Medieval exploration. After the collapse of the western Roman Empire in the late 400's, Europe was divided into small kingdoms and other states. For about the next 600 to 800 years, most Europeans had neither the means nor the desire to engage in exploration. During this same period, Muslims—that is, followers of the religion of Islam—established a huge empire that eventually extended throughout the Middle East and across northern Africa. Many Muslims became expert navigators. Muslim merchant ships with lateen (triangular) sails ranged throughout the Indian Ocean, going as far as East Africa and Southeast Asia.
By about the 1200's, the Chinese and Europeans had a renewed interest in exploration. By that time, explorers could find their direction more easily because of the development of the magnetic compass. Some scholars believe that the Chinese were the first to use the compass for navigation about 1100 and that it was quickly adopted by Muslims and northern Europeans. Others believe that Muslims and northern Europeans independently developed the use of the compass for ship navigation.
Viking exploration. The most important European explorers from the fall of the Roman Empire to about the 1000's were the Vikings, who originally came from Scandinavia. About 800, they settled the Shetlands, the Faroes, and other islands in the North Atlantic Ocean. About 860, a storm drove a Viking ship to a large island that was later named Iceland. The Norse began to settle Iceland about 870, and it became the base for later voyages.
About 900, Gunnbjorn Ulfsson, a Viking leader, sighted Greenland. About 982, Erik the Red began exploring the coast of this huge island. Erik and other Vikings later established colonies there.
About 986, another Viking leader, Bjarni Herjolfsson «BYAHR nee hehr YOHLF suhn», was driven off course while sailing from Iceland to Greenland. Herjolfsson sighted a coastline to the west—probably North America—but he did not land there. Instead, he went on to Greenland. About 1000, Leif Eriksson, (also spelled Ericson, Ericsson, or Eiriksson),son of Erik the Red, led an exploring party to the land Herjolfsson had sighted. He set up a base at a place he called Vinland. No one knows exactly where Vinland was, but most experts believe that it lay in what is now the Canadian island of Newfoundland. Vikings made several other voyages to Vinland and established a colony there. But conflicts with the local peoples and other problems led the Vikings to abandon the colony about 1014.
Muslim exploration. Muslims studied the writings of ancient authorities and produced outstanding geographies and maps. During the 1100's, for example, al-Idrisi «uhl ih DREE see» traveled widely throughout the Middle East. After moving to the court of King Roger II of Sicily, al-Idrisi prepared an important geographical treatise, often called The Book of Roger. Completed in 1154, it surveyed all the countries of the world known to Europeans and Muslims of that time.
The most celebrated Muslim explorer was Ibn Battuta «IHB uhn bat TOO tah», who was born in Morocco. From 1325 to 1354, he traveled as far as India and China. He also visited the Mali Empire in western Africa south of the Sahara. His account of his travels is often called Rihla (Journey).
Chinese exploration. During the Middle Ages, Chinese explorers made long journeys throughout Asia and the Middle East. Until about the 1200's, most of these travels were religious pilgrimages (journeys to sacred places). For example, the Buddhist monk Xuanzang «shyoo an zahng», often spelled Hsuan-tsang, set out in 629 for India, the birthplace of Buddhism. There, he visited many Buddhist holy places over a 16-year period and gathered much information about the history and geography of the region.
The largest Chinese expeditions took place during the early 1400's. From 1405 to 1433, Zheng He «juhng huh», also spelled Cheng Ho, commanded seven expeditions, each involving more than 100 wooden ships. He sailed from the waters of the East China Sea to the Indian Ocean and to the East African coast. As a result of these voyages, China expanded diplomatic and commercial relations with more than 30 countries.
European exploration. During the mid-1200's, Europeans came into more direct contact with central and eastern Asia than ever before. At that time, most of Asia was ruled by the Mongols, a nomadic people who were superior fighters. European leaders hoped to convert the Mongols to Christianity and persuade them to become allies against Muslim rulers in the Middle East and northern Africa. In the 1240's and 1250's, several Franciscan friars, including John of Plano Carpini and William of Rubruck, visited the camp of the khan (Mongol leader) at Karakorum in what is now Mongolia. The friars failed to convert the khan to Christianity, but they brought back much information about eastern Asia.
