Great geographical discoveries. Great geographical discoveries: causes, events, consequences

They are always attracted by the horizon line, an endless strip that goes into the distance. Their faithful friends are ribbons of roads leading to the unknown, mysterious and mysterious. They were the first to push the boundaries, opening up new lands to humanity and the amazing beauty of metrics. These people are the most famous travelers.

Travelers who made the most important discoveries

Three-quarters of Columbus' life was spent sailing. He traveled on Portuguese ships, managed to live in Lisbon and on British Isles. Stopping for a short time in a foreign land, he constantly drew geographical maps, made new travel plans.

It still remains a mystery how he managed to plan the shortest route from Europe to India. His calculations were based on the discoveries of the 15th century and on the fact that the Earth is spherical.

Gathering 90 volunteers in 1492-1493, on three ships he set off on a journey across the Atlantic Ocean. He became the discoverer of the central part of the Bahamas, the Greater and Lesser Antilles. He owns the discovery north east coast Cuba.

The second expedition, which lasted from 1493 to 1496, already consisted of 17 ships and 2.5 thousand people. He discovered the islands of Dominica, Small Antilles, island of Puerto Rico. After 40 days of sailing, having arrived in Castile, he notified the government of the opening of a new route to Asia.

After 3 years, having collected 6 ships, he led an expedition across the Atlantic. In Haiti, because of the denunciation of the envious of his successes, Columbus was arrested and shackled. He received liberation, but he kept the chains all his life, as a symbol of betrayal.

He was the discoverer of America. Until the end of his life, he mistakenly believed that it was connected to Asia by a thin isthmus. He believed that it was he who opened the sea route to India, although history later showed the fallacy of his delusions.

Vasco da Gama. He was lucky to live in the era of the great geographical discoveries. Perhaps that is why he dreamed of traveling and dreamed of becoming a discoverer of uncharted lands.

He was a nobleman. The family was not the most noble, but had ancient roots. As a young man, he became interested in mathematics, navigation and astronomy. Since childhood, he hated secular society, playing the piano and French, which noble nobles tried to "shine".

Decisiveness and organizational skills made Vasco da Gama close to Emperor Charles VIII, who, having decided to create an expedition to open a sea route to India, appointed him the main one.

At his disposal were provided 4 new ships specially built for the voyage. Vasco da Gama was supplied with the latest navigational instruments and provided naval artillery.

A year later, the expedition reached the shores of India, stopping in the first city of Calicut (Kozhikode). Despite the cold meeting of the natives and even military clashes, the goal was achieved. Vasco da Gama became the discoverer of the sea route to India.

They discovered the mountainous and desert regions of Asia, made bold expeditions to Far North, they "wrote" history, glorifying the Russian land.

Great Russian travelers

The famous naturalist Ernst Haeckel became interested in the 19-year-old guy, inviting him to his expedition to study marine fauna.

In 1869, having returned to St. Petersburg, he enlisted the support of the Russian Geographical Society, went to study New Guinea. It took a year to prepare the expedition. He sailed to the shore of the Coral Sea, and when he stepped on the ground he did not even guess that the descendants of this place would call his name.

Having lived for more than a year in New Guinea, he not only discovered new lands, but also taught the natives how to grow corn, pumpkin, beans and fruit trees. He studied the life of the natives on the island of Java, the Louisiades and Solomon Islands. He spent 3 years in Australia.

He died at 42. Doctors diagnosed him with severe deterioration of the body.

Afanasy Nikitin is the first Russian traveler to visit India and Persia. Returning back, he visited Somalia, Turkey and Muscat. His notes "Journey Beyond Three Seas" have become valuable historical and literary aids. He simply and truthfully outlined medieval India in his notes.

A native of a peasant family proved that even a poor person can make a trip to India. The main thing is to set a goal.

The world has not revealed all its secrets to man. Until now, there are people who dream of opening the veil of unknown worlds.

Notable modern travelers

And let the era of great discoveries be long behind us. It doesn't matter that the Earth has been photographed thousands of times from space. Let travelers and discoverers discover all the places of the globe. He, like a child, believes that there is still a lot of unknown things in the world.

He has 40 expeditions and ascents to his credit. He crossed the seas and oceans, was at the North and South Poles, made 4 circumnavigation, crossed the Atlantic 15 times. Of these, once on a rowboat. He made most of his travels alone.

Everyone knows his name. His programs had millions of viewers. He is the one great person who gave this world the unusual beauty of nature, hidden from view in the bottomless depths. Fedor Konyukhov visited different places on our planet, including in the hottest place in Russia, which is located in Kalmykia. The site has Jacques-Yves Cousteau, perhaps the most famous traveler in the world

Even during the war, he continued his experiments and studies of the underwater world. He decided to devote the first film to sunken ships. And the Germans, who occupied France, allowed him to engage in research activities and filming.

