsoring voyages down the coast ofMauritania, gathering a group of merchants, shipowners and stakeholders interested in new sea lanes. Soon the Atlantic islands ofMadeira (1419) and theAzores (1427) were reached. The expedition leader who established settlements on Madeira, was Portuguese explorerJoão Gonçalves Zarco.[91]
Europeans did not know what lay beyond Cape Non (Cape Chaunar) on the African coast, and whether it was possible to return once it was crossed.[92] Nautical myths warned of oceanic monsters or an edge of the world, but Henry's navigation challenged such beliefs: starting in 1421, systematic sailing overcame it, reaching the difficultCape Bojador that in 1434 one of Henry's captains,Gil Eanes, finally passed.
From 1440 onwards,caravels were extensively used for the exploration of the coast of Africa. This was an existing Iberian ship type, used for fishing, commerce and military purposes. Unlike other vessels of the time, the caravel had a sternpost-mounted rudder (as opposed to a side-mounted steering oar). It had a shallow draft, which was helpful in exploring unknown coastlines. It had good sailing performance, with awindward ability that was notable by the standards of the time.[d] The lateen rig was less useful when sailing downwind – which explainsChristopher Columbus (Italian:Cristoforo Colombo) re-rigging theNiña withsquare rig.[94]: 96
Forcelestial navigation the Portuguese used theephemerides, which experienced a remarkable diffusion in the 15th century. These were astronomical charts plotting the location of the stars over a distinct period of time. Published in 1496 by the Jewish astronomer, astrologer, and mathematicianAbraham Zacuto, the Almanac Perpetuum included some of these tables for the movements of stars.[95] These tables revolutionized navigation, allowing the calculation oflatitude. Exactlongitude remained elusive from mariners for centuries.[96][97] Using the caravel, systematic exploration continued ever more southerly, advancing on average one degree a year.[98]Senegal andCape Verde Peninsula were reached in 1445 and in 1446,Álvaro Fernandes pushed on almost as far as present-daySierra Leone.
In 1453, theFall of Constantinople to theOttomans was a perceived blow to Christendom and established business links with the East. In 1455,Pope Nicholas V issued thebullRomanus Pontifex reinforcing the previousDum Diversas (1452), granting all lands and seas discovered beyond Cape Bojador to KingAfonso V of Portugal and his successors, as well as mostly cutting off trade to and permitting conquest and increased war against Muslims and pagans, initiating amare clausum policy in the Atlantic.[99] The king, who had been inquiring of Genoese experts about a seaway to India, commissioned theFra Mauro world map, which arrived in Lisbon in 1459.[100] In 1456,Diogo Gomes reached theCape Verde archipelago. In the next decade captains at the service of Prince Henry, discovered the remaining islands which were occupied during the 15th century. The Gulf of Guinea would be reached in the 1460s.
In 1460,Pedro de Sintra reached Sierra Leone. Prince Henry died in November of that year after which, given the meagre revenues, exploration was granted to Lisbon merchantFernão Gomes in 1469, who in exchange for the monopoly of trade in the Gulf of Guinea had to explore 100 miles (161 kilometres) each year for five years.[101] With his sponsorship, explorersJoão de Santarém,Pedro Escobar, Lopo Gonçalves,Fernão do Pó, and Pedro de Sintra made it beyond those goals. They reached the Southern Hemisphere and islands of the Gulf of Guinea, includingSão Tomé and Príncipe andElmina on the Gold Coast in 1471. There, in what came to be called the "Gold Coast" in what is todayGhana, a thriving alluvial gold trade was found among the natives, Arab andBerber traders.
In 1478, during theWar of the Castilian Succession, near the coast atElmina alarge battle was fought between a Castilian armada of 35 caravels, and a Portuguese fleet for the hegemony of the Guinea trade (gold, slaves, ivory, and malagueta pepper). The war ended with a Portuguese naval victory, followed by the official recognition by the Catholic Monarchs of Portuguese sovereignty over most of the disputed West African territories embodied in the Treaty of Alcáçovas, 1479. This was the first colonial war among European powers.[citation needed]
The next crucial breakthrough was in 1488, whenBartolomeu Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa, which he named Cabo das Tormentas, "Cape of Storms", anchoring atMossel Bay and then sailing east as far as the mouth of theGreat Fish River, proving the Indian Ocean was accessible from the Atlantic. SimultaneouslyPero da Covilhã, sent out travelling secretly overland, had reachedEthiopia having collected important information about the Red Sea and Quenia coast, suggesting a sea route to the Indies would soon be forthcoming.[103] Soon the cape was renamed by KingJohn II of Portugal the "Cape of Good Hope", because of the great optimism engendered by the possibility of a sea route to India, proving false the view that had existed sincePtolemy that the Indian Ocean wasland-locked.
Portugal's Iberian rival,Castile, had begun to establish its rule over the Canary Islands in 1402 but became distracted by internal Iberian politics and the repelling of Islamic invasion attempts and raids through most of the 15th century. Late in the century, following the unification of the crowns of Castile and Aragon, an emerging modern Spain became fully committed to the search for new trade routes overseas. TheCrown of Aragon had been an important maritime power in the Mediterranean, controlling territories in eastern Spain, southwestern France, major islands likeSicily,Malta, and theKingdom of Naples andSardinia, with mainland possessions as far as Greece. In 1492 thejoint rulers conquered theMoorish kingdom of Granada, which had been providing Castile with African goods through tribute, and decided to fundChristopher Columbus's expedition in the hope of bypassing Portugal's monopoly on west African sea routes, to reach "the Indies" (east and south Asia) by travelling west.[105] Twice before, in 1485 and 1488, Columbus had presented the project to the kingJohn II of Portugal, who rejected it.
On the evening of 3 August 1492, Columbus departed fromPalos de la Frontera. The land was sighted on 12 October 1492, and Columbus called the island (one of the islands now comprisingThe Bahamas)San Salvador, in what he thought to be the "East Indies". Columbus explored the northeast coast ofCuba and the northern coast ofHispaniola, by 5 December. He was received by the nativecaciqueGuacanagari, who gave him permission to leave some of his men behind.
Columbus left 39 men and founded the settlement ofLa Navidad in what is nowHaiti.[106] Before returning to Spain, he kidnapped some ten to twenty-five natives and took them back with him. Only seven or eight of the native 'Indians' arrived in Spain alive, but they made an impression onSeville.[107] On 15 March 1493 he arrived inBarcelona, where he reported to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. Word of his discovery of new landsrapidly spread throughout Europe.[108]
Columbus and other Spanish explorers were initially disappointed with their discoveries—unlike Africa or Asia, the Caribbean islanders had little to trade with the Castilian ships. The islands thus became the focus of colonization efforts. It was not until the continent itself was explored that Spain found the wealth it had sought.
Shortly after Columbus's return from what would later be called the "West Indies", a division of influence became necessary to avoid conflict between the Spanish and Portuguese.[109] On 4 May 1493, two months after Columbus's arrival, theCatholic Monarchs received abull (Inter caetera) fromPope Alexander VI stating all lands west and south of a pole-to-pole line 100 leagues west and south of theAzores or the Cape Verde Islands should belong to Castile and, later, all mainlands and islands then belonging to India. It did not mention Portugal, which could not claim newly discovered lands east of the line.
KingJohn II of Portugal was displeased with the arrangement, feeling that it gave him far too little land—preventing him from reaching India, his main goal. He then negotiated directly with KingFerdinand and QueenIsabella of Spain to move the line west, allowing him to claim newly discovered lands east of it.[110] In 1494, theTreaty of Tordesillas divided the world between Portugal and Spain. Portugal gained control over Africa, Asia, and eastern South America (Brazil), encompassing everything outside Europe east of a line drawn 370leagues west of theCape Verde islands (already Portuguese). The Spanish (Castile) received everything west of this line, including the islands discovered by Columbus onhis first voyage, named in the treaty asCipangu andAntilia (Cuba andHispaniola). The dividing line, situated about halfway between Portuguese Cape Verde and Spanish discoveries in the Caribbean, split the known world of Atlantic islands evenly.
In 1500,Pedro Álvares Cabral, initially considering the Brazilian coast as a large island, claimed it for Portugal east of the dividing line. This claim was acknowledged by the Spanish. Cabral, heading towards India, followed a corridor in the Atlantic negotiated by the treaty for favorable winds. While some speculate earlier secret Portuguese discovery of Brazil, there is no credible evidence for this. Similarly, suspicions aboutDuarte Pacheco Pereira alleged 1498 discovery lack credibility among historians.[citation needed]
Later the Spanish territory would prove to include huge areas of the continental mainland of North and South America, though Portuguese-controlled Brazil would expand across the line, and settlements by other European powers ignored the treaty.
Detail of 1507Waldseemüller map showing the name "America" for the first time.
Little of the divided area had actually been seen by Europeans, as it was only divided by a geographical definition rather than control on the ground. The desire to compete with the Ottoman Empire and Columbus's first voyage in 1492 spurred further maritime exploration and, from 1497, several other explorers headed west.
