The Age of Exploration was a period between the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries in which explorers, such as Vasco Da Gama, Bartolomeu Dias, and Christopher Columbus, and several others, ventured throughout the seas. They moved westward in search of direct trade routes to India and China. Numerous countries, led by Spain and Portugal, set sail using various navigational devices. Unintentionally, this led to the discovery of the Americas, which then sparked the Colombian Exchange. At this same time in Anatolia (present-day Turkey), the Ottoman empire was thriving with powerful weaponry, such as muskets and gunpowder, conquering places like the once magnificent Byzantine empire. While the Age of Exploration is commonly associated with the…
The Ottoman empire invaded the Byzantine empire, leading to its ultimate demise. Because of the Ottoman Empires strategic location near the Silk Roads and Indian Ocean Basin, Europe was blocked from direct access to Asian luxury goods. The Europeans had to get their Asian goods from the Ottomans, Arabs, and Mughals, who could price the luxury goods for much more. The Europeans demand for these goods was very high, and this mercantile economy thereby made the Ottomans more powerful. The Europeans did not want to pay the extremely high prices imposed by the Ottomans, so they decided to find a direct route to Asia to buy them there (Szczepanski, par. 9). The Europeans were also intimidated by the Ottomans success and power, so they wanted to find some of their own. The combination of navigational technologies, like the astrolabe and the lateen sail, with the desire of the Europeans to have direct access to resources and power led to the discovery of various lands that the Europeans could colonize (Bentley, 601). Thus, the age of exploration was…
The Ottomans were one of the only empires besides Japan that became a power in world affairs despite not being European. The long-term impacts of the Ottoman empire include their eventual crumble under European dominance under World War I (Stevis, par. 2). If Constantinople never became Istanbul after 1453, the Encomienda system may have never existed, and philosophers like Christopher Columbus or Vasco da Gama may have never set sail. The Europeans would have never been able to become as strong as they did. All in all, the reasons for the age of exploration can not be pinpointed to one thing, but rather a sequence of various events and desires by the…
