Chapter IV. Great geographical discoveries. Great geographical discoveries and their historical significance

Everything that we now know was once discovered by people - pioneers. Some crossed the ocean for the first time and found a new land, someone became the discoverer of space, someone was the first to dive in a bathyscaphe into the world's deepest cavity. Thanks to the ten pioneers below, today we know the world for what it really is.

Leif Eriksson/Leifur Eiriksson is the first European of Icelandic origin who, according to some scholars, was the first to visit the continent of North America. Around the 11th century, this Scandinavian sailor lost his course and landed on some coast, which he later called "Vinland". Documentary, of course, there is no evidence of exactly in which part of North America he moored. Some archaeologists claim that they managed to discover Viking settlements in Newfoundland, Canada.

Sacajawea, or Sacagawea / Sakakawea, Sacajawea is a girl of Indian origin, on whom Maryweather Lewis and his partner William Clark completely relied on during their expedition, the path of which ran through the entire American continent. The girl walked with these researchers more than 6473 kilometers. On top of that, the girl had a newborn baby in her arms. During this journey in 1805, Sacagawea found her lost brother. The girl is mentioned in the movie "Night at the Museum" and "Night at the Museum 2".

Christopher Columbus / Christopher Columbus - a navigator of Spanish origin who discovered America, but due to the fact that he and his expedition were looking for a sea route to India, Christopher believed that the lands he had discovered were Indian. In 1492, his expedition discovered the Bahamas, Cuba and a number of other islands in the Caribbean. Christopher set sail for the first time at the age of 13.

Amerigo Vespucci is the man after whom the continent America was named. Although, in fact, Columbus made this discovery, it was American Vespucci who documented the “find”. In 1502, he explored the shores of South America, and it was then that the well-deserved fame and honor came to him.

James Cook / James Cook - a captain who managed to sail much further into southern waters than any of his contemporaries. Cook owns a proven fact about the falsity of the northern route through the Arctic from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is known that Captain James Cook made 2 round-the-world expeditions, mapped the islands in the Pacific Ocean, as well as Australia, for which he was later eaten by the natives. That's how gratitude is.

William Beebe is a 20th century naturalist explorer. In 1934, he descended 922 meters on a bathysphere and told people that "the world under water is no less strange than on another planet." Although how does he know how to live on other planets?

Chuck Yeager is a general in the US Air Force. In 1947, the first one broke the sound barrier. In 1952, Chuck flew at twice the speed of sound. Chuck Yeager, in addition to setting speed records, was a trainer for pilots of such space programs as Apollo, Gemini and Mercury.

Louise Arne Boyd/Louise Boyd known to the world also under the nickname "Ice Woman". She got this nickname thanks to her explorations of Greenland. In 1955, she flew over the North Pole and was the first woman to do so in an airplane. She also opened an underwater mountain range in the Arctic Ocean.

Yuri Gagarin / Yuri Gagarin - April 12, 1961, the first of all people living on our planet, was in space. His first flight lasted as much as 108 minutes. It was a real achievement in astronautics.

Anousheh Ansari is the first female space tourist. She made her flight in September 2006. To her achievements, one can add the fact that she was the first of all those who have been in orbit to blog on the Internet from space.

He crossed the Black Sea and died on the way in Smolensk. Several notebooks were found in his travel bag, in which he kept travel notes. Subsequently, his recordings were published under the title "Journey Beyond the Three Seas". They contain interesting descriptions of his travels and the life of the people of India. Residents of the city of Kalinin (former Tver) erected a monument in memory of their compatriot (Fig. 3).

Finding a sea route to India

Western European merchants sold goods from India with great profit. Under India, people who knew little of geography understood the entire east of Asia, right up to China. For spices, pearls, ivory, fabrics brought from there, they paid in gold. There was little gold in Europe, and goods were very expensive. To the shores of the Mediterranean Sea from India they were delivered by intermediaries - Arab merchants. In the XV century, the Turks seized the lands in the east of the Mediterranean Sea - a huge Turkish Ottoman Empire arose. The Turks did not let trade caravans pass, often robbed them. We needed a convenient sea route from Europe to India, to the countries of the East. The Europeans took up the search for it - primarily the inhabitants of Portugal and Spain.

Portugal And Spain located in the south of Europe, Iberian peninsula. This peninsula is washed by both the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. For a long time it was under the rule of the Arabs. In the 15th century, the Arabs were expelled, and the Portuguese, pursuing them in Africa, began to sail off the coast of this continent.

Henry, Prince of Portugal, was nicknamed the Navigator. However, he did not swim anywhere. Heinrich organized sea expeditions, collected information about distant countries, looked for old maps, encouraged the creation of new ones, and founded a nautical school. The Portuguese learned how to build new ships - three-masted caravels. They were light, fast-moving, they could move under sail and with a side, and even with a headwind.

Expedition Bartolomeu Dias

Portuguese expeditions moved along the coast of Africa further and further south. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias sailed to the southern tip of Africa. Two of his ships fell into a cruel storm- a storm at sea. A strong wind drove the ships to the rocks. Despite the high waves, Diash turned from the shore into the open sea. For several days he sailed east, but the African coast was not visible. Dias realized that he had circled Africa and entered the Indian Ocean! The rock on which his ships almost crashed was the southern tip of Africa. Dias named her Cape Storms. When the sailors returned to Portugal, the king ordered that the Cape of Storms be renamed Cape of Good Hope, hopes to reach India by sea.

Voyage of Columbus

In the XV century. many sea expeditions were made. The most prominent of these is the Spanish expedition of Christopher Columbus. In 1492, members of the expedition on three ships sailed from the Iberian Peninsula to look for a sea route to India rich in gold and spices. Convinced of the sphericity of the Earth, Columbus believed that by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean, one could reach the shores of Asia. After a two-month voyage, the ships approached the islands of Central America. Travelers discovered many new lands.

Columbus made three more trips to America, but until the end of his life he was sure that he had visited India, and the islands he discovered are known as the West Indies (West Indian); The indigenous people are called Indians.

In the 19th century one of the republics of South America became known as Colombia.

Journey of John Cabot

The news of the discoveries of new lands by Columbus quickly spread throughout Europe, reached England. This country is on British Isles separated from Europe the English Channel. In 1497, British merchants equipped and sent to the west an expedition of John Cabot, an Italian who had settled in England. small ship sailed across the Atlantic far north of the ships of Columbus. On the way, the sailors encountered huge shoals of cod and herring. Still North Atlantic- the most important area in the world for catching these types of fish. John Cabot discovered the island Newfoundland at North America. Portuguese navigators discovered the cold harsh peninsula labrador. So the Europeans, five hundred years after the Vikings, again saw the North American lands. They were inhabited - American Indians came ashore dressed in animal skins.

Journey of Amerigo Vespucci

All new expeditions went from Spain to New World. In the hope of getting rich, finding gold, and becoming owners of new lands, Spanish nobles and soldiers went west. Together with them, priests and monks sailed - to convert the Indians to the Christian faith, to increase the wealth of the church. The Italian Amerigo Vespucci was a member of several Spanish and Portuguese expeditions. He compiled a description of the coast of South America. This area was covered with dense tropical forests, in which the brazil tree grew with valuable red wood. Later, they began to call all the Portuguese lands in South America and the huge country that arose on them - Brazil.

The Portuguese opened a convenient bay, where, as it seemed to them incorrectly, the mouth of a large river was located. It was in January, and the place was called Rio de Janeiro - "January River". Now here is the largest city in Brazil.

Amerigo Vespucci wrote to Europe that the newly discovered lands most likely have nothing to do with Asia and represent New World. On European maps compiled during the first voyages across the Atlantic, they are called the land of Amerigo. This name was gradually assigned to the two huge mothers of the New World - North America and South America.

John Cabot's expedition was funded by patron Richard America. There is a widespread belief that the metric was named after him, while Vespucci had already taken his name from the name of the continent.

Expeditions of Vasco da Gama

First expedition (1497-1499)

In 1497, a Portuguese expedition of four ships led by Vasco da Gama went to look for a way to India. The ships rounded the Cape of Good Hope, turned north and sailed along the unknown eastern berets of Africa. Unknown to the Europeans, but not to the Arabs, who had commercial and military settlements on the shores. Taking on board an Arab pilot - a sea guide, Vasco da Gama sailed with him across the Indian Ocean, and then across the Arabian Sea to India. The Portuguese reached its western shores and safely returned to their homeland in 1499 with a cargo of spices and jewelry. The sea route from Europe to India was opened. It was found that the Atlantic and Indian oceans are connected to each other, the coasts of Africa, the island of Madagascar, were mapped.

Discovery of the Pacific Ocean (Vasco Balboa)

First trip around the world (Magellan)

From 1519 to 1522 expedition Fernando Magellan made the first circumnavigation of the world. The crew of 265 people on 5 ships set off from Spain to South America. Having rounded it, the ships entered the ocean, which Magellan called the Pacific. Swimming continued in incredibly difficult conditions.

On the islands off the coast of Southeast Azin, Magellan intervened in the feuds of the local authorities and died in one of the clashes with the locals. Only in 1522, 18 people on one ship returned to their homeland.

Journey of Magellan - the greatest event of the XVI century. The expedition, having gone west, returned back from the east. This journey established the existence of a single World Ocean; it was of great importance for the further development of knowledge about the Earth.

Second trip around the world (Drake)

Second circumnavigation was committed by an English pirate Francis Drake in 1577-1580. Drake was proud that, unlike Magellan, he managed not only to start, but also to complete the voyage himself. In the XVI-XVII centuries, pirates, among whom there were many English and French, robbed Spanish ships, hurrying from America to Europe with expensive cargo. Pirates sometimes shared part of the stolen wealth with the English kings, in exchange for rewards and patronage.

Drake's small ship, the Golden Hind, was blown south of the Strait of Magellan by a storm. The open sea lay before him. Drake realized that South America was over. Subsequently, the widest and deepest strait in the world between South America and Antarctica was named Drake Passage.

Having plundered the Spanish colonies on the Pacific coast of South and Central America, Drake was afraid to go back the old way, through the Strait of Magellan, where armed and angry Spaniards could wait for him. He decided to bypass North America from the north, and when this failed, he returned to England through the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans, completely circumnavigating the globe.

