General Information
Welcome to the General Information page. In this page you will find some of the basic facts that you must know when learning about the exploration age!!! We truly hope that you enyoy it!!!
Not until the voyages of Christopher Columbus in the 1490s were Europeans aware that the Americas existed. Spain and Portugal were competing for excluseve right for trade. The pope drew a line of demarcation between Portuguese and Spanish interests that extended around the earth. Meanwhile, Portugal prospered because it controlled the eastern route to the Indies. In 1519 Spain sent Ferdinand Magellan to find the westerly route to Asia. His expedition was the first to circumnavigate the world.
Commerce led to empire building. The Spaniards wanted to acquire wealth and to spread Christianity in the Americas. In 1521 Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztects and shipped huge amounts of Aztec gold to Spain. His sucess encouraged other conquistadors such as Francisco Pizarro, ho conquered the Incan empire, to seek their fortunes in the Americas. In the process, the Spaniards claimed vast territories that eventually formed a great colonial empire.
France, England, and the Neatherlands searched for a northwest passage to Asia during the 1500s and 1600s. As a result, the French established permanent colonies along the St. Lawrence River and developed a lucrative fur trade. By 1682 French explorers had claimed the Mississippi River basin. The Dutch settled in the rich Hudson River Valley.
