World geographical discoveries. The most important geographical discoveries in world history

Period of great geographical discoveries began in the 15th century and continued until the 17th century. During this period, the inhabitants of Europe, mainly through sea routes, discovered and explored new lands, and also began to colonize them. During this period, new continents were discovered - Australia, North and South America, trade routes were laid from Europe to the countries of Asia, Africa, and the islands of Oceania. Mariners played a leading role in the development of new lands Spain and Portugal.

The impetus for great geographical discoveries, in addition to scientific interest and curiosity, was economic interest, and sometimes even a direct thirst for profit. In those days, distant India seemed to Europeans a fairyland filled with silver, gold and precious stones. In addition, Indian spices, brought by caravan routes by Arab merchants to Europe, cost a fortune in Europe. Therefore, Europeans sought to reach India and trade with Indians directly, without the mediation of Arab merchants. Or rob them...

In 1492 Christopher Columbus, who was looking for a direct sea route to India, America was discovered. Shortly before this, the Portuguese had found a sea route to the Indian Ocean and reached it for the first time. But the coveted India still remained unattainable. A full century after Columbus Vasco de Gama nevertheless, he managed to be the first European to reach India by sea, circumnavigating the African continent. And soon Marco Polo made it to China.

Finally destroyed the belief of believers about a flat earth Ferdinand Magellan, who made the world's first voyage around the world on his ships in 1522. Now it has become clear to even the most backward inhabitants of the Earth that the Earth is round and is a ball.

Great geographical discoveries made great cultural exchange between different countries and civilizations. It also changed the biological balance of the planet. In addition to getting to know the culture, traditions and inventions of different countries, Europeans also transported animals, plants, and slaves around the planet. Races mixed, some plants and animals crowded out others. Europeans brought smallpox to America, to which local residents had no immunity, and they died en masse from the disease.

A geographical discovery is a visit by a representative of a civilized people to a new part of the earth previously unknown to cultural humanity or the establishment of a spatial connection between already known parts of the land.

Why did the era of great geographical discoveries come?

• The growth of European cities in the 15th century
• Active development of trade
• Active development of crafts
• Depletion of European mines of precious metals - gold and silver
• The discovery of printing, which led to the spread of new technical sciences and knowledge of antiquity
• Distribution and improvement of firearms
• Discoveries in navigation, the appearance of the compass and astrolabe
• Advances in cartography
• The conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks, which interrupted the economic and trade ties of Southern Europe with India and China

Geographical knowledge before the era of great geographical discoveries

In the Middle Ages, Iceland and the shores of North America were discovered by the Normans, European travelers Marco Polo, Rubruk, Andre of Longjumeau, Veniamin of Tudela, Afanasy Nikitin, Carpini and others established land connections with the countries of Far Asia and the Middle East, the Arabs explored the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea , the shores of the Red Sea, the western shores of the Indian Ocean, roads connecting Eastern Europe through Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Iranian Plateau - with India have been identified

The beginning of the era of great geographical discoveries

The beginning of the era of great geographical discoveries can be considered the activities of the Portuguese navigators of the 15th century and the inspirer of their achievements, Prince Henry the Navigator (03/04/1394 - 11/13/1460)

At the beginning of the 15th century, the geographical science of Christians was in a deplorable state. The knowledge of the great scientists of antiquity has been lost. Impressions from the travels of singles: Marco Polo, Carpini, Rubruk - did not become public knowledge and contained many exaggerations. Geographers and cartographers used rumors in the production of atlases and maps; discoveries made by chance were forgotten; lands found in the ocean were lost again. The same applied to the art of navigation. The skippers had no maps, instruments, or knowledge of navigation; they were terrified of the open sea and huddled close to the shores.

In 1415, Prince Henry became Grand Master of the Portuguese Order of Christ, a powerful and wealthy organization. With her funds, Henry built a citadel on the isthmus of Cape Sagres, from where until the end of his days he organized sea expeditions to the west and south, created a navigation school, attracted the best mathematicians and astronomers from the Arabs and Jews, collected information wherever and whenever he could about distant countries and voyages. , seas, winds and currents, bays, reefs, peoples and shores, began to build more advanced and larger ships. The captains went to sea against them, not only inspired to search for new lands, but also well prepared theoretically.

