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The European Voyages of Exploration of the 15 th century

INTRODUCTION

In the early 15 th century the sea-faring countries of Europe were poised to expand their influence in the rest of the world

through a program of sustained and systematic exploration. In some cases the motive for exploration was profit, in others,exploration was fanned by the quest for knowledge about the world in which Europeans lived. Still others justified their actions as the logical extension of the Crusades of Christianity against Islam.

Although Europe was, by and large, a self-sustaining continent, Europeans had acquired a taste for luxury items that hadlong been traded from the East (Persia, India, China, for example) and whose demand far exceeded the supply since 1250.The lure of profits from the cotton, silk, precious stones, exotic spices, and slaves that were traded prompted Europeans tofind a better way to directly access these items. European and Eastern traders had established overland routes throughcentral Asia that served as direct links for these exotic goods, but even regional overland trade was risky and costly.

By the 13 th century Europeans had developed a sophisticated maritime commerce that included thenavigation of the Mediterranean Sea, the North and Baltic Seas, and the passable stretch of Western Europe's coast between them. This brought greater seafaring experience and greater knowledge of navigation technologies. The long Mediterranean galleys renowned for their manoeuvrability were combined with the sturdy round ships of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.This resulted in a new category of ship that could withstand a variety of maritime conditions andcould still carry large cargoes. These new ships were instrumental to the Europeans adventurerswho sought out a cheaper and more practical waterborne trade with the East.

For centuries, the East was a potent image for Europeans. The legacy of the Roman and AncientGreek civilisations that had regular trading and diplomatic contact with India and China (the Han Dynasty) inspired theEuropeans of the 14 th and 15 th centuries to attempt to establish their own eastern empires. Alexander the Great's empire,for example, consisted of territories in both Greece and India, thus greatly facilitating contact between western and easternEurasia. Links between the Europeans and the Asians were disrupted by barbarian conquests in China, India and Europein the 4 th and 5 th centuries C.E. (Common Era). In the 8 th century Islam engulfed North Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean,Spain and France, igniting hostilities between the Christian and Muslim kingdoms that led to the cut off of trade routes tothe East. For centuries Europe's only knowledge of the East was limited and often second-hand. Merchants like MarcoPolo, gleaned valuable information about the East while looking for new trade routes. Europeans were so inspired bytravelling accounts like Marco Polo's, that they were determined to re-establish routes of their own to the riches of theEast. To do this the European worldview began to conceptualise a "New World" beyond known territory and the Eastcame to symbolise this.

The "New World" and its heathen population challenged and inspired the Roman Catholic Church to fulfil its self- proclaimed destiny of being the one universal faith of humanity. As God's representative on Earth the Pope provided themoral authority that legitimised European exploration and subsequent exploitation of new territory. For example, in 1452,Pope Nicholas V issued a papal bull allowing the enslavement of "pagans and infidels", justifying all European slavingexpeditions to Africa. In order to spread Christ's message to heathen masses while protecting the Church's sovereigntyover the new territories, the Church sent missionaries to accompany many of the voyages of overseas expansion. TheChurch eventually granted kingdoms like Portugal and Spain political sovereignty over these territories, clearlyestablishing the Church's ultimate authority in European society.

Initially, exploration took the form of small-scale ventures that were financed by independent businessmen. Some weremembers of the nobility like Prince Henry, and others were members of the merchant class. These early ventures took theform of raid and trade excursions. Ships were sent along the coast of Africa to find inhabited areas where Europeans couldtrade or raid goods and slaves. These early independent excursions by merchants and adventurers proved that explorationwas profitable and eventually European monarchs began to take a greater interest. Thus exploration evolved fromcautious, small-scale operations to a systematic approach that incorporated royal patronage, substantial capital and long-range planning. The Iberian kingdoms of Portugal and Spain were early pioneers that sponsored numerous voyages of exploration. The Portuguese focused primarily on a trading empire while the Spanish sought a territorial empire theycould colonise.

