EXPLORATION

• By the early 1400s, Europeans were ready to leave their borders.

• The Renaissance brought new feelings of adventure and courage…along with education!

Prior to 1400s:

• little exploration except with the Muslim World

• MARCO POLO

• 1275- Italian Trader• -reached China!

Why Explore?

• “God, glory, and gold”: Spread Christianity, fame, Wealth

After Renaissance…

• Europeans want to learn and trade!

• #1 Reason: Sources of New Wealth!

• The trade of spices and other luxury goods from Asia fueled the need to find new sea routes to Asia!

• Italy had a stronghold on Asian and Middle Eastern Trade with its location.

TECHNOLOGY

• CARAVEL: sturdier vessel with triangular sails–Can sail against the wind

• NAVIGATION: Astrolabe: brass circle with rings marking off the degrees. The rings could measure latitude and determine how far north or south the ship was from the Equator.

• Magnetic Compass

PORTUGAL LEADS THE WAY• 1st European country to establish

trading outposts along the West Coast of Africa

• Had strong government support of exploration

SPAIN

• envied Portugal

• 1492: Italian Sea Captain: CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS convinced the Spanish Monarchs to finance his expedition.

• NIÑA, PINTA, and the SANTA MARIA: 1492

• Called inhabitants Los Indios (Indians)

• Claimed the land for Spain

• “Hispaniola” (D.R./Haiti)

• Columbus went over 4 times, 1 as an explorer, and 3 times as an Empire builder!

• The Spanish aimed to build COLONIES: lands controlled by another nation

AMERIGO VESPUCCI

• Italian

• financed by Portugal

• coast of South America and

• determined the land was not Asia

• New World! …named America (after him)

Vasco Núñez de Balboa• Spanish

• crossed over Panama

• 1st European - Pacific Ocean!

Ferdinand Magellan

• Portugal

• southern tip of S. America.

• died in the Philippines

• crew returned to Spain (3 years)• 1st to circumnavigate the globe! (1522)

OTHER NATIONS WANT INVOLVEMENT

• Dutch East India Company:

• Netherlands

• Trade in India (Portugal had dominated)

• Pushed out English as well.

• 1600: owned the largest fleet in the world.

• FRANCE & BRITAIN

• By 1700s, also had trading posts in Asia.

• Ports / trade areas only

• Asia remained relatively unaffected by European Influence.

• Few scholars openly challenged the accepted theories of the past

• GEOCENTRIC THEORY

– Earth - center of the universe, everything else moved around the Earth.

– Supported by Aristotle and Ptolemy (Greek)

Before the Scientific Revolution…

SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

• Mid-1500s, new ideas challenged old

• …called the scientific revolution!

• Brought forth by exploration and learning done during the Renaissance

• Astronomy: the study of stars, planets, and other heavenly bodies

COPERNICUS• On the Revolutions of the

Heavenly Bodies

• HELIOCENTRIC THEORY: –sun is the center

of the universe

JOHANNES KEPLER• planets move in

elliptical orbits

• (not circles)

• Laws of planetary motion

• Solar System

GALILEO GALILEI• Astronomer, physicist,

mathematician & philosopher (the “father of modern science”)

• Supported Copernicus!

• Used his improved version of the telescope to help prove the sun was the center of the universe and that all other objects revolved around it

• Studied time using pendulums

– Weights hung to swing freely

• Gravity experiments

– Elaborated on work of Aristotle

– Determined that all objects fall at the same rate

THE CHURCH INTERFERES• The church felt its authority threaten by new

discoveries in science• Were especially against Heliocentric Theory

– God’s Earth was at the center of the universe

• Galileo was brought to trial in 1633 – Roman Inquisition found him “vehemently

suspect of heresy”– Galileo was forced to recant, held under

house arrest until he died in 1642

• 1771: Ban on printing his works lifted

• 1992: the year the Catholic Church finally acknowledged that Galileo was correct!

SCIENTIFIC METHOD• people began to base science on

observation and experimentation

• …not ancient authorities and the church

• Logical procedure for gathering information and testing ideas

1. Starts by deriving a problem or a question based on observation

2. Formulate a hypothesis

3. Test hypothesis

4. Analyze and interpret data into a conclusion

EX: Isaac Newton: Laws of Motion and Gravity!

• Dr. William Harvey: discovered the heart pumps blood throughout the body

• Andreas Vesalius: dissected human corpses and published his observations.

• Provided a working understanding of how the body was composed

• Edward Jenner: Late 1700’s, discovered the small pox vaccine

MEDICAL ADVANCEMENTS

• New advancements in science brought new ideas in other areas…

• If the government & church was wrong about old science, it could be wrong about other areas of life as well

• People begin to think differently about their religious institutions and governments

SIGNIFICANCE