Mankind gradually mastered the surface of the globe. This cost him great sacrifices, but neither the harsh nature nor warlike tribes, no disease could no longer reverse this process.
Great Silk Road
Until the II century BC. the path from Europe to Asia ended at the spurs of the Tien Shan, which hid the civilization of China. Everything changed with the visit of the Chinese Ambassador Zhang Qian to Central Asia, who was amazed at the unprecedented wealth of these lands in his country.
Gradually, small segments of trade roads were united into a gigantic highway 12,000 kilometers long, linking East and West. However, the Great Silk Road should not be considered as a single route.
When approaching Dunhua, a city on the outskirts of the Great Wall of China, the path forked, bordering the Taklamakan desert from the north and south. The northern road went to the valley of the Ili River, and the southern one led to Bactria (northern Afghanistan). Here the Southern Road again diverged into two directions: one went to India, the other to the West - to Iraq and Syria.
The Great Silk Road is not a journey of people, but of goods that, before reaching the buyer, passed through many hands. Silk, due to its lightness, high cost and huge demand, was an ideal commodity for transportation over long distances. At the end point of the Silk Road - Rome - the price of this fabric was three times higher than the cost of gold.
Empires appeared and disappeared, establishing their control over the transit of rich caravans, but the arteries of the Great Silk Road continued to feed the markets of the largest continent.
In the middle of the 14th century, along with goods, death flowed along the Great Silk Road. An epidemic of bubonic plague from the depths of the Gobi, covering the road with corpses, reached Europe by caravan routes.
The Cambridge Encyclopedia sums up a terrible result: about 60 million people, or 25% of the world's population - such is the number of victims of a deadly epidemic, such is the price of trade relations between Europe and Asia.
Greenland
The most remarkable thing in this story is that the largest island on the planet was discovered by a fugitive criminal - Eirik, nicknamed Red. The Norwegian Viking was tired of the Icelandic exile and in 982 he sailed with his fellow tribesmen to the west. Eirik called the discovered land Greenland (“Green Country”), not at all from the riot of vegetation: he believed that if the island had good name, then people will be drawn there.
Eirik managed to persuade some of the Icelanders to move to the "Green Country". In 985, a flotilla of 25 ships set off for the coast of Greenland. Entire families sailed, with belongings, utensils and even cattle.
It was the triumph of Red Eirik: from a hunted outcast, he turned into the owner of vast possessions.
The first settlers of Greenland found abandoned dwellings on its east coast. Most likely, they belonged to the indigenous population of the island - the ancestors of the modern Inuit, who, for unknown reasons, left their habitats.
The arrangement of life was not easy for the Vikings. In order to have necessary minimum they had to enter into trade relations with Europe: bread and building materials were delivered to the colonists from the continent, and whalebone and skins of marine animals were sent in return.
However, by the end of the 14th century, the colonies fell into decay - almost all of their population died out. Perhaps the reason for this was the Little Ice Age, which created unbearable conditions for life on the island.
Greenland eventually became a springboard for the further advance of the Vikings to the west. Already after the death of Eirik the Red, his sons dared to sail to the ends of the Earth and reached the shores of America.
The last written record of the Greenland Vikings dates back to 1408. It tells about a wedding in the Hwalsi church. The ruins of this church have survived to this day as a monument to the dedication of the first European conquerors of the impregnable North.
West coast of Africa
From the beginning of the 15th century, Portuguese navigators intensified their exploration of the western coast of Africa. In the midst of the Reconquista, the kings of Portugal needed new sources of fame and fortune.
But there was another reason - Turkish dominance in the Eastern Mediterranean, which blocked the traditional merchant routes to Asia.
To understand the complexity and significance of the expeditions undertaken by the Portuguese along the West African coast, it should be remembered that not a single European had crossed the equator by that time.
Moreover, Europe continued to live with the ideas of Ptolemaic geography, according to which inhabited world ended with the ocean washing the western outskirts of Africa. In 1482, Diogo Can overcame the equator and reached the mouth of the Congo River, refuting Ptolemy's hypothesis about the impassability of the tropics along the way.
On the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, Portuguese sailors found what they set off on such a long journey for - large deposits of gold. The news of the found gold spread quickly and already Spanish, British, Dutch businessmen are sailing here to organize mines in the hope of making fabulous profits.
In 1442 black men and women were brought to Lisbon. This was the delivery of the first batch of African slaves. From now on, “black gold” is becoming the most popular commodity, first on the European and later on the American market.
At the same time, a new phenomenon for mankind arises in the Cape Verde Islands (Cape Verde) - a mixture of Europeans and Africans. This is how Creoles appeared. According to historians, this is due to a banal reason - the almost complete absence of white women in the Portuguese colonies.
America
Instead of answering many questions, the discovery of America seems to have puzzled Europeans even more: the inhabited world here did not end up, but continued further west into the frightening unknown. Nevertheless, the pioneers too self-confidently began to master the alien environment, irrevocably violating the natural and cultural balance of both continents.
Thanks to the "Columbian Exchange" (Alfred Crosby's term), animals, cultivated plants, technologies and diseases migrated to the west in a much larger volume, radically changing the face of the New World. One of the diseases - malaria - was destined to affect the geopolitical map of North America.
Malaria has been introduced into New World along with African slaves, but since the latter had immunity to infection, it was mainly Europeans who died from the disease. The distribution zone of disease carriers - malarial mosquitoes - is humid tropics. As a result, it formed a conditional geographical line, above which mosquitoes did not breed.
To the south of this line were the slave-owning states, and to the north the territories free from slaves, where European settlers mainly went. Today, this line almost coincides with the so-called Mason-Dixon line, which separates the state of Pennsylvania from the states of West Virginia and Maryland located to the south.
The development of the vast territories of the New World allowed Europe to cope with the problem of overpopulation that threatened it in the future. However, the expansion of Europeans on both American continents led to the largest humanitarian and demographic catastrophe in the history of mankind.
The Indian Reservation Removal Act, which appeared in the United States in 1867, was only a formal step towards the preservation of the natives. Indians were often sent to places completely unsuitable for farming. A number of Indian organizations claim that from 1500 to 1900 the indigenous population of America decreased from 15 million to 237 thousand people.
Antarctica
Antarctica, like an alluring and at the same time repulsive forbidden fruit, slowly and gradually let sailors close to it. Dirk Geeritz reaches 64°S in 1559. latitude, James Cook in 1773 - 67 ° 5′ S. sh. Trapped among icebergs near Tierra del Fuego, the English navigator declares that there is no Southern Continent.
