The most important geographical discoveries in world history. Geographic discoveries

Man is a rational being - Homo sapiens, and the craving for discoveries and the indefatigable desire to develop are the "costs" of his genetics. Throughout history, people have explored something. A separate milestone in the development of mankind is the Epoch of the Great geographical discoveries. Its beginning is associated with the name of the third son of the King of Portugal, Joan the First - Henry. Enrico was never a navigator, but he was not known as a life-saver. Although the crowned offspring did not sail further than Gibraltar, it was he who, in the 15th century (1420), invited all cartographers and shipbuilders known at that time to the court, ordering the construction of unprecedented ships - caravels. The sailing equipment of the ships was supposed to allow them to sail against the wind.

The first sea expeditions, consisting exclusively of caravels, were sent to the western coast of Africa, to Madeira and Canary Islands. No, the navigators were not faced with the task of discovering unseen lands. They were supposed to replenish the Portuguese treasury with gold, spices, ivory. Portuguese navigators methodically explored the northern and west coast Africa. At the end of the 15th century (1484), Diego Cano reached the equator and crossed it.

Travel routes of sailors of the era of the great geographical discoveries

A little later (1488) Bartolomeo Dias was lucky enough to reach the Indian Ocean from the west, rounding southern part African continent. Upon his return, a triumph awaited him. This is the first stage in the development of the sea route to India and the beginning of the Age of Discovery.

Interesting fact. Among the sailors who, together with Diaz, made this landmark sea voyage, was the brother of the notorious Christopher Columbus - Bartolomeo.

Navigators of the Age of Discovery

The era of great geographical discoveries - 15-17 centuries - during this period, the "sea wolves" of Europe managed to tell mankind about hitherto unknown lands and lay waterways to the shores of Africa, to discover America and Australia, to explore Asia and Oceania. Who are they, navigators of the era of geographical discoveries?

Marco Polo - one of the first travelers of the Age of Discovery

Spanish conquistador Vasco Nunez de Balboa. He had the high title of adelantado. It is to him that the honor of being the founder of the first European city in America. It was the glorious hidalgo who was the first European navigator to set foot on the land of the Pacific Islands. He was accompanied by 190 Spaniards and 600 Indians (tribal identity unknown) who acted as porters.

Furrowing the seas and oceans in search of prey, the conquistadors "along the way" discovered new lands

The Portuguese Vasco da Gama is a representative of an ancient noble family, mathematician and astronomer. The fate and will of the powerful of this world made him one of the most famous navigators of the era of great geographical discoveries. He has the honor of being the discoverer of the sea route to India. The expedition lasted two years (1497-1499), its path lay around the entire African continent. Strictly speaking, Vasco da Gama was simply "appointed" as a navigator who needed to find a sea route to India. King Manuel I of Portugal did everything to make the expedition successful. Subsequently, da Gama held very honorary positions - governor and even viceroy of Portuguese India. It was not in vain that he agreed to the very tempting offer of the king.

Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese navigator who first reached the shores of India

The Genoese Christopher Columbus is a "favorite" among the navigators of the Age of Discovery and very enigmatic personality: different sources give conflicting dates of his birth and death. Presumably - 1451-1506. Several cities in Europe claim the "title" of the homeland of the navigator. There is no exact data on the origin and education of the discoverer and one of the most famous heroes of the Age of Discovery. However, this did not prevent historians from writing hundreds of scientific papers about his expedition to the West Indies, and biographers created several "legends" for him. In a word, solid mysteries that abound in the Age of Discovery. One thing is clear, namely, a number of islands in the Caribbean.

Having set off on three caravels in search of India, Christopher Columbus "accidentally" discovered America, calling it the West Indies.

A citizen of Castile and Leon, Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) is considered not only the most significant figure of the Age of Discovery, but one of the most famous navigator of the planet. He made the first trip around the world (1519-1522), was both its initiator and commander. Magellan served as the page of the king's wife, Leonora, and was her favorite, so he so quickly managed to get the funds to organize the expedition, which pretty much replenished the royal treasury.

