He crossed the Black Sea and died on the way in Smolensk. Several notebooks were found in his travel bag, in which he wrote travel notes. Subsequently, his recordings were published under the title “Walking beyond the Three Seas.” They contain interesting descriptions of his travels and the life of the Indian population. Residents of the city of Kalinin (formerly Tver) erected a monument in memory of their fellow countryman (Fig. 3).
Search for a sea route to India
Western European merchants sold goods from India with great profit. By India, people who had little knowledge of geography understood the entire east of Asia, right up to China. Spices, pearls, ivory, and fabrics brought from there were paid in gold. There was little gold in Europe, and goods were very expensive. They were delivered to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea from India by intermediaries - Arab merchants. In the 15th century, the lands in the eastern Mediterranean were captured by the Turks - the huge Turkish Ottoman Empire arose. The Turks did not allow trade caravans to pass through and often robbed them. A convenient sea route from Europe to India and the countries of the East was needed. Europeans began searching for it - primarily the inhabitants of Portugal and Spain.
Portugal And Spain are located in southern Europe, pa Iberian Peninsula. This peninsula is washed by both the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. For a long time it was under Arab rule. In the 15th century, the Arabs were expelled, and the Portuguese, pursuing them in Africa, began to sail off the coast of this continent.
Henry, Prince of Portugal, received the nickname Navigator. At the same time, he himself did not swim anywhere. Henry organized sea expeditions, collected information about distant countries, looked for old maps, encouraged the creation of new ones, and founded a nautical school. The Portuguese learned to build new ships - three-masted caravels. They were light, fast, and could move under sails in both side and even head winds.
Expedition of Bartolomeu Dias
Portuguese expeditions moved further and further south along the coast of Africa. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias sailed to the southern tip of Africa. Two of his ships were caught in a brutal storm- storm at sea. A strong wind drove the ships onto the rocks. Despite the high waves, Dias turned from the shore into the open sea. For several days he sailed east, but the African coast was not visible. Dias realized that he had circled Africa and entered the Indian Ocean! The rock on which his ships almost crashed was the southern tip of Africa. Dias called her Cape of Storms. When the sailors returned to Portugal, the king ordered the Cape of Storms to be renamed Cape of Good Hope, hopes to reach India by sea.
Voyage of Columbus
In the 15th century many sea expeditions were made. The most prominent of these is the Spanish expedition of Christopher Columbus. In 1492, members of the expedition on three ships sailed from the Iberian Peninsula to look for a sea route to India, rich in gold and spices. Convinced of the sphericity of the Earth, Columbus believed that by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean, it was possible to reach the shores of Asia. After a two-month voyage, the ships approached the islands of Central America. Travelers discovered many new lands.
Columbus made three more voyages to America, but until the end of his life he was sure that he had visited India, and the islands discovered by him are known as the West Indies (West Indian); the indigenous population is called Indians.
In the 19th century one of the republics of South America began to be called Colombia.
John Cabot's Journey
The news of Columbus's discoveries of new lands quickly spread throughout Europe and reached England. This country lies on the British Isles, separated from Europe English Channel. In 1497, British merchants equipped and sent the expedition of John Cabot, an Italian who moved to England, to the west. The small ship sailed along the Atlantic much north of Columbus's ships. On the way, the sailors encountered huge schools of cod and herring. To this day, the North Atlantic is the most important fishing area in the world for these types of fish. John Cabot discovered the island Newfoundland from North America. Portuguese sailors discovered the cold, harsh Labrador Peninsula. So the Europeans, five hundred years after the Vikings, saw the North American lands again. They were inhabited - American Indians came ashore, dressed in animal skins.
The Journey of Amerigo Vespucci
All new expeditions were sent from Spain to the New World. In the hope of getting rich, finding gold, and becoming owners of new lands, Spanish nobles and soldiers went west. Priests and monks sailed with them to convert the Indians to Christianity and increase the wealth of the church. The Italian Amerigo Vespucci was a participant in several Spanish and Port Tuguese expeditions. He compiled a description of the coast of South America. This area was covered with dense tropical forests, in which the brazil tree grew with valuable red wood. Later, all Portuguese lands began to be called this way. South America and the huge country that arose on them - Brazil.
The Portuguese discovered a convenient bay, where, as they incorrectly thought, the mouth of a large river was located. It was in January, and the place was called Rio de Janeiro - “January River”. Nowadays the largest city in Brazil is located here.
Amerigo Vespucci wrote to Europe that the newly discovered lands most likely have nothing to do with Asia and represent New World. On European maps, compiled during the first voyages across the Atlantic, they are called the land of Amerigo. This name gradually became attached to the two huge motherlands of the New World - North America and South America.
John Cabot's expedition was financed by philanthropist Richard America. There is a widespread belief that the metric was named after him, and Vespucci had already taken his name from the name of the continent.
Expeditions of Vasco da Gama
First expedition (1497-1499)
In 1497, a Portuguese expedition of four ships led by Vasco da Gama went to look for a way to India. The ships rounded the Cape of Good Hope, turned north and sailed along the unknown eastern berets of Africa. Unknown to the Europeans, but not to the Arabs, who had trade and military settlements on the banks. Taking on board an Arab pilot - a sea guide, Vasco da Gama sailed with him across the Indian Ocean, and then through the Arabian Sea to India. The Portuguese reached its western shores and, with a cargo of spices and jewelry, returned safely to their homeland in 1499. The sea route from Europe to India was opened. It was found that the Atlantic and Indian oceans are connected, and the coasts of Africa and the island of Madagascar were mapped.
Discovery of the Pacific Ocean (Vasco Balboa)
First voyage around the world (Magellan)
From 1519 to 1522 expedition Fernando Magellan completed her first circumnavigation of the world. A crew of 265 people on 5 ships set off from Spain to South America. Having rounded it, the ships entered the ocean, which Magellan called Quiet. The voyage continued in incredibly difficult conditions.
On the islands near the coast of Southeast Azin, Magellan intervened in the feuds of local authorities and died in one of the skirmishes with local residents. Only in 1522 did 18 people on one ship return to their homeland.
Magellan's voyage is the greatest event of the 16th century. The ex-pedition, having gone to the west, returned back from the east. This journey established the existence of a single World Ocean; it was of great importance for the further development of knowledge about the Earth.
Second Voyage Around the World (Drake)
The second circumnavigation of the world was made by an English pirate Francis Drake in 1577-1580. Drake was proud that, unlike Magellan, he managed not only to begin, but also to complete the voyage himself. In the 16th-17th centuries, pirates, among whom were many English and French, robbed Spanish ships hurrying from America to Europe with expensive cargo. The pirates sometimes shared part of the looted wealth with the English kings, receiving rewards and protection in exchange.
Drake's small ship, the Golden Hind, was carried south by a storm from the Strait of Magellan. The open sea lay before him. Drake realized that South America was over. Subsequently, the widest and deepest strait in the world between South America and Antarctica was called Drake Passage.
Having plundered the Spanish colonies on the Pacific coast of South and Central America, Drake was afraid to go back the old way, through the Strait of Magellan, where armed and angry Spaniards could be waiting for him. He decided to bypass North America from the north, and when this failed, he returned to England through the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Ocean s, completely circumnavigating the globe.
Searches for the Southern Continent
Discovery of Oceania
The Portuguese sailed to India and the spice islands around the African mainland. Spanish ships were looking for routes to Asia, sailing from the west coast of America. Sailors crossed the Pacific Ocean, discovering islands along the way, which were named islands Oceania. Navigators often kept their discoveries secret. Captain Torres discovered the strait between island of New Guinea and Australia to the south. Geographical discovery Torres Strait kept secret from sailors of other countries by the Spanish authorities.
Discovery of Australia (Janszoon)
Portuguese and Dutch sailors at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries landed on the shores of northern and western Australia, replenishing water supplies and
The process of the decomposition of feudalism and the emergence of capitalist relations in Europe was accelerated by the opening of new trade routes and new countries in the 15th - 16th centuries, which marked the beginning of the colonial exploitation of the peoples of Africa, Asia and America.
By the 16th century In Western Europe, commodity production and trade made significant progress, and the need for money, which was the universal means of exchange, increased sharply. “The discovery of America,” says Engels regarding the reasons for the geographical discoveries, “was caused by the thirst for gold, which even before that drove the Portuguese to Africa... because it developed so powerfully in the 14th and 15th centuries. European industry and the trade corresponding to it required more means of exchange, which Germany - the great country of silver in 1450-1550. - I couldn’t give.”( Letter from Engels to K. Schmidt, October 27, 1890, K. Marx, F. Engels, Selected Letters, 1953, p. 426.) By this time, the desire for luxury and the accumulation of treasures among the upper classes of European society had also greatly increased. In such conditions, the passion for enrichment, or, in the words of Marx, the “universal thirst for money” ( "Archive of Marx and Engels", vol. IV, p. 225.) embraced nobles, townspeople, clergy, and kings in Europe.
One of the most tempting means of getting rich quick in 15th-century Europe. there was trade with Asia, the importance of which grew more and more after the Crusades. They rose to prominence in intermediary trade with the East Largest cities Italy, primarily Venice and Genoa. The East was a source of supplying Europeans with luxury goods. Spices brought from India and the Moluccas - pepper, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg - became a favorite food seasoning in rich houses, and big money was paid for a grain of spice. Perfume products from Arabia and India, gold products from oriental jewelers, Indian and Chinese silk, cotton and woolen fabrics, Arabian incense, etc. were in great demand in Europe. India, China, Japan were considered countries rich in gold and precious stones. The imagination of European profit seekers was amazed by the stories of travelers about the fabulous riches of these distant countries; Especially popular were the notes of the Venetian merchant Marco Polo, who visited in the 13th century. in China and in many other Eastern countries. In his notes, Marco Polo reported such fantastic information about Japan, unknown to Europeans: “Gold, I tell you, they have great abundance; there is an extremely large amount of it here, and they do not take it out of here... I will now describe to you the wondrous palace of the sovereign of the local people. To tell the truth, the palace here is large and covered with pure gold, just as our houses and churches are roofed with lead... I’ll also tell you that the floors in the chambers - and there are many of them here - are also covered with pure gold of a finger. two in thickness; and everything in the palace - both the halls and the windows - is covered with gold decorations... There is an abundance of pearls here, they are pink and very beautiful, round, large...” The Europeans were promised great wealth and the capture of trade routes in the seas of South Asia, along which between the countries There was brisk trade in the East, in the hands of Arab, Indian, Malay and Chinese merchants.
However, the countries of Western Europe (with the exception of Italy) did not have direct trade relations with eastern countries and did not receive benefits from eastern trade. Europe's trade balance in its trade with the East was passive. Therefore, in the 15th century. There was an outflow of metal money from European countries to the East, which further increased the shortage of precious metals in Europe. In addition, in the 15th century. In Europe's trade with Asian countries, new circumstances appeared that contributed to a fabulous increase in prices for eastern goods. The collapse of the Mongol power resulted in the cessation of caravan trade between Europe and China and India through Central Asia and Mongolia, and the fall of Constantinople and the Turkish conquests in Western Asia and the Balkan Peninsula in the 15th century. the trade route to the East through Asia Minor and Syria was almost completely closed. The third trade route to the East - through the Red Sea - was the monopoly of the Egyptian sultans, who in the 15th century. They began to levy extremely high duties on all goods transported this way. In this regard, the decline of Mediterranean trade, the centers of which were Italian cities, began.
Europeans in the 15th century. attracted wealth not only from Asia, but also from Africa. At this time, the countries of Southern Europe, through the Mediterranean Sea, traded with the countries of North Africa, mainly with Egypt and with the rich and cultural states of the Maghreb - Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. However, until the end of the 15th century. most of the African continent was unknown to Europeans; there were no direct connections between Europe and Western Sudan, isolated from the Mediterranean countries by the impassable Sahara Desert and a part of the Atlantic Ocean unknown to Europeans.
At the same time, the cities of the coast of North Africa traded with the tribes of the interior regions of Sudan and Tropical Africa, from whom ivory and slaves were exchanged. Along the caravan routes across the Sahara, gold, slaves and other goods from Western Sudan and the Guinean coast were delivered to the cities of the Maghreb and fell into the hands of Europeans, arousing their desire to reach these unknown rich regions of Africa by sea.
“To what extent,” says Engels, “at the end of the 15th century, money undermined and corroded the feudal system from within is clearly visible from the thirst for gold that took possession of Western Europe in this era; The Portuguese searched for gold on the African coast, in India, throughout the Far East; gold was the magic word that drove the Spaniards across the Atlantic Ocean to America; gold - that’s what the white man first demanded as soon as he set foot on the newly opened shore.”( F. Engels, The Peasant War in Germany, M. 1953, Appendixes, p. 155.) Thus, in Western Europe in the 15th century. there was a need to search for new sea routes from Europe to Africa, India and East Asia.
But distant and dangerous sea travel, undertaken since the end of the 15th century. with the aim of opening new routes to Africa and the East and to conquer new countries, became possible because by this time, as a result of the development of productive forces, important improvements had been introduced in the field of navigation and military affairs.
Sailing ships with a keel, introduced by the Normans back in the 10th century, gradually became widespread in all countries and replaced the multi-tiered rowing Greek and Roman ships.
During the 15th century. The Portuguese, during their voyages along the western coast of Africa, using the Genoese type of three-masted sea vessel, created a new fast and light sailing ship suitable for long voyages - the caravel. Unlike coastal (coastal) vessels, the caravel had three masts and was equipped with a large number of straight and oblique sails, thanks to which it could move even in unfavorable wind directions. She had a very spacious hold, which made it possible to make long sea crossings; the caravel's crew was small. The safety of navigation has increased significantly due to the fact that the compass and nautical charts- portolans; in Portugal, the astrolabe, borrowed from the Arabs, was improved - a goniometric instrument with which the positions of the luminaries and latitude were calculated; at the end of the 15th century. Tables of planetary motion were published to facilitate the calculation of latitude at sea.
The improvement of firearms was important.
A serious obstacle to the organization of sea travel was the geographical ideas that dominated in the world, based on the teachings of the Greek geographer Ptolemy. medieval Europe. Ptolemy rejected the doctrine of the movement of the Earth and believed that the Earth stood motionless at the center of the universe; he admitted the idea of a spherical shape of the Earth, but argued that somewhere in the south, Southeast Asia is connected to East Africa, the Indian Ocean is closed on all sides by land; thus, it is allegedly impossible to get from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean and reach the shores of East Asia by sea. According to the prevailing views in the Middle Ages, borrowed from ancient authors, the Earth was divided into five climatic zones, and it was believed that life was possible only in two temperate zones, at both poles there were completely lifeless areas of eternal cold, and at the equator - a zone terrible heat, where the sea boils and ships and the people on them burn.
In the 15th century With the success of Renaissance culture in Europe, these ideas began to be increasingly questioned. Back in the 13th century. Marco Polo and other travelers proved that in reality the eastern coast of Asia does not extend endlessly to the east, as Ptolemy thought, but is washed by the sea. On some maps of the 15th century. Africa was depicted as a separate continent tapering towards the south. The hypothesis about the spherical shape of the Earth and a single ocean washing the land, expressed by ancient scientists, was found in the 15th century. an increasing number of supporters. Based on this hypothesis, people in Europe began to express the idea of reaching the eastern coast of Asia by sea, sailing from Europe to the west, across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1410 French bishop Pierre d'Ailly wrote the book "Picture of the World", in which he cited statements of ancient and medieval scientists about the sphericity of the earth and argued that the distance from the coast of Spain to India across the ocean is small and can be covered with a fair wind in a few days.
At the end of the 15th century. the idea of the possibility of a western route to India was especially ardently promoted by the Florentine physician and cosmographer Paolo Toscanelli. He depicted on the map the Atlantic Ocean, washing Europe in the east, and Japan, China and India in the west, and thus tried to show that the western route from Europe to the East was the shortest. “I know,” he wrote, “that the existence of such a path can be proven on the basis that the Earth is a sphere...”
The Nuremberg merchant and astronomer Martin Behaim presented the first globe he made as a gift to his hometown with a characteristic inscription: “Let it be known that the whole world is measured on this figure, so that no one doubts how simple the world is, and that you can travel everywhere on ships or walk as shown here..."
Navigation and maritime geography among the peoples of Asia in the Middle Ages
The peoples of Asia - Indians, Chinese, Malays and Arabs - during the Middle Ages made significant progress in the field of geographical knowledge, the development of navigation in the Indian and Pacific oceans and the art of navigation, which was important for the geographical discoveries of Europeans in Asia and Africa and their expansion in territories of these continents.
These peoples, long before the appearance of Europeans in the Indian Ocean, discovered and mastered the great South Asian sea route that connected the countries with each other ancient culture in the East, from the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf to the South China Sea. Indian ships sailed along the western section of this route, from the Malabar coast of India to East Africa, Arabia and Egypt; their helmsmen skillfully used the monsoons - seasonal winds in the southern seas. In the first centuries AD, Chinese, Indian and Malay merchants and sailors established routes in the eastern Indian Ocean, South China Sea and Java Sea, establishing trade links between the countries of Southeast Asia. At the beginning of the 5th century. Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Fa Xian traveled on a Malay ship from the Bengal coast to Shandong, visiting Ceylon, Sumatra and Java along the way; in the 7th century such trips were made often.
After the Arab conquests and the formation of the Caliphate, primacy in trade and navigation in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the western Indian Ocean passed to the Arabs. In their hands were Aden, the island of Socotra and a number of cities on the east coast of Africa. Enterprising Arab merchants brokered trade between South Asia and Europe. Their ships sailed to India, Ceylon, Java and China; Arab trading posts arose in many cities of South Asia; there were such trading posts in both Canton and Quanzhou. The cities of the coast of medieval India flourished, through which the flow of goods transported along the sea routes of Asia passed. “Here,” one Chinese described the Indian city of Calicut at the beginning of the 15th century, “there is pepper, rose oil, pearls, incense, amber, corals... colored cotton fabrics, but all this is imported from other countries... and they buy gold here , silver, cotton fabrics, blue and white porcelain, beads, mercury, camphor, musk, and there are large warehouses where goods are stored..."
However, maritime trade in Southeast Asia was mainly in the hands of the Chinese and Malays.
In the period from the X to the XV centuries. China has emerged as a powerful maritime power; its coastal cities became centers of world trade. Canton at the beginning of the 14th century, according to one European traveler who visited it, was equal to three Venices. “In all of Italy there are not as many goods as there are in this city alone,” he notes. At this time, large quantities of silk, porcelain, and artistic products were exported from China to other countries, and spices, cotton fabrics, medicinal herbs, glass and other goods were imported. Large ships were built in Chinese ports for long-distance voyages. sea vessels, which had several decks, many rooms for the crew and merchants; the crew of such a ship usually numbered up to a thousand sailors and soldiers, which was necessary in case of an encounter with pirates, of whom there were especially many in the waters of the Malay Archipelago. These ships were driven by sails made of reed mats, fixed on movable yards, which made it possible to change the position of the sails in accordance with the direction of the wind; when there was calm, these ships moved with the help of large oars. The geographical map was known to Chinese sailors even before our era. From the end of the 11th century. A compass appeared on Chinese ships (the Chinese knew the property of a magnet back in ancient times). “The helmsmen know the outlines of the shores, and at night they determine the path by the stars, during the day - by the sun. If the sun is hidden behind clouds, then they use a south-pointing needle,” says one treatise of the early 12th century about the navigation of Chinese sailors. Chinese sailors had detailed knowledge about the monsoons in the southern seas, sea currents, shoals, and typhoons, acquired by centuries of practice of Asian sailors. China also had extensive geographical literature that contained descriptions of overseas countries with detailed information about the goods brought from them to China.
The naval power of medieval China was particularly evident in the successful implementation of the largest naval expeditions to the Indian Ocean, undertaken by the Ming Emperor Chengzu in the period from 1405 to 1433. While the Portuguese were just beginning their advance into the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean, the Chinese fleet in consisting of from 60 to 100 different ships with a total crew of up to 25-30 thousand people, made seven voyages to the west, visiting Indo-China, Java, Ceylon, the Malabar coast in India, Aden, Hormuz in Arabia; in 1418, Chinese ships visited the Somali coast of Africa. In the seas of the Malay Archipelago, this fleet defeated numerous pirate gangs that impeded the development of Chinese maritime trade with the countries of South Asia. All these expeditions were headed by the great Chinese navigator Zheng He, who came from a humble family and was promoted to the emperor’s court for his military merits. Zheng He's expeditions not only strengthened China's influence in South Asia and contributed to the growth of its economic and cultural ties, but also expanded the geographical knowledge of the Chinese: their participants studied, described and mapped the lands and waters they visited. “Countries beyond the horizon and at the edge of the earth have now become subject to (China - Ed.) and to the very western and northernmost edges, and perhaps beyond their borders, and all paths have been traveled and distances have been measured,” - this is how he assessed the results of his voyages of Zheng He.
The maritime industry also reached a high level of development among the Malays who inhabited the islands of the Malay Archipelago, which included the Moluccas - the birthplace of spices exported from here to all countries of the East. The cities of Java and Sumatra and Malacca were in the XIV-XV centuries. the largest centers of trade, navigation and geographical science in the East; Javanese helmsmen were known as experienced sailors, and the maps compiled by the Malays were highly valued in the ports of Asia for the accuracy and thoroughness of the information they contained.
