Age Of Exploration

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The initial purpose of what is now known as the Age of Exploration was to have European ships travel the world in search of new trading routes and partners to help with the increasing capitalism in Europe. As it turns out, this need to explore caused many great discoveries of land previously unknown to them. This time of constant findings lasted from the early 15th century and continued into the early 17th century. Just a few of the most famous explorers that contributed to this were Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, John Cabot, Juan Ponce de Leon, and Ferdinand Magellan. More specific towards the Netherlands, however, explorers such as Henry Hudson, Willem Barentsz, and Willem Janszoon made an impact of their own. The Dutch East India …show more content…
The company grew rapidly and pushed the competing powers of Spain, Portugal, France, and England out of Indonesia. In 1609, English navigator Henry Hudson was dispatched upon an exploratory voyage to North America. In 1614, the New Netherland Company was formed by merchant groups in Hoorn and Amsterdam, and received a monopoly from the Dutch government to occupy lands between New France and the English claims in Virginia. In the next year, Fort Orange was constructed near the site of present-day Albany. The Dutch merchant fleet became the greatest in the world, Amsterdam was known as a fantastic trade center and a Dutch empire was eventually established. Dutch society further distinguished itself by becoming a haven for the oppressed, opening its doors to French Huguenots and Jews from the Iberian …show more content…
Christopher Columbus set out on his first voyage into the Atlantic Ocean in 1476 and it was risky to say the least. It nearly cost him his life. Columbus participated in several other expeditions to Africa. In 1492 Columbus left Spain in the Santa Maria, along with the Pinta and the Niña. He has been credited for opening up the Americas to European colonization. Vasco de Gama was appointed by the Portuguese king to find a maritime route to the East in 1497. His success in doing so was not gone unnoticed and is still remembered as an important breakthrough. In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan set out to find a better route to the Spice Islands. He assembled a fleet of ships that were ultimately able to circumnavigated the world in a single voyage despite huge setbacks and tragically… Magellan’s death. Of course all of these famous explorers did truly amazing things, there's no doubt about that. Yet one could argue that the Dutch are responsible for some of the even greater things simply because of all that they collectively accomplished. Each aspect that was mentioned earlier put together become more powerful and has the combined greatest