The contemporary written accounts of exploration in the 15 th and 16 th centuries often use words like "luck" and"accidents." Nevertheless, the persistence and determination of certain individuals, like Prince Henry the Navigator,sustained and nurtured exploration during its infancy. This persistence was echoed by explorers like Gil Eanes,Christopher Columbus, and Bartolomeu Dias, who overcame the tremendous physical and mental barriers of oceanexploration. Even when basic fears about the existence of sea-monsters or sailing over the edge of a flat earth wereconquered, there was a myriad of other misfortunes that could befall European explorers at sea or onshore in a distant landwith hostile inhabitants. Navigation techniques were rudimentary and maps were sometimes a strange mixture of fact andwishful thinking. Supplies could spoil or run out entirely. Crews could rebel against sailing to distant and uncharted partsof the globe and mutiny against their captains. Above all, the seas themselves were unpredictable and dangerous.

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THE IBERIAN PIONEERS: PORTUGAL & SPAIN

Geography:

Modern day Portugal and Spain make up the Iberian Peninsula. Iberia is surrounded by water except for its northern boundary where the Pyrenees divide Spain and France. To the east lays the Mediterranean Sea and to the west lays the

Atlantic Ocean. The southernmost point of Spain is separated from northern Africa by the Strait of Gibraltar, which is about64 kilometres long and varies in width from about thirteen to thirty-nine kilometres.

Modern Spain and Portugal

Iberia was invaded in 711 by African Muslim armies that succeeded in conquering most of the southern regions of the peninsula within seven years. This began a 700-year intermittent struggle for control over Iberia between the Christians andthe Muslims who inhabited the southern portion. The most active years of conflict were between 850 and 1250. During this

period the struggles were named the Reconquista and were accompanied by the religious zeal of the crusades.

The Reconquista was at once a religious crusade against the Moors, a succession of military expeditions in search of plunder, and a popular migration. Powerful members of the clergy participated fully in this Reconquista by creating popular support for the enterprise, lobbying for support from the various monarchies, and retaining their own private armies toconquer land for their Church.

Armour from the MilitaryOrders of

Alcantar & Santiago

The Reconquista was also a blend of private and public enterprise. It was common for theIberian monarchies to make contracts with the leaders of military expeditions. Thesecontracts, known as Capitulaciones , reserved certain rights of sovereignty to the Crown over the newly conquered territories in exchange for a guarantee of mercedes , or rewards, for theleader of the expedition. Usually the mercedes consisted of the Crown granting a hereditarytitle that included special military powers and rights of government over the new frontier tothe expedition's leader. It also included the right to any spoils of conquest such as movable

property and captives.

Two essential components of the Capitulaciones were the religious purpose of Christianizing the peninsula and the royalsanctioning of the endeavour. Without these the expedition would lack any moral or legal authority. All of the partiesinvolved benefited from placing this contract in written form in order to preserve the contract accurately to insureinheritance. The noble families that gained land under this system would have to prove their title by presenting their copy of the Capitulacione whenever there was a change in the monarchy. This system would become essential in the "New World"to defining the Crown's relationship with the various conquistadors by the 16 th century.

The Iberian Kingdoms:

In the early 15 th century five independent kingdoms occupied the Iberian Peninsula; Portugal, Navarre, Castile, Aragon, andthe last Muslim stronghold of Granada. In 1469 the Crown of Castile was united with the Crown of Aragon through themarriage of Isabella, heiress of Castile, to Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Aragon. In 1474 Isabella ascended to the throneand was crowned queen and by 1479 the nation we now know as "Spain" first appeared as the "Union of the Crowns." It was

this union that would finally succeed in expelling the Muslims from Granada in 1492. In 1512, the union annexed the smallKingdom of Navarre and the boundaries for modern Spain were established. Now that Isabella and Ferdinand had succeeded

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in establishing political stability to their kingdom, they could direct their considerable resources to a policy of overseasexpansion.

Iberian Society: The People & Economy

The People:

Iberian society was made up of three different social classes: the nobility, the commoners, and the clergy.

The Nobility:

At the higher stratum of Iberian society a few great "grandee" families bore the titles of duke, marquis, or count. These elitefamilies were the magnates who controlled the majority of the peninsula's land in the form of large estates. The families of the lesser nobility varied greatly in the extent of their wealth and were distinguished by the title of don and a family coat of arms. The lesser nobility was made up of the younger sons of the ancient families or of the recently ennobled bourgeoisie.They usually had rural estates and were involved in commercial affairs and, like the Church; they were exempt from alltaxes by the Crown.