He dreamed of a ship that would be equipped with modern technology for filming and observation. He was helped by a complete stranger who gave Cousteau a small military minesweeper. After renovation work, it became famous ship"Calypso".

The crew of the ship were researchers: a journalist, a navigator, a geologist, a volcanologist. His assistant and companion was his wife. Later, 2 of his sons also took part in all expeditions.

Cousteau recognized the best specialist underwater research. He received an offer to head the famous Oceanographic Museum in Monaco. He not only studied undersea world, but also engaged in activities to protect the marine and oceanic habitats.
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Mankind gradually mastered the surface of the globe. This cost him great sacrifices, but neither the harsh nature, nor the warlike tribes, nor the diseases could no longer reverse this process.

Great Silk Road

Until the II century BC. the path from Europe to Asia ended at the spurs of the Tien Shan, which hid the civilization of China. Everything changed with the visit of the Chinese Ambassador Zhang Qian to Central Asia, who was amazed at the unprecedented wealth of these lands in his country.

Gradually, small segments of trade roads were united into a gigantic highway 12,000 kilometers long, linking East and West. However, the Great Silk Road should not be considered as a single route.

When approaching Dunhua, a city on the outskirts of the Great Chinese wall- the path forked, bordering the Takla-Makan desert from the server and the south. northern road went to the valley of the Ili River, and the south led to Bactria (northern Afghanistan). Here south road again diverged into two directions: one went to India, the other to the West - to Iraq and Syria.

The Great Silk Road is not a journey of people, but of goods that, before reaching the buyer, passed through many hands. Silk, due to its lightness, high cost and huge demand, was an ideal commodity for transportation to long distance. IN final destination Silk Road - Rome - the price of this fabric was three times the value of gold.

Empires appeared and disappeared, establishing their control over the transit of rich caravans, but the arteries of the Great Silk Road continued to feed the markets of the largest continent.

In the middle of the 14th century, along with goods, death flowed along the Great Silk Road. An epidemic of bubonic plague from the depths of the Gobi, littering the road with corpses, caravan routes reached Europe.

The Cambridge Encyclopedia sums up a terrible result: about 60 million people, or 25% of the world's population - such is the number of victims of a deadly epidemic, such is the price of trade relations between Europe and Asia.

Greenland

The most remarkable thing in this story is that the largest island on the planet was discovered by a fugitive criminal - Eirik, nicknamed Red. The Norwegian Viking was tired of the Icelandic exile and in 982 he sailed with his fellow tribesmen to the west. Eirik called the discovered land Greenland (“Green Country”), not at all from the riot of vegetation: he believed that if the island had good name, then people will be drawn there.

Eirik managed to persuade some of the Icelanders to move to the "Green Country". In 985, a flotilla of 25 ships set off for the coast of Greenland. Entire families sailed, with belongings, utensils and even cattle.

It was the triumph of Red Eirik: from a hunted outcast, he turned into the owner of vast possessions.

The first settlers of Greenland found abandoned dwellings on its east coast. Most likely, they belonged to the indigenous population of the island - the ancestors of the modern Inuit, who, for unknown reasons, left their habitats.

The arrangement of life was not easy for the Vikings. In order to have the necessary minimum, they had to enter into trade relations with Europe: bread and building materials were delivered to the colonists from the continent, and whalebone and skins of marine animals were sent in return.

However, by the end of the 14th century, the colonies fell into decay - almost all of their population died out. Perhaps the reason for this was the Little Ice Age, which created unbearable conditions for life on the island.

Greenland eventually became a springboard for the further advance of the Vikings to the west. Already after the death of Eirik the Red, his sons dared to sail to the ends of the Earth and reached the shores of America.

The last written record of the Greenland Vikings dates back to 1408. It tells about a wedding in the Hwalsi church. The ruins of this church have survived to this day as a monument to the dedication of the first European conquerors of the impregnable North.

West coast of Africa

From the beginning of the 15th century, Portuguese navigators intensified their exploration of the western coast of Africa. In the midst of the Reconquista, the kings of Portugal needed new sources of fame and fortune.

But there was another reason - Turkish domination in Eastern Mediterranean, which blocked the traditional merchant routes to Asia.

To understand the complexity and significance of the expeditions undertaken by the Portuguese along the West African coast, it should be remembered that not a single European had crossed the equator by that time.

Moreover, Europe continued to live with the ideas of Ptolemaic geography, according to which the inhabited world ended with an ocean washing western suburbs Africa. In 1482, Diogo Can overcame the equator and reached the mouth of the Congo River, refuting Ptolemy's hypothesis about the impassability of the tropics along the way.

On the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, Portuguese sailors found what they set off on such a long journey for - large deposits of gold. The news of the found gold spread quickly and already Spanish, British, Dutch businessmen are sailing here to organize mines in the hope of making fabulous profits.

