History of the United States I / Unit 1 USH1 0022 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Why Europe Wanted a New Route
The idea
From the tenth century goods moved between western Europe and the East along what is collectively called the Silk Road, and Marco Polo travelled it in twelve seventy-one to reach Kublai Khan. The route was costly, slow and unprofitable. Muslim middlemen collected taxes at each exchange, and robbers ambushed the caravans. What Europe wanted was a direct water route to the East and to the Spice Islands of modern Indonesia, whose location Muslim rulers kept secret. Genoa and Florence, longtime rivals of Venice, therefore looked west rather than east.
In practice
Portugal at Europe's extreme western edge, gathering maps from across the continent, using triangular sails and lighter caravels able to work down the African coast, under Prince Henry the Navigator.
Where people slip
Historians name three motives: God, glory, and gold. Religious motivation ran particularly strong in Catholic Spain and Portugal, and Prince Henry stated a great desire to increase the faith. Note also that Leif Ericson reached Canada roughly five hundred years before Columbus, and the anchor declines to credit him with ushering in the age of exploration. Reaching a place first and changing history are separate achievements.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it · Sources for History of the United States I