Age of Discovery

(noun)

The period starting in the early 15th century and continuing into the early 17th century during which Europeans engaged in intensive exploration of the world.

Related Terms

Examples of Age of Discovery in the following topics:

  • The Expansion of Europe

    • The Age of Discovery, also known as the Age of Exploration and the Great Navigations, was a period in European history from the early 15th century to the early 17th century.
    • Historians often refer to the Age of Discovery to mean the pioneering period of the Portuguese and Spanish long-distance maritime travels in search of alternative trade routes to the Indies.
    • While a great deal of Western history centers on Europeans as the earliest and most advanced explorers of the world, growing evidence suggests extensive transoceanic travel had been well underway long before the European Age of Discovery.
    • The fall of the Roman Empire (476 CE) and the beginning of the European Renaissance in the late 14th century roughly bookend the period known as the Middle Ages.
    • This map illustrates the main travels of the Age of Discovery, from 1482-1524.

  • Mediterranean Trade and European Expansion

    • The prelude to the Age of Discovery was a series of European expeditions crossing Eurasia by land in the late Middle Ages.
    • A series of Europeans took advantage of these to explore eastwards.
    • The economic growth of Europe around the year 1000, together with the lack of safety on the mainland trading routes, eased the development of major commercial routes along the coast of the Mediterranean.
    • Maritime Republics of Venice, Genoa, Amalfi, Pisa, and the Republic of Ragusa developed their own empires on the Mediterranean shores.
    • Spices were among the most expensive and desired products of the Middle Ages, used in medieval medicine, religious rituals, cosmetics, and perfumery, as well as for food additives and preservatives.

  • The Transformed National Economy

    • The rapid economic growth after the Civil War, driven by many discoveries and inventions, led to the Second Industrial Revolution.
    • The "Gilded Age" of the second half of the 19th century was the epoch of tycoons.
    • The Gilded Age saw the greatest period of economic growth in American history.
    • The end of the Gilded Age coincided with the Panic of 1893, a deep depression that lasted until 1897 and marked a major political realignment in the election of 1896.
    • A chart of real US GNP per capita from 1869 to 1918 (covering the period of the Long Depression and the Gilded Age).

  • Mining on the Comstock Lode

    • The Comstock Lode was the first major U.S. discovery of silver ore, located in what is now Virginia City, Nevada in 1857.
    • The Comstock Lode was the first major U.S. discovery of silver ore, located in what is now Virginia City, Nevada, on the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range.
    • After the discovery was made public in 1859, prospectors rushed to the area to stake their claims.
    • The discovery of silver in Nevada (then western Utah Territory) in 1859 caused considerable excitement in California and throughout the United States.
    • The excitement was the greatest since the discovery of gold in California ten years earlier at Sutter's Mill.

  • The Gilded Age

    • Historians view the Gilded Age as a period of rapid economic, technological, political, and social transformation.
    • By the end of the Gilded Age, the United States was at the top end of the world's leading industrial nations.
    • The Gilded Age saw impressive economic growth and the unprecedented growth of major cities.
    • The end of the Gilded Age coincided with the Panic of 1893, a deep depression, which lasted until 1897 and marked a major political realignment in the election of 1896.
    • Built in 1893, it typifies the excesses of Gilded Age wealth.

  • Conclusion: Trends of the Gilded Age

    • The term for this period came into use in the 1920s and 30s and was derived from writer Mark Twain's 1873 The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, which satirized an era of serious social problems masked by a thin gold gilding.
    • The early half of the Gilded Age roughly coincided with the middle portion of the Victorian era in Britain and Belle Époque in France.
    • The Gilded Age was an era of rapid economic growth, especially in the North and West.
    • However, the Gilded Age was also an era of abject poverty and inequality as millions of immigrants—many from impoverished European nations—poured into the United States, and the high concentration of wealth became more visible and contentious.
    • Book cover of The Gilded Age by Mark Twain (1st edition, 1873)

  • Economic Conditions

    • The economic transformation taking place during the Gilded Age created prosperity and new lifestyles for some, but these changes also had a widespread negative impact in areas dominated by farming.
    • To make matters worse, the McKinley Tariff of 1890 was one of the highest the country had ever seen.
    • The pragmatic portion of the Populist platform focused on issues of land, railroads, and money, including the unlimited coinage of silver.
    • The financial panic of 1893 heightened the tension of this debate.
    • Silverites, who did not realize that most transactions were handled by bank checks, not sacks of gold, believed the new prosperity was spurred by the discovery of gold in the Yukon.

  • Freedom, Inequality, and Democracy in the Gilded Age

    • During the Gilded Age, many new social movements took hold in the United States, supporting the rights of women and African-Americans.
    • During the Gilded Age, many new social movements took hold in the United States.
    • The Harlem Renaissance and the popularity of jazz music during the early part of the 20th century made many Americans more aware of black culture and more accepting of black celebrities.
    • The "Gilded Age" that was enjoyed by the topmost percentiles of American society after the recovery from the Panic of 1873 floated on the surface of the newly industrialized economy of the Second Industrial Revolution.
    • The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their 1873 book, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, employing the ironic difference between a "gilded" and a Golden Age.

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition

    • After the purchase of the Louisiana Territory, Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to lead an expedition called the "Corps of Discovery."
    • Thus, in 1804, he commissioned his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to join frontiersman and soldier Captain William Clark in recruiting a "Corps of Discovery."
    • Jefferson wanted to improve the ability of American merchants to access the ports of China.
    • After spending eighteen long months on the trail and nearly starving to death in the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana, the Corps of Discovery finally reached the Pacific Ocean in 1805 and spent the winter of 1805–1806 in Oregon.
    • The Corps of Discovery accomplished many of the goals Jefferson had set.

  • The Jazz Age

    • The Jazz Age was a cultural period and movement that took place in America during the 1920s from which both new styles of music and dance emerged.
    • The surfacing of Flappers, women noted for their flamboyant style of dress and progressive attitudes and modernized morals, began to captivate society during the Jazz Age.
    • The music of singer Bessie Smith was immensely popular during the Jazz Age and she both influenced and paved the way for generations of female artists.
    • Cab Calloway became one of the most popular musicians of the Jazz Age in the 1920s.
    • During the Jazz Age, popular music included current dance songs, novelty songs, and show tunes.