Another center of trade and navigation in the 15th century. there were Arab cities on the East African coast - Kilwa, Mombasa, Malindi, Sofala, the island of Zanzibar, etc. They conducted a lively maritime trade with all Asian countries, exporting there ivory, slaves, gold, exchanged with neighboring tribes for handicrafts from Arabian cities. Arab sailors were well aware of the sea routes from the Red Sea countries to the Far East; There is information that around 1420, an Arab sailor sailed from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic, rounding the southern tip of Africa. “Arab pilots have compasses for guiding ships, instructions for observation and sea charts,” wrote Vasco da Gama. Special literature on navigation was created - descriptions of routes, sailing directions, nautical directories - summarizing the most important achievements in the field of shipping and navigation over many centuries. In the second half of the 15th century. One of the most experienced Arab pilots in the western part of the Indian Ocean was Ahmed ibn Majid, who came from a family of hereditary sailors. He was the author of many works on maritime affairs, widely known among Asian sailors; the largest of them was “The Book of Useful Data on the Fundamentals of Marine Science and Its Rules.” It described in detail routes along the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf along Africa, to India, to the islands of the Malay Archipelago, to the shores of China and Taiwan, techniques for driving ships both during coastal navigation and on the high seas, instructions on using a compass and bearings, astronomical observations, about sea shores, reefs, monsoons and currents. Ibn Majid had a particularly good knowledge of the sea routes between Africa and the Malabar coast of India, which the Portuguese later took advantage of during their first voyage to India.
Opening of a sea route from Europe to India and the Far East
Portugal and Spain were the first European countries to search for sea routes to Africa and India. The nobles, merchants, clergy and royalty of these countries were interested in the search. With the end of the reconquista (in Portugal it ended in mid-XIII century, and in Spain - at the end of the 15th century), a mass of small-scale nobles - hidalgos, for whom the war with the Moors was the only occupation - remained idle. These nobles despised all types of activity except war, and when, as a result of the development of the commodity-money economy, their need for money increased, many of them very soon found themselves in debt to the city moneylenders. Therefore, the idea of getting rich in Africa or eastern countries These knights of the reconquista, left with nothing to do and without money, seemed especially exciting. The ability to fight, acquired in the wars with the Moors, the love of adventure, the thirst for military spoils and glory were quite suitable for a new difficult and dangerous undertaking - the discovery and conquest of unknown trade routes, countries and lands. It was from among the poor Portuguese and Spanish nobles that they emerged in the 15th-16th centuries. brave sailors, cruel conquerors-conquistadors who destroyed the states of the Aztecs and Incas, greedy colonial officials. “They walked with a cross in their hands and with an insatiable thirst for gold in their hearts,” one contemporary writes about the Spanish conquistadors. Rich citizens of Portugal and Spain willingly gave money for sea expeditions, which promised them possession of the most important trade routes, rapid integration and a dominant position in European trade. The Catholic clergy sanctified the bloody deeds of the conquistadors with a religious banner, since thanks to the latter they acquired new flocks at the expense of tribes and peoples converted to Catholicism and increased their land holdings and income. The royal authorities of Portugal and Spain were no less interested in the opening of new countries and trade routes. The poor peasantry, experiencing heavy feudal oppression, and underdeveloped cities could not give the kings enough money to cover the expenses required by the absolutist regime; The kings saw a way out of financial difficulties in the possession of the most important trade routes and colonies. In addition, the numerous warlike nobles left idle after the reconquista posed a serious danger to the king and the cities, since they could easily be used by large feudal lords in the fight against the unification of the country and the strengthening of royal power. The kings of Portugal and Spain therefore sought to captivate the nobles with the idea of discovering and conquering new countries and trade routes.
The sea route connecting Italian trading cities with the countries of North-Western Europe passed through the Strait of Gibraltar and skirted the Iberian Peninsula. With the development of maritime trade in the XIV-XV centuries. The importance of coastal Portuguese and Spanish cities increased. However, the expansion of Portugal and Spain was only possible towards the unknown Atlantic Ocean, because trade in the Mediterranean Sea had already been captured by the powerful sea cities republics of Italy, and trade in the Northern and Baltic seas- the union of German cities - the Hansa. The geographical position of the Iberian Peninsula, extended far to the west into the Atlantic Ocean, favored this direction of expansion of Portugal and Spain. When in the 15th century. in Europe, the need to look for new sea routes to the East intensified; the least interested in these searches was the Hansa, which monopolized all trade between the countries of North-Western Europe, and likewise Venice, which continued to profit from Mediterranean trade.
Due to these internal and external reasons, Portugal and Spain found themselves pioneers in the search for new sea routes across the Atlantic Ocean.
The Portuguese were the first to enter the ocean routes. After the conquest by Portuguese troops in 1415 of the Moroccan port of Ceuta, a fortress of Moorish pirates located on the southern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar, the Portuguese began moving south along the western coast of Africa to Western Sudan, from where gold sand, slaves and ivory were brought overland to the north . The Portuguese sought to penetrate further south from Ceuta, into the “sea of darkness,” as the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean, unknown to Europeans, was then called. The strong Arab states in North-West Africa prevented the Portuguese from expanding eastwards along the Mediterranean coast of Africa. The western part of the Mediterranean Sea was actually in the hands of Arab pirates.
In organizing Portuguese expeditions in the first half of the 15th century. along the West African coast, the Portuguese prince Enrico, better known in history as Henry the Navigator, took part. On the southwestern coast of Portugal, in Sagrish, on a rocky cape protruding far into the ocean, an observatory and shipyards were built for the construction of ships, and a nautical school was founded. Sagres became a maritime academy for Portugal. In it, Portuguese fishermen and sailors, under the guidance of Italian and Catalan sailors, were trained in maritime affairs, they were engaged in improving ships and navigational instruments, they drew sea charts based on information brought by Portuguese sailors, and plans for new expeditions to the south were developed. Since the time of the Reconquista, the Portuguese were familiar with Arabic mathematics, geography, navigation, cartography and astronomy. Henry drew funds for the preparation of his travels from the income of the spiritual knightly Order of Jesus, which he headed, and also received by organizing a number of trading companies on shares of wealthy nobles and merchants, who hoped to increase their income through overseas trade.
At first, navigation developed slowly in Portugal; it was difficult to find daredevils who would risk going into the “sea of darkness.” But the situation improved significantly after the Portuguese captured the Azores in 1432 in the west, and in 1434 Gil Eannis rounded Cape Bojador, south of which life was considered impossible in the Middle Ages; 10 years after this, another Portuguese sailor sailed 400 miles south of this cape and brought gold and black slaves to Portugal, marking the beginning of the Portuguese slave trade. In the mid-40s, the Portuguese had already rounded Cape Verde and reached the coast between the Senegal and Gambia rivers, densely populated and rich in golden sand, ivory and spices. Following this, they penetrated deep into the mainland. Prince Henry the Navigator, while verbally opposing the slave trade, in practice encouraged it in every possible way; His ships began to regularly sail to West Africa to catch slaves and purchase gold sand, ivory and spices, exchanged with the blacks for trinkets; usually the prince received a significant share of the booty brought in.
The hope of plundering the entire African coast accelerated the Portuguese advance south. In the 60s and 70s, Portuguese sailors reached the coast of the Gulf of Guinea and crossed the equator; New characteristic names appeared on Portuguese maps of Africa: “Pepper Coast”, “Ivory Coast”, “Slave Coast”, “Golden Coast”. In the early 80s, sailor Diego Cao made three trips to the south of the Gold Coast, passed the mouth of the Congo River and, near the southern tropic, placed his “padran” - a stone pillar erected in open territory as a sign of its accession to the possessions of the King of Portugal. Finally, Bartolomso Diaz reached the Cape of Good Hope in 1487, rounded it and entered the Indian Ocean. However, the crew of his ships, tired of the difficulties of the journey, refused to continue sailing, and Diaz was forced to return to Lisbon without reaching the shores of India. But he argued that it was possible to travel from South Africa by sea to the coast of India. This was also confirmed by Pedro Covegliano, sent in 1487 by the Portuguese king to search for the shortest route to India through the countries of North Africa and the Red Sea and visited the Malabar coast of India, the cities of East Africa and Madagascar; in his report to the king, sent from Cairo, he, according to a contemporary, reported that the Portuguese caravels, “which trade in Guinea, sailing from one country to another heading towards this island (Madagascar) and Sofala, will easily be able to pass to these eastern sea and approach Calicut, for, as he learned, the sea is everywhere here.”
To complete the search for a sea route to India, the Portuguese king Manoel sent an expedition led by one of his courtiers, Vasco da Gama, who came from poor nobles. In the summer of 1497, four ships under his command left Lisbon and, circumnavigating Africa, sailed along its eastern coast to Malindi, a wealthy Arab city that directly traded with India. The Portuguese entered into an “alliance” with the Sultan of this city, which allowed them to take with them the famous Ahmed ibn Majid as a pilot, under whose leadership they completed their voyage. On May 20, 1498, Vasco da Gama's ships dropped anchor near the Indian city of Calicut, one of the largest shopping centers Asia, “the pier of the entire Indian Sea,” as the Russian merchant Afanasy Nikitin, who visited India in the second half of the 15th century, called this city. With the permission of the local rajah, they began buying spices in the city. The Arab merchants, who controlled all the city's overseas trade, saw this as a threat to their monopoly and began to restore the Rajah and the city's population against the Portuguese. The Portuguese had to quickly leave Calicut and head back. In September 1499, Vasco da Gama returned to Lisbon. By the end of the two-year difficult voyage, less than half the crew survived.
The return of Portuguese ships to Lisbon with a cargo of spices from India was solemnly celebrated.
With the opening of the sea route to India, Portugal began to take control of all maritime trade in South and East Asia. The Portuguese waged a brutal fight against Arab trade and shipping in the Indian Ocean and began to capture the most important trading and strategic points of South Asia. In 1501, the navigator Cabral arrived in Indian waters with a military flotilla, bombarded Calicut and purchased a cargo of spices in Cochin. Two years later, Vasco da Gama set off for the Indian Ocean again; as "Admiral of India" he robbed and sank the ships of Arab merchants and, returning to Lisbon with enormous booty, left a permanent military squadron in Indian waters for the pirate robbery of ships plying between Egypt and India. Soon the Portuguese captured the island of Socotra, at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, and the fortress of Diu on the northwestern coast of India and thus established their control over the sea routes connecting the Red Sea and South Asia. “Reinforcements began to come to them from Portugal, and they began to cross the path of the Muslims, taking prisoners, robbing and seizing by force all sorts of ships,” reports one Arab historian of the 16th century. The lands and cities they captured in India became a stronghold for Portugal's further expansion into Asia. The Viceroy of Portuguese India d'Albuquerque captured the fortress of Goa on the western coast of India and the Iranian port of Hormuz, and in 1511 he took Malacca, a rich trading city in the Strait of Malacca, blocking the entrance to the Indian Ocean from the east. “The best of all that is in the world,” - this is how Albuquerque assessed Malacca. With the capture of Malacca, the Portuguese cut it off. Main way, connecting the countries of Western Asia with the main supplier of spices - the Moluccas Islands, and entered the Pacific Ocean. A few years later they captured these islands and established maritime trade with South China. Finally, in 1542, they reached the shores of distant Japan and founded the first European trading post there.
