The
search of new places did not just spring up like an idea. There is a
history behind its starting too and how people were inspired to
explore new places in the world leaving their homeland Europe.
Roman
Empire was that time's largest empire ruling
by land across the World. Its capital was in modern day Turkey's
Istanbul. It was known as Constantinople. In 1453, the Ottoman Turks
captured Constantinople from the Romans. This led to the downfall of
Roman Empire. These Ottoman Turks were very conservative and did not
allow the people living there to do anything. They even blocked the
only known route for getting out of Europe. Other countries started
on a search conquest. They tried to find out new ways to get out of
Europe for trade and knowledge.
Major
geographical discoveries started at around 14th century
although many discoveries by land were done earlier. These major
discoveries went on until the 17th century along with the
Renaissance. More discoveries were done later which were mainly due
to curiosity and will.
Many
of us know great discoverers like Vasco da Gama, Chistopher Columbus,
Amerigo Vespucci etc. These were some of the known people who had
gone by sea on new search conquests. Many people from Italy, Great
Britain, Spain, Portugal went on search conquests as part of orders
from their respective kings and queens.
Initially,
search conquests were done to find new places, later they were done
for trade. People first tried to find sea routes to India as they
heard that India was a country rich in spices. Diago Cão (1450-86)
was one of the first persons to try to find routes to India. In 1480
although his ship crossed the equator, the African coastline seemed
never ending and they did not keep hope of finding India. He
discovered River Congo which would help future explorers.
In
1487, Portuguese Bartolomeu Dias (1450-1500) was the first person to
reach the Indian Ocean. He crossed the West African coastline to
enter the Indian Ocean after turning around the tip of Africa. He
also accompanied Vasco da Gama in the 1497 voyage. He was also one of
the commanders in Pedro Cabral's voyage to Brazil in 1500.
In
1497, Vasco da Gama (1460-1524) started his voyage. As Bartolomeu
Dias found the way around the tip of Africa, Vasco da Gama sailed
around the tip of Africa to land in India's west coast at Calicut. He
also gained control over the spice trade by Manuel-I in 1502 until
his death in India in 1524.
In
1492, Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) tried to sail through the
Atlantic-Pacific Ocean in order to reach the Eastern coast of India.
He could not. A huge chunk of land was in his way which was not known
before. These were the Americas that Columbus had discovered. He
landed in the modern day Central America which he was sure was the
coast of India. So, he named it the West Indies. He landed in San
Salvador in modern day Bahamas.
Although
the Norsemen's captain Leif Erikson was the first to be to North
America in 1000 C.E., the credit of discovering the Americas goes to
Columbus. Leif Erikson landed in Canada in a place which he called
Vinland or modern day L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland.
Giovanni
Caboto or John Cabot (1450-1498) of Italy, settled in Britain, tried
to find shorter routes to Americas after the news of discovery of the
Americas by Columbus. In 1497, he reached the island of Newfoundland
in Canada. He returned to Britain in the same year to take with him
more fleet. He was never heard of again.
Amerigo
Vespucci (1451-1512) of Italy was the first or second one to be to
the Southern Americas. This continent was named after this man who
went a little ahead in South America to reach further than Brazil in
modern day Argentina. This continent was named America after Amerigo
(Originally only for South America). He explored Brazil in his first
voyage and he went further South till Patagonia in Argentina in his
second voyage.
Giovanni
da Verrazano (1485-1528) of Italy, settled in France, was to find
land between Florida (Spain) and Newfoundland (England) for turning
into French territories. Although Verrazano was still searching for
routes to China, he also searched territories for the French king
Francis-I.
Ferdinand
Magellan (1480-1521) of Portugal, settled in Spain, worked for the
Spanish king. He went in search of what Columbus could not do
earlier. He sailed west to find a route to Asia. He did it in search
of Spice Islands in Indonesia. He set sail in 1519 and was killed in
Philippines on Mactan Island by the locals who were being forced to
convert to Christianity. Unknowingly, when their ship returned to
Spain, they became the first people to circumnavigate the Earth.
All
these people and more, one after the other set out on sea to find new
routes to places they wanted to reach for trade. Most common were
India, China, Japan etc. These happened only because of The Ottoman
Turks. Good that they captured Constantinople because of which the
world got benefited. These discoveries during the Renaissance were
very important today. America – one of the greatest discoveries is
now one of the world's most successful countries.
Suhas
21 October 2012
dome
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