Portuguese discoveries of the 15th century

• Madeira Island
• Azores
• the entire western coast of Africa
• mouth of the Congo River
• Cape Verde
• Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost point of Africa, was discovered by the expedition of Barthalomeu Dias in January 1488

Great geographical discoveries. Briefly

• 1492 —
• 1498 - Vasco da Gama discovered a sea route to India around Africa
• 1499-1502 - Spanish discoveries in the New World
• 1497 - John Cabot discovers Newfoundland and Labrador
• 1500 - discovery of the mouth of the Amazon by Vicente Pinzon
• 1519-1522 - Magellan's first circumnavigation of the world, discovery of the Strait of Magellan, Mariana, Philippine, Moluccas Islands
• 1513 - discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Vasco Nunez de Balboa
• 1513 - Discovery of Florida and the Gulf Stream
• 1519-1553 - discoveries and conquests in South America by Cortes, Pizarro, Almagro, Orellana
• 1528-1543 - Spanish discoveries of the interior of North America
• 1596 - discovery of the island of Spitsbergen by Willem Barents
• 1526-1598 - Spanish discoveries of the Solomon, Caroline, Marquesas, Marshall Islands, New Guinea
• 1577-1580 - second voyage around the world by the Englishman F. Drake, discovery of the Drake Passage
• 1582 - Ermak’s campaign in Siberia
• 1576-1585 - English search for the northwest passage to India and discovery in the North Atlantic
• 1586-1629 - Russian campaigns in Siberia
• 1633-1649 - discovery by Russian explorers of the East Siberian rivers to the Kolyma
• 1638-1648 - discovery of Transbaikalia and Lake Baikal by Russian explorers
• 1639-1640 - exploration by Ivan Moskvin of the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk
• The last quarter of the 16th century - the first third of the 17th century - the development of the eastern shores of North America by the British and French
• 1603-1638 - French exploration of the interior of Canada, discovery of the Great Lakes
• 1606 - independent discovery of the northern coast of Australia by the Spaniard Quiros and the Dutchman Janson
• 1612-1632 - British discoveries of the northeastern coast of North America
• 1616 - discovery of Cape Horn by Schouten and Le Mer
• 1642 - Tasman's discovery of the island of Tasmania
• 1643 - Tasman discovers New Zealand
• 1648 - Dezhnev’s discovery of the strait between America and Asia (Bering Strait)
• 1648 - discovery of Kamchatka by Fedor Popov

Ships of the Age of Discovery

In the Middle Ages, the sides of ships were sheathed with planks - the top row of boards overlapped the bottom. This lining is durable. but this makes the ships heavier, and the edges of the plating belts create unnecessary resistance to the hull. At the beginning of the 15th century, the French shipbuilder Julien proposed sheathing ships end-to-end. The boards were riveted to the frames with copper stainless rivets. The joints were glued with resin. This covering was called “caravel”, and the ships began to be called caravels. Caravels, the main ships of the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, were built at all shipyards in the world for another two hundred years after the death of their designer.

At the beginning of the 17th century, the flute was invented in Holland. "Fliite" in Dutch means "flowing, flowing." These ships could not be overwhelmed by even the largest wave. They, like corks, took off on the wave. The upper parts of the sides of the flute were bent inward, the masts were very high: one and a half times the length of the hull, the yards were short, and the sails were narrow and easy to maintain, which made it possible to reduce the number of sailors in the crew. And, most importantly, the flutes were four times longer than they were wide, which made them very fast. In flutes, the sides were also installed end-to-end, and the masts were made up of several elements. Flutes were much more spacious than caravels. From 1600 to 1660, 15,000 flutes were built and plied the oceans, displacing caravels

Navigators of the Age of Discovery

• Alvise Cadamosto (Portugal, Venice, 1432-1488) – Cape Verde Islands
• Diego Caen (Portugal, 1440 - 1486) – West Coast of Africa
• Barthalomeu Dias (Portugal, 1450-1500) - Cape of Good Hope
• Vasco da Gama (Portugal, 1460-1524) - the route to India around Africa
• Pedro Cabral (Portugal, 1467-1526) - Brazil
• Christopher Columbus (Genoa, Spain, 1451-1506) - America
• Nunez de Balboa (Spain, 1475-1519) - Pacific Ocean
• Francisco de Orellana (Spain, 1511-1546) - Amazon River
• Ferdinand Magellan (Portugal, Spain (1480-1521) - first circumnavigation of the world
• John Cabot (Genoa, England, 1450-1498) - Labrador, Newfoundland
• Jean Cartier (France, 1491-1557) east coast of Canada
• Martin Frobisher (England, 1535-1594) - Canadian polar seas
• Alvaro Mendaña (Spain, 1541-1595) – Solomon Islands
• Pedro de Quiros (Spain, 1565-1614) - Tuamotu Archipelago, New Hybrids
• Luis de Torres (Spain, 1560-1614) - the island of New Guinea, the strait separating this island from Australia
• Francis Drake (England, 1540-1596) - second circumnavigation of the world
• Willem Barents (Netherlands, 1550-1597) - the first polar explorer
• Henry Hudson (England, 1550-1611) - explorer of the North Atlantic
• Willem Schouten (Holland, 1567-1625) - Cape Horn
• Abel Tasman (Holland, 1603-1659) - Tasmania island, New Zealand
• Willem Janszoon (Holland, 1570-1632) - Australia
• Semyon Dezhnev (Russia, 1605-1673) - Kolyma River, strait between Asia and America