In Castile the concept of a gentleman, a hidalgo , was essentially aristocratic. A hidalgo was a man who lived for the re-conquest of Christian Iberia. He could do the impossible through sheer physical courage and a constant effort of will. Heconducted himself in accordance to a strict code of honour and respected men who had won riches by force of arms rather than manual labour. Eventually this concept of the hidalgo would spread across all segments of society as the ideal of masculinity. This ideal was one that would eventually have far-reaching consequences in the New World.

Spanish Nobility in the 16th century

The Clergy:

The clergy were divided into the secular hierarchy and the regular orders. The secular hierarchy represented the parish priestup to the cathedral chapter. The seculars were very loosely organised with members accepting the assignments that suitedthem. They often had to rely on their own economic activity to support themselves, and operated under the loosestsupervision. By contrast, members of the regular orders were better educated, recruited from wealthier and nobler familiesand held considerable disdain for the seculars. They were strictly organised, better endowed, and each order was fairlyautonomous from the others. Often this led to conflict and competition between the orders, creating well-known rivalrieslike the one between the Franciscans and the Dominicans.

The Church itself was immensely powerful and shared with the nobility the privilege of exemption from the taxes levied bythe Crown. Bishops, abbots and cathedral chapters all owned large demesnes that financed the building of fortresses and themaintenance of private armies. The church was militant in nature and involved itself directly in the struggles that surroundedthe throne. This militant nature evolved over the 700 years of the Reconquista when the Church played a major role in thesettlement of the lands reclaimed from the Muslims.

The Poblet Monastery: built in the 13th century, sponsored by the Catalan royal family who ruled Aragon.

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had discovered the Arabs' superior navigational skills while at Ceuta years before) and what emerged at Sagres was not somuch a school of navigation as much as it was a community of scholars, under the direction of Prince Henry, who joinedtogether to conquer the unknown.

When Prince Henry's ships returned from their first exploration, their captains reported that they were unable to roundCape Bojador as planned. Shortly after losing sight of Cape St. Vincent, they were caught in a violent gale and lost allsense of direction. They drifted for days when the winds abruptly died. By sheer luck the crew sighted land, and theintrepid explorers made their way toward shore and a sheltering cove and they named this island Porto Santo ("blessed

port"). As best as they could determine, Porto Santo was roughly five hundred miles to the southwest of Cape St. Vincent.The "discovery" of Porto Santo was significant because it was then used as a launching point for future voyages. It should

be noted, however, that there is some reason to question whether or not Porto Santo was discovered by Prince Henry'sships, for the island's location coincides with one marked on a Genoese map made in approximately 1351. Nevertheless,the Portuguese believed that they had found a previously uncharted land mass and armed with the information that therewas land yet to be discovered, another expedition set out before the end of 1419. On this voyage, they encountered theisland Madeira (Portuguese word for "wood") in the early months of 1420.

Prince Henry displayed remarkable perseverance and sent expeditions into the "Sea of Darkness", as they called unknownwater, in a fifteen-year attempt to round Cape Bojador. Even though he exhorted his captains with promises of increasedreward and glory, it was not until 1434 that Gil Eanes (sometimes spelt "Eannes") managed to round the Cape. The

physical distance travelled was not what was significant about this voyage. Rather, what was important was that Gil Eanestravelled beyond Cape Bojador and returned to Portugal, eliminating in one broad stroke many of the myths and legendsabout the "Sea of Darkness".

A number of explanations have been offered as to why it took Portuguese sailors so long to accomplish this task. The twomost significant problems were that those ships which navigated along the shores of the African coast risked runningaground and those who attempted to steer into the open water and strayed too far could be blown out to sea. Eanessucceeded because he did not attempt to sail in sight of land. Rather, he charted a wide course into the Atlantic beforealtering his course and turning back towards Africa. When Eanes encountered land again, Cape Bojador was behind him.

PRINCE HENRY: AN ASSESSMENTEurope's exploration of the outside world began a new era of political, economic, and social contacts and it can certainly beargued that the voyages undertaken in Prince Henry's name marked the first sustained expansion outside Europe and set the

tone for subsequent voyages.Certainly, Portugal was interested in developing markets and resources to stimulate its economy. The reality, however,was that for the first twenty years, the revenue gathered from such voyages was negligible, leading some to speculate thatthe financing for the voyages must have come from a private source, including Prince Henry's own fortune. After 1443, itis possible to argue that exploration became self-sufficient with the profits from trade and commerce making voyages

