Notes – Chapter 3, Lesson 2
Vocabulary: profit, navigation, cartographer, astrolabe, caravel, expedition
Profit = money left over after all expenses have been paid
Navigation = controlling where a ship goes; finding one’s way to someplace
Caravel = new ship – faster, carried more cargo, better in heavy seas
Expedition = a journey of exploration
Astrolabe = instrument used to calculate positions of sun, moon, & stars
I. Background to European Exploration
II. An End to East – West Trade
A. Trading Centers -- Traders from Europe usually only traveled halfway to
Asia for goods
1. then they let someone else go by the SILK ROAD over land to China
2. then met them in trading cities like Constantinople & Bagdad & Alexandria
3. bought jewels, perfume, spices (pepper, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg), silks, tea, gold
4. These things cost a lot because they paid someone else to face the dangers of the Silk Road, but people in Europe would pay anything to get what they wanted.
B. PROFIT = money left over after cost of goods and other expenses have been paid
1. Merchants made HUGE profits – (supply & demand)
C. 1453 – Turks closed off land route – How can Europeans traders get goods now?
III. Portugal Leads the Way
A. Prince Henry the Navigator set up schools where sailors, shipbuilders, &
CARTOGRAPHERS (mapmakers) all learned from each other.
B. NAVIGATION = the skill of finding one’s way
C. ASTROLABE = instrument used to find the positions of the sun, moon, and stars
(to help navigate!
D. CARAVEL = New ship – stronger, faster, can carry more cargo than other ships
E. Portugal explored west coast of Africa – traded for nuts, fruits, gold, & slaves.
1. They bought slaves from tribes in Africa & brought them to Europe.
F. Dias was first to sail around southern tip of Africa – Cape of Good Hope.
G. EXPEDITION = a journey of EXploration
H. daGama was first to sail around Africa to India & trade.
1. Proved – IF PORTUGAL COULD DO IT, ANYONE COULD DO IT!!!
I. Soon Portugal sailed to India often & became powerful traders in Africa & with India.
*****Skills Lesson – Cause & Effect – page 120 ------review this!!!!!!!!!