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The age of exploration was the period of time when European sailors began to seek new trade routes.
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Caravel: a ship that could move in and out of small bays and harbours easily thanks to the lateen sails.
Compass: it helped sailors to find the way as it always points north.
Astrolabes and Quadrants: it was used to work out the ship’s latitutde by studying the position of the stars in the night sky.
Portoln Charts: early navigational maps of the sea showing the shaoe of the coastline and the depth of the water.
Log, line and knots: Sailors worked out the speed and distance travelled. -
After the Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople, trade with China through the Great Silk Road became more complicated and costly as Muslims and Christians were enemies.
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Bartolomeu Dias becomes the first European sailor to reach the bottom of Africa.
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For three months, Columbus explored the Caribbean sea and returned to Spain having discovered Cuba and Hispañola.
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Native population in Central and South America decreased by 42 million to 8 million.
One of the major reasons for this was European deseases like influenza and smallpox. -
Columbus set sail with two caravels: Niña and Pinta; and a nao: Santa Maria.
He did not arrive in Asia but went ashore in San Salvador. -
Spain and Portugal agreed to split the world in two. For this reason Brazilians speak Portuguese and the rest of Central and South America speak Spanish.
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Vasco da Gama became the first European sailor to reach India by sailing around Africa.
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11 million Africans were brought to the Americas.
4 million were brought to Brazil.
2.5 million to New Spain. -
The continent of America was named after Amerigo Vespucci.
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Ferdinand Magellan set sail to travel around the world.
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Hernando Cortes conquered the Aztec Empire in modern day Mexico with an army.
The Aztec Empire became a Spanish colony and was renamed New Spain. -
Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire with 180 men.
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English Queen Elisabeth I allowed English pirates, Sir Francis Drake andSir Walter Raleigh, attacked Spanish convoys carrying wealth back to Spain from the New World.