Readings+-++Section+Topics


 * Section 1**


 * Key terms: Renaissance, navigation, caravel.**
 * Key people: Marco Polo, Johannes Gutenberg, Prince Henry, Bartholomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama.**
 * Key places: Portugal, Spain, Italy, England, France, Cape of Good Hope**

World Map Link: [] Trade was the important link between Europe and Asia in the 1400’s. Travel was difficult on the Silk Road from Persia to China and took Marco Polo three long years to complete. The two European countries who sent explorers in search of a sea route to Asia were Spain and Portugal. During the Renaissance, people became interested in studying the past, primarily the Ancient Greek culture. The invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg enabled this interest to become widespread in books. Asia had beautiful silk that Europeans desired, but also, they had spices that were not available in Europe. Spices at that time were used for preserving food, since refrigeration did not yet exist. Since these goods were in such demand by Europeans, traders began raising their prices. A sea route would be a much cheaper way to obtain these goods, and sell them for a higher profit.

** Figure 3: World Map, [Online Image], Available [] /. July 29, 2011. ** || || With the science of navigation, Prince Henry of Portugal proved that it was possible to reach Asia by a sea route. Although Prince Henry himself never sailed, it was his technologies that others were able to achieve this goal. One Portuguese explorer, Bartholomeu Dias, was able to round the tip of Southern Africa, which was later named the Cape of Good Hope. Vasco da Gama’s voyage to India two years later proved there was a way to get to Asia without using the Silk Road. Portugal made huge profits from the sea route, and Spain began looking for even shorter sea routes to Asia, continuing the European age of exploration.


 * Section 2**


 * Key terms: expedition, colony, Columbian exchange**
 * Key people: Leif Ericson, Christopher Columbus, King Ferdinand, Queen Isabella**
 * Key places: Bahama Islands, San Salvador**

As exploration was under way in the Eastern hemisphere, Eastern people hardly knew that a populated Western Hemisphere even existed. About 500 years earlier, Leif Ericson settled Vinland in northeastern Canada. However this settlement did not survive, and no further exploration or settlement occurred until a sea captain named Christopher Columbus sailed westward. Columbus thought he would reach
 * || ** Figure 4: Olympic Monument, [Online Image], Available [] . July 29, 2011. ** || ||

the Indies if he sailed west. The Portuguese king did not agree with Columbus, and would not fund his voyage. The King and Queen of Spain funded Columbus’s expedition. Columbus hit land one morning, thinking he was in the Indies, but it was actually part of what is today known as the Bahama Islands. He named the island San Salvador, and claimed it as a colony for Spain.

The Columbian exchange refers to the movement of people, plants, animals, and germs across the Atlantic Ocean. It changed life around the world by introducing foods to better the diets of people in the east, resulting in population increases. The horse was introduced to the West, changing life for many Native Americans. With all this good change, came some negative effects, such as disease. People of the west had no built-up resistance to these diseases, and many were killed as a result.


 * Section 3**


 * Key terms: conquistador**
 * Key people: Moctezuma, Hernando Cortes, Doña Marina, Cuauhtemoc, Francisco Coronado, Francisco Pizarro, Ferdinand Magellan, Hernando de Soto, Juan Ponce de Leon, Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca**
 * Key places: Tenochtitlan, New Spain**

In the twenty years after Columbus ‘discovered’ America, Spain’s conquistadors and Portuguese explorers began traveling to other parts of the Americas. Spain began claiming lands in present-day Mexico and South America.

Moctezuma was the leader of the advanced Aztec empire. When Spanish conquistadors came to Mexico in search of gold, Moctezuma gave them gifts of gold and silver, in the hope that they would return home. It had the exact opposite effect: they wanted gold, and were heading to Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire, to find it.

One of those conquistadors, Hernando Cortes, let an expedition to Mexico. He was guided by Dona Marina, an Indian woman who convinced many Indians to join Cortes in challenging the Aztec. Although Cortes was welcomed in Tenochtitlan, he eventually recaptured the city while it was under the rule of Cuauhtemoc, destroying books, religious buildings, and statues. This was the end of the Aztec empire and the beginning of claiming a vast land (present-day Mexico) for Spain, and it was called New Spain.

Other Spanish explorers and conquerors soon followed Columbus’s lead and came to the Americas. They were in search of gold and riches, other sea routes to Asia, or to achieve glory for their religious beliefs. View the PowerPoint on the wikipage for more information. http://ss-exploration-5thgr.wikispaces.com/PowerPoint+-+Spanish+Explorers+and+Conquistadors


 * Section 4**

**Key people: Estevanico, Fray Marcos de Niza, Bartolomé de Las Casas, Yanga** **Key places: Mexico City**
 * Key terms: encomienda, missionary**

The encomienda system was used by Spain to organize and control the colony of New Spain. As New Spain grew, the Spanish started to go after Mayan riches. The Maya fought back for twenty years, but finally, the Spanish conquered them. They burned all but three of their books containing their knowledge of science, history, and math

In 1540, Francisco Coronado let an expedition through the present-day southwestern United States. Coronado was in search of a place that didn’t exist: the fabled Seven Cities of Gold. What he did discover, however, was the Grand Canyon.

Missionaries were sent to New Spain to teach religion to others. They ran encomiendas and made life harsh for the Indians who worked for them on these lands. While this life was similar to slavery, it was also different because the Indians would be taken care of and taught religion in exchange for their work. One of the biggest defenders of Indian rights was a priest name Bartolomé de Las Casas. Las Casas fought for 50 years for Indians’ rights, until finally laws were passed by the king of Spain that said Indians could no longer be forced to work without pay.

What Las Casas and others failed to realize, was now there was a need for labor. In addition, for various reasons such as disease and overwork, many Indians had died and their population in New Spain decreased dramatically. Enslaved Africans were brought to New Spain to work in the gold and silver mines, grow sugarcane, or load ships. They could work to buy their freedom, but some escaped, and eventually Africans and Indians joined together to revolt against the Spanish. A large group of escaped slaves led by an elderly African slave named Yanga remained free for many years. They eventually started their own town in New Spain. Cortes decided that Tenochtitlan should be rebuilt. Colonial Mexico City was built to resemble the fine cities of Europe, with beautiful buildings, parks, libraries, and Catholic churches. Some of these buildings are still standing today in Mexico City, Mexico.

Listen to a reading of Las Casas in the podcast on the wikipage. http://ss-exploration-5thgr.wikispaces.com/Podcast+-+Many+Voices