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Europeans Explore the World
Spices were an essential part of everyday life for the Europeans. Refrigeration had not yet been invented, so the only way to preserve meat was to salt it. Adding spices helped to hide the salty taste. The spices also concealed the taste of meat that had gone bad. The Turks defeated the Byzantine Empire in 1453, cutting
the land link between Europe and Asia. If spices were to reach Europe,
a sea route to Asia had to be found. Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal
set up a school for sailors and encouraged the exploration of the African
coast. In 1486, Bartholomeu Dias and his crew became the first Portuguese
sailors to reach the southern tip of Africa, but he turned back because
his crew was unwilling to travel any further. Ten years later, Dias helped
another Portuguese sailor, Vasco da Christopher Columbus hoped to reach India by sailing west. When the Portuguese king would not sponsor his voyage, he asked Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. After six years, they agreed. When Columbus reached a group of islands across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, he was certain he had reached his goal. Columbus called the native people Indians. This is why the Caribbean islands are known as the West Indies. Columbus made three more voyages to the Caribbean, but he never realized his mistake. |
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To cite this page: |
In
the second half of the 15th century, European sailors began to plan voyages
that would take them beyond the limits of the world they knew. The new
interest in the world came in part from the Renaissance, but the main
reason was to set up new trading links with spice-producing lands in Asia.
Gama,
plan a voyage around Africa to India.