For almost half a century, Cook's skepticism discouraged the search for a sixth continent. But in 1820, Bellingshausen and Lazarev managed to reach 69°21′ S. sh. - now such a treasured land is at a distance of a cannon shot. Only the Norwegian expedition of Carsten Borchgrevink in 1895 made the first recorded landing on the Southern Continent.
According to the "Treaty on Antarctica", signed in 1959, only 7 states declare claims to certain sectors of the continent - Great Britain, Norway, France, Chile, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. But everyone's territorial appetites are different.
If France claims a narrow strip of land - Adélie Land, which occupies 432,000 km², then Australia counts on almost half the area of Antarctica. At the same time, Chile, New Zealand, Great Britain and Argentina dispute almost the same territory.
Each of the countries is trying to look into the future of the southern mainland. The British, for example, seriously intend to develop the Antarctic shelf rich in hydrocarbons. It is possible that Antarctica may be populated in the near future. Already today due to global warming tundra begins to form on the most distant parts of the land from the pole, and in 100 years scientists predict the appearance of trees here.
Numerous geographical discoveries have taken place throughout the history of mankind, but only those that were made at the end of the 15th - the first half of the 16th centuries received the names Great. Indeed, never before or after this historical moment were discoveries of such magnitude, which had such tremendous significance for mankind. European navigators discovered entire continents and oceans, vast unexplored lands inhabited by peoples completely unfamiliar to them. The discoveries of that time amazed the imagination and opened up completely new prospects for development before the European world, which could not even be dreamed of before.
Background of the Great geographical discoveries
The sailors of that era had not only a great goal, but also the means to achieve it. Progress in navigation led to the appearance in the XV century. a new type of ship capable of long ocean voyages. It was a caravel - a high-speed maneuverable ship, the sailing equipment of which made it possible to move even with a headwind. At the same time, instruments appeared that made it possible to navigate long-distance sea voyages, primarily the astrolabe - a tool for determining geographical coordinates, latitude and longitude. European cartographers learned how to make special navigational charts that made it easier to plot courses across the ocean.
The goal of the Europeans was India, which appeared to their imagination as a country with incalculable riches. India has been known in Europe since ancient times, and goods brought from there have always been in great demand. However, there was no direct connection with her. Trade was carried out through numerous intermediaries, and the states located on the routes to India prevented the development of its contacts with Europe. The Turkish conquests of the late Middle Ages led to a sharp reduction in trade, which was very profitable for European merchants. The countries of the East in terms of wealth and level of economic development at that time surpassed the West, so trade with them was the most profitable type business activities in Europe.
After the Crusades, as a result of which the European population joined the values of everyday Eastern culture, its needs for luxury goods, other household goods and spices increased. Pepper, for example, was valued then literally worth its weight in gold. The need for gold itself also increased sharply, as the development of trade was accompanied by a rapid expansion of money circulation. All this prompted the search for new trade routes to the East, laid around the Turkish and Arab possessions. India was becoming magic symbol that inspired brave sailors.
Swimming Vasco da Gama
The Portuguese were the first to embark on the path of great discoveries. Portugal, before other states of the Iberian Peninsula, completed the Reconquista and transferred the fight against the Moors to the territory of North Africa. During the XV century. Portuguese sailors in search of gold, ivory and other exotic goods moved far south along the African coast. The inspirer of these voyages was Prince Enrique, who received the honorary nickname Navigator for this.
In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias discovered the southern tip of Africa, called the Cape of Good Hope. After this historic discovery, the Portuguese took a direct route across the Indian Ocean to the wonderland that beckoned them.
In 1497-1499. the squadron under the command of Vasco da Gama (1469-1524) made the first voyage to India and back, thus paving the most important trade route to the East, which was an old dream of European sailors. In the Indian port of Calicut, the Portuguese acquired so many spices that the income from their sale was 60 times higher than the cost of organizing the expedition.
The sea route to India was opened and charted, which allowed Western European sailors to regularly make these extremely profitable voyages.
Discoveries of Christopher Columbus
Meanwhile, Spain joined the process of discovery. In 1492, her troops crushed the Emirate of Granada, the last Mauritanian state in Europe. The triumphant completion of the Reconquista made it possible to direct the foreign policy power and energy of the Spanish state to new grandiose achievements.
The problem was that Portugal achieved recognition of her exclusive rights to the lands and sea routes discovered by her navigators. The way out was offered by the advanced science of that time. The Italian scientist Paolo Toscanelli, convinced of the sphericity of the Earth, proved that it is possible to reach India if you sail from Europe not to the east, but in the opposite direction - to the west.
Another Italian, a sailor from Genoa, Cristobal Colon, who went down in history under the Spanish name Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), developed on this basis an expedition project to search for a western route to India. He managed to achieve his approval of the Spanish royal couple - King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.
X. Columbus
After a many-day voyage on October 12, 1492, his ships reached about. San Salvador, located off the coast of America. This day is considered the date of the discovery of America, although Columbus himself was convinced that he had reached the shores of India. That is why the inhabitants of the lands he discovered began to be called Indians.
Until 1504, Columbus made three more voyages, during which he made new discoveries in the Caribbean.
Since the descriptions of the two "Indies" discovered by the Portuguese and the Spaniards differed sharply, the names East (East) and West (Western) Indies were assigned to them. Gradually, the Europeans came to realize that it is not just different countries but even different continents. At the suggestion of Amerigo Vespucci, the lands discovered in the Western Hemisphere began to be called the New World, and soon the new part of the world was named after the insightful Italian. The name of the West Indies was fixed only for the islands located between the shores of North and South America. The East Indies began to be called not only India itself, but also other countries South-East Asia up to Japan.
Discovery of the Pacific Ocean and the first circumnavigation of the world
America, which at first did not bring much income to the Spanish crown, was seen as an unfortunate obstacle on the way to rich India, which stimulated further searches. Critical importance had the opening of a new ocean on the other side of America.
In 1513, the Spanish conqueror Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and came to the shores of a sea unknown to Europeans, which was first called the South Sea (in contrast to the Caribbean Sea, located north of the Isthmus of Panama). Subsequently, it turned out that this is the whole ocean, which we now know as the Pacific. So called him the organizer of the first ever circumnavigation of the world, Fernand Magellan (1480-1521).
F. Magellan
A Portuguese navigator who entered the Spanish service, he was convinced that if he went around America from the south, it would be possible to reach India by the western sea route. In 1519, his ships set sail, and the following year, having crossed the strait, named after the leader of the expedition, they entered the open spaces Pacific Ocean. Magellan himself died in a collision with the population of one of the islands, later called the Philippine. During the voyage, most of his crew also died, but 18 of the 265 crew members, led by Captain H.-S. El Cano on the only surviving ship in 1522 completed the first voyage around the world, thus proving the existence of a single World Ocean that connects all the continents of the Earth.
