essay about age of exploration

What Was the Age of Exploration?

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Key Figures & Milestones
Physical Geography
Political Geography
Country Information
Urban Geography

The Birth of the Age of Exploration

The discovery of the new world, opening the americas, the end of the era, contributions to science, long-term impact.

M.A., Geography, California State University - East Bay
B.A., English and Geography, California State University - Sacramento

The era known as the Age of Exploration, sometimes called the Age of Discovery, officially began in the early 15th century and lasted through the 17th century. The period is characterized as a time when Europeans began exploring the world by sea in search of new trading routes, wealth, and knowledge.

During this era, explorers learned more about areas such as Africa and the Americas and brought that knowledge back to Europe. Massive wealth accrued to European colonizers due to trade in goods, spices, and precious metals. Nevertheless, there were also vast consequences. Labor became increasingly important to support the massive plantations in the New World, leading to the trade of enslaved people, which lasted for 300 years and had an enormous impact on Africa and North America.

The impact of the Age of Exploration would permanently alter the world and transform geography into the modern science it is today.

Key Takeaways

During the Age of Exploration, methods of navigation and mapping improved, switching from traditional portolan charts to the world's first nautical maps; the colonies and Europe also exchanged new food, plants, and animals.
The Age of Exploration also decimated indigenous communities due to the combined impact of disease, overwork, and massacres.
The impact persists today, with many of the world's former colonies still considered the developing world, while colonizing countries are the First World countries, holding a majority of the world's wealth and annual income.

Many nations were looking for goods such as silver and gold, but one of the biggest reasons for exploration was the desire to find a new route for the spice and silk trades.

When the Ottoman Empire took control of Constantinople in 1453, it blocked European access to the area, severely limiting trade. In addition, it also blocked access to North Africa and the Red Sea, two very important trade routes to the Far East.

The first of the journeys associated with the Age of Discovery were conducted by the Portuguese. Although the Portuguese, Spanish, Italians, and others had been plying the Mediterranean for generations, most sailors kept well within sight of land or traveled known routes between ports. Prince Henry the Navigator changed that, encouraging explorers to sail beyond the mapped routes and discover new trade routes to West Africa.

Portuguese explorers discovered the Madeira Islands in 1419 and the Azores in 1427. Over the coming decades, they would push farther south along the African coast, reaching the coast of present-day Senegal by the 1440s and the Cape of Good Hope by 1490. Less than a decade later, in 1498, Vasco da Gama would follow this route to India.

While the Portuguese were opening new sea routes along Africa, the Spanish also dreamed of finding new trade routes to the Far East. Christopher Columbus , an Italian working for the Spanish monarchy, made his first journey in 1492. Instead of reaching India, Columbus found the island of San Salvador in what is known today as the Bahamas. He also explored the island of Hispaniola, home of modern-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Columbus would lead three more voyages to the Caribbean, exploring parts of Cuba and the Central American coast. The Portuguese also reached the New World when explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral explored Brazil, setting off a conflict between Spain and Portugal over the newly claimed lands. As a result, the Treaty of Tordesillas officially divided the world in half in 1494.

Columbus' journeys opened the door for the Spanish conquest of the Americas. During the next century, men such as Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro would decimate the Aztecs of Mexico, the Incas of Peru, and other indigenous peoples of the Americas. By the end of the Age of Exploration, Spain would rule from the Southwestern United States to the southernmost reaches of Chile and Argentina.

Great Britain and France also began seeking new trade routes and lands across the ocean. In 1497, John Cabot , an Italian explorer working for the English, reached what is believed to be the coast of Newfoundland. Many French and English explorers followed, including Giovanni da Verrazano, who discovered the entrance to the Hudson River in 1524, and Henry Hudson, who mapped the island of Manhattan first in 1609.

Over the next decades, the French, Dutch, and British would all vie for dominance. England established the first permanent colony in North America at Jamestown, Va., in 1607. Samuel du Champlain founded Quebec City in 1608, and Holland established a trading outpost in present-day New York City in 1624.

Other important voyages of exploration during this era included Ferdinand Magellan's attempted circumnavigation of the globe, the search for a trade route to Asia through the Northwest Passage , and Captain James Cook's voyages that allowed him to map various areas and travel as far as Alaska.

The Age of Exploration ended in the early 17th century after technological advancements and increased knowledge of the world allowed Europeans to travel easily across the globe by sea. The creation of permanent settlements and colonies created a network of communication and trade, therefore ending the need to search for new routes.

It is important to note that exploration did not cease entirely at this time. Eastern Australia was not officially claimed for Britain by Capt. James Cook until 1770, while much of the Arctic and Antarctic were not explored until the 20th century. Much of Africa also was unexplored by Westerners until the late 19th century and early 20th century.

The Age of Exploration had a significant impact on geography. By traveling to different regions around the globe, explorers were able to learn more about areas such as Africa and the Americas and bring that knowledge back to Europe.

Methods of navigation and mapping improved as a result of the travels of people such as Prince Henry the Navigator. Before his expeditions, navigators had used traditional portolan charts, which were based on coastlines and ports of call, keeping sailors close to shore.

The Spanish and Portuguese explorers who journeyed into the unknown created the world's first nautical maps, delineating not just the geography of the lands they found but also the seaward routes and ocean currents that led them there. As technology advanced and known territory expanded, maps and mapmaking became more and more sophisticated.

These explorations also introduced a whole new world of flora and fauna to Europeans. Corn, now a staple of much of the world's diet, was unknown to Westerners until the time of the Spanish conquest, as were sweet potatoes and peanuts. Likewise, Europeans had never seen turkeys, llamas, or squirrels before setting foot in the Americas.

The Age of Exploration served as a stepping stone for geographic knowledge. It allowed more people to see and study various areas around the world, which increased geographic study, giving us the basis for much of the knowledge we have today.

The effects of colonization persist as well, with many of the world's former colonies still considered the developing world and the colonizing nations the First World countries, which hold a majority of the world's wealth and receive a majority of its annual income.

Profile of Prince Henry the Navigator
A Timeline of North American Exploration: 1492–1585
The History of Cartography
The European Overseas Empires
Biography of Ferdinand Magellan, Explorer Circumnavigated the Earth
Explorers and Discoverers
The Truth About Christopher Columbus
European Exploration of Africa
Biography and Legacy of Ferdinand Magellan
The Portuguese Empire
Biography of Christopher Columbus, Italian Explorer
Major Events and Eras in American History
Amerigo Vespucci, Explorer and Navigator
Biography of Juan Sebastián Elcano, Magellan's Replacement
Amerigo Vespucci, Italian Explorer and Cartographer
The Second Voyage of Christopher Columbus

Visiting Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion?

You must join the virtual exhibition queue when you arrive. If capacity has been reached for the day, the queue will close early.

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

Europe and the age of exploration.

Salvator Mundi

Albrecht Dürer

The Celestial Map- Northern Hemisphere

Astronomical table clock

Astronomicum Caesareum

Michael Ostendorfer

Mirror clock

Movement attributed to Master CR

Portable diptych sundial

Hans Tröschel the Elder

Celestial globe with clockwork

Gerhard Emmoser

The Celestial Globe-Southern Hemisphere

James Voorhies Department of European Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

October 2002

Artistic Encounters between Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas The great period of discovery from the latter half of the fifteenth through the sixteenth century is generally referred to as the Age of Exploration. It is exemplified by the Genoese navigator, Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), who undertook a voyage to the New World under the auspices of the Spanish monarchs, Isabella I of Castile (r. 1474–1504) and Ferdinand II of Aragon (r. 1479–1516). The Museum’s jerkin ( 26.196 ) and helmet ( 32.132 ) beautifully represent the type of clothing worn by the people of Spain during this period. The age is also recognized for the first English voyage around the world by Sir Francis Drake (ca. 1540–1596), who claimed the San Francisco Bay for Queen Elizabeth ; Vasco da Gama’s (ca. 1460–1524) voyage to India , making the Portuguese the first Europeans to sail to that country and leading to the exploration of the west coast of Africa; Bartolomeu Dias’ (ca. 1450–1500) discovery of the Cape of Good Hope; and Ferdinand Magellan’s (1480–1521) determined voyage to find a route through the Americas to the east, which ultimately led to discovery of the passage known today as the Strait of Magellan.

To learn more about the impact on the arts of contact between Europeans, Africans, and Indians, see The Portuguese in Africa, 1415–1600 , Afro-Portuguese Ivories , African Christianity in Kongo , African Christianity in Ethiopia , The Art of the Mughals before 1600 , and the Visual Culture of the Atlantic World .

Scientific Advancements and the Arts in Europe In addition to the discovery and colonization of far off lands, these years were filled with major advances in cartography and navigational instruments, as well as in the study of anatomy and optics. The visual arts responded to scientific and technological developments with new ideas about the representation of man and his place in the world. For example, the formulation of the laws governing linear perspective by Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446) in the early fifteenth century, along with theories about idealized proportions of the human form, influenced artists such as Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) and Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519). Masters of illusionistic technique, Leonardo and Dürer created powerfully realistic images of corporeal forms by delicately rendering tendons, skin tissues, muscles, and bones, all of which demonstrate expertly refined anatomical understanding. Dürer’s unfinished Salvator Mundi ( 32.100.64 ), begun about 1505, provides a unique opportunity to see the artist’s underdrawing and, in the beautifully rendered sphere of the earth in Christ’s left hand, metaphorically suggests the connection of sacred art and the realms of science and geography.

