AOE: Overview

A painting of Christopher Columbus arriving in the Caribbean.Age of Exploration: 1500 - 1750 CE

Introduction

This Module is about want – insatiable want. After a thousand years of falling behind African and Asian wealth and innovation, spurred by religious strife and a desire to know and have more, Europeans turned away from their traditional trade routes and searched for a new way to Asia. What they found was worth so, so much more than the spices they hope to acquire. The more they searched, the more they found, and the more they took and fought until almost every group of people on Earth was impacted in one way or another. It was a cataclysm that would impact the rest of World History.

This is the story of the Age of Exploration. 

In the image of the painting that decorates this introduction, we see Christopher Columbus arriving in the Caribbean. The painting is called The Landing of Columbus and was completed in 1847 by John Vanderlyn. It is located in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol building. In the painting, Columbus carries the Spanish Flag. Behind him to the right, some Taino look on with curiosity; behind him to the left, the Europeans and Natives are already fighting.

Essential Questions

  • What were the achievements of the Pre-Columbian empires?
  • What people and technology contributed to the Age of Exploration?
  • How did the Age of Exploration impact the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia?
  • How did governmental policies in Asia and Europe affect the social hierarchies in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas?
  • What caused the fall of the Pre-Columbian Empires, the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the Tokugawa Shogunate?

Module Lessons Preview

In this module, we will study the following topics:

Key Terms

Pre-Columbian Empires:

      • The Maya
      • The Aztecs
      • The Incas

Causes of European Exploration

Early European Exploration

Effects of Exploration:

      • North and South America
        • Conquest of the Aztecs and Inca
      • Africa
      • Europe
        • The Scientific Revolution in Europe
      • Asia:
        • China
        • Japan

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