Carrying out this expansion to the East, the Portuguese conquerors used the navigation techniques of the sailors of the East, Arabic and Javanese maps of the countries and seas of South Asia. One Javanese helmsman's map, which fell into the hands of the Portuguese in 1512, showed the Cape of Good Hope, the Portuguese possessions, the Red Sea, the Moluccas, the Chinese sea routes with direct roads where ships passed, and the interior of the country. According to this map, Portuguese ships moved through the seas of the Malay Archipelago to the Moluccas Islands. The captains of the Portuguese ships were instructed to use Ceylonese and Javanese helmsmen as pilots.
Thus, a sea route was opened from Western Europe to India and East Asia. With this discovery, Portugal's vast colonial empire was created through conquest, stretching from Gibraltar to the Straits of Malacca. The Portuguese Viceroy of India, stationed in Goa, had five governors governing Mozambique, Hormuz, Muscat, Ceylon and Malacca. The Portuguese also brought the largest cities of East Africa under their influence. The most important discovery in the history of mankind of the sea route connecting Europe with Asia was used by feudal Portugal for its own enrichment, for the plunder and oppression of the peoples of Africa and Asia.
From this time until the digging of the Suez Canal in the 60s of the XIX century. The sea route around South Africa was the main route along which trade was carried out between the countries of Europe and Asia and Europeans penetrated into the Indian and Pacific oceans.
Discovery of America and Spanish conquests
In the spring of 1492, the Spaniards took Granada, the last stronghold of the Moors on the Iberian Peninsula, and on August 3 of the same year, three caravels of Christopher Columbus set off from the Spanish port of Paloe on a long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean with the goal of opening the western route to India and East Asia. Not wanting to aggravate relations with Portugal, the Spanish kings Ferdinand and Isabella initially chose to hide the real purpose of this journey. Columbus was appointed “admiral and viceroy of all the lands that he discovers in these seas and oceans,” with the right to retain in his favor one tenth of all income from them, “be it pearls or precious stones, gold or silver, spices and others.” clothes and goods."
Biographical information about Columbus is very scarce. He was born in 1451 in Italy, near Genoa, into a weaver's family, but there is no exact information about where he studied and when he became a navigator. It is known that in the 80s he lived in Lisbon and, apparently, took part in several voyages to the shores of Guinea, but these voyages did not captivate him. He hatched a project to open the shortest route from Europe to Asia via the Atlantic Ocean; he studied the work of Pierre d'Agli (which was mentioned above), as well as the works of Toscanelli and other cosmographers of the 14th-15th centuries, who proceeded from the doctrine of the sphericity of the Earth, but significantly underestimated the length of the western route to Asia. However, to interest the Portuguese king in his Columbus's project failed. The Council of Mathematicians in Lisbon, which had previously discussed the plans of all expeditions, rejected his proposals as fantastic, and Columbus had to leave for Spain, where the project of opening a new route to Asia, unknown to the Portuguese, was supported by Ferdinand and Isabella.
On October 12, 1492, 69 days after leaving the Spanish port of Palos, Columbus's caravels, having overcome all the difficulties of the journey, reached San Salvador (apparently modern Watling), one of the islands of the Bahamas, located off the coast of a new, unknown to continental Europeans: this day is considered the date of the discovery of America. The success of the expedition was achieved not only thanks to the leadership of Columbus, but also to the perseverance of the entire crew, recruited from residents of Palos and other coastal cities of Spain who knew the sea well. In total, Columbus made four expeditions to America, during which he discovered and explored Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti), Jamaica and other islands of the Caribbean Sea, the eastern coast of Central America and the coast of Venezuela in the northern part of South America. On the island of Hispaniola he founded a permanent colony, which later became a stronghold of the Spanish conquests in America.
During his expeditions, Columbus showed himself not only as a passionate seeker of new lands, but also as a man striving for enrichment. In the diary of his first trip, he wrote: “I am doing everything possible to get to where I can find gold and spices...” “Gold,” he writes from Jamaica, “is perfection. Gold creates treasures, and the one who owns it , can do whatever he wants, and is even able to bring human souls into heaven." In order to increase the profitability of the islands he discovered, on which, as it soon turned out, there was not so much gold and spices, he proposed exporting slaves from there to Spain: "And “Even if,” he writes to the Spanish kings, “even slaves die on the way, not all of them face such a fate.”
Columbus was unable to geographically correctly assess his discoveries and conclude that he had discovered a new continent, unknown to him. Until the end of his life, he assured everyone that he had reached the shores of Southeast Asia, the fabulous riches of which Marco Polo wrote about and the Spanish nobles and merchants dreamed of. , kings. He called the lands he discovered “India” and their inhabitants “Indians.” Even during his last trip, he reported to Spain that Cuba is Southern China, and the coast of Central America is part of the Malacca Peninsula and that to the south there should be a strait through which you can get to rich India.
The news of Columbus's discovery caused great alarm in Portugal. The Portuguese believed that the Spaniards had violated their right to own all the lands south and east of Cape Bojador, previously confirmed by the Pope, and were ahead of them in reaching the shores of India; they even prepared a military expedition to seize the lands discovered by Columbus. In the end, Spain turned to the pope to resolve this dispute. With a special bull, the pope blessed Spain's seizure of all lands discovered by Columbus. In Rome, these discoveries were assessed from the point of view of the spread of the Catholic faith and the increase in the influence of the church. The pope resolved the dispute between Spain and Portugal as follows: Spain was given the right to own all lands located west of a line running along the Atlantic Ocean one hundred leagues (about 600 km) west of the Cape Verde Islands. In 1494, on the basis of this bull, Spain and Portugal divided among themselves the spheres of conquest according to an agreement concluded in the Spanish city of Tordesillas; the dividing line between the colonial possessions of both states was established at 370 leagues (over 2 thousand km) west of the above islands. Both states arrogated to themselves the right to pursue and seize all foreign ships that appeared in their waters, impose duties on them, judge their crews according to their laws and etc.
But Columbus’s discoveries gave Spain too little gold, and soon after the success of Vasco da Gama, disappointment in the Spanish “Indies” set in. Columbus began to be called a deceiver, who, instead of the fabulously rich India, discovered a country of grief and misfortune, which became the place of death of many Castilian nobles. The Spanish kings deprived him of the monopoly right to make discoveries in westward I of the share of income received from the lands discovered by him, which was initially determined for him. He lost all his property, which was used to cover debts to his creditors. Columbus, abandoned by all, died in 1506. Contemporaries forgot the face of the navigator; they even gave the name to the continent he discovered after the Italian scientist Amerigo Vespucci, who in 1499-1504 took part in exploration of the coast of South America and whose letters aroused great interest in Europe. “These countries should be called the New World...” he wrote.
After Columbus, other conquistadors, in search of gold and slaves, continued to expand Spain's colonial possessions in America. In 1508, two Spanish nobles received royal patents to establish colonies on the American mainland. The following year, the Spanish colonization of the Isthmus of Panama began; in 1513, conquistador Vasco Nunez Balboa with a small The detachment was the first of the Europeans to cross the Isthmus of Panama and reach the shores of the Pacific Ocean, which he called the “South Sea”. A few years later, the Spaniards discovered Yucatan and Mexico, and also reached the mouth of the Mississippi River. Attempts were made to find a strait connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, and thus complete the work begun by Columbus - to reach the shores of East Asia by the western route. This strait was searched for in 1515-1516. the Spanish sailor de Solis, who, moving along the Brazilian beret, reached the La Plata River; Portuguese sailors, who carried out their expeditions in great secrecy, also looked for him. In Europe, some geographers were so confident in the existence of this not yet discovered strait that they mapped it in advance.
A new plan for a large expedition to search for the southwestern passage to the Pacific Ocean and reach Asia by the western route was proposed to the Spanish king by Fernando Magellan, a Portuguese sailor from the poor nobles who lived in Spain. Magellan fought under the banner of the Portuguese king in South-West Asia on land and at sea, participated in the capture of Malacca, in campaigns in North Africa, but returned to his homeland without great ranks and wealth; after the king refused him even a minor promotion, he left Portugal. Magellan, while still in Portugal, began to develop a project for an expedition to search for the southwestern strait from the Atlantic Ocean to Balboa’s open “South Sea,” through which, as he assumed, it was possible to reach the Moluccas. In Madrid, in the “Council for Indian Affairs”, which was in charge of all matters relating to the Spanish colonies, they became very interested in Magellan’s projects; Council members liked his assertion that the Moluccas, according to the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas, should belong to Spain and that the shortest route to them was through the southwestern strait into the “South Sea”, which was owned by Spain. Magellan was absolutely sure of the existence of this strait, although, as subsequent facts showed, the only source of his confidence were maps on which this strait was marked without any reason. According to the agreement concluded by Magellan with the Spanish King Charles I, he received five ships and the funds necessary for the expedition; he was appointed admiral with the right to retain in his favor a twentieth of the income that the expedition and the new possessions that he annexed to the Spanish crown would bring. “Since I,” the king wrote to Magellan, “know for certain that there are spices on the islands of Molucco, I am sending you mainly in search of them, and my will is that you go straight to these islands.”
On September 20, 1519, five of Magellan's ships set sail from San Lucar on this voyage. It lasted three years. Having overcome great difficulties of navigation in the unexplored South Atlantic Ocean, he found the southwestern strait, which was later named after him. The strait was much further south than indicated on the maps that Magellan believed. Having entered the “South Sea”, the expedition headed to the shores of Asia. Magellan called the “South Sea” the Pacific Ocean, “because,” as one of the expedition members reports, “we have never experienced the slightest storm.” The flotilla sailed on the open ocean for more than three months; part of the crew, who suffered greatly from hunger and thirst, died from scurvy. In the spring of 1521, Magellan reached the islands off the east coast of Asia, later called the Philippine Islands.