Although the Museum does not have objects from this period specifically made for navigational purposes, its collection of superb instruments and clocks reflects the advancements in technology and interest in astronomy of the time, for instance Petrus Apianus’ Astronomicum Caesareum ( 25.17 ). This extraordinary Renaissance book contains equatoria supplied with paper volvelles, or rotating dials, that can be used for calculating positions of the planets on any given date as seen from a given terrestrial location. The celestial globe with clockwork ( 17.190.636 ) is another magnificent example of an aid for predicting astronomical events, in this case the location of stars as seen from a given place on earth at a given time and date. The globe also illustrates the sun’s apparent movement through the constellations of the zodiac.

Portable devices were also made for determining the time in a specific latitude. During the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, the combination of compass and sundial became an aid for travelers. The ivory diptych sundial was a specialty of manufacturers in Nuremberg. The Museum’s example ( 03.21.38 ) features a multiplicity of functions that include giving the time in several systems of counting daylight hours, converting hours read by moonlight into sundial hours, predicting the nights that would be illuminated by the moon, and determining the dates of the movable feasts. It also has a small opening for inserting a weather vane in order to determine the direction of the wind, a feature useful for navigators. However, its primary use would have been meteorological.

Voorhies, James. “Europe and the Age of Exploration.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/expl/hd_expl.htm (October 2002)

Additional Essays by James Voorhies

Voorhies, James. “ Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) .” (October 2004)
Voorhies, James. “ Francisco de Goya (1746–1828) and the Spanish Enlightenment .” (October 2003)
Voorhies, James. “ Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) .” (October 2004)
Voorhies, James. “ School of Paris .” (October 2004)
Voorhies, James. “ Art of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries in Naples .” (October 2003)
Voorhies, James. “ Elizabethan England .” (October 2002)
Voorhies, James. “ Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946) and His Circle .” (October 2004)
Voorhies, James. “ Fontainebleau .” (October 2002)
Voorhies, James. “ Post-Impressionism .” (October 2004)
Voorhies, James. “ Domestic Art in Renaissance Italy .” (October 2002)
Voorhies, James. “ Surrealism .” (October 2004)

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Causes and Impacts of the European Age of Exploration

Introduction

With today’s global positioning satellites, Internet maps, cell phones, and superfast travel, it is hard to imagine exactly how it might have felt to embark on a voyage across an unknown ocean. What lay across the ocean? In the early 1400s in Europe, few people knew. How long would it take to get there? That depended on the wind, the weather, and the distance. Days would have run together, with no sounds but the voices of the captain and the crew, the creaking of the sails, the blowing wind, and the splash of waves against the ship’s hull.

Would you be willing to undertake such a voyage? Only those most adventurous, most daring, and most confident in their abilities to sail in any weather, manage any crew, and meet any circumstance dared do so. They sailed west from England, Spain, and Portugal to North America. They sailed south from Portugal and Spain to South America, to lands where the Incas lived. They traveled to Africa, past the kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. The crew of one Portuguese expedition even sailed completely around the world.

European explorers changed the world in many dramatic ways. Because of them, cultures divided by 3,000 miles or more of water began interacting. European countries claimed large parts of the world. As nations competed for territory, Europe had an enormous impact on people living in distant lands.

The Americas, in turn, made important contributions to Europe and the rest of the world. For example, from the Americas came crops such as corn and potatoes, which grew well in Europe. By increasing Europe’s food supply, these crops helped create population growth.

Another great change during the early modern age was the Scientific Revolution. Between 1500 and 1700, scientists used observation and experiments to make dramatic discoveries. For example, Isaac Newton formulated the laws of gravity. The Scientific Revolution also led to the invention of new tools, such as the microscope and the thermometer.

Advances in science helped pave the way for a period called the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment began in the late 1600s. Enlightenment thinkers used observation and reason to try to solve problems in society. Their work led to new ideas about government, human nature, and human rights.

The Age of Exploration, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment helped to shape the world we live in today.

The Causes of European Exploration

Why did European exploration begin to flourish in the 1400s? Two main reasons stand out. First, Europeans of this time had several motives for exploring the world. Second, advances in knowledge and technology helped to make the Age of Exploration possible.

Motives for Exploration

For early explorers, one of the main motives for exploration was the desire to find new trade routes to Asia. By the 1400s, merchants and Crusaders had brought many goods to Europe from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Demand for these goods increased the desire for trade.

Europeans were especially interested in spices from Asia. They had learned to use spices to help preserve food during winter and to cover up the taste of food that was no longer fresh.

Trade with the East, however, was difficult and very expensive. Muslims and Italians controlled the flow of goods. Muslim traders carried goods to the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Italian merchants then brought the goods into Europe. Problems arose when Muslim rulers sometimes closed the trade routes from Asia to Europe. Also, the goods went through many hands, and each trading party raised the price.

European monarchs and merchants wanted to break the hold that Muslims and Italians had on trade. One way to do so was to find a sea route to Asia. Portuguese sailors looked for a route that went around Africa. Christopher Columbus tried to reach Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic.

Other motives also came into play. Many people were excited by the opportunity for new knowledge. Explorers saw the chance to earn fame and glory, as well as wealth. As new lands were discovered, nations wanted to claim the lands’ riches for themselves.

A final motive for exploration was the desire to spread Christianity beyond Europe. Both Protestant and Catholic nations were eager to make new converts. Missionaries of both faiths followed the paths blazed by explorers.

Advances in Knowledge and Technology

The Age of Exploration began during the Renaissance. The Renaissance was a time of new learning. A number of advances during that time made it easier for explorers to venture into the unknown.

One key advance was in cartography, the art and science of mapmaking. In the early 1400s, an Italian scholar translated an ancient book called Guide to Geography from Greek into Latin. The book was written by the thinker Ptolemy (TOL-eh-mee) in the 2nd century C.E. Printed copies of the book inspired new interest in cartography. European mapmakers used Ptolemy’s work as a basis for drawing more accurate maps.

Discoveries by explorers gave mapmakers new information with which to work. The result was a dramatic change in Europeans’ view of the world. By the 1500s, Europeans made globes, showing Earth as a sphere. In 1507, a German cartographer made the first map that clearly showed North and South America as separate from Asia.

In turn, better maps made navigation easier. The most important Renaissance geographer, Gerardus Mercator (mer-KAY-tur), created maps using improved lines of longitude and latitude. Mercator’s mapmaking technique was a great help to navigators.

An improved ship design also helped explorers. By the 1400s, Portuguese and Spanish shipbuilders were making a new type of ship called a caravel. These ships were small, fast, and easy to maneuver. Their special bottoms made it easier for explorers to travel along coastlines where the water was not deep. Caravels also used lateen sails, a triangular style adapted from Muslim ships. These sails could be positioned to take advantage of the wind no matter which way it blew.

Along with better ships, new navigational tools helped sailors travel more safely on the open seas. By the end of the 1400s, the compass was much improved. Sailors used compasses to find their bearing, or direction of travel. The astrolabe helped sailors determine their distance north or south from the equator.

Finally, improved weapons gave Europeans a huge advantage over the people they met in their explorations. Sailors could fire their cannons at targets near the shore without leaving their ships. On land, the weapons of native peoples often were no match for European guns, armor, and horses.

Portugal Begins the Age of Exploration

The Age of Exploration began in Portugal. This small country is located on the Iberian Peninsula. Its rulers sent explorers first to nearby Africa and then around the world.

Key Portuguese Explorers

The major figure in early Portuguese exploration was Prince Henry, the son of King John I of Portugal. Nicknamed “the Navigator,” Prince Henry was not an explorer himself. Instead, he encouraged exploration and planned and directed many important expeditions.

Beginning in about 1418, Henry sent explorers to sea almost every year. He also started a school of navigation where sailors and mapmakers could learn their trades. His cartographers made new maps based on the information ship captains brought back.

Henry’s early expeditions focused on the west coast of Africa. He wanted to continue the Crusades against the Muslims, find gold, and take part in Asian trade.

Gradually, Portuguese explorers made their way farther and farther south. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias became the first European to sail around the southern tip of Africa.

In July 1497, Vasco da Gama set sail with four ships to chart a sea route to India. Da Gama’s ships rounded Africa’s southern tip and then sailed up the east coast of the continent. With the help of a sailor who knew the route to India from there, they were able to across the Indian Ocean.

Da Gama arrived in the port of Calicut, India, in May 1498. There he obtained a load of cinnamon and pepper. On the return trip to Portugal, da Gama lost half of his ships. Still, the valuable cargo he brought back paid for the voyage many times over. His trip made the Portuguese even more eager to trade directly with Indian merchants.

