Age of Discovery
Photo: Lencer, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The Age of Discovery, also known as the Age of Exploration, was the period from the 15th century to the late 18th, when Europeans set sail to discover and explore other lands. It also marked the beginning of European colonialism and the start of the Mercantilist Age, as well as the beginning of globalization.
While the European explorers did discover many uninhabited islands, for the most part they were exploring lands that had been discovered and settled by other people thousands of years before. The widely-used term "Age of Discovery" reflects the Eurocentric view of the world that existed at the time.
For this article, we focus on seaborne exploration and consider the Age of Exploration to end with the navigators Cook, Vancouver, Tasman and Flinders exploring the Pacific in the late 18th century. This excludes various expansions over land — the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, Imperial China, America's Old West and so on — and more recent explorations in the Arctic, Antarctica and Space.
The article In the footsteps of explorers takes a broader approach to exploration, including explorers from other time-periods and those not from Europe.
UnderstandThough the great voyages of the Age of Discovery were neither the world's first nor the first major ones by Europeans, they were very influential.
Eat and drinkThe Age of Discovery also had a huge impact on global culinary culture, and many ingredients now seen as integral parts of many European cuisines such as potatoes, tomatoes and cocoa actually have their origins in the…
ExplorersThis section lists many of the more famous explorers of the period.
SeeWikivoyage has itinerary articles for some of the greatest voyages of the Age of Discovery:
See alsoWikivoyage also has a number of articles on things that were influenced by European exploration and colonialism.
Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "Age of Discovery" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo: Lencer, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons