Age of Discovery

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The Age of Discovery, also known as the Age of Exploration, was part of the early modern period and largely overlapping with the Age of Sail. It was a period from approximately the late 15th century to the 17th century, during which seafarers from a number of European countries explored, colonized, and conquered regions across the globe. The extensive overseas exploration, particularly the colonization of the Americas, led by the Spanish and Portuguese, and later followed by the English, French and Dutch; spurred in the International global trade. The interconnected global economy of the 21st century has its origins in the expansion of trade networks during this era.

During the Age of Discovery, Spain made the transatlantic voyages of Christopher Columbus, which from 1492 marked the beginning of the colonization of the Americas, and the Magellan expedition to open a route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, which became the first circumnavigation of the globe in 1522. Portugal established with Vasco da Gama a sea route to India in 1498, initiating the Portuguese trade presence in Kerala and the Indian Ocean.^[1][2] Beginning in 1500, led by Pedro Álvares Cabral, Portugal also established numerous South American colonies in what later became Brazil. These Spanish and Portuguese expeditions significantly impacted the European perceptions of the world and led to numerous naval expeditions across the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, and land expeditions in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australia that continued into the late 19th century, followed by the exploration of the polar regions in the 20th century.

The Age of Discovery was a transformative period in world history when previously isolated parts of the world became connected to form the world system and laid the groundwork for globalization. The exploration also created colonial empires and marked an increased adoption of colonialism as a government policy in several European states. As such, it is sometimes synonymous with the first wave of European colonization. The colonization reshaped power dynamics causing geopolitical shifts in Europe and creating new centers of power beyond Europe. Having set human history on the global common course, the legacy of the Age still shapes the world today.

European exploration initiated the Columbian exchange between the Old World (Europe, Asia, and Africa) and the New World (the Americas and Australia). This exchange involved the transfer of plants, animals, human populations (including slaves), communicable diseases, and culture across the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. The Age of Discovery and European exploration involved mapping of the world, shaping a new worldview and facilitating contact with distant civilizations. The continents drawn by European mapmakers of the Age developed from abstract "blobs" into the outlines more recognizable to us today.^[3] Simultaneously, the spread of new diseases, especially affecting American Indians, led to rapid population declines. The era saw widespread enslavement, exploitation and military conquest of native populations, concurrent with the growing economic influence and spread of western and European culture, science and technology leading to a faster-than-exponential population growth world-wide.