In 1500, Pedro Cabral (kah-BRAHL) set sail for India with a fleet of 13 ships. Cabral first sailed southwest to avoid areas where there are no winds to fill sails. But he sailed so far west that he reached the east coast of present-day Brazil. After claiming this land for Portugal, he sailed back to the east and rounded Africa. Arriving in Calicut, he established a trading post and signed trade treaties. He returned to Portugal in June 1501.

The Impact of Portuguese Exploration

Portugal’s explorers changed Europeans’ understanding of the world in several ways. They explored the coasts of Africa and brought back gold and enslaved Africans. They also found a sea route to India. From India, explorers brought back spices, such as cinnamon and pepper, and other goods, such as porcelain, incense, jewels, and silk.

After Cabral’s voyage, the Portuguese took control of the eastern sea routes to Asia. They seized the seaport of Goa (GOH-uh) in India and built forts there. They attacked towns on the east coast of Africa. They also set their sights on the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, in what is now Indonesia. In 1511, they attacked the main port of the islands and killed the Muslim defenders. The captain of this expedition explained what was at stake. If Portugal could take the spice trade away from Muslim traders, he wrote, then Cairo and Makkah “will be ruined.” As for Italian merchants, “Venice will receive no spices unless her merchants go to buy them in Portugal.”

Portugal’s control of the Indian Ocean broke the hold Muslims and Italians had on Asian trade. With the increased competition, prices of Asian goods—such as spices and fabrics—dropped, and more people in Europe could afford to buy them.

During the 1500s, Portugal also began to establish colonies in Brazil. The native people of Brazil suffered greatly as a result. The Portuguese forced them to work on sugar plantations, or large farms. They also tried to get them to give up their religion and convert to Christianity. Missionaries sometimes tried to protect them from abuse, but countless numbers of native peoples died from overwork and from European diseases. Others fled into the interior of Brazil.

The colonization of Brazil also had a negative impact on Africa. As the native population of Brazil decreased, the Portuguese needed more laborers. Starting in the mid–1500s, they turned to Africa. Over the next 300 years, ships brought millions of enslaved West Africans to Brazil.

Later Spanish Exploration and Conquest

After Columbus’s voyages, Spain was eager to claim even more lands in the New World. To explore and conquer “New Spain,” the Spanish turned to adventurers called conquistadors , or conquerors. The conquistadors were allowed to establish settlements and seize the wealth of natives. In return, the Spanish government claimed some of the treasures they found.

Key Explorers

In 1519, Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés (er–NAHN koor–TEZ), with and a band of fellow conquistadors, set out to explore present-day Mexico. Native people in Mexico told Cortés about the Aztecs. The Aztecs had built a large and wealthy empire in Mexico.

With the help of a native woman named Malinche (mah–LIN–chay), Cortés and his men reached the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán (tay–nawh–tee–TLAHN). The Aztec ruler, Moctezuma II, welcomed the Spanish with great honors. Determined to break the power of the Aztecs, Cortés took Moctezuma hostage.

Cortés now controlled the Aztec capital. In 1520, he left the city of Tenochtitlán to battle a rival Spanish force. While he was away, a group of conquistadors attacked the Aztecs in the middle of a religious celebration. In response, the Aztecs rose up against the Spanish. The soldiers had to fight their way out of the city. Many of them were killed during the escape.

The following year, Cortés mounted a siege of the city, aided by thousands of native allies who resented Aztec rule. The Aztecs ran out of food and water, yet they fought desperately. After several months, the Spanish captured the Aztec leader, and Aztec resistance collapsed. The city was in ruins. The mighty Aztec Empire was no more.

Four factors contributed to the defeat of the Aztec Empire. First, Aztec legend had predicted the arrival of a white-skinned god. When Cortés appeared, the Aztecs welcomed him because they thought he might be this god, Quetzalcoatl. Second, Cortés was able to make allies of the Aztecs’ enemies. Third, their horses, armor, and superior weapons gave the Spanish an advantage in battle. Fourth, the Spanish carried diseases that caused deadly epidemics among the Aztecs.

Aztec riches inspired Spanish conquistadors to continue their search for gold. In the 1520s, Francisco Pizarro received permission from Spain to conquer the Inca Empire in South America. The Incas ruled an empire that extended throughout most of the Andes Mountains. By the time Pizarro arrived, however, a civil war had weakened that empire.

In April 1532, the Incan emperor, Atahualpa (ah–tuh–WAHL–puh), greeted the Spanish as guests. Following Cortés’s example, Pizarro launched a surprise attack and kidnapped the emperor. Although the Incas paid a roomful of gold and silver in ransom, the Spanish killed Atahualpa. Without their leader, the Inca Empire quickly fell apart.

The Impact of Later Spanish Exploration and Conquest

The explorations and conquests of the conquistadors transformed Spain. The Spanish rapidly expanded foreign trade and overseas colonization. For a time, wealth from the Americas made Spain one of the world’s richest and most powerful countries.

Besides gold and silver, ships from the Americas brought corn and potatoes to Spain. These crops grew well in Europe. The increased food supply helped spur a population boom. Conquistadors also introduced Europeans to new luxury items, such as chocolate.

In the long run, however, gold and silver from the Americas hurt Spain’s economy. Inflation, or an increase in the supply of money, led to a loss of its value. It now cost people a great deal more to buy goods with the devalued money. Additionally, monarchs and the wealthy spent their riches on luxuries, instead of building Spain’s industries.

The Spanish conquests had a major impact on the New World. The Spanish introduced new animals to the Americas, such as horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs. But they destroyed two advanced civilizations. The Aztecs and Incas lost much of their culture along with their wealth. Many became laborers for the Spanish. Millions died from disease. In Mexico, for example, there were about twenty-five million native people in 1519. By 1605, this number had dwindled to one million.

Other European Explorations

Spain and Portugal dominated the early years of exploration. But rulers in rival nations wanted their own share of trade and new lands in the Americas. Soon England, France, and the Netherlands all sent expeditions to North America.

Key Explorers

Explorers often sailed for any country that would pay for their voyages. The Italian sailor John Cabot made England’s first voyage of discovery. Cabot believed he could reach the Indies by sailing northwest across the Atlantic. In 1497, he landed in what is now Canada. Believing he had reached the northeast coast of Asia, he claimed the region for England.

Another Italian, Giovanni da Verrazano, sailed under the French flag. In 1524, Verrazano explored the Atlantic coast from present-day North Carolina to Canada. His voyage gave France its first claims in the Americas. Unfortunately, on a later trip to the West Indies, he was killed by native people.

Sailing on behalf of the Netherlands, English explorer Henry Hudson journeyed to North America in 1609. Hudson wanted to find a northwest passage through North America to the Pacific Ocean. Such a water route would allow ships to sail from Europe to Asia without entering waters controlled by Spain.

Hudson did not find a northwest passage, but he did explore what is now called the Hudson River in present-day New York State. His explorations were the basis of the Dutch claim to the area. Dutch settlers established the colony of New Amsterdam on Manhattan in 1625.

In 1610, Hudson tried again, this time under the flag of his native England. Searching farther north, he sailed into a large bay in Canada that is now called Hudson Bay. He spent three months looking for an outlet to the Pacific, but there was none.

After a hard winter in the icy bay, some of Hudson’s crew rebelled. They set him, his son, and seven loyal followers adrift in a small boat. Hudson and the other castaways were never seen again. Hudson’s voyage, however, laid the basis for later English claims in Canada.

The Impact of European Exploration of North America

Unlike the conquistadors in the south, northern explorers did not find gold and other treasure. As a result, there was less interest, at first, in starting colonies in that region.

Canada’s shores did offer rich resources of cod and other fish. Within a few years of Cabot’s trip, fishing boats regularly visited the region. Europeans were also interested in trading with Native Americans for whale oil and otter, beaver, and fox furs. By the early 1600s, Europeans had set up a number of trading posts in North America.

English exploration also contributed to a war between England and Spain. As English ships roamed the seas, some captains, nicknamed “sea dogs,” began raiding Spanish ports and ships to take their gold. Between 1577 and 1580, sea dog Francis Drake sailed around the world. He also claimed part of what is now California for England, ignoring Spain’s claims to the area.

The English raids added to other tensions between England and Spain. In 1588, King Philip II of Spain sent an armada, or fleet of ships, to invade England. With 130 heavily armed vessels and about thirty thousand men, the Spanish Armada seemed an unbeatable force. But the smaller English fleet was fast and well armed. Their guns had a longer range, so they could attack from a safe distance. After several battles, a number of the armada’s ships had been sunk or driven ashore. The rest turned around but faced terrible storms on the way home. Fewer than half of the ships made it back to Spain.

The defeat of the Spanish Armada marked the start of a shift in power in Europe. By 1630, Spain no longer dominated the continent. With Spain’s decline, other countries—particularly England and the Netherlands—took a more active role in trade and colonization around the world.

Bartolomé de Las Casas: From Conquistador to Protector of the Indians

Bartolomé de las Casas experienced a remarkable change of heart during his lifetime. At first, he participated in Spain’s conquest and settlement of the Americas. Later in life, he criticized and condemned it. For more than fifty years, he fought for the rights of the defeated and enslaved peoples of Latin America. How did this conquistador become known as “the Protector of the Indians?”