In 1499João Fernandes Lavrador was licensed by the King of Portugal and together withPero de Barcelos they first sightedLabrador, which was granted and named after him. After returning he possibly went to Bristol to sail in the name of England.[112]
In 1497, newly crowned KingManuel I of Portugal sent an exploratory fleet eastwards, fulfilling his predecessor's project of finding a route to the Indies. In July 1499, news spread that the Portuguese had reached the "true Indies", as a letter was dispatched by the Portuguese king to the Spanish Catholic Monarchs.[114]
The third expedition by Columbus in 1498 was the beginning of the first successful Castilian (Spanish) colonization in theWest Indies, on the island ofHispaniola. Despite growing doubts, Columbus refused to accept he had not reached the Indies. During the voyage he discovered the mouth of theOrinoco River on the north coast of South America (now Venezuela) and thought that the huge quantity of fresh water coming from it could only be from a continental land mass, which he was certain was the Asian mainland.
As shipping betweenSeville and the West Indies grew, knowledge of the Caribbean islands, Central America and the northern coast of South America increased. One of these Spanish fleets, that ofAlonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci in 1499–1500 reached land at the coast of what is nowGuyana, where the two explorers seem to have separated in opposite directions. Vespucci sailed southward, discovering the mouth of theAmazon River in July 1499,[115][116] and reaching 6°S, in present-day north east Brazil, before turning around.
In the beginning of 1500,Vicente Yáñez Pinzon was blown off course by a storm and reached what is now the northeast coast of Brazil on 26 January 1500, exploring as far south as the present-day state ofPernambuco. His fleet was the first to fully enter the Amazon River estuary, which he namedRío Santa María de la Mar Dulce (Saint Mary's River of the Freshwater Sea).[117] The land was too far east for the Castilians to claim under the Treaty of Tordesillas, but the discovery created Castilian interest, with a second voyage by Pinzon in 1508 (thePinzón–Solís voyage, which navigated the northern coast to the Central American mainland in search of a passage to the East) and a voyage in 1515–16 by a navigator of the 1508 expedition,Juan Díaz de Solís. The 1515–16 expedition was spurred on by reports of Portuguese exploration of the region (see below). It ended when de Solís and some of his crew disappeared when exploring theRiver Plata in a boat, but what they found reignited Spanish interest, and colonization began in 1531.
In April 1500, thesecond Portuguese India Armada, headed byPedro Álvares Cabral, with a crew of expert captains, encountered the Brazilian coast as it swung westward in the Atlantic while performing a large "volta do mar" to avoid becalming in theGulf of Guinea. On 21 April 1500, a mountain was seen and namedMonte Pascoal, and on 22 April Cabral landed on the coast. On 25 April, the entire fleet sailed into the harbour they namedPorto Seguro (Port Secure). Cabral perceived that the new land lay east of the line of Tordesillas, and sent an envoy to Portugal with the discovery in letters, including theletter ofPero Vaz de Caminha. Believing the land to be an island, he named itIlha de Vera Cruz (Island of the True Cross).[118] Some historians have suggested that the Portuguese may have encountered the South American bulge earlier while sailing the "volta do mar", hence the insistence of John II in moving the line west of Tordesillas in 1494—so his landing in Brazil may not have been an accident; although John's motivation may have just been to claiming new lands in the Atlantic easier.[119] From the east coast, the fleet then turned eastward to resume the journey to the southern tip of Africa and India. Cabral was the first captain to touch four continents, leading the first expedition that connected and united Europe, Africa, the New World, and Asia.[120][121]
At the invitation of King Manuel I of Portugal, Amerigo Vespucci[122] participated as an observer in these exploratory voyages to the east coast of South America. The expeditions became widely known in Europe after two accounts attributed to him, published between 1502 and 1504, suggested the newly discovered lands were not the Indies but a "New World",[123] theMundus novus; this is also the Latin title of a contemporary document based on Vespucci letters toLorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, which had become popular in Europe.[124] It was soon understood that Columbus had not reached Asia but found a new continent, the Americas. The Americas were named in 1507 bycartographersMartin Waldseemüller andMatthias Ringmann, after Amerigo Vespucci.
From 1501 to 1502, one of these Portuguese expeditions, led byGonçalo Coelho (and/orAndré Gonçalves orGaspar de Lemos), sailed south along the coast of South America to the bay of present-dayRio de Janeiro. Vespucci's account states that the expedition reached the latitude "South Pole elevation 52° S", in the "cold" latitudes of what is now southernPatagonia, before turning back. Vespucci wrote that they headed toward the southwest and south, following "a long, unbending coastline", apparently coincident with the southern South American coast. This seems controversial, since he changed part of his description in the subsequent letter, stating a shift, from about 32° S (Southern Brazil) to the south-southeast, to open sea, maintaining that they reached 50°/52° S.[125][126]
In 1503,Binot Paulmier de Gonneville, challenging the Portuguese policy ofmare clausum, led one of the earliestFrenchNormand andBreton expeditions to Brazil. He intended to sail to the East Indies, but near the Cape of Good Hope, his ship was diverted to the west by a storm, and landed in the present-day state ofSanta Catarina (southern Brazil), on 5 January 1504.
From 1511 to 1512, Portuguese captainsJoão de Lisboa and Estevão de Fróis reached theRiver Plata estuary in present-dayUruguay andArgentina, and went as far south as the present-dayGulf of San Matias at 42°S.[127][128] The expedition reached a cape extending north to south which they called Cape of "Santa Maria" (Punta del Este, keeping the name the Cape nearby); and after 40°S they found a "Cape" or "a point or place extending into the sea", and a "Gulf" (in June and July). After they had navigated for nearly 300 km (186 mi) to round the cape, they again sighted the continent on the other side and steered towards the northwest, but a storm prevented them from making any headway. Driven away by theTramontane or north wind, they retraced their course. Also gives the first news of theWhite King and the "people of the mountains" to the interior (theInca Empire), and a gift, an ax of silver, obtained from theCharrúa natives on their return ("to the coast or side ofBrazil"), and "to West" (along the coast and the River Plata estuary), and offered to King Manuel I.[129]Christopher de Haro, aFleming ofSephardic origin (one of the financiers of the expedition along with D. Nuno Manuel), who would serve the Spanish Crown after 1516, believed the navigators had discovered a southernstrait to west and Asia.
In 1519, an expedition sent by the Spanish Crown to find a way to Asia was led by the experienced Portuguese navigatorFerdinand Magellan. The fleet explored the rivers and bays as it charted the South American coast until it found a way to the Pacific Ocean through theStrait of Magellan.
From 1524 to 1525,Aleixo Garcia, a Portuguese conquistador, led a private expedition of shipwrecked Castilian and Portuguese adventurers, who recruited about 2,000Guaraní Indians. They explored the territories of present-day southern Brazil,Paraguay, andBolivia, using the native trail network, thePeabiru. They were the first Europeans to cross theChaco and reach the outer territories of theInca Empire on the hills of theAndes.[130]
Protected from direct Spanish competition by theTreaty of Tordesillas, Portuguese eastward exploration and colonization continued apace. Twice, in 1485 and 1488, Portugal officially rejectedGenoeseChristopher Columbus's idea of reaching India by sailing westwards. KingJohn II of Portugal's experts rejected it, for they held the opinion that Columbus's estimation of a travel distance of 2,400 miles (3,860 km) was low,[131] and in part becauseBartolomeu Dias departed in 1487 trying the rounding of the southern tip of Africa. They believed that sailing east would require a far shorter journey. Dias's return from theCape of Good Hope in 1488, andPero da Covilhã's travel toEthiopia overland indicated that the richness of theIndian Ocean was accessible from the Atlantic. A long-overdue expedition was prepared.
In July 1497, a small exploratory fleet of four ships and about 170 men leftLisbon under the command ofVasco da Gama. By December the fleet passed theGreat Fish River—where Dias had turned back—and sailed into waters unknown to the Europeans. Sailing into the Indian Ocean, da Gama entered a maritime region that had three different and well-developed trade circuits. The one da Gama encountered connectedMogadishu on the east coast of Africa;Aden, at the tip of the Arabian peninsula; the Persian port ofHormuz;Cambay, in northwestern India; andCalicut, in southwestern India.[132] On 20 May 1498, they arrived atCalicut. The efforts of Vasco da Gama to get favorable trading conditions were hampered by the low value of their goods, compared with the valuable goods traded there.[133][page needed] Two years and two days after departure, Gama and a survivor crew of 55 men returned in glory to Portugal as the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India. Da Gama's voyage is romanticized in theOs Lusíadas, anepic poem by fellow discovery-era travelerLuís de Camões. The poem is widely regarded as Portugal's greatest literary achievement.[134][135]
In 1500, a second, larger fleet of thirteen ships and about 1500 men were sent to India. Under the command ofPedro Álvares Cabral, they made the first landfall on the Brazilian coast, giving Portugal its claim. Later, in the Indian Ocean, one of Cabral's ships reachedMadagascar (1501), which was partly explored byTristão da Cunha in 1507;Mauritius was discovered in 1507,Socotra occupied in 1506. In the same yearLourenço de Almeida landed inSri Lanka, the eastern island named "Taprobane" in remote accounts ofAlexander the Great's and 4th-century BC GreekgeographerMegasthenes. On the Asiatic mainland, the firstfactories (trading-posts) were established at Kochi and Calicut (1501) and thenGoa (1510).
The Portuguese continued sailing eastward from India, entering a second existing circuit of the Indian Ocean trade, from Calicut andQuillon in India, to southeast Asia, includingMalacca, andPalembang.[132] In 1511,Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Malacca for Portugal, then the center of Asian trade. East of Malacca, Albuquerque sent several diplomatic missions:Duarte Fernandes as the first European envoy to theKingdom of Siam (modernThailand).