The discoveries of the navigators of Portugal and Spain gave rise to the problem of delimiting the possessions of these powers. In 1494, the two countries signed an agreement in the Spanish city of Tordesillas, according to which a dividing line was drawn across the Atlantic Ocean, from the North Pole to the South. All newly discovered lands to the east of it were declared the possession of Portugal, to the west - of Spain.
After 35 years, a new treaty was concluded delimiting the possessions of the two powers in the Pacific Ocean. Thus the first division of the world took place.
"The existence of such a path can be proven on the basis of the sphericity of the shape of the Earth." It is necessary "to start sailing continuously towards the west" "in order to reach the places where all kinds of spices and precious stones are found in the greatest abundance. Do not be surprised that I call the countries where the spices grow west, while they are usually called the east, because people who sail constantly to the west reach these countries by sailing on the other side of the globe.
“This country should be searched for by the Latins, not only because great treasures, gold, silver and all kinds of precious stones and spices can be obtained from there, but also for the sake of its learned people, philosophers and skillful astrologers, and also in order to find out how such a vast and populous country is governed and how they conduct their wars.
References:
V.V. Noskov, T.P. Andreevskaya / History from the end of the 15th to the end of the 18th century
Any modern person knows that there are six continents on Earth, this number includes North America, South America and Australia. They refer to such a historical phenomenon as the Great Geographical Discoveries. In this article we will briefly analyze them!
Nowadays it is difficult to imagine life without such wonderful places as New Zealand, the Hawaiian Islands. Now almost anyone has the opportunity to visit these parts of the planet for relatively little money. Has it always been like this? Of course not. There was a time when people did not even know about the existence of these places.
Periodization of the Great Geographical Discoveries
If we talk about the definition of the period of the Great geographical discoveries, then they occurred at the end of the 15th - the middle of the 17th century. Let's see why these discoveries are called "Great". This name is due to the fact that they had special meaning for the fate of our world in general, and Europe in particular.
Great geographical discoveries were made at their own peril and risk, because travelers did not know what exactly awaited them. The only thing they clearly understood was the importance of their wanderings. There were enough reasons. Let's take a closer look at some of them.
The Age of Discovery is divided into two periods:
- The Spanish-Portuguese period (end of the 15th - mid-16th century) The most famous and, of course, the most important of the discoveries in this period were: the discovery of America (the first expedition of Christopher Columbus in 1492); opening sea route to India - Vasco da Gamma (1497-1498); F. Magellan's first circumnavigation of the world (1519–1522).
- The period of Russian and Dutch discoveries (mid-16th - mid-17th century). It usually includes: The discovery by the Russians of all of North Asia (from Yermak's campaign to the voyage of Popov-Dezhnev in 1648), the Dutch Pacific expeditions and the discovery of Australia.
Origins of the Great Geographical Discoveries
There were only three main reasons for the Great geographical discoveries. First, they were due to the economic development of Europe. Toward the end of the XV century. European trade with the countries of the East experienced a great crisis. The crisis was due to the fact that a new harsh state appeared in the vast expanses of Asia Minor - the Ottoman Empire.
Therefore, the trade routes of the Mediterranean were completely cut off, because earlier they passed through the disappeared Byzantium. In the XV century. in countries Western Europe people needed gold and silver as a medium of circulation, and because of the crisis they felt an acute shortage of them. The nobility, impoverished at that time, was in search of both gold itself and new trade routes. This nobility made up the bulk of the conquerors, who were also called conquistadors. The state, realizing its precarious position, was forced to make concessions and allocate finances for sea expeditions.
Secondly, an important reason for the Great geographical discoveries was the significant success of Europe in science and technology. First of all, the development in the structure of improved ships and also the navigation technique itself. In the XIV-XV centuries. the first caravel was created - a fairly high-speed vessel that had capacious holds.
The importance of the caravel was that it was intended for ocean navigation. From the point of view of science, at the same time, the hypothesis was approved that the Earth has the shape of a ball, which helped in orientation. Geographic maps were rewritten with new introductions, and the compass and astrolabe were greatly improved. All these discoveries were along with, for example, the invention of clocks and chronology. See the article for more details.
Great travelers and their geographical discoveries
Everyone knows that the great Spanish navigator H. Columbus in the 1490s discovered for Europe, America, which was very important and needed at that time. In total, he made four voyages to the "new land". Moreover, his discoveries include: Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the land from Dominica to the Virgin Islands, as well as Trinidad and the wonderful Bahamas. Columbus wanted to discover India. Since long ago in Europe people believed that it was in fabulous India that there was a mass of gold. The beginning of these beliefs, by the way, was laid by the legendary Marco Polo.
But it so happened that Columbus discovered America.
And you will immediately ask: “Then why is America called “America” and not Colombia?! Where is the copyright! I immediately answer: there are persistent rumors that a certain Amerigo Vespucci, one of the clerks of the Medici house (who gave money for sailing across the oceans), discovered the continent of the New World a year and a half earlier than Columbus. Everything seems to be iron, but unfortunately there is no evidence for this. If anyone knows, write in the comments, otherwise we haven’t figured it out with Newton yet 😉 But the country named after Columbus is Colombia.
Other fun historical facts you can.
We must also not forget about Ferdinand Magellan, who discovered the strait, which was later named after him. He became the first European to travel by sea from the Atlantic to the Pacific. But his most famous trip is around the world. The great Portuguese and Spanish navigator was awarded the title of adelantado, translated as "pioneer", whom the king himself sent to conquer new lands.
But, not only the West participated in new discoveries, Russian expeditions were also quite important. Great importance at that time had the annexation of Siberia. It was started in 1581 by a detachment of the well-known Cossack ataman Yermak Timofeevich. Yermak's campaign, with the help of government approval, contributed to the annexation of Western Siberia to the Russian state. Actually, since that time Siberia and Far East became colonies of the Muscovite kingdom. These Europeans sailed the seas, died of scurvy and hunger ...., and the Russians "without bothering" found another way.
One of the most significant was the discovery in 1648 of the strait between America and Asia, which was made by Semyon Dezhnev together with Fedot Alekseev (Popov).
Russian ambassadors played a significant role in improving maps and routes. Among the most famous are I.D. Khokhlov and Anisim Gribov. They participated in the description and study of routes to Central Asia.
