At the beginning of the 15th century, Europeans knew little about lands outside of Europe. By the late 15th century, Portuguese and Spanish explorers began exploring Africa and Asia in search of new trade routes, leading to major geographic discoveries. Key figures included Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal who organized expeditions down the coast of Africa, Bartolomeu Dias who rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, and Vasco da Gama who reached India for Portugal in 1498. Meanwhile, Christopher Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic in 1492 hoping to reach Asia for Spain but landed in the Americas, launching the age of European colonization of the new world.

1. The Age of Discovery
At the beginning of the 15th century, Europeans knew
little more than Europe and the lands around the
Mediterranean and the Black Seas
The existence of India, China and Japan was shown by
Marco Polo's journeys and the trade routes that brought
silk and spices to Europe
The rest of the world was a total mystery. Europeans had
not explored the African and Asian interior, and they did
not know that America and Oceania existed

2. Reasons for the discoveries
They needed to find new trade routes to the East.
In 1453 the Turks conquered Constantinople.
This interrupted the trade routes between
Europe and the Far East.
Technical advances
New maps called portulan charts.
They showed the coastline and any obstacles at
seas.
Navigational instruments, suchs as the compass, the
astrolabe and the quadrant, were developed
Ships, such as caravels, were improved.

3. Portuguese expedition
Portugal had been looking for a new sea route to
India around the coast of Africa
The Portuguese monarchs and Prince Henry the
Navigator organised various expeditions
The Madeira Island were discovered in 1418, and
the Azores in 1431
Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good
Hope at the southern tip of Africa (1488),
opening the sea route to the Indian ocean
Vasco de Gama reached India (1498).

4. Portulan Henry the Navigator
chart
caravel
Monument in Lisbon
which Bartolomeu Dias
commemorates
the discoveries
Vasco da Gama

5. Spanish and Portuguese rivalry
The Crown of Castile was Portugal's biggest rival
in the search for new routes to India
The Castilians decided to sail to the west across
the Atlantic, circumnavigating the Earth.

6. How was America discovered?
Christopher Columbus was a Genoese sailor. He
was convinced he could reach the eastern
coast of Asia by crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
He presented his project to the Catholic
Monarchs who decided to finance the
expedition.
On 3 August 1492, an expedition of three ships,
the Pinta, the Niña and the Santa María
Columbus' calculations were wrong. He thought
the Earth was much smaller than it actually was
The crew complained, but Columbus persuaded

7. After the first expedition, Columbus made three more
expeditions to explore and establish Castilian dominion
of these territories.
On the second voyage, a faster and safer route to
America was found.
On his last two voyages, Columbus explored part of the
coast of Central and South America
In 1504, Columbus finally returned to Spain, where he
died two years later, still firmly convinced that he had
reached India
However, in 1502 an Italian sailor, Amerigo Vespucci,
had already realised that these lands belonged to a
new continent. Later, the continent was named

8. What was the first voyage around the world?
In 1519, an expedition of five boats left Seville,
captained by Ferdinand Magellan, with his
second-in-command, Juan Sebastián Elcano.
Their goal was to find a passage between the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to the Moluccas, or
Spice Islands in Asia
In 1520, they found a strait connecting both
oceans. It was later named Strait of Magellan.
They sailed on to the Philippines. There, Magellan
was killed in a fight with the natives, and Elcano
took command.
The expediton headed for the Moluccas and

9. What were the consequences of the
discoveries?
Portugal and Spain created great overseas
empires.
To prevent problems between the two countries,
unexplored regions were divided between them
in the Treaty of Tordesillas, in 1494. A line of
demarcation was established.
Portugal received territories east of the line: Africa,
Asia and Brazil, which was discoverd later.
Castile received territories west of the line: most of the
territories in the Americas.
These explorations marked the beginning of
European supremacy over the rest of the world.

10. Columbus'
travels
Treaty
of
Tordesilla
s
Magellan, Elcano
and their journey

11. The discoveries brought major progress in science.
Knowledge of the lands and oceans on the planet
became more accurate
Many new plant and animal species were discovered.
All this contributed to developments in geography, natural
sciences and cartography
One of the most important consequences of the
discoveries was the contact between different peoples
Knowledge was excanged
However, diseases introduced by the Europeans caused a
dramatic delcine in the indigenous population of America

12. Expressing quantity
Example:
Not very much was known about India, China
and Japan
There were a number of technical advances wich
improved navigation

13. Expressing ability
Example:
Ships could travel longer distances
Both sides were able to transmit their knoledge

14. Ordering events
Exemple
Then, they headed south
After the first expedition, Columbus made three
more
Take turns to describe the discovery of
America
You
Columbus made his first expedition in 1492
Your partner: