Chapter

15
Scien/c Revolu/on
and the Age of
Explora/on
Aristotle believed that heavier Galileo claimed that all objects
objects fall faster than lighter ones. fall at the same speed.
Aristteles crea que los objetos Galileo arm que todos los
ms pesados caan ms rpido que objetos caen a la misma
los ms ligeros. velocidad.
 Classical Science
Between 600 B.C.E. to 200 C.E., Ancient Greek scien/sts developed many
new ideas using ra@onalism.

Ra/onalism used reason, or logical thought, to understand the world.

Aristotle developed the geocentric theory, a theory that placed Earth at

the center of the universe.

500 years aHer Aristotle, Ptolemy agreed with and expanded Aristotles
view. Aristotles and Ptolemys view of the universe proved to be wrong.

In the 500 B.C.E., a Greek scholar named Pythagoras (pih-thag-uhr-us)

explained that all things combine in an agreeable way to form the universe.
For example, the Pythagoras Theorem a=9, b=12, c=15.

About 200 years aHer Pythagoras, Euclid (yoo-klihd) studied shapes and
developed a type of math known as geometry.

At around 100 C.E., Galen studied the structure of living things in what is
known as anatomy. Galen learned through dissec/on, cuTng plants and
animals to look at their parts.

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 Science in the Middles Ages
Between the mid-700s and mid-1200s, Muslim culture ourished
(Chapter 4).

Muslim scholars studied and advanced the learning of classical Greece

and other ancient socie/es.

Al-Khwarizmi, an Islamic mathema/cian, used the number system and

zero from India to develop the Arabic number system that is used in
most of the world today.

Al-Khwarizmi also developed a type of math known as algebra.

In the early 900s, Al-Razi was able to iden/fy and describe diseases.

At around 1000, Ibn Sina organized all medical knowledge in the

Canon of Medicine.

Muslim, Jewish, and Chris/an scholars gathered in Al-Andalus (Spain

Muslim) to share knowledge. Books wri_en in Greek and Arabic were
translated into La/n.

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 The Scien@c Revolu@on
European scholars began to ques/on classical scien/c ideas and
Chris/an beliefs in what became known as the Scien@c Revolu@on.
In the early 1500s, Nicolas Copernicus reasoned that the stars,
Earth, and other planets revolved around the sun in an oval shape.
This view of the universe is called heliocentric.
100 years later Johannes Kepler used math to prove the planets
move around the sun and planets revolve in ellip/cal orbits (oval in
shape).
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Galileo used the telescope to support Copernicus ideas about the
universe, but the Church believed the universe was geocentric.
WATCH Mini Bio Galileo

In the late 1600s, Sir Isaac Newton from England stated that all
physical objects were aected by the same force gravity.
Newton said in a theory that gravity acts on all objects throughout
the universe universal gravita@on.
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1543: Nicolaus Copernicus 1590: Zacharias
stated that Earth, stars, and
planets moved around the Janssen invented the
sun. microscope.
1609: Jahannes Kepler proved 1610: Galileo Galilei used the
Copernicuss theory by using telescope to study the heavens.
mathema@cal laws. He also He found that the sun and moon
were not made of pure and
showed that the planets had perfect substance as Aristotle
oval orbits, not circular ones. had believed.
1628 William Harvey showed 1643: Evangelista Torricelli
that blood was pumped invented the barometer, which
through the body by the measured the pressure of Earths
atmosphere. Later scien@sts
heart, not the liver as the used the barometer to predict
Greeks believed. the weather.
1670: Anton von 1687 Issace Newtons theory
Leeuwenhoek used the of mo@on stated that all
objects in the universe were
microscope to observe aected by gravity. This force
bacteria. kept planets in their orbits
1714: Gabriel Fahrenheit
invented the rst mercury
thermometer. He also
developed a temperature
scale.
 The Scien@c Method
In the 1600s, Rene Descartes and Francis Bacon had a huge
impact on how scien/sts studied the world.

Rene Descartes from France believed every idea should be

doubted un/l proven by reason.