The Spaniard Ferdinand Magellan was the first to travel around the world, writing his name in the history of the Age of Discovery

Magellan's expedition was not without losses. Initially, it consisted of 256 (280) people and 5 ships, only one Victoria and 18 crew members reached the house. A little later, another 18 arrived, captured by the Portuguese. Magellan discovered the strait, which is named after him, and was the first on the planet to cross Pacific Ocean. A seamount, a spacecraft, a species of penguin, a crater on the moon, and an entire galaxy in space are named after him.

The Florentine merchant Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512) took not only a worthy place among the discoverers of the Age of Discovery, but an entire continent was named after him. How did it happen that a simple merchant became a navigator and discoverer? After all, he, in principle, did not reveal anything? According to one of the versions of scientists, Amerigo simply asked for it on an expedition to Alonso de Ojeda (1499). Another version testifies that he participated in the journey of Columbus (1492) to the shores of America. Why was Amerigo long considered the discoverer of America? Only because Vespucci was the first to think that unknown islands- not Asia at all, but a completely new and hitherto unknown mainland.

Amerigo Vespucci was the first to suggest that the West Indies is not India at all, but an unknown continent. That's why America was named after him.

The national hero of Russia and the famous Russian discoverer - Ermak Timofeevich (1525-1584) was not a navigator. He did not find new continents, he discovered and conquered for Russia Western Siberia. He and his Cossack squad walked along the path where the Trans-Siberian Railway runs today. The expedition was created at the request of the Stroganov merchants and on the orders of Ivan the Terrible. The Long March began in 1581.

Interesting fact. It was the gift of John to Ermak - chain mail, that became the cause of his tragic death. It was found in the Irtysh many years after the death of the Cossack chieftain, today it is stored in the Armory.

The era of great geographical discoveries is still a lot of names and mysteries and mysteries associated with them.

In contact with

This change happened earlier, in Russia - later. The change reflected an increase in production that required new sources of raw materials and markets. They presented new conditions for science, contributed to the general rise of the intellectual life of human society. Geography also acquired new features. Travel enriched science with facts. Generalizations followed. Such a sequence, although not marked absolutely, is characteristic of both Western European and Russian science.

The era of great discoveries of Western navigators. At the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, outstanding geographical events took place over three decades: the voyages of the Genoese H. to the Bahamas, on, to the mouth of the Orinoco and on the coast of Central America (1492-1504); around South in - the city of Callicut (1497-1498), F. and his companions (Juan Sebastian Elcano, Antonio Pigafetta, etc.) around and around South Africa(1519-1521) - the first circumnavigation.

The three main search routes - and Magellan - ultimately had one goal: to reach the world's richest space by sea - from and to other regions of this vast space. In three different ways: directly to the west, around South America and around South Africa, the navigators bypassed the state of the Ottoman Turks, which blocked the land routes to South Asia for Europeans. It is characteristic that the variants of these world routes were subsequently used many times by Russian navigators.

The era of great Russian discoveries. The heyday of Russian geographical discoveries falls on the XVI-XVII centuries. However, the Russians collected much earlier geographical information themselves and through western neighbors. Geographic data (since 852) contains the first Russian chronicle - "The Tale of Bygone Years" by Nestor. Russian city-states, developing, were looking for new natural sources of wealth and markets for goods. In particular, Novgorod grew rich. In the XII century. Novgorodians reached the sea. Sailings began to the west to Scandinavia, to the north - to Grumant (Svalbard) and especially to the northeast - to Taz, where the Russians founded the trading city of Mangazeya (1601-1652). Somewhat earlier, movement began to the east by land, through Siberia (Ermak, 1581-1584).

The rapid movement into the depths of Siberia and the Pacific Ocean is a heroic feat. It took them a little more than half a century to cross the space from to the strait. In 1632, the Yakut prison was founded. In 1639 Ivan Moskvitin reaches the Pacific Ocean near Okhotsk. Vasily Poyarkov in 1643-1646 passed from to Yana and Indigirka, the first of the Russian Cossack explorers made a voyage along the Amur estuary and the Sakhalin Bay of the sea. In 1647-48. Erofey Khabarov goes to Songhua. And finally, in 1648, Semyon Dezhnev goes around from the sea, opens the cape, which now bears his name, and proves that from North America separated by a strait.