Any modern person knows that there are six continents on Earth, this number includes North America, South America and Australia. They belong to the Great Geographical Discoveries. Nowadays, it is difficult to imagine life without such wonderful places as New Zealand and the Hawaiian Islands. Now almost anyone has the opportunity to visit these parts of the planet for relatively little money. Has this always been the case? Of course not. There was a time when people did not even know about the existence of these places.

Periodization of the Great Geographical Discoveries

If we talk about defining the period of the Great Geographical Discoveries, they occurred at the end of the 15th – mid-17th centuries. Let's see why these discoveries are called “Great”. This name is due to the fact that they had special significance for the destinies of our world in general, and Europe in particular.

Great geographical discoveries were made at their own peril and risk, because travelers did not know what exactly awaited them. The only thing they clearly understood was the importance of their wanderings. There were enough reasons. Let's take a closer look at some of them.

The Age of Discovery is divided into two periods:

• Spanish-Portuguese period (late 15th – mid-16th century) The most famous and, of course, the most important discoveries during this period were: the discovery of America (the first expedition of Christopher Columbus in 1492); discovery of the sea route to India by Vasco da Gamma (1497–1498); F. Magellan's first circumnavigation of the world (1519–1522).
• The period of Russian and Dutch discoveries (mid-16th – mid-17th centuries). It usually includes: The discovery by Russians of all of Northern Asia (from Ermak’s campaign to the voyage of Popov-Dezhnev in 1648), the Dutch Pacific expeditions and the discovery of Australia.

Reasons and prerequisites for the Great Geographical Discoveries

There were only three main reasons for the Great Geographical Discoveries. One of their premises was primarily justified by the economic development of Europe. Towards the end of the 15th century. European trade with the countries of the East was experiencing a great crisis. The crisis was caused by the fact that a new harsh state appeared in the vast expanses of Asia Minor - the Ottoman Empire.

Therefore, the trade routes of the Mediterranean were completely cut off, because previously they passed through the disappeared Byzantium. In the 15th century In the countries of Western Europe, people needed gold and silver as a means of circulation, and because of the crisis they felt an acute shortage. The impoverished nobility at that time was in search of both gold itself and new trade routes. This nobility made up the bulk of the conquerors, who were also called conquistadors. The state, realizing its precarious position, was forced to make concessions and allocate funds for sea expeditions.

Moreover, an important reason for the Great Geographical Discoveries was Europe's significant advances in science and technology. First of all, the development in the construction of improved ships and also the navigation technology itself. In the XIV–XV centuries. The first caravel was created - a fairly fast ship that had spacious holds.

The importance of the caravel was that it was intended for ocean navigation. From a scientific point of view, at the same time, the hypothesis was approved that the Earth has the shape of a ball, which helped in orientation. Geographical maps were rewritten with new introductions, and the compass and astrolabe were greatly improved. All these discoveries took place along with, for example, the invention of clocks and chronology. For more details, see the article.

Great travelers and their geographical discoveries

Everyone knows that the great Spanish navigator H. Columbus in the 1490s discovered America, which was very important and necessary for Europe at that time. In total, he made four voyages to the “new land”. Moreover, his discoveries include: Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, land from Dominica to the Virgin Islands, as well as Trinidad and the wonderful Bahamas. Columbus really wanted to discover India. Because for a long time in Europe, people believed that there was a lot of gold in fabulous India. By the way, these beliefs were started by the legendary Marco Polo.

But it so happened that Columbus discovered America.

And you will immediately ask: “Why then is America called “America” and not Colombia?! Where is the copyright!” I answer immediately: there are persistent rumors that a certain Amerigo Vespucci, one of the clerks of the house of Medici (who provided money for voyages across the oceans), discovered the continent of the New World a year and a half before Columbus. Everything seems to be ironclad, but unfortunately there is no evidence of this. If anyone knows, write in the comments, otherwise we haven’t figured it out with Newton yet 😉 But the country is named after Columbus - Colombia.

