Exploration+and+Voyages

=__Exploration & Expansion__=

__Portuguese Expansion__
Portugal was the first European county to start exploring and led the rest of them into exploration. In 1420, with sponsorship of Prince Henry, Portugal began to travel south along the west coast of Africa. A gold source was found by these voyages and this gave the southern coast of west Africa the name "Gold Coast". In May of 1498, Vasco da Gama arrived at the port of Calicut and he collected a great number of spices which he greatly profited of of. In 1509 a Portuguese fleet defeated a turkish and Indian ships off the coast of India. Portugal began to range more widely in their spice trade and launched voyages to Melaka and China to expand their spice trade. They were able to do this because of their guns and seamanship's.

Columbus's Voyages to America:
Columbus Believed that he could reach Asia by sailing west instead of going around Africa. He had to finance his voyage so he got Queen Isabella of Spain to finance it. In august 1492, he set sail for Asia with three ships. He reached land on October 1492, which he thought was Asia but it was actually America, he explored the coast of Cuba and Hispaniola. He went on three more voyages to America which he still thought was Asia and He discovered all the main islands of the Caribbean and Honduras.

Effect:
With Columbus's discovery of America other explorers soon wanted to travel to this new land and discover new things. European countries wanted to gain land and riches so they funded many voyages to America. John Cabot explored the New England coast of America for England. Amerigo Vespucci went along on several voyages to America and he wrote about the lands he saw. These letters led to the use of the name America.