Gradually, the elements of generalization acquire great importance in Russian geography. In 1675, the Russian ambassador, the educated Greek Spafarius (1675-1678), was sent to the city with the instruction to “depict all the lands, cities and the path to the drawing”. Drawings, i.e. maps were documents of national importance in Russia.

Russian early is known for the following four of her works.

1. Large drawing of the Russian state. Compiled in one copy in 1552. The sources for it were “scribe books”. The Great Drawing did not reach us, although it was renewed in 1627. The geographer of the time of Peter the Great V.N. wrote about its reality. Tatishchev.

2. Book of the Big Drawing - text for the drawing. One of the later copies of the book was published by N. Novikov in 1773.

3. The drawing of the Siberian land was drawn up in 1667. A copy has come down to us. The drawing accompanies the "Manuscript against the drawing".

4. The drawing book of Siberia was compiled in 1701 by order of Peter I in Tobolsk by S.U. Remizov and his sons. This is the first Russian geographical of 23 maps with drawings of individual regions and settlements.

Thus, in Russia, too, the method of generalizations became cartographic first of all.

In the first half of the XVIII century. extensive geographical descriptions, but with increasing importance of geographical generalizations. It is enough to list the main geographical events in order to understand the role of this period in the development of Russian geography. Firstly, an extensive long-term study of the Russian coast of the Arctic Ocean by detachments of the Great Northern Expedition of 1733-1743. and the expeditions of Vitus and Alexei Chirikov, who, during the First and Second Kamchatka expeditions, discovered the sea route from to (1741) and described part of the northwestern coast of this continent and some of the Aleutian Islands. Secondly, in 1724 the Russian Academy of Sciences was established with the Geographic Department as part of it (since 1739). This institution was headed by the successors of the affairs of Peter I, the first Russian geographers V.N. Tatishchev (1686-1750) and M.V. Lomonosov (1711-1765). They became the organizers of detailed geographical studies of the territory of Russia and themselves made a significant contribution to the development of theoretical geography, brought up a galaxy of remarkable geographers-researchers. In 1742, M.V. Lomonosov wrote the first Russian work with a theoretical geographical content - “On the layers of the earth”. In 1755, two Russian classic regional studies monographs were published: “Description of the Land of Kamchatka” by S.P. Krashennikov and “Orenburg topography” by P.I. Rychkov. The Lomonosov period began in Russian geography - a time of reflection and generalizations.

In the photo: Portrait of Vasco Nunez de Balboa by an unknown artist.

At the beginning of the 16th century, Europeans continued to "discover" the Earth; researchers attribute this time to the first period of the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries. The main role was then played by the Spaniards and the Portuguese, who rushed to the unexplored lands of America, Africa and Asia.

In 1513 in America, the Spaniards built their first settlements, moving steadily from east to west. They were attracted by stories about the mythical Eldorado, immersed in gold and precious stones.

In September, the enterprising conquistador Vasco Nunez de Balboa, with 190 Spanish soldiers and many Indian guides, advanced from the city of Santa Maria la Antigua, which he had founded three years earlier. For about fifteen years he had been looking for luck in America, skillfully combining "carrot and stick" in relations with the local population. He could caress and bestow, or he could in anger and hunt down an objectionable Indian with dogs that inspired indescribable horror on the natives.

For more than three weeks, the detachment literally "waded" through the mountains covered with thickets of lianas and ferns, suffering from fever in the swampy lowlands and repelling the attacks of militant local residents. Finally, having overcome the Isthmus of Panama, from the top of Mount Balboa he saw the boundless expanse of the sea. Entering the water with a drawn sword in one hand and a Castilian banner in the other, the conquistador declared these lands to be the possessions of the Castilian crown.

