The Age of Exploration (1450-1750)

By the 1450's, the Mongol Empires had collapsed in Asia and hostile Islamic groups closed trade routes to India and China for western Christian merchants. Wealthy merchants in Portugal, Spain, France, and England began using improved sailing technology (which, ironically, they had gotten from Muslim and Chinese sailors during the Crusades) to sail further into the Atlantic and down the west coast of Africa. By 1481, a Portuguese explorer, Vasco Da Gama, had managed to sail around the southern tip of Africa to India and back home. This route was dangerous and very long, however. Other explorers, such as Christopher Columbus, began to search for a western route across the Atlantic Ocean to China and India. When Columbus set sail in 1492 and discovered a whole new world, it set off a wave of change that would forever change the course of world history. Take a look at this map of Columbus' voyages to the new world.

Notes for you: