Age of Discoveries

Europeans know Europe and...

The existence of India, China and Japan was shown by...

Europeans need to find new [blank_start]trade routes[blank_end] to the [blank_start]east[blank_end]

There were new maps and better navigational instruments at this times

There were improved [blank_start]ships[blank_end], such as the [blank_start]caravels[blank_end]

The [blank_start]Portulan[blank_end] Charts were maps that showed the [blank_start]coastline[blank_end] and the [blank_start]shortest distances[blank_end] between diferent ports

Portugal had been looking for a new sea route to

Prince Henry the [blank_start]Navigator[blank_end] discovered the [blank_start]Madeira Islands[blank_end] in 1418 and the Azores in [blank_start]1431[blank_end].Later expeditions explored the [blank_start]African[blank_end] coast.

In [blank_start]1488[blank_end] Bartolomeu [blank_start]Dias[blank_end] rounded the [blank_start]Cape of Good Hope[blank_end], opening a sea route to the [blank_start]Indian[blank_end] Ocean.

Vasco de [blank_start]Gama[blank_end] reached India in [blank_start]1498[blank_end]. There were a new route between [blank_start]Europe[blank_end] and Asia wich did not go through the territories controlled by the [blank_start]Turks[blank_end]

The [blank_start]Castilians[blank_end] decided to sail to the [blank_start]west[blank_end] across the [blank_start]Atlantic[blank_end].It was very risky because involved sailing a long way from the coast into unknown waters.

[blank_start]Christopher[blank_end] Colombus was a [blank_start]Genoese[blank_end] sailor that discovered [blank_start]America[blank_end] in [blank_start]1492[blank_end]

Christopher Colombus made [blank_start]4[blank_end] trips to America.The first was from [blank_start]3[blank_end] of [blank_start]August[blank_end] in 1492 to [blank_start]12[blank_end] of [blank_start]October[blank_end] in 1492, he discovered America.The second was in [blank_start]1493[blank_end], he found a faster and safer route to America.The third in [blank_start]1498[blank_end] and the fourth in [blank_start]1502[blank_end], he explored part of the coast of Central and [blank_start]South[blank_end] America

The [blank_start]first[blank_end] voyage around the world was made by [blank_start]Ferdinand Magellans[blank_end] and Juan Sebastian [blank_start]Elcano[blank_end] his second-in-comand. In [blank_start]1519[blank_end] the expedition left [blank_start]Seville[blank_end]; in [blank_start]1520[blank_end] they found the [blank_start]Strait[blank_end] of Magellan. Magellans died in the [blank_start]Philippines[blank_end]; they also sailed to the [blank_start]Moluccas[blank_end]. They return to Spain in [blank_start]1522[blank_end].

[blank_start]Portugal[blank_end] and Spain created great [blank_start]overseas empires[blank_end]. In [blank_start]1494[blank_end] were create the Treaty of [blank_start]Tordesillas[blank_end]; a line of [blank_start]demarcation[blank_end] divided regions between them: [blank_start]east[blank_end] belonged to Portugal and [blank_start]west[blank_end] to Castile.