Bartolomé de las Casas (bahr–taw–law–MEY day las KAH-sahs) ran through the streets of Seville, Spain, on March 31, 1493. He was just nine years old and on his way to see Christopher Columbus, who had just returned from his first voyage to the Americas. Bartolomé wanted to see him and the “Indians,” as they were called, as they paraded to the church.

Bartolomé’s father and uncles were looking forward to seeing Columbus, as well. Like many other people in Europe during the late 1400s, they saw the Americas as a place of opportunity. They signed up to join Columbus on his second voyage. Two years after that, Bartolomé followed in his father’s footsteps and voyaged to the Americas himself. He sailed to the island of Hispaniola, the present-day nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Las Casas as Conquistador and Priest

One historian wrote that when Las Casas first arrived in the Americas, he was “not much better than the rest of the gentlemen-adventurers who rushed to the New World, bent on speedily acquiring fortunes.” He supported the Spanish conquest of the Americas and was a loyal servant of Spain’s king and queen, Ferdinand and Isabella. Once in Hispaniola, Las Casas helped to manage his father’s farms and businesses. Enslaved Indians worked in the family’s fields and mines.

Spanish conquistadors wanted to gain wealth and glory in the Americas. They had another goal, as well—to convert Indians to Christianity. Las Casas shared this goal. So, the young conquistador went back to Europe to become a priest. He returned to Hispaniola sometime in 1509 or 1510. There he began to teach and baptize the Indians. At the same time, he continued to manage Indian slaves.

On a Path to Change

History often seems to be made up of moments when someone has a change of heart. The path that he or she has been traveling takes a dramatic turn. It often appears to others that this change is sudden. In reality, a series of events usually causes a person to make the decision to change. One such event happened to Las Casas in 1511.

Roman Catholics in Hispaniola witnessed horrible acts of cruelty and injustice against the native peoples of the West Indies at the hands of the Spanish conquistadors. One of the priests there, Father Antonio de Montesinos, spoke out against the harsh treatment of the Indians in a sermon delivered to a Spanish congregation in Hispaniola in 1511. De Montesinos said:

You are in mortal sin . . . for the cruelty and tyranny you use in dealing with these innocent people . . . by what right or justice do you keep these Indians in such a cruel and horrible servitude? . . . Why do you keep them so oppressed? . . . Are not these people also human beings?

One historian called this sermon “the first cry for justice in America” on behalf of the Indians. Las Casas recorded the sermon in one of his books, History of the Indies . No one is sure if he was present at the sermon or heard about it later. But one thing seems certain; even though he must have seen some of the same injustices described by de Montesinos, Las Casas continued to support the Spanish conquest and the goals of conquering new lands, earning wealth, and converting Indians to Christianity.

However, in 1513, something happened that changed Las Casas’s life. He took part in the conquest of Cuba. As a reward, he received more Indian slaves and an encomienda , or land grant. But he also witnessed a massacre. The Spanish killed thousands of innocent Indians, including women and children, who had welcomed the Spanish into their town. In his book The Devastation of the Indies: A Brief Account , he wrote, “I saw here cruelty on a scale no living being has ever seen or expects to see.”

A Turning Point

The Cuban massacre in 1513 and other scenes of violence against Indians Las Casas witnessed finally pushed him to a turning point. He could no longer believe that the Spanish conquest was right. Before, he had thought that only some individuals acted cruelly and inhumanely. Now he saw that the whole Spanish system of conquest brought only death and suffering to the people of the West Indies.

On August 15, 1514, when he was about thirty years old, Las Casas gave a startling sermon. He asked his congregation to free their enslaved Indians. He also said that they had to return or pay for everything they had taken away from the Indians. He refused to forgive the colonists’ sins in confession if they used Indians as forced labor. Then he announced that he would give up his ownership of Indians and the business he had inherited from his father.

Protector of the Indians

For the rest of his life, Las Casas fought for the rights of the Indians in the Americas. He traveled back and forth to Europe working on their behalf. He talked with popes and kings, debated enemies, and wrote letters and books on the subject.

Las Casas influenced both a pope and a king. In 1537, Pope Paul III wrote that Indians were free human beings, not slaves, and that anyone who enslaved them could be thrown out of the Catholic Church. In 1542, Holy Roman emperor Charles V, who ruled Spain, issued the New Laws, banning slavery in Spanish America.

In 1550 and 1551, Las Casas also took part in a famous debate against Juan Ginés Sepúlveda in Spain. Sepúlveda tried to prove that Indians were “natural slaves.” Many Spanish, especially those hungry for wealth and glory, shared this belief. Las Casas passionately argued against Sepúlveda with the same message he would deliver over and over throughout his life. Las Casas argued that:

• Indians, like all human beings, have rights to life and liberty. • The Spanish stole Indian land through bloody and unjust wars. • There is no such thing as a good encomienda. • Indians have the right to make war against the Spanish.

Las Casas died in 1566. The voices and the deeds of the conquistadors slowly eroded the memory of his words. But in other European countries, people began to read The Devastation of the Indies: A Brief Account . As time passed, more of Las Casas’s works were published. In the centuries to follow, fighters for justice took up his name as a symbol for their own struggles for human rights.

The Legacy of Las Casas

Today, historians remember Las Casas as the first person to actively oppose the oppression of Indians and to call for an end to Indian slavery. Later, in the 19th century, Las Casas inspired both Father Hidalgo, the father of Mexican independence, and Simón Bolívar, the liberator of South America.

In the 1960s, Mexican American César Chávez learned about injustice at an early age. His family worked as migrants, moving from place to place to pick crops. With barely an eighth-grade education, Chávez organized workers, formed a union, and won better pay and better working and living conditions. Speaking for the powerless, he rallied people to his side with his cry, “Sí, Se Puede!” (“Yes, We Can!”) Just as the name “Chávez” will always be connected to the struggles of the farm workers, the name “Las Casas” will forever be connected to any fight for human rights and dignity for the native people of the Americas.

The Impact of Exploration on Europe

The voyages of explorers had a dramatic impact on European commerce and economies. As a result of exploration, more goods, raw materials, and precious metals entered Europe. Mapmakers carefully charted trade routes and the locations of newly discovered lands. By the 1700s, European ships traveled trade routes that spanned the globe. New centers of commerce developed in the port cities of the Netherlands and England.

Exploration and trade contributed to the growth of capitalism. This economic system is based on investing money for profit. Merchants gained great wealth by trading and selling goods from around the world. Many of them used their profits to finance still more voyages and to start trading companies. Other people began investing money in these companies and shared in the profits. Soon, this type of shared ownership was applied to other kinds of businesses.

Another aspect of the capitalist economy concerned the way people exchanged goods and services. Money became more important as precious metals flowed into Europe. Instead of having a fixed price, items were sold for prices that were set by the open market. This meant that the price of an item depended on how much of the item was available and how many people wanted to buy it. Sellers could charge high prices for scarce items that many people wanted. If the supply of an item was large and few people wanted it, sellers lowered the price. This kind of system, based on supply and demand, is called a market economy.

Labor, too, was given a money value. Increasingly, people began working for hire instead of directly providing for their own needs. Merchants hired people to work from their own cottages, turning raw materials from overseas into finished products. This growing cottage industry was especially important in the manufacture of textiles. Often, entire families worked at home, spinning wool into thread or weaving thread into cloth. Cottage industry was a step toward the system of factories operated by capitalists in later centuries.

A final result of exploration was a new economic policy called mercantilism. European rulers believed that building up wealth was the best way to increase a nation’s power. For this reason, they tried to reduce the products they bought from other countries and to increase the items they sold.

Having colonies was a key part of this policy. Nations looked to their colonies to supply raw materials for their industries at home. These industries turned the raw materials into finished goods that they could sell back to their colonies, as well as to other countries. To protect this valuable trade with their colonies, rulers often forbade colonists from trading with other nations.

Originally published by Flores World History , free and open access, republished for educational, non-commercial purposes.

Age of European Exploration and Conquest Essay

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Introduction

Factors leading to the age of european exploration and conquest.

Many scholars refer to the 15th and 16th centuries as the age of exploration and discovery. These explorations were mainly spearheaded by European nations, with the Spanish and the Portuguese setting sail in the 15th century. The British, the French, and the Dutch later joined these expeditions in the 16th century (Pyne, 2021).

The factors that led to the Age of Exploration are many and differ from one country to another. Researchers have simplified the reasons for the conquest to search for God, Gold, and glory. Although the five European nations that were mainly active in the exploration had many differences, they also had a few similarities. One of the major similarities is that they all sought to gain an economic advantage in their countries. Admittedly, scientific culture and curiosity, the need for glory, seeking to spread religion, and the desire for economic dominance, are the main factors that resulted in the rise of the Age of Exploration in Europe.