profitable. For example, merchants could expect a fourfold profit when trading in cloth.It cannot be forgotten that Prince Henry instituted many of the practices that would become standard features of Europeanexploration. By systematically exploring the African coast, Prince Henry inaugurated a policy of exploration that built onthe knowledge of previous voyages. Instead of remaining content with the extent of existing knowledge, Prince Henry usedthe end of one voyage as the beginning for the next. Other aspects of Prince Henry's system were equally as remarkable. ThePortuguese practice of recruiting members of the indigenous population who became interpreters helped to lay both theintellectual and financial groundwork for future voyages. By using interpreters in this manner, Prince Henry was able to

build an effective and reliable source of information about the areas to be explored by Europeans. Interpreters alsosignificantly contributed to the European voyages of exploration by allowing Europeans to communicate with indigenous

populations in a peaceful manner. Such relations were important to establishing friendly trade and gathering information.

Perhaps the most important feature of Prince Henry, and thus his most important contribution to the voyages of exploration,was his curiosity. Although he did not accompany any of the ships under his charge during their voyages, he sent captains tosea to find answers to questions. Therefore, it is certain that Henry provided the intellectual stimuli that sustainedexploration during its early years.

THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS

Madeira, one of the earliest colonies to incorporate the plantation system for the production of sugar

The Atlantic Islands were the birthplace of the Portuguese colonisation pattern of exploration, settlement, agriculturalconversion of lands, the institution of the plantation model ( donatary captaincy ), and the incorporation of Africanenslaved labour on a large scale. The first recorded Portuguese expedition into the Atlantic took place in 1341 with its

destination being the Canary Islands that were known to the ancient Greeks as the Fortunate Islands. The expeditionsuccessfully returned to Lisbon with a cargo of four indigenous people, fish oil, red wood and skins. Despite this6


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success there was no immediate follow up to this expedition. Portuguese ventures at sea then consisted of raiding andtrading with towns along the known coastline of Northern Africa, Europe and the Mediterranean. This continued untilthe era of Prince Henry when the Canary Islands became important as a supply way-station for expeditions sailing theCanary route that was the shortest course to the West African coast. One of Prince Henry's early expeditions into theAtlantic occurred in 1420 with the rediscovery of Madeira. Prince Henry instigated its colonisation because it wasuninhabited and could easily be converted to the agricultural production of wheat and sugar. By 1500 Madeira was theleading producer of sugar and had incorporated a plantation system that depended heavily on enslaved African labour.The Azores were discovered in 1427 and colonised with criminals by Prince Henry and his associates. Again the

pattern of agricultural production that incorporated the plantation model and slave labour was successful in producingwine, wheat, and sugar. Due to their location, the Azores also became an important way-station for the rapidlyexpanding African slave trade. This pattern of discovery and settlement was repeated in 1460 with Fernao Gomes'discovery of the Cape Verde Islands, and in 1470 with the discovery of Sa Tom. It is important to note that thePortuguese efforts in Africa and Asia were aimed at building trading posts rather than permanent settlements. In thisregard the Atlantic Islands were unique until the discovery and settlement of Brazil in 1500.

The Canary Islands

The Azores

AFRICAThe Search for Gold & Slaves

During this period there had been a shortage of gold that increasingly hindered the growth of European trade. Ceuta had been a part of a centuries-old traffic in the products of the trans-Saharan caravan routes that provided a source of goldrumoured to have originated in a wealthy nation that lay across the Sahara Desert known as Guinea. The possibility of gold in this new land was too tempting for the Portuguese to resist. They pursued the idea of discovering a sea route toGuinea that would allow them to by-pass the caravan route that was controlled by their enemies the Moors. Prince Henrywas able to use his royal status to gain the Crown's permission for numerous expeditions that focused on gainingimmediate profit by virtue of raiding and trading, usually at the expense of Arab merchantmen. These types of expeditionswere the norm until 1420 when the Portuguese sailors discovered and colonised the island of Madeira and the Azores.