Having received a pile of pearls and gold from the natives, Balboa was convinced that he had found a fabulous country from the stories of El Dorado. He called the sea he reached "South".

So Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean. continued.

By the way, when Balboa in 1510 persuaded the first Spanish colonists to follow him deep into the mainland, among the latter was Francisco Pizarro, who later became famous. Then Pizarro did not want to go with the future discoverer of the Pacific Ocean. Pizarro's finest hour came twenty years later. In 1532, he conquered Peru, the Inca empire, becoming the owner of an unprecedented amount of gold.

Travel has always attracted people, but before they were not only interesting, but also extremely difficult. The territories were not explored, and, setting off on a journey, everyone became an explorer. Which travelers are the most famous and what exactly did each of them discover?

James Cook

The famous Englishman was one of the best cartographers of the eighteenth century. He was born in the north of England and by the age of thirteen he began to work with his father. But the boy was unable to trade, so he decided to take up navigation. At that time everything famous travelers of the world went to distant countries on ships. James became interested in maritime affairs and moved up the career ladder so quickly that he was offered to become a captain. He refused and went to the Royal Navy. Already in 1757, the talented Cook began to manage the ship himself. His first achievement was the drawing up of the fairway of the St. Lawrence River. He discovered in himself the talent of a navigator and cartographer. In the 1760s he explored Newfoundland, which attracted the attention of the Royal Society and the Admiralty. He was assigned to travel across the Pacific Ocean, where he reached the shores of New Zealand. In 1770, he did something that other famous travelers had not achieved before - he discovered a new continent. In 1771, Cook returned to England as the famous pioneer of Australia. His last journey was an expedition in search of a passage connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Today, even schoolchildren know the sad fate of Cook, who was killed by cannibal natives.

Christopher Columbus

Famous travelers and their discoveries have always had a significant impact on the course of history, but few have been as famous as this man. Columbus became a national hero of Spain, decisively expanding the map of the country. Christopher was born in 1451. The boy quickly achieved success because he was diligent and studied well. Already at the age of 14 he went to sea. In 1479, he met his love and began life in Portugal, but after the tragic death of his wife, he went with his son to Spain. Having received the support of the Spanish king, he went on an expedition, the purpose of which was to find a way to Asia. Three ships sailed from the coast of Spain to the west. In October 1492 they reached Bahamas. This is how America was discovered. Christopher mistakenly decided to call the locals Indians, believing that he had reached India. His report changed history: two new continents and many islands, discovered by Columbus, became the main travel destination of the colonialists in the next few centuries.

Vasco da Gama

Portugal's most famous traveler was born in Sines on September 29, 1460. From a young age, he worked in the Navy and became famous as a confident and fearless captain. In 1495, King Manuel came to power in Portugal, who dreamed of developing trade with India. For this, a sea route was needed, in search of which Vasco da Gama had to go. There were also more famous sailors and travelers in the country, but for some reason the king chose him. In 1497, four ships sailed south, rounded and sailed to Mozambique. I had to stay there for a month - half of the team had scurvy by that time. After a break, Vasco da Gama reached Calcutta. In India, he worked for three months trade relations, and a year later he returned to Portugal, where he became a national hero. The opening of the sea route, which made it possible to get to Calcutta past the east coast of Africa, was his main achievement.

Nikolay Miklukho-Maclay

Famous Russian travelers also made a lot of important discoveries. For example, the same Nikolai Mikhlukho-Maclay, who was born in 1864 in the Novgorod province. He could not graduate from St. Petersburg University, as he was expelled for participating in student demonstrations. To continue his education, Nikolai went to Germany, where he met Haeckel, a naturalist who invited Miklouho-Maclay to his scientific expedition. So the world of wanderings opened up for him. His whole life was devoted to travel and scientific work. Nicholas lived in Sicily, Australia, studied New Guinea, implementing the project of the Russian Geographical Society, visited Indonesia, the Philippines, the Malay Peninsula and Oceania. In 1886, the naturalist returned to Russia and proposed to the emperor to found a Russian colony across the ocean. But the project with New Guinea did not receive royal support, and Miklouho-Maclay fell seriously ill and soon died, without completing his work on a travel book.