Consequences of the Great Geographical Discoveries
Geographical discoveries have led to certain world changes. First, there was a “price revolution”. The value plummeted due to the surging flood of gold and silver, which led to an instant rise in prices. This caused new economic problems. Secondly, world trade expanded significantly and began to strengthen.
This was due to new products such as tobacco, coffee, cocoa, tea, rice, sugar and potatoes that Europeans had not heard of before. Due to their inclusion in the trade turnover, the volume of trade has greatly increased. Thirdly, the development of new lands and ocean travel helped to strengthen and improve international relations. The only negative consequence is the beginning of colonization, everything else, in principle, had a positive effect on the world order.
In conclusion, I would like to say that the progress of mankind depends on many reasons, but the most important is the desire to improve the conditions of existence. Thanks to the Great Geographical Discoveries, new lands were developed, relations between peoples were established, and trade improved over a relatively short time. The era of the VGO went down in history as one of the major events in the life of mankind.
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© Alexander Chudinov
Editing Andrey Puchkov
Travel has always attracted people, but before they were not only interesting, but also extremely difficult. The territories were not explored, and, setting off on a journey, everyone became an explorer. Which travelers are the most famous and what exactly did each of them discover?
James Cook
The famous Englishman was one of the best cartographers of the eighteenth century. He was born in the north of England and by the age of thirteen he began to work with his father. But the boy was unable to trade, so he decided to take up navigation. In those days, all the famous travelers of the world went to distant countries on ships. James became interested in maritime affairs and advanced so quickly in career ladder that he was offered to become a captain. He refused and went to the Royal Navy. Already in 1757, the talented Cook began to manage the ship himself. His first achievement was the drawing up of the fairway of the St. Lawrence River. He discovered in himself the talent of a navigator and cartographer. In the 1760s he explored Newfoundland, which attracted the attention of the Royal Society and the Admiralty. He was assigned to travel across the Pacific Ocean, where he reached the shores of New Zealand. In 1770, he did something that other famous travelers had not achieved before - he discovered a new continent. In 1771, Cook returned to England as the famous pioneer of Australia. His last journey was an expedition in search of a passage connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Today, even schoolchildren know the sad fate of Cook, who was killed by cannibal natives.
Christopher Columbus
Famous travelers and their discoveries have always had a significant impact on the course of history, but few have been as famous as this man. Columbus became a national hero of Spain, decisively expanding the map of the country. Christopher was born in 1451. The boy quickly achieved success because he was diligent and studied well. Already at the age of 14 he went to sea. In 1479, he met his love and began life in Portugal, but after the tragic death of his wife, he went with his son to Spain. Having received the support of the Spanish king, he went on an expedition, the purpose of which was to find a way to Asia. Three ships sailed from the coast of Spain to the west. In October 1492 they reached the Bahamas. This is how America was discovered. Christopher mistakenly decided to call the locals Indians, believing that he had reached India. His report changed history: the two new continents and many islands discovered by Columbus became the main travel destination for the colonialists in the next few centuries.
Vasco da Gama
Portugal's most famous traveler was born in Sines on September 29, 1460. From a young age, he worked in the Navy and became famous as a confident and fearless captain. In 1495, King Manuel came to power in Portugal, who dreamed of developing trade with India. For this, a sea route was needed, in search of which Vasco da Gama had to go. There were also more famous sailors and travelers in the country, but for some reason the king chose him. In 1497, four ships sailed south, rounded and sailed to Mozambique. I had to stay there for a month - half of the team had scurvy by that time. After a break, Vasco da Gama reached Calcutta. In India, he established trade relations for three months, and a year later he returned to Portugal, where he became a national hero. The opening of the sea route, which made it possible to get to Calcutta past the east coast of Africa, was his main achievement.
Nikolay Miklukho-Maclay
Famous Russian travelers also made a lot of important discoveries. For example, the same Nikolai Mikhlukho-Maclay, who was born in 1864 in the Novgorod province. He could not graduate from St. Petersburg University, as he was expelled for participating in student demonstrations. To continue his education, Nikolai went to Germany, where he met Haeckel, a naturalist who invited Miklouho-Maclay to his scientific expedition. So the world of wanderings opened up for him. His whole life was devoted to travel and scientific work. Nikolai lived in Sicily, in Australia, studied New Guinea, implementing the project of the Russian Geographical Society, visited Indonesia, the Philippines, the Malay Peninsula and Oceania. In 1886, the naturalist returned to Russia and proposed to the emperor to establish a Russian colony across the ocean. But the project with New Guinea did not receive royal support, and Miklouho-Maclay fell seriously ill and soon died, without completing his work on a travel book.
Ferdinand Magellan
Many famous navigators and travelers lived in the era of the Great Magellan is no exception. In 1480 he was born in Portugal, in the city of Sabrosa. Having gone to serve at court (at that time he was only 12 years old), he learned about the confrontation between his native country and Spain, about traveling to the East Indies and trade routes. So he first became interested in the sea. In 1505, Fernand got on a ship. Seven years after that, he plied the sea, participated in expeditions to India and Africa. In 1513, Magellan went to Morocco, where he was wounded in battle. But this did not curb the craving for travel - he planned an expedition for spices. The king rejected his request, and Magellan went to Spain, where he received all the necessary support. Thus began his world tour. Fernand thought that from the west the route to India might be shorter. He crossed the Atlantic Ocean, reached South America and discovered the strait, which would later be named after him. became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean. On it, he reached the Philippines and almost reached the goal - the Moluccas, but died in battle with local tribes, wounded by a poisonous arrow. However, his journey opened up a new ocean for Europe and the realization that the planet is much larger than scientists had previously thought.
Roald Amundsen
The Norwegian was born at the very end of an era in which many famous travelers became famous. Amundsen was the last of the navigators who tried to find undiscovered lands. From childhood, he was distinguished by perseverance and self-confidence, which allowed him to conquer the South Geographic Pole. The beginning of the journey is connected with 1893, when the boy left the university and got a job as a sailor. In 1896 he became a navigator, and the following year he went on his first expedition to Antarctica. The ship was lost in the ice, the crew suffered from scurvy, but Amundsen did not give up. He took command, cured the people, remembering his medical background, and brought the ship back to Europe. After becoming a captain, in 1903 he went in search of the Northwest Passage off Canada. Famous travelers before him had never done anything like this - in two years the team covered the path from the east of the American mainland to its west. Amundsen became known to the whole world. The next expedition was a two-month trip to the South Plus, and the last venture was the search for Nobile, during which he went missing.