These two islands were invaluable ports of call for future Portuguese expeditions since the Spanish had previouslyclaimed the Canary Islands. Numerous individuals led these expeditions, some of whom were foreign captains like Alviseda Cadamosto, who was willing to sail under Prince Henry's patronage. The most successful explorers of Prince Henry'scaptains were usually his own squires and associates like Joo Gonalves Zarco, Tristo Vaz, and BartolemeauPerestrello. In 1434 Gil Eanes, another one of the prince's squires led the expedition that was the first to sail beyond theCape of Bojador. This was a monumental accomplishment because it destroyed the fixed belief that the ocean beyondBojador was not navigable. Eanes was quickly sent out again and found evidence that the coast was inhabited and the

possibility for raiding and trading arose. Progress along the coast was interrupted for four years because of the Portuguesefailed expedition to Tangier, the death of King Duarte, and the struggle over the regency.

With the death of King Joo I, his son Duarte assumed the throne and granted Prince Henry a "royal fifth" from the profitsof all voyages and decreed that no expedition could sail beyond Cape Bojador without a license from the Prince. KingDuarte died after a short reign of five years, leaving his six year old son Afonso V as his heir. Prince Pedro took control of the state by becoming Afonso's regent. He quickly confirmed Prince Henry's grant and gave him permission to colonisethe Azores. Under Prince Pedro's regency the Portuguese completed King Duarte's secret experiment in ship design thatresulted in the evolution of a new type of ship known as the caravel.

In 1441 the expeditions began again using the new type of ship. Prince Henry's chamberlain, Anto Gonalves, led anexpedition to acquire a cargo of seal skins and oil with orders to go further into the unknown. On one occasion Gonalvessought out a village along the Rio do Oro and took several captives back to Portugal. This was the beginning of whatwould become the African Slave Trade. Another one of Henry's captains, Nuno Tristo, would discover the Bay of Arguim. Here Henry had a fort constructed in 1448 that would become the centre of trade with the African states of theinterior. Tristo also found the end to the desert and reported the beginning of a lush green country. This inspired Dias,

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who raised enough capital to have Prince Henry grant him a license and a caravel. He sailed pass the Senegal River,eventually arriving at the Cape of Verde that was the western limits of the African continent.

Not all the expeditions succeeded. Nuno Tristo died after being attacked with poison arrows by the inhabitants of avillage he and his men were attempting to raid for slaves, leaving only five survivors to return home. Despite Tristo'sdeath the voyages continued, thanks to the rewards offered by the Regent Pedro and Prince Henry who recognised the

potential of the African trade. Merchants like Ferno Gomes shared this vision and actively financed their ownexpeditions. In Gomes' case he petitioned the Crown for the exclusive rights to handle the trade of West Africa, since theCrown was distracted by the Castilian war of succession that brought Isabella and Ferdinand to the Spanish throne.Gomes' ventures quickly grew into a thriving pepper trade that in turn led to his sailors' discovery of the gold-producingregion of the Gold Coast (modern Ghana). When King Joo II (John II) succeeded his father, King Afonso V, to thethrone of Portugal, he renewed the Crown's support of overseas exploration that had fallen by the wayside of his father'sadministration. Within four years King Joo II had personally sponsored, rather than simply granting a license, threeexpeditions led by Diogo Co and Bartolomeu Dias, that accomplished more in four years than his predecessors had inforty. These voyages reflected the change in policy from simply expanding overseas trade, to finding a specific sea routeto India.

In 1482 King Joo II sent out Diogo Co on the first of two voyages. He discovered that the African continent turnedsouth and ran for thousands more kilometres before eventually turning. Co came to the Kingdom of the Congo where he

began a trading relationship that would recoup the cost of the voyages. Bartolomeu Dias continued this exploration byrounding the southern extremity of the African continent in 1488, naming it the Cape of Good Hope. In 1484 King Joo IIhad rejected the proposals of Christopher Columbus, who then sought out the patronage of Queen Isabella of Spain. WithColumbus' discovery of the Caribbean and America, Isabella immediately requested that Pope Alexander VI endorse aseries of bulls that divided the world into two parts, by a line drawn from north to south one hundred leagues west of theAzores. King Joo II rejected this location of this line and opened negotiations with Spain immediately. The result was theTreaty of Tordesillas of 1494. Pope Alexander's line was moved to 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands.

Shortly after the conclusion of the Treaty of Tordesillas, King Joo II died in 1495 from pneumonia. His cousin, KingManuel the Fortunate, assumed the throne and continued to support the search for a seaway to the Indies. He appointedVasco da Gama as the leader of the expedition that would discover the route to the Indian Ocean that rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1498. This new route marked the beginning of a new era of direct contact between Europe and Asia.

During his reign King Manuel was the ruler of the greatest empire of his time and benefited from a growing African tradeand the golden harvest of the Indies.

THE SEA-ROUTE TO INDIA & VASCO DA GAMA

Upon Prince Henry's death in 1460, the mantle of sponsoring exploration came to rest on a new monarch, King John II.King John II was not satisfied with the revenues he was receiving from trading voyages and he was determined toestablish a Christian Empire in West Africa. In 1481 he charged Diogo d'Azambuja with forming the first permanentsettlement in Africa. To mark the philosophical change in Portugal's voyages from trade missions to settlement, a series of granite pillars were commissioned for subsequent voyages. On each pillar could be found the royal arms of King John IIas well as a Christian cross. When explorers reached a previously uncharted region, they were to place the pillar ashore toclaim the land in the name of Christendom and Portugal. By 1487, Portuguese explorers had placed granite pillars as far south as Cape Cross.

Under Diogo's command were two different captains, Bartolomeu Dias and Christopher Columbus, who would soonattain notoriety in their own right. Bartolomeu Dias (1457-1500) was to continue the work of previous Portugueseexplorers and to conduct advance reconnaissance about the African coast, but to him goes the credit of circumnavigatingthe Cape of Good Hope. Sailing from Tagus in 1487, Dias coasted south and placed a pillar at a headland now known asDias Point. When the voyage resumed, a favouring wind turned into a gale. For thirteen days, the gale blew from the northand carried the Portuguese ships far beyond the Cape of Good Hope into the South Atlantic where no previous Europeanhad been. As the wind finally died down, Dias steered east and north until he found land again at Mossel Bay. Unawarethat he had passed beyond the southern tip of Africa, Dias continued his voyage past Algo Bay. It was at this point wherethe coastline changes from east to north-east that it became clear that the southernmost point of the continent had been

passed. This was uncharted territory for European sailors and rather than risk certain mutiny, Dias yielded to the demandsof his crew and charted a course back to Europe. As they rounded the tip again, Dias named the location the Cape of Good

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Isabella & Ferdinand's banner that incorporates symbols of Castile,Leon, Aragon, & Sicily

Isabella & Ferdinand: Consolidating their power

Isabella and Ferdinand decided that the "Union of Crowns" would be one of equals in theory if not in actual fact. Castile wasthe larger and stronger of the two nations and would dominate the foreign policy of both but Ferdinand was very much a full

partner with his queen. Each of the kingdoms' political, social, and economic institutions remained autonomous from oneanother, opting for a loose confederation between the two. The monarchy was reformed to favour a strong centralisedgovernment aided by a single judicial system firmly under the Crown's control.

This stabilised the monarchy's authority enough that it could focus on the completion of the reconquista . Ferdinand led theunited forces of Aragon and Castile to triumph thanks to his military and diplomatic prowess. He and Isabella walkedtogether in victory through the gates of Granada, the last Muslim stronghold in Iberian 1492. To Isabella this was a veryimportant demonstration of her very strict Catholic faith and inspired the beginning of the Spanish Inquisition. The resultsincluded the expulsion of Muslims from the peninsula and the expulsion of Jews from her kingdoms in order to create ahomogeneous population of Christians. That same year, 1492, Isabella sponsored an expedition by Christopher Columbusthat located America and signalled the beginning of a new era for Imperial Spain.

KNOWLEDGE & POWER The history of the European voyages of exploration may be conveniently divided into two areas: the drive to the East, whichwas pioneered by the Portuguese and the westward expansion across the Atlantic to the New World, which was initially led

by the Portuguese, but eventually dominated by the Spanish. The two differ in that Europe had known of India and China for centuries, whereas the existence of America was totally unsuspected. When Columbus landed in the Bahamas in 1492,America was still viewed as little more than a barrier between Europe and the true prize of the Indies in the East.

The odds were against the European explorers who sailed in frail wooden ships and were guided by crude and primitiveinstruments into uncharted seas, where shoals were unmarked and shifting currents were a perpetual mystery. Thesechallenges of exploration were great but so were the motivations; a lust for gold and glory, missionary zeal for convertingthe savages and the desire to gain knowledge. Although Portugal and Spain had both developed seafaring traditions over the previous three centuries, neither one was prepared, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, for the imminent age of discovery, exploration and worldwide commercial development that required knowledge and skills that greatly surpassed theexisting resources available. The following sections examine the progress made by the Europeans in addressing theselogistical obstacles to their efforts at exploration.