In 1442 black men and women were brought to Lisbon. This was the delivery of the first batch of African slaves. From now on, “black gold” is becoming the most popular commodity, first on the European and later on the American market.

At the same time, a new phenomenon for mankind arises in the Cape Verde Islands (Cape Verde) - a mixture of Europeans and Africans. This is how Creoles appeared. According to historians, this is due to a banal reason - the almost complete absence of white women in the Portuguese colonies.

America

Instead of answering many questions, the discovery of America seems to have puzzled Europeans even more: the inhabited world here did not end, but continued further west into the frightening unknown. Nevertheless, the pioneers too self-confidently began to master the alien environment, irrevocably violating the natural and cultural balance of both continents.

Thanks to the "Columbian Exchange" (Alfred Crosby's term), animals, cultivated plants, technologies and diseases migrated to the west in a much larger volume, radically changing the face of the New World. One of the diseases - malaria - was destined to affect the geopolitical map of North America.

Malaria has been introduced into New World along with African slaves, but since the latter had immunity to infection, it was mainly Europeans who died from the disease. The distribution zone of disease carriers - malarial mosquitoes - is humid tropics. As a result, it formed a conditional geographical line, above which mosquitoes did not breed.

To the south of this line were the slave-owning states, and to the north the territories free from slaves, where European settlers mainly went. Today, this line practically coincides with the so-called Mason-Dixon line, which separates the state of Pennsylvania from the settled south of the states West Virginia and Maryland.

The development of the vast territories of the New World allowed Europe to cope with the problem of overpopulation that threatened it in the future. However, the expansion of Europeans on both American continents led to the largest humanitarian and demographic catastrophe in the history of mankind.

The Indian Reservation Removal Act, which appeared in the United States in 1867, was only a formal step towards the preservation of the natives. Indians were often sent to places completely unsuitable for farming. A number of Indian organizations claim that from 1500 to 1900 indigenous people America decreased from 15 million to 237 thousand people.

Antarctica

Antarctica, like an alluring and at the same time repulsive forbidden fruit, slowly and gradually let sailors close to it. Dirk Geeritz reaches 64°S in 1559. latitude, James Cook in 1773 - 67 ° 5′ S. sh. Trapped among icebergs near Tierra del Fuego, the English navigator declares that there is no Southern Continent.

For almost half a century, Cook's skepticism discouraged the search for a sixth continent. But in 1820, Bellingshausen and Lazarev managed to reach 69°21′ S. sh. - now such a treasured land is at a distance of a cannon shot. Only the Norwegian expedition of Carsten Borchgrevink in 1895 made the first recorded landing on the Southern Continent.

According to the Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1959, only 7 states claim certain sectors of the continent - Great Britain, Norway, France, Chile, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. But everyone's territorial appetites are different.

If France claims a narrow strip of land - Adélie Land, which occupies 432,000 km², then Australia counts on almost half the area of ​​​​Antarctica. At the same time, Chile, New Zealand, Great Britain and Argentina dispute almost the same territory.

Each of the countries is trying to look to the future southern mainland. The British, for example, seriously intend to develop the Antarctic shelf rich in hydrocarbons. It is possible that Antarctica may be populated in the near future. Already today, due to global warming, tundra is beginning to form on the most distant parts of the land from the pole, and in 100 years, scientists predict the appearance of trees here.

From time to time in the history of mankind there are events that radically change its course. The taming of fire, the domestication of wild animals, the invention of the wheel and writing, cinema, nuclear energy, flight into space... One of these turning points was the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, which literally opened the Earth for man.

In fact geographical discoveries people have been doing it all the time, from primitive times to the present day. For example, just a few years ago a new island was discovered in the Laptev Sea.

But only the historical period from the 15th to the 17th century is attributed to the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, when European travelers (mainly the Portuguese and Spaniards), who were looking for trade routes to India, opened new ones, uncharted lands and laid routes by sea to Africa, America, Asia and Oceania.

“A person who has never made mistakes has never tried anything new” (A. Einstein)

Time for a change

Until the middle of the 15th century, people knew at most a quarter of the Earth. But the next two are only two! - Centuries literally changed the face of the planet for man and turned the course of history.

Astrolabe - one of the oldest astronomical instruments, a geodetic instrument for measuring angles, in particular for determining latitude

Usually, The Age of Discovery is divided into two periods. The first is from the middle of the 15th to the middle of the 16th century: the discoveries of the Spaniards and the Portuguese in Africa, America and Asia, including the travels of Columbus, Vasco da Gama and Magellan. The second - from the middle of the XVI to the middle of the XVII century: the discoveries of Russian travelers in Asia, the British and French - in North America and the Dutch in Australia and Oceania.

