The Portugese

Portugal was a key country in the Age of Exploration. The Age of Exploration followed the Age of Enlightenment and the Renaissance. The main interest of the European countries in discovering the new World was to become more powerful. At the time of the Age of Exploration silk was one of the most treasured commodities in the world. Silk was only produced in the far east in places like China. The only way that Europe could trade in silk was using the great silk road. this was a long and arduous journey. It was also very dangerous for European Christians to travel and trade along the road as Turkish Muslims were always attacking them. This is why the Portuguese led by King Henry the Navigator were desperate to find a new trade route to the East by sea. Vasco Da Gama was the first to discover India and the Eastern World. He did this by sailing around the Cape of Storms/ Cape of Good Hope under Africa. He travelled to Mozambique and then on to Calicut in India. He was rewarded the title of Lord for his exploration and the ownership of his home town of Sines. This was a great discovery for Da Gama, Portugal and the World.

Vikings

Although there were many great explorations before the Vikings, the Vikings is where we will begin our exploration of explorations. The Vikings were a people from Scandinavia, they came from the countries known today as of Sweden, Denmark and Norway. They were farmers and seafarers who began to explore and discover Europe circa 800 B.C, this continued for approximately 350 years.
They were excellent sailors and everybody knows about the infamous Viking long ships which they travelled upon. The ships were cleverly designed for both raiding and war, they were fast but with a shallow bottom allowing them to travel both in the open sea and up and down rivers.
 The reasons behind their exploration are simple. They travelled to raid other villages, they wanted to steal their riches and their livestock and food. Another reason the Vikings began to raid Great Britain and Ireland was that the countries were in such disarray. The land was divided between villages who were constantly warring. This made them easy prey as all there warriors were scattered not together in a single army.
The reasons behind their raids and the expansion of their territory geographically speaking come from the origins of the Viking people. They originated from Scandinavia a notoriously harsh land, with a freezing climate prone to large snows. They attacked southern and western regions such as France and England because these places were a lot warmer and stealing crops was preferable to growing them.
The Vikings were amazing explorers they travelled extremely far for people of their time. Some say that they were the original discoverers of North America not Christopher Columbus.

Introduction

Óran's Exploration Geography Blog

Hello, my name is Óran, and this is my Transition Year Environmental Studies blog. I chose to do my blog on the geography of exploration because of my interest in history, the age of exploration and the exploration of mankind. Ever since the beginning of mankind, people have wished to explore and discover further, to find and know more about the world on which we live, In this blog I will look at some of the greatest explorations and the geographical reasons behind them.