Learning the location of the so-called "spice islands", heretofore a secret from the Europeans, were theMaluku Islands, mainly theBanda, then the world's only source ofnutmeg andcloves. Reaching these was the main purpose for the Portuguese voyages in the Indian Ocean. Albuquerque sent an expedition led byAntónio de Abreu to Banda (viaJava and theLesser Sunda Islands), where they were the first Europeans to arrive in early 1512, after taking a route through which they also reached first the islands ofBuru,Ambon andSeram.[136][137] From Banda Abreu returned to Malacca, while his vice-captainFrancisco Serrão, after a separation forced by a shipwreck and heading north, reached once again Ambon and sank offTernate, where he obtained a license to build a Portuguese fortress-factory: the Fort of São João Baptista de Ternate, which founded the Portuguese presence in theMalay Archipelago.
In May 1513Jorge Álvares, one of the Portuguese envoys, reached China. Although he was the first to land onLintin Island in thePearl River Delta, it wasRafael Perestrello—a cousin of the famedChristopher Columbus—who became the first European explorer to land on the southern coast of mainland China and trade inGuangzhou in 1516, commanding aPortuguese vessel with crew from a Malaccan junk that had sailed fromMalacca.[138][139]Fernão Pires de Andrade visited Canton in 1517 and opened up trade with China. The Portuguese were defeated by the Chinese in 1521 at theBattle of Tunmen and in 1522 at theBattle of Xicaowan, during which the Chinese captured Portuguesebreech-loading swivel guns and reverse engineered the technology, calling them "Folangji" 佛郎機 (Frankish) guns, since the Portuguese were called "Folangji" by the Chinese. After a few decades, hostilities between the Portuguese and Chinese ceased and in 1557 the Chinese allowed the Portuguese to occupyMacau.
To enforce a trade monopoly,Muscat andHormuz in thePersian Gulf were seized byAfonso de Albuquerque in 1507 and in 1515, respectively. He also entered intodiplomatic relations withPersia. In 1513, while trying to conquerAden, an expedition led by Albuquerque cruised theRed Sea inside theBab al-Mandab and sheltered atKamaran island. In 1521, a force underAntónio Correia conqueredBahrain, ushering in a period of almost eighty years of Portuguese rule of the Gulf archipelago.[140] In the Red Sea,Massawa was the most northerly point frequented by the Portuguese until 1541, when a fleet underEstevão da Gama penetrated as far asSuez.
In 1513, about 40 miles (64 kilometres) south ofAcandí, in present-dayColombia, SpanishVasco Núñez de Balboa heard unexpected news of an "other sea" rich in gold, which he received with great interest.[141] With few resources and using information given bycaciques, he journeyed across theIsthmus of Panama with 190 Spaniards, a few native guides, and a pack of dogs.
Balboa, using abrigantine and ten nativecanoe, explored the coast, facing battles and dense jungles. On September 25, after crossing the Chucunaque River mountains, he became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the New World. The expedition briefly navigated the Pacific, naming the baySan Miguel and the sea Mar del Sur (South Sea). Seeking gold, Balboa traversed cacique lands to the islands, naming the largest Isla Rica (now Isla del Rey) and the groupArchipiélago de las Perlas, names still in use today.[citation needed]
From 1515 to 1516, the Spanish fleet led byJuan Díaz de Solís sailed down the east coast of South America as far asRío de la Plata, which Solís named shortly before he died while trying to find a passage to the "South Sea".
Aware of the efforts of the Spanish to find a route to India by sailing west, Magellan presented his plan toCharles I of Spain. The king and Christopher de Haro financed Magellan's expedition. A fleet was put together, and Spanish navigators such asJuan Sebastián Elcano joined the enterprise. On August 10, 1519, they departed from Seville with a fleet of five ships—thecaravelflagshipTrinidad under Magellan's command, andcarracksSan Antonio,Concepcion,Santiago andVictoria. They contained a crew of about 237 European men from several regions, with the goal of reaching the Maluku Islands by travelling west, trying to reclaim it under Spain's economic and political sphere.[144]
The fleet sailed south, avoiding Portuguese Brazil, and became the first to reachTierra del Fuego. Starting on October 21, they navigated the 373-mile (600 km)Strait of Magellan, entering the Pacific on November 28, which Magellan named Mar Pacífico for its calm waters.[145] After crossing the Pacific, Magellan was killed in thebattle of Mactan in thePhilippines. Juan Sebastián Elcano completed the voyage, reaching theSpice Islands in 1521. On September 6, 1522, theVictoria returned to Spain, completing the firstcircumnavigation of the globe. Of the original crew, only 18 men completed the circumnavigation; 17 returned later, including twelve captured by the Portuguese and five survivors of the Trinidad.Antonio Pigafetta, aVenetian scholar, kept a detailed journal that is a key source of information about the voyage.[citation needed]
This round-the-world voyage gave Spain valuable knowledge of the world and its oceans which later helped in the exploration and settlement of thePhilippines. Although this was not a realistic alternative to the Portuguese route around Africa[146] (theStrait of Magellan was too far south, and the Pacific Ocean too vast to cover in a single trip from Spain) successive Spanish expeditions used this information to explore the Pacific Ocean and discovered routes thatopened up trade betweenAcapulco,New Spain (present-dayMexico) andManila in the Philippines.[147]
View fromTernate toTidore islands inMaluku, where Portuguese eastward and Spanish westward explorations ultimately met and clashed between 1522 and 1529[148][149]Saavedra's failed attempts to find a return route from the Maluku to New Spain (Mexico) in 1529
Near theStrait of Magellan one of the ships was pushed south by a storm, reaching 56° S, where they thought seeing "earth's end": soCape Horn was crossed for the first time. The expedition reached the islands with great difficulty, docking atTidore.[148] The conflict with the Portuguese established in nearby Ternate was inevitable, starting nearly a decade of skirmishes.[150][151]
As there was not a set eastern limit to the Tordesillas line, both kingdoms organized meetings to resolve the issue. From 1524 to 1529, Portuguese and Spanish experts met at Badajoz-Elvas trying to find the exact location of theantimeridian of Tordesillas, which would divide the world into two equal hemispheres. Each crown appointed threeastronomers andcartographers, threepilots, and threemathematicians.Lopo Homem, Portuguese cartographer and cosmographer was on the board, along with cartographerDiogo Ribeiro of the Spanish delegation. The board met several times without reaching an agreement: the knowledge at that time was insufficient for anaccurate calculation of longitude, and each group gave the islands to its sovereign. The issue was settled only in 1529, after a long negotiation, with the signing ofTreaty of Zaragoza, which allocated the Maluku Islands to Portugal and thePhilippines to Spain.[152]
From 1525 to 1528, Portugal sent several expeditions around the Maluku Islands.Gomes de Sequeira and Diogo da Rocha were sent north by the governor of TernateJorge de Menezes, being the first Europeans to reach theCaroline Islands, which they named "Islands de Sequeira".[153] In 1526, Jorge de Meneses docked onBiak andWaigeo islands, Papua New Guinea. Based on these explorations stands thetheory of Portuguese discovery of Australia, one among several competing theories about the early discovery of Australia, supported by Australian historianKenneth McIntyre, stating it was discovered byCristóvão de Mendonça and Gomes de Sequeira.
In 1527,Hernán Cortés fitted out a fleet to find new lands in the "South Sea" (Pacific Ocean), asking his cousinÁlvaro de Saavedra Cerón to take charge. On 31 October 1527, Saavedra sailed fromNew Spain, crossing the Pacific and touring the north ofNew Guinea, then namedIsla de Oro. In October 1528, one of the vessels reached the Maluku Islands. In his attempt to return to New Spain he was diverted by the northeasttrade winds, which threw him back, so he tried sailing back down, to the south. He returned to New Guinea and sailed northeast, where he sighted theMarshall Islands and theAdmiralty Islands, but again was surprised by the winds, which brought him a third time to the Moluccas. This westbound return route was hard to find but was eventually discovered byAndrés de Urdaneta in 1565.[154]
Rumors of undiscovered islands northwest ofHispaniola reached Spain by 1511, ushering KingFerdinand's interest in forestalling further exploration. While the Portuguese were making huge gains in the Indian Ocean, the Spanish invested in exploring inland in search of gold and other valuable resources. The members of these expeditions, the "conquistadors", were not soldiers in an army, but more likesoldiers of fortune; they came from a variety of backgrounds including artisans, merchants, clergy, lawyers, lesser nobility and a few freed slaves. They usually supplied their own equipment or were extended credit to purchase it in exchange for a share in profits. They usually had no professional military training, but a number of them had previous experience on other expeditions.[155]
In the Americas, the Spanish encountered large indigenous empires and formed alliances withindigenous people through small expeditions. After establishing Spanishsovereignty and discovering wealth, the crown focused on implementing Spanish state and church institutions. A key element was the 'spiritual conquest' through Christian evangelization. The initial economy relied on a tribute and forced labor under theencomienda system. The discovery of vast silver deposits transformed both the colonial economies of Mexico and Peru and Spain's economy. With global trade networks and valuable American crops, Spain's economy strengthened, enhancing its status as a world power.[citation needed]
During this time,pandemics of European diseases such assmallpox decimated the indigenous populations.[156]
In 1512, to rewardJuan Ponce de León for exploringPuerto Rico in 1508, King Ferdinand urged him to seek these new lands. He would become governor of discovered lands but was to finance himself all exploration.[157] With three ships and about 200 men, Léon set out from Puerto Rico in March 1513. In April they sighted land and named itLa Florida—because it wasEaster (Florida) season—believing it was an island, becoming credited as the first European to land in the continent. The arrival location has been disputed betweenSt. Augustine,[158]Ponce de León Inlet andMelbourne Beach. They headed south for further exploration and on April 8 encountered a current so strong that it pushed them backward: this was the first encounter with theGulf Stream that would soon become the primary route for eastbound ships leaving the Spanish Indies bound for Europe.[159] They explored down the coast reachingBiscayne Bay,Dry Tortugas and then sailing southwest in an attempt to circleCuba to return, reachingGrand Bahama on July.
