Europe's Age of Discovery changed world and paved the way for the modern world as we know it. Explorers traveled the seas, discovering new places and routes for trade and travel making daring journeys out across the seas and then navigating their way back home to report on their discoveries. This paper will discuss will discuss the discovery of these new places and the tools that made those discoveries possible as well as give some background on those tools and how they function. Finally it will be explained how those tools made it possible for explorers to return from their adventures on the seas and how that was a necessary component to the Age of Discovery. Overall this paper will argue that the invention of the Astrolabe and Compass in …show more content…
Using the compass and astrolabe sailors could go out and look for faster more efficient ways to make it between trading posts thus speeding up trade. During the fourteenth and early fifteenth century Europeans became used to exotic goods and spices which lent urgency to the quest to discover new and faster trade routes between countries. In order to discover these new ways explorers needed to set out on long and potentially life threatening journeys. Navigational tools were necessary for the voyages as they have explorers a way to not only know where they were going but to also to mark there passages down so if they were successful others could follow and use the newly discovered routes. The compass kept the sailors going in the direction they wanted and the astrolabe allowed them to 1) figure out their attitude furthering there knowledge of where they were and 2) mark down their latitude making it possible for others to follow there exact route and avoid the hazards of straying off course. Before these new navigational instruments were created “Navigation was at first costal, for there was no way to determine the correct route when out of sight of land.” so there was no way to explore and find faster routes. But as tools improved longer journeys could be made and sailors could set of on long expeditions way out of sight of land and still find their way. …show more content…
The constantly changing conditions that is the ocean often threw sailors widly of course and left them totally lost and unable to find their position again. Ocean winds are unpredictable and fickle and a slight change in breaze could cause your ship to slowly and noticeably begin to turn and throw you off course. While it was hard to notice the slow and imperceptible rotation of your ship on the vast field of blue where everything looked the same, a skilled navigator monitoring his compass carefully could notice small changes and correct his course before straying too far off his desired path. The more streamlined nature of the nautical versions of these tools also benefited people out at sea as they minimized the risk of making a navigational error or mismeasuring. This was extremely important as “A small amount of ship movement could lead to navigational errors of up to 325 kilometres.” Another very important aspect of the journey was the way back home. New discoveries were amazing and promised to bring great rewards to those who found them, but in order to tell people about what they had found sailors needed to be able to get there and back. The astrolabe and compass helped them with that as well allowing careful measurements to be made and then recorded during the journey on a map or
The Age of Exploration brought many unforeseen changes to the people of Africa. On a path seeking gold, glory, and God, many explorers reached new parts of Africa. Explorers were seeking a more direct route to Asia and believed they must travel through Africa to reach these Asian lands. Namely, Portugal was interested in this under the direction of Prince Henry. There, he believed they could capture the riches of Muslim trade and convert the natives to Christianity. King Henry died before the route to Asia could be accomplished but he laid the groundwork for later exploration and encounters with Africa. During the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans desire to find Asia greatly impacted the lives of native Africans through the slave
After hearing the letter written about Columbus and his findings of the islands off of the Americas, people became more interested and intrigued, opening the way for European Exploration. The printing press helped spread his letters and many others’, all over Europe, promoting a wider range of knowledge to morepeople. Overall, the printing press affected the Age of Exploration more than the Protestant Reformation through inspiration of other’s findings and
Two of the new technologies that I think has the greatest impact on European exploration are the clock and gunpowder. The clock because explorers can track how long it takes them to get to one place, so they can try to improve their time. Gunpowder because whenever Europeans come across an enemy they can blow them off. Also, gunpowder was really helpful for the European when it can to taking over the New World. In the New World most still used arrows, which was no match for the Europeans mighty muskets and
on this built in compass sense to guide them in the open ocean. Another use for
In the mid 1400’s Spain and Portugal began to take separate routes of discovery. Prince Henry of Portugal, in reaction to the shortage of bullion in Western Europe, was interested in sending his captains to the African coast in search of gold. As a result, many Portuguese ports were established along the African coast and “The Portuguese were able to exploit at least a part of the African caravan trade they had sought.” (p.340) While Portugal was focused on expansion along the African coast; the Spanish were the first to discover the “new world” despite the lack of geographical knowledge the Spaniards and Columbus in particular possessed. This “new world” wasn’t quite what Columbus had though it was, however; as Columbus maintained to his death that he had reached Asia. He hadn’t, “He had landed at one of the Bahaman Islands, San Salvador.” (p. 342) Columbus’ distorted reality proved to...