“Each outstanding researcher contributes his name to the history of science, not only own discoveries, but also by those discoveries to which he encourages others ”(M. Planck)

For various reasons, Spain and Portugal were truly powerful maritime powers by the middle of the 15th century. Trade routes from these states to India with its gold, silver, and most importantly, spices, which were valued extremely highly, through the Mediterranean, Africa, Arabia and Asia were long and full of dangers. That is why the Spaniards and the Portuguese were the first to search for the sea, and therefore a shorter and cheaper route to Indian wealth.

Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) - spanish navigator of Italian origin, discovered the American continent in 1492

Born in Genoa (Italy) in the family of a weaver, Christopher Columbus began to go on ships as a teenager. In 1476, he ended up in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, where at that time information about all the latest geographical discoveries flocked. Year after year, the young Italian went to sea on various ships, visited England, Ireland, Azores... From books, his own impressions, conversations with experienced sailors, Columbus collected information and became more and more imbued with the idea that eventually became his true passion: to reach India, going not to the east, but to the west.

By the middle of the 15th century, Europeans already possessed not only knowledge, but also tools, without which ocean travel would not have been possible: they used an astrolabe, a compass, a caravel. Columbus's dream was feasible, and the matter remained small - for long-distance navigation money was needed.

Columbus tried to find a patron and patron of the Portuguese court, but was refused. In 1485, the navigator left Portugal and went to the court of the "competitive" maritime power - Spain.

These two kingdoms truly reigned over the seas of that era. Their caravans plied the waters in search of new lands, in pursuit of gold, silver and spices, which were valued above precious metals. The shortest sea route to India was needed by both the Portuguese and the Spaniards. And Columbus, though not immediately, was received at the court of Their Catholic Majesties, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

The anticipation and eloquence of Christopher Columbus were rewarded. Under an agreement signed between him and the royal couple of Spain, he received three ships and funding for their equipment. If successful, Columbus was to become an admiral, viceroy and ruler of all open lands.

In early August 1492, the Santa Maria, Pinta and Nina caravels put to sea.

Columbus himself did not even suspect how successful the coincidence of circumstances of his first trip was. On his side were the right latitude - shortest way across the Atlantic, tailwinds, and even a change of course towards the end of the voyage, as demanded by the crew, who were on the verge of rebellion.

Caravel is a sea three-to-four-masted sailing vessel with one deck and high sides and superstructures. It was common in the Mediterranean countries in the XIII-XVII centuries.

On October 13, 1492, Columbus set foot on the first land he discovered.- one of Bahamas named San Salvador. Confident that he had reached the approaches to India, China and Japan, the navigator went further, reaching the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola and Tortuga (the latter was destined to later become a haven for pirates of all caribbean).

There will be many more ups and downs in the life of the great Italian, but it was then, in the autumn of 1492, that he accomplished his greatest deed - he discovered the New World.

“A false step more than once led to the opening of new roads” (L. Cumor)

Henry the Navigator

The name of Christopher Columbus is the first thing that comes to mind when talking about the Great Geographical Discoveries. But it would be fairer to assume that the first to unfurl the sails to the winds of change was the son of the Portuguese king João I - Infante Henry, later nicknamed the Navigator.

Throughout his life, Henry did not take part in any of the expeditions, but equipped them with a great many. The Infante wanted to find a way along the coast of Africa to India. Until the fulfillment of this dream, Henry the Navigator did not live, but thanks to him, Portugal opened the most sinister, shameful and at the same time the most profitable page in its history - the slave trade.

Vasco da Gama and his journey to India

Vasco da Gama (1460/1469 - 1524) - Portuguese navigator era of the great geographical discoveries. He commanded the first expedition to sail from Europe to India

Dozens of ships and voyages, hundreds of sailors, three rulers who succeeded each other on the throne are associated with the opening of the route to India - and the name of a harsh and cruel navigator, the first European to reach India, went down in history. by sea, - Vasco da Gama.

In July 1497, his armada of three ships - the San Gabriel, the San Rafael and the Berriu - set off. Severe trials awaited the flotilla: headwinds and currents, the heat of Equatorial Africa, scurvy that struck the crew halfway to the cape Good Hope... But four and a half months later, Vasco da Gama rounded the southern tip of the African continent and turned to the northeast.

Unlike Columbus, the Portuguese really opened the way to India. Yes, there were numerous clashes ahead with the Arabs, who had long and firmly mastered this part of the world, it was still necessary to equip trading posts and establish trade relations with local rulers, but the main thing was done. Portugal became one of the richest and most powerful maritime powers peace. From May 1498 until the opening of the Suez Canal to shipping in 1869, the main trade routes from Europe to Asia went by sea.

“He who makes a discovery sees what everyone sees, and thinks what no one comes to mind” (A. Szent-Györgyi)

Spain-Portugal rivalry

In the 15th century, Spain and Portugal shared the palm among maritime powers. So that the two powerful crowns would not be at enmity, opening up new territories, in 1452-1456 the Roman popes Nicholas V and Calixtus III assigned Portugal the right to own lands south and east of Cape Bojador, and Spain recognized this right.