Descartes said, I think therefore I am. Descartes believed that
people could use their minds to understand the physical world.

Sir Francis Bacon from England felt that scien/sts should use
experiments and observa/on to study science and understand
the world.
1) Make observa/ons to determine the problem
2) Form a hypothesis (Ifthen...)
3) Test the hypothesis through experiments
4) Use reason to analyze the results (Was the hypothesis correct
or wrong? Why?)

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 How to recycle paper?
Make observations to
determine the
problem


Form a hypothesis
(Ifthen)



Test the hypothesis Read instructions (on
through experiments other page)

Use reason to analyze
the results (Was the
hypothesis correct or
wrong? Why?)
Make a conclusion





 The Age of Explora@on
Europeans wanted luxury goods from Asia such as silks
from China and spices from India.
Italian and Muslim merchants controlled overland trade
between Europe and Asia.
Merchants from Portugal, Spain, England and France
needed to nd a sea route to Asia.
Merchants from Portugal were the rst Europeans to
establish sea trade with Asia because Prince Henry known
as the Navigator sponsored voyages of explora/on.
Portuguese shipbuilders perfected the caravel, a ship
designed for long voyages.
Caravels had both the square sails used on European ships
and triangular sails used on Arabian ships.
Portuguese sailors tracked direc/on with a compass, a
Chinese inven/on.
Portuguese sailors also used an astrolabe, which was
invented by the ancient Greeks and improved by the
Arabs, to help nd the ships la/tude (distance north or
south of the equator).
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 Reaching India
By the /me Henry the Navigator died in 1460,
Portugal had set up trading posts along Africas west
coast.
The Portuguese developed protable trade for gold,
ivory, and slaves.
In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias traveled around Africas
southern /p and part of Africas east coast before
returning back to Portugal.
In 1498, Vasco da Gama sailed all the way to India.
A few years later Portugal set up trading posts in
India, and farther east in the Spice Islands (present-
day Indonesia).
Overland trade was more expensive than sea trade,
and as a result the Portuguese could charge less for
spices.
WATCH Lisbon, Portugal

 Columbus Reaches America
By studying maps and reports, an Italian explorer
named Christopher Columbus knew the earth was
round.
Columbus believed he could reach Asia quicker if he
sailed west instead of east around Africa, many people
were skep/cal.
In 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella sponsored
Columbus plan to sail west to get to the far east (Asia).
In early August 1492, Columbus leH Spain with 3
caravels (Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria) and about 90 men.
AHer almost 10 weeks at sea, on October 12 Columbus
landed on what he believed was India, but was actually
on an island in the Caribbean Sea.
Columbus incorrectly called the people who greeted
him and his men Indios (Indians).
Columbus set up a se_lement on the island of
Hispaniola, and then sailed back to Spain.
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 Explora@on A`er Columbus
In 1494, Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas
created an imaginary line from north to south around the
world.
All lands west of the line would be claimed by Spain, and all
lands east of the line would be claimed by Portugal.
In 1519, the Spanish sponsored a voyage captained by a
Portuguese sailor named Ferdinand Magellan to
circumnavigate the globe.
Magellan set sail from Spain with 5 ships and 250 men.
AHer almost 3 years, only 1 ship and 18 of the original crew
members returned to Spain.
Magellan did the not complete the voyage because he was
killed in the Philippine Islands.
Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztecs.
Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas.
By the early 1500s, Spain controlled all of present-day
Mexico and Central America.
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 Impact of Explora@on
Columbian Exchange was the movement of things
between the Eastern and Western hemispheres.
The ocean trade routes were controlled, for the most part,
by Europeans.
Silver was used for world trade. The Spanish mined for
silver in colonies throughout Mexico and South America.
The silver was used to buy silks and porcelain from China.
The silver was also used to buy spices from India and East
Indies.
To grow sugar canes in the West Indies slaves were
brought from Africa, the sugar was shipped to Europe, and
the slaves were paid for with cheap manufactured goods
from Europe in the triangular trade.
Diseases brought by Europeans to the Americas killed over
20 million Na/ve Americans.
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