Western Civilization

monopoly on the use of firearms and explosives, but

their effective use of naval technology, their heavy guns

that could be mounted in the hulls of their sturdy ves-

sels, and their tactics gave them military superiority over

lightly armed rivals that they were able to exploit until

the arrival of other European forces several decades later.

Voyages to the New World

While the Portuguese were seeking access to the spice

trade of the Indies by sailing eastward through the

Indian Ocean, the Spanish were attempting to reach

the same destination by sailing westward across the

Atlantic. Although the Spanish came to overseas dis-

covery and exploration after the initial efforts of the

Portuguese, their greater resources enabled them to

establish a far grander and quite different overseas

empire.

An important figure in the history of Spanish explo-

ration was an Italian known as Christopher Columbus

(1451-1506). Knowledgeable Europeans were aware

that the world was round but had little understanding

OcOceaeann

PaPacicifificc

OcOceaeann

PaPacicifififfcc

OcOceaeann

InIndidianan

OcOceaeann

AtAtlalantnticic

CUBA

NEW

SPAIN

PERU

BRAZIL

SPAIN

PORTUGAL

AFRICA

ANGOLA

PERSIA CHINA

JAPAN

PHILIPPINES

CEYLON

IND

ONE

SIA

GOLD

COAST

I

E

E

F

F

G G

G

C

H C

H

B

A

C

H

D

D

D

D

H

INDIA

Tenochtitlán

(Mexico City)

Porto Bello

Bahia

Lisbon Cádiz

Ceuta

Elmina

Zanzibar

Mozambique

Ormuz

Diu

CalicutGoa

Colombo

Canton

Macao

Nagasaki

Manila

Malacca

Timor

Potosí

Bakongo

Lima

Bristol

Canary

Islands

Cape

Verde

Azores

0 2,000 4,000 Miles

0 2,000 4,000 6,000 Kilometers

A Portuguese expeditions, 1430s–1480s

B Dias, 1487–1488

C Da Gama, 1497–1499

D Portuguese voyages to the East, 1509–1514

E Columbus’s first voyage, 1492

F Columbus’s three successive voyages, 1493–1502

G Voyages attended by Vespucci, 1499–1502

H Magellan–Del Cano, 1519–1522

I Cabot, 1497

Principal Voyages of Discovery

Areas under Spanish control

Areas under Portuguese control

Line of Demarcation, Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494

Spanish trading cities

Portuguese trading cities

Independent trading cities

Spanish routes

Portuguese routes

Other routes

MAP 14.1European Discoveries and Possessions in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries.

Desire for wealth was the main motivation of the early explorers, although spreading Christianity

was also an important factor. Portugal under Prince Henry the Navigator initiated the first voyages

in the early fifteenth century; Spain’s explorations began at the century’s end.

Q Which regions of the globe were primarily explored by Portugal, and which were the

main focus of Spain’s voyages?

New Horizons: The Portuguese and Spanish Empires 331

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