In 1517,Cuba's governorDiego Velázquez de Cuéllar commissioned a fleet under the command ofHernández de Córdoba to explore theYucatán peninsula. They reached the coast whereMayans invited them to land. They were attacked at night and only a remnant of the crew returned. Velázquez then commissioned another expedition led by his nephewJuan de Grijalva, who sailed south along the coast toTabasco, part of the Aztec empire.
In 1518, Velázquez gave the mayor of the capital of Cuba,Hernán Cortés, the command of an expedition to secure the interior of Mexico but, due to an old gripe between them, revoked the charter. In February 1519, Cortés went ahead anyway, in an act of open mutiny. With about 11 ships, 500 men, 13 horses and a small number of cannons he landed in Yucatán, inMayan territory,[160] claiming the land for the Spanish crown. FromTrinidad he proceeded toTabasco and won a battle against the natives. Among the vanquished was Marina (La Malinche), his future mistress, who knew both (Aztec)Nahuatl language and Maya, becoming a valuable interpreter and counsellor. Cortés learned about the wealthyAztec Empire throughLa Malinche,
In July, his men took overVeracruz and he placed himself under direct orders of new kingCharles I of Spain.[160] There Cortés asked for a meeting with Aztec EmperorMontezuma II, who repeatedly refused. They headed toTenochtitlan and on the way made alliances with several tribes. In October, accompanied by about 3,000Tlaxcaltec they marched toCholula, the second largest city in central Mexico. Either to instill fear upon the Aztecs waiting for him or (as he later claimed) wishing to make an example when he feared native treachery, they massacred thousands of unarmed members of the nobility gathered at the central plaza and partially burned the city.
On November 8, Cortés and his large army were welcomed by Moctezuma II in Tenochtitlan, who hoped to learn about them to eventually defeat them.[160] Moctezuma gave lavish gifts, which led Cortés to plunder the city. Cortés claimed the Aztecs saw him as an emissary or incarnation of the godQuetzalcoatl, though this is contested by few historians.[161] Upon learning that his men had been attacked on the coast, Cortés took Moctezuma hostage in his palace, demanding tribute for King Charles.
Meanwhile, Velasquez sent another expedition, led byPánfilo de Narváez, to oppose Cortès, arriving in Mexico in April 1520 with 1,100 men.[160] Cortés left 200 men in Tenochtitlan and took the rest to confront Narvaez, whom he overcame, convincing his men to join him. In Tenochtitlán one of Cortés's lieutenants committed amassacre in the Great Temple, triggering local rebellion. Cortés speedily returned, attempting the support of Moctezuma but the Aztec emperor was killed, possibly stoned by his subjects.[162] The Spanish fled for the Tlaxcaltec during theNoche Triste, where they managed a narrow escape while their back guard was massacred. Much of the treasure looted was lost during this panicked escape.[160] Aftera battle in Otumba they reached Tlaxcala, having lost 870 men.[160] Having prevailed with the assistance of allies and reinforcements fromCuba, Cortésbesieged Tenochtitlán and captured its rulerCuauhtémoc in August 1521. As the Aztec Empire ended he claimed the city for Spain, renaming it Mexico City.
A first attempt to explore western South America was undertaken in 1522 byPascual de Andagoya. Native South Americans told him about a gold-rich territory on a river called Pirú. Having reachedSan Juan River (Colombia), Andagoya fell ill and returned toPanama, where he spread the news about "Pirú" as the legendaryEl Dorado. These, along with the accounts of the success ofHernán Cortés, caught the attention of Pizarro.
Francisco Pizarro had accompaniedBalboa in the crossing of theIsthmus of Panama. In 1524 he formed a partnership with priestHernando de Luque and soldierDiego de Almagro to explore the south, agreeing to divide the profits. They dubbed the enterprise the "Empresa del Levante": Pizarro would command, Almagro would provide military and food supplies, and Luque would be in charge of finances and additional provisions.
On 13 September 1524, the first of three expeditions set out to conquerPeru with 80 men and 40 horses. The venture failed, halting in Colombia due to bad weather, hunger, and conflicts with locals; Almagro lost an eye. Their route was marked byPuerto Deseado (desired port),Puerto del Hambre (port of hunger), andPuerto quemado (burned port). Two years later, a second expedition began with reluctant permission from the Governor of Panama. In August 1526, they departed with two ships, 160 men, and horses. Upon reaching the San Juan River, Pizarro explored swampy coasts, while Almagro sought reinforcements. Pizarro's pilot, sailing south and crossing the equator, captured a raft fromTumbes. To his surprise, the raft carried coveted textiles, ceramics, gold, silver, and emeralds, becoming the expedition's main focus. Almagro later joined with reinforcements, and despite challenging conditions, they reachedAtacames, where a sizable native population underInca rule was observed, though they did not land.
Pizarro, safe near the coast, sent Almagro and Luque for reinforcements with proof if therumoured gold. The new governor rejected a third expedition, ordering everyone back to Panama. Almagro and Luque seized the chance to rejoin Pizarro. AtIsla de Gallo, Pizarro drew a line, presenting the choice between Peru's riches and Panama's poverty. Thirteen men, The Famous Thirteen, stayed and headed toLa Isla Gorgona, staying seven months until provisions arrived.
They sailed south and by April 1528, reached northwestern Peru'sTumbes Region, warmly received by theTumpis. Pizarro's men reported incredible riches,llama sightings, and the natives named them "Children of the Sun" for their fair complexion and brilliant armour. They decided to return to Panama to prepare a final expedition, sailing south through named territories like Cabo Blanco, port of Payta, Sechura, Punta de Aguja, Santa Cruz, andTrujillo, reaching the ninth degree south.
In the spring of 1528, Pizarro sailed for Spain, where he had an interview with kingCharles I. The king heard of his expeditions in lands rich in gold and silver and promised to support him. TheCapitulación de Toledo[163] authorized Pizarro to proceed with theconquest of Peru. Pizarro was then able to convince many friends and relatives to join: his brothersHernándo Pizarro,Juan Pizarro,Gonzalo Pizarro and alsoFrancisco de Orellana, who would later explore theAmazon River, as well as his cousinPedro Pizarro.
Pizarro's third and final expedition left Panama for Peru on 27 December 1530. With three ships and one hundred and eighty men, they landed near Ecuador and sailed to Tumbes, finding the place destroyed. They entered the interior and established the first Spanish settlement inPeru,San Miguel de Piura. One of the men returned with an Incan envoy and an invitation for a meeting. Since the last meeting, the Inca had begun acivil war andAtahualpa had been resting in northern Peru following the defeat of his brotherHuáscar. After marching for two months, they approached Atahualpa. He refused the Spanish, saying he would be "no man's tributary". There were fewer than 200 Spanish to his 80,000 soldiers, but Pizarro attacked and won against the Incan army in theBattle of Cajamarca, taking Atahualpa captive at the so-calledransom room. Despite fulfilling his promise of filling one room with gold and two with silver, he was convicted for killing his brother and plotting against Pizarro, and was executed.
In 1533, Pizarro invadedCuzco with indigenous troops and wrote to King Charles I: "This city is the greatest and the finest ever seen in this country or anywhere in the Indies ... it is so beautiful and has such fine buildings that it would be remarkable even in Spain." After the Spanish had sealed theconquest of Peru,Jauja in fertileMantaro Valley was established as Peru's provisional capital, but it was too far up in the mountains, and Pizarro founded the city ofLima on 18 January 1535, which Pizarro considered one of the most important acts in his life.
In 1543, three Portuguese traders accidentally became the first Westerners to reach andtrade with Japan. According toFernão Mendes Pinto, who claimed to be in this journey, they arrived atTanegashima, where the locals were impressed byfirearms that would be immediately made by the Japanese on a large scale.[164]
The Spanish conquest of thePhilippines was ordered byPhilip II of Spain, andAndrés de Urdaneta was the designated commander. Urdaneta agreed to accompany the expedition but refused to command andMiguel López de Legazpi was appointed instead. The expedition set sail on November 1564.[165] After spending some time on the islands, Legazpi sent Urdaneta back to find a better return route. Urdaneta set sail from San Miguel on the island ofCebu on 1 June 1565, but was obliged to sail as far as38 degrees North latitude to obtain favorable winds.
He reasoned that thetrade winds of the Pacific might move in agyre as the Atlantic winds did. If in the Atlantic, ships made theVolta do mar to pick up winds that would bring them back from Madeira, then, he reasoned, by sailing far to the north before heading east, he would pick up trade winds to bring him back to North America. His hunch paid off, and he hit the coast nearCape Mendocino, California, then followed the coast south. The ship reached the port of Acapulco, on 8 October 1565, having traveled 12,000 miles (19,000 kilometres) in 130 days. Fourteen of his crew died; only Urdaneta and Felipe de Salcedo, nephew of López de Legazpi, had strength enough to cast the anchors.
Thus, a cross-Pacific Spanish route was established, between Mexico and the Philippines. For a long time, these routes were used by theManila galleons, thereby creating a trade link joining China, the Americas, and Europe via the combined trans-Pacific andtrans-Atlantic routes.