The search for the southern mainland

Discovery of Oceania

The Portuguese sailed to India and to the spice islands around the African mainland. Spanish ships were looking for ways to Asia, sailing from the western coast of America. The sailors crossed the Pacific Ocean, discovering the islands along the way, which received the name of the islands Oceania. Navigators often kept their discoveries secret. Captain Torres discovered the strait between the island of New Guinea and south of Australia. Geographic discovery Torres Strait classified from the sailors of other countries by the Spanish authorities.

Discovery of Australia (Janszon)

Portuguese and Dutch sailors at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century landed on the shores of northern and western Australia, replenishing water supplies and

GREAT GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES, the term accepted in the literature to refer to the largest geographical discoveries made by European travelers in the period from the end of the 15th century (when the idea of a continuous sea route to the countries of the East first appeared in Europe) to the middle of the 17th century (when some sea routes to these countries were already open, and regarding others it was established that they, if they exist, cannot be of practical importance). Other dates are found in foreign literature, usually the middle of the 15th - the middle of the 16th centuries. The term "Great geographical discoveries” is conditional, but there are reasons for its use: the most important geographical discoveries have never been made with such intensity and have had such significance for the development of Europe and the whole world as during this period. Since the end of the 20th century, on the eve of and during the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America and the sea route to India, a sharp controversy has unfolded around the role of the Great Geographical Discoveries. In particular, public figures and scientists in a number of Latin American, Asian and African countries refused to "celebrate the beginning of their oppression" and denied the term "discovery" itself, replacing it with a "meeting of cultures" or "concealment" of one culture by another.

Background of the Great geographical discoveries. A number of reasons contributed to the Great geographical discoveries. The growth of cities and the development of commodity-money relations in Europe led to a shortage of precious metals, which necessitated the search for new lands, where they hoped to find gold, silver, as well as spices, ivory (in the southern countries), valuable furs and walrus tusks (in the north). The development of the European economy assumed closer trade ties with the East, which was considered the center of all wealth. In the middle of the 15th century, trade routes to the East through Asia Minor and Syria were blocked as a result of Ottoman conquests; there was an urgent need to open direct sea routes for trade without intermediaries. Religious and political reasons also played their role. After the fall of Byzantium, the Ottomans threatened all of Europe, and in search of allies, Christians hoped to find fellow believers in the East. The legend about the Christian state of Prester John, known since the 12th century, was revived, which from the 15th century began to be identified with Christian Ethiopia. The Europeans sought to find this power and conclude a military alliance with it against the Muslims in order to stop the Ottoman offensive, recapture Constantinople and, resuming the Crusades, return the Holy Sepulcher.

Great geographical discoveries became possible thanks to the achievements of European science and technology. High-speed and maneuverable sailing ships - caravels were created; instruments and tables that made it possible to plot the desired course and determine the location of the vessel (astrolabe, compass, Regiomontanian tables). Geographic maps have become more accurate. An important role was played by the assumption that the Earth was spherical, which had spread towards the end of the 15th century. At the same time, the invention of printing in Europe in the middle of the 15th century made reference literature on navigation and descriptions relatively accessible. latest discoveries, prompting further searches. The successful expansion was facilitated by the naval superiority of the Europeans over the peoples they encountered.

During this period, Spain and Portugal were the most prepared for the Great geographical discoveries, which had convenient ports, long and rich maritime traditions; their geographical position facilitated voyages in the Atlantic Ocean. Portugal, having completed the Reconquista on its territory in the middle of the 13th century, was ready for significant maritime expansion by the beginning of the 15th century. By the end of the 15th century, with the completion of the Spanish Reconquista and the unification of the country, Spain also prepared for sea voyages, using the captured Canary Islands, which became a convenient base for further expeditions.

Traditionally, the Great geographical discoveries are divided into 2 periods: the end of the 15th - the middle of the 16th century - the period of the most important discoveries, in which Portugal and Spain played the main role; the middle of the 16th - the middle of the 17th centuries - the period of the predominance of the geographical discoveries of England and Holland. At the same time, Russian explorers made outstanding discoveries in Siberia and the Far East.

First period. By the beginning of the 1st period of the Great Geographical Discoveries, the Portuguese, having been moving south along the western coast of Africa for several decades, were mastering the wealth of the occupied territories (reached the Gulf of Guinea). An outstanding role in organizing their voyages for 40 years (until 1460) was played by Enrique the Navigator. It is possible that the turn of the coastline to the east at the entrance to the Gulf of Guinea, which was not provided for on the maps of that time, is associated with the emergence of the very idea of a sea route to the countries of the East, which contradicted the views of the ancient geographer Claudius Ptolemy. In the 1460-70s, the advance of the Portuguese to the south was temporarily suspended, since it took time to develop the riches of the coast of the Gulf of Guinea (gold, ivory, etc.); it resumed in the 1480s at a faster pace. In two expeditions in 1482-84 and 1484-86 (or 1487), D. Kahn advanced 2500 km southward, reaching the coast of the Namib Desert (22° south latitude). In 1487-1488, B. Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa and entered the Indian Ocean.

In the 1480s, H. Columbus put forward a project for a western route to the countries of the East. In the voyage of 1492-93 under the Spanish flag, he first crossed the Atlantic Ocean in subtropical latitudes and discovered lands beyond the ocean - the Bahamas, the island of Cuba, the island of Haiti. 10/12/1492, when he first landed in the Bahamas, is considered the official date of the discovery of America. Later, Columbus made 3 more voyages (1493-96, 1498-1500, 1502-04), during which the discovery of the Greater Antilles was completed, many Lesser Antilles were discovered, as well as sections of the coast of the mainland near the mouth of the Orinoco River and from the Yucatan Peninsula to the Darien Bay. The differences between Spain and Portugal regarding the rights to open lands were settled by the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. However, other countries, whose interests the treaty ignored, did not want to recognize it, in 1497 England joined the Great Geographical Discoveries: J. Cabot, trying to reach Japan and China, discovered the island of Newfoundland (1497) and the coast of North America (1498).

Further discoveries are connected, first of all, with Portuguese expeditions in the Indian Ocean basin, Spanish and Portuguese expansion in Latin America. In the voyage of 1497-99, Vasco da Gama discovered a continuous sea route from Western Europe around South Africa to India (1498). In 150, the Portuguese P. Alvaris Cabral, on his way to India, discovered a section of the coast of Brazil, after which its colonization by the Portuguese began; in the same voyage, the island of Madagascar was discovered. Having established itself under the viceroys of Almeida and Albuquerque on the east coast of Africa and west coast India, having suppressed the resistance of Egypt in the naval battle of Diu (1509), the Portuguese captured Malacca in 1511, which became the base for further advancement. In 1512 they reached the Spice Islands (Moluccas), later China and Japan. The Spaniards were more active in the New World: A. de Ojeda and A. Vespucci (1499-1500), V. Yanes Pinson (1499-1500), D. de Lepe (1499-1500), R. de Bastidas (1500-1502) and others traced the coast of South America from the Gulf of Darien to 16 ° north latitude. In 1509-28, the Spaniards explored the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico; in 1513, J. Ponce de Leon, in search of the legendary "source eternal youth"Discovered the Florida Peninsula and the Gulf Stream. A. Alvarez de Pineda in 1519 passed along the entire northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. But already at the beginning of the 16th century, it became obvious that the lands discovered across the ocean were not Asia, but a new, previously unknown, part of the world. But while the wealth of America was not yet discovered, it was perceived as an obstacle on the way to the countries of the East. In 1513, V. Nunez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and went to the Pacific Ocean, which he called the South Sea. In search of a strait leading to this sea, D. Diaz de Solis in 1515-16 explored the Gulf of La Plata. The Spanish expedition of F. Magellan managed to find the strait, whose ships then crossed the Pacific Ocean and reached the Philippines and the Moluccas, realizing the plan of Columbus - to pave the western route to the countries of the East. After the death of Magellan, part of his companions, led by J. S. Elcano, returned to Spain through the Indian and Atlantic oceans, making the first ever trip around the world (1519-22).

At the same time, a conquest unfolded in America. After the expeditions of F. Hernandez de Cordova and J. Grijalva in 1517-18 explored the way to Mexico, the Aztec power located in its central part was conquered by E. Cortes (1519-21). In the 1520-30s, the Spaniards (Cortez, P. de Alvarado, K. de Olid, etc.) conquered other regions of Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, traced the Pacific coast of Central America from the California peninsula to modern Panama. In 1527-29, A. de Saavedra sailed from Mexico to the Moluccas and China, he could not return due to headwinds, but discovered part of the Admiralty, Marshall and Caroline Islands. A. Nunez Caveza de Vaca (1529-36), E. de Soto (1539-42) and F. Vasquez de Coronado (1540-42) explored the southern part of the modern USA. In 1526-35, conquistadors led by F. Pizarro reached the Inca state of Tahuantinsuyu and conquered its central regions. In 1535-37, D. de Almagro made a trip to the south from Peru, he was the first European to cross the Andes and reach 36 ° south latitude. In 1540-53, P. de Valdivia, trying to conquer Chile, moved south to 40 ° south latitude. In 1536-37, G. Jimenez de Quesada, in search of the gold-rich country of Eldorado, discovered and conquered mountainous Colombia, where the highly developed civilization of the Chibcha Muisca was located. The lower and middle reaches of the Orinoco River were explored in 1531-32 by D. de Ordas, and F. de Orellana in 1541-42 crossed South America in its widest part along the Amazon. Other conquistadors, advancing from the Gulf of La Plata, examined the course of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers.

French explorers have been participating in the Great Geographical Discoveries since the 1520s. In search of a passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, J. Verrazzano in 1524 passed along the eastern coast of North America from 34 to 46 ° north latitude, and in 1534-36 J. Cartier explored the bay and the St. Lawrence River (until the Ottawa River flows into it). Having received information about the Great Lakes, he decided that we were talking about the Pacific Ocean or about the passage to it. The lakes were discovered by the French in the 1620s and 30s (S. Champlain and others).

