Maritime Expansion & Pre-Columbian Civilizations

Causes of European Discoveries

The Europeans needed to find new commercial routes to the East because, in 1453, the Turks captured Constantinople. This disrupted trade routes between Europe and the Far East.

Technical Advances

New maps, portulans, were designed especially for navigation. They drew the lines of the maritime coast and the obstacles. These indicated the shortest distance between ports using straight lines.

Portuguese Shipments

Portuguese expeditions inched forward. First, they incorporated the Madeira and Azores islands into their territories. Then, they headed south and skirted the coast of Africa. They doubled Cape Bojador and reached the Gulf of Guinea.

In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope.

Vasco da Gama arrived in India in 1498. He created a new route between Europe and Asia. Several points were established along the entire new route to ensure supplies for ships and trade controls.

The First Circumnavigation of the World

In 1519, an expedition left Seville with five ships and 250 sailors, led by Ferdinand Magellan and his quartermaster, Juan Sebastián Elcano. The objective was to find the passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and to travel around the world. Only the ship Victoria arrived back in Spain with 18 men.

Maya Civilization

The Maya were an ancient civilization located on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. When the Spanish arrived, they were suffering a major decline due to civil wars.

Maya society was divided into four classes: priests, nobles, peasants, and slaves. They cultivated cocoa beans, squash, and spices.

Inca Empire

The Incas ranged across Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, and Chile. They had built a fantastic road network of more than 40,000 km.

Inca society was divided into several groups: nobles, serfs, and slaves. Their main crops were potatoes and corn. Llamas and alpacas were their pets.

Aztec Empire

The Aztecs inhabited the Valley of Mexico. When the Spanish arrived, the Aztec Empire was less than 100 years old. The Aztecs were a warrior people who organized society into social groups: priests, nobles, freemen, and slaves. They cultivated corn, squash, and tomatoes. The Aztec warriors were very skilled.