One of the major factors that made the four European nations leave their motherlands and go to unknown lands was to spread religion. When the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople in 1493, the trade route to take Christianity to Asia was blocked. The Europeans were therefore forced to take sail if they were to move outside their continent. This consequently led to the improvement of sailing technology, and by the 14th century, many Europeans were capable of sailing as far as the Americas (James West Davidson et al., 2012). The Spanish are not to have justified their migration and exploration adventures by arguing they were spreading the religion to different parts. The explorers also used religion to ensure that they were not faced with fights in the regions they decided to explore.

Europeans began their exploration adventures in the 15th century because they hoped that they could find something of economic value during their sails. Substances of economic importance that they were after included enslaved Africans, American Metals, and Asian spices, among other useful resources. They would collect these resources and take them back to their native homes, where they would sell them at a premium. This made trade to be a major facilitator of exploration, although it was not the only factor (Sun, 2022). This is why the explorers became one of the richest people in Europe during this era. Notable among the explorers is Vasco da Gama, who ended up being made the Governor of India after voyages across different nations (Goldberg, 2017). Economic dominance was one of the major factors that promoted exploration by the European nations.

People joined exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries to search for glory. Explorers were respected people in society, and those brave enough to undertake the expeditions were viewed as local heroes. Some people who gained fame from exploration included Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan, and Christopher Columbus (James West Davidson et al., 2012; Pyne, 2021). The nations that also discovered new unexplored regions proved that they had better tools and weaponry when compared to their neighbors. During the two centuries under discussion, the four nations competed to see who was better and the level of dominance was always constantly changing.

Scientific and Cultural Curiosity

Europeans in the 16th century were curious to discover new things, including visiting unknown lands. This scientific and cultural curiosity encouraged them to try unknown lands and socialize with new people to discover their culture. Most explorers were keen to record their interactions with the people they came across, revealing their huge interest in understanding new vultures. The explorers were also hopeful they would get scientific ideas from the explorations that would facilitate their careers.

Comparison between the British and Portuguese Exploration

The motives for European exploration in British and Portuguese were varied. The British mostly focused on accessing raw materials in the explored countries (James West Davidson et al., 2012). On the other hand, the Portuguese were more focused on ensuring that they controlled the land and sea trade routes (Paine, 2020). The Portuguese were also keener to build a legacy on the areas they had visited, whereas reals the British did not seek to build monuments in the regions they had colonized. During this period, the British were eager to create a rivalry with fellow European nations for dominance, while the Portuguese were more neutral.

The factors that led to the rise of the Age of Exploration in Europe included scientific culture and curiosity, the need for glory, the desire to spread religion, and the desire for economic dominance. Most countries were motivated by almost identical reasons, but as discussed above, minor differences included the type of glory sought. The exploration in the two centuries discussed above helped the nations advance their military technology and prowess not witnessed before. It also led to the improvement of other technologies, such as the discovery of the world map.

Goldberg, W. M. (2017). European exploration of the Pacific during the Age of discovery. The Geography, Nature, and History of the Tropical Pacific and Its Islands , 57–76. Web.

James West Davidson, Delay, B., Christine Leigh Heyman, & Al, E. (2012). U.S.: A narrative history. Volume 1, to 1865 . Mcgraw-Hill.

Paine, L. (2020). Rediscovering the age of discovery. In C. Jowitt, C. Lambert, & S. Mentz (Eds.), The Routledge companion to marine and maritime worlds, 1400–1800 (pp. 50-66). Routledge.

Pyne, S. J. (2021). The great ages of discovery: How western civilization learned about a wider world . University of Arizona Press.

Sun, Q. (2022). Correlating European age of discovery through Asiatic trade in 15th – 18th century . Atlantis Press. Web.

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Introduction
Exploration of the Atlantic coastlines
The exploration of the coastlines of the Indian Ocean and the China Sea
The land routes of Central Asia
The sea route east by south to Cathay
The sea route west to Cathay

The northern passages

Eastward voyages to the pacific, westward voyages to the pacific.

Polar regions

The emergence of the modern world

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Table Of Contents

The centuries that have elapsed since the Age of Discovery have seen the end of dreams of easy routes to the East by the north, the discovery of Australasia and Antarctica in place of Terra Australis Incognita , and the identification of the major features of the continental interiors.

While, as in earlier centuries, traders and missionaries often proved themselves also to be intrepid explorers, in this period of geographical discovery the seeker after knowledge for its own sake played a greater part than ever before.

Roger Barlow, in his Briefe Summe of Geographie, written in 1540–41, asserted that “the shortest route, the northern, has been reserved by Divine Providence for England.”

The concept of a Northeast Passage was at first favoured by the English: it was thought that, although its entry was in high latitudes, it “turning itself, trendeth towards the southeast…and stretcheth directly to Cathay.” It was also argued that the cold lands bordering this route would provide a much needed market for English cloth. In 1553 a trading company, later known as the Muscovy Company , was formed with Sebastian Cabot as its governor. Under its auspices numerous expeditions were sent out. In 1553 an expedition set sail under the command of Sir Hugh Willoughby ; Willoughby’s ship was lost, but the exploration continued under the leadership of its pilot general, Richard Chancellor . Chancellor and his men wintered in the White Sea, and next spring “after much adoe at last came to Mosco.” Between 1557 and 1560, another English voyager, Anthony Jenkinson, following up this opening, traveled from the White Sea to Moscow, then to the Caspian, and so on to Bukhara, thus reaching the old east–west trade routes by a new way. Soon, attempts to find a passage to Cathay were replaced by efforts to divert the trade of the ancient silk routes from their traditional outlets on the Black Sea to new northern outlets on the White Sea .

The Dutch next took up the search for the passage. The Dutch navigator William Barents made three expeditions between 1594 and 1597 (when he died in Novaya Zemlya , modern Russia). The English navigator Henry Hudson , in the employ of the Dutch, discovered between 1605 and 1607 that ice blocked the way both east and west of Svalbard (Spitsbergen). Between 1725 and 1729 and from 1734 to 1743, a series of expeditions inspired by the Danish-Russian explorer Vitus Bering attempted the passage from the eastern end, but it was not until 1878–79 that Baron Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld , the Finnish-Swedish scientist and explorer, sailed through it.

The Northwest Passage , on the other hand, also had its strong supporters. In 1576 Humphrey Gilbert , the English soldier and navigator, argued that “Mangia [South China], Quinzay [Hangzhou] and the Moluccas are nearer to us by the North West than by the North East,” while John Dee in 1577 set out the view that the Strait of Anian, separating America from Asia, led southwest “along the backeside of Newfoundland.” In 1534 Jacques Cartier , the French navigator, explored the St. Lawrence estuary. In 1576 the English explorer Sir Martin Frobisher found the bay named after him. Between 1585 and 1587, the English navigator John Davis explored Cumberland Sound and the western shore of Greenland to 73° N; although he met “a mighty block of ice,” he reported that “the passage is most probable and the execution easy.” In 1610 Henry Hudson sailed through Hudson Strait to Hudson Bay , confident, before he was set adrift by a mutinous crew, that success was at hand. Between 1612 and 1615, three English voyagers—Robert Bylot, Sir Thomas Button , and William Baffin —thoroughly explored the bay, returning convinced that there was no strait out of it leading westward. As in the quest for a Northeast Passage, interest turned from the search for a route leading to the riches of the East to the exploitation of local resources. Englishmen of the Hudson’s Bay Company , founded in 1670 to trade in furs, explored the wide hinterlands of the St. Lawrence estuary and Hudson Bay. Further search for the passage itself did not take place until the 19th century: expeditions led by Sir William Parry (1819–25) and Sir John Franklin (1819–45), as well as more than 40 expeditions sent out to search for Franklin and his party, failed to find the passage. It was left to the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen to be the first to sail through the passage, which he did in 1903–05.

By the end of the 16th century, Portugal in the East held only the ports of Goa and Diu, in India, and Macau , in China. The English dominated the trade of India, and the Dutch that of the East Indies . It was the Dutch, trading on the fringes of the known world, who were the explorers. Victualing their ships at the Cape, they soon learned that, by sailing east for some 3,000 miles (5,000 km) before turning north, they would encounter favourable winds in setting a course toward the Spice Islands (now the Moluccas). Before long, reports were received of landfalls made on an unknown coast; as early as 1618, a Dutch skipper suggested that “this land is a fit point to be made by ships… in order to get a fixed course for Java.” Thereafter, the west coast of Australia was gradually charted: it was identified by some as the coast of the great southern continent shown on Mercator’s map and, by others, as the continent of Loach or Beach mentioned by Marco Polo , interpreted as lying to the south of Malacca (Melaka); Polo, however, was probably describing the Malay Peninsula .

In 1642 a farsighted governor general of the Dutch East India Company , Anthony van Diemen , sent out the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman for the immediate purpose of making an exploratory voyage , but with the ultimate aim of developing trade. Sailing first south then east from Mauritius , Tasman landed on the coast of Tasmania, after which he coasted round the island to the south and, sailing east, discovered the South Island of New Zealand; “We trust that this is the mainland coast of the unknown South land,” he wrote. He sailed north without finding Cook Strait , and, making a sweeping arc on his voyage back to the Dutch port of Batavia (now Jakarta , Indonesia), he discovered the Tonga and the Fiji Islands. In 1644, on a second voyage, he traced the north coast of Australia from Cape York (which he thought to be a part of New Guinea) to the North West Cape.