Pursuing the goal of conquering the lands he discovered, Magellan intervened in a feud between two local rulers and was killed on April 27 in a skirmish with the inhabitants of one of these islands. The crew of the expedition, after the death of their admiral, completed this most difficult voyage; Only two ships reached the Moluccas, and only one ship, the Victoria, was able to continue the journey to Spain with a cargo of spices. The crew of this ship, under the command of d'Elcano, made a long voyage to Spain around Africa, managing to avoid meeting with the Portuguese, who were ordered from Lisbon to detain all members of Magellan's expedition. Of the entire crew of Magellan's expedition, unparalleled in courage (265 people), only 18 returned to their homeland people; but the Victoria brought a large cargo of spices, the sale of which covered all the expenses of the expedition and also made a significant profit.
The great navigator Magellan completed the work begun by Columbus - he reached the Asian continent and the Moluccas by the western route, opening a new sea route from Europe to Asia, although it did not receive practical significance due to the distance and difficulty of navigation. This was the first circumnavigation in the history of mankind; it irrefutably proved the spherical shape of the earth and the inseparability of the oceans washing the land.
In the same year, when Magellan set out in search of a new sea route to the Moluccas, a small detachment of Spanish conquistadors, who had horses and armed with 13 cannons, set off from Cuba to the interior of Mexico to conquer the Aztec state, the wealth of which was not inferior to the wealth of India. The detachment was led by the Spanish hidalgo Hernando Cortes. Cortez, who came from a family of impoverished hidalgos, according to one of the participants in this campaign, “had little money, but a lot of debts.” But, having acquired plantations in Cuba, he was able to organize an expedition to Mexico partly at his own expense.
In their clashes with the Aztecs, the Spaniards, who possessed firearms, steel armor and horses, previously unseen in America and instilled panic in the Indians, as well as using improved combat tactics, received an overwhelming superiority of forces. In addition, the resistance of the Indian tribes to foreign conquerors was weakened by the enmity between the Aztecs and the tribes they conquered. This explains the rather easy victories of the Spanish troops.
Having landed on the Mexican coast, Cortez led his detachment to the capital of the Aztec state, the city of Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City). The path to the capital passed through the region of Indian tribes who were at war with the Aztecs, and this made the campaign easier. Entering Tenochtitlan, the Spaniards were amazed by the size and wealth of the Aztec capital. Soon they managed to treacherously capture the supreme ruler of the Aztecs, Montezuma, and begin to rule the country on his behalf. They demanded that the Indian leaders subject to Montezuma swear an oath of allegiance to the Spanish King I and pay tribute in gold. In the building where the Spanish detachment was located, a secret room was discovered, in which there was a rich treasure of gold items and precious stones. All the gold items were poured into square bars and divided among the participants in the campaign, with the majority going to Cortes, the king and governor of Cuba.
Soon a great uprising broke out in the country against the power of greedy and cruel foreigners; The rebels besieged the Spanish detachment, which sat down with the captive supreme ruler in his courtyard. With heavy losses, Cortes managed to break out of the siege and leave Tenochtitlan; many Spaniards died because they rushed to the riches and gained so much that they could hardly walk.
And this time the Spaniards were helped by those Indian tribes who took their side and were now afraid of the revenge of the Aztecs. In addition, Cortez replenished his squad with Spaniards who arrived from Cuba. Having gathered an army of 10,000, Cortez again approached the capital of Mexico and besieged the city. The siege was long; During it, the majority of the population of this populous city died from hunger, thirst and disease. On August 1521, the Spaniards finally entered the ruined Aztec capital.
The Aztec state became a Spanish colony; The Spaniards captured a lot of gold and precious stones in this country, distributed the lands to their colonists, and turned the Indian population into slaves and serfs. “The Spanish conquest,” Engels says about the Aztecs, “cut off any further independent development of them” ( F. Engels, The origin of the family, private property and the state, Gospolitizdat, 1953, p. 23.).
Soon after the conquest of Mexico, the Spaniards conquered Central America Guatemala and Honduras, and in 1546, after several invasions, they subjugated the Yucatan Peninsula, inhabited by the Mayan people. “There were too many rulers and they conspired too much against each other,” one of the Indians explained the Mayan defeat.
The Spanish conquest of North America did not extend beyond Mexico. This is explained by the fact that in the areas located north of Mexico, Spanish profit seekers did not find cities and states rich in gold and silver; on Spanish maps these areas of the American continent were usually designated by the inscription: “Lands not producing income.”
After the conquest of Mexico, the Spanish conquistadors turned all their attention south to the mountainous regions of South America, rich in gold and silver. In the 30s, the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, an illiterate man who had been a swineherd in his youth, undertook the conquest of the “golden kingdom,” the Inca state in Peru; he heard stories about his fabulous wealth from local residents on the Isthmus of Panama during Balboa's campaign, of which he was a participant. With a detachment of 200 people and 50 horses, he invaded this state, managing to take advantage of the struggle of two heir brothers for the throne of the supreme ruler of the country; he captured one of them, Atahualpa, and began to rule the country on his behalf. A large ransom of gold items was taken from Atahualpa, many times greater than the treasure that Cortez’s detachment took possession of; this loot was divided among the members of the detachment, for which all the gold was turned into ingots, destroying the most valuable monuments of Peruvian art. The ransom did not give Atahualpa the promised freedom; The Spaniards treacherously brought him to trial and executed him. After this, Pizarro occupied the capital of the state, Cusco, and became the complete ruler of the country (1532); he placed on the throne of the supreme ruler his adherent, one of Atahualpa's nephews. In Cusco, the Spaniards plundered the treasures of the rich Temple of the Sun, and created a Catholic monastery in its building; in Potosi (Bolivia) they captured the richest silver mines.
In the early 40s, the Spanish conquistadors conquered Chile, and the Portuguese (in the 30s and 40s) conquered Brazil, which was discovered by Cabral in 1500 during his expedition to India (Cabral's ships were taken to the Cape of Good Hope to the west by the South Equatorial Current). In the second half of the 16th century. The Spaniards took over Argentina.
This is how the New World was discovered and the colonial possessions of feudal-absolutist Spain and Portugal were created on the American continent. The Spanish conquest of America interrupted the independent development of the peoples of the American continent and placed them under the yoke of colonial enslavement.
Openings in North America and Australia
Despite the agreement on the division of spheres of conquest between Porgalia and Spain, sailors and merchants from other European countries began to penetrate into unexplored parts of the globe in search of profit and wealth. Thus, John Cabot (Italian Giovanni Caboto, who moved to England), who went on an expedition to find a northwestern route to the Indian Ocean, first reached Newfoundland or the Labrador Peninsula in 1497, and his son, Sebastian Cabot, reached northeastern coast of North America and explored it. Subsequently, English and French navigators explored the eastern part of North America, and the Dutch, as a result of a series of voyages completed during the 17th century, discovered Australia, about which ancient geographers had vague information. In 1606, a Dutch ship under the command of Willem Janz first reached the northern coast of Australia, and in 1642-1644. The Dutch navigator Tasman made two voyages to the Australian shores and, having sailed south of Australia to the island of Tasmania he discovered, proved that Australia is an independent new continent.
London merchants, in their own words, “seeing how amazingly quickly the wealth of the Spaniards and Portuguese was growing due to the discovery of new countries and the search for new trading markets,” organized an expedition of three ships under the command of Willoughby in 1552, which attempted to find the northeast passage to China, rounding the coast of Siberia. The ships of the Willoughby expedition in the Barents Sea were separated by a storm, two of them were covered with ice in the southern part of this sea, and their entire crew froze, and the third went into the White Sea, reaching the mouth of the Northern Dvina; its captain Chancellor visited Moscow and was received by Ivan the Terrible. In 1556 and 1580 The British again tried to find the northeastern passage, but beyond the entrance to the Kara Sea their ships solid ice couldn't get through.
Dutch merchants at the end of the 16th century. Three expeditions were sent to search for this passage, led by the Dutch navigator Bill Barents, but these ships were unable to pass east of Novaya Zemlya, where Barents spent the winter during his last expedition (1596-1597), since his ship was covered in ice.
Russian geographical discoveries of the 16th - 17th centuries.
The Russian people contributed to the great geographical discoveries of the first half of the 17th century. significant contribution. Russian travelers and navigators made a number of discoveries (mainly in northeast Asia) that enriched world science.
The reason for the increased attention of Russians to geographical discoveries was the further development of commodity-money relations in the country and the associated process of the formation of the all-Russian market, as well as the gradual inclusion of Russia in the world market. During this period, two main directions, northeast (Siberia and Far East) and southeastern (Central Asia, Mongolia, China), along which Russian travelers and sailors moved.
Trade and diplomatic trips of Russian people in the 16th-17th centuries were of great educational importance for contemporaries. to the countries of the East, surveying the shortest land routes for communication with the states of Central and Central Asia and China.
By the middle of the 17th century. The Russians thoroughly studied and described the routes to Central Asia. Detailed and valuable information of this kind was contained in ambassadorial reports (“item lists”) of Russian ambassadors I. D. Khokhlov (1620-1622), Anisim Gribov (1641-1643 and 1646-1647), etc.
Distant China attracted close attention from the Russian people. Back in 1525, while in Rome, the Russian ambassador Dmitry Gerasimov informed the writer Pavel Jovius that it was possible to travel from Europe to China by water through the northern seas. Thus, Gerasimov expressed a bold idea about the development of the Northern Route from Europe to Asia. Thanks to Jovius, who published a special book about Muscovy at the Gerasimov embassy, this idea became widely known in Western Europe and was received with keen interest. It is possible that the organization of the expeditions of Willoughby and Barents was caused by messages from the Russian ambassador. In any case, the search for the Northern Sea Route to the east already in the middle of the 16th century. led to the establishment of direct maritime connections between Western Europe and Russia.
The first reliable evidence of travel to China is information about the embassy of the Cossack Ivan Petlin in 1618-1619. Petlin from Tomsk passed through the territory of Mongolia to China and visited Beijing. Returning to his homeland, he presented in Moscow “a drawing and painting about the Chinese region.” The information collected as a result of Petlin’s trip about the routes to China, about the natural resources and economy of Mongolia and China contributed to expanding the geographical horizons of his contemporaries.
Of great importance in the history of geographical discoveries of that era was the exploration of the vast expanses of the north and northeast of Asia from the Ural ridge to the coast of the Arctic and Pacific oceans, i.e., all of Siberia.
The annexation of Siberia began in 1581 with the campaign of a detachment of the Cossack ataman Ermak Timofeevich. His detachment, consisting of 840 people, carried away by rumors about the untold riches of the Siberian Khanate, was equipped with funds from the large landowners and salt industrialists of the Urals, the Stroganovs. Ermak's campaign (1581-1584), supported by the government, led to the fall of the Siberian Khanate and the annexation of Western Siberia to the Russian state.