David Livingston
Many famous travelers are connected with seafaring. he became a land explorer, namely the African continent. The famous Scot was born in March 1813. At the age of 20, he decided to become a missionary, met Robert Moffett and wished to go to African villages. In 1841, he came to Kuruman, where he taught local people how to farm, served as a doctor, and taught literacy. There he learned the Bechuan language, which helped him in his travels in Africa. Livingston studied in detail the life and customs of the locals, wrote several books about them and went on an expedition in search of the sources of the Nile, in which he fell ill and died of a fever.
Amerigo Vespucci
The most famous travelers in the world were most often from Spain or Portugal. Amerigo Vespucci was born in Italy and became one of the famous Florentines. He received a good education and trained as a financier. From 1490 he worked in Seville, in the Medici trade mission. His life was connected with sea travel, for example, he sponsored the second expedition of Columbus. Christopher inspired him with the idea of trying himself as a traveler, and already in 1499 Vespucci went to Suriname. The purpose of the voyage was to study the coastline. There he opened a settlement called Venezuela - little Venice. In 1500 he returned home with 200 slaves. In 1501 and 1503 Amerigo repeated his travels, acting not only as a navigator, but also as a cartographer. He discovered the bay of Rio de Janeiro, the name of which he gave himself. Since 1505, he served the king of Castile and did not participate in campaigns, only equipped other people's expeditions.
Francis Drake
Many famous travelers and their discoveries have benefited humanity. But among them there are those who left behind a bad memory, since their names were associated with rather cruel events. An English Protestant, who had sailed on a ship from the age of twelve, was no exception. He captured local residents in the Caribbean, selling them into slavery to the Spaniards, attacked ships and fought with Catholics. Perhaps no one could equal Drake in terms of the number of captured foreign ships. His campaigns were sponsored by the Queen of England. In 1577 he went to South America to defeat the Spanish settlements. During the journey, he found Tierra del Fuego and the strait, which was later named after him. Rounding Argentina, Drake plundered the port of Valparaiso and two Spanish ships. When he reached California, he met the natives, who presented the British with gifts of tobacco and bird feathers. Drake crossed the Indian Ocean and returned to Plymouth, becoming the first British citizen to circumnavigate the world. He was admitted to the House of Commons and awarded the title of Sir. In 1595 he died in the last campaign in the Caribbean.
Afanasy Nikitin
Few famous travelers in Russia have achieved the same heights as this native of Tver. Afanasy Nikitin became the first European to visit India. He made a trip to the Portuguese colonizers and wrote "Journey Beyond the Three Seas" - the most valuable literary and historical monument. The success of the expedition was ensured by the merchant's career: Athanasius knew several languages and knew how to negotiate with people. On his journey, he visited Baku, lived in Persia for about two years and reached India by ship. After visiting several cities in an exotic country, he went to Parvat, where he stayed for a year and a half. After the province of Raichur, he headed to Russia, paving the route through the Arabian and Somali Peninsulas. However, Afanasy Nikitin never made it home, because he fell ill and died near Smolensk, but his notes survived and provided the merchant with world fame.
1. What are the prerequisites for the Great geographical discoveries in your opinion. What are their main consequences? What is the degree of participation of Russian travelers and researchers
geographical discovery Russian explorer
At the end of the XV - the middle of the XVII century. Great geographical discoveries took place. They are called great because of their exceptional significance for the destinies of Europe and the whole world.
The Age of Discovery is divided into two periods:
— The Spanish-Portuguese period (end of the 15th – mid-16th century) The most important of the discoveries during this period were: the discovery of America (the first expedition of Columbus in 1492); the opening of the sea route to India - Vasco da Gamma (1497-1498); F. Magellan's first circumnavigation of the world (1519–1522).
- The period of Russian and Dutch discoveries (mid-16th - mid-17th century). These include: The discovery by the Russians of all of North Asia (from Yermak's campaign to the voyage of Popov-Dezhnev in 1648), the Dutch Pacific expeditions and the discovery of Australia.
Background of the Great geographical discoveries
The great geographical discoveries were prepared by the entire course of the economic development of Europe. At the end of the XV century. European trade with the countries of the East was in crisis. With the formation of the Ottoman Empire, the trade routes of the Mediterranean were cut off. In the XV century. the countries of Western Europe began to feel the shortage of gold and silver as a means of circulation. The impoverished nobility, which made up the bulk of the conquistadors (conquerors), rushed to search for new trade routes and gold. The state, in need of money, was forced to go to the cost of financing sea expeditions.
The success of European science and technology was also an important prerequisite for the Great Geographical Discoveries. First of all, the development of shipbuilding and navigation technology. In the XIV-XV centuries. a caravel designed for ocean navigation was created - a high-speed vessel with capacious holds, navigational instruments - a compass and an astrolabe - were improved, geographical maps were refined, the concept of the Earth's sphericity was established.
Consequences of the Great Geographical Discoveries
Geographical discoveries led to profound changes in the economy of Europe.
1. There was a significant expansion of the scope of world trade (for example: if by 1400 Europeans knew 50 out of 510 million
Earth's surface, then by 1500 the surveyed area reached 110 million, and by 1600 - 310 million.)
2. The commercial development of new lands led to the inclusion in the world trade of products previously unknown to Europeans: tobacco, cocoa, coffee, tea, rice, and especially sugar. The volume of trade has increased significantly. (for example: if the Venetians annually delivered more than 200 tons of pepper to Europe, then after the opening of the sea route, up to 7000 tons of spices were brought to India.)
3. Great geographical discoveries led to the movement of trade routes to the oceans - the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific. Spain and Portugal were at the center of world trade routes. New trade routes across the Atlantic increased the importance of the Netherlands, England and France in international trade.
4. With the expansion of trade, the emergence of many new products, new forms of organization of trade arose. In Europe, a permanent market appeared - the stock exchange. At first it was a special area for transactions, and in 1531 the stock exchange building was erected. Operations with securities were carried out on the stock exchange.
5. One of the consequences of the Great geographical discoveries was the “price revolution” caused by the influx of gold and silver into Europe, which gave a powerful impetus to the primitive accumulation of capital in Europe (for example: during the 16th century.
the influx of gold from America to Europe more than doubled, silver more than tripled) Germany - 2 times. At the same time, prices for agricultural products have risen to a much greater extent than for manufactured goods, and essential goods have risen in price more than luxury goods. This was due to the fall in the value of precious metals as a commodity.
6. Also, as a result of the discoveries, a system of colonial domination and colonial exploitation appeared. Initially, the main method of exploitation of the colonies was open robbery. Subsequently, the tax system became widespread. But the main income from the exploitation of the colonies was brought by trade.
