1. Europeans Explore
the East 19.1
By: Meher, Samantha and Daniela

2. Essential Question
How did trade influence
European countries, like
Portugal, to explore?

3. Causes for the Exploration
❖ Desire for Wealth
❖ Spread Christianity
❖ Advances in Technology
■ New vessels, astrolabe, compass
❖ Merchants and Traders wanted to benefit from
business
■ Spices that Europe wanted was nutmeg,
cinnamon,ginger, and pepper.
■ Merchants could charge high prices for these.
❖ New monarchs of England, Spain, Portugal and France
wanted to bypass merchants to get the goods.

4. Portugal Leads the Way
❖ Prince Henry (Son of Portugal’s King) or Henry
the Navigator lead the way to Exploration
because of strong government support.
❖ Portugal lead trade throughout the Atlantic
Ocean and then spread into the Indian Ocean.
❖ Portugal created trading posts on the coast of
Africa
■ they traded with africans for gold and
ivory. Later on they traded for captives
to be slaves.

5. Sailors reach Asia
❖ The Portuguese people believed that if they wanted
to reach Asia they would have to sail on the tip of
Africa
■ Portuguese captain Bartolomeu Dias was
the one that explored down the tip of
Africa, later he encountered a huge storm
that put of his exploration for days.
■ All of Dias ships were blown away so he
considered exploring India but they were
low on food supplies so he went home
❖ Vasco Da Gama continued Dias’ voyage to India
■ He reached the southwest coast of india
and found spices, rare silks and gems; he
came home and was considered a hero.

6. Spanish Exploration
❖ Christopher Columbus convinced spain to
finance a plan to sail west across the
Atlantic to reach Asia.
❖ He reached an island in the Caribbean in
1492, thinking he had reached Asia.
❖ This lead to the European Colonization of
the Americas.
❖ There were tensions between Spain and
Portugal so in 1493 Pope Alexander VI
suggested an imaginary dividing line (line
of Demarcation).
❖ All lands to the east of line would belong
to Portugal and all land west would
belong to Spain.

7. Portuguese Trading Empire
❖ The portuguese built a huge trading route throughout the
Indian Ocean
■ As they took control over the Indian oceans they
started to take control of the spices from the Muslim
merchants.
■ Later on in 1509 they took over the Indian ocean fully
and they made the muslims leave.
❖ The building of the Fort Hormuz in 1514 helped strengthen the
hold the Portuguese had on the Indian Ocean
■ It connected the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea so the
Muslims had no way of reaching the Indian Ocean
❖ Later on 1510 the Portuguese captured Goa a port located on
India’s west coast. It was made into the new capital for the
trading empire
❖ The Portuguese sailed farther down to Indonesia(East Indies)

8. Cont.
❖ On their way to Goa a portuguese fleet attacked
malacca and they accomplished seizing malacca
■ Malacca was very rich in spices so they
became known as the Spice Islands
❖ Captain Afonso de albuquerque strived to crush the
Muslims chance of participating in Asian trades
■ Portuguese accomplished breaking that tie
❖ Merchants brought back goods from Asia
■ The goods cost half the price of what they
were sold from the Arabs and Italians, more
europeans could afford it.
❖ This influenced the rest of Europe to create trade
routes

9. Netherlands Dominates the Sea
❖ The Dutch Republic is also called the Netherlands.
❖ Netherlands became a seapower.
■ had the largest fleet of ships in the world
(20,000 vessels)
❖ The Dutch and English broke Portuguese control of
Asia.
❖ Each nation formed an East India Company to
establish trade
■ These companies had the power to mint
money, make treaties and raise their own
armies.
■ The Dutch East India Company drove out
England dominated the region.

10. European Trade Outposts
❖ In 1619 the dutch made their own headquarters at Batavia on
the island of Java
■ expanded west to conquer more islands
■ While conquering the islands they conquered malacca
and the Spice island from the Portuguese
❖ Throughout the 1600 the Netherlands started to gain control
of the Indian Ocean
■ Since there were many goods on the island,
Netherland’s nation capital Amsterdam, became the
center of commercial.
■ They ruled most of Indonesia and Southwest Asia.

11. Cont.
❖ Britain and France also had gained
control in the region.
■ They failed to get the larger
areas so English East India
company focused more on
establishing India.
■ they built a business on cloths in
the European market
❖ France tried to do the same thing but the
Duchess kept attacking them
■ They were successful but they
weren't making profits like
England
❖ Europeans continued to gain numerous
port cities