The Martian Chronicles:
History Behind the Chronicles
Age of Exploration (AoE)
1450-1700
What has been known as The Age of Exploration, was first started by the Portuguese. They
began a huge race to build a commercial empire by exploring the coast of West Africa. They established trade in that of
gold and slaves. Other trade items encouraged the exploration of more places. In the North Atlantic, an enormous trade
in fish encouraged the European nations to search for farther fishing grounds. Meanwhile, merchants were trading around
the south tip of Africa to the East to get spices needed to preserve thier meats. The merchants could avoid
expensive taxes from the rullers of every country between Eygpt and Europe by traveling in this fashion. Religion also
played an important role. The Spanish were pushing hard to convert many of the Natives in
America to thier Catholic religion, while many settlers in the Northern region of America were moving there for religious
freedom. The best example of this was the Pilgrims of Plymoth Colony who were being persecuted for thier beliefs.
The most pivotal point of the Age of Exploration was the discovery of the New World by a one Christopher Colombus
who sailed across the Atlantic searching for a new route to Asia but accidently landed in the Caribbean.
Another pivotal point was that of the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama who rounded the Cape of Good Hope at the
southern tip of Africa. He became the first European to reach India by a sea route.
The Rest of this section explains more in depth about each active participant of the Age of Exploration. These countries
were Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands,
England and France.
Back to History of Colonies