Back in the middle of the 16th century. the voyages of Russian polar sailors from the European part of the country to the Gulf of Ob and to the mouth of the Yenisei are mentioned. They moved along the coast of the Arctic Ocean on small keel sailing ships - kochas, well adapted to sailing in the Arctic ice thanks to the egg-shaped hull, which reduced the danger of ice compression. Used by Russian sailors of the 16th-17th centuries. compass (“womb”) and maps. In the first two decades of the 17th century. There already existed a fairly regular water connection between Western Siberian cities and Mangazeya along the Ob, the Gulf of Ob and the Arctic Ocean (the so-called “Mangazeya passage”). The same communication was maintained between Arkhangelsk and Mangazeya. According to contemporaries, from Arkhangelsk to “Mangazeya throughout the years, many commercial and industrial people walk at night with all sorts of German (i.e., foreign, Western European) goods and bread.” It was extremely important to establish the fact that the Yenisei flows into the same “Icy Sea” along which they sail from Western Europe to Arkhangelsk. This discovery belongs to the Russian trader Kondraty Kurochkin, who was the first to explore the fairway of the lower Yenisei up to the mouth.
A serious blow to the “Mangazeya move” was dealt by government prohibitions in 1619-1620. use the sea route to Mangazeya, with the goal of preventing foreigners from entering there.
Moving east into the taiga and tundra of Eastern Siberia, the Russians discovered one of Asia's largest rivers, the Lena. Among the northern expeditions to the Lena, Penda's campaign (before 1630) stands out. Starting his journey with 40 companions from Turukhansk, he walked throughout the entire Lower Tunguska, crossed the portage and reached the Lena. Having descended along the Lena to the central regions of Yakutia, Penda then swam along the same river in the opposite direction almost to the upper reaches. From here, having passed through the Buryat steppes, he came to the Angara (Upper Tunguska), the first of the Russians to sail down the entire Angara, overcoming its famous rapids, after which he went out to the Yenisei, and along the Yenisei he returned to his starting point - Turukhansk. Penda and his companions made an unprecedented circular journey of several thousand kilometers through difficult terrain.
In 1633, brave sailors Ivan Rebrov and Ilya Perfilyev left the mouth of the Lena to the east at night, and reached the river by sea. Yana, and in 1636, the same Rebrov made a new sea voyage and reached the mouth of the Indigirka.
Almost simultaneously, detachments of Russian servicemen and industrial people (Posnika Ivanov and others) moved across the mainland in a northeastern direction, discovering the mentioned rivers from land. Posnik Ivanov “and his comrades” made their long and difficult journey through the mountain ranges on horseback.
An important discovery in northeast Asia ended in the early 40s of the 17th century. expedition of Mikhail Stadukhin. The detachment of the Cossack foreman and merchant Stadukhin, in which Semyon Dezhnev was located, having gone down the Indigirka on a kocha, in 1643 reached the “Kovaya River” by sea, i.e., reached the mouth of the Kolyma River. The Lower Kolyma winter quarters were established here, from which a few years later the Cossack Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnev and the industrialist Fedot Alekseev (known under the name Popov) set out on their famous voyage around the northeastern tip of the Asian continent of Kochi.
An outstanding event of this era was the discovery in 1648 of the strait between America and Asia, made by Dezhnev and Fedot Alekseev (Popov).
Back in 1647, Semyon Dezhnev tried to go by sea to the mysterious Anadyr River, about which there were rumors among Russian people, but “the ice did not allow the river to reach Anadyr,” and he was forced to return back. But the determination to achieve the intended goal did not leave Dezhnev and his comrades. On June 20, 1648, a new expedition on seven Kochs set off from the mouth of the Kolyma in search of the Anadyr River. The expedition, headed by Dezhnev and Alekseev, included about a hundred people. Soon after the start of the campaign, the four kochas disappeared from sight and the participants in this extremely difficult ice voyage had no further news of them. The remaining three ships, under the command of Dezhnev, Alekseev and Gerasim Ankudinov, continued their journey to the northeast. Not far from the Chukotka nose (later named after Dezhnev), Koch Ankudinov died. The crews of the other two ships took the castaways on board and stubbornly moved along the Arctic Ocean. In September 1648, the Dezhnev-Alekseev expedition rounded the extreme northeastern tip of Asia - the Chukotka (or Big Stone) nose and passed through the strait separating America from Asia (later called the Bering Strait). In bad sea weather, Dezhnev and Alekseev's boats lost sight of each other. Koch Dezhnev, carrying 25 people, was carried along the waves for a long time and finally washed up on the shore of the sea, which was later called the Bering Sea. Semyon Dezhnev then moved with his comrades deep into the mainland and, after a heroic 10-week journey, during which his participants walked through a completely unfamiliar country “cold and hungry, naked and barefoot,” reached the goal of his expedition - the Anadyr River. Thus, an outstanding geographical discovery was made, which proved that America is separated by sea from Asia and is an isolated continent, and a sea route around Northeast Asia was opened.
There is reason to believe that Kamchatka in the middle of the 17th century. was discovered by Russian people. According to later news, the koch of Fedot Alekseev and his companions reached Kamchatka, where the Russians lived for a long time among the Itelmens. The memory of this fact was preserved among the local population of Kamchatka, and a Russian scientist of the first half of the 18th century. Krasheninnikov reported about it in his work “Description of the Land of Kamchatka”. There is an assumption that part of the ships of Dezhnev’s expedition, which disappeared on the way to the Chukotka nose, reached Alaska, where they founded a Russian settlement. In 1937, during excavation work on the Kenai Peninsula (Alaska), the remains of dwellings dating back three hundred years were discovered, which scientists classified as built by Russian people.
In addition, Dezhnev and his companions are credited with the discovery of the Diomede Islands, where the Eskimos lived, and the exploration of the Anadyr River basin.
The discovery of Dezhnev-Alekseev was reflected on geographical maps Russia XVII century, which marked free sea passage from Kolyma to Amur.
During 1643-1651 The campaigns of the Russian detachments of V. Poyarkov and E. Khabarov to the Amur took place, providing a number of valuable information about this river, which had not been studied by Europeans.
So, over the course of a relatively short historical period (from the 80s of the 16th century to the 40s of the 17th century), Russian people walked through the steppes, taiga, and tundra across all of Siberia, sailed through the seas of the Arctic and made a number of outstanding geographical discoveries.
Consequences of geographical discoveries for Western Europe
During the XV-XVII centuries. thanks to the brave expeditions of sailors and travelers from many European countries, most of the earth's surface, the seas and oceans washing it, were discovered and explored; Many interior regions of America, Asia, Africa and Australia fell unknown. The most important sea routes were laid that connected the continents with each other. But at the same time, geographical discoveries marked the beginning of the monstrous enslavement and extermination of the peoples of open countries, which became the object of the most shameless robbery and exploitation for European profit seekers: treachery, deception, and consumption of local residents were the main methods of the conquerors. This was the price required to create the conditions for the emergence of capitalist production in Western Europe.
The colonial system, which arose as a result of geographical discoveries, contributed to the accumulation in the hands of the bourgeoisie in Europe of large amounts of money necessary for the organization of large-scale capitalist production, and also created a sales market for its products, thus being one of the levers of the process of so-called primitive accumulation. With the establishment of the colonial system, the world market began to take shape, which served as a powerful impetus for the emergence and development of capitalist relations in Western Europe. “The colonies,” writes Marx, “provided a market for rapidly emerging manufactures, and the monopoly of this market ensured enhanced accumulation. Treasures obtained outside Europe through robbery, enslavement of natives, and murders flowed into the metropolis and were converted into capital.”
The rise of the European bourgeoisie was also facilitated by the so-called price revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries. It was caused by the import from America to Europe of large quantities of gold and silver, obtained by the cheap labor of serfs and slaves. In the middle of the 16th century. In the colonies, gold and silver were mined 5 times more than they were mined in Europe before the conquest of America, and the total amount of specie circulating in European countries increased more than 4 times during the 16th century. This influx of cheap gold and silver into Europe led to a sharp decrease in the purchasing power of money and to a strong increase in prices (2-3 times or more) for all goods, both agricultural and industrial. Everyone in the city suffered from this price increase; he received wages, and the bourgeoisie got richer. In the village, the main benefits were received by those nobles who started a new type of economy, using hired labor and selling products to the market at high prices, and wealthy peasants, who also sold a significant part of agricultural products. In addition, landowners who rented out land for short-term leases benefited. Finally, long-term tenants, peasant holders who paid traditional fixed cash rent, benefited. Large landowners-feudal lords went bankrupt, since they had owned most of their lands even before the 16th century. leased credentials on the condition of receiving a fixed annuity in cash.
Where this was possible, the feudal lords compensated for their losses by intensifying the attack on the peasants, increasing cash rent, switching from cash quitrent to natural dues, or driving peasants off the land. The “price revolution” also affected the poorest peasants, who were forced to partially live by selling labor, and agricultural wage workers. Marx writes about the “price revolution”: “The consequence of the increase in the means of exchange was, on the one hand, the depreciation wages and land rent, and on the other - the growth of industrial profits. In other words: to the extent that the class of landowners and the class of workers, the feudal lords and the people, have declined, to the same extent the class of capitalists, the bourgeoisie, has risen.”( K, Marx, The Poverty of Philosophy, K. Marx and F. Engels, Works, vol. 4, p. 154.) Thus, the “price revolution” was also one of the factors that contributed to the development of capitalism in Western Europe.
As a result of the great geographical discoveries, Europe's ties with the countries of Africa, South and East Asia increased, and relations with America were established for the first time. Trade became global. The center of economic life moved from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, the countries of Southern Europe fell into decline, primarily the Italian cities through which Europe's connections with the East were previously carried out, new centers of trade rose: Lisbon - in Portugal, Seville - in Spain, Antwerp - in the Netherlands. Antwerp became the richest city in Europe, trade in colonial goods, especially spices, was carried out on a large scale, and large international trade and credit transactions were carried out, which was facilitated by the fact that, unlike other cities, complete freedom of trade and credit transactions was established in Antwerp. In 1531, a special building was built in Antwerp to carry out trade and financial transactions - a stock exchange with a characteristic inscription on the pediment: “For the needs of merchants of all nations and languages.” When concluding a trade transaction on the stock exchange, the buyer examined only samples of goods. Loan obligations of the bill were quoted on the stock exchange as securities; A new type of profit has appeared - stock speculation.
Not only professional historians, but also all history buffs are interested in knowing how great geographical discoveries took place.
From this article you will learn everything you need about this period in.
So, in front of you Great geographical discoveries.
Age of Great Geographical Discovery
Early 16th century in Western Europe is characterized by the development of internal and international relations, the creation of large centralized states (Portugal, Spain, etc.).