Second period. At the beginning of the 2nd period of the Great geographical discoveries, Spain and Portugal, having captured vast territories, began to develop them and lost the initiative to England, and then to Holland. Since the already open sea routes to the countries of the East around Africa and America were controlled by Portugal and Spain (and the latter was also too long and risky), at that time the search for the Northwest Passage and the Northeast Passage was especially active. In 1553, the English expedition of H. Willoughby and R. Chancellor was sent in search of the Northeast Passage, establishing trade relations with Russia. Late 16th century active search The Northeast Passage was led by Holland, who equipped three expeditions in a row (1594, 1595, 1596-97). V. Barents played a key role in them, although he did not officially lead them. However, the Dutch could not advance further than Novaya Zemlya (where the first polar wintering known in history took place in 1596-97), and navigation in this direction was stopped. In search of the Northwest Way, the Englishmen M. Frobisher, J. Davies, G. Hudson, R. Bylot, W. Buffin, L. Fox and others from the 1570s to the early 1630s discovered many islands, straits, and bays in the subpolar part of North America, including Hudson Bay (1610). However, they failed to find either a passage to the Pacific Ocean or special riches. In the 1630s and 1640s, navigators came to the conclusion that the Northwest Passage, if it existed, was of no commercial importance. In general, the search for the Northeast and Northwest passages, although not successful (they were discovered only in the 19th and 20th centuries), contributed to the accumulation of knowledge about the northern seas and lands; rich areas of fishing and whaling were discovered. The English pirate F. Drake made his contribution to the Great geographical discoveries: having completed the second round-the-world voyage after Magellan in 1577-80, he discovered the strait separating Antarctica from Tierra del Fuego, and the area Pacific coast North America.

The Spaniards in the 2nd half of the 16th - early 17th centuries organized three voyages from Peru across the Pacific Ocean in search of the biblical country of Ophir, as well as the Unknown Southern Land (which, as it was then believed, occupies vast spaces in the hard-to-reach southern latitudes). In 1568, A. Mendanya de Neira discovered the Solomon Islands, but he erroneously determined their longitude, and therefore tried in vain to find them in 1595. During the expedition of 1605-07, which was also looking for them, headed by P. Fernandez de Quiros, the New Hebrides archipelago was discovered, and L. Vaes de Torres, who commanded two ships, for the first time passed through the strait between New Guinea and Australia, mistaking the latter for the northeastern ledge of the Unknown Southern Land. The discovery of Torres was classified and became known only in the 18th century. An important discovery was made by members of the expedition of M. Lopez de Legazpi, which marked the beginning of the colonization of the Philippines: in 1565, when returning to Mexico, A. de Urdaneta found that about 40 ° north latitude, in contrast to southern latitudes, winds and currents favor the crossing of the Pacific Ocean in eastbound. Thanks to this, regular communications between Asia and America became possible.

At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Dutch ousted the Portuguese from Indonesia. In the voyage of 1605-06, the Dutchman V. Janszon was the first to reach the coast of Australia, mistaking it for the island of New Guinea. In search of convenient ways from southern Africa to the island of Java, H. Brouwer in 1611 discovered optimal route, lying south of the former. Using it, the Dutch from time to time reached the western coast of Australia and in 1616-36 discovered a significant part of it. In 1642-43, the Dutchman A. Tasman circled Australia without approaching its shores, established that it was not part of the Unknown Southern Land, and discovered the island, later named after him. During the voyage, the South and North Islands (New Zealand) were also discovered. In a voyage of 1644, Tasman traced an unbroken line of the northern coast of Australia for 5,500 km, proving the existence of a new continent. But these lands did not interest the Dutch, and further searches were abandoned.

Simultaneously with the sea expeditions of the countries of Western Europe, Russian explorers penetrated Siberia at the end of the 16th century, crossed all of Northern Asia in the first half of the 17th century and reached the Sea of Okhotsk, tracing the course of all the great Siberian rivers, and Russian sailors bypassed the entire northern coast of Asia. In 1648, the expedition of F. Popov - S. Dezhnev for the first time passed from the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean through the Bering Strait. It was proved that Asia does not connect with America anywhere, but this discovery did not receive wide popularity and was later again made by V. Bering.

Significance of the Great Geographical Discoveries. As a result of the Great geographical discoveries, the Europeans' understanding of the world has significantly expanded. Europeans discovered for themselves two parts of the world, America and Australia, as well as the Pacific Ocean, basically determined the contours of all inhabited continents. As a result of the first trip around the world, it was proved in practice that the Earth has the shape of a ball, it was established that all the continents are washed by a single World Ocean, and many of its currents were discovered. It became obvious that, contrary to the opinion of ancient scientists, there is much more water on the earth's surface than land. At the same time, many inland areas of America, Africa and Australia, as well as the depths of the World Ocean, remained unexplored.

The great geographical discoveries provided extensive new material for the natural sciences, ethnography, and history. Knowing the life of societies with different religions and customs, Europeans were convinced of the diversity of the world. Reflections on the golden age and the uncorrupted faith of the inhabitants of America echoed the ideas of the Renaissance, the Reformation, and social utopia. At the same time, acquiring the experience of communicating with overseas residents, Europeans were more clearly aware of their cultural and historical identity. The information received about distant countries enriched European literature and art.

The great geographical discoveries had a profound impact on the socio-economic processes in Europe, contributed to the initial accumulation of capital. The colonies served as sources of raw materials and markets for European goods. With the movement of the main trade routes from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, some regions fell into decline (Italy, Southern Germany), while others, on the contrary, became noticeably stronger (Spain and Portugal, later England and Holland). The large-scale importation of American precious metals doubled the amount of gold in circulation in Europe and tripled the amount of silver in circulation, contributed to the rapid rise in prices for essentials throughout Europe, ruining some sections of the population and enriching others (see Price Revolution). The expansion of trade links, first between Europe and other parts of the world, then between America, Asia and Africa, led to the formation of a world market. An important part of international relations has become the rivalry for control over trade routes, the desire of the strengthened powers to acquire their own colonies, the struggle for their redistribution. Thanks to the wealth of the colonies, the mother countries strengthened their positions in Europe. At the same time, the rate of economic development depended on the method of using the imported wealth. As a result, England and Holland began to move forward, while Spain and Portugal fell behind. However, the Great Geographical Discoveries also had a negative meaning for Europeans: mass emigration to the colonies led to an outflow of productive forces from Spain and Portugal. Europeans got acquainted with new agricultural crops (potatoes, corn, tomatoes, tea, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, cotton), which markedly changed their diet. Especially great was the importance of the potato, which, partly replacing bread for the poor, significantly reduced the threat of famine in modern Europe.

The colonial system that arose during the Great geographical discoveries as a whole united the world, at the same time dividing it into two main groups of countries: on the one hand, the metropolises that grew rich quickly, on the other, the colonies, the impact on which European expansion was rather destructive. Influence of the Great Geographical Discoveries and colonial conquests on the fate of the peoples of Asia, Africa and America was not the same. In Asia, until the 18th century, Europeans established their control only over strategically important points, but their influence gradually went far beyond these territories. The trade monopoly regime established by the Portuguese was based on inciting and maintaining political and religious contradictions, which influenced the situation in Western and South Asia as a whole. The most devastating was the impact of European expansion on Africa, where the slave trade devastated entire areas, increasingly influencing the historical path of the continent's development. In Latin America, the cruelty of the conquistadors and the diseases introduced by Europeans initially led to a marked reduction in the local population. Subsequently, a more reasonable policy led to the emergence of a Latin American society and culture that absorbed both European and Indian features, but processed them into a new whole.

The great geographical discoveries contributed to noticeable changes in the geography of religions. Christianity, as a result of the grandiose activities of European missionaries, spread widely in Asia, Africa, and especially in America. Where the Spaniards and the Portuguese preached, Catholicism was established, where the British and the Dutch were various reformist movements, mainly of the Calvinist persuasion.

Lit .: Peschel O. History of the Age of Discovery. 2nd ed. M., 1884; Atlas of the history of geographical discoveries and research. M., 1959; Hart G. Sea Route to India. M., 1959; Svet Ya. M. History of discovery and exploration of Australia and Oceania. M., 1966; Bakless J. America through the eyes of the discoverers. M., 1969; First images of America: The impact of the New World on the Old/Ed. F. Chiappelli. Berk. A. o., 1976. Vol. 1-2; Chaunu R. European expansion in the later Middle Ages. amst. A. o., 1979; Sanz C. Descubrimientos geograficos. Madrid, 1979; Godinho V. M. Os descobrimentose a economia mundial. Lisboa, 1981-1983. Vol. 1-4; Magidovich IP, Magidovich VI Essays on the history of geographical discoveries. M., 1982-1983. T. 1-2; Albuquerque L. de. Navegadores, viajantes e aventureiros portugueses: séculos XV e XVI. Lisboa, 1987. Vol. 1-2; Gil J. Mitos at utopias del descubrimiento. Madrid, 1989. Vol. 1-3; Cortesdo J. Os descobrimentos portugueses. Lisbon, 1990; Three caravels on the horizon. M., 1991; Découvertes et explorateurs: Actes du colloque international, Bordeaux 12-14 juin 1992. R.; Bordeaux, 1994; Implicit understandings: observing, reporting and reflecting on the encounters between Europeans, and other peoples in the early modern era / Ed. S. W. Schwartz. Camb., 1994; El Tratado de Tordesillas su época. Valladolid, 1995; Pagden A. Lords of all the world: Ideologies of empire in Spain, Britain and France. L., 1995; La época de los descubrimientos y las conquistas, 1400-1570 / Ed. J. Perez. Madrid, 1998; Martinez Shaw C., Alfonso Mola M. Europa y los nuevos mundos: siglos XV-XVIII. Madrid, 1999; Parry J H. The age of reconnaissance: discovery, exploration and settlement, 1450-1650. L., 2000; Randles W.G.L. Geography, cartography and nautical science in the Renaissance: the impact of the great discoveries. Aldershot, 2000; Voyages and exploration in the North Atlantic from the Middle Ages to the XVIIth century. Reykjavik, 2001; Kofman A.F. America of Unfulfilled Miracles. M., 2001; Ramsey R. Discoveries that never happened. St. Petersburg, 2002; Soler I. El nudo y la esfera: el navegante como artifice del mundo moderno. Barcelona, 2003.

By the 15th century, prerequisites had developed in Europe so that navigators could explore the maritime spaces. Appeared - ships designed specifically for the movement of European sailors. Technology is rapidly developing: by the 15th century, the compass and sea charts were improved. This made it possible to discover and explore new lands.

In 1492-1494. Christopher Columbus Bahamas, Greater and Lesser Antilles. By 1494 he had reached America. Around the same time - in 1499-1501. - Amerigo Vespucci swam to the coast of Brazil. Another famous one - Vasco da Gama - opens at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries. continuous sea route from Western Europe to India. This contributed to the development of trade, which in the 15th-16th centuries. played a pivotal role in the life of every state. X. Ponce de Leon, F. Cordova, X. Grijalva discovered La Plata Bay, the Florida and Yucatan peninsulas.

