What Led To European Exploration

568 Words3 Pages

The European exploration happened due to God, glory, gold, and advanced technology. God led to exploration because they wanted to spread Christianity. Glory led to exploration because they wanted to be know as an explorer. Gold led to exploration because they wanted to trade with other countries to get money in return for valuable items or get valuable items in return for money. But the most influential thing that led to exploration was advanced technology. The caravel, astrolabe, magnetic compass, and cartography were all technological advances. The caravel allowed them to effectively sail against the wind and was sturdier than the vessels before. Astrolabe was a brass circle marked off with degrees and the rings on it were used to sight the stars. Once they sighted the stars they were able to calculate their latitude. The magnetic compass was used to help explorers more accurately track direction. Cartography was the skill of mapmaking and maps were made faster by using the printing press. In conclusion God, glory, gold, and advanced technology led to European exploration. Portugal was able to discover a sea route to Asia because of three very important people, Prince Henry, Bartolomeu Dias, and Vasco da Gama. Prince Henry helped discover the sea route to Asia by founding a navigational school. This school wasn …show more content…

The most important technological advancement for European exploration was cartography. Cartography was the science of making maps. This was important for exploration because you knew almost exactly where you were so you were not always exploring the same lands. Cartography was the basis of exploration that allowed you to use the other tools to more effectively figure out where you were. Also if you would know who 's land was whose so people would never claim the same land by accident. In conclusion cartography was the most important because it allowed you to figure out where you were and settle disputes with other countries on what land was already