Ancient map of Europe ("Big Atlas", or "Blau's Cosmography", 1667)

However, the discoveries of Columbus in 1492 dramatically changed the situation. Since the admiral believed that he had opened the western route to India, and Portugal claimed Indian lands, to which it went by the eastern route, both kingdoms now disputed the ownership of each other.

Fortunately, the dangerous dispute was resolved by Pope Alexander VI Borgia, who in May 1493 established a demarcation line separating the Spanish and Portuguese colonies. Castile now belonged to the lands to the west of the "papal meridian", Portugal - to the east, about which the Treaty of Tordesillas was signed on June 7, 1494. This document not only demarcated the spheres of influence of the two powers, but actually secured their possession of the World Ocean, excluding other European countries from this.

Fernand Magellan's round-the-world trip

Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) - Portuguese and Spanish navigator, made the first trip around the world, opening the strait leading from Atlantic Ocean to Quiet

For the next twenty years, Spanish and Portuguese ships tirelessly plied the oceans. It became quite obvious that America is not India, but new continent. But so far there was almost no income from her, and she seemed an annoying hindrance to western way to the spices and gold of India. Sailors were looking for an opportunity to get around this obstacle.

Therefore, it was not surprising that in 1518 a Portuguese naval sailor turned to the Spanish council for the affairs of the two Indies - he proposed to consider a plan for a western route to Moluccas where expensive spices were produced. It's funny that to Spanish crown the stranger turned again, and again because his project was rejected by the Portuguese monarch. And again, as in the case of Columbus, Spain did not lose by agreeing to finance the expedition.

An experienced sailor undertook to find a strait that would allow sailing to Asia without going around the huge American continent either from the north or from the south.

“Everyone knows from childhood that this and that is impossible. But there is always an ignoramus who does not know this. It is he who makes the discovery ”(A. Einstein)

Magellan's journey was one of the most difficult in the history of that time. It lasted over three years. Of the five ships that went on the expedition, back to spanish port only one returned, out of two hundred and sixty-five only eighteen returned. Ferdinand Magellan himself died in a skirmish with the natives on one of the Philippine Islands, having already found the famous strait, which would later be named after him, and being on his way back to Europe.

Overestimate the value of the first world travel impossible. Long-standing disputes about the shape of the planet, the unity of the World Ocean and the predominance of water over land were finally resolved, which had been disputed as far back as the Middle Ages.

Discovery of Australia

France, England, Holland and other countries, which also had serious maritime traditions, could do little to oppose the dominance of the Spaniards and the Portuguese in the Atlantic, India, Central and South America. The British and French began to explore the North American continent, where they would later be based New England and Canada, which will go to the French.

Studying Pacific Ocean began long before the advent of writing. However, for the first time it was opened to the eyes of the European Vasco Nunez de Balboa in 1513. The Spanish conquistador saw him from the mountain range of the Isthmus of Panama

But the most interesting discovery had to be done by the Dutch. Since the time of Aristotle in geographical world There was an idea that in the Southern Hemisphere there must certainly be a large continent that would balance the vast land of the Northern Hemisphere. But for a very long time, ships entered this part of the Pacific more by chance: the “roaring” forties, the “whistling” fifties and the “furious” sixties were avoided by everyone. But over and over again, sailors brought information about various parts of the land, which eventually began to be called Terra Australis Incognita - Unknown southern land, although they were mainly islands of various archipelagos of the Pacific Ocean.

And only in 1605 the Dutchman Willem Janszon who led the fleet of the East India Company, first reached the coast of Australia. Almost forty years later, another Dutchman, Abel Tasman, reached New Zealand, Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) and marked the island of Fiji on the map. The search for the mysterious Southern Land is over.

“Sometimes it’s more useful not to know what has been done before you, so as not to go astray on the beaten path leading to a dead end” (B. Gersh)

Development of Russian lands

While world powers were mastering the ocean, Russian pioneers were mastering one sixth of the land - the vast expanses of the Russian state.

After the conquest of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, the way to the Volga region and the Urals was opened. The colossal sparsely populated expanses could become a source of wealth, but they could also ruin travelers who dared to invade the unknown.

The privileges and vast territories granted by Ivan the Terrible to the merchants Stroganov marked the beginning of the settlement of the Urals and the development there, first of trade, and then of industry - mining of ores, furs and salt.

In 1577, the Cossack detachments of the ataman moved to the east. Yermak, called by the Stroganovs to protect against the Siberian Khan. In 1582, the Siberian Khanate was conquered and annexed to the Russian state.