Most important event

The most important event at the beginning of the 16th century was Ferdinand Magellan and his team. Thus, it was possible to confirm the opinion that it has a spherical shape. Later, in honor of Magellan, the strait through which his path passed was named. In the 16th century, South and North America were almost completely discovered and explored by the Spanish. Later, at the end of the same century, Francis Drake did.

Russian sailors did not lag behind European ones. In the 16-17 centuries. the development of Siberia and the Far East is rapidly going on. The names of the discoverers I. Moskvitin and E. Khabarov are known. The basins of the Lena and Yenisei rivers were opened. The expedition of F. Popov and S. Dezhnev sailed from the Arctic to the Pacific Ocean. Thus, it was possible to prove that Asia and America are not connected anywhere.

During the Great geographical discoveries, many new lands appeared. However, there were still “white” spots for a long time. For example, Australian lands were studied much later. Geographical discoveries made in the 15th-17th centuries allowed the development of other sciences, such as botany. Europeans got the opportunity to get acquainted with new crops - tomatoes, potatoes, which later began to be used everywhere. We can say that the Great geographical discoveries marked the beginning of capitalist relations, because thanks to them, trade reached the world level.

Cartology is engaged in the creation of geographical maps. This is one of the sections of cartography, which, most likely, appeared even before the invention of writing. The first cards were depicted on stones, tree bark and even sand. They have been preserved as rock paintings. For example, a good specimen can be seen in the Italian Camonica Valley, it belongs to Bronze Age.

Geographical maps are the earth's surface, it contains a grid of coordinates with conventional signs that are the same for all countries. Of course, the image is greatly reduced. All maps are divided into different types: by scale, by territorial coverage, purpose and by. The first category has three types: they can be large scale, medium scale and small scale.

For the first, the ratio of the drawing and the original can be from 1:10,000 to 1:200,000. They are used most often, because. on them more complete. Medium-scale maps are most often used in sets, for example, in the form of . Their scale is from 1:200,000 to 1:1,000,000 inclusive. The information on them is no longer so complete, and therefore they are used less frequently. Well, the last version of geographical maps has a scale of more than 1: 1,000,000. Only the main objects are plotted on them. And even large cities may not have them and look like a tiny dot. Most often, small-scale maps are used to indicate the distribution of different languages, cultures, religions, and so on. One of the most striking examples are maps, familiar to almost all people.

According to the territorial scale, geographical maps are divided into maps of the world, countries and regions. They may have many more assignments. For example, geographic maps can be educational, navigational, tourist, scientific and reference, and others.

Geographic maps are one of the most convenient ways to store the information people need. It is difficult to overestimate their role in, and for each person in particular. Mapping is one of the oldest sciences that will always be relevant.

3 important discoveries from physics and chemistry

Back at the beginning of the twentieth century, a general one was discovered, which is now widely known in society and is studied in educational institutions. Now the theory of relativity seems to be a natural truth, which should not be in doubt, but at the time of its development it was a discovery that was completely incomprehensible even to many scientists. The result of Einstein's painstaking work turned the views on many other moments and phenomena. It was the theory of relativity that made it possible to predict many effects that previously seemed contrary to common sense, including the effect of time dilation. Finally, thanks to it, it was possible to determine the orbit of some planets, including Mercury.

In the 20s. In the twentieth century, Rutherford suggested that in addition to protons and electrons, there is also. Previously, scientists believed that there were only positively charged particles in the nucleus of an atom, but he refuted this point of view. However, it was not immediately recognized: it took several years and many experiments conducted by Bothe, Becker, Joliot-Curie and Chadwick to determine that there really are uncharged particles in the nucleus of an atom, the mass of which slightly exceeds the mass of a proton. This discovery led to the development of nuclear energy and rapid progress in science, but, alas, it also contributed to the creation of atomic bombs.

In the middle of the 20th century, a discovery not too well known among non-specialists, but still a remarkable discovery, was made. It was made by the chemist Voldemar Ziegler. It is organometallic catalysts, which made it possible to significantly simplify and reduce the cost of most synthesis options. They are still used in very many chemical plants and are an integral part of production.

2 discoveries in biology and genetics

In the 70s. In the 20th century, an amazing discovery was made: doctors were able to remove an egg from a woman’s body without harming either one or the other, then create ideal conditions for the egg in a test tube, fertilize it and return it back. Thousands of happy women who managed to conceive a baby in this way can thank Bob Edwards and Patrick Stepnow for this discovery.

Finally, at the very end of the century, another amazing discovery was made: scientists realized that it was possible to “clean out” the egg and place the nucleus of an adult cell in it, and then return it to the uterus. This is how the first sheep clone was created - Dolly the sheep. The cloned sheep not only survived, but also managed to live 6 years after its birth.

Navigation and maritime geography among the peoples of Asia in the Middle Ages

The peoples of Asia - Indians, Chinese, Malays and Arabs - during the Middle Ages achieved significant success in the field of geographical knowledge, the development of navigation in the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the art of navigation, which had importance for the geographical discoveries of Europeans in Asia and Africa and their expansion on the territory of these continents.

These peoples, long before the appearance of Europeans in the Indian Ocean, discovered and mastered the great South Asian sea route that connected countries ancient culture in the East, from the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf to the South China Sea. Along the western section of this route, from the Malabar coast of India to East Africa, Arabia and Egypt, Indian ships sailed in antiquity; their helmsmen skillfully used the monsoons - seasonal winds in the southern seas. In the first centuries of our era, Chinese, Indian and Malay merchants and sailors laid routes in the eastern part of the Indian Ocean, the South China and Java Seas, establishing trade links between the countries of Southeast Asia. At the beginning of the 5th century the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Fa Xian traveled on a Malay ship from the Bengal coast to Shandong, visiting Ceylon, Sumatra and Java on the way; in the 7th century such journeys were frequent.

After the Arab conquests and the formation of the Caliphate, the leadership in trade and navigation in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the western Indian Ocean passed to the Arabs. In their hands were Aden, the island of Socotra and a number of cities on the east coast of Africa. Enterprising Arab merchants were intermediaries in South Asia's trade with Europe. Their ships sailed to India, Ceylon, Java, and China; Arab trading posts arose in many cities of South Asia; there were such trading posts in Canton and Quanzhou. The cities of the coast of medieval India flourished, through which the flow of goods transported along the sea routes of Asia passed. “Here,” a Chinese man described the Indian city of Calicut at the beginning of the 15th century, “there is pepper, rose oil, pearls, incense, amber, corals ... colored cotton fabrics, but all this is imported from other countries ... and they buy gold, silver, cotton fabrics, blue and white porcelain, beads, mercury, camphor, musk, and there are large warehouses here where goods ... "

However, maritime trade in Southeast Asia was mainly in the hands of the Chinese and Malays.

In the period from the X to the XV century. China has become a mighty maritime power; its seaside cities became centers of world trade. Canton at the beginning of the 14th century, according to one European traveler who visited it, was equal to three Venices. “There are not as many goods in all of Italy as there are in this city alone,” he notes. At that time, large quantities of silk, porcelain, art products were exported from China to other countries, and spices, cotton fabrics, medicinal herbs, glass and other goods were imported. In Chinese ports for long-distance voyages, large sea vessels were built, which had several decks, many rooms for the crew and merchants; the crew of such a ship usually numbered up to a thousand sailors and soldiers, which was necessary in case of a meeting with pirates, who were especially numerous in the waters of the Malay Archipelago. These ships were propelled by sails made of reed mats fixed on movable yards, which made it possible to change the position of the sails in accordance with the direction of the wind; when calm, these ships moved with the help of large oars. The geographical map was known to Chinese sailors even before our era. From the end of the XI century. a compass appeared on Chinese ships (the Chinese knew the property of a magnet in ancient times). “The helmsmen are aware of the outlines of the coast, and at night they determine the path by the stars, during the day - by the sun. If the sun is hidden behind clouds, then they use a south-pointing needle, ”says the navigation of Chinese sailors in one treatise of the beginning of the 12th century. Chinese sailors had a thorough knowledge of the monsoons in the southern seas, sea currents, shoals, typhoons, obtained by the centuries-old practice of Asian sailors. There was also an extensive geographical literature in China, containing descriptions of overseas countries with detailed information about the goods brought from them to China.

The naval power of medieval China was especially clearly manifested in the successful implementation of the largest naval expeditions to the Indian Ocean, undertaken by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty Chengzu in the period from 1405 to 1433. While the Portuguese had just begun their advance into the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean, the Chinese fleet, consisting of 60 to 100 different ships with a total crew of up to 25-30 thousand people, made seven voyages to the west, visiting the Indus. o-China, Java, Ceylon, the Malabar coast in India, Aden, Ormuz in Arabia; in 1418, Chinese ships visited the Somali coast of Africa. In the seas of the Malay Archipelago, this fleet defeated numerous pirate gangs that hindered the development of China's maritime trade with the countries of South Asia. All these expeditions were led by the great Chinese navigator Zheng He, who came from an humble family and was promoted to the emperor's court for his military merits. Zheng He's expeditions not only strengthened China's influence in South Asia and contributed to the growth of its economic and cultural ties, but also expanded the geographical knowledge of the Chinese: their participants studied, described and mapped the lands and waters they visited. “Countries beyond the horizon and at the edge of the earth have now become subject (to China - Ed.) And to the most western and northernmost edges, and perhaps even beyond their borders, and all paths have been traveled and distances have been measured,” Zheng He assessed the results of his voyages.

Maritime affairs were also highly developed among the Malays who inhabited the islands of the Malay Archipelago, which included the Moluccas - the birthplace of spices exported from here to all countries of the East. The cities of Java and Sumatra and Malacca were in the XIV-XV centuries. the largest centers of trade, navigation and geographical science in the East; the Javanese helmsmen were known as experienced sailors, and the charts drawn up by the Malays were highly valued in the ports of Asia for the accuracy and thoroughness of the information contained in them.