Other fun historical facts you can.

We also cannot forget about Ferdinand Magellan, who discovered the strait, which was later named after him. He became the first European to travel by sea from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. But his most famous trip is around the world. The great Portuguese and Spanish navigator was awarded the title adelantado, translated as “pioneer,” whom the king himself directed to conquer new lands.

Vasco da Gama's journey to India through the south of the African continent

But not only the West participated in new discoveries, Russian expeditions were also quite important. The annexation of Siberia was of great importance at that time. It was started in 1581 by the campaign of a detachment of the well-known Cossack ataman Ermak Timofeevich. Ermak's campaign, with the help of government approval, contributed to the annexation of Western Siberia to the Russian state. Actually, from this time on, Siberia and the Far East became colonies of the Muscovite kingdom. These Europeans sailed the seas, died of scurvy and hunger..., and the Russians “without bothering” found another way.

One of the most significant was the discovery in 1648 of the strait between America and Asia, which was made by Semyon Dezhnev together with Fedot Alekseev (Popov).

Russian ambassadors played a significant role in improving maps and routes. The most famous include I.D. Khokhlov and Anisim Gribov. They participated in the description and study of routes to Central Asia.

Consequences of the Great Geographical Discoveries

Geographical discoveries led to certain world changes. Firstly, there was a “price revolution”. The value plummeted due to the influx of gold and silver, which led to an immediate rise in prices. This caused new economic problems. Second, world trade expanded significantly and began to strengthen.

This happened thanks to new products such as tobacco, coffee, cocoa, tea, rice, sugar and potatoes, which Europeans had not heard of before. Due to their inclusion in trade, the volume of trade increased greatly. Thirdly, the development of new lands and travel across the ocean contributed to the strengthening and improvement of international relations. The only negative consequence was the beginning of colonization; everything else, in principle, had a positive effect on the world order.

In conclusion, I would like to say that the progress of mankind depends on many reasons, but the most important is the desire to improve living conditions. Thanks to the Great Geographical Discoveries, new lands were developed in a relatively short time, relations between peoples were established, and trade turnover was improved. The era of VGO went down in history as one of the most important events in the life of mankind.

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© Alexander Chudinov

Editing by Andrey Puchkov

In Western Europe and Russian pre-revolutionary literature under the era of V. g. o. usually refers to a hundred-year (approx.) period - from mid. 15 to midday 16th centuries, center the moments of which were: the discovery of the tropics. America by H. Columbus, discovery of continuous sea. ways from the West Europe around South. Africa to India Vasco da Gama, the first expedition around the world by F. Magellan, proved the existence of a single World Ocean, occupying most of the Earth's surface. In Sov. historical-geographical literature under the era of V. g. o. refers to a two-hundred-year (approx.) period - from mid. 15 to midday 17th centuries, since only in the 1st half. 17th century Australia was discovered, sowing. and north-east coast of Asia and it is practically proven that Asia is nowhere connected to America.

Mor. and land expeditions that carried out military warfare were organized by Portugal, Spain (which played a leading role in military warfare in the 15th and 16th centuries), England, France, and Russia. state, Holland. The general reasons for sending expeditions were: the growth of commodity production in European countries, the shortage of precious metals in Europe and the associated search for new lands, where they hoped to find gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, spices and ivory (in the tropics), valuable furs and walrus tusks (in North America and North Asia); searching for new trades. ways from the West. Europe to Africa, India, East. Asia - the desire of Western-European. merchants get rid of bargaining. intermediaries and establish direct connections with Asian countries - suppliers of valuable goods (direct trade with the countries of Asia and Africa was in the hands of Arab, Indian, Malay and Chinese merchants; Turkish conquests in Western Asia and the Balkan Peninsula in 15 c. almost completely closed the trade route to the East through M. Asia and Syria). V. g. o. became possible thanks to advances in science and technology: the creation of sailing ships that were reliable enough for ocean navigation, the improvement of the compass and sea charts, etc.; a major role was played by the increasingly established idea of ​​the spherical shape of the Earth (the idea of ​​the possibility of a western sea route to India through the Atlantic Ocean was also associated with it). Important for geogr.

