age of discovery
Time of breakthroughs
The Age of Discovery, also called the Age of Exploration, refers to the period from roughly the 15th through 17th centuries when European powers undertook extensive overseas voyages, establishing sea routes to Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
Portugal and Spain led early expeditions, followed by England, France, and the Netherlands.
The era reshaped global trade, brought devastating consequences to indigenous populations, and established colonial empires that persisted for centuries.
- Age of ExplorationPeriod of global seafaring
- goldElement seventy-nine
- RenaissanceEuropean cultural reawakening
- uncharted watersUnexplored or unfamiliar territory
- mapSpatial representation of terrain
spice trade · astrolabe · compass · sextant · sea voyage · demographic shifts · linguistic diffusion · triangular trade · Columbian Exchange · spice route · globalization · Henry the Navigator · environmental changes · Ferdinand Magellan · syncretism · indigenous peoples · circumnavigation · colonialism
- explorationexploration, explore, expedition, expeditions, voyage
- Tudor explorationSir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, John Cabot, Golden Hind, Roanoke
age of discoveryisolationism
Policy avoiding foreign alliances
sakoku · insularity · hermit kingdom · withdrawal · xenophobia
ages, aged, ageing, ageless, ageism, discovery, discover, discovers, discovered