Chapter 8

1450 to 1750

The Age of Exploration

Chinese Exploration

After reestablishing authority over China, the Ming decided to refurbish their country’s large navy. From 1405 to 1433, they sponsored seven massive naval expeditions in order to reinforce Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean, impose imperial control over trade, and impress foreign peoples with the authority of the Ming Dynasty.

The mariner Zheng He led these expeditions. His first trip alone involved 28,000 troops. Zheng He sailed to Southeast Asia, India, the Persian Gulf, Arabia, and East Africa. Zheng He dispensed and received gifts throughout these travels. However, Confucian officials convinced the Chinese emperor that the voyages were too expensive and unprofitable, especially because of renewed concern over the northern Mongol border. Thus, in 1433, the voyages ended, Zheng He’s records were destroyed, and the ships were allowed to rot.

Other Easterners like Muslims, Indians, and Malays continued to use the Indian Ocean for commerce and trade, establishing effective routes and creating a vibrant trade system. When the Europeans did arrive, the world shifted from a primarily Asian-centered economy to a global economy. 

European Exploration

Europe emerged from an age of isolation with a desire to explore. In contrast to the Chinese, whose voyages were motivated mainly by a need to bolster their international prestige, European voyages during the Age of Exploration were motivated mainly by financial interests. The Asian goods that Europe purchased, such as pepper, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg, were significantly expensive. Europeans wanted to gain direct access to these goods, increasing supply and lowering prices. Other motives included the spread of Christianity and the desire for adventure.

SPAIN AND PORTUGAL IN THE AGE OF EXPLORATION

A map showing Spanish and Portugal posessions. Spanish possessions include what is now the southern United States, Mexico, and Central America, as well as most of the coast of South America and parts of the East Indies. Portuguese possessions include part of the east coast of South America, several areas along the coast of Africa, as well as parts of the MIddle East and India. Several lines indicate routes taken by explorerrs. Cartier, G. Caboto, and S. Cabota traveled from England to Canada. Columbus made 4 trips from Spain to the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. Cabral traveled from Portugal to South America. De Gama traveled from Portugal to the east coast of Africa and India. Magellan's expedition circumnavigated the world, beginning and ending in Spain.

Portugal

The rough landscape of Portugal was not ideal farmland, and the kingdom was an impoverished one prior to the Age of Exploration. This economic deficiency motivated interest in both accessing luxury goods more cheaply and also in improving Portugal’s finances. While the Portuguese nobility was interested in conquering Morocco, its monarchy sought to control the spice trade by finding a sea route to India. There was also interest in locating the kingdom of Prester John, a supposed Christian ruler somewhere in Africa, to form an alliance against Islam. 

The Portuguese were early leaders in exploration, under the leadership of Prince Henry the Navigator, who established Portuguese schools and sponsored expeditions along the West African coast. The key innovation of Portuguese navigators was the discovery of the volta do mar (literally “turn of the sea”), trade winds that allowed ships to easily sail past the west coast of Africa. This required the counterintuitive step to sail far westward into the open ocean to catch winds that would bring ships back around to the southern tip of Africa, with Bartolomeu Dias rounding the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. The Portuguese first arrived in India in 1498; the first Indian voyage lost a third of its crew but made 60 times a return on the investment of the expedition. 

The Portuguese were methodical in their exploration, carefully recording winds, sea currents, tides, port locations, and more. They conducted live trials of their cannons at sea, figuring out how to best sink enemy ships and bombard coastal targets. Despite India hosting a gunpowder empire at the time, Portuguese artillery was superior. Instead of bows, which were still in use in many places throughout Afro-Eurasia, they used crossbows and muskets and had superior armor. All these advantages allowed Portugal to establish a major, lucrative empire. 

Spain

It is a myth that Christopher Columbus sought to prove that the Earth was round, which was a long-established fact even by 1492. Portuguese mathematicians had calculated the size of the Earth and dismissed the claim of Columbus that one could sail westward to Asia. What they were unaware of was the existence of the Americas. Spain, having just completed the Reconquista, sought a way to bypass the Portuguese monopoly on sea routes along West Africa.

While Portugal would build its empire in the Eastern Hemisphere, Spain mainly conquered the Americas. Spain did, however, conquer the Philippines, which had first been explored under Ferdinand Magellan, along with several small islands in the Pacific such as Guam. 

COLUMBUS’S FIRST VOYAGE
A map shows Columbus's first voyage, which began in Cadiz Spain, went through the Canary islands, the Bahamas, around Cuba, along the coast of Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico and then back across the Atlantic to Lisbon Portugal.
Explorer Year Accomplishment
Bartolomeu Dias (Portugal) 1488 Rounded the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa and entered the Indian Ocean
Christopher Columbus (Spain) 1492 Sailed west to reach Asia and instead reached the Bahamas; sailed around the Caribbean, but thought he had reached an island just off the coast of Asia
Vasco da Gama (Portugal) 1497 Reached Calicut, India, in 1498 by rounding Africa
Ferdinand Magellan (Spain) 1519–1522 Sailed around South America to the Philippine Islands where he was killed; his men sailed back through the Indian Ocean and were the first to circumnavigate the globe

The Dutch

Dutch exploration during this period is practically synonymous with the Dutch East India Company, a massive business conglomerate with monopolies in several areas, which served as the right arm of the Dutch Republic. The Dutch East India Company was a model for the British East India Company. The Dutch Empire consisted mainly of its holdings in the East Indies (present-day Indonesia), the Cape Colony (present-day South Africa), and scattered holds in the Americas, India, and China.

As with France, the high standards of living in the Dutch Republic did little to motivate citizens to emigrate abroad to colonial holdings. Some of its outposts like New Amsterdam (present-day New York City) were eventually absorbed by rival, expansionist European powers.

England

English voyages were mainly concentrated on North America and India. John Cabot, an Italian employed by Henry VII, explored coastal North America. Sir Francis Drake carried out the second circumnavigation of the world and was the first captain to survive the entire voyage. Unlike the other European powers, England strongly favored settler colonies. While it would eventually become a global superpower, England at the start of the Age of Exploration was a fairly impoverished sector of Europe, which motivated some people to emigrate to its overseas holdings. Its culture also associated political rights and freedom with land ownership.  

While the British East India Company initially struggled against its Dutch counterpart, the British eventually gained a secure foothold in India, expanding over time until it controlled most of the subcontinent and had shut out European rivals, such as through the Anglo-Dutch Wars.

France

France likewise focused on the spice trade in India as well as exploration of North America. Jacques Cartier claimed much of what is present-day Canada for France and was the first European to travel inland in North America. While settlements were made in what was then called New France, the comparative wealth of France itself did not motivate much emigration to rough frontier forts and villages.