V. g. o. 15-17 centuries were world-historical events. meanings. The contours of the inhabited continents were established (except for the northern and northwestern coasts of America and the eastern coast of Australia), most of the earth's surface was explored (however, many inland regions of America, central Africa and all of inland Australia still remained unknown ). Thanks to the opening of new trades. routes and new countries, trade acquired a global character, there was a gigantic increase in the goods in circulation - this accelerated the process of the decomposition of feudalism and the emergence of capitalism. relations in the West Europe. The colonial system, which arose after the Great Patriotic War, was one of the levers of the so-called process. initial accumulation; this was facilitated by the so-called "price revolution" In this era of the West. Africa turned into a reserved hunting ground for slaves.

Table. The most important geographical discoveries of the ser. 15 - mid. 17th centuries

The Europeans captured vast territories. all in. and Yuzh. America, which was associated with the massive, and in the Antilles, total extermination of the indigenous population. Huge colonial possessions arose in the New World: the Spanish group. Viceroyalty, Portugal. Brazil, English group settler colonies, French. Canada. A chain of Europeans was organized. strongholds on the coasts and islands of Africa, South, South-East. and Vost. Asia; The colonial enslavement of many Asian countries began. Of great importance for many. European countries had displacement as a result of V. g.o. economic center life and bargaining. ways from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. approx., which contributed to the decline of some Europeans. countries (Italy, partly Germany and the Danube countries) and economic. the rise of others (the Netherlands and England).

Read more about geogr. discoveries by department continents, see articles Australia, Asia, Africa, North America, South America.

Lit.: Atlas of the history of geographical discoveries and research, M., 1959; Baker J., History of Geographical Discovery and Exploration, trans. from English, M, 1950; Bern J., History of Great Travels, trans. from French, vol. 1, L., 1958; Magidovich I.P., History of discovery and research of the North. America, M. 1962; by him, Essays on the history of geographical discoveries, M., 1957; Morison S. E., Christopher Columbus, Navigator, trans. from English, M., 1958; The Voyage of Christopher Columbus. Diaries. Letters. Documents, (translated from Spanish), M., 1956; Hart G., The Sea Route to India, (translated from English), M., 1954; Pigafetta A., The Voyage of Magellan, trans. from Italian, M., 1950; Lebedev D. M., Geography in Russia of the 17th century (pre-Petrine era), M.-L., 1949; by him, Essays on the history of geography in Russia in the 15th and 16th centuries, M., 1956; Discoveries of Russian explorers and polar sailors of the 17th century in northeast Asia. Sat. Doc-tov, M., 1951; Russian sailors in the Arctic and Pacific oceans. Sat. Doc-tov, L.-M., 1952; Sokh E. G., A reference guide to the literature of travel including voyages, geographical descriptions, adventures, shipwrecks and expeditions, v. 1-2, Washington, 1935-38.

I. P. Magidovich. Moscow.

Great geographical discoveries

Soviet historical encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Ed. E. M. Zhukova. 1973-1982 .

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In the photo: Portrait of Vasco Nunez de Balboa by an unknown artist.

At the beginning of the 16th century, Europeans continued to “discover” the Earth; Researchers attribute this time to the first period of the Age of Discovery. The main role was then played by the Spaniards and Portuguese, rushing to the unexplored lands of America, Africa and Asia.

In 1513, the Spaniards built their first settlements in America, steadily moving from east to west. They were attracted by stories about the mythical Eldorado, buried in gold and precious stones.

In September, the enterprising conquistador Vasco Nunez de Balboa, with 190 Spanish soldiers and many Indian guides, set out from the city of Santa Maria la Antigua, which he had founded three years earlier. He had been looking for success in America for about fifteen years, skillfully combining “carrot and stick” in his relationships with the local population. He could caress and give gifts, or he could, in anger, hunt down an Indian he disliked with dogs, which brought indescribable horror to the aborigines.

For more than three weeks, the detachment literally “struggled” through mountains covered with thickets of vines and ferns, suffering from fever in the swampy lowlands and repelling attacks from warlike local residents. Finally, having crossed the Isthmus of Panama, from the top of Mount Balboa he saw the vast expanse of the sea. Entering the water with a drawn sword in one hand and a Castilian banner in the other, the conquistador declared these lands the possessions of the Castilian crown.

Having received a pile of pearls and gold from the natives, Balboa was convinced that he had found the fairyland from the stories about Eldorado. He called the sea he reached “Southern”.

So Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean. continued.

By the way, when Balboa in 1510 persuaded the first Spanish colonists to follow him into the interior of the mainland, among the latter was the later famous Francisco Pizarro. Then Pizarro did not want to go with the future discoverer of the Pacific Ocean. Pizarro's finest hour came twenty years later. In 1532, he conquered Peru, the Inca Empire, becoming the owner of an unprecedented amount of gold.