In 1570 (May 20) Gilles Coppens de Diest atAntwerp published 53 maps created byAbraham Ortelius under the titleTheatrum Orbis Terrarum, considered the "first modern atlas". Three Latin editions of this (besides a Dutch, a French and a German edition) appeared before the end of 1572; the atlas continued to be in demand till about 1612. This is the world map from this atlas.
European nations outside Iberia did not recognize the Treaty of Tordesillas between Portugal and Castile, nor did they recognize Pope Alexander VI's donation of the Spanish finds in the New World.France,the Netherlands andEngland each had a longmaritime tradition and had been engaging inprivateering. Despite Iberian protections, the new technologies and maps soon made their way north.
After the marriage ofHenry VIII of England andCatherine of Aragon failed to produce a male heir and Henry failed to obtain a papal dispensation to annul his marriage, he broke with the Roman Catholic Church and established himself as head of theChurch of England. This added religious conflict to political conflict. When much of The Netherlands became Protestant, it sought political and religious independence from Catholic Spain. In 1568, the Dutch rebelled against the rule ofPhilip II of Spain leading to theEighty Years' War. The war between England and Spain also broke out. In 1580, Philip II became King of Portugal, as heir to its Crown. Although he ruled Portugal and its empire as separate from theSpanish Empire, the union of the crowns produced a Catholic superpower, which England and the Netherlands challenged.
In the eighty-year Dutch War of Independence, Philip's troops conquered the important trading cities ofBruges andGhent.Antwerp, then the most important port in the world, fell in 1585.[citation needed] The Protestant population was given two years to settle affairs before leaving the city.[166] Many settled inAmsterdam. Those were mainly skilled craftsmen, rich merchants of the port cities and refugees that fled religious persecution, particularlySephardi Jews from Portugal and Spain and, later, theHuguenots from France. ThePilgrim Fathers also spent time there before going to the New World. This mass immigration was an important driving force: a small port in 1585, Amsterdam quickly transformed into one of the most important commercial centres in the world. After the failure of theSpanish Armada in 1588, there was a huge expansion of maritime trade even though the defeat of theEnglish Armada would confirm the naval supremacy of the Spanish navy over the emergent competitors.
Dutch maritime power rose quickly as Dutch sailors, skilled in navigation and mapmaking, engaged with Portuguese voyages. In 1592,Cornelis de Houtman gathered information on the Spice Islands in Lisbon. The same year,Jan Huyghen van Linschoten published a detailed travel report in Amsterdam, providing navigation instructions for reaching the East Indies and Japan.[167] Following this, Houtman led the Dutch's first exploratory voyage, discovering a new route from Madagascar to theSunda Strait and securing a treaty with theBanten Sultan. The Dutch also demonstrated their maritime strength by seizingMalacca from Portugal in 1641, following a series of battles that began in 1602.
Dutch and British interest, fed on new information, led to a movement of commercial expansion, and the foundation of English (1600), and Dutch (1602)chartered companies. Dutch, French, and English sent ships which flouted the Portuguese monopoly, concentrated mostly on the coastal areas, which proved unable to defend against such a vast and dispersed venture.[168]
The 1497 English expedition authorized byHenry VII of England was led by Italian VenetianJohn Cabot (Giovanni Caboto); it was the first of a series of French and English missions exploring North America. Mariners from the Italian peninsula played an important role in early explorations, most especially Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus. With its major conquests of central Mexico and Peru and discoveries of silver, Spain put limited efforts into exploring the northern part of the Americas; its resources were concentrated in Central and South America where more wealth had been found.[169] These other European expeditions were initially motivated by the same idea as Columbus, namely a westerly shortcut to the Asian mainland. After the existence of "another ocean" (the Pacific) was confirmed by Balboa in 1513, there still remained the motivation of potentially finding an oceanicNorthwest Passage for Asian trade.[169] This was not discovered until the early twentieth century, but other possibilities were found, although nothing on the scale of the spectacular ones of the Spanish. In the early 17th century colonists from a number of Northern European states began to settle on the east coast of North America. Between 1520 and 1521, the PortugueseJoão Álvares Fagundes, accompanied by couples of mainland Portugal and the Azores, exploredNewfoundland andNova Scotia (possibly reaching theBay of Fundy on theMinas Basin[170]), and established a fishing colony on theCape Breton Island that would last until at least the 1570s or near the end of the century.[171]
In 1524, ItalianGiovanni da Verrazzano sailed under the authority ofFrancis I of France, who was motivated by indignation over the division of the world between Portuguese and Spanish. Verrazzano explored the Atlantic Coast of North America, fromSouth Carolina toNewfoundland, and was the first recorded European to visit what would later become theVirginia Colony and the United States. In the same yearEstevão Gomes, a Portuguesecartographer who had sailed in Ferdinand Magellan's fleet, exploredNova Scotia, sailing South throughMaine, where he entered what is nowNew York Harbor, theHudson River and eventually reachedFlorida in August 1525. As a result of his expedition, the 1529Diogo Ribeiro world map outlines the East coast of North America almost perfectly. From 1534 to 1536, French explorerJacques Cartier, believed to have accompanied Verrazzano to Nova Scotia and Brazil, was the first European to travel inland in North America, describing theGulf of Saint Lawrence, which he named "The Country of Canadas", afterIroquois names, claiming what is now Canada for Francis I of France.[172][173]
Europeans explored the Pacific Coast beginning in the mid-16th century. SpaniardsFrancisco de Ulloa explored the Pacific coast of present-day Mexico including theGulf of California, proving thatBaja California was a peninsula.[174] Despite his report based on first-hand information, the myth persisted in Europe that California was anisland. His account provided the first recorded use of the name "California".João Rodrigues Cabrilho, a Portuguese navigator sailing for theSpanish Crown, was the first European to set foot in California, landing on September 28, 1542, on the shores ofSan Diego Bay and claiming California for Spain.[175] He also landed onSan Miguel, one of theChannel Islands, and continued as far north asPoint Reyes on the mainland. After his death, the crew continued exploring as far north asOregon.
The EnglishprivateerFrancis Drake sailed along the coast in 1579 north of Cabrillo's landing site while circumnavigating the world. Drake had a long and largely successful career attacking Spanish settlements in the Caribbean islands and the mainland so for the English, he was a great hero and fervent Protestant, but for the Spanish, he was "a frightening monster." Drake played a major role in the defeat of theSpanish Armada in 1588 but led an armada himself to the Spanish Caribbean that was unsuccessful in dislodging the Spanish.[176] On 5 June 1579, the ship briefly made first landfall at South Cove, Cape Arago, just south ofCoos Bay,Oregon, and then sailed south while searching for a suitable harbor to repair his damaged ship.[177][178][179][180][181] On 17 June, Drake and his crew found a protected cove when they landed on the Pacific coast of what is now Northern California nearPoint Reyes.[182][180] While ashore, he claimed the area for QueenElizabeth I of England as Nova Albion orNew Albion.[183] To document and assert his claim, Drake posted an engraved plate of brass to claim sovereignty for Queen Elizabeth and her successors on the throne.[184] Drake's landfalls on the west coast of North America are one small part of his 1577–1580 circumnavigation of the globe, the first captain of his own ship to do so. Drake died in 1596 off the coast of Panama, following injuries from a raid.[185]
From 1609 to 1611, after several voyages on behalf of English merchants to explore a prospectiveNortheast Passage to India, English marinerHenry Hudson, under the auspices of theDutch East India Company (VOC), explored the region around present-day New York City, while looking for a western route to Asia. He explored theHudson River and laid the foundation forDutch colonization of the region. Hudson's final expedition ranged farther north in search of theNorthwest Passage, leading to his discovery of theHudson Strait andHudson Bay. After wintering inJames Bay, Hudson tried to press on with his voyage in the spring of 1611, but his crew mutinied and theycast him adrift.
France, the Netherlands, and England sought a sea route to Asia after finding none through Africa or South America. With no route through the Americas, they focused on northern passages, driving European exploration of the Arctic coasts. The idea of a link between the Atlantic and Pacific was first proposed by Russian diplomatGerasimov in 1525, though Russian Pomors had explored parts of the route as early as the 11th century.[citation needed]
In 1553, English explorerHugh Willoughby with chief pilotRichard Chancellor were sent out with three vessels in search of a passage by London'sCompany of Merchant Adventurers to New Lands. During the voyage across theBarents Sea, Willoughby thought he saw islands to the north, and islands calledWilloughby's Land were shown on maps published byPlancius andMercator into the 1640s.[186] The vessels were separated by "terrible whirlwinds" in theNorwegian Sea and Willoughby sailed into a bay near the present border between Finland and Russia. His ships with the frozen crews, including Captain Willoughby and his journal, were found by Russian fishermen a year later.Richard Chancellor was able to drop anchor in theWhite Sea and make his way overland to Moscow andIvan the Terrible's Court, opening trade with Russia and the Company of Merchant Adventurers became theMuscovy Company.