The earlier European explorers in the Pacific were primarily in search of trade or booty; the later ones were primarily in search of information. The traders, for the most part Spaniards, established land portages from harbours on the Caribbean to harbours on the west coast of Central and South America; from the Pacific coast ports of the Americas, they then set a course westward to the Philippines. Many of their ships crossed and recrossed the Pacific without making a landfall; many islands were found, named, and lost, only to be found again without recognition, renamed, and perhaps lost yet again. In the days before longitude could be accurately fixed, such uncertainty was not surprising.

Some voyages—for example, those of Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira , the Spanish explorer, in 1567 and 1568; Mendaña and the Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernández de Quirós in 1595; Quirós and another Portuguese explorer, Luis de Torres , in 1606—had, among other motives, the purpose of finding the great southern continent. Quirós was sure that in Espíritu Santo in the New Hebrides he had found his goal; he “took possession of the site on which is to be founded the New Jerusalem.” Torres sailed from there to New Guinea and thence to Manila , in the Philippines. In doing so, he coasted the south shore of New Guinea, sailing through Torres Strait, unaware that another continent lay on his left hand.

The English were rivals of the Spaniards in the search for wealth in unknown lands in the Pacific. Two English seamen, Sir Francis Drake and Thomas Cavendish , circumnavigated the world from west to east in 1577 to 1580 and 1586 to 1588, respectively. One of Drake’s avowed objects was the search for Terra Australis. Once he was through Magellan’s straits, however, strong winds made him turn north—perhaps not reluctantly. He then sailed along the coast of Peru, surprising and plundering Spanish ships laden with gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls. His fortune made, Drake continued northward perhaps in search of the Northwest Passage. He explored the west coast of North America to 48° N. He returned south to winter in New Albion (California); the next summer he sailed on the Spanish route to Manila, then returned home by the Cape.

Despite the fact that he participated in several buccaneering voyages, the English seaman William Dampier , who was active in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, may be regarded as the first to travel mainly to satisfy scientific curiosity . He wrote: “I was well satisfied enough knowing that, the further we went, the more knowledge and experience I should get, which was the main thing I regarded.” His book A New Voyage Round the World , published in 1697, further popularized the idea of a great southern continent.

In the late 18th century, the final phase of Pacific exploration occurred. The French sent the explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville to the Pacific in 1768. He appears to have been more of a skeptic than many of his contemporaries, for, while he agreed “that it is difficult to conceive such a number of low islands and almost drowned lands without a continent near them,” at the same time he maintained that “if any considerable land existed hereabouts we could not fail meeting with it.” The British, for their part, commissioned John Byron in 1764 and Samuel Wallis and Phillip Carteret in 1766 “to discover unknown lands and to explore the coast of New Albion.” For all the navigational skill and personal endurance shown by captains and crews, the rewards of these voyages in increasing geographical knowledge were not great. The courses sailed were in the familiar waters of the southern tropics; none was through the dangerous waters of higher latitudes.

Capt. James Cook , the English navigator, in three magnificent voyages at long last succeeded in demolishing the fables about Pacific geography. He was given command of an expedition to observe the transit of the planet Venus at Tahiti on June 3, 1769; with the observation completed, he carried out his instructions to search the area between 40° and 35° S “until you discover it [Terra Australis] or fall in with the eastern side of the land discovered by Tasman and now called New Zealand .” He reached New Zealand, circumnavigated both islands, sailed westward, and on April 19, 1770, made landfall on the eastern coast of Australia. He then turned northward, charting carefully, being well aware of the dangers of the Great Barrier Reef . At Cape York, Cook took possession of the whole eastern coast, to which he gave the name New South Wales . He sailed through Torres Strait , recognizing as he did so that New Guinea was an island. When Cook sailed back to England by Batavia and the Cape, the coastline of the fifth continent was almost complete; only in the south did it still remain unknown. In 1798 to 1799, two British navigators, George Bass and Matthew Flinders , circumnavigated Tasmania , and in 1801–03 Flinders charted the coast of the Great Australian Bight and circumnavigated the continent, thereby proving that there was no strait from the bight to the Gulf of Carpentaria .

In a second voyage, from 1772 to 1775, which in many ways was the greatest of the three, Cook searched systematically for the elusive continent that many still believed might exist. The first summer he examined the area to the south of the Indian Ocean; in the second, he searched the ocean between New Zealand and Cape Horn; and, in the third, the ocean between Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope . He sailed home convinced that the great South Pacific continent of the map makers was a fable.

With the exploration of the Pacific completed, interest in a Northwest Passage revived . In 1778 Cook proceeded to latitude 65° N, but he found no way through the ice barrier either to east or to west. He then sailed south to Hawaii, where he was killed in a dispute with the islanders.

Terra Australis Incognita had disappeared: there was now no unknown landmass in the southern oceans. It was Matthew Flinders who suggested that the fifth continent should be named Australia—a name that had long associations with the South Seas and that accorded well with the names of the other continents.

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The Age Of Exploration - Free Essay Examples and Topic Ideas

The Age of Exploration, also known as the Age of Discovery, was a period in history that spanned from the 15th century to the 17th century. It was a time when European explorers set out to discover new trade routes, expand their territories, and seek out new knowledge and riches in far-off lands. The typical focus of exploration was the discovery of the New World, which ultimately led to the first contacts between Europeans and Indigenous peoples. This era also marked the beginning of the colonization of the Americas, as well as the exploitation of native peoples throughout the world. The Age of Exploration had a profound and lasting impact on the world, changing the course of history and shaping the modern world as we know it today.

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44357-x
Corpus ID: 270389628

Ethical considerations for the age of non-governmental space exploration

Allen Seylani , Aman Singh Galsinh , +18 authors Dana Tulodziecki
Published in Nature Communications 11 June 2024
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Published: 11 June 2024

The Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) and international astronaut biobank

Eliah G. Overbey ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2866-8294 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ,
JangKeun Kim ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8733-9925 1 , 2 ,
Braden T. Tierney ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7533-8802 1 , 2 ,
Jiwoon Park ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0045-1429 1 , 2 ,
Nadia Houerbi 1 , 2 ,
Alexander G. Lucaci 1 , 2 ,
Sebastian Garcia Medina 1 , 2 ,
Namita Damle 1 ,
Deena Najjar ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0009-7950-2866 5 ,
Kirill Grigorev 1 , 2 ,
Evan E. Afshin 1 , 2 ,
Krista A. Ryon 1 ,
Karolina Sienkiewicz 2 , 6 ,
Laura Patras 7 , 8 ,
Remi Klotz ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2100-0635 9 ,
Veronica Ortiz 9 ,
Matthew MacKay 6 ,
Annalise Schweickart ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9691-3741 2 , 6 ,
Christopher R. Chin ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2140-3197 1 ,
Maria A. Sierra 6 ,
Matias F. Valenzuela 10 ,
Ezequiel Dantas ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4934-4632 11 , 12 ,
Theodore M. Nelson ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8600-0444 13 ,
Egle Cekanaviciute ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3306-1806 14 ,
Gabriel Deards 6 ,
Jonathan Foox 1 , 2 ,
S. Anand Narayanan 15 ,
Caleb M. Schmidt 16 , 17 , 18 ,
Michael A. Schmidt 16 , 17 ,
Julian C. Schmidt 16 , 17 ,
Sean Mullane 19 ,
Seth Stravers Tigchelaar 19 ,
Steven Levitte 19 , 20 ,
Craig Westover 1 ,
Chandrima Bhattacharya 6 ,
Serena Lucotti 7 ,
Jeremy Wain Hirschberg 1 ,
Jacqueline Proszynski 1 ,
Marissa Burke ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5647-3358 1 ,
Ashley Kleinman 1 ,
Daniel J. Butler 1 ,
Conor Loy 21 ,
Omary Mzava 21 ,
Joan Lenz 21 ,
Doru Paul 22 ,
Christopher Mozsary 1 ,
Lauren M. Sanders 14 ,
Lynn E. Taylor 23 ,
Chintan O. Patel 24 ,
Sharib A. Khan 24 ,
Mir Suhail 24 ,
Syed G. Byhaqui 24 ,
Burhan Aslam 24 ,
Aaron S. Gajadhar 25 ,
Lucy Williamson 25 ,
Purvi Tandel 25 ,
Qiu Yang 25 ,
Jessica Chu 25 ,
Ryan W. Benz 25 ,
Asim Siddiqui 25 ,
Daniel Hornburg ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6618-7774 25 ,
Kelly Blease 26 ,
Juan Moreno 26 ,
Andrew Boddicker ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7957-8283 26 ,
Junhua Zhao ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0006-7672-1084 26 ,
Bryan Lajoie 26 ,
Ryan T. Scott ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0654-5661 27 ,
Rachel R. Gilbert 27 ,
San-huei Lai Polo 27 ,
Andrew Altomare 26 ,
Semyon Kruglyak 26 ,
Shawn Levy 26 ,
Ishara Ariyapala 28 ,
Joanne Beer ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8583-8467 28 ,
Bingqing Zhang 28 ,
Briana M. Hudson 29 ,
Aric Rininger 29 ,
Sarah E. Church ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7194-4282 29 ,
Afshin Beheshti ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4643-531X 30 , 31 ,
George M. Church ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6232-9969 32 ,
Scott M. Smith ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9313-7900 33 ,
Brian E. Crucian 33 ,
Sara R. Zwart ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8694-0180 34 ,
Irina Matei ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5712-8430 7 , 12 ,
David C. Lyden ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0193-4131 7 , 12 ,
Francine Garrett-Bakelman 35 , 36 ,
Jan Krumsiek ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4734-3791 1 , 2 , 6 ,
Qiuying Chen 37 ,
Dawson Miller 37 ,
Joe Shuga 38 ,
Stephen Williams 38 ,
Corey Nemec ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6566-1753 38 ,
Guy Trudel ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5254-4294 39 , 40 , 41 ,
Martin Pelchat 42 ,
Odette Laneuville ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3124-3892 43 ,
Iwijn De Vlaminck ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6085-7311 21 ,
Steven Gross 37 ,
Kelly L. Bolton 44 ,
Susan M. Bailey ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5595-9364 23 , 45 ,
Richard Granstein 46 ,
David Furman ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3654-9519 10 , 47 , 48 , 49 ,
Ari M. Melnick ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8074-2287 12 , 22 ,
Sylvain V. Costes ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8542-2389 14 ,
Bader Shirah ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6493-2155 50 ,
Anil S. Menon ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6886-3553 34 ,
Jaime Mateus 19 ,
Cem Meydan ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0663-6216 1 , 2 , 22 &
Christopher E. Mason ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1850-1642 1 , 2 , 3 , 51 , 52