Another center of trade and navigation in the XV century. there were Arab cities on the East African coast - Kilva, Mombasa, Malindi, Sofala, the island of Zanzibar, etc. They carried on a lively maritime trade with all Asian countries, exporting ivory, slaves, and gold exchanged by neighboring tribes for handicrafts from Arabian cities. Arab sailors knew the sea routes well from the countries of the Red Sea to the Far East; there is evidence that around 1420, one Arab sailor passed from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic, rounding the southern tip of Africa. "Arab pilots have compasses for guiding ships, instructions for observing and nautical charts," wrote Vasco da Gama. A special literature on navigation was created - descriptions of routes, sailing directions, marine guides - summarizing the most important achievements in the field of shipping and navigation over many centuries. In the second half of the XV century. one of the most experienced Arab pilots in the western Indian Ocean was Ahmed ibn Majid, who came from a family of hereditary sailors. He was the author of many writings on maritime affairs, widely known among the sailors of Asia; the largest of these was the "Book of useful data on the basics of marine science and its rules." It described in detail the routes along the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf along Africa, to India, to the islands of the Malay Archipelago, to the coasts of China and Taiwan, the methods of driving ships both during coastal navigation and on the high seas, instructions on the use of a compass and rhumbs, on astronomical observations, on sea coasts, reefs, monsoons and currents. Ibn Majid knew especially well the sea routes between Africa and the Malabar coast of India, which the Portuguese later took advantage of during their first voyage to India.

Opening of the sea route from Europe to India and the Far East

Portugal and Spain were the first European countries to undertake the search for sea routes to Africa and India. The nobles, merchants, clergy and royalty of these countries were interested in the search. With the end of the reconquista (in Portugal it ended in the middle of the 13th century, and in Spain at the end of the 15th century), the mass of small-scale nobles - hidalgos, for whom the war with the Moors was the only occupation - was left without work. These nobles despised all activities except war, and when, as a result of the development of a commodity-money economy, their need for money increased, many of them very soon found themselves in debt to the city usurers. Therefore, the idea of getting rich in Africa or in the eastern countries seemed to these knights of the reconquista, left without work and without money, especially fascinating. The ability to fight, acquired by them in the wars with the Moors, the love of adventure, the thirst for military booty and glory were quite suitable for a new difficult and dangerous business - the discovery and conquest of unknown trade routes, countries and lands. It was from the environment of the poor Portuguese and Spanish nobles that they emerged in the 15th-16th centuries. brave sailors, cruel conquerors-conquistadors who destroyed the states of the Aztecs and Incas, greedy colonial officials. “They walked with a cross in their hands and with an insatiable thirst for gold in their hearts,” writes one contemporary about the Spanish conquistadors. Wealthy citizens of Portugal and Spain willingly gave money for sea expeditions, which promised them the possession of the most important trade routes, rapid enrichment and a dominant position in European trade. The Catholic clergy sanctified the bloody deeds of the conquistadors with a religious banner, since thanks to the latter they acquired a new flock at the expense of tribes and peoples newly converted to Catholicism and increased their land holdings and incomes. The royal authorities of Portugal and Spain were no less interested in opening up new countries and trade routes. The impoverished, feudalized peasantry and underdeveloped cities could not give the kings enough money to cover the expenses demanded by the absolutist regime; in the possession of the most important trade routes and colonies, the kings saw a way out of financial difficulties. In addition, numerous militant nobles who remained idle after the reconquista posed a serious danger to the king and cities, since they could easily be used by large feudal lords in the fight against the unification of the country and the strengthening of royal power. The kings of Portugal and Spain therefore sought to captivate the nobles with the idea of discovering and conquering new countries and trade routes.

The sea route connecting the Italian trading cities with the countries of North-Western Europe passed through the Strait of Gibraltar and skirted the Iberian Peninsula. With the development of maritime trade in the XIV-XV centuries. the importance of coastal Portuguese and Spanish cities increased. However, the expansion of Portugal and Spain was possible only towards the unknown Atlantic Ocean, because trade in the Mediterranean had already been captured by the powerful sea cities of the Republics of Italy, and trade in the North and Baltic Seas - by the union of German cities - the Hansa. The geographical position of the Iberian Peninsula, pushed far to the west into the Atlantic Ocean, favored this direction of the expansion of Portugal and Spain. When in the 15th century in Europe, the need to look for new sea routes to the East increased, least of all in these searches was the Hansa, which monopolized all trade between the countries of North-Western Europe, and equally Venice, which continued to profit from the Mediterranean trade.

As a result of these internal and external reasons, Portugal and Spain were pioneers in the search for new sea routes across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Portuguese were the first to enter the ocean routes. After the conquest by the Portuguese troops in 1415 of the Moroccan port of Ceuta, the fortress of the Mauritanian pirates, located on the southern coast Strait of Gibraltar, the Portuguese began to move south along the western coast of Africa to Western Sudan, from where gold dust, slaves and ivory were brought overland to the north. The Portuguese sought to penetrate further south from Ceuta, into the "sea of darkness", as the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean, unknown to Europeans, was then called. Strong Arab states in Northwest Africa did not allow the Portuguese to expand to the east, along mediterranean coast Africa. The western part of the Mediterranean was actually in the hands of Arab pirates.

In the organization of expeditions of the Portuguese in the first half of the XV century. along the West African coast, the Portuguese prince Enrico, better known in history under the name of Henry the Navigator, took part. On the southwestern coast of Portugal, in Sagris, on a rocky promontory, protruding far into the ocean, an observatory and shipyards were built for the construction of ships, and a nautical school was founded. Sagrish became a maritime academy for Portugal. In it, Portuguese fishermen and sailors, under the guidance of Italian and Catalan sailors, were trained in maritime affairs, there they improved ships and navigational instruments, drew sea charts according to information brought by Portuguese sailors, and developed plans for new expeditions to the south. Since the Reconquest, the Portuguese have been familiar with Arabic mathematics, geography, navigation, cartography and astronomy. Heinrich drew funds for the preparation of travels from the income of the spiritual and knightly order of Jesus headed by him, and also received by organizing a number of trading companies on shares with wealthy nobles and merchants who hoped to increase their income through overseas trade.

At first, seafaring developed slowly in Portugal; it was difficult to find daredevils who would risk going into the "sea of darkness." But the situation improved significantly after the Portuguese captured the Azores in 1432 in the west, and in 1434 Zhil Eannish rounded Cape Bojador, south of which life was considered impossible in the Middle Ages; 10 years later, another Portuguese sailor sailed 400 miles south of this cape and brought gold and Negro slaves to Portugal, initiating the Portuguese slave trade. In the mid-40s, the Portuguese had already rounded Cape Verde and reached the coast between the Senegal and Gambia rivers, densely populated and rich in golden sand, ivory and spices. Following this, they penetrated deep into the mainland. Prince Henry the Navigator, objecting in words to the slave trade, in fact encouraged it in every possible way; his ships began to regularly go to West Africa to catch slaves and acquire golden sand, ivory and spices, exchanged with negroes for trinkets; usually the prince received a significant share of the brought booty.

The hope of plundering the entire African coast accelerated the Portuguese advance to the south. In the 60s and 70s, Portuguese sailors reached the coast of the Gulf of Guinea and crossed the equator; new characteristic names appeared on the Portuguese maps of Africa: "Pepper Coast", "Ivory Coast", "Slave Coast", "Gold Coast". In the early 80s, the sailor Diego Cao made three trips to the south of the Gold Coast, passed the mouth of the Congo River and set up his “padran” at the southern tropic - a stone pillar erected on open area as a sign of her accession to the possessions of the king of Portugal. Finally, in 1487, Bartolomsu Dias reached the Cape of Good Hope, rounded it and entered the Indian Ocean. However, the crew of his ships, tired of the difficulties of the journey, refused to continue sailing, and Diaz was forced to return to Lisbon without reaching the shores of India. But he maintained that from South Africa it was possible to go by sea to the shores of India. This was also confirmed by Pedro Covellano, who was sent in 1487 by the Portuguese king in search of the shortest route to India through the countries of North Africa and the Red Sea and visited the Malabar coast of India, the cities of East Africa and Madagascar; in his report to the king, sent from Cairo, he, according to a contemporary, reported that the Portuguese caravels, "which trade in Guinea, sailing from one country to another on a course to this island (Madagascar) and Sofala, can easily pass into these eastern seas and approach Calicut, for, as he learned, the sea is everywhere here.

To complete the search for a sea route to India, the Portuguese king Manoel sent an expedition led by one of his courtiers, Vasco da Gama, who came from poor nobles. In the summer of 1497, four ships under his command left Lisbon and, having circled Africa, passed along its eastern coast to Malindi, a rich Arab city who traded directly with India. The Portuguese entered into an "alliance" with the Sultan of this city, which allowed them to take with them the famous Ahmed ibn Majid as a pilot, under whose leadership they completed their voyage. On May 20, 1498, the ships of Vasco da Gama anchored near the Indian city of Calicut, one of the largest trading centers in Asia, “the pier of the entire Indian Sea,” as the Russian merchant Afanasy Nikitin, who visited India in the second half of the 15th century, called this city. With the permission of the local raja, they began to buy spices in the city. The Arab merchants, who held in their hands all the overseas trade of the city, saw this as a threat to their monopoly and began to restore the rajah and the population of the city against the Portuguese. The Portuguese had to hastily leave Calicut and head back. In September 1499, Vasco da Gama returned to Lisbon. By the end of a two-year difficult voyage, less than half of the crew had survived.

The return to Lisbon of Portuguese ships loaded with spices from India was solemnly celebrated.

With the opening of the sea route to India, Portugal began to take over the entire maritime trade of South and East Asia. The Portuguese waged a fierce struggle against Arab trade and shipping in the Indian Ocean and began to seize the most important trade and strategic points in South Asia. In 1501, the navigator Cabral arrived in Indian waters with a military flotilla, bombarded Calicut and bought a cargo of spices in Cochin. Two years later, Vasco da Gama again set off for the Indian Ocean; as "Admiral of India" he plundered and sank the ships of Arab merchants and, returning to Lisbon with a huge booty, left a permanent military squadron in Indian waters to piracy the plunder of ships plying between Egypt and India. Soon the Portuguese captured the island of Socotra, at the entrance to Gulf of Aden, and the fortress of Diu on the northwestern coast of India and thus established their control over the sea routes connecting the Red Sea and South Asia. “Replenishments began to come to them from Portugal, and they began to cross the road to the Muslims, taking captive, robbing and seizing by force all kinds of ships,” reports one Arab historian of the 16th century. The lands and cities they captured in India became a stronghold for the further expansion of Portugal into Asia. Viceroy of Portuguese India d "Albuquerque took possession of the Goa fortress on the western coast of India and the Iranian port of Hormuz, and in 1511 took Malacca, a rich trading city in the Malacca Strait, blocking the entrance to the Indian Ocean from the east. "The best of all that is in the world," - this is how Albuquerque assessed Malacca. With the capture of Malacca, the Portuguese cut off the main route connecting the countries of Western Asia with the main supplier of spices - the Moluccas, and entered the Pacific Ocean. A few years later they seize these islands and establish maritime trade with South China. Finally, in 1542, they reach the shores of distant Japan and establish the first European trading post there.