In June 1576, English marinerMartin Frobisher led an expedition consisting of three ships and 35 men to search for a north-west passage around North America. The voyage was supported by the Muscovy Company, the same merchants that hired Hugh Willoughby to find a northeast passage above Russia. Violent storms sank one ship and forced another to turn back but Frobisher and the remaining ship reached the coast of Labrador in July. A few days later they came upon the mouth of what is nowFrobisher Bay. Frobisher believed it to be the entrance to a north-west passage and named it Frobisher's Strait and claimedBaffin Island for Queen Elizabeth. After some preliminary exploration, Frobisher returned to England. He commanded two subsequent voyages in 1577 and 1578 but failed to find the hoped-for passage.[187] Frobisher brought to England his ships laden with ore, but it was found to be worthless and damaged his reputation as an explorer. He remains an important early historical figure in Canada.[188]
1598 map of Arctic exploration byWillem Barentsz in his third voyage
On 5 June 1594, DutchcartographerWillem Barentsz departed fromTexel in a fleet of three ships to enter theKara Sea, with the hopes of finding theNortheast Passage aboveSiberia.[189] At Williams Island the crew encountered apolar bear for the first time. They managed to bring it on board, but the bear rampaged and was killed. Barentsz reached the west coast ofNovaya Zemlya and followed it northward, before being forced to turn back in the face of large icebergs.
The following year, PrinceMaurice of Orange named him chief pilot of a new expedition of six ships, loaded with merchant wares that the Dutch hoped to trade with China.[190] The party came acrossSamoyed "wild men" but eventually turned back upon discovering theKara Sea frozen. In 1596, the States-General offered a high reward for anybody whosuccessfully navigated theNortheast Passage. The Town Council of Amsterdam purchased and outfitted two small ships, captained byJan Rijp andJacob van Heemskerk, to search for the elusive channel, under the command of Barents. They set off in May, and in June discoveredBear Island andSpitsbergen, sighting its northwest coast. They saw a large bay, later calledRaudfjorden and enteredMagdalenefjorden, which they namedTusk Bay, sailing into the northern entrance ofForlandsundet, which they calledKeerwyck, but were forced to turn back because of a shoal. On 28 June they rounded the northern point ofPrins Karls Forland, which they namedVogelhoek, on account of a large number of birds, and sailed south, passingIsfjorden andBellsund, which were labelled on Barentsz's chart asGrooten Inwyck andInwyck.
The ships once again reached Bear Island on 1 July, which led to a disagreement. They parted ways, with Barentsz continuing northeast, while Rijp headed north. Barentsz reachedNovaya Zemlya and, to avoid becoming entrapped in ice, headed for theVaigatch Strait but became stuck within the icebergs and floes. Stranded, the 16-man crew was forced to spend the winter on the ice. The crew used lumber from their ship to build a lodge they calledHet Behouden Huys (The Kept House). Dealing with extreme cold, they used merchant fabrics to make additional blankets and clothing and caught Arctic foxes in primitive traps, as well as polar bears. When June arrived, and the ice had still not loosened its grip on the ship,scurvy-ridden survivors took two small boats out into the sea. Barentsz died at sea on 20 June 1597, while studying charts. It took seven more weeks for the boats to reachKola where they were rescued by a Russian merchant vessel. Only 12 crewmen remained, reaching Amsterdam in November. Two of Barentsz' crewmembers later published their journals,Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, who had accompanied him on the first two voyages, andGerrit de Veer who had acted as the ship's carpenter on the last.
In 1608,Henry Hudson made a second attempt, trying to go across the top of Russia. He made it toNovaya Zemlya but was forced to turn back. Between 1609 and 1611, Hudson, after several voyages on behalf of English merchants to explore a prospective Northern Sea Route to India, explored the region around modern New York City while looking for a western route to Asia under the auspices of theDutch East India Company (VOC).
Terra Australis Ignota (Latin, "the unknown land of the south") was a hypothetical continent appearing on European maps from the 15th to the 18th centuries, with roots in a notion introduced byAristotle. It was depicted on the mid-16th-centuryDieppe maps, where its coastline appeared just south of the islands of the East Indies; it was often elaborately charted, with a wealth of fictitious detail. The discoveries reduced the area where the continent could be found. Many cartographers held to Aristotle's opinion, likeGerardus Mercator (1569) andAlexander Dalrymple even so late as 1767[191] argued for its existence, with such arguments as that there should be a large landmass in the Southern Hemisphere as a counterweight to the known landmasses in the Northern Hemisphere. As new lands were discovered, they were often assumed to be parts of this hypothetical continent.
Juan Fernández, sailing from Chile in 1576, claimed he had discovered the Southern Continent.[192]Luis Váez de Torres, aGalician navigator working for the Spanish Crown, proved the existence of a passage south of New Guinea, now known asTorres Strait.Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, a Portuguese navigator sailing for the Spanish Crown, saw a large island south of New Guinea in 1606, which he named La Australia delEspiritu Santo. He represented this to the King of Spain as the Terra Australis incognita. It was not Australia but an island in present-dayVanuatu.
Dutch navigator and colonial governor,Willem Janszoon sailed from the Netherlands for the East Indies for the third time on December 18, 1603, as captain of theDuyfken (orDuijfken, meaning "Little Dove"), one of twelve ships of the great fleet ofSteven van der Hagen.[193] Once in the Indies, Janszoon was sent to search for other outlets of trade, particularly in "the great land of Nova Guinea and other East and Southlands." On November 18, 1605, theDuyfken sailed fromBantam to the coast of westernNew Guinea. Janszoon then crossed the eastern end of theArafura Sea, without seeing theTorres Strait, into theGulf of Carpentaria. On February 26, 1606, he made landfall at thePennefather River on the western shore ofCape York in Queensland, near the modern town ofWeipa. This is the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent. Janszoon proceeded to chart some 320 kilometres (199 miles) of the coastline, which he thought was a southerly extension of New Guinea. In 1615,Jacob Le Maire andWillem Schouten's rounding of Cape Horn proved thatTierra del Fuego was a relatively small island.
From 1642 to 1644,Abel Tasman, also a Dutch explorer and merchant in the service of the VOC, circumnavigatedNew Holland proving that Australia was not part of the mythical southern continent. He was the first known European expedition to reach the islands ofVan Diemen's Land (nowTasmania) andNew Zealand and to sight theFiji islands, which he did in 1643. Tasman, his navigator Visscher, and his merchant Gilsemans also mapped substantial portions of Australia, New Zealand, and thePacific Islands.
In the mid-16th century, theTsardom of Russia conquered the Tatar khanates ofKazan andAstrakhan, thus annexing the entireVolga Region and opening the way to theUral Mountains. The colonization of the new easternmost lands of Russia and further onslaught eastward was led by the rich merchantsStroganovs. TsarIvan IV granted vast estates near the Urals as well as tax privileges toAnikey Stroganov, who organized large-scale migration to these lands. Stroganovs developed farming, hunting, saltworks, fishing, and ore mining on the Urals and established trade withSiberian tribes.
Around 1577,Semyon Stroganov and other sons of Anikey Stroganov hired aCossack leader calledYermak to protect their lands from the attacks of KhanKuchum. By 1580, Stroganovs and Yermak came up with the idea of a military expedition toSiberia, to fight Kuchum in his own land. In 1581, Yermak began his voyage into the depths of Siberia. After a few victories over the Khan's army, Yermak's people defeated the main forces of Kuchum onIrtysh River in a 3-dayBattle of Chuvash Cape in 1582. The remains of the Khan's army retreated to thesteppes, and thus Yermak captured theKhanate of Sibir, including its capitalQashliq near modernTobolsk. Kuchum still was strong and suddenly attacked Yermak in 1585 in the dead of night, killing most of his people. Yermak was wounded and tried to swim across the Wagay River (Irtysh's tributary), but drowned under the weight of his ownchain mail. The Cossacks had to withdraw from Siberia completely, but thanks to Yermak's having explored all the main river routes in West Siberia, Russians successfully reclaimed all his conquests just several years later.
In the early 17th century, the eastward movement of Russians was slowed by the internal problems in the country during theTime of Troubles. Very soon, exploration and colonization of the huge territories of Siberia resumed, led mostly byCossacks hunting for valuablefurs andivory. While Cossacks came from the Southern Urals, another wave of Russians came by the Arctic Ocean. These werePomors from theRussian North, who already had been making fur trade withMangazeya in the north of Western Siberia for quite a long time. In 1607, the settlement ofTurukhansk was founded on the northernYenisey River, near the mouth ofLower Tunguska. In 1619,Yeniseyskostrog was founded on the mid-Yenisey at the mouth of theUpper Tunguska.
Between 1620 and 1624, a group of fur hunters led byDemid Pyanda left Turukhansk and explored some 1,430 miles (2,300 kilometres) of the Lower Tunguska, wintering in the proximity of theVilyuy andLena Rivers. According to later legendary accounts (folktales collected a century after the fact), Pyanda discovered the Lena. He allegedly explored some 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometres) of its length, reaching as far as centralYakutia. He returned up the Lena until it became too rocky and shallow, and portaged to the Angara River. In this way, Pyanda may have become the first Russian to meetYakuts andBuryats. He built new boats and explored some 870 miles (1,400 kilometres) of the Angara, finally reaching Yeniseysk and discovering that the Angara (aBuryat name) and Upper Tunguska (Verkhnyaya Tunguska, as initially known by Russians) are one and the same river.
