Age of Exploration
Voyages, Explorers, Empires & the Making of the Modern World
From Prince Henry the Navigator's first caravels to the galleons of the Spanish treasure fleets — explore the voyages, trade routes, technologies, and empires that connected the continents and made the modern world, for better and for worse.
Overview
What the Age of Exploration was, when it began and ended, and why Europe set sail.
In Depth
- Causes and Motivations of the Age of Exploration
- Regions Explored During the Age of Exploration
- The Decline and End of the Age of Exploration
- Timeline of the Age of Exploration: Major Eras and Milestones
Quick Answers
Famous Explorers
Columbus, da Gama, Magellan, Henry the Navigator, and the conquistadors.
In Depth
- Christopher Columbus and the Voyages to the New World
- Ferdinand Magellan and the First Circumnavigation
- Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, and the Conquest of the Americas
- Prince Henry the Navigator and Portuguese Exploration
- Vasco da Gama and the Sea Route to India
Quick Answers
Trade & Commerce
The spice trade, East India companies, silver, sugar, and the Atlantic slave trade.
In Depth
- Precious Metals, Sugar, and Trade Commodities
- The Atlantic Slave Trade and the Triangular Trade
- The East India Companies: Dutch and British
- The Spice Trade in the Age of Exploration
Quick Answers
Ships & Navigation
Caravels, carracks and galleons — and the instruments and maps that guided them.
In Depth
- Cartography and Maps in the Age of Exploration
- Navigational Instruments: Compass, Astrolabe, and Sextant
- Portolan Charts, Dead Reckoning, and Piloting Techniques
- Ships of the Age of Exploration: Caravels, Carracks, and Galleons
Quick Answers
Colonial Empires
How Spain, Portugal, Britain, the Netherlands, and France built global empires.
In Depth
- The British Empire's Early Colonial Expansion
- The Dutch and French Colonial Empires
- The Portuguese Empire and Its Colonies
- The Spanish Empire in the Americas
Quick Answers
Columbian Exchange
Crops, animals, diseases, and peoples — the global impact of two worlds colliding.
In Depth
- Disease and the Age of Exploration
- Indigenous Peoples of the Americas and European Contact
- Religious Missions and Cultural Exchange
- The Columbian Exchange: Crops, Animals, and People