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Age of Exploration

Driving Question: Why did European monarchs fund voyages of exploration and conquest in this period?

European maritime voyages launched in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries transformed the world. They linked the hemispheres in sustained connection for the firs time. As a result of these voyages, European states began building vast and powerful overseas empires that stretched across oceans.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Describe how the exchange of innovations and technology allowed European states to expand and establish new oceanic empires.
  2. Use the historical thinking skill of comparison to evaluate the differences between land-based and oceanic empires during this period.
  3. Use a graphic biography to support, extend, or challenge the overarching narratives from this period.
STEP 1

Opener: Age of Exploration

What are the terms you’ll need to know for this lesson? Check out some new vocabulary and look back on what you’ve already learned.

STEP 2

Crossing the Atlantic

In the fifteenth century, explorers from Europe set out across the oceans. Their voyages and conquests made some Europeans very rich and some rulers very powerful. But as you’ll see in the article and graphic bio below, not everyone shared equally.

STEP 3

New Empires

Were European oceanic empires something new, or were they just another form of empire? Use these articles and activity to compare old land-based empires with the emergence of new oceanic empires.

STEP 4

Routes to the East

European navigators also traveled to the Indian Ocean in search of new trade opportunities. In this article and graphic bio, you’ll read about their interactions with powerful states and a flourishing network of trade.

STEP 5

Closer: Age of Exploration

In this lesson, you’ve explored voyages of exploration and conquest. Reflect on what you learned, what surprised you, and any questions you still have.

Extension Materials
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The materials below will deepen your understanding of how European empires emerged and the lasting effects of the transoceanic connections they forged.
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The Global Silver Trade

The Spanish Empire extracted huge amounts of silver from their colonies in the Americas. The sudden abundance of this precious metal totally reshaped global economic patterns.

The Spanish went looking for gold in the Americas, but instead found silver...and death...and inflation.

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.
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The emerging system of capitalism supported the expansion of European empires—just as those empires helped expand the system of capitalism. These articles and activity will help you see the global connections that made it all possible.

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Capitalism and Empire

The Spanish Empire extracted huge amounts of silver from their colonies in the Americas. The sudden abundance of this precious metal totally reshaped global economic patterns.

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The Mughals

Explore a nontypical maritime-based empire and rethink the characteristics of empires during this period.

The Omani Empire External link

The Omani Empire didn’t look like the large, land-based empires of Afro-Eurasia, but it also didn’t look like the maritime empires of Europe. Was it an empire at all?

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.