In 1627,Pyotr Beketov was appointed Yeniseivoevoda inSiberia. He successfully carried out the voyage to collect taxes from theZabaykalye Buryats, becoming the first Russian to step inBuryatia. He founded the first Russian settlement there, Rybinsky ostrog. Beketov was sent to the Lena River in 1631, where in 1632 he foundedYakutsk and sent his Cossacks to explore theAldan River and farther down the Lena, to found new fortresses, and to collect taxes.[194]
Yakutsk soon turned into a major starting point for further Russian expeditions eastward, southward and northward.Maksim Perfilyev, who earlier had been one of the founders of Yeniseysk, foundedBratsk ostrog on the Angara in 1631. In 1638, Perfilyev became the first Russian to step into Transbaikalia, travelling there from Yakutsk.[195][196]
In 1639, a group of explorers led byIvan Moskvitin became the first Russians to reach the Pacific Ocean and to discover theSea of Okhotsk, having built a winter camp on its shore at theUlya River mouth. The Cossacks learned from the locals about the largeAmur River far to the south. In 1640, they apparently sailed south, and explored the south-eastern shores of the Okhotsk Sea, perhaps reaching the mouth of theAmur River and possibly discovering theShantar Islands on their way back. Based on Moskvitin's account,Kurbat Ivanov drew the first Russian map of theFar East in 1642.
In 1643,Vasily Poyarkov crossed theStanovoy Range and reached the upperZeya River in the country of theDaurs, who were paying tribute to theManchu Chinese. After wintering, in 1644, Poyarkov pushed down the Zeya and became the first Russian to reach theAmur River. He sailed down the Amur and finally discovered the mouth of that great river from land. Since his Cossacks provoked the enmity of the locals behind, Poyarkov chose a different way back. They built boats and in 1645, sailed along theSea of Okhotsk coast to theUlya River and spent the next winter in the huts that had been built byIvan Moskvitin six years earlier. In 1646, they returned to Yakutsk.
In 1644,Mikhail Stadukhin discovered theKolyma River and foundedSrednekolymsk. A merchant namedFedot Alekseyev Popov organized a further expedition eastward, andSemyon Dezhnyov became a captain of one of thekochi. In 1648, they sailed fromSrednekolymsk down to the Arctic and after some time they roundedCape Dezhnyov, thus becoming the first explorers to pass through theBering Strait and discoverChukotka and theBering Sea. All their Kochi and most of their men (including Popov himself) were lost in storms and clashes with the natives. A small group led by Dezhnyov reached the mouth of theAnadyr River and sailed up it in 1649, having built new boats from the wreckage. They foundedAnadyrsk and were stranded there until Stadukhin found them, coming from Kolyma by land.[198] Subsequently, Stadukhin set off south in 1651 and discoveredPenzhin Bay on the northern coast of theOkhotsk Sea. He also may have explored the western shores ofKamchatka.
From 1659 to 1665,Kurbat Ivanov was the next head ofAnadyrsky ostrog afterSemyon Dezhnev. In 1660, he sailed fromAnadyr Bay toCape Dezhnyov. Atop his earlier pioneering charts, Ivanov is credited with the creation of the early map ofChukotka and theBering Strait, which was the first to show on paper (very schematically) the yet undiscoveredWrangel Island, bothDiomede Islands and Alaska, based on the data collected from the natives of Chukotka.
By the mid-17th century, Russians established the borders of their country close to modern ones, and explored almost the whole of Siberia, except the easternKamchatka and some regions north of the Arctic Circle. The conquest of Kamchatka later would be achieved in the early 1700s byVladimir Atlasov, while the discovery of the Arctic coastline and Alaska would be completed by theGreat Northern Expedition in 1733–1743.
European overseas expansion led to contact between the Old and New Worlds producing the Columbian exchange.[200] It started theglobal silver trade and led to direct European involvement in theChinese porcelain trade. It involved the transfer of goods unique from one hemisphere to another. Europeans brought cattle, horses, and sheep to the New World, and from the New World Europeans received tobacco, potatoes, tomatoes, andmaize. Other items and commodities becoming important in global trade were the tobacco, sugarcane, and cotton crops of the Americas, along with the gold and silver brought from the American continent not only to Europe, but elsewhere in the Old World.[201][202][203][204]
The formation of new transoceanic links and expansion of European influence led to theAge of Imperialism, which began during the Age of Discovery, during which colonial powers from Europe colonized most territory on the planet. European demand for trade, commodities, colonies and slaves had a drastic impact on the rest of the world; duringEuropean colonization of the Americas, European colonial powers conquered and colonized numerousindigenous nations and cultures, and conducted numerous conversions and attempts at cultural assimilation both voluntary or forced. Combined with the introduction of infectious diseases from Europe, these events led to adrastic decrease of the indigenous American population. Indigenous accounts of European colonization were summarized by scholar Peter Mancall: "The arrival of Europeans brought death, displacement, sorrow, and despair to Native Americans".[205] In some areas, like North America, Central America, Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina, indigenous peoples were badly treated, driven off their lands, and reduced to dependent minorities in the territory.
PortugueseNanbanjin arriving at Japan much to the surprise of locals, detail from aNanban panel of theKanō school, 1593–1600
Similarly, inEast andWest Africa, local states supplied the appetite ofEuropean slave traders, changing the complexion of coastal African states and fundamentally altering the nature ofslavery in Africa, causing impacts on societies and economies deep inland.[203]
In North America, there were many conflicts between Europeans and indigenous peoples. The Europeans had many advantages over the indigenous people. Introduced Eurasian diseases wiped out 50–90% of the indigenous population because they had not been exposed before and lacked acquired immunity.[206]
Maize andmanioc were introduced into Africa in the 16th century by the Portuguese.[207] They are now important staple foods, replacing native African crops.[208][209]Alfred W. Crosby speculated that increased production of maize, manioc, and other New World crops led to heavier concentrations of population in the areas from which slavers captured their victims.[210]
In the global silver trade, theMing dynasty was stimulated by trade with thePortuguese,Spanish, andDutch. Although global, much of that silver ended up with the Chinese, and China dominated silver imports.[211] Between 1600 and 1800 China received 100 tons of silver on average per year. A large populace near theLower Yangtze averaged hundreds oftaels of silver per household in the late 16th century.[212] More than 150,000 tons of silver were shipped from Potosí by the end of the 18th century. From 1500 to 1800, Mexico and Peru produced about 80%[213] of the world's silver, with more than 30% of it eventually ending up in China (largely because European merchants used it to purchase exotic Chinese commodities). In the late 16th and early 17th century, Japan was exporting heavily into China and foreign trade at large.[213] Trade withEuropean powers and the Japanese brought in significant amounts of silver, which then replaced copper and paperbanknotes as the common medium of exchange in China. During the last decades of the Ming Dynasty, the flow of silver into China was greatly diminished, thereby undermining state revenues and the entire Ming economy. This damage to the economy was compounded by the effects on agriculture of the incipientLittle Ice Age, natural calamities, crop failure, and sudden epidemics. The ensuing breakdown of authority and people's livelihoods allowed rebel leaders such asLi Zicheng to challenge Ming authority.
New crops that had come to Asia from the Americas, via the Spanish colonizers in the 16th century, contributed to Asia's population growth.[214] Although the bulk of imports to China were silver, the Chinese also purchased New World crops from theSpanish Empire. This included sweet potatoes, maize, and peanuts, foods that could be cultivated in lands where traditional Chinese staple crops—wheat, millet, and rice—could not grow, hence facilitating a rise in the population of China.[215][216] In the Song dynasty (960–1279), rice had become the major staple crop of the poor;[217] after sweet potatoes were introduced to China around 1560, it gradually became the traditional food of the lower classes.[218]
The arrival of the Portuguese to Japan in 1543 initiated theNanban trade period, with the Japanese adopting technologies and cultural practices, like thearquebus, European-style cuirasses, European ships, Christianity, decorative art, and language. After the Chinese had banned direct trade by Chinese merchants with Japan, the Portuguese filled this commercial vacuum as intermediaries. The Portuguese bought Chinese silk and sold it to the Japanese in return for Japanese-mined silver; since silver was more highly valued in China, the Portuguese could then use Japanese silver to buy even larger stocks of Chinese silk.[219] By 1573, after the Spanish established a trading base in Manila, the Portuguese intermediary trade was trumped by the prime source of incoming silver to China from the Spanish Americas.[220] Although China acted as the cog running the wheel of global trade during the 16th to 18th centuries, Japan's huge contribution of silver exports to China was critical to the world economy and China's liquidity and success with the commodity.[221]
As a wider variety of global luxury commodities entered the European markets by sea, previous European markets forluxury goods stagnated. The Atlantic trade largely supplanted pre-existingItalian andGerman trading powers which had relied on their Baltic, Russian, and Islamic trade links. The new commodities also causedsocial change, as sugar, spices, silks and chinawares entered the luxury markets of Europe.
The European economic centre shifted from the Mediterranean to Western Europe. The city ofAntwerp, part of theDuchy of Brabant, became "the centre of theentire international economy",[222] and the richest city in Europe.[223] Centred in Antwerp first and thenAmsterdam, the "Dutch Golden Age" was tightly linked to the Age of Discovery.
By 1549 the Portuguese were sending annual trade missions toShangchuan Island in China. In 1557 they managed to convince theMing court to agree on a legal port treaty that would establish Macau as an official Portuguese trade colony.[224] The Portuguese friarGaspar da Cruz (c. 1520–70) wrote the first complete book on China published in Europe; it included information on its geography, provinces, royalty, official class, bureaucracy, shipping, architecture, farming, craftsmanship, merchant affairs, clothing, religious and social customs, music and instruments, writing, education, and justice.[225]
From China, the major exports were silk and porcelain, adapted to meet European tastes. The Chinese export porcelains were held in such great esteem in Europe that, in English,china became a commonly-used synonym forporcelain.Kraak porcelain was among the first Chinese ware to arrive in Europe in significant quantities; only the richest could afford these early imports.[226] Soon theDutch East India Company established trade with the East, having imported 6 million porcelain items from China to Europe between the years 1602–82.[227][228] Kraak, mainly theblue and white porcelain, was imitated all over the world by potters inArita, Japan andPersia—where Dutch merchants turned when the fall of the Ming dynasty rendered Chinese originals unavailable[229]—and ultimately inDelftware. Dutch and laterEnglish Delftware inspired by Chinese designs persisted from about 1630 to the mid-18th century alongside European patterns.
