Age Of Exploration

Why is this era called The Age of Exploration?

This period in time is called the Age of exploration because this is when Europeans began exploring the world by sea, searching for new trading routes, goods, getting the spices of Asia and making money. The Europeans also wanted to learn more about the world and claim the unclaimed countries before their rivals. The Age of exploration started in the early 15th century and ended in the early 17th century due to technological advancement and the increased knowledge of the world. There were many explorations during this time. Some of the most documented include Captain James Cook’s three voyages where he attempted to measure the transit of Venus and find the Great Southern Continent. Christopher

Many of the famous explorers we know today lacked the money needed for ships, supplies like food, clean water and other key recourses for survival .Crews also had to be paid so Captains turned to their respected governments, Kings or countries for backing. There were many reasons why the governments and royals funded the explorations. For Christopher Columbus, he asked the Kings of Portugal, France and England to fund his journey. All denied his request. After ten years of efforts he finally got an answer from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, they agreed to fund his exploration in hopes of bringing wealth for themselves and their large kingdom.

As well as accumulating wealth, Royals and governments funded exploration to take unclaimed land for their own and to gather more information about the world. For Captain James Cook, he had two reasons why the Royal Geographic and British admiralty funded him. The first was because Captain Cook was said to have found the Great Southern Continent and claim it for Britain, the second was to record the transit of Venus which would help their understanding of the world

U.S explorer Richard E. Byrd who was one of the more successful explores managing to coordinate radios, tractors, air transport and many more important equipment for the exploration. On his first exploration which started on the 29 of November 1929 his main way of exploring was by airplane and discovered the Marie Byrd Land in Antarctica. After completion of his first expedition he started a second one from 1933 to 1935 and successfully competed his exploration.

There were many explorations in Antarctica run by Wilkins in 1929 to 1930, a Norwegian captain, Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen, explored 1929 to 1930 on the coast of East Antarctica from Enderby Land to Coats Land. The area was later claimed by Norway as Queen Maud Land. In November 1935, U.S. explorer Lincoln Ellsworth made the first transantarctic flight, from Dundee Island at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula to the Bay of Whales. The British Graham Land Expedition explored the Antarctic Peninsula by sea, air, and dog team from 1935 to