The other skill that Vikings excelled at was the skill of navigation. Their longships were the cutting–edge technology at the time, and their ingenious sun-compass, which worked somewhat like a sundial, allowed them to sail to their destination with precision. The longships were usually made with oak boards stripped from trees with thin ropes soaked in pitch trapped between joints to act as a flexible, waterproof membrane. These ships, combined with their streamlines design, are very fast and seaworthy and would flex out of places when a sturdier ship would shatter. The sun compass is also very useful because it is the only directional tool at the time. It uses a shadow cast by a small pin in the middle of a round plate with bearings to give the direction. This tool allowed them to sail on open seas without landmarks for directions, a great advantage. This tool allowed them to sail on open seas without landmarks for directions, a great advantage.
To navigate during the night and day they looked out for well-known landmarks such as mountains. They could also follow the sun and stars or watch out for birds that were found at different times and places of the year. Navigators were needed in the time of Vikings as they were the key to successful voyages. Without them Vikings would have never been able to sail across Western Europe and leave an impact that would actually make way into our history. Therefore their would of not been any impact to live on today. One example was when the Viking found their way into the Mediterranean Sea and raided the coasts of Spain but of course with the help of navigation. In addition to navigation, religion also did impact.
To begin with, Gold was the most significant motivation of ‘the age of exploration’. ‘The age of exploration’ began in the early 15th century and it lasted until the 17th century. The purpose of numerous explorations at that time was to find gold. Since the trades between the West and the East had started, various kinds of merchandise drastically flowed to Europe. Among the eastern products, what Europeans were most interested in was gold. Royal families and nobles were eager to acquire gold to show off their wealth and power. Merchants in Venetia, or other cities also wanted golden products to make big profits in their transactions. Accordingly, they planned to explore the unknown world in purpose of possessing more gold. In addition, the travelers are obliged to search gold in expeditions by the kingdoms. Since Explorers often had a lack of funding needed for their journeys, they should rely on the kingdoms which can afford the expenses. Ships, crews and sailing utilities were provided for the adventures by the nations. In exchange of these supports, kingdoms required the explorers to search the location of the valuable jewels and offer some of them. Hence, travelers were de...
The age of exploration, discovery and expansion between 1500th thru 1600th had people eager to traverse the world and find new adventures. The Spanish and British motivation for exploration into the New World were similar; both were seeking wealth, wanted to discover new trade routes, and identify locations for settlement (Troolin). Although, both countries had similar motives each had specific agendas that would later influence North, South and Central Americas future.
“Some of the world’s greatest inventions came from China.” Much of the world today has still been undiscovered. But without the compass the Chinese and Americans might not have known each other existed. With the compass, explorers were able to navigate their way through many of the seas and land into the Western Hemisphere.
Thesis: Most people believe that The Age of Discovery was the product of a handful of adventurous explorers. They were an important part of this Age, but theirs was not the main motivation. I believe however, that the Bourgeoisie provided the impetus of this Age.
Age of Explorations was a time of discovery of the new world during the 15th through 17th century. Many Explorers were in search for new passage ways, new trading ports, new land, new spices, and riches. The three explorers discussed in this paper is Henry Hudson, Jacques Cartier, and Francisco Pizarro. Henry Hudson was an explorer whose main purpose was to find a route to Asia from Europe, he had a series of three voyages trying to achieve this. Jacques Cartier was sent to find riches and a route to Asia as well. Francisco Pizarro served on an expedition, which he discovered the Pacific Ocean.
Marco attained many eastern technologies and introduced these innovations to Europeans. Marco Polo brought back a navigation device that was developed by the Chinese called a compass. This allowed the European to go navigate the world and explore in a more efficient way. Marco Polo also brought back “paper, paper currency, porcelain, raw silk, ivory, jade, spices, and noodles” (Historpedia). The most progressive innovation Marco Polo brought back was paper. With this technology, the Europeans developed a printing press. With paper money, people did not have to bring a large amount of coins with them.
The Age of maritime exploration in Europe represented a new era of global inter-connectivity and interaction. Due to technological development, Europeans were capable to forging into new and formerly undiscovered territories. The Europeans growing desire to satisfy their demand for luxurious good as well as the desire to discover precious materials like silver and gold served as a particularly crucial motivation for maritime exploration. Maritime exploration also introduced Europeans to new culture, foods, and peoples.
The Age of Exploration began as a result of new technologies that guided explorers during sea voyages. Explorers used many tools and technologies during The Age of Exploration, to explore and make discoveries. Technology and tools that explorers used, included, caravels, compasses, astrolabes, and even sponsors. A sponsor is a person who gives money for an undertaking, such as a voyage. A sponsor would also provide money for materials needed for the voyage, such as, caravels, and other necessities. A caravel is probably the most important material needed for a voyage. A caravel is a ship designed for long voyages. Caravels have both square sails, and triangular lateen sails. However, they each provided/allowed different things. Square sails provided power, when lateen sails allowed quick turns. The compass, a Chinese invention, allowed sailors to track their direction. On the other hand, an astrolabe, an ancient Greek invention, improvised by the Arabs, would measure the angle of the stars above the horizon. This would help sailors find their s...