A woodcut map from 1545

GEOGRAPHY & CARTOGRAPHY

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In the early period of European exploration, captains had rudimentary navigation techniques and a fairly detailed set of Mediterranean portolanos (charts) showing the bodies of water, landmasses and ports. These charts were not drawn to a gridsystem of degrees, but were based on compass findings and estimated distances. From this point of view, cartography wasvery similar to early astronomy, in that the product was paradoxically the result of both scientific and metaphysicalendeavours. Some astronomers were attracted to the study of stars because of their interest in astrology. The same was trueof cartographers whose main purpose was not to discover what actually existed, but rather to rationalise the world around

preconceived notions of religion and philosophy.

Ptolemaic Style Map 1432

Nevertheless, it is possible to make a few general statements about the practice of cartography. If it is possible to identifyone great influence, it would undoubtedly be that of Claudius Ptolemaeus, or Ptolemy, (130 C.E.) and the Arab geographerswho followed. In 151 C.E., Ptolemy published a work on map-making called Geographia. The world, according to him,

stretched from Iceland and the Canary Islands in the west, to Ceylon in the east, with a mass of unknown lands south of North Africa and beyond India. Moreover, Ptolemy believed that Africa connected with an undiscovered southern landmass.If this were true, it would have been impossible to reach Asia by rounding southern Africa by ship. Nevertheless, for centuries Ptolemy's ideas remained the basis for cartographers and geographers alike, with a few important modificationsand contributions from later Arabic scholars. The significant change to Ptolemy's conception of the world came in the 10 th

century when, among other changes, Massoudy, an Arabic scholar, suggested that a channel existed between southern Africaand the unknown land mass around the southern extremities of the world. In the 12 th century, Massoudy's work wascontinued by Edrisi, an Arab geographer in the service of King Roger of Sicily. Edrisi's main contribution was to record thetravels of his contemporaries in both the Christian and Muslim worlds and to include those discoveries in the maps hecreated.

From this intellectual heritage sprang the twin tendencies of medieval European geographers and cartographers to create

maps that were generally either fanciful or factual. On the one hand, there was a tendency to construct a symmetrically perfect design of God's creation that also incorporated the metaphysical beliefs of Europe. For example, the Psalter Map of the 13 th century depicted a world with Christ at the top and dragons crushed beneath him at the bottom. Furthermore, in thePsalter Map, Jerusalem was the centre of the world and legends and myths were inscribed in places instead of geographicaldata, thus effectively blending fact and fantasy.

On the other hand, there were attempts to accurately represent the information and knowledge gathered by explorers.Perhaps this is best illustrated by the early 14 th century Venetian map of Marino Sanuto, which attempted to use Italian ideasabout the Atlantic coastline of Africa as the basis for its projections. Sanuto's map also showed a sea route to the south of Africa, but this was a conjectured, rather than proven route. The most important contribution of Prince Henry to thetheoretical side of exploration was his willingness to focus attention on the more "realistic" maps and the first-hand accountsof the travellers, rather than the symmetrical and theological aspects demonstrated in the Psalter Map.

TECHNICAL ADVANCES IN SHIPBUILDING AND NAVIGATION

The ships used in the early period of European exploration were called barcas and barinels but their square sails wereclumsy and the ships were slow to respond. One reason for this was that in order to fill their sails properly these ships had totravel into the wind at a minimum angle of 67 degrees. Thus, once the ships were caught sailing into the wind, it wasdifficult, if not impossible, for them to turn around. The Portuguese quickly realised that a new type of ship and new sailswere needed. The Portuguese modelled their new ships on this principle and the result was the caravela, which had an axlerudder and earlier models had two to three masts, all using lateen sails. Future versions of the ship would have four masts,with the fourth mast forward (the mast closest to the bow) being square-rigged. Two of the three ships in which Christopher Columbus made his voyage in 1492 were caravels, the Nia and the Pinta.