By this time, great successes had been achieved in the field of production, metal processing, shipbuilding and military affairs.
The search by Western Europeans for routes to the countries of South and East Asia, from which spices (pepper, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon) and expensive silk fabrics came, is associated era of great geographical discoveries.
The Great Discovery is a period in human history, beginning in the 15th century and lasting until the 17th century, during which Europeans discovered new lands and sea routes to Africa, America, Asia and Oceania in search of new trading partners and sources of goods that were in great demand. in Europe.
Causes of the Great Geographical Discoveries
Time from the second half of the 15th century. until the middle of the 17th century. went down in history as the era of great geographical discoveries. Europeans discovered previously unknown seas and oceans, islands and continents, and made the first trips around the world. All this completely changed the idea of.
Geographical discoveries, later called “Great” ones, were made during the search for routes to the countries of the East, especially to India.
The growth of manufacturing and trade in Europe created a need for . Gold and silver were needed to mint coins. In Europe itself, the extraction of precious metals could no longer satisfy the sharply increased need for them.
They were believed to be in abundance in the East. “The thirst for gold” was the main reason that forced Europeans to embark on increasingly long sea voyages.
It was sea travel that was caused by the fact that the long-used route to the East (through the Mediterranean Sea and further overland) was blocked by the mid-15th century by the Turkish conquest of the Balkan Peninsula, the Middle East, and then almost all of North Africa.
The next reason for searching for new ways was the desire of European merchants to get rid of trade intermediaries (Arab, Indian, Chinese, etc.) and establish direct connections with eastern markets.
The prerequisites for the discoveries were as follows. In Spain and Portugal, after the Reconquista (Spanish: reconquistar - to conquer; expulsion of the Arabs in the 13th-15th centuries), many nobles were left “unemployed”.
They had military experience and in order to get rich, they were ready to swim, jump or go to the ends of the world in the literal sense of the word. The fact that the countries of the Iberian Peninsula were the first to organize long-distance voyages was also explained by their unique geographical location.
New inventions were of great importance for the development of navigation. The creation of new, more reliable types of ships, the development of cartography, the improvement of the compass (invented in China) and the device for determining the latitude of a ship - the sextant - gave seafarers reliable means of navigation.
Finally, it should be borne in mind that in the 16th century. The idea of a spherical shape of the Earth was recognized by scientists in a number of countries.
Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) was the son of a poor Italian weaver. Having become a sailor, he sailed a lot and mastered the art of navigation well. As an adult, Columbus settled in the capital of Portugal, Lisbon, as an employee of an Italian trading company.
Columbus developed the project of sailing to the eastern shores of Asia by the western route (along the Atlantic Ocean) based on the doctrine of the sphericity of the Earth.
Christopher Columbus is a Spanish navigator who discovered America in 1492. His idea of the small extent of the Atlantic Ocean was the "greatest mistake" that led to the "greatest discovery." Columbus failed to agree on funds for the expedition with the Portuguese King João II, and in 1485 he moved to Spain, which had recently become a unified kingdom.
Its monarchs were interested in strengthening their power. But here, too, several years passed before Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand accepted Columbus's plan.
The rich also gave money for the expedition - the financier Santangel and the merchant Sanchez - people of a new time, a new type of thinking.
On August 3, 1492, the flotilla under the command of Columbus (caravels Santa Maria, Pinta and Ni-nya) left the port of Paloe.
On the night of October 12, the lights of fires and a narrow strip of shore were seen. At dawn the ships approached a low island covered with tropical vegetation. It was one of the islands of the Bahamas, which Columbus named San Salvador ("Holy Savior").
On his first voyage, Columbus discovered a number of islands and was sure that they were located near eastern shores Asia.
Columbus declares the discovered land the property of the Spanish king. Illustration from 1893Returning to Spain, Columbus organized three more voyages, during which he discovered new islands, the northern coast of South America and eastern Central America.
Everyone was sure that this was “India”. However, there were also those who doubted this. The Italian historian Peter Martyr wrote already in 1493 that Columbus discovered not the shores of Asia, but the “New World”.
Amerigo Vespucci and Columbus
Columbus's mistake was soon corrected, but the continent discovered by him was named after another Spanish navigator - Amerigo Vespucci - America.
Amerigo Vespucci - Florentine traveler, after whom America was named In modern South America there is a state whose name immortalizes the name of Columbus - Colombia. However, Columbus's misconception was preserved in the name of the indigenous people of America - Indians, under which they entered world history.
Then it was found that their ancestors moved to America from Asia across the isthmus, where the Bering Strait is now located. This happened about 20-30 thousand years ago.
Conquest of Mexico and Peru
In 1516-1518 The Spaniards reached the places where the Mayans lived (the Yucatan Peninsula), and learned from them that there was a country nearby from which they received gold.
Rumors about the “Golden Empire” completely deprived the Spaniards of peace. In 1519, an expedition led by Hernando Cortes, a poor young nobleman, headed to the shores of the Aztec state (Mexico).
He had 500 soldiers (including 16 on horseback) and 13 cannons. Having secured the support of the tribes conquered by the Aztecs, Cortez moved to the capital of the country - the city of Tenochtitlan.
He captured the ruler Montezuma and took possession of his enormous treasures. An uprising broke out and the Spaniards had to flee.
Two years later they again captured the capital, exterminating almost the entire male population. Within a few years, the Aztec state was conquered, and the Spaniards got a lot of gold and silver.
Meeting of Hernando Cortez and Montezuma II Spanish conquest of the Inca country in 1531-1532. made easier by the fragility of their military alliance. At the head of the campaign to the country of Biru (hence Peru) was the conquistador Francisco Pizarro, a shepherd in his youth.
He had 600 warriors and 37 horses. Having met with a 15,000-strong Inca army, the Spaniards treacherously captured their king Atagualpa.
After this, the Inca army was defeated. The king paid a huge sum for the promise of release, but was killed on the orders of Pizarro. The Spaniards captured the capital of Peru, Cusco. Peru far surpassed Mexico in its wealth.
The conquest of Mexico and Peru served as the basis for Spain to create its own colonies in America, which, along with conquests in other parts of the world, formed the huge colonial empire of the Spanish monarchy.
Colonies of Portugal
The Portuguese were the first to enter the ocean in search of a route to the distant countries of the East. Slowly moving along the western coast of Africa, they during the 15th century. We reached the Cape of Good Hope, went around it and went out into the Indian Ocean.
To complete the search for a sea route to India, the Portuguese king Manoel sent an expedition led by one of his courtiers, Vasco da Gama.
In the summer of 1497, four ships under his command left Lisbon and, rounding, sailed along its eastern coast to the rich Arab city of Malindi, which traded with India.
Vasco da Gama entered into an alliance with the Sultan of Malindi, and he allowed him to take with him the famous in those parts, Ahmed ibn Majid, as a navigator. Under his leadership, the Portuguese completed their voyage.
On May 20, 1498, the ships dropped anchor at the Indian port of Calicut - another great geographical discovery was made, as a sea route to India appeared.
In the autumn of 1499, after a difficult expedition, with a half-reduced crew, Vasco da Gama's ships returned to Lisbon. Their return with a cargo of spices from India was solemnly celebrated.
The opening of the sea route to India allowed Portugal to begin to master maritime trade in South and East Asia. Having captured the Moluccas, the Portuguese entered the Pacific Ocean, established trade with the South, and reached there, establishing the first European trading post there.
Vasco da Gama is a Portuguese navigator from the Age of Discovery. Commander of the expedition, which was the first in history to travel by sea from Europe to India. As they advanced first along the western and then eastern coasts of Africa, the Portuguese founded their colonies there: Angola (in the west) and Mozambique (in the east).
Thus, not only was the sea route from Western Europe to India and East Asia opened, but also the vast colonial empire of Portugal was created.
Magellan's voyage around the world
The Spaniards, creating their colonial empire in America, reached the shores of the Pacific Ocean. The taffy of the strait connecting it to the Atlantic began.
In Europe, some geographers were so confident in the existence of this not yet discovered strait that they mapped it in advance.
A new plan for an expedition with the goal of opening the strait and reaching Asia by the western route was proposed to the Spanish king by Fernando Magellan (1480-1521), a Portuguese sailor from the poor nobles who lived in Spain.
When proposing his project, Magellan believed in the existence of the strait, and also had a very optimistic idea of the distances that he would have to overcome.
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“Knowledge of the countries of the world is the decoration and food of human minds,” as he said. You can’t argue with a genius: nothing gave such impetus to the development of mankind as the development of new lands. Historians especially highlight the period from the end of the 15th to the middle of the 17th century, calling it the Epoch great geographical discoveries. Why did this particular time period provide ample opportunities for travelers?
How the era began
The beginning of the 15th century was not favorable for geographical discoveries. The legacy of the scientists of antiquity was lost; the solitary travels of Marco Polo, Rubruk and Carpini brought more rumors and speculation than useful information. In addition, unarmed sailors were afraid to go ashore again, and the lack of navigation instruments did not allow them to move long distances into the ocean.
But gradually the growth of European cities, the development of trade and economics, the invention of printing and firearms did their job: people became bolder, and entire teams set off to explore new and new lands. The last straw was the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans - other routes to India and China were required.
Henry the Navigator and his school
The conditional beginning of the Age of Great Geographical Discovery is considered to be the activities of sailors from Portugal, especially their inspirer, Prince Henry. Having become master of the powerful Order of Christ, the first thing he did was build a citadel, where he created a navigator school.
The best mathematicians and astronomers taught classes in the new educational institution, generously sharing his knowledge. Henry the Navigator, as his descendants called him, personally collected information about the winds, the construction of ships, peoples and shores. As a result, the captains went to sea well-versed, knowledgeable of theory and able to find solutions. The western coast of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, and the mouth of the Congo River were discovered by graduates of this navigation school.
Long way to India
Treasured India attracted traders and travelers; it was necessary to open additional routes to the country of spices, which were urgently needed for the manufacture of incense - Europeans in those days were extremely reluctant to wash. If not for this need, it is unknown how much more the world would not know about the New World - America. "Earth, earth!" - shouted the members of Christopher Columbus's crew, exhausted from the long voyage, on October 12, 1492. Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Jamaica - these lands were discovered in further expeditions of Columbus.
Passionately wanting to find a way to India, he died in poverty and oblivion. Only in the middle of the 16th century was his contribution to the history of mankind appreciated - ships loaded with gold and silver departed from the newly discovered continent. The Spaniards and Portuguese began to establish contacts with the Indians...
The trade route to Asia was opened in 1498 during the expedition of Vasco de Gama. The long-standing dream and goal of the century was realized by the Portuguese - fabulously cheap spices, which were subsequently sold at exorbitant prices, became the property of Europe. It is curious that at one time our great traveler and entrepreneur Afanasy Nikitin did not find anything noteworthy for the Russian merchants in India, which he wrote about in his the famous “Walking across the Three Seas”.