Carrying out this expansion to the East, the Portuguese conquerors used the methods of navigation of the sailors of the East, Arabic and Javanese maps of the countries and seas of South Asia. One map of a Javanese helmsman, which fell into the hands of the Portuguese in 1512, depicted the Cape of Good Hope, the Portuguese possessions, the Red Sea, the Moluccas, the sea routes of the Chinese with straight roads where ships pass, and with the interior of the country. According to this map, the Portuguese ships moved through the seas of the Malay Archipelago to the Moluccas. The captains of the Portuguese ships were instructed to use Ceylon and Javanese helmsmen as pilots.

Thus, the sea route from Western Europe to India and East Asia was opened. Together with this discovery, through conquests, a huge colonial empire of Portugal was created, stretching from Gibraltar to the Strait of Malacca. The Portuguese Viceroy of India, who was in Goa, was subject to five governors governing Mozambique, Hormuz, Muscat, Ceylon and Malacca. The Portuguese also subjugated the largest cities of East Africa. The most important opening of the sea route in the history of mankind, which connected Europe with Asia, was used by feudal Portugal for its own enrichment, for plundering and oppressing the peoples of Africa and Asia.

From that time until the digging of the Suez Canal in the 60s of the XIX century. the sea route around South Africa was the main road along which trade was carried out between the countries of Europe and Asia and Europeans penetrated into the basins of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Discovery of America and Spanish conquests

In the spring of 1492, the Spaniards took Granada - the last stronghold of the Moors on Iberian Peninsula, and on August 3 of the same year, three caravels of Christopher Columbus set off from the Spanish port of Paloe on a long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in order to open a western route to India and East Asia. Not wanting to aggravate relations with Portugal, the Spanish kings Ferdinand and Isabella initially preferred to hide the real purpose of this trip. Columbus was appointed "admiral and viceroy of all the lands that he discovers in these seas-oceans", with the right to keep for his own benefit one tenth of all income from them, "be it pearls or precious stones, gold or silver, spices and other things and goods."

Biographical information about Columbus is very scarce. He was born in 1451 in Italy, not far from Genoa, in the family of a weaver, but there is no exact information about where he studied and when he became a navigator. It is known that in the 80s he lived in Lisbon and, obviously, participated in several voyages to the coast of Guinea, but these voyages were not what attracted him. He hatched a project to open the shortest route from Europe to Asia across the Atlantic Ocean; he studied the work of Pierre d'Aglia (which was mentioned above), as well as the works of Toscanelli and other cosmographers of the 14th-15th centuries, who proceeded from the doctrine of the sphericity of the Earth, but significantly underestimated the length of the western route to Asia. However, Columbus failed to interest the Portuguese king in his project. to leave for Spain, where the project of opening a new route to Asia unknown to the Portuguese met with the support of Ferdinand and Isabella.

On October 12, 1492, 69 days after departure from the Spanish port of Palos, Columbus' caravels, having overcome all the difficulties of the journey, reached San Salvador (apparently modern Watling), one of the islands of the Bahamas group, located off the coast of a new mainland unknown to Europeans: this day is considered the date of the discovery of America. The success of the expedition was achieved not only thanks to the leadership of Columbus, but also to the stamina of the entire crew, recruited from the inhabitants of Palos and other seaside cities of Spain who knew the sea well. In total, Columbus made four expeditions to America, during which he discovered and explored Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti), Jamaica and other islands of the Caribbean Sea, the eastern coast of Central America and the coast of Venezuela in the northern part of South America. On the island of Hispaniola, he founded a permanent colony, which later became the stronghold of the Spanish conquests in America.

During his expeditions, Columbus proved to be not only a passionate seeker of new lands, but also a man who strove for enrichment. In the diary of his first trip, he wrote: “I am doing everything possible to get to where I can find gold and spices ...” “Gold,” he writes from Jamaica, “is perfection Gold creates treasures, and the one who owns it can do whatever he wants, and is even able to enter human souls into paradise” slaves: “And even if,” he writes to the Spanish kings, “slaves even die on the way, still not all of them face such a fate”

Columbus was unable to geographically correctly assess his discoveries and conclude that he had discovered a new continent unknown to him. Until the end of his life, he assured everyone that he had reached the shores of Southeast Asia, about the fabulous wealth of which Marco Polo wrote and dreamed of Spanish nobles, merchants, kings. He called the lands he discovered "Indies" and their inhabitants - "Indians". Even during his last trip, he reported to Spain that Cuba is South China, and the coast of Central America is part of the Malay Peninsula and that south of it there should be a strait through which you can get to rich India.

The news of the discovery of Columbus caused great alarm in Portugal. The Portuguese believed that the Spaniards had violated their right to own all the lands south and east of Cape Bojador, confirmed earlier by the Pope, and ahead of them in reaching the shores of India; they even prepared a military expedition to capture discovered by Columbus lands. In the end, Spain turned to the pope to resolve this dispute. With a special bull, the pope blessed the seizure by Spain of all the lands discovered by Columbus. In Rome, these discoveries were evaluated in terms of spreading the Catholic faith and increasing the influence of the church. The pope resolved the dispute between Spain and Portugal as follows: Spain was granted the right to own all the lands located to the west of the line passing through the Atlantic Ocean in a hundred leagues (about 600 km) west of the islands Green Cape In 1494, on the basis of this bull, Spain and Portugal divided the spheres of conquest among themselves under an agreement concluded in the Spanish city of Tordesillas; the dividing line between the colonial possessions of both states was established 370 leagues (over 2 thousand km) west of the above islands. Both states arrogated to themselves the right to pursue and seize all foreign ships that appeared in their waters, to impose duties on them, to judge their crews according to their own laws, etc.

But the discoveries of Columbus gave Spain too little gold, and soon after the success of Vasco da Gama, the country became disillusioned with the Spanish "Indies", Columbus began to be called a deceiver, who instead of the fabulously rich India discovered a country of grief and misfortune, which became the place of death of many Castilian nobles. The Spanish kings deprived him of the monopoly right to make discoveries in the western direction and that share of the income received from the lands discovered by him, which was initially determined for him. He lost all his property, which went to cover debts to his creditors. Columbus, abandoned by all, died in 1506. Contemporaries forgot not a famous navigator, they even gave the name of the mainland he discovered by the name of the Italian scientist Amerigo Vespucci, who in 1499-1504 took part in the exploration of the coast of South America and whose letters aroused great interest in Europe. "These countries should be called the New World .." - he wrote.

After Columbus, other conquistadors in search of gold and slaves continued to expand colonial possessions Spain in America In 1508, two Spanish courts Nina received royal patents for the creation of colonies on the American mainland. The following year, the Spanish colonization of the Isthmus of Panama began, in 1513 the conquistador Vasco Nunez Balboa, with a small detachment, was the first of the Europeans to cross the Isthmus of Panama and went to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, which he called the "South Sea". A few years later, the Spaniards discovered the Yucatan and Mexico, and also reached the mouth of the Mississippi River. Attempts were made to find the strait connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific, and, thus, to complete the work begun by Columbus - to reach western way coasts of East Asia. This strait was searched for in 1515-1516. the Spanish sailor de Solis, who, moving along the Brazilian beret, reached the La Plata River; the Portuguese navigators, who made their expeditions in great secrecy, also looked for him. In Europe, some geographers were so sure of the existence of this not yet discovered strait that they put it on maps in advance.

A new plan for a large expedition to search for a southwestern passage to the Pacific Ocean and reach Asia by the western route was proposed to the Spanish king by Fernando Magellan, a Portuguese sailor from poor nobles who lived in Spain. Magellan fought under the banner of the Portuguese king in Southwest Asia on land and at sea, participated in the capture of Malacca, in campaigns in North Africa, but returned to his homeland without great ranks and wealth; after being denied even a minor promotion by the king, he left Portugal. Magellan, while still in Portugal, began to develop an expedition project to search for the southwestern strait from the Atlantic Ocean to the open Balboa "South Sea", through which, as he assumed, it was possible to reach the Moluccas. In Madrid, in the "Council of Indian Affairs", which was in charge of all matters relating to the Spanish colonies, they became very interested in Magellan's projects; the council members liked his assertion that the Moluccas, under the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas, should belong to Spain and that the shortest route to them was through the southwestern strait into the "South Sea", which was owned by Spain. Magellan was absolutely sure of the existence of this strait, although, as subsequent facts showed, the only source of his confidence was the maps on which this strait was plotted without any reason. Under the agreement concluded by Magellan with the Spanish king Charles I, he received five ships and the funds needed for the expedition; he was appointed admiral with the right to keep for his own benefit a twentieth of the income that the expedition and the new possessions that he added to the Spanish crown would bring. “Since I,” the king wrote to Magellan, “is known for certain that there are spices on the Molucco islands, I send you mainly in search of them, and it is my will that you go straight to these islands.”

On September 20, 1519, five ships of Magellan left San Lucar for this journey. It went on for three years. Having overcome the great difficulties of navigation in the unexplored southern part of the Atlantic Ocean, he found the southwestern strait, later named after him. The strait was much further south than indicated on the maps that Magellan believed. Having entered the "South Sea", the expedition headed for the shores of Asia. Magellan called the "South Sea" the Pacific Ocean, "because, as one of the expedition members reports, we have never experienced the slightest storm." More three months the flotilla sailed across the open ocean; part of the crew, who suffered greatly from hunger and thirst, died from scurvy. In the spring of 1521, Magellan reached the islands off the east coast of Asia, later called the Philippine.