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Medical research
Molecular biology

Spaceflight induces molecular, cellular, and physiological shifts in astronauts and poses myriad biomedical challenges to the human body, which are becoming increasingly relevant as more humans venture into space 1-6 . Yet, current frameworks for aerospace medicine are nascent and lag far behind advancements in precision medicine on Earth, underscoring the need for rapid development of space medicine databases, tools, and protocols. Here, we present the Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA), an integrated data and sample repository for clinical, cellular, and multi-omic research profiles from a diverse range of missions, including the NASA Twins Study 7 , JAXA CFE study 8,9 , SpaceX Inspiration4 crew 10-12 , plus Axiom and Polaris. The SOMA resource represents a >10-fold increase in publicly available human space omics data, with matched samples available from the Cornell Aerospace Medicine Biobank. The Atlas includes extensive molecular and physiological profiles encompassing genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and microbiome data sets, which reveal some consistent features across missions, including cytokine shifts, telomere elongation, and gene expression changes, as well as mission-specific molecular responses and links to orthologous, tissue-specific murine data sets. Leveraging the datasets, tools, and resources in SOMA can help accelerate precision aerospace medicine, bringing needed health monitoring, risk mitigation, and countermeasures data for upcoming lunar, Mars, and exploration-class missions.

You have full access to this article via your institution.

A Second Space Age Spanning Omics, Platforms, and Medicine Across Orbits

Single-cell multi-ome and immune profiles of the Inspiration4 crew reveal conserved, cell-type, and sex-specific responses to spaceflight

Collection of biospecimens from the inspiration4 mission establishes the standards for the space omics and medical atlas (SOMA)

Author information, authors and affiliations.

Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA

Eliah G. Overbey, JangKeun Kim, Braden T. Tierney, Jiwoon Park, Nadia Houerbi, Alexander G. Lucaci, Sebastian Garcia Medina, Namita Damle, Kirill Grigorev, Evan E. Afshin, Krista A. Ryon, Christopher R. Chin, Jonathan Foox, Craig Westover, Jeremy Wain Hirschberg, Jacqueline Proszynski, Marissa Burke, Ashley Kleinman, Daniel J. Butler, Christopher Mozsary, Jan Krumsiek, Cem Meydan & Christopher E. Mason

The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA

Eliah G. Overbey, JangKeun Kim, Braden T. Tierney, Jiwoon Park, Nadia Houerbi, Alexander G. Lucaci, Sebastian Garcia Medina, Kirill Grigorev, Evan E. Afshin, Karolina Sienkiewicz, Annalise Schweickart, Jonathan Foox, Jan Krumsiek, Cem Meydan & Christopher E. Mason

BioAstra, Inc, New York, NY, USA

Eliah G. Overbey & Christopher E. Mason

Center for STEM, University of Austin, Austin, TX, USA

Eliah G. Overbey

Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA

Deena Najjar

Tri-Institutional Biology and Medicine program, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA

Karolina Sienkiewicz, Matthew MacKay, Annalise Schweickart, Maria A. Sierra, Gabriel Deards, Chandrima Bhattacharya & Jan Krumsiek

Children’s Cancer and Blood Foundation Laboratories, Departments of Pediatrics and Cell and Developmental Biology, Drukier Institute for Children’s Health, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA

Laura Patras, Serena Lucotti, Irina Matei & David C. Lyden

Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Center of Systems Biology, Biodiversity and Bioresources, Faculty of Biology and Geology, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Laura Patras

Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Remi Klotz, Veronica Ortiz & Min Yu

Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, CA, USA

Matias F. Valenzuela & David Furman

Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA

Ezequiel Dantas

Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA

Ezequiel Dantas, Irina Matei, David C. Lyden & Ari M. Melnick

Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

Theodore M. Nelson

Space Biosciences Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA

Egle Cekanaviciute, Lauren M. Sanders & Sylvain V. Costes

Department of Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

S. Anand Narayanan

Sovaris Aerospace, Boulder, Colorado, USA

Caleb M. Schmidt, Michael A. Schmidt & Julian C. Schmidt

Advanced Pattern Analysis and Human Performance Group, Boulder, Colorado, USA

Department of Systems Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

Caleb M. Schmidt

Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), Hawthorne, CA, USA

Sean Mullane, Seth Stravers Tigchelaar, Steven Levitte & Jaime Mateus

Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA

Steven Levitte

Nancy E. and Peter C. Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA

Conor Loy, Omary Mzava, Joan Lenz & Iwijn De Vlaminck

Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA

Doru Paul, Ari M. Melnick & Cem Meydan

Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

Lynn E. Taylor & Susan M. Bailey

TrialX Inc., New York, NY, USA

Chintan O. Patel, Sharib A. Khan, Mir Suhail, Syed G. Byhaqui & Burhan Aslam

Seer, Inc., Redwood City, CA, USA

Aaron S. Gajadhar, Lucy Williamson, Purvi Tandel, Qiu Yang, Jessica Chu, Ryan W. Benz, Asim Siddiqui & Daniel Hornburg

Element Biosciences, San Diego, CA, USA

Kelly Blease, Juan Moreno, Andrew Boddicker, Junhua Zhao, Bryan Lajoie, Andrew Altomare, Semyon Kruglyak & Shawn Levy

KBR; Space Biosciences Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA

Ryan T. Scott, Rachel R. Gilbert & San-huei Lai Polo

Alamar Biosciences, Inc, 47071 Bayside Parkway, Fremont, CA, USA

Ishara Ariyapala, Joanne Beer & Bingqing Zhang

NanoString Technologies, Seattle, WA, USA

Briana M. Hudson, Aric Rininger & Sarah E. Church

Blue Marble Space Institute of Science; Space Biosciences Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA

Afshin Beheshti

Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA

Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute, Boston, MA, USA

George M. Church

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Johnson Space Center, Human Health and Performance Directorate, Biomedical Research and Environmental Sciences Division, Houston, TX, USA

Scott M. Smith & Brian E. Crucian

University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA

Sara R. Zwart & Anil S. Menon

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

Francine Garrett-Bakelman

Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology & Oncology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

Department of Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA

Qiuying Chen, Dawson Miller & Steven Gross

10x Genomics, Pleasanton, CA, USA

Joe Shuga, Stephen Williams & Corey Nemec

Bone and Joint Research Laboratory, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, 501 Smyth Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Department of Medicine, Division of Physiatry, The Ottawa Hospital, Room 2505G, 505 Smyth Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, 451 Smyth Road, Room 1321, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology, Roger Guindon Hall, Room 4111A, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

Martin Pelchat

Department of Biology, Gendron Hall Room 3-372, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

Odette Laneuville

Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA

Kelly L. Bolton

Cell and Molecular Biology Program, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

Susan M. Bailey

Department of Dermatology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA

Richard Granstein

Cosmica Biosciences Inc., San Francisco, CA, USA

David Furman

Stanford 1000 Immunomes Project, Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

Institute for Research in Translational Medicine, Universidad Austral, CONICET, Pilar, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Department of Neuroscience, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Bader Shirah

The Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine, NY, USA

Christopher E. Mason

WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA

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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Eliah G. Overbey , Cem Meydan or Christopher E. Mason .

Supplementary information

Supplementary information.