V. I. Surikov "Conquest of Siberia by Ermak Timofeevich" (1891-1895)

The 17th century was marked by many geographical discoveries: the mouth of the Yenisei was reached, the highlands of Taimyr were mastered, the great Siberian rivers Lena, Yana, Olenek.

And now the names known to everyone follow: Ivan Moskvitin, Semyon Dezhnev, Erofei Khabarov, Vladimir Atlasov. Step by step they they discover and develop for their descendants Kolyma and Chukotka, Anadyr and Amur, Kamchatka and the Kuriles ...

This term is used in relation to the most important geographical discoveries made by European travelers between the 15th and 17th centuries. Geographical discoveries are the search and discovery of new lands, previously not known to people. These are the reasons that prompted people to make great geographical discoveries, starting from the end of the 15th century.

First, at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries, commodity production began to grow rapidly in Europe, which led to an increase in demand for raw materials. But since there was not enough raw material in Europe, it became necessary to import it from other countries.

Secondly, the existing trade routes through the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the Great Silk Road that connected Asia with Europe, became extremely dangerous. Control over these paths passed to Ottoman Empire(Turkey). The task facing the Europeans of opening new maritime trade routes has become a historical necessity. Existing by this time modern ships and weapons fully allowed to realize the plan. Great importance also had the invention of the astrolabe, which began to be used in navigation along with the compass. During this period, the Italian scientist P. Toscanelli, based on the fact that the Earth is round, created a map of the world. On it, the shores of the Asian continent went to the western part of the Atlantic Ocean. P. Toscanelli believed that, having sailed from Europe to the west, one could get to India.

The beginning of the great geographical discoveries.

The initiators of the great geographical discoveries were sea travelers from Portugal and Spain. To implement such a grandiose idea, fearless sailors were needed. One of these travelers was the Genoese Admiral Christopher Columbus (1451-1506). He planned to pave the way to India across the Atlantic Ocean.

Columbus managed to conclude an agreement with the royal family of Spain to equip an expedition to find the shortest sea route to India. The king took upon himself the financial support of the expedition. On August 6, 1492, Columbus went to sea on three caravels, leading the expedition.

Discovery of America.

On October 12, 1492, the Columbus expedition landed on one of the Caribbean islands. Columbus named this island San Salvador (now the territory of the state of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas). Thus, the search for the shortest sea route to India led to the discovery of America. This happened as a result of the mistakes of scientists of the 15th century, in particular Toscanelli, who compiled a map of the world. The fact is that when determining the length of the equator, P. Toscanelli made a mistake in calculating 12 kilometers. Subsequently, scientists called this mistake "the great mistake that led to the great discovery."

However, Columbus himself did not understand that in 1492 he sailed not to India, but to America. He believed that he had arrived in India. Therefore, he called the indigenous population of America Indians. Columbus subsequently equipped expeditions to India (actually to America) four more times. As a result of these expeditions, a lot of new lands were discovered, on which the Spanish flag was raised. These territories became the property of Spain. Columbus was appointed viceroy of these lands. The fact that the new continent is not called Colombia, but America, is associated with the name of the Italian navigator and astronomer Amerigo Vespucci (1454 - 1512). In 1499 - 1501, as part of a Portuguese expedition, he explored the coast of Brazil and came to the conclusion that discovered by Columbus land is not India, but a new part of the world. Subsequently, he named the continent named after him the New World. In 1507, the cartographer M. Waldseemüller proposed to name the discovered by Columbus new part light in honor of Amerigo Vespucci - America. This name suits everyone. The first globe on which the New World was called "America" ​​was created in Germany, in 1515. Subsequently, on other maps, the lands discovered by Columbus began to be called "America".

subsequent discoveries.

Marine Ferdinand Magellan. the route across the Atlantic Ocean leading to India was opened in 1498. The Portuguese sea traveler Vasco da Gama, who sailed from the coast of Spain. In 1519, another Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan, who also began his sea voyage from the coast of Spain, rounded American continent, opened a new sea route to India. This round-the-world trip ended in 1522 and finally proved that the Earth is round and its most of covered with water. And the JI.B. de Torres discovered Australia in 1605.

Significance of the great geographical discoveries. The great geographical discoveries played an important role in the development of many sciences. Geography, history, ethnography, and oceanology were replenished with new information and conclusions. Thanks to these discoveries, new trade sea ​​routes. The main sea trade routes that ran through the Mediterranean now crossed into the Atlantic Ocean. These factors contributed to the formation of world trade in the future.
Thus, thanks to the Great geographical discoveries, the foundation of a global civilization was laid.

Admiral (from the Arabic “amiralbahr” - “lord of the sea”) is a military rank in the navies.
An astrolabe is an astronomical instrument used to determine geographic latitudes and longitudes, as well as the rising and setting of stars.
Vice-assistant, deputy ex officio.
Discovery is a search, an achievement that introduces fundamental changes in the level of knowledge.