Ferdinand Magellan

Many famous navigators and travelers lived in the era of the Great Magellan is no exception. In 1480 he was born in Portugal, in the city of Sabrosa. Having gone to serve at court (at that time he was only 12 years old), he learned about the confrontation between his native country and Spain, about traveling to the East Indies and trade routes. So he first became interested in the sea. In 1505, Fernand got on a ship. Seven years after that, he plied the sea, participated in expeditions to India and Africa. In 1513, Magellan went to Morocco, where he was wounded in battle. But this did not curb the craving for travel - he planned an expedition for spices. The king rejected his request, and Magellan went to Spain, where he received all the necessary support. Thus began his world tour. Fernand thought that from the west the route to India might be shorter. He crossed Atlantic Ocean, reached South America and discovered the strait, which would later be named after him. became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean. On it, he reached the Philippines and almost reached the goal - the Moluccas, but died in battle with local tribes, wounded by a poisonous arrow. However, his journey opened up a new ocean for Europe and the realization that the planet is much larger than scientists had previously thought.

Roald Amundsen

The Norwegian was born at the very end of an era in which many famous travelers became famous. Amundsen was the last of the navigators who tried to find undiscovered lands. From childhood, he was distinguished by perseverance and self-confidence, which allowed him to conquer the South Geographic Pole. The beginning of the journey is connected with 1893, when the boy left the university and got a job as a sailor. In 1896 he became a navigator, and the following year he went on his first expedition to Antarctica. The ship was lost in the ice, the crew suffered from scurvy, but Amundsen did not give up. He took command, cured the people, remembering his medical background, and brought the ship back to Europe. After becoming a captain, in 1903 he went in search of the Northwest Passage off Canada. Famous travelers before him had never done anything like this - in two years the team covered the path from the east of the American mainland to its west. Amundsen became known to the whole world. The next expedition was a two-month trip to the South Plus, and the last venture was the search for Nobile, during which he went missing.

David Livingston

Many famous travelers are connected with seafaring. he became a land explorer, namely the African continent. The famous Scot was born in March 1813. At the age of 20, he decided to become a missionary, met Robert Moffett and wished to go to African villages. In 1841, he came to Kuruman, where he taught local people how to farm, served as a doctor, and taught literacy. There he learned the Bechuan language, which helped him in his travels in Africa. Livingston studied in detail the life and customs of the locals, wrote several books about them and went on an expedition in search of the sources of the Nile, in which he fell ill and died of a fever.

Amerigo Vespucci

The most famous travelers in the world were most often from Spain or Portugal. Amerigo Vespucci was born in Italy and became one of the famous Florentines. He received a good education and trained as a financier. From 1490 he worked in Seville, in the Medici trade mission. His life was connected with sea travel, for example, he sponsored the second expedition of Columbus. Christopher inspired him with the idea of ​​trying himself as a traveler, and already in 1499 Vespucci went to Suriname. The purpose of the voyage was to study coastline. There he opened a settlement called Venezuela - little Venice. In 1500 he returned home with 200 slaves. In 1501 and 1503 Amerigo repeated his travels, acting not only as a navigator, but also as a cartographer. He discovered the bay of Rio de Janeiro, the name of which he gave himself. Since 1505, he served the king of Castile and did not participate in campaigns, only equipped other people's expeditions.

Francis Drake

Many famous travelers and their discoveries have benefited humanity. But among them there are those who left behind a bad memory, since their names were associated with rather cruel events. An English Protestant, who had sailed on a ship from the age of twelve, was no exception. He captured local residents in the Caribbean, selling them into slavery to the Spaniards, attacked ships and fought with Catholics. Perhaps no one could equal Drake in terms of the number of captured foreign ships. His campaigns were sponsored by the Queen of England. In 1577 he went to South America to defeat the Spanish settlements. During the journey, he found Tierra del Fuego and the strait, which was subsequently named after him. Rounding Argentina, Drake plundered the port of Valparaiso and two Spanish ships. When he reached California, he met the natives, who presented the British with gifts of tobacco and bird feathers. Drake crossed Indian Ocean and returned to Plymouth, becoming the first British citizen to visit world tour. He was admitted to the House of Commons and awarded the title of Sir. In 1595 he died in the last campaign in the Caribbean.

