Why did the Portuguese explore the west coast of Africa?
Why did the Portuguese explore the west coast of Africa?
Access to commodities such as fabrics, spices, and gold motivated a European quest for a faster means to reach South Asia. It was this search that led the Portuguese down the coast of West Africa to Sierra Leone in 1460.
What did the Portuguese set up along the west coast of Africa?
At first, the Portuguese established trading stations along the west coast of Africa rather than permanent settlements. They built forts at Cape Blanco, Sierra Leone and Elmina to protect their trading stations from rival European traders.
What were the Portuguese voyages?
At around the same time as the unsuccessful attack on the Canary Islands, the Portuguese began to explore the North African coast. Sailors feared what lay beyond Cape Bojador, and did not know whether it was possible to return once it was passed. In 1434, one of Prince Henry’s captains, Gil Eanes, passed this obstacle.
What were the results of the Portuguese explorations of Africa?
What were the results of the Portuguese explorations of Africa? The Portuguese sent up trading posts for gold and slaves. The Portuguese explorations of Africa can be identified as the origin for the modern plantation system, based on large scale commercial agriculture and the wholesale exploitation of slave labor.
Which European country made voyages of discovery along the coast of West Africa?
Portuguese
Portuguese explorers landed on the shores of West Africa during the 1430s, after they had begun to build ships that could navigate the shallow waters and strong currents around Cape Bojador, which lies just below the Canary Islands, in the modern nation of Western Sahara.
How did the Portuguese benefit from exploring the coast of Africa?
The Portuguese crown took the initiative in exploring and developing the Atlantic islands and their sugar industry, and in creating a maritime bypass of the old caravan route which carried gold from Timbuktu in Mali to the Moroccan coast. This route had supplied two thirds of the gold entering Europe.
How did the Portuguese establish footholds on the coasts of Africa?
How did the Portuguese establish footholds on the coasts of Africa? The Portuguese established footholds on the coast of West Africa, building small forts and trading posts. They continued to establish forts and trading posts, but they also attacked coastal cities of East Africa, which were hubs of international trade.
What were the Portuguese objectives in the exploration of the coast of West Africa what did they accomplish?
What were the Portuguese objectives in the exploration of the coast of West Africa? What did they acomplish? They were looking to earn money and faster way to the Indian Ocean area. What did Columbus hope to accomplish when he set forth across the Atlantic in 1492?
Where did the Portuguese make their first voyages of discovery?
As early as 1341, Portuguese sailors had made their first forays into the tempting waters that lay beyond their shores, exploring the Canary Islands off the northwestern coast of Africa.
How did the Portuguese establish footholds and trade on Africa’s coasts?
How did the Portuguese establish footholds and trade on Africa’s coasts? They established forts and trading posts on the coast and seized key ports around the Indian Ocean. In 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail westward across the Atlantic Ocean to solve a problem of geography.
Who led the Portuguese to the Gold Coast?
Prince Henry the Navigator
The Portuguese were the first to arrive. By 1471, under the patronage of Prince Henry the Navigator, they had reached the area that was to become known as the Gold Coast because Europeans knew the area as the source of gold that reached Muslim North Africa by way of trade routes across the Sahara.
Did the Portuguese explore the West African coast?
! Motivated by the desire for new markets and an ongoing opposition to the Muslims, Portuguese sailors had begun to explore the West African coast in the first half of the fifteenth century. The expeditions were sponsored by Prince Henry of Portugal, who founded a center for seamanship around 1420 and earned himself the title of the Navigator.
How did Portugal get slaves in Africa?
Portuguese Explorations and West Africa. Arab merchants had bought slaves in West Africa as early as the eighth century, and they continued to act as middlemen when the Europeans arrived. Portugal used African slaves as early as 1497 in the sugarcane fields on the islands it took over off the African coast.
How did the Portuguese contribute to the age of discovery?
Portuguese sailors were at the vanguard of European exploration, chronicling and mapping the coasts of Africa and Asia, then known as the East Indies, and Canada and Brazil (the West Indies ), in what came to be known as the Age of Discovery.
Why did Portugal colonize Sierra Leone in 1460?
It was this search that led the Portuguese down the coast of West Africa to Sierra Leone in 1460. Due to several technological and cultural advantages, Portugal dominated world trade for nearly 200 years, from the fifteenth to the sixteenth century.
