Voyages of Discovery

In the late 1400s, Europeans began to explore the oceans. In the stronger ships capable of longer voyages, they went in search of trade, treasure and new lands. Their voyages took them west to the Americas and east to Asia.

After the Byzantine empire fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the old land trade routes between Europe and Asia were cut off. Europeans, anxious to get spices that were essential for flavouring and preserving their food, had to find a new way to reach India and the islands of Indonesia. This need, coupled with a growing curiosity and a spirit of adventure, sent Europeans to sea.

The first nation to go exploring was Portugal. Its prince, Henry the Navigator, took a keen interest in ship building and navigation. He directed his sailors west into the Atlantic Ocean and south to explore along the African coast to protect the trade routes and traded for gold and ivory. Spanish, French, Dutch and English sailors followed. Some explorers, like Christopher Columbus, headed farther west, and ended up in the American continent existed!

Portugal and Spain began to settle and plunder the Americans, dividing it between themselves by treaty. By 1517, the Portuguese had landed in China (by sailing east around Africa to India and onward). Nearly 30 years later, they reached Japan.

The ships used by the explorers were small, but more seaworthy than the clumsy vessels of the Middle Ages. These ships used a mixture of square and lateen (triangular) sails for easier steering and greater manoeuvrability. Sailors had only crude maps and simple instruments to guide them on voyages that lasted many months. In 1519, a Portuguese captain, Ferdinand Magellan, set out from Spain with five ships. The ships sailed around South America, across the Pacific Ocean to the Philippines (where Magellan was killed) and across the Indian Ocean to Africa. Only one ship, commanded by Sebastian Del Cano, found its way home to Spain, becoming the first ship to sail around the world.

NEW WORLD FOODS

As well as gold and silver, European explorers brought back new foods from the Americans. Potatoes, tomatoes and peppers, plants native to America, were all unknown in Europe before 1500. Potatoes were a luxury at first, served only to the rich at banquets. Chocolate, from the cacao tree, was first brought to Spain from Mexico in 1520. Also from the New World came tobacco, turkeys and maize.