By the end of the 15th

century, another sail, the sprit sail, was fixed on the bowsprit to help better control the caravel.Furthermore, improvements in both the durability and strength of ropes, a result of newer materials, meant that handlingsquare sails became much easier for sailors. The number of crew members required to handle the ship decreased as a result.Ship builders also adopted the best sailcloth, either cotton or linen canvas, from merchants in Genoa and Marseilles and thisnewer fabric had the advantage of being more durable.Beyond the changes to the basic sail structure of Portuguese vessels, builders realised that the stability of the ship's hullneeded improvement as well. When sailing in storms or high seas, it is essential that the vessels remain waterproof. Thedeck planks on caravels were placed edge-to-edge (no gap between planks) and were sealed with oakum (shredded hemp)and covered with a layer of tar or pitch. Hatches (that allowed sailors to go below deck) and companionways (stairwaysfrom one deck to another) were minimised to help make the ship watertight. Structurally, the hull was reinforced with theuse of skids (larger planks fixed to the side of the ship that function much like a bumper on a car) to cushion collisions withthe dock when the ship was loading and unloading in port.

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the foot of a lateen yard behind the mast and rest the sail in another direction, when the ship was already beating towindward, required a great deal of strength and a large crew. If the sail should happen to break loose during the manoeuvre,there was the danger that the ship could be turned on its side.

An early compass A quadrant tomeasurelatitude A traverse board

Changes to the ships themselves were not the only problems addressed by explorers. Navigation techniques onthese early voyages were rudimentary to say the very least. The speed of the ship was calculated by having onemember of the crew throw a chip of wood over the side of the vessel. By judging how far the ship travelled beforethe object hit the water helped determine how fast the ship was moving. This technique was later changed byattaching a wooden float to a line, known as the logline, where knots were tied at measured intervals. When thewooden float was tossed overboard, the speed was calculated by counting the number of knots that slipped throughthe fingers of the sailor holding the logline. This process gave rise to the calculation of a ship's speed in knots. For the most part, a good captain would rely on the ship's log, his lookout and his leadsman to determine the location of the ship.

Most ships were equipped with a magnetic compass that was kept on deck in a binnacle that could be illuminated atnight by means of a lamp burning olive oil. Although the compass was in wide use, most captains did not knowwhy its needle pointed north. In fact, many captains preferred to keep the existence of a compass on board a shipsecret because superstitious crew members would think that the ship was being guided by sinister forces. Nearbywas the sand hourglass, which was the only reliable method of keeping time on board the ship, provided that amember of the crew did not heat the hourglass with the lamp, making the sand run faster, in order to shorten hisshift.

Clearly, the most important navigational tool available to sailors was the Stella Maris. Holding the astrolabe to hiseye and sighting along its diameter, the sailor could read the height of the North Star on the scale. If, for example,the star measured forty degrees above the horizon, the sailor would know that he was at latitude forty degrees northapproximately. If the star measured thirty degrees above the horizon, the sailor would know that he was atapproximately thirty degrees north, and so on. The quadrant, a quarter circle measuring 0 to 90 degrees markedaround its curved edge, was a common instrument to assist in determining latitude. Its straight edges had tiny holesor sights on each end. A plumb line hung from the top. The navigator lined up the sights on the Pole Star and the

plumb line would hang straight down over the curved area at a particular point. This would indicate the height of the star in degrees latitude.

Portuguese explorers encountered some unexpected difficulties with this system as they travelled closer to theequator. They soon discovered that as the North Star dropped closer to the north horizon it became difficult to fix

exact latitudes. Rather than navigating by the North Star, sailors then turned, quite literally, to the sun. Byobserving and measuring the height of the mid-day sun, a pilot could calculate the ship's latitude and with the aid of tables, determine the distance and direction to be sailed to arrive at the intended destination.

The problem of determining longitude was not adequately solved during this period. It was only in the 18 th century,with the invention of the chronometer, that a solution was found. Until that time, most sailors relied on deadreckoning. This meant that the pilot had to estimate the ship's speed with a logline, which was a line with knots in itand a weighted wooden float attached to the end. The wooden float was thrown from the stern and the number of knots pulled off the reel by the drifting log determined the ship's speed. Time was measured with one-minuteglasses. This information combined with the known direction of the compass helped to determine progress alonglongitudinal lines. Time, distance, and direction were measured each time the ship changed tack due to winddirection. This zigzag plotting was calculated with a traverse board. Dead reckoning also included observations of

the surroundings. Cloud formations, and wave patterns and directions, as well as birds and floating debris were alltaken into account. Clearly, dead reckoning was a complicated process and not the most reliable method a sailor could use to determine his course.

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the European Voyages of Exploration3

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Transcript of the European Voyages of Exploration3