Thus, the Great geographical discoveries created the basis for the emergence of the world economy and market, changes in the organization of trade, industry, and the rise of agriculture in European countries.
Participation of Russian travelers and researchers
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 the northeast of Asia) that enriched world science.
Cause heightened attention Russians to geographical discoveries was the further development of commodity-money relations in the country and the associated process of folding the all-Russian market, as well as the gradual inclusion of Russia in the world market. AT specified period two main directions were clearly outlined - northeast (Siberia and the Far East) and southeast (Central Asia, Mongolia, China), along which Russian travelers and sailors moved.
Of great educational importance for contemporaries were the trade and diplomatic trips of Russian people in the 16th-17th centuries. to the countries of the East, a survey of the shortest land routes for communication with the states of the Middle and Central Asia and with China.
By the middle of the XVII century. the Russians thoroughly studied and described the routes to Central Asia. Detailed and valuable information of this kind was contained in the embassy reports (“article lists”) of the Russian ambassadors I.D. Khokhlova (1620–1622), Anisim Gribov (1641–1643 and 1646–1647) and others.
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 Range to the coast of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, i.e. throughout Siberia.
The annexation of Siberia was started in 1581 by a campaign of a detachment of the Cossack ataman Ermak Timofeevich. Yermak's campaign supported by the government (1581–1584) led to the fall Siberian Khanate and the annexation of Western Siberia to the Russian state.
Even in the middle of the XVI century. Sailings of Russian polar sailors from the European part of the country to the mouth of the Yenisei are mentioned. They moved along the coast of the Arctic Ocean. Used by Russian sailors of the 16th-17th centuries. compass ("womb") and maps. In the first two decades of the 17th century there was already a fairly regular water communication of the West Siberian cities. Moving east into the taiga and tundra of Eastern Siberia, the Russians discovered one of the largest rivers in Asia - the Lena. In 1633, brave seafarers Ivan Rebrov and Ilya Perfilyev went east from the mouth of the Lena at night, who 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 service and industrial people (Ivanova and others) moved along the mainland in a northeast direction, discovering the mentioned rivers from land.
An important discovery in the northeast of 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, descended on a koch along the Indigirka, in 1643 reached the “Kov River” by sea, i.e. reached the mouth of the Kolyma River. Here the Nizhne-Kolyma winter hut was laid, from which, a few years later, Cossack Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnev and industrial man Fedot Alekseev (known by the surname Popov) set out on their famous voyage around the northeastern tip of the Asian mainland.
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).
According to later reports, Kocha 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 the Russian scientist of the first half of the 18th century. Krasheninnikov reported about him in his work "Description of the Land of Kamchatka". There is an assumption that part of the ships of the Dezhnev expedition, which disappeared on the way to the Chukchi nose, reached Alaska, where they founded a Russian "settlement. In 1937, during earthworks on the Kenai Peninsula (Alaska), the remains of 300-year-old dwellings were discovered, which were classified by scientists as those built by Russian people.
In addition, Dezhnev and his companions are credited with discovering the Diomede Islands, where the Eskimos lived, and surveying the Anadyr River basin.
The discovery of Dezhnev - Alekseev was reflected on geographical maps Russia of the 17th century, which marked a free sea passage from the Kolyma to the Amur. During 1643–1651 Russian detachments of V. Poyarkov and E. Khabarov made campaigns on the Amur, which delivered a number of valuable information about this river not studied by Europeans.
So, over a relatively short historical period (from the 80s of the 16th century to the 40s of the 17th century), Russian people traveled through the steppes, taiga, tundra through the whole of Siberia, sailed through the seas of the Arctic and made a number of outstanding geographical discoveries.
Bibliography
1. "History of Economics" edited by O.D. Kuznetsova, I.N. Shapkina. - Moscow INFRO - m, 2005
2. History of the World Economy, edited by G.B. Polyak, A.I. Markova - M: UNITI, 2006
3.Loiberg M.Ya. "History of Economics" - Moscow INFRO - m, 2001
Map of the Great Geographical Discoveries
The era of the great geographical discoveries is the period of human history from the end of the 15th to the middle of the 17th centuries.
Conditionally divided into two parts:
Spanish-Portuguese discoveries the end of the 15th century and the entire 16th century, which include the discovery of America, the discovery of a sea route to India, Pacific expeditions, the first circumnavigation
Anglo-Dutch-Russian discoveries end of the 16th century to the middle of the 17th century, which includes English and French discoveries in North America, Dutch expeditions to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, Russian discoveries throughout North Asia
A geographical discovery is a visit by a representative of a civilized people to a new part of the earth previously unknown to cultural mankind or the establishment of a spatial connection between already known parts of the land.
- The growth of European cities in the 15th century
- Active development of trade
- Active development of crafts
- Depletion of European mines of precious metals - gold and silver
- The discovery of printing, which led to the spread of new technical sciences and knowledge of antiquity
- Distribution and improvement of firearms
- Discoveries in navigation, the advent of the compass and the astrolabe
- Advances in cartography
- The conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks, which interrupted the economic and trade relations of Southern Europe with India and China
Geographic knowledge before the beginning of the Age of Discovery
In the Middle Ages, Normans discovered Iceland and the shores of North America, European travelers Marco Polo, Rubruk, Andre from Longjumeau, Veniamin Tudelsky, Afanasy Nikitin, Karpini and others established land connections with the countries of Far Asia and the Middle East, the Arabs explored the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea , the shores of the Red Sea, the western bergs of the Indian Ocean, the roads connecting Eastern Europe through Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Iranian Highlands - with India
Beginning of the Age of Discovery
The beginning of the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries can be considered the activities of the Portuguese navigators of the 15th century and the inspirer of their achievements, Prince Henry the Navigator (03/04/1394 - 11/13/1460)
At the beginning of the fifteenth century geographical science Christians were in a deplorable state.
The knowledge of the great scientists of antiquity has been lost. The impressions from traveling alone: Marco Polo, Carpini, Rubruk - did not become public and contained many exaggerations. Geographers and cartographers in the manufacture of atlases and maps used rumors; discoveries made by chance were forgotten; lands found in the ocean were lost again. The same applied to the art of navigation. The skippers did not have maps, instruments, navigation knowledge, they were terribly afraid of the open sea, huddled close to the shores.