Pursuing the goal of conquering the lands he discovered, Magellan intervened in the feud between two local rulers and was killed on April 27 in a skirmish with the inhabitants of one of these islands. The crew of the expedition, after the death of their admiral, completed this most difficult voyage; only two ships reached the Moluccas, and only one ship, the Victoria, was able to continue on its way to Spain with a cargo of spices. The crew of this ship, under the command of d "Elcano, made a long voyage to Spain around Africa, managing to avoid meeting with the Portuguese, who were ordered from Lisbon to detain all members of Magellan's expedition. Of the entire crew of Magellan's expedition, unparalleled in courage (265 people), only 18 people returned to their homeland; but Victoria brought a large cargo of spices, the sale of which covered all the expenses of the expedition and gave a significant profit.

The great navigator Magellan completed the work begun by Columbus - he reached the Asian mainland and the Moluccas by the western route, opening a new sea route from Europe to Asia, although it did not gain practical importance due to the distance and difficulty of navigation. This was the first circumnavigation in the history of mankind; it irrefutably proved the spherical shape of the earth and the inseparability of the oceans washing the land.

In the same year, when Magellan set off in search of a new sea route to the Moluccas, a small detachment of Spanish conquistadors, who had horses and armed with 13 cannons, set off from Cuba to the interior of Mexico to conquer the Aztec state, whose wealth was not inferior to that of India. The detachment was led by the Spanish hidalgo Hernando Cortes. Cortes, who came from a family of impoverished hidalgos, according to one of the participants in this campaign, "had little money, but a lot of debt." But, having acquired plantations in Cuba, he was able to organize an expedition to Mexico, partly at his own expense.

In their clashes with the Aztecs, the Spaniards, who possessed firearms, steel armor and horses not previously seen in America and instilled panic in the Indians, as well as using improved combat tactics, received an overwhelming superiority of forces. In addition, the resistance of the Indian tribes to foreign conquerors was weakened by the enmity between the Aztecs and the tribes they conquered. This explains the rather easy victories of the Spanish troops.

Having landed on the Mexican coast, Cortes led his detachment to the capital of the Aztec state, the city of Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City). The path to the capital passed through the area of Indian tribes who were at war with the Aztecs, and this made the trip easier. Entering Tenochtitlan, the Spaniards were amazed at the size and wealth of the Aztec capital. Soon they managed to treacherously capture the supreme ruler of the Aztecs, Montezuma, and on his behalf begin to rule the country. They demanded from the Indian leaders subject to Montezuma an oath of allegiance to the Spanish King I, paying tribute in gold. In the building where the Spanish detachment was located, a secret room was discovered, in which there was a rich treasure of gold items and precious stones. All the gold things were poured into square bars and divided among the participants in the campaign, and most of it went to Cortes, the king and governor of Cuba.

Soon a great uprising broke out in the country against the power of greedy and cruel foreigners; the rebels laid siege to the Spanish detachment, which sat down with the captive supreme ruler in his household. With heavy losses, Cortés managed to break out of the siege and withdraw from Tenochtitlan; many Spaniards died because they rushed to riches and took so much that they could hardly walk.

And this time, the Spaniards were helped by those Indian tribes who took their side and were now afraid of the revenge of the Aztecs. In addition, Cortes replenished his squad with Spaniards who arrived from Cuba. Having gathered an army of 10,000, Cortes again approached the capital of Mexico and laid siege to the city. The siege was long; during it, most of the population of this populous city died of hunger, thirst and disease. August 1521, the Spaniards finally entered the ruined Aztec capital.

The Aztec state became Spanish colony; the Spaniards seized a lot of gold and precious stones in this country, distributed the lands to their colonists, and turned the Indian population into slaves and serfs. “The Spanish conquest,” says Engels about the Aztecs, “cut off any further independent development of them” ( F. Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, Gospolitizdat, 1953, p. 23.).

Soon after the conquest of Mexico, the Spaniards conquered Guatemala and Honduras in Central America, and in 1546, after several invasions, they subjugated the Yucatan Peninsula, inhabited by the Mayan people. “There were too many rulers and they plotted against each other too much,” one of the Indians explained the defeat of the Maya.

The Spanish conquest in North America did not extend beyond Mexico. This is due to the fact that in the areas located north of Mexico, the Spanish seekers of profit did not find cities and states rich in gold and silver; on Spanish maps, these areas of the American mainland were usually indicated by the inscription: "Lands that do not generate income."

After the conquest of Mexico, the Spanish conquistadors turned all their attention to the south, to mountainous areas South America, rich in gold and silver. In the 30s, the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, an illiterate man who was a swineherd in his youth, undertook the conquest of the "golden kingdom", the state of the Incas in Peru; about his fabulous wealth, he heard stories from local residents on the Isthmus of Panama during the Balboa campaign, of which he was a member. With a detachment of 200 people and 50 horses, he invaded this state, having managed to use the struggle of two heir brothers for the throne of the country's supreme ruler; he captured one of them - Atahualpa, and on his behalf began to rule the country. A large ransom was taken from Atahualpa in gold things, many times greater than the treasure that the detachment of Cortes took possession of; this booty was divided among the members of the detachment, for which all the gold was turned into ingots, destroying the most valuable monuments of Peruvian art. The ransom did not give Atahualpa the promised freedom; the Spaniards treacherously put him on trial and executed him. After that, Pizarro occupied the capital of the state - Cusco and became the complete ruler of the country (1532); he put on the throne the supreme ruler of his adherent, one of the nephews of Atahualpa. In Cuzco, the Spaniards plundered the treasures of the rich temple of the Sun, and in its building they created a Catholic monastery; in Potosi (Bolivia) they seized the richest silver mines.

In the early 40s, the Spanish conquistadors conquered Chile, and the Portuguese (in the 30s and 40s) conquered Brazil, which was discovered by Cabral in 1500 during his expedition to India (Cabral's ships were on the way to the Cape of Good Hope carried to the west by the South Equatorial Current). In the second half of the XVI century. The Spaniards took control of Argentina.

Thus the New World was discovered and the colonial possessions of feudal-absolutist Spain and Portugal were created on the American mainland. The Spanish conquest of America interrupted the independent development of the peoples of the American continent and placed them under the yoke of colonial enslavement.

Discoveries in North America and Australia

Despite the agreement on the division of the spheres of conquest between Porgalia and Spain, sailors and merchants from other European countries began to penetrate unexplored parts in search of profit and wealth. the globe. So, John Cabot (Italian Giovanni Caboto, who moved to England), who went on an expedition to find a northwestern route to the Indian Ocean, first reached Newfoundland or the Labrador Peninsula in 1497, and his son, Sebastian Cabot, reached the northeastern coast of North America in 1498 and explored it. Subsequently, English and French sailors explored eastern part North America, and the Dutch, as a result of a series of voyages made during the 17th century, discovered Australia, about which ancient geographers had vague information. In 1606, a Dutch ship under the command of Willem Janz reached the northern coast of Australia for the first time, and in 1642-1644. Dutch navigator Tasman made two voyages to the Australian coast and, having passed south of Australia to the island of Tasmania he discovered, proved that Australia is an independent new continent.

London merchants, in their own words, "seeing how surprisingly quickly the wealth of the Spaniards and Portuguese is growing due to the discovery of new countries and the search for new trading markets", organized in 1552 an expedition of three ships under the command of Willoughby, who attempted to find a northeastern passage to China, rounding the coast of Siberia. The ships of the Willoughby expedition in the Barents Sea were separated by a storm, two of them were covered with ice in the southern part of this sea, and their entire crew froze, and the third passed into the White Sea, reached the mouth of the Northern Dvina; his captain Chancellor traveled to Moscow and was received by Ivan the Terrible. In 1556 and 1580. the British again tried to find the northeastern passage, but their ships could not pass further than the entrance to the Kara Sea due to solid ice.

Dutch merchants at the end of the 16th century. three expeditions were sent to search for this passage, led by the Dutch navigator Bill Barents, but these ships could not pass east of Novaya Zemlya, where Barents wintered during his last expedition (1596-1597), as his ship was covered with ice.

Russian geographical discoveries of the 16th - 17th centuries.

The Russian people contributed to the great geographical discoveries of the first half of the 17th century. significant contribution. Russian travelers and navigators made a number of discoveries (mainly in the northeast of Asia) that enriched world science.

The reason for the increased attention of Russians to geographical discoveries was further development commodity-money relations in the country and the related process of folding the all-Russian market, as well as the gradual inclusion of Russia in the world market. During this period, two main directions were clearly outlined - northeast (Siberia and the Far East) and southeast (Central Asia, Mongolia, China), along which Russian travelers and sailors moved.

Of great educational importance for contemporaries were the trade and diplomatic trips of Russian people in the 16th-17th centuries. to the countries of the East, a survey of the shortest overland routes for communication with the states of Central and Central Asia and with China.

By the middle of the XVII century. the Russians thoroughly studied and described the routes to Central Asia. Detailed and valuable information of this kind was contained in the embassy reports (“article lists”) of the Russian ambassadors I. D. Khokhlov (1620-1622), Anisim Gribov (1641-1643 and 1646-1647) and others.

Distant China aroused close attention among the Russian people. Back in 1525, while in Rome, the Russian ambassador Dmitry Gerasimov informed the writer Pavel Jovius that it was possible to travel from Europe to China by water through northern seas. Thus, Gerasimov expressed a bold idea about the development of the Northern Route from Europe to Asia. This idea, thanks to Jovius, who published a special book on Muscovy in the Gerasimov embassy, became widely known in Western Europe and was received with lively interest. It is possible that the organization of the expeditions of Willoughby and Barents was caused by the messages of the Russian ambassador. In any case, the search for the Northern Sea Route to the east was already in the middle of the 16th century. led to the establishment of direct maritime links between Western Europe and Russia.

The first reliable evidence of a journey to China is information about the embassy of the Cossack Ivan Petlin in 1618-1619. Petlin from Tomsk through the territory of Mongolia passed to China and visited Beijing. Returning to his homeland, he presented in Moscow "a drawing and painting about the Chinese region." The information collected as a result of Petlin's trip about the routes to China, about the natural resources and economy of Mongolia and China contributed to the expansion of the geographical horizons of contemporaries.

Of great importance in the history of geographical discoveries of that era was the survey of the vast expanses of the north and northeast of Asia from the Ural Range to the coast of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, that is, all of Siberia.

The annexation of Siberia was started in 1581 by a campaign of a detachment of the Cossack ataman Ermak Timofeevich. His detachment, consisting of 840 people, carried away by rumors about the untold riches of the Siberian Khanate, was equipped at the expense of large landowners and salt producers of the Urals Stroganovs. The government-supported campaign of Yermak (1581-1584) led to the fall of the Siberian Khanate and the annexation of Western Siberia to the Russian state.