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The exploration of our planet took place over several centuries, and many people distinguished themselves, whose names and merits are recorded in many historical books. All the great travelers sought to escape from the routine of existence and look at the world with different eyes. Thirst for new knowledge, curiosity, desire to expand known horizons - all these qualities were inherent in each of them.

About history and travelers

The history of mankind should be taken as a history of travel. It is impossible to understand what would be modern world, if previous civilizations did not send travelers to the borders then unknown world. The thirst for travel is inherent in the human DNA, because he has always sought to explore something and expand his own world.

The first people 100,000 years ago began to colonize the world, moving from Africa to Asia and Europe. In the era of the Middle Ages and modern times, travelers went to unknown countries in search of gold, glory, new lands, or they simply ran away from their miserable existence and poverty. However, all great travelers have possessed the impulse of force of the same nature, the never-ending fuel of explorers - curiosity. Just something that a person does not know or does not understand is enough to create an alluring and irresistible force that cannot be resisted. Further, the article presents the exploits of the great travelers and their discoveries, which had a huge impact on the process of the formation of mankind. The following individuals are noted:

• Herodotus;
• Ibn Battuta;
• Marco Polo;
• Christopher Columbus;
• Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastian Elcano;
• James Cook;
• Charles Darwin;
• explorers of Africa and Antarctica;
• famous Russian travelers.

Father of modern history - Herodotus

The famous Greek philosopher, Herodotus, lived in the 5th century BC. His first journey was exile, as Herodotus was accused of plotting against the tyrant of Halicarnassus, Lygdamis. During this link, great traveler travels throughout the Middle East. He describes all his discoveries and acquired knowledge in 9 books, thanks to which Herodotus received the nickname of the father of history. It is interesting to note that another famous historian ancient Greece, Plutarch, gave Herodotus the nickname "father of lies." In his books, Herodotus tells about distant countries and about the cultures of many peoples, information about which the philosopher collected during his travels.

The stories of the great traveler are filled with political, philosophical and geographical reflections. They also contain sexual stories, myths and crime stories. Herodotus' writing style is semi-artistic. Modern historians consider the work of Herodotus to be a paradigm of curiosity. The historical and geographical knowledge brought by Herodotus had big influence for development Greek culture. Geographic map, which Herodotus compiled, and which included the limits from the Danube to the Nile, and from Iberia to India, over the next 1000 years determined the horizons of the world known at that time. It should be noted that the scientist was very worried that the knowledge he had gained would not be lost by mankind over time, and therefore he outlined them in detail in his 9 books.

Ibn Battuta (1302 - 1368)

Like every Muslim, twenty-year-old Battuta began his pilgrimage from the city of Tangier to Mecca on the back of a donkey. He could not even think that he would return to his hometown only 25 years later, with vast wealth and a harem of wives after having traveled most of the world. If you wonder what great travelers first explored the Muslim world, then you can safely call Ibn Battuta. He traveled to all countries, from the kingdom of Granada in Spain to China, and from Caucasus mountains to the city of Timbuktu, which is located in the Republic of Mali. This great traveler traveled 120,000 kilometers, met more than 40 sultans and emperors, was an ambassador to various sultans, and survived a number of disasters. Ibn Battuta always traveled with a large retinue, and in each new place he was treated as an important person.

Modern historians note that in the first half of the 14th century, when Ibn Battuta made his travels, the Islamic world was at the peak of its existence, which allowed the traveler to quickly and easily move through many territories.

Like Marco Polo, Battuta did not write his book ("Travel"), but dictated his stories to the Granadian erudite Ibn Khuzai. This work reflects Battuta's lust for enjoying life, which includes tales of sex and blood.

Marco Polo (1254 - 1324)

Marco Polo is one of the important names of great travelers. The book of the Venetian merchant Marco Polo, which tells in detail about his travels, became very popular even 2 centuries before the invention of printing. Marco Polo traveled the world for 24 years. Upon returning to his homeland, he was imprisoned during the war between the trading powers of the Mediterranean: Genoa and Venice. In prison, he dictated stories about his travels to one of his neighbors in misfortune. As a result, in 1298 a book appeared, which was called "Description of the world, dictated by Marco."

Marco Polo, along with his father and uncle, who were famous merchants in jewelry and silk, set off at the age of 17 on a trip to the Far East. During his trip, the great geographical traveler visited such forgotten places like the island of Hormuz, the Gobi desert, the coasts of Vietnam and India. Marco knew 5 foreign languages, was the representative of the great Mongol Khan Kublai Khan for 17 years.

Note that Marco Polo was not the first European to visit Asia, however, he was the first to draw up its detailed geographical description. His book is a mixture of truth and fiction, which is why many historians question most of its facts. On his deathbed, a priest asked Marco Polo, who was 70 years old, to confess his lies, to which the great traveler replied that he had not said even half of what he had seen.