The most famous European traveler in Asia in the 1200's was Marco Polo, a native of Venice. In 1271, when Marco was 17, he accompanied his father, Nicolo, and his uncle Maffeo to China. Nicolo and Maffeo Polo were merchants. They had visited China in the 1260's and had been well received by Kublai Khan, the Mongol emperor of China. During Marco's visit, he made such a favorable impression on Kublai Khan that the Mongol ruler sent him on official missions throughout the kingdom. After returning to Venice in 1295, Marco was taken prisoner during a conflict between Venice and Genoa. While in captivity, he dictated an account of his travels. This widely read book, called Description of the World, was the first to provide Europeans with detailed and accurate information about China's impressive civilization.
The great age of European exploration. By the 1400's, many Europeans wanted to buy products that came from Asia—jewels, silk, and such spices as cinnamon, pepper, and cloves, which were used to season and preserve food. As the Mongol Empire had begun to break down into smaller states during the 1300's, overland trade between Asia and Europe became increasingly disrupted and expensive.
By the mid-1400's, Turkish Muslims controlled much of the main overland route between Europe and Asia, but overland trade was still uncertain. Muslims also controlled the sea trade routes from Asia to the Middle East. In the Mediterranean, the Italian city of Venice held a monopoly on trade in spices and eastern luxury goods between the Muslim ports and the rest of Europe. As a result, other Europeans became eager to bypass the old overland and Mediterranean sea routes and find a direct ocean route to the Indies, as Europeans then called the eastern part of Asia. Europeans also hoped to make converts to Christianity and thereby strike a blow against the Muslims.
Portugal and Spain took the lead in launching voyages to discover a direct ocean route to the Indies. By 1500, ship designers in these countries had made long voyages possible by designing a new kind of ship, known as the caravel. The caravel combined square sails with the triangular lateen sails used by Muslims. Exploration by sea was also aided by the use of the astrolabe and the quadrant, instruments that enabled sailors to determine latitude more accurately. The expeditions of Portugal and Spain opened a great period of exploration and led to the colonization of America by Europeans.
Reaching the tip of Africa. During the early 1400's, Portuguese explorers concentrated their attention on the west coast of Africa. Prince Henry, a son of King John I of Portugal, became known as Henry the Navigator. He never went on a voyage of exploration himself, but he encouraged and sponsored many explorations. Henry wanted to increase Portugal's trade along the African coast and find the source of the gold that African Muslim traders had been carrying north from central Africa for centuries. He also hoped to find a legendary Christian kingdom that was supposed to exist somewhere in Africa.
Trip after trip, Henry's crews sailed farther and farther south along the African coast. By the time Henry died in 1460, the coast had been traced as far south as present-day Sierra Leone. During these voyages, the Portuguese collected gold dust and African captives who were sold into slavery. After 1500, when the settlement of the Americas created a demand for slaves, other Europeans began to sail to the west African coast to take part in the slave trade.
During the late 1400's, the Portuguese became increasingly hopeful of reaching the southern end of Africa. They believed that such a discovery would reveal a way of sailing to India.
In 1487, the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias «BAHR tul uh MEH oo DEE uhs» set out to find a route around Africa. As he sailed along the continent's southwestern coast, a violent storm blew his ships south of the tip of the continent. Dias then turned east and sailed into the Indian Ocean in early 1488 without sighting the tip of Africa. After turning north again, Dias reached the east coast of Africa, but his crew then forced him to return to Portugal. On the return voyage, he saw a point of land jutting out from the continent's southern tip. The Portuguese named it the Cape of Good Hope because its discovery indicated hope that a sea route to India had been found.
Information taken from World Book Encyclopedia © 2007 World Book, Inc.