The Age of Discovery
(Part I)

During the first base half of the fifteenth hundred, the Portuguese were encouraged by Prince Henry the Navigator to explore the coasts of Africa.
In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed far west into the Atlantic Ocean and discovered islands that he thought were close to Asia.
A few years belated, Vasco de Gama reached India by sailing around Southern Africa.
In 1522, one of the ships in Magellan ’ s fleet returned to Europe and brought proof that it was potential to circumnavigate the Earth.
In a few decades, the direction that Europeans saw the populace had been wholly transformed .

North Atlantic sailings prior to Christopher Columbus

Before Christopher Columbus, other european sailors had reached the coasts of America, which we know since there are traces of their bearing on these shores. however, this nautical feat by a few hundred men did not lead to long-run colony .

The travels of Marco Polo

Marco Polo left Venice with his father and uncle in 1271. Travelling to Ormuz, Central Asia and Mongolia, the three men reached Khanbalik, today ’ mho Beijing, and were welcomed to the epicurean Mongol court. Marco Polo became an adviser to Emperor Khublai Khan and travelled extensively through China .

The voyages of Ibn Battuta 1325-1355

Ibn Battuta was born in Tangier half a century after Marco Polo. For more than thirty years, he travelled to the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, India and China.

Ibn Battuta dictated the fib of his travels, known as the “ Rihla ”, to the repository of the Sultan of Fez .

The maritime expeditions of Zheng He

In the early fifteenth century, China launched an exceptional venture : seven major nautical expeditions to explore the indian Ocean.

Unfortunately, the official archives, with plans of the ships and their logs, were destroyed respective decades by and by, which explains why many aspects of this extraordinary gamble are obscure to us today .

Trade in the Indian Ocean in the 15th century

In the fifteenth century, trade in the indian Ocean was centred on Southern ports on the arab peninsula, the Islamic trade posts on the African coast, and ports on the indian seashore.

This triangulum was then linked to Malacca by merchant ships travelling to Sri Lanka and the Bay of Bengal, therefore making a huge semi-circle stretching from Japan and China to the Spice Islands and Java .

Portuguese Exploration of the African coastline

In order to circumvent the Muslim monopoly on trans-Saharan caravans, around the class 1420 the portuguese try access to rich african resources by transport. Encouraged by Henry the Navigator, they sailed out to Africa but had no cognition of the coastal waters beyond Cape Bojador .

Vasco da Gama’s voyage 1497-1498

King Manuel I of Portugal chose Vasco district attorney Gama to lead the first maritime expedition to India.

The passage was opened up by Bartolomeu Diaz who had sailed around the Cape of Good Hope ten years earlier .

The voyage of Pêro da Covilha

During the fifteenth hundred, the indian Ocean was calm a big mystery to Europeans. In 1487, the King of Portugal gave Pêro district attorney Covilha and Alfonso de Paiva a mission to report on sailing conditions between Africa and India and to make contact with the fabled Christian kingdom of Prester John .

Portuguese Volta (The ‘Loop’)

During the fifteenth hundred, the Portuguese did not know that the universe turned on its own axis nor did they have the scientific cognition to understand atmospheric circulation.

It was thanks to their wide-ranging experience as navigators that they overcame the unmanageable sail conditions encountered in the Atlantic Ocean .

Portuguese expansion in the Indian Ocean

portuguese expansion in the indian Ocean, after Vasco district attorney Gama ’ s beginning ocean trip, was noteworthy.

The first gear two Viceroys, Francisco de Almeida and Afonso de Albuquerque, founded a network of trade posts and fortresses along the slide. The Treaty of Saragossa 1529 confirmed portuguese dominance in the indian Ocean .

The Treaties of Tordesillas (1494) and Saragossa (1529)

The foremost successful expeditions across the Atlantic Ocean raised the motion of what to do with the archipelagos and raw lands discovered by these navigators.

In 1479, Portugal and Castile signed an initial treaty confirming Castile ’ sulfur district over the Canaries, while recognizing Portugal ’ s monopoly on the African coast .

The circumference of the Earth and the Route towards the West

In the 3rd century BCE, Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth with remarkable precision.

In later centuries, other Greek geographers, including the most famous of them all, Ptolemy, suggested a much lower figure for the circumference for our planet.

This under-estimation was adopted by 15th century map-makers.
In the third century BCE, Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the earth with remarkable precision.In late centuries, other greek geographers, including the most celebrated of them all, Ptolemy, suggested a much lower figure for the circumference for our planet.This under-estimation was adopted by fifteenth hundred map-makers .

Christopher Columbus’ first voyage 1492-1493

Christopher Columbus sailed under the portuguese flag, but it was Isabella of Castile who provided the funds for his visualize to sail to Asia by a western route.

His flotilla of three ships set sail from Southern Spain on 3 August 1492. He headed first for the Canary Islands, before setting off across the Atlantic Ocean and discovering islands near the american continent .

Christopher Columbus’ three subsequent voyages

In the years following his first voyage, Christopher Columbus carried out three more journeys, but with better resources than in the past.

He explored the ring of Caribbean islands, founded the colony of La Isabella on the island of Hispaniola, discovered the huge delta of the Orinoco and sailed along the coast of today ’ randomness Honduras .

The first explorations in the New World

Following Christopher Columbus ’ discovery of the New World, respective expeditions tried to reach China and the Indies by sailing west. Gradually, the Europeans found themselves sailing along the coast of a raw continent.

Magellan’s voyage 1519-1522

The expedition led by Magellan was expected to sail as far as the Spice Islands to the west by sailing around the American continent.

It was financed by Spain, which hoped to gain access to these islands and their spices without crossing the Indian Ocean, then dominated by the Portuguese.
The expedition led by Magellan was expected to sail vitamin a far as the Spice Islands to the west by sailing around the American continent.It was financed by Spain, which hoped to gain access to these islands and their spices without crossing the indian Ocean, then dominated by the Portuguese .