I'm writing a series of articles about European explorers during the "Age of Exploration and Discovery" from the 1400s to the 1700s. These explorations led to the "discovery" of the Americas and new shipping routes around the tip of South America and South Africa. In previous weeks, I wrote about international sea trade in Europe during this time, and I wrote about the travels and discoveries of Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, the Pinzon brothers, and Spanish conquistadors in South America.
The Age of Exploration started after the Mongolian Empire broke apart and it could no longer ensure safe travel on the Great Silk Road. Around the same time, the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople and southern Europe, and travel for Europeans became unsafe. As a result, western European countries (Portugal, Spain, and Italy) looked for new trade routes to India and China.
Ancient Trading Routes
In previous centuries, European merchants brought luxury goods such as spices from India and China by land on the trading route known as the Great Silk Road.
They also brought goods by sea from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea in the Indian Ocean through the Persian Gulf (between Iran and Saudi Arabia) or through the Red Sea (between Saudi Arabia and Egypt-Sudan).
But, as you can see, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea do not go completely through the land bridges. (The Suez Canal, where ships pass through today, was not built until the 1860s.) So merchants had some choices:
They could unload everything in Iraq and transport it over land through Iraq and Syria to the Mediterranean Sea.
They could unload everything in Egypt and transport it over land through Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea.
They could navigate through Egypt by boat on the Nile River and other small tributaries.
When merchants went through Egypt, they usually unloaded everything in a port city, transported it over land to the Nile River, loaded everything back into a boat on the Nile River, and then sailed up the Nile to the Mediterranean. Here is a detailed article that describes how this sea and land route worked.
In ancient times, there was a canal called the "Canal of the Pharaohs" where small boats could transport items across Egypt and then up the Nile to the Mediterranean. But this canal was not always maintained, so this route was not possible in more modern times.
Additionally, the whole area around the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Mediterranean was controlled by the Ottoman Empire in the 1400s and 1500s, so these routes - whether by land or by sea - were not accessible. As a result, European traders needed to find a different route.
Sailing Around Africa
One option was to sail all the way around the continent of Africa. The route started from Europe, went all the way south to Africa's southern-most point called "The Cape of Good Hope," then north to the Indian and Pacific oceans.
The first (known) European to successfully complete this route was Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama who sailed from Portugal to India in 1497-1498 with four ships and 170 sailors. Other explorers had pushed the boundary on how far south they could sail, and some had even gone to the Cape of Good Hope, but de Gama was the first one to completely swing around the continent and arrive in India.
De Gama's successful journey was a major accomplishment for many reasons. First, he successfully completed the longest sea voyage anyone had ever taken, so he set a record for distance travelled by sea. He also connected two oceans through a new "southern passage." This new route helped Europeans avoid the lands and seas controlled by the Ottoman Empire, so it was safer in that they didn't have to cooperate with a hostile empire.
The first expedition was actually not very productive because Indian leaders refused to trade with De Gama. His ships were also almost destroyed by monsoons on the way back, and about half the crew died of sickness. It took four months sail back across the Indian Ocean; it had taken them only one month on the initial voyage. This harrowing journey inspired the epic poem "The Lusiads," which became one of Portugal's most important pieces of literature. Afterwards, other explorers soon followed, including Pedro Cabral of Spain, who was the first Spanish explorer to discover Brazil and also to sail around Africa (following De Gama's route) to India.
Nevertheless, De Gama gets the credit for being the first, and the new route eventually made Portugal a leading power in Europe. The new passageway gave Portugal direct access to India’s products; it allowed them to cut out "the middle man" and lower their purchase cost - they could "buy direct" from India with no price markup. It also gave them access to a broader selection of items, some of which had never been shipped to Europe until then, so Portugal also created a monopoly for certain items.
Sailing Through Panama
After Christopher Columbus discovered the Caribbean and subsequent explorers travelled to Central and South America, explorers tried to find the mythical "passageway" to the East Indies. They did this in two ways. One of them was to navigate through the Isthmus of Panama, which is the small strip of land that connects North and South America.
Today, ships pass through this narrow land by going through the Panama Canal, which was built by the United States in 1904-1914. (Several other countries had started and abandoned the project decades before.) But, in the early 1500s, goods had to be transported partially by sea and river and then partially over land to the "South Sea" (the North Pacific Ocean, the body of water south of Panama).
Even though there was no single waterway through Panama, conquistadors and explorers like Vasco de Balboa of Spain are famous for being the first person to find a passageway "through the New World" to the "South Sea" (Pacific Ocean). Balboa was the first (known) European to cross the Isthmus of Panama from the Caribbean Sea in 1513 and find the Pacific Ocean on the other side.
Balboa was the regional governor of the Panama area in the 1510s. He started as mayor of a small Spanish settlement, but then he expanded his area of control by "conquering" and befriending neighboring towns. In many instances, he attacked native residents and took their jewelry by force.
Many explorers were trying to find a passage through the rivers, marshes, and mountains of this area. Balboa set off with 190 men in September 1513, and he used small canoes to navigate the waters. During this journey of over 100 miles, they ran into and fought with native tribes, and several men were killed. By Sept. 25, 1513, Balboa reached a mountain top and saw the "South Sea" below. Within a few more days, he reached the coast with 26 men who had survived. In a famous scene, he claimed the ocean on behalf of Spain.
Once Balboa reached the other side, he discovered towns along the coast and islands nearby that were rich in pearls, and he soon attacked them and took their possessions. After a couple months, he returned back to the Caribbean side.
