Era Of Exploration

Land ho! Discover what the Age of Exploration was all about in this wonderful addition to the bestselling Who HQ series! Before the fifteenth century, European sailors were unsure what waited for them beyond their well-known travel routes around the Mediterranean Sea, so they kept within sight of land. But all of that changed after Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal started sending ships down the coast in the hope of finding a sea route to India and Africa. This was the beginning of a giant leap toward understanding what the globe actually looked like. Certain European nations grew rich and powerful from the New World gold and lands they claimed, while advanced, long-standing civilizations like the Aztecs and Incas were destroyed in the cruelest of ways. This book also features the fun black-and-white illustrations and engaging 16-page photo insert that readers have come love about the What Was? series!

The Age of Exploration, which spanned roughly from 1400 to 1550, was the first time in history that European powers—eyeing new trade routes to the East or seeking to establish empires—began actively looking far past their own borders to gain a better understanding of the world and its many resources. The individuals who set out on behalf of the countries they represented came from a variety of backgrounds, and included master navigators such as Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan—the latter of whom was the first to circle the globe—as well as the often ruthless conquistadors of the New World such as Francisco Pizarro and Hernan Cortes. The exciting and sometimes tragic lives and journeys of these and many others as well as the battles for empire that arose are chronicled in this engaging volume.

This publication accompanies an exhibition of approximately 120 works of art and science loaned mostly from the Royal Collection of Spain (Patrimonio Nacional) to the Seattle Art Museum. Featuring the work of such artists as Bosch, Titian, El Greco, Bernini, Vel¾zquez, Murillo, Zubar¾n, and Goya, this publication includesøpaintings, sculpture, tapestries, scientific instruments, maps, armor, books, and documents. Eight essays provide historical context and artistic explication. Chronologically organized, the book charts the evolution of Spanish attitudes toward knowledge, exploration, and faith during three dynasties of Spain?s golden age, when the fervor for scientific and geographical knowledge coexisted with the expansion of empire and promotion of Christianity. The four themes of the exhibition are: The Image of Empire; Spirituality and Worldliness; Encounters across Cultures; Science and the Court. Spain in the Age of Exploration, 1492?1819, presents art and science from one of the most ambitious, magnificent, and complex enterprises in history.

Swashbuckling pirates raiding treasure galleons and dashing explorers traversing the unknown; this is how many perceive the Age of Exploration. The quest to explore beyond the horizon was driven by more than a need to understand the unknown. Great political and financial prospects lured those individuals and nations who dared explore. This compelling volume offers readers an in-depth account of the eccentric characters, cutting-edge technologies, and the exotic locations, real and imagined, that drove exploration of the New World as well as the Old World. Chapters engage pertinent critical discussions including early exploration of trade routes through the Muslim world; Bartolomeu Dias sailing around the southern cape of Africa; Christopher Columbus reaching the Bahamas Islands, Cuba and Hispaniola; Vasco da Gama rounding Africa and reaches the Indian port of Calicut; and many more. The edition also offers readers a timeline, maps, quotations from primary source materials, and a thorough subject index.

Despite earlier naval expeditions undertaken for reasons of diplomacy or trade, it wasn't until the early 1400s that European maritime explorers established sea routes through most of the globe's inhabited regions, uniting a divided earth into a single system of navigation. From the early Portuguese and Spanish quests for gold and glory, to later scientific explorations of land and culture, this new understanding of the world's geography created global trade, built empires, defined taste and alliances of power, and began the journey toward the cultural, political, and economic globalization in which we live today. Ronald Love's engaging narrative chapters guide the reader from Marco Polo's exploration of the Mongol empire to Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe, the search for a Northern Passage, Henry Hudson's voyage to Greenland, the discovery of Tahiti, the perils of scurvy, mutiny, and warring empires, and the eventual extension of Western influence into almost every corner of the globe. Biographies and primary documents round out the work.

The story of the European discovery of North America does not end with—in fact it does not really even begin with—Christopher Columbus. This engaging title tells the story of the explorers who became the first Europeans to visit the lands that would later become the United States of America. Readers will learn about the Spanish explorers of the Southwest and the Gulf Coast, the English and Dutch explorers of the Atlantic Coast, and the French explorers of the St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi River. They’ll discover what the goals and motivations behind each expedition were, which native people the explorers encountered, and what sorts of obstacles had to be overcome for each expedition to succeed. A fascinating account of a formational period in American history.

Covers the period during which Europe discovered the rest of the world, beginning with the mid-fifteenth century and ending 250 years later when the "Reconnaissance" was all but complete. The author examines the inducements--political, economic, religious--to overseas enterprise at the time, and analyzes the nature and problems of the various European settlements in the new lands.