America did not immediately begin to generate income for Europe, so for some time it was perceived as an annoying obstacle on the way to India. The Spaniard Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovered an unknown sea in 1513, which was temporarily called the South Sea. Only in 1519, Ferdinand Magellan, during the first trip around the world in history, realized that this body of water was the largest ocean on the planet. Alas, Magellan did not live to see the end of the expedition - the natives were hostile to the strangers on the island of Cebu (Philippines).
Russian discoverers
While the Spaniards and Portuguese were dividing up new lands and treasures, Russian Empire explorers and pioneers were looking for their way out to the Pacific Ocean and Kamchatka - through Siberia. The development of the territory near the Irtysh and Ob was started by Ermak, a Cossack ataman. Tatar towns and uluses submitted one after another to merciless troops. The most important trade routes now belonged to the Russian rulers.
Another Cossack ataman Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnev became the first navigator to pass the Bering Strait, separating Asia from America, and this happened in 1648, 80 years before the expedition of officer Vitus Bering. The cape in the strait, which the crew members dubbed the Big Stone Nose, turned out to be the northeastern point of Asia - it was later named in honor of the brave sailor.
Travelers explored new lands not for personal glory: we, of course, remember their names, but the main thing for posterity is great geographical discoveries which they did. They were driven by a thirst for these same discoveries, a keen desire to enjoy the unknown. Unfortunately, representatives of the civilized world did not always use their achievements for good, and the inevitable interaction of old and new territories itself brought many problems - but that’s another story...
ETNOMIR, Kaluga region, Borovsky district, Petrovo village
In the open-air park-museum "ETNOMIR", up to 10 exciting excursions for children and adults are held daily - on weekends and weekdays - according to the daily program, which can be previewed in the "Calendar of Events". Each ETNOMIR guest receives an exact program indicating the time and place of events at the entrance to the park.
Individual and group excursions are also available for booking in the park. For example, the participants of which will travel along the ancient route of Afanasy Nikitin, a Russian merchant who was the first European not only to visit distant fabulous India, but also to leave detailed description this country! The excursion takes place in Cultural center India - the pearl of the ETHNOMIR, which captivates with its warmth and loving design!
One of important stages in the history of human development is the era of pioneers. Maps with the seas marked on them are refined, ships are improved, and leaders send their sailors to capture new lands.
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Feature of the era
The term “great geographical discoveries” conventionally united historical events starting from the mid-15th century and ending with the mid-17th. Europeans were actively exploring new lands.
The emergence of this era had its own prerequisites: the search for new trade routes and the development of navigation. Until the 15th century, the British already knew North America and Iceland. History included many famous travelers, among whom were Afanasy Nikitin, Rubrik and others.
Important! Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal began the great era of geographical discoveries; this event took place at the beginning of the 15th century.
First achievements
Geographical science of that time was in serious decline. Lone sailors tried to share their discoveries with the public, but this did not produce results, and there was more fiction in their stories than truth. Data about what and who discovered at sea or on the coastal strip was lost and forgotten; no one had updated the maps for a long time. The skippers were simply afraid to go out to sea, because not everyone had navigation skills.
Henry built a citadel near Cape Sagres, created a school of navigation and sent expeditions, collecting information about the winds at sea, distant peoples and shores. The period of great geographical discoveries began with his activities.
Among the discoveries of Portuguese travelers are:
- Madeira Island,
- West Coast of Africa,
- Cape Verde,
- Cape of Good Hope,
- Azores,
- Congo River.
Why was it necessary to find new lands?
The list of reasons for the advent of the era of navigation includes:
- active development of crafts and trade;
- the growth of European cities during the 15th and 16th centuries;
- depletion of known precious metals mines;
- the development of maritime navigation and the appearance of the compass;
- interruption of economic ties between Southern Europe and China and India after .
Important points
Significant periods that have gone down in history, times when famous travelers made their trips and expeditions:
The Age of Discovery began in 1492, when America was discovered;
- 1500 - exploration of the mouth of the Amazon;
- 1513 - Vasco de Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean;
- 1519-1553 – conquest of South America;
- 1576-1629 – Russian campaigns in Siberia;
- 1603-1638 - exploration of Canada;
- 1642-1643 – visit to Tasmania and New Zealand;
- 1648 – exploration of Kamchatka.
Conquest of South America
Spanish and Portuguese sailors
At the same time as the Portuguese, famous travelers in Spain began to undertake sea voyages. , having good knowledge of geography and navigation, suggested that the country's rulers reach India by another route, heading west across the Atlantic Ocean. The one who later discovered many new lands was given three caravels, on which brave sailors left the port on August 3, 1492.
By the beginning of October they arrived at the first island, which became known as San Salvador, and later they discovered Haiti and Cuba. It was Columbus's seminal voyage that put the Caribbean islands on the map. Then there were two more, pointing the way to Central and South America.
Christopher Columbus - a mysterious person
First he visited the island of Cuba, and only then discovered America. Columbus was surprised to meet a civilized people on the island who had a rich culture and grew cotton, tobacco and potatoes. The cities were decorated with large statues and large buildings.
Interesting! Everyone knows the name of Christopher Columbus. However, very little is known about his life and travels.
The birth of this legendary navigator is still debated. Several cities lay claim to being the birthplace of Columbus, but this cannot be determined for certain. He took part in voyages on ships in the Mediterranean Sea, and later went on large expeditions from his native Portugal.
Ferdinand Magellan
Magellan was also from Portugal. Born in 1480. Early on, he was left without parents and tried to survive on his own by working as a messenger. Since childhood, he was attracted by the sea, attracted by the thirst for travel and discovery.
At the age of 25, Ferdinand set sail for the first time. He quickly learned the maritime profession while staying off the coast of India, and soon became a captain. He wanted to return to his homeland, talking about profitable cooperation with the East, but he achieved results only with the coming to power of Charles the First.
Important! The era of great geographical discoveries began in the middle of the 15th century. Magellan warned her advance by committing trip around the world.
In 1493, Magellan leads an expedition west of Spain. He has a goal: to prove that the islands there belong to his country. No one thought that the journey would become around the world, and the navigator would discover many new things along the way. The one who opened the way to the “South Sea” did not return home, but died in the Philippines. His team arrived home only in 1522.
Russian discoverers
Representatives of Russia and their discoveries joined the orderly ranks of famous European navigators. Several outstanding personalities worth knowing made great contributions to the improvement of the world map.
Thaddeus Bellingshausen
Bellingshausen was the first who dared to lead an expedition to the uncharted shores of Antarctica, and around the world. This event took place in 1812. The navigator set out to prove or disprove the existence of a sixth continent, which was only talked about. The expedition crossed the Indian Ocean, the Pacific, and the Atlantic. Its participants made a great contribution to the development of geography. The expedition under the command of Captain 2nd Rank Bellingshausen lasted 751 days.
Interesting! Previously, attempts were made to reach Antarctica, but they all failed; only famous Russian travelers turned out to be luckier and more persistent.
The navigator Bellingshausen went down in history as the discoverer of many species of animals and more than 20 large islands. The captain was one of the few who managed to find his own path, follow it and not destroy obstacles.
Nikolai Przhevalsky
Among the Russian travelers was the one who discovered most of Central Asia. Nikolai Przhevalsky always dreamed of visiting unknown Asia. This continent attracted him. The navigator led each of the four expeditions that explored Central Asia. Curiosity led to the discovery and study of mountain systems such as the Kun Lun and the ranges of Northern Tibet. The sources of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, as well as Lob-nora and Kuhu-nora, were explored. Nikolai was the second explorer after Marco Polo to reach Lop Nor.
Przhevalsky, like other travelers of the era of great geographical discoveries, considered himself happy man, because fate gave him the opportunity to explore the mysterious countries of the Asian world. Many species of animals that he described during his travels are named after him.
The first Russian circumnavigation
Ivan Kruzenshtern and his colleague Yuri Lisyansky firmly inscribed their names in the history of great discoveries in geography. They led the first expedition around the globe, which lasted more than three years - from 1803 to 1806. During this period, sailors on two ships crossed the Atlantic, sailed through Cape Horn, after which they arrived in Kamchatka through the waters of the Pacific Ocean. There, researchers studied the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Island. Their coastline was clarified, and data on all the waters visited by the expedition was also included on the map. Krusenstern compiled an atlas of the Pacific Ocean.
The expedition under the command of the admiral became the first to cross the equator. This event was celebrated in accordance with traditions.
Exploration of the Eurasian continent
Eurasia is a huge continent, but it is problematic to name the only person who discovered it.
One moment is surprising. If everything is clear with America and Antarctica, the famous names of the great navigators are reliably inscribed in the history of their existence, then the laurels of the man who discovered Europe never went to him, because he simply does not exist.
If we ignore the search for one navigator, we can list many names who contributed to the study of the surrounding world and took part in expeditions on the mainland and its coastal zone. Europeans are accustomed to consider themselves only explorers of Eurasia, but Asian navigators and their discoveries are no less in scale.
Historians know which of the Russian writers traveled around the world, except for the famous navigators. He was Ivan Goncharov, who took part in the expedition on a military sailing ship. His impressions of the trip resulted in a large collection of diaries describing distant countries.
The meaning of cartography
People could hardly move across the sea without good navigation. Previously, their main reference point was the starry sky at night and the sun during the day. Many maps during the period of great geographical discoveries were dependent on the sky. Since the 17th century, a map has been preserved on which the scientist plotted all the known coastal zones and continents, but Siberia and North America remained unknown, because no one knew how far they were and how far the continents themselves extended.
The most information-rich atlases were those of Gerard van Coelen. Captains and famous travelers crossing the Atlantic were grateful for the details of Iceland, Holland and Labrador being mapped.
Unusual information
Preserved in history Interesting Facts about travelers:
- James Cook became the first person to visit all six continents.
- Navigators and their discoveries changed the appearance of many lands, for example, James Cook brought sheep to the islands of Tahiti and New Zealand.
- Che Guevara, before his revolutionary activities, was an amateur motorcycle rider; he took a 4,000-kilometer tour around South America.
- Charles Darwin traveled on a ship where he wrote his greatest work on evolution. But they didn’t want to take the man on board, and it was the shape of the nose. It seemed to the captain that such a person would not be able to cope with a long load. Darwin had to be away from the team and buy his own uniform.
Age of Great Geographical Discoveries 15th - 17th centuries
Great Discoverers
Conclusion
Thanks to the heroism and determination of sailors, people received valuable information about the world. This was the impetus for many changes, contributed to the development of trade, the industrial sector, and the strengthening of relationships with other nations. The most important thing is that it has been practically proven that it has a round shape.