The Age of Exploration
Exploration: Explorers during the Age of Exploration.
The period between the late 1400s and early 1500s was a time referred to as the Age of Exploration. During this period in history, countries in Europe funded explorations to the west for a number of reasons and these reasons can be distilled into two major buckets: Gold and Glory. In other words, the explorers took liberties to gain wealth and show the world of their exploration skills.
During the late 1400s, several countries in Europe were starting to implement more modern ways of doing business and making money. This economic system, which allowed for private ownership of wealth and the tools for creating wealth (like farmland, machines, and factories), was called capitalism. It is the economic system we use in the United States today and the one used by other (not all) countries around the world too.
With more people having money to spend, Europeans developed many businesses to meet the needs and wants of European customers. Much like customers in present-day America, they wanted interesting, exotic, and delicious things from all over the world. Some of the more popular items being bought and sold from foreign lands during this time were:
Many of the early explorers were simply trying to find new and exotic locations where they could barter for or buy things for a low price, then, return home and sell them to Europeans for a higher price. These explorers searched for new trade routes and the quickest ways to and from faraway locations. Along the way, they often stumbled across new lands and new people.
Throughout early American history, many different explorers have made many discoveries.
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado.
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was born in Spain in 1510. In 1535, he voyaged west in search of gold and exploration for the Spanish crown. Just three years later, he became governor of a Mexican province (an area of Mexico). While stories of towns filled with riches drove Coronado to expand his explorations, in the end, he did not find the golden cities he was after. Instead, he found Native American life in many pueblos or villages around present-day Mexico.
In 1541, Coronado continued to explore what is now Kansas. During these trips, many of the crew became the first Europeans to see the Grand Canyon, the Colorado River, and the Great Plains. They were also exposed to the large bison herds that roamed the area. Unfortunately, Coronado did not treat the Native Americans well and he was charged with a crime that caused him to be removed as a governor.
Amerigo Vespucci.
Between 1499 and 1501, Vespucci made two trips to explore the coast of South America. When he returned to Europe, he wrote about his travels. While Columbus believed he had found Asia, Vespucci thought he had truly found a “New World.” Vespucci’s writings inspired a German mapmaker named Martin Waldseemuller to make a world map. On this map, Waldeseemuller labeled the area of South America as ‘America’ after Vespucci’s first name.
As mapmakers continued to plot new lands, the term America was used for North, Central, and South America, even though Vespucci had only ever traveled to South America. Vespucci eventually stopped traveling and went to work for the Spanish government. In his government role, he helped create official maps of newly discovered lands and routes that led to these discoveries. Interestingly, America was named after European explorer Amerigo Vespucci, even though Vespucci made his first trip several years after Christopher Columbus.
Juan Ponce de León.
Juan Ponce de León was born in Spain in 1460. He was an early Spanish explorer that set out to learn more about the Americas and expand his wealth and was most notably credited with being the first European to visit Florida. Some believe he may have sailed to the Americas with Christopher Columbus in 1493, but this fact has not been broadly confirmed by historians. Rumors of large amounts of gold to be found on the nearby island of San Juan Bautista (as Puerto Rico was then known) drove the Spanish crown to give Ponce de León permission to explore the island in 1508-09.
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca.
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish Explorer born in Spain in 1490. While little is known about Cabeza de Vaca in his early life, historians are sure that in 1527, he joined an expedition to travel to Florida. He and many of the sailing crew were separated from their boats and traveled by foot up the coast of the present-day state. After some time, they built barges and sailed into the Gulf of Mexico, eventually landing near what is now Galveston, Texas.
Cabeza de Vaca became very sick and much of the original crew left him behind as they moved on from Galveston. He revived from his sickness and lived with the Native Americans in Texas for almost five years. Cabeza de Vaca was one of the first Europeans to travel to the present-day state of Texas. After many years, Cabeza de Vaca returned to Spain for good where he wrote about his experiences as an explorer. This book talked about the plants, animals, and people he encountered.
The country [Mexico] itself is the best I have ever seen for producing all the products of Spain. But what I am sure of is that there is not any gold nor any other metal in all that country.
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca route map from: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth492978/.
Juan Ponce de León route map image from:https://www.britannica.com/biography/Juan-Ponce-de-Leon.
