Why explorers traveled

It was the Portuguese hope that the Islamic nations could be bypassed by trading directly with West Africa by sea. It was also hoped that south of the Sahara the states would be Christian and potential allies against the Muslims in the Maghreb. The Portuguese navigators made slow but steady progress, each year managing to push a few miles further south and in the obstacle of Cape Bojador was overcome.

Within two decades the barrier of the Sahara had been overcome and trade in gold and slaves began in with what is today Senegal. Progress continued as trading forts were built at Elmina and Sao Tome and Principe became the first sugar producing colony. The crucial breakthrough was in when Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope and proved that access to the Indian Ocean was possible.

In Vasco da Gama made good on this promise by reaching India. The first contest was for control of the Canary Islands, which Castille won. It was not until the union of Aragon and Castille and the completion of the reconquista that the large nation became fully committed to looking for new trade routes and colonies overseas. The issue of defining areas of influence became critical.

It resolved by Papal intervention in when the Treaty of Tordesillas divided the world between the two powers. The Spanish received everything west of this line, territory that was still almost completely unknown. In , Giovanni da Verrazzano was commissioned to locate a northwest passage around North America to India.

He was followed in by Jacques Cartier , who explored the St. Lawrence River as far as present-day Montreal. In , Jean Ribault headed an expedition that explored the St. Johns River area in Florida. But the Spanish soon pushed the French out of Florida, and thereafter, the French directed their efforts north and west. Instead, the French traded with inland tribes for furs and fished off the coast of Newfoundland.

New France was sparsely populated by trappers and missionaries and dotted with military forts and trading posts. Although the French sought to colonize the area, the growth of settlements was stifled by inconsistent policies. Initially, France encouraged colonization by granting charters to fur-trading companies. Then, under Cardinal Richelieu, control of the empire was put in the hands of the government-sponsored Company of New France.

The company, however, was not successful, and in the king took direct control of New France. Although more prosperous under this administration, the French empire failed to match the wealth of New Spain or the growth of neighboring British colonies.

The Dutch were also engaged in the exploration of America. Formerly a Protestant province of Spain, the Netherlands was determined to become a commercial power and saw exploration as a means to that end.

In the newly formed New Netherland Company obtained a grant from the Dutch government for the territory between New France and Virginia. About ten years later another trading company, the West India Company, settled groups of colonists on Manhattan Island and at Fort Orange. The Dutch also planted trading colonies in the West Indies. By the mid-sixteenth century, however, England had recognized the advantages of trade with the East, and in English merchants enlisted Martin Frobisher to search for a northwest passage to India.

Between and Frobisher as well as John Davis explored along the Atlantic coast. Gilbert headed two trips to the New World. He landed on Newfoundland but was unable to carry out his intention of establishing military posts.

By the seventeenth century, the English had taken the lead in colonizing North America, establishing settlements all along the Atlantic coast and in the West Indies. Sweden and Denmark also succumbed to the attractions of America, although to a lesser extent.

This colony was short-lived, however, and was taken over by the Dutch in Croix and other islands in the cluster of the Virgin Islands. Parry, The Spanish Seaborne Empire ; 2nd ed. The transfer of disease between the Old World and New World was part of the phenomenon known as the Columbian Exchange.

The diseases brought to the New World proved to be exceptionally deadly to the indigenous populations, and the epidemics had very different effects in different regions of the Americas. The most vulnerable groups were those with a relatively small population and little built-up immunity.

Many island-based groups were annihilated: the Caribs and Arawaks of the Caribbean nearly ceased to exist, as did the Beothuks of Newfoundland. While disease swept swiftly through the densely populated empires of Mesoamerica, the more scattered populations of North America saw a slower spread.

Estimates of the pre-Columbian population have ranged from 8. In Peru, the indigenous pre-contact population of approximately 6.