Even in the middle of the XVI century. Sailings of Russian polar sailors from the European part of the country to the Gulf of Ob and to the mouth of the Yenisei are mentioned. They moved along the coast of the Arctic Ocean on small keeled sailing ships - koches, well adapted to sailing in the ice of the Arctic due to the egg-shaped hull, which reduced the danger of ice compression. Used by Russian sailors of the XVI-XVII centuries. compass ("womb") and maps. In the first two decades of the 17th century there was already a fairly regular water communication of the West Siberian cities with Mangazeya along the Ob, Ob Bay and Arctic Ocean(the so-called "Mangazeya move"). The same message was maintained between Arkhangelsk and Mangazeya. According to contemporaries, from Arkhangelsk to "Mangazeya, many trading and industrial people walk at night with all sorts of German (i.e. foreign, Western European) goods and bread." It was extremely important to establish the fact that the Yenisei flows into the very “Cold Sea”, along which people from Western Europe swim to Arkhangelsk. This discovery belongs to the Russian merchant Kondraty Kurochkin, who was the first to explore the fairway of the lower Yenisei up to the mouth.

A serious blow to the "Mangazeya move" was inflicted by government prohibitions of 1619-1620. use the sea route to Mangazeya, aimed at preventing the penetration of foreigners there.

Moving east into the taiga and tundra of Eastern Siberia, the Russians discovered one of the largest rivers in Asia - the Lena. Among the northern expeditions to the Lena, the Penda campaign (until 1630) stands out. Starting his journey with 40 companions from Turukhansk, he went through the entire Lower Tunguska, crossed the portage and reached the Lena. Going down the Lena central regions Yakutia, Penda then sailed along the same river in reverse direction almost to the top. From here, passing through the Buryat steppes, he got to the Angara (Upper Tunguska), the first Russian sailed down the entire Angara, overcoming its famous rapids, after which he went to the Yenisei, and returned along the Yenisei to his starting point - Turukhansk. Penda and his companions made an unparalleled circular journey of several thousand kilometers through difficult terrain.

In 1633, brave seafarers Ivan Rebrov and Ilya Perfilyev went east from the mouth of the Lena at night, who reached the river by sea. Yana, and in 1636, the same Rebrov made a new sea voyage and reached the mouth of the Indigirka.

Almost simultaneously, detachments of Russian service and industrial people (Posnik Ivanova and others) moved along the mainland in a northeast direction, discovering the mentioned rivers from land. Posnik Ivanov "and his comrades" made their long and difficult journey through the mountain ranges on horseback.

An important discovery in northeast Asia ended in the early 40s of the 17th century. Expedition of Mikhail Stadukhin. The detachment of the Cossack foreman and merchant Stadukhin, in which Semyon Dezhnev was, descended on a koch along the Indigirka, in 1643 reached the “Kov River” by sea, that is, reached the mouth of the Kolyma River. Here the Nizhne-Kolyma winter hut was laid, from which a few years later the Kochi Cossacks set out on their famous voyage around the northeastern tip of the Asian continent. Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnev and industrial man Fedot Alekseev (known by the name of Popov).

An outstanding event of this era was the discovery in 1648 of the strait between America and Asia, made by Dezhnev and Fedot Alekseev (Popov).

Back in 1647, Semyon Dezhnev tried to go by sea to the mysterious Anadyr River, about which there were rumors among the Russian people, but “the ice didn’t let the river through to Anadyr”, and he was forced to return back. But the determination to achieve the intended goal did not leave Dezhnev and his comrades. June 20, 1648 from the mouth of the Kolyma in search of the Anadyr River set off new expedition on seven pitches. The expedition, led by Dezhnev and Alekseev, included about a hundred people. Soon after the start of the campaign, four kochas disappeared from sight and the participants in this extremely difficult ice voyage had no further news about them. The remaining three ships under the command of Dezhnev, Alekseev and Gerasim Ankudinov continued their journey to the northeast. Not far from the Chukotka nose (later named after Dezhnev), Koch Ankudinov died. The crews of the other two ships took on board the wrecked and stubbornly advanced across the Arctic Ocean. In September 1648, the Dezhnev-Alekseev expedition rounded the extreme northeastern tip of Asia - the Chukchi (or Bolshoi Kamenny) nose and passed through the strait separating America from Asia (later called the Bering Strait). In bad sea weather, Kochi Dezhnev and Alekseev lost sight of each other. Koch Dezhnev, on which there were 25 people, was carried along the waves for a long time and, finally, was thrown onto the shore of the sea, which was later called the Bering Sea. Semyon Dezhnev then moved with his comrades into the depths of the mainland and after a heroic 10-week transition, during which his participants walked “cold and hungry, naked and barefoot” through a completely unfamiliar country, he reached the goal of his expedition - the Anadyr River. So it was, an outstanding geographical discovery was made, which proved that America was separated by sea from Asia and was an isolated continent, and a sea route around Northeast Asia was opened.

There are reasons to believe that Kamchatka in the middle of the 17th century. was discovered by Russian people. According to later reports, Koch Fedot Alekseev and his companions reached Kamchatka, where the Russians lived for a long time among the Itelmens. The memory of this fact was preserved among the local population of Kamchatka, and the Russian scientist of the first half of the 18th century. Krasheninnikov reported about him in his work "Description of the Land of Kamchatka". There is an assumption that part of the ships of the Dezhnev expedition, which disappeared on the way to the Chukchi nose, reached Alaska, where they founded a Russian "settlement. In 1937, during earthworks on the Kenai Peninsula (Alaska), the remains of dwellings of three hundred years ago were discovered, which scientists attributed to those built by Russian people.

In addition, Dezhnev and his companions are credited with discovering the Diomede Islands, where the Eskimos lived, and exploring the Anadyr River basin.

The discovery of Dezhnev - Alekseev was reflected on the geographical maps of Russia in the 17th century, which marked the free passage from the Kolyma to the Amur.

During 1643-1651. Russian detachments of V. Poyarkov and E. Khabarov made campaigns on the Amur, which delivered a number of valuable information about this river not studied by Europeans.

So, over a relatively short historical period (from the 80s of the 16th century to the 40s of the 17th century), Russian people traveled through the steppes, taiga, tundra through the whole of Siberia, sailed through the seas of the Arctic and made a number of outstanding geographical discoveries.

Consequences of geographical discoveries for Western Europe

During the XV-XVII centuries. thanks to the bold expeditions of navigators and travelers from many European countries, most of the earth's surface, seas and oceans washing it were discovered and explored; Many inland areas of America, Asia, Africa and Australia have fallen into the unknown. The most important sea routes were laid that connected the continents with each other. But at the same time, geographical discoveries marked the beginning of the monstrous enslavement and extermination of peoples open countries which became the object of the most shameless robbery and exploitation for European profit-seekers: treachery, deceit, consumption of local residents were the main methods of the conquerors. This price was the creation in Western Europe of the conditions for the emergence of capitalist production.

The colonial system that arose as a result of geographical discoveries contributed to the accumulation in the hands of the bourgeoisie in Europe of large Money, necessary for the organization of large-scale capitalist production, and also published a market for its products, being, thus, one of the levers of the process of so-called primitive accumulation. With the establishment of the colonial system, the world market began to take shape, which served as a powerful impetus to the emergence and development of capitalist relations in Western Europe. “The colonies,” writes Marx, “provided a market for rapidly emerging manufactories, and the monopoly possession of this market ensured increased accumulation. Treasures obtained outside of Europe through robbery, enslavement of the natives, murders flowed into the metropolis and then turned into capital.

The so-called price revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries also contributed to the rise of the European bourgeoisie. It was caused by the importation from America to Europe of a large amount of gold and silver mined by the cheap labor of serfs and slaves. In the middle of the XVI century. in the colonies, gold and silver were mined 5 times more than they were mined in Europe before the conquest of America, and the total number of voiced coins circulating in European countries increased more than 4 times over the 16th century. This influx of cheap gold and silver into Europe led to a sharp decrease in the purchasing power of money and to a strong increase in prices (2-3 times or more) for all goods, both agricultural and industrial. In the city, everyone suffered from this rise in prices, he received wages, and the bourgeoisie enriched itself. In the countryside, the main beneficiaries were those nobles who set up a new type of economy, using hired labor and selling products to the market at high prices, and wealthy peasants, who also sold a significant part of agricultural products. In addition, landowners who leased land on a short-term lease benefited. Finally, the long-term tenants, the peasant holders, who paid the traditional fixed cash rent, benefited. leased out credential terms on the condition of receiving a fixed annuity in cash.

Where it seemed possible, the feudal lords compensated for their losses by intensifying their offensive against the peasants, by increasing the monetary rent, by switching from cash quitrent to natural duties, or by driving the peasants off the land. The "price revolution" also affected the poorest peasants, forced to partly live by selling their labor power, and agricultural wage workers. Marx writes about the “price revolution”: “The consequence of the increase in the means of exchange was, on the one hand, the depreciation of wages and land rent, and on the other hand, the growth of industrial profits. In other words: to the extent that the class of landowners and the class of working people, the feudal lords and the people, have declined, the class of capitalists, the bourgeoisie, has risen to the same extent. K. Marx, The Poverty of Philosophy, K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., vol. 4, p. 154.) Thus, the "price revolution" was also one of the factors contributing to the development of capitalism in Western Europe.

As a result of the great geographical discoveries, Europe's ties with the countries of Africa, South and East Asia increased, and relations with America were established for the first time. Trade has become global. The center of economic life moved from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, the countries of Southern Europe fell into decline, primarily the Italian cities through which Europe had previously connected with the East, new centers of trade rose up: Lisbon - in Portugal, Seville - in Spain, Antwerp - in the Netherlands. Antwerp became the richest city in Europe, colonial goods, especially spices, were traded on a large scale, large-scale international trade and credit operations were carried out, which was facilitated by the fact that, unlike other cities, complete freedom of trade and credit transactions was established in Antwerp. In 1531, a special building was built in Antwerp for the implementation of trade and financial transactions - the stock exchange with a characteristic inscription on the pediment: "For the needs of merchants of all nations and languages." Concluding a trade deal on the stock exchange, the buyer examined only samples of goods. Loan obligations of the bill were quoted on the stock exchange as securities; a new type of profit appeared - stock speculation.