In 1415, Prince Henry became Grand Master of the Portuguese Order of Christ, a powerful and wealthy organization. With its funds, Heinrich built a citadel on the isthmus of Cape Sagres, from where until the end of his days he organized sea expeditions to the west and south, created a nautical school, attracted the best mathematicians, astronomers from Arabs and Jews, collected information wherever and from where he could about distant countries and voyages , seas, winds and currents, bays, reefs, peoples and shores, began to build more perfect and capital ships. The captains went out to sea for them, not only inspired to search for new lands, but also well prepared theoretically.
Portuguese discoveries of the 15th century
- Madeira island
- Azores
- the entire west coast of Africa
- mouth of the Congo River
- Cape Verde
- Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost point of Africa, was discovered by the expedition of Bartalomeu Dias in January 1488
Great geographical discoveries. Briefly
- 1492 Columbus discovers America
- 1498 Vasco da Gama discovers a sea route to India around Africa
- 1499-1502 - Spanish discoveries in the New World
- 1497 John Cabot discovers Newfoundland and the Labrador Peninsula
- 1500 - discovery of the mouth of the Amazon by Vicente Pinson
- 1519-1522 - the first circumnavigation of Magellan, the discovery of the Strait of Magellan, Mariana, Philippine, Moluccas
- 1513 - Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean
- 1513 - Discovery of Florida and the Gulf Stream
- 1519-1553 - discoveries and conquests in South America Cortes, Pizarro, Almagro, Orellana
- 1528-1543 - Spanish discoveries of the interior of North America
- 1596 - discovery of the island of Svalbard by Willem Barents
- 1526-1598 - Spanish discoveries of the Solomon, Caroline, Marquesas, Marshall Islands, New Guinea
- 1577-1580 - the second round-the-world voyage of the Englishman F. Drake, the discovery of the Drake Strait
- 1582 - Yermak's campaign in Siberia
- 1576-1585 - British search for a northwestern passage to India and discovery in the North Atlantic
- 1586-1629 - Russian campaigns in Siberia
- 1633-1649 - the discovery by Russian explorers of the East Siberian rivers to the Kolyma
- 1638-1648 - discovery by Russian explorers of Transbaikalia and Lake Baikal
- 1639-1640 - Ivan Moskvin's exploration of the coast of the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk
- The last quarter of the 16th - the first third of the 17th century - the development of the eastern shores of North America by the British and French
- 1603-1638 - French exploration of the interior of Canada, discovery of the Great Lakes
- 1606 - Independently from each other, the discovery of the northern coast of Australia by the Spaniard Kyros, the Dutchman Janson
- 1612-1632 - British discoveries of the northeast coast of North America
- 1616 - discovery of Cape Horn by Schouten and Le Mer
- 1642 Tasman discovers the island of Tasmania
- 1643 Tasman discovers New Zealand
- 1648 - opening of the Dezhnev Strait between America and Asia (Bering Strait)
- 1648 - Fyodor Popov discovers Kamchatka
Ships of the Age of Discovery
Caravel
In the Middle Ages, the sides of the ships were sheathed with planks, with the top row of boards overlapping the bottom. This is a durable upholstery. but the ships become heavier from this, and the edges of the plating belts create unnecessary resistance to the hull. At the beginning of the 15th century, the French shipbuilder Julien proposed to sheathe ships end-to-end. The boards were riveted to the frames with copper stainless rivets. The joints were glued with resin. This sheathing was called "caravel", and the ships began to be called caravels.
Caravels, the main ships of the Age of Discovery, were built at all shipyards in the world for another two hundred years after the death of their designer.
At the beginning of the 17th century, the flute was invented in Holland.
"Fliite" in Dutch means "flowing, flowing". These ships could not be overwhelmed by any of the largest shafts. They, like corks, took off on a wave. The upper parts of the sides of the flute were bent inward, the masts were very high: one and a half times the length of the hull, the yards were short, the sails were narrow and easy to maintain, which made it possible to reduce the number of sailors in the crew. And, most importantly, the flutes were four times longer than wide, which made them very fast. In flutes, the sides were also installed end-to-end, the masts were made up of several elements. Flutes were much more capacious than caravels. From 1600 to 1660, 15,000 flutes were built and plowed the oceans, replacing caravels
Mariners of the Age of Discovery
- Alvise Cadamosto (Portugal, Venice, 1432-1488) - Cape Verde Islands
- Diego Can (Portugal, 1440 - 1486) - West coast of Africa
- Bartalomeu Dias (Portugal, 1450-1500) - Cape of Good Hope
- Vasco da Gama (Portugal, 1460-1524) - the way to India around Africa
- Pedro Cabral (Portugal, 1467-1526) - Brazil
- Christopher Columbus (Genoa, Spain, 1451-1506) - America
- Nunez de Balboa (Spain, 1475-1519) - Pacific Ocean
- Francisco de Orellana (Spain, 1511-1546) - Amazon River
- Fernando Magellan (Portugal, Spain (1480-1521) - first circumnavigation of the world
- John Cabot (Genoa, England, 1450-1498) - Labrador, Newfoundland
- Jean Cartier (France, 1491-1557) east coast of Canada
- Martin Frobisher (England, 1535-1594) - polar seas of Canada
- Alvaro Mendanya (Spain, 1541-1595) - Solomon Islands
- Pedro de Quiros (Spain, 1565-1614) - Tuamotu archipelago, New Hybrids
- Luis de Torres (Spain, 1560-1614) - the island of New Guinea, the strait that separates this island from Australia
- Francis Drake - second circumnavigation of the world
- Willem Barents (Netherlands, 1550-1597) - the first polar navigator
- Henry Hudson (England, 1550-1611), explorer of the North Atlantic
- Willem Schouten (Holland, 1567-1625) - Cape Horn
- Abel Tasman (Holland, 1603-1659) - Tasmania, New Zealand
- Willem Janszon (Holland, 1570-1632) - Australia
- Semyon Dezhnev (Russia, 1605-1673) - the Kolyma River, the strait between Asia and America
More articles
world revolutions
Revolutions in Russia
The main events of Russian history
1. Introduction………………………………………………………….3
2. The most important geographical discoveries and their consequences……………………………………………………..
3. Conclusion……………………………………………………..
4. Bibliography…………………………………………
Introduction:
The period of the disintegration of feudalism and the emergence of capitalist relations was preceded by the Great Geographical Discoveries, which played an important role in the transition to the bourgeois mode of production.
The great geographical discoveries were caused by the development of the productive forces of society, the growth of commodity-money relations and the need for gold and silver for the further circulation of funds, since money gradually became precisely the means of circulation.