Afanasy Nikitin

Few famous travelers in Russia have achieved the same heights as this native of Tver. Afanasy Nikitin became the first European to visit India. He made a trip to the Portuguese colonizers and wrote "Journey Beyond the Three Seas" - the most valuable literary and historical monument. The success of the expedition was ensured by the merchant's career: Athanasius knew several languages ​​and knew how to negotiate with people. On his journey, he visited Baku, lived in Persia for about two years and reached India by ship. Visiting several cities exotic country, he went to Parvat, where he stayed for a year and a half. After the province of Raichur, he headed to Russia, paving the route through the Arabian and Somali Peninsulas. However, Afanasy Nikitin never made it home, because he fell ill and died near Smolensk, but his notes survived and provided the merchant with world fame.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES, finding new geographical objects or geographic patterns. In the early stages of the development of geography, discoveries associated with new geographic features. A particularly important role was played by... encyclopedic Dictionary

Geographic discoveries- (exploration), search and exploration of unknown lands. At the time of the discoverers of travel (expedition) in the main. carried out by sea, less often by land. Phoenician merchants (Phoenicians) often committed pestilence. sailing to the shores of Spain, Brittany and, ... ... The World History

Geographical discovery is the discovery of new geographical objects or geographical patterns Contents 1 Introduction 2 Periodization of geographical discoveries ... Wikipedia

Geographic discoveries- Russians finding new geographical. objects as a result of land or sea travel and expeditions. Even before the formation of Dr. Russian gos wa east. the Slavs were known. some wounds of Byzantium, adjacent to the Black Cape. In the 9th-11th century, thanks before ... ... Russian humanitarian encyclopedic dictionary

Cantino Planisphere (1502), the oldest surviving Portuguese navigational chart, showing the results of the expeditions of Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus and other explorers. It also depicts a meridian, section ... Wikipedia

The complex of the most significant discoveries on land and sea, made during almost the entire written history of mankind. Traditionally, the Great Geographical Discoveries are identified only with discoveries in the so-called era of the Great Geographical ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Discoveries of the conquest of Europeans at the beginning of the 15th - the middle of the 17th century. in Africa, Asia, America and Oceania. The term "geographical discoveries" in relation to the complex of overseas expeditions of Europeans in the 15th-17th centuries. rather conditional, because it covers two different ... ... Geographic Encyclopedia

Great geographical discoveries- GREAT GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES, designation of the complex of the most significant discoveries on land and sea, made during almost the entire written history of mankind. Traditionally, the Great geographical discoveries are identified only with discoveries ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

In zap. European and Russian prerevolutionary lit re under the era of V. g. usually understood as a centenary (approx.) period from ser. 15 to ser. 16th century, center. moments to the horn were: the discovery of tropical. America by H. Columbus, the discovery of a continuous sea. way from Zap. Europe… … Soviet historical encyclopedia

The set of the most important geographical discoveries made by European travelers in the 15th-17th centuries. The development of trade and industry in the countries of Western Europe, the formation of capitalist relations caused in the 15th - early. 16th century yearning for... ... Geographic Encyclopedia

Books

• Geographical Discoveries, Durham, Sylvia. Why did people seek to unknown distances? Where did the ancient Greeks go? What countries did Alexander the Great conquer? What was Ptolemy's mistake? When was the giraffe first seen in China?
• Geographical Discoveries, Sylvia Durham. Why did people seek to unknown distances? Where did the ancient Greeks go? What countries did Alexander the Great conquer? What was Ptolemy's mistake? Who invented the "solar sector"? When in…