After Balboa returned to the Caribbean, he was replaced as governor by new leaders who arrived from Spain. Balboa had previously replaced others by force, but the locals liked him, and they resisted the new authorities. Balboa wanted to keep exploring (and also get out of the area), but he took a ship without permission, and he was imprisoned when he returned. The King of Spain intervened, and Balboa was released and treated well. He even married the new leader's daughter, who was still living in Spain and they never met.
Later, Balboa received permission to continue exploring the Pacific coastal region for more than a year. But in late 1514, Balboa was arrested by Francisco Pizarro (yes, the conquistador who conquered the Inca), and he was sentenced to death for trying to setup a separatist government in the coastal region. Balboa denied this, but he was tried and executed.
Balboa's life did not have a good ending, but he inspired others to explore the Pacific Ocean from the New World. Eventually, European settlers established towns on the Pacific coastal area, and these became important trading centers for shipping business on the Pacific side of the Americas.
The Straits of Magellan
Another "passageway" early American explorers tried to find to the East Indies was by sailing around the tip of South America. As with the voyage around Africa, the journey began from Europe or the Caribbean, south along the coast of South America, around the southern part of South America, and then north-west through the Pacific Ocean to the Pacific Islands, Japan, South-East Asia, China, and India.
The first and most famous person to complete this journey was Ferdinand Magellan of Spain.
Of course, other explorers had sailed in the Pacific Ocean. Marco Polo sailed from China to India and then back to Europe, Chinese explorers such as Zheng He had also sailed the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. Zheng He is famous for his really huge fleet of ocean ships. Arabic explorers had also navigated around the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia. But Magellan is the first (known) person to explore the Pacific Ocean from the Americas and also to sail all the way around the world.
Magellan's goal was to reach the "Spice Islands" (modern day Maluku Islands or the Moluccas) in the area of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea by taking a westward journey from Spain, as Christopher Columbus did. Magellan set off from Spain in 1519 with five ships and 270 sailors. He sailed southwest towards Brazil, then south along the South American coastline, around the southern tip of South America, then north-west across the Pacific Ocean. He made many stops along the way, as the map shows.
Technically, Magellan did not sail all the way around the bottom of South America. The most southern part of South America is made up of many islands; it is not a solid landmass like South Africa is. When Magellan arrived in this area, he navigated in between the islands, and his passageway became known as the "Strait of Magellan."
When Magellan arrived on the other side of South America, he observed that the Pacific Ocean was "peaceful," so he named it "Mar Pacifico" which means the "peaceful sea" in Spanish.
But even though the waters were "peaceful," the ocean voyage had many problems. Very early on, ship captains rebelled against Magellan because they believed he was taking dangerous risks with the King's ships with the routes he was selecting. Then, later on, three of the five captains rebelled again, but Magellan maintained enough support to regain control; one of the captains was killed in the fighting. Before reaching the Straits, one of the ships was also destroyed by a storm, then another ship turned around and headed back to Spain.
Once they reached the Pacific Ocean, they sailed up the coastline of South America, and they stopped at a few islands to replenish supplies. Afterwards, they headed west on the vast Pacific Ocean. Magellan had incorrectly estimated that the "Spice Islands" were only three or four days away, but they wandered around the ocean for three months. Their supplies ran low, and food spoiled from the heat. When they finally arrived, the whole journey from Spain had taken two years to complete. Afterwards, they sailed west through the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope in Southern Africa, up the African coastline, and back to Spain.
Unfortunately, Magellan himself did not make it back home. When they arrived in the Philippines, Magellan tried to conquer one of the islands named Mectan, and he demanded that they convert to Christianity. A battle ensued between Mectan natives and Magellan's men, but Magellan was greatly outnumbered, and he was killed during the battle. The survivors slowly made their way back home to Spain without him.
Magellan's voyage set the record at the time for the longest ocean voyage - he was the first person to sail all the way around the world. He also found a passageway around the tip of South America, so he finally demonstrated that it was possible to get to the East Indies by sailing west (though it was a very long journey). His voyage also gave Europeans a more accurate understanding of how big the Earth really is. Until Magellan's voyage, they believed the East Indies were just beyond South America, but they were much, much further way.
Discovering Australia
The final exploration in the Pacific Ocean I want to describe are the voyages of British Captain James Cook, who sailed around the Pacific Ocean almost three hundred years later in 1768-1779. He mapped new areas of New Zealand, Australia, and Hawaii, and he also sailed close to Antarctica (though he did not discover it), and he explored the west coast of North America around California, Canada, and Alaska.
Cook is famous for expanding Europe's understanding of new territories in the South Pacific Ocean. His detailed maps advanced the science of Geography, and he also advanced the science of oceanic navigation by using new navigational instruments that helped calculate the ship's location more accurately. Scientists who travelled with him also made many observations about plants and animals they had not discovered before.
Like many explorers before him, Cook helped establish new passageways to unknown territories. This was especially important for England, as they were losing control of the American colonies, and they needed to find new territory. Australia looked like another new promise land for them. Unfortunately, as with the South American conquistadors, these new passageways led to new colonies, and many Pacific islands were "conquered," colonized, and exploited by European countries. While explorers like Magellan and Cook expanded our understanding of the globe, they also brought many problems to the territories they explored.
Next Time
In the next week, I will write my final post about The Age of Exploration and Discovery. The last post will be about a couple land explorers you may be familiar with.
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My name is Lirim Neziri, and I am an educator and a writer. I love to read and learn, and this newsletter (which I call Lirim’s Learning Club) lets me share interesting things I am learning. I write about History, Literature, Writing, Education, Technology, Leadership, and Personal Productivity. Please join my learning adventure.