Storming of the Teocalli by Cortez and His Troops : While epidemic disease was by far the leading cause of the population decline of the American indigenous peoples after , there were other contributing factors—all of them related to European contact and colonization.

One of these factors was warfare. From the 15th century onward, European nations invaded the New World and began establishing empires throughout the continent. While the Americas remained firmly under the control of indigenous peoples in the first decades of European invasion, conflict increased as colonization spread and Europeans placed greater demands upon the indigenous populations, including expecting them to convert to Christianity either Catholicism or Protestantism.

The Spanish, English, and French were the most powerful nations to establish empires in the new lands. Beginning with the arrival of Christopher Columbus, the Spanish Empire expanded for four centuries — across most of present-day Central America, the Caribbean islands, Mexico, and much of the rest of North America.

The empire also claimed territory in present-day British Columbia; the states of Alaska, Washington, and Oregon; and the western half of South America.

This area was inhabited by the Chibchan speaking nations, including the indigenous Muisca and Tairona people. He explored areas to the north, looking for a Fountain of Youth, and landed on a peninsula on the coast of North America, which he named Florida. The conquistadors, believing they held considerable military and technological superiority over the native cultures, attacked and destroyed the Aztecs in By the early 16th century, Spanish conquistadors had penetrated deep into Central and South America.

Buenos Aires suffered attacks by the indigenous peoples that forced the settlers away, and in , the site was abandoned. A second and permanent settlement was established in , by Juan de Garay. It was the first step in a long campaign—which took advantage of a recent civil war and the enmity of indigenous nations the Incas had subjugated—that required decades of fighting to subdue the mightiest empire in the Americas.

The brutal practices of the conquistadors known as the Black Legend , as recorded by the Spanish themselves, were applied through the encomienda, a system ostensibly set up to protect people from warring tribes as well as to teach them the Spanish language and the Catholic religion. In practice, though, it was tantamount to slavery. Spanish colonization of the Americas : The red in this image illustrates the Spanish Empire under the House of Bourbon in the late 18th century; pink illustrates the regions under Spanish control or influence at various times; lavender illustrates the territories lost at or before the Peace of Utrecht ; and purple illustrates the Portuguese possessions ruled jointly under the Spanish sovereign British exploration of the New World centered on searching for a northwest passage through the continent.

Cabot explored the North American coast and correctly deduced that the spherical shape of the earth made the north—where the longitudes are much shorter—a quicker route to the New World than a trip to the islands in the south, where Columbus was exploring. Encouraged, he asked the English monarchy for a more substantial expedition to further explore and settle the lands that he found.

England remained preoccupied with internal affairs for much of the 16th century. However, by the beginning of the 17th century, under the rule of Elizabeth I, the empire had consolidated much of the British Isles and was becoming a much more formidable force on the world stage.

Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students. Skip to content. Twitter Facebook Pinterest Google Classroom. Brainstorm ideas about exploration.

Give each group a marker and a sheet of butcher paper with one of these questions on each paper: Why do people explore? What places have you explored? What did you learn? What places would you like to explore in or near your city or town? What places would you like to explore in your home country?

What places would you like to explore outside of your country? Have students mark their favorite ideas. Analyze past vs. Discuss the difference between exploration and expeditions. Analyze the reasons behind present-day expeditions. Have students answer these three questions in a paragraph for each: What is the purpose of this blue holes expedition? What do you think the scientists want to accomplish? What additional reasons do they have for why they explore? How is the Blue Hole Expedition different than historical explorations?

Hint: think about available technology and scientific advancements as well as purpose. Informal Assessment Have students summarize in writing their ideas for the questions in Step 4. Learning Objectives Students will: list and assess ideas for why people explore, historically and currently brainstorm ideas for their own explorations analyze the purpose behind a Bahamas expedition.

Teaching Approach Learning-for-use. Teaching Methods Brainstorming Discussions Multimedia instruction. Standard 8 : Students use a variety of technological and informational resources e. Resources Provided The resources are also available at the top of the page.