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The Spice Trade & the Age of Exploration
One of the major motivating factors in the European Age of Exploration was the search for direct access to the highly lucrative Eastern spice trade. In the 15th century, spices came to Europe via the Middle East land and sea routes, and spices...

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Portugal & the Age of Exploration
The Portuguese built an empire from 1420 onwards that was largely composed of trade centres dotted around the coasts of three continents. This colonial enterprise was driven by a search for African gold, Asian spices, and Christian kingdoms...

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Spanish Colonial Empire in the Age of Exploration
A map illustrating the rise of Spain into a global colonial and trading power following the European Age of Exploration of the 15th Century.

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Portuguese Colonial Empire in the Age of Exploration
A map illustrating the evolution of Portugal into a global colonial power following the period of European exploration of the 15th century. The Portuguese Empire began in the fifteenth century, with the kings of Portugal seeking trade routes...

Video
The Age of Exploration: Crash Course
The thing about European History is that it tends to leak out of Europe. Europeans haven't been great at staying put in Europe. As human beings do, the people of Europe were very busy traveling around to trade, to spread religion, and in...

Video
Christopher Columbus: Life and Voyages in the Age of Exploration
Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 CE and died in 1506 at the age of 54. He became famous during his lifetime as the man who discovered the ‘new world’ - understood as the Americas generally during the Age of Exploration. Since the 19th...

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The French Exploration of New Zealand
The French exploration of New Zealand has been overshadowed by the achievements of British navigator Captain James Cook (1728-1779), but French navigators who visited Aotearoa's (New Zealand) shores named over 100 geographical places and...

Definition
Bronze Age Aegean
The Bronze Age (c. 3000-1000 BCE) is the period when cultures were either using, producing, or trading bronze. Several cultures flourished around the Aegean Sea during this period: the Minoan civilization on Crete, the Mycenaean civilization...

Definition
Greek Dark Age
The Greek Dark Age (c. 1200 to c. 800 BCE, overlapping with the Iron Age, c. 1200-550 BCE) is the modern-day term for the period in Greek history following the Bronze Age Collapse when the Mycenaean Civilization fell and the Linear B writing...

Definition
Bronze Age Collapse
The Bronze Age Collapse (also known as Late Bronze Age Collapse) is a modern-day term referring to the decline and fall of major Mediterranean civilizations during the 13th-12th centuries BCE. The precise cause of the Bronze Age Collapse...