Christopher Columbus (1451 - 1506)

Speaking of travelers of the great age of discovery, first of all, we should mention Christopher Columbus, who shifted the backbone of the human economy to the west and ushered in a new era in history. Historians note that when Columbus sailed to the discovery of the New World, the word "gold" is most often found in the entries of his logbook, and not the word "land".

Christopher Columbus, given the information provided by Marco Polo, believed he could achieve Far East full of gold and riches, sailing west. As a result, on August 2, 1492, he sails from Spain on three ships and heads west. The journey across the Atlantic Ocean lasted longer than 2 months, and on October 11, Rodrigo Triana saw land from the ship La Pinta. This day radically changed the lives of Europeans and Americans.

Like many great travelers of the era of great discoveries, Columbus died in 1506 in poverty in the city of Valladolid. Columbus did not know that he had discovered a new continent, but thought that he managed to swim to India through the west.

Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastian Elcano (XVI century)

One of amazing routes of the great travelers of the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, is the route of Ferdinand Magellan, when he was able to get through a narrow strait from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, which Magellan so named in honor of its calm waters.

In the 16th century, there was a serious race for dominance on the seas and oceans between Portugal and Spain, historians compare this race with the race for space exploration between the USA and the USSR. Since Portugal dominated the African coast, Spain looked for ways to get to the spice islands (modern Indonesia) and to India through the west. Ferdinand Magellan became just the navigator who was supposed to find new way to the East through the West.

In September 1519, 5 ships with a total of 237 sailors set off for the West, led by Ferdinand Magellan. Three years later, only one ship returned with 18 sailors on board, led by Juan Sebastian Elcano. It was the first time that a man swam around the entire globe. The great traveler Ferdinand Magellan himself died in the Philippine Islands.

James Cook (1728-1779)

This British great traveler is considered the most famous explorer of the Pacific Ocean. He left his parents' farm and became a great captain in the Royal Navy. He made three great voyages from 1768 to 1779, which filled in many blank spots on the maps of the Pacific. All of Cook's travels were undertaken by the UK to achieve a range of geographic and botanical objectives in Oceania, Australia and New Zealand.

Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882)

Few people know that in the story of the great travelers and their discoveries, the name of Charles Darwin, who, at the age of 22, set off on a journey on the Beagle brigantine in 1831 to explore the east coast, must necessarily be mentioned. South America. On this journey, Charles Darwin sailed around the world in 5 years, while collecting huge information about the flora and fauna of our planet, which turned out to be key to Darwin's theory of the evolution of living organisms.

After this long journey, the scientist locked himself in his house in Kent in order to carefully study the collected material and draw the right conclusions. In 1859, that is, 23 years after the circumnavigation of the world, Charles Darwin published his work On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, the main thesis of which was that not the strongest living organisms survive, but the most adapted to environmental conditions. .

Exploring Africa

The great travelers who have distinguished themselves in the exploration of Africa are mainly the British. One of the famous explorers of the black continent is Dr. Livingston, who distinguished himself in the studies of the central regions of Africa. Livingston owns the discovery of the Victoria Falls. This man is a national hero of Great Britain.

Other famous Britons who distinguished themselves in the exploration of Africa are John Speke and Richard Francis Burton, who made many trips to the African continent in the second half of the 19th century. Their most famous journey is the search for the source of the Nile.

Exploration of Antarctica

The exploration of the icy southern continent - Antarctica marked a new stage in the history of mankind. Briton Robert Scott and Norwegian Roald Amundsen distinguished themselves in the conquest of the South Pole. Scott was an explorer and officer in the Royal Navy of Britain, he led 2 expeditions to Antarctica, and on January 17, 1912, he, along with five members of his team, reached the South Pole, however, the Norwegian Amundsen was ahead of him by several weeks. The entire expedition of Robert Scott died, freezing in the icy desert of Antarctica. Amundsen, in turn, having visited on December 14, 1911 south pole was able to return to his homeland alive.

First female traveler

The thirst for travel and new discoveries was characteristic not only of men, but also of women. So, the first woman traveler, about whom there is reliable evidence, was the Galician (northwestern part of Spain) Echeria in the 4th century AD. Her travels were connected with the holy lands and pilgrimages. So, it is known that within 3 years she visited Constantinople, Jerusalem, Sinai, Mesopotamia and Egypt. It is unknown if Echeria returned to her homeland.

Great Russian travelers who expanded the borders of Russia

Russia is the largest country in the world in terms of area. In many ways, this fame is due to Russian travelers and researchers. Great travelers in the table below are given.

Russian travelers - explorers of the planet

Among them, Ivan Kruzenshtern should be noted, who was the first Russian to travel around the globe. We also mention Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay, who was famous navigator and explorer of Oceania and South-East Asia. We also note Nikolai Przhevalsky, who was one of the most famous researchers Central Asia in the world.