A Brief History
This article is intended to summarize some key points from an overview of the Age of Exploration.
Digging Deeper
Over three centuries after the Vikings failed to establish a permanent settlement in North America, the Black Death, the worst pandemic in human history brought seemingly apocalyptic horror to Asians and Europeans alike.
In the 1400s, as Europeans continued their recovery from the Black Death pandemic, the Inca were among a number of civilizations existing in the Americas with varying degrees of technological advancement.
In 1453, Muslim Turks captured Constantinople from Christian Byzantines, thereby placing the world’s most important trade routes in the hands of a new empire hostile to the west and forcing Europeans to search for a new route to the riches of the east. In 1486, Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias had been commissioned to sail around the southern tip of Africa. He accomplished that goal in 1488. Around the same time, Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer familiar with the much earlier exploits of Marco Polo dreamed of taking a different route to Asia.
The Atlantic trade established by the Spanish and Portuguese did not only involve Europe and the Americas.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: What is the most fascinating fact that you learned about the Age of Exploration?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Andrews, John and Matt Baker, Eds. Timeline of World History. Thunder Bay Press, 2020.
Crofton, Ian. World History: 50 Events You Really Need to Know. Greenfinch, 2011.
The featured image in this article, a map of Columbus’s four voyages to America (1492–1504), comes from the Project Gutenberg archives. This map is an image that has come from a book or document for which the American copyright has expired and this image is in the public domain in the United States and possibly other countries.