Within the framework of the world known to Europeans (mainly the Mediterranean), there were no necessary sources of gold and silver. At the same time, in the East, according to the ideas of Europeans, inexhaustible wealth was hidden: spices, precious metals, silk fabrics, etc. The mastery of the East became very attractive. Travelers were looking for gold. Knowing about the existence of India and China, travelers looked for difficult ways to them, equipped expeditions.
The most important geographical discoveries and their economic research:
Equipment for expensive and complex expeditions was only possible for powerful centralized monarchies. The implementation of these voyages could not have been possible without sufficient progress in shipbuilding and navigation. By the middle of the 15th century, large sea vessels were being built in Western Europe, which could make long voyages. The compass and geographical maps came into use.
The impetus for the search for new sea routes to the East was the obstacles created by the Turks and Arabs, the trade relations between Europe and the Near East. In this regard, they began to develop plans for reaching India by sea around the coast of Africa. The first steps in this direction were taken by Portugal and Spain. In 1486, Portuguese navigators managed to go around the southern part of Africa, and in 1498 Vasco da Gamma reached the shores of India. In view of the fact that Portugal closed the paths along the coast of Africa by another state, the idea of the Genoese sailor Christopher Columbus to send an expedition to the open ocean in a westerly direction received support in Spain. The journey of Columbus ended with the discovery of a new continent - America.
The first trip around the world, made in 1519-1522, was of great importance. F. Magellan's expedition, which marked the beginning of the development of the Pacific Ocean.
Major geographical discoveries were made in the 16th century by English and French navigators in North America, as well as Russian travelers in Northeast Asia, who by the middle of the 17th century had come to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
The great geographical discoveries gave impetus to trade, navigation and industry and had a huge economic importance. The results of the discoveries were "a sudden expansion of the world market, the multiplication of circulating goods, rivalry between nations in an effort to master Asian treasures, the colonial system ..." At the same time, the center of world trade routes moved from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean, which had its consequences: the rise of England, Spain, Portugal, Holland and France.
As a result, from the colonies to Europe poured a large number of gold and silver. Thus, the amount of silver in Europe during the 16th century increased by more than 3 times, the amount of gold - by more than 2 times. In this regard, there was a so-called price revolution - a sharp increase in prices for agricultural and industrial products. In Spain during the 16th century, prices increased more than four times, in England, Holland and France - 2-2.5 times. This brought gain and wealth to the commercial and industrial sections of the population, and the rapid formation of the bourgeoisie began.
The great geographical discoveries greatly expanded the world market. The quality of commodities in circulation has risen sharply. New products, previously unknown to Europeans, entered the trade turnover: tobacco, coffee, tea, cocoa, cotton, corn, etc.
In the face of the colonies for European industry, a capacious external market was formed. As a result, a crisis of the guild system arose, unable to satisfy this increased demand. Medieval handicraft was forced to give way to capitalist manufactory, which put aside guild restrictions and significantly increased the scale of production thanks to the applied division of labor. This resulted in the concentration of commercial and industrial capital and the formation of a bourgeois class.
Thus, the great geographical discoveries were "one of the main moments that contributed to the transition of the feudal mode of production to the capitalist one."
During the Great geographical discoveries, Spain and Portugal became the most enriched, earlier than others, they began to seize the colonies with the help of the impoverished nobility, who willingly played enough in long military expeditions.
thanks to the active foreign policy Spain in the 16th century captured vast colonial possessions. However, they remained a backward feudal country, in a clash with capitalist rivals - Holland and England, Spain was forced to give way to a leading place in Europe.
The great geographical discoveries contributed to the transformation of the Netherlands (which included modern Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and northern France) into the most economically developed part of Europe. Being a relatively small country, the Netherlands at the beginning of the 16th century already had a developed industry, a large merchant fleet and significant modern trading operations serving the European market with colonial goods. The cities of Antwerp and Amsterdam were major centers international trade, having close ties with the colonies and most European states.
The trading power of Holland was undeniable. A huge merchant fleet allowed the country to carry out a wide intermediary trade and become a "world carrier".
Beginning in the 16th century, England, in turn, embarked on the path of colonial conquest. The participation of England in the Great geographical discoveries was shown in the organization of a number of expeditions with the aim of reaching India by the northeast and northwest routes. As a result, England gained a foothold in North America.
In the 70s of the 16th century, she took possession of Newfoundland, and at the beginning of the 17th century she formed colonies on the territory of the American continent.
Large colonial companies were created in the country, leading a fierce struggle against foreign merchants. The almighty and famous East India Company, founded in 1600 and becoming a springboard for subsequent conquests, acquired special power. Portugal, unable to withstand the competition with Spain, was forced to turn its eyes to the conquest of other territories. The Portuguese became the masters of the South Seas and the Indian Ocean, using piracy methods: capturing, robbing and destroying the crews of the ships of Muslim merchants who controlled maritime trade with India. Thus, Portugal completely took over the maritime communications on Indian Ocean and around Africa. dominance on south seas was provided by a network of fortified naval bases, which made possible the gradual capture of part of India. Revenues from the Portuguese colonial empire in India and Brazil went primarily to the treasury. The nobility and officials enriched themselves as representatives of the royal power in the colony.
It should be noted that France was the country that "got" a smaller part of the colonies. The idea of developing French colonies was seen as a similar fate for the French peasants. France turned out to be one of the countries that did not benefit from the conquest of the colonies: all the funds received from the colonies went to the maintenance of the royal court.
Thus, the Great geographical discoveries served as changes in the economy and social structure of society in many countries of the world.
Thus, the price revolution was a new factor in the primitive accumulation of capital. It strengthened the economic role of the bourgeoisie and their elements from the nobility and serfdom, who, to one degree or another, turned out to be associated with new modes of production.
The great geographical discoveries laid a heavy burden on the shoulders of the peasantry, who had to pay for the equipment of the expeditions, and who were also ruined as a result of the price hike.
Thus, in the reasonable countries of the world, the Great geographical discoveries caused an ambiguous reaction of economic development.
Conclusion:
So, for the great geographical discoveries there were serious historical and economic prerequisites: for further development, European countries needed precious metals: gold and silver, there was the equipment necessary for traveling: the fleet was sufficiently developed.
In addition, the East was perceived as a treasury.
Great geographical discoveries included the discovery of America, the exploration of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the discovery of a sea route to India around Africa, as well as the discoveries of Russian, Spanish, French and other travelers.
As a result of the great geographical discoveries in the economy of the Netherlands and England, rapid capitalist development, which served to develop a layer of the bourgeoisie, as well as the development of trade, etc.
Earth: shape, size, mass, volume, circumference and diameter
