Jessica Allen 10-3-11 Age of Exploration Questions 8th 1) Technological advances during the 15th century made long

voyages easier to travel on. Inventions such as the quadrant helped them to keep their location and let them have a clue of where they were. The astrolabe was a tool that measures latitude and was used on later voyages. It was also used to keep location. The compass was one of the most vital tools and was used to tell direction. Without the compass, navigators wouldnt have any way to tell precise direction without using natural features of the solar system, such as the North Star. The type of boat that Columbus sailed in was called a caravel. The caravel was invented in the 1420s by Prince Henry of Portugal. The boat wasnt submerged under water as many boats form the past were. To measure speed of the boat an item that can float was dropped off one end of the boat and some one counted to see how long it took for the other end to pass it. Speed was measured in knots. All of these and more techniques 2) The initial motive for exploration was to Christianize the new world. Columbus suggested that ministers come along on his voyage to help make this possible. The main thing on the mind of a majority of these explorers was gold. Henry of Portugal discovered gold trade on the coasts of Africa that was monopolized by Muslims. After word of gold in new places got out, everyone wanted some. Antwerp then became the financial center of Europe because this is where most of the gold was being brought. The extraction of gold and silver from the new world later led to inflation in Europe. 3) There was a large culture difference between the Indians and the Spaniards. The Indians were very friendly and vulnerable so Columbus and his men took advantage of them. These Indians soon became the slaves of the Spaniards. They built a relationship with each other and learned a lot from one another. The Spaniards taught the Indians how to dress and a little bit of English. The Indians taught the Spaniards about the land and how everything and everyone is connected. The Indians had items that the Spaniards and vice versa. This started the Columbian exchange which was the trading of items from the new world to the old world. 4) The conquistadors were primarily interested in gold and were going to do whatever it took to get it. When arriving in the new world, the people were vulnerable so the greedy conquistadors enslaved them. This led to the encomienda which was a grant that gave the right to own a specific number of slaves. This shows that the conquistadors were selfish and disrespectful towards the culture and way of life of the natives. I would characterize the conquistadors as worldly because theyre only interested in getting this gold and not interested in the things they could learn from these new people. 5) 6