Alexis Saunders
Age of Exploration
Beginning in the 1400s, European explorers went on great voyages of discovery. Their voyages had a major impact on Europe and on the lands they explored. European explorers sought wealth, land, knowledge, and adventure. They also wanted to spread Christianity. A number of advances in knowledge and technology made their journeys possible. The Portuguese explored Africa’s coasts, charted a sea route to Asia, and claimed Brazil. The voyages of Christopher Columbus led to Spanish colonization in the Americas. England, France, and the Netherlands sent explorers to North America. Millions of people living in the Americas died as a result of European colonization and conquest. The Inca and Aztec Empires were destroyed. West Africans suffered greatly when they were brought to the Americas to work as slaves. For the Europeans, the Age of Exploration vastly increased their knowledge of the world.
Christopher Columbus
Ferdinand Magellan also sailed west to find a route to Asia. He sailed around South America and eventually sailed to the Philippines. He died, but his crew continued and they were the first to circumnavigate the globe.
Pedro Cabral
Vasco De Gama set sail with four ships to chart a sea route to India.
He had an impact that nobody else did, with the help of a sailor who knew the route to India, they crossed the Indian Ocean.
Bartolomeu Dias
Prince Henry was navigator but not an explorer. His impact on exploration was that he trained people in the “Navigational School”. He had a special nickname that nobody else had, it was "The Navigator".
Vasco da Gama
Columbus sailed west, not east, to find the easiest route to Asia.
He landed on an island in the Caribbean Sea and claimed it for Spain. He found a world that was new to Europe.