This file contains Supplementary Figures 1-3, Supplementary Tables 4 and 9, Supplementary Note 1 and additional references.

Reporting Summary

Supplementary table 1.

Sample Information. Comprehensive list of samples collected from each crew member, at each timepoint, for each assay. Tab 1 is an overview of which samples are present at each timepoint. Tab 2 is an itemized list of each sample, including the number of sequenced DNA/RNA molecules for sequencing assays.

Supplementary Table 2

OSDR Studies. Comprehensive list of prior studies in OSDR for previous assays on human, metagenomic, and metatranscriptomic samples.

Supplementary Table 3

Sequencing and Mass Spectrometry Stats Tables. Sequencing and mass spectrometry statistics for multiome, TCR, BCR, cfRNA, dRNA, and proteomics assays.

Supplementary Table 5

cfRNA Calculations. Tissue of origin analysis from cfRNA sequencing. Tab 1 contains fractions of cell type specific RNA enrichment. Tab 2 contains comparisons between timepoints.

Supplementary Table 6

Recovery Profile Pathways. Overrepresented KEGG pathways during recovery from spaceflight in PBMCs. Tabs are split for CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, CD14+ monocyte and CD16+ monocytes.

Supplementary Table 7

Metagenome and Metatranscriptome CVs. Species-level CV calculations across crew members for metagenomic and metatranscriptomic samples from oral, nasal, and skin swab samples.

Supplementary Table 8

Human Omics CVs. Gene/analyte-level CV calculations across crew members for NULISAseq, EVP proteomic, plasma proteomic, metabolomic, dRNA-seq and short read RNA-seq assays. GSEA pathway enrichment is calculated for pre-flight, post-flight (R+1), and recovery time intervals.

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Overbey, E.G., Kim, J., Tierney, B.T. et al. The Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) and international astronaut biobank. Nature (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07639-y

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Accepted : 31 May 2024

Published : 11 June 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07639-y

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The Age of Exploration
After the age of the Viking Norsemen explorations, the Age of Exploration started at around the fifteenth century until the seventeenth century. Occasionally, some historians refer to this period as the Age of Discovery. It refers to the period when "Europeans began exploring the world by sea in search of trading partners, new goods, and new ...
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Updated on May 05, 2024. The era known as the Age of Exploration, sometimes called the Age of Discovery, officially began in the early 15th century and lasted through the 17th century. The period is characterized as a time when Europeans began exploring the world by sea in search of new trading routes, wealth, and knowledge.
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European exploration - Age of Discovery, Voyages, Expansion: In the 100 years from the mid-15th to the mid-16th century, a combination of circumstances stimulated men to seek new routes, and it was new routes rather than new lands that filled the minds of kings and commoners, scholars and seamen. First, toward the end of the 14th century, the vast empire of the Mongols was breaking up; thus ...
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The age is also recognized for the first English voyage around the world by Sir Francis Drake (ca. 1540-1596), who claimed the San Francisco Bay for Queen Elizabeth; Vasco da Gama's (ca. 1460-1524) voyage to India, making the Portuguese the first Europeans to sail to that country and leading to the exploration of the west coast of Africa ...
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The Impact of Exploration on Europe. The voyages of explorers had a dramatic impact on European commerce and economies. As a result of exploration, more goods, raw materials, and precious metals entered Europe. Mapmakers carefully charted trade routes and the locations of newly discovered lands.
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Many scholars refer to the 15th and 16th centuries as the age of exploration and discovery. These explorations were mainly spearheaded by European nations, with the Spanish and the Portuguese setting sail in the 15th century. The British, the French, and the Dutch later joined these expeditions in the 16th century (Pyne, 2021).
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Introduction. The Age of Exploration, spanning roughly from the 15th to the 17th century, marks a pivotal era in human history. This period, characterized by European global exploration, not only reshaped the world's geographical understanding but also had profound implications on global trade, cultural exchanges, and the eventual shaping of the modern world.
PDF The European Voyages of Exploration: Introduction
The European Age of Exploration developed alongside the Renaissance. Both periods in Western history acted as transitional moments between the Middle Ages and the early modern period. Competition between burgeoning European empires, such as Spain and England, fueled the evolution and advancement of overseas exploration.
European exploration
European exploration - Age of Discovery, Colonization, Globalization: The centuries that have elapsed since the Age of Discovery have seen the end of dreams of easy routes to the East by the north, the discovery of Australasia and Antarctica in place of Terra Australis Incognita, and the identification of the major features of the continental interiors. While, as in earlier centuries, traders ...
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The Age of Exploration, or Age of Discovery, is one of the most important events in the history of the western world. It began in the early 15th century and continued until the end of the 17th century, and involved European explorers using their navigational skills to travel and explore the world. As an event it would lead to transformative ...
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The Age of Exploration Essay. The desire to explore the unknown has been a driving force in human history since the dawn of time. From the earliest documented accounts, ancient civilizations have explored the world around them. Early adventures were motivated by religious beliefs, a desire for conquest, the need for trade, and an unsatisfying ...
The 3 Gs Age Of Exploration: [Essay Example], 695 words
The Age of Exploration, also known as the Age of Discovery, was a period in history that saw European sailors and explorers travel to distant lands in search of new trade routes, riches, and knowledge. This era, which spanned from the 15th to the 17th centuries, was characterized by three main motivations known as the 3 Gs: God, Gold, and Glory.
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The Age of Exploration was a time period that has had significant influences in the modern world. It was the moment in which Europe was brought out of the Dark Ages and into an era of discovery. The risks taken within the 15th and 18th century allowed both positive and negative outcomes to be introduced to the European Exploration.
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CAPT-Style Document-Based Persuasive Essay THE ISSUE European discoveries, conquests, and settlements throughout the world from 1400 to 1700 C.E. explain why the era is famously known as the Age of Exploration. Many of the individuals who accomplished these feats of adventure and exploration, including Columbus, Magellan, and Cortes, have names ...
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The Age Of Exploration - Free Essay Examples and Topic Ideas . The Age of Exploration, also known as the Age of Discovery, was a period in history that spanned from the 15th century to the 17th century. It was a time when European explorers set out to discover new trade routes, expand their territories, and seek out new knowledge and riches in ...
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China, Europe, and the Age of Exploration. From about 500 to 1500ce, China and India were considered the most popular and wealthiest countries. They participated in trading, where silk, spices, and porcelain were their main trading goods (Thubron). The urge to expand their trade to other parts of the world, such as Europe, led to establishment ...
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The document provides instructions for an essay assignment asking students to argue which European nation from the Age of Exploration was most successful and why. Students must write a 5-paragraph essay consisting of an introduction with a thesis statement, three body paragraphs with analysis and evidence supporting their position, and a conclusion. They must use at least three sources to ...
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The 'Age of Exploration' is the period between the 14th-16th century. It is known for the European exploration into other parts of the world. The Age of Exploration is the period when European countries ventured into unknown territories to find spice routes, to set up trade routes with the East, to find new wealth in the form of gold and ...
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Essay On European Age Of Exploration. Improved Essays. 1060 Words. 5 Pages. Open Document. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. Show More. The European Age Of Exploration. There are two era's which led to a great deal of change in the world, these two ages are known as the Age Of Exploration, and the Protestant Reformation.
Free Essay: Impact of the Age of Exploration
Impact of the Age of Exploration. The Age of Exploration can be seen as a link between the Middle Ages and the Modern Era, starting during the early 1400s through the early 1600s, when Europeans ventured to areas beyond the horizon in search of new trade routes to feed the growing capitalism of Europe. The Age of Exploration was an essential ...
Ethical considerations for the age of non-governmental space exploration
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44357-x Corpus ID: 270389628; Ethical considerations for the age of non-governmental space exploration @article{Seylani2024EthicalCF, title={Ethical considerations for the age of non-governmental space exploration}, author={Allen Seylani and Aman Singh Galsinh and Alexia Tasoula and Anu R I and Andrea Camera and Jean Calleja-Agius and Joseph Borg and Chirag Goel and ...
The Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) and international ...
Spaceflight induces molecular, cellular, and physiological shifts in astronauts and poses myriad biomedical challenges to the human body, which are becoming increasingly relevant as more humans ...

What Was the Age of Exploration?

The Birth of the Age of Exploration

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Salvator Mundi

The Celestial Map- Northern Hemisphere

Astronomical table clock

Astronomicum Caesareum

Mirror clock

Portable diptych sundial

Celestial globe with clockwork

The Celestial Globe-Southern Hemisphere

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Causes and Impacts of the European Age of Exploration

Introduction

The Causes of European Exploration

Portugal Begins the Age of Exploration

Later Spanish Exploration and Conquest

Other European Explorations

Bartolomé de Las Casas: From Conquistador to Protector of the Indians

The Impact of Exploration on Europe

Age of European Exploration and Conquest Essay

Introduction

Scientific and Cultural Curiosity

Comparison between the British and Portuguese Exploration

The northern passages

The emergence of the modern world

The 3 Gs Age of Exploration

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Ethical considerations for the age of non-governmental space exploration

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