Waarom Europeanen gingen ontdekken

Why did the Europeans start exploring ??? Sub question A: What were the advantages of going exploring? 600 years ago people didn’t know much about the world, some people even thought they were the only on the world. But why did they start exploring? People thought there were three big areas: Europe Africa and Asia. There was also a very big peace of water what wasn’t explored yet. People said that there was island where very big monsters and other beasts lived. People didn’t know much about keeping food fresh. Spices were very important to keep food fresh and to make food what was going bad more pleasant. Spices didn’t grow everywhere because not on all places it was warm enough to let spices grow. Spices could be found in e.g. in the East and especially on the Spice Islands (today we call them the Molluccas). So people wanted to sell spices and they start exploring to all the places where spices were. And some countries even start to conquer islands and other countries. Sub question B: How did they travelled these big distances? The ships in the year 1400 were big and strong but it was difficult to sail in rough seas. Steering was not easy and went very slowly. Prince Henry of Portugal wanted to build a ship that could sail around Africa. In Portugal sailors used small ships, the “Caravels”. It was a small ship with one or more triangular sails called lateens. But later on they invented a bigger and stronger Caravel. It could

take more heavy cargo and could resist storms better. How did they navigate to travel these big distances? Sailors usually sale next to land to know where they are sailing. But if they have to go from Europe to America they cannot sale next to land. When it was not possible to sale next to land they looked at the stars. As long as they were at the north of the equator they could see the “plough”. It pointed at a big and bright star witch always lay in the north: the Pole star. If they sailed to the south of the equator they used another set of stars called the “Southern Cross” and it always point at the south. Another way to navigate was the astrolabe. It was an instrument that measured how high the polar star was (started at the horizon). With this they could work out their position on a line running from north to south. Sub question C Who was Christopher Columbus and what did he did? Christopher Columbus lived 500 years ago and was an Italian Sailor. He wanted to reach the East starting in Spain sailing to the West trough the Atlantic Ocean. He thought it was possible because he believed that the world was round. Columbus was an experienced sailor. He sailed on Portuguese ships to Iceland and to West Africa. Most people believed the world was round, but no one knew how big the Ocean Sea was (now we call it the Atlantic Ocean). They thought it was very big because they didn’t know about America. It was very important to know how wide the Ocean Sea was. When it was too big they would run out of food and water. It took him eight years to get money for ships and sailors. The King and Queen of Spain finally gave him the money for his journey. When he had the money he had to search people to help him. He was helped by a man called: Martin Pinzon and his two brothers. They told sailors if they made it they would make big fortunes. Ninety sailors said ”yes” and went with him. At a moment Martin Pinzon saw land and everyone was very happy, but it was a cloud at the horizon. The next night there was another person who saw land. They didn’t now it but they discovered America. From now on they new the world looked different and America lies between Europe and Asia. Sub question D How civilised were the Aztecs? The first Mexicans came from Asia about 4,000 years ago. They were called Maya’s. Just hundreds of years later the Aztecs came to live in Mexico
The Aztecs were a tribe near the Maya’s. Their capital city was Tenochtitlan. Every 80 days they send an offer to Tenochtitlan to get the gods into a good mood. The Aztecs used their picture writing to make offer sheets to show the things the people had to give the gods. The other Mexican people hated the Aztecs. They didn’t want to pay tribute and if you didn’t pay the Aztec warriors they came to punish you. Everybody was frightened of the Aztec warriors, but every Aztec wanted to be such a great Aztec warrior. Only the soldiers who were very brave and successful fighters could call themselves warriors. It was a way to become rich and famous. To become a warrior you had to capture a lot of prisoners in battle. The tribute from other people made the Aztecs very rich. They build big cities with their richness. In the centre of Tenochtitlan the emperor had his palace to watch over his country. The Aztecs build islands to grow all the food that the people needed in Tenochtitlan. People could own slaves e.g. if you was a prisoner of war. Every Aztec town had a market were people went to exchange goods. When the children were 16 they went to school to learn about the history of the Aztec people and how to worship the gods. Gods and Religious Life The Aztecs worship many different gods. The Aztecs believed they had to keep their gods happy and strong by giving them the best possible food. In return the gods would protect them against evil. They thought human hearts were the best food, because that was the most valuable thing they had. The Aztecs held a big celebration for the gods every month.
Art, Crafts and Technology Aztec craftspeople were very clever at making costumes and headdresses out of feathers. They made the feather head dresses for the costumes of the priests. The priests wore them on special feasts. The Aztecs liked to make mosaics. Mosaics are pictures or patterns made by sticking together small pieces of coloured material, usually stones. In Aztec life snakes were the most important creatures, because they were the sign of life. Buildings The Aztecs built enormous buildings like pyramids using very simple tools. First they made a big pile of earth and stones and then they built the walls and steps around it. Sub question E Hernan Cortes and the conquest of the Aztecs. Hernan Cortes left Spain on 1504 when he was 19. Cortes took part in an attack on Cuba. Hernan Cortes stayed on Cuba and became wealthy landowner. Cortes sailed with an army of only 500 men to Mexico in 1519. When he landed the emperor Montezuma did not attack Cortes. Instead he gave Cortes presents because he thought Cortes was a god. Cortes went to Tenochtitlan to conquer Tenochtitlan. Some Mexicans joined Cortes because they didn’t like Montezuma. Cortes wanted to conquer Mexico. So he made a plan. He pretended to act like a tradesman and come in peace so he could go inside Tenochtitlan and conquer Tenochtitlan. The plan of Cortes Worked and he got into the palace. He told Montezuma what orders he had to give to the Aztecs. Now Cortes was the real ruler of Mexico. Cortes also conquered Cuba. Now he had an army of 1500 man. Meanwhile Cortes had left Alvarado with an army of 80 men to rule over Mexico when Cortes was to Cuba. The chief Aztecs decided that Montezuma was ruling badly so they chose a new ruler. Cortes didn’t know this. When he was marching to his palace in Tenochtitlan he was surrounding at his palace. Cortes tried to escape at night but 1000 of his 1500 man died at the escape. Cortes built ships with guns and conquered Tenochtitlan. Sub question F What happened after the Spanish conquest? The Spanish took over most of the land and made the Aztecs work for them as slaves. The Spanish said the Aztecs had to become Christian, because they didn’t want the Aztecs to sacrifice humans to the gods. They demolished the temples and built churches. The Spaniards also said the Aztecs to use the wheel and iron tools. Conclusion Main Question 1 Europeans started exploring to build up richness and power. In that time spices were very expansive and that’s why people started to look for spices. They took the spices or sometimes even conquered the whole place. They could sell the spices and become very rich.
Main question 2 The Aztecs lived happily together until the Spaniards came under lead of Hernan Cortes. Almost all Aztecs were killed and Mexico was under lead of the spaniards. Our own Ideas We think it isn’t good to conquer other islands our countries. To make slaves of people is even worse! When you want to take spices you have to give the owner of the spices something back (otherwise you steel it). Working on these pages was very educative and not too difficult.