Antonio de Morga (1559–1636), a Spanish official inManila, listed an extensive inventory of goods that were traded by Ming China at the turn of the 16th to 17th century, noting there were "rarities which, did I refer to them all, I would never finish, nor have sufficient paper for it".[230] Ebrey writes of the considerable size of commercial transactions: In one case a galleon to the Spanish territories in the New World carried over 50,000 pairs of silk stockings. In return China imported mostly silver from Peruvian and Mexican mines,transported via Manila. Chinese merchants were active in these trading ventures, and many emigrated to such places as the Philippines and Borneo to take advantage of the new commercial opportunities.[215]
The increase in gold and silver experienced bySpain coincided with a major inflationary cycle within Spain and Europe, known as theprice revolution. Spain had amassed large quantities of gold and silver from the New World.[231] In the 1540s large scale extraction of silver from Mexico began. During the 16th century, Spain held the equivalent of US$1.5 trillion (1990 terms) in gold and silver fromNew Spain. Being the most powerful European monarch at a time full of war and religious conflicts, theHabsburg rulers spent their wealth in wars and arts across Europe. "I learnt a proverb here", said a French traveller in 1603: "Everything is dear in Spain except silver".[232] The spent silver, spread throughout a cash-starved Europe, caused widespread inflation.[233] The inflation was worsened by a growing population with a static production level, low salaries and a rising cost of living, which damaged local industry. Increasingly, Spain became dependent on the revenues flowing in from the mercantile empire, leading to Spain's first bankruptcy in 1557 due to rising military costs.[234] Philip II of Spain defaulted on debt payments in 1557, 1560, 1575, and 1596. The increase in prices as a result of currency circulation fuelled the growth of the commercialmiddle class in Europe, thebourgeoisie, which came to influence the politics and culture of many countries. One effect of the inflation, particularly in Great Britain, was that tenant farmers who held long-term leases from lords saw real decreases in rent. Some lords opted to sell their leased land, giving rise to small, landowning farmers such asyeoman and gentlemen farmers.[235]
^In this context, this Northern European tradition refers to the Atlantic coast of Europe, extending through the North Sea and into the Baltic.
^The other major northern European tradition was thecog, whose bottom planking was flush-fitting, just like carvel, but was built shell-first, unlike carvel which is built frame-first or frame-led.
^Major ports in their respective regions included Palembang on the Malaccan Strait, Calicut on the Malabar coast, and Mombasa on the Swahili Coast (seeSen 2016).
^Windward sailing ability, true for historic vessels as much as any other, is a combination of rig and hull shape. Other considerations are the amount of marine fouling on the hull, and a sternpost-mounted rudder gives a clear advantage over a steering oar, partly by producing less drag but also having the hydrodynamic effect of slightly reducing leeway.[93]
^Washburn, Wilcomb E. (1962). "The Meaning of "Discovery" in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries".The American Historical Review.68 (1). JSTOR:1–21.doi:10.2307/1847180.ISSN0002-8762.JSTOR1847180.
^Parry, J. H. (1973).The Age of Reconnaissance: Discovery, Exploration, and Settlement, 1450–1650. London: Cardinal. p. 13.
^O'Gorman, Edmundo. The Invention of America. An Inquiry into the Historical Nature of the New World and the Meaning of History. Bloomington, IN 1961, 9–47.
^Silliman, Stephen W. (2005). "Culture Contact or Colonialism? Challenges in the Archaeology of Native North America".American Antiquity.70 (1). Cambridge University Press (CUP):55–74.doi:10.2307/40035268.ISSN0002-7316.JSTOR40035268.S2CID161467685.
^Wilson, Samuel (1999).The emperor's giraffe and other stories of cultures in contact. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press.ISBN0-8133-3585-X.OCLC40567393.
^"Bartolomeu Dias".infoplease. Sandbox Networks, Inc.Archived from the original on 21 May 2015. Retrieved29 May 2015.
^abAdams, Jonathan (2013).A maritime archaeology of ships : innovation and social change in medieval and early modern Europe (1st ed.). Oxford, UK.ISBN978-1-84217-297-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^abKeith, Donald H; Carrell, Toni L, eds. (1992).Underwater Archaeology Proceedings from the Society for Historical Archaeology Conference: Kingston, Jamaica 1992. Society for Historical Archaeology.ISBN9789992087121.
^Leshikar-Denton, Margaret (2014). Catsambis, Alexis; Ford, Ben; Hamilton, Donny L. (eds.).The Oxford handbook of maritime archaeology (First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback ed.). Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town: Oxford University Press.ISBN9780199336005.
^Viault, Birdsall (1991).Modern European History (II. Series ed.). McGraw Hill. pp. 82–83.ISBN0-07-067453-1.
^Ricard, Robert (1966).An Essay on the Apostolate and the Evangelizing Methods of the Mendicant Orders in New Spain: 1523–1572, translated from French by Lesley Bird Simpson. University of California Press.
^Spice importance for medievalhumorism principles of medicine was such that shortly after entering the trade, apothecaries and physicians likeTomé Pires andGarcia da Orta (seeBurns 2001, p. 14) were sent to India having studied spices in works likeSuma Oriental (seePires 1512, p. lxii) andColóquios dos simples e drogas da India ("Conversations on the simples, drugs and materia medica of India)
^abCorbett, P. Scott; Janssen, Volker; Lund, John M.; Pfannestiel, Todd; Waskiewicz, Sylvie; Vickery, Paul (2024-01-11)."1.2 Europe on the Brink of Change".OpenStax. Retrieved2024-04-22.
^Chaudhuri, K.N. (1985).Trade and Civilization in the Indian Ocean: An Economic History from the Rise of Islam to 1750. Cambridge University Press. p. 64.
^Elbl, Martin (1994). "The Caravel and the Galleon". In Gardiner, Robert; Unger, Richard W (eds.).Cogs, Caravels and Galleons: the sailing ship, 1000–1650. London: Conway Maritime Press.ISBN0-85177-560-8.
^Pattridge, Blake D. "Francis Drake" inEncyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, vol. 2, 402
^Von der Porten, Edward (January 1975). "Drake's First Landfall".Pacific Discovery, California Academy of Sciences.28 (1):28–30.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot (1978).The Great Explorere: The European Discovery of America. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. p. 700.ISBN978-0-19-504222-1.
^Cassels, Sir Simon (August 2003). "Where Did Drake Careen The Golden Hind in June/July 1579? A Mariner's Assessment".The Mariner's Mirror.89 (1): 263.doi:10.1080/00253359.2003.10659292.S2CID161710358.
^Turner, Michael (2006).In Drake's Wake Volume 2 The World Voyage. United Kingdom: Paul Mould Publishing. p. 163.ISBN978-1-904959-28-1.
^Cassels, Sir Simon (August 2003). "Where Did Drake Careen The Golden Hind in June/July 1579? A Mariner's Assessment".The Mariner's Mirror.89 (1): 263,264.doi:10.1080/00253359.2003.10659292.S2CID161710358.
^Sugden, John (2006).Sir Francis Drake. London: Pimlico. p. 136,137.ISBN978-1-844-13762-6.
^Turner, Michael (2006).In Drake's Wake Volume 2 The World Voyage. United Kingdom: Paul Mould Publishing. p. 173.ISBN978-1-904959-28-1.
^Escudero, Antonio Gutiérrez (2014). "Hispaniola's Turn to Tobacco: Products from Santo Domingo in Atlantic Commerce". In Aram, Bethany; Yun-Casalilla, Bartolomé (eds.).Global Goods and the Spanish Empire, 1492–1824: Circulation, Resistance, and Diversity.Basingstoke:Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 216–229.doi:10.1057/9781137324054_12.ISBN978-1-137-32405-4.
^Mancall, Peter C. (1998). "The Age of Discovery".Reviews in American History.26 (1): 35.doi:10.1353/rah.1998.0013.ISSN0048-7511.JSTOR30030873.S2CID143822053.Other documents from the sixteenth century, such as the magnificentFlorentine Codex, contain testimony from native observers whose views were recorded by European witnesses to the conquest. These texts provide details about indigenous practices as well as views of the conquest from the perspective of the invaded. Some of these indigenous sources have been translated into English. On the issue of the encounter, these sources concur: the arrival of Europeans brought death, displacement, sorrow, and despair to Native Americans.
^von Glahn, Richard (1996). "Myth and Reality of China's Seventeenth Century Monetary Crisis".Journal of Economic History.2: 132.... silver wanders throughout all the world... before flocking to China, where it remains as if at its natural center.
^Flynn, Dennis Owen; Giraldez, Arturo (2002). "Cycles of Silver: Global Economic Unity through the Mid-Eighteenth Century".Journal of World History.13 (2):391–427.doi:10.1353/jwh.2002.0035.ISSN1527-8050.S2CID145805906.
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1 1975 is the year of East Timor's Declaration of Independence and subsequentinvasion by Indonesia. In 2002, East Timor's independence was fully recognized.
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