The History of Ocean Exploration

Background

The bustling Mediterranean trade became disrupted during and after the Crusade of 1096 to 1291. With the fall of Constantinople or Byzantium in 1453 to Ottoman Turkey, the Asian and European trade activities were cut off. Sultan Mahmud II who became the ruler of Turkey at that time made a political policy that makes it difficult for European traders to operate in the region. It was then that the West faced the constraints of the spice trade crisis. With the onset of the crisis, the West tried hard to find the source of spices by exploring the oceans. The factors that support the exploration of the oceans themselves, among others, as follows.

Factors in general
1. Aligning the understanding of the Christian religion that has spread in the dark age,
2. Found gunpowder for armament in the voyage,
3. Found shipbuilding techniques,
4. Found compass for navigation shipping,
5. Found heliocentric theory where the earth is round.

Factor in particular
1. Gold, get spices,
2. Glory, searching for colonies,
3. Gospel, spreading and straighten the Christian religion due to the dark age.

Exploring the Ocean of Europe

The countries that pioneered the exploration of the oceans were Spain and Portugal, followed by England, the Netherlands, and so on. In order to avoid competition between the Portuguese and the Spanish, the Tordesillas Agreement took place in Europe on 7 June 1494 with the Pope as the religious leader dividing the two domains with demarcation lines or imaginary lines extending from the North Pole to the South Pole. The eastern region is the path of Portuguese power while Spain is to the west.

A. Exploring the Spaniards

1. Christopher Columbus,
The exploration took place on 3 August 1492 using three ships namely Pinta, Nina and Santa Maria. Columbus began sailing for spices in the eastern world, after two months of wading the Atlantic Ocean to Columbus on Guanahani Island located in the Bahamas, Caribbean. He felt he had reached the East Indies archipelago which was the source of spices, and he named the Indians as the Indians.

After that, the Bahamas was known as the West Indies, Columbus with Amerigo Vespucci between 1492 to 1504 sail counted 4 times. They found a new continent named America. So the inventor of the American continent was Christopher Columbus. Since then the Spanish seafarers followed in their footsteps like Cortez and Pizzaro. Cortez occupied Mexico in 1519 by conquering the Indians of the Aztecs and Maya in Yucatan. Pizzaro in 1530 conquered the Indian kingdom of Inca.


2. Ferdinand Magelhaens (Magellan),
The exploration took place August 10, 1519, sailing to the West accompanied by Capt. Juan Sebastian Del Cano and Pigafetta who is an Italian writer. It is this author who tells Magellan around the world that proves that the earth is round. In 1520 after wading through the Pacific Ocean, a Magellan group in the Massava Islands was named after the Philippines, named after the King of Spain, Phillips II. Magellan was killed in a battle against the Mactan on April 27, 1521. Magellan was considered to be a great man on the voyage as he made his first world tour. The king of Spain gave the gift of an artificial ball of earth and to the gift wrapped with a ribbon bearing the words "You are the first to circle me"


3. Juan Sebastian Del Cano.
After Magellan's death, the group rushed off the Philippines led by Sebastian Del Cano to the Maluku Islands 1521.



B. The exploration of the Portuguese

1. Bartholomeus Dias,
Bartholomeus Dias trawled from Lisbon, Portugal in August 1487. When he reached the southern tip of the African continent, the Dias ship was hit by a typhoon. After the storm subsided Dias returned to Portugal. The area was named by Dias and his entourage as the Cape of Storm but by the Portuguese King Joao II changed his name to Cape of Good Hope because to eliminate the frightening impression of the place and gave the Portuguese hope of finding the Indies.


2. Vasco Da Gama,
Vasco Da Gama explored on 8 July 1497 because the messenger of the Portuguese King Manuel I ordered to follow in the footsteps of Dias. His explorations were carried out by sea along the coast of West Africa.

Vasco Da Gama took a stop at the East African coast and continued into the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. Vasco Da Gama arrived in Calcutta on May 22, 1498. Vasco Da Gama in Calcutta established a trading post, he purchased spices to be shipped to Portugal and sold to other European countries.


3. Alfonso D 'Albuquerque.
After some time, the Portuguese realized that the spice producers were not in India but there was another place that became the center of the spice trade in Asia, namely Malacca. Therefore the exploration to the east resumed.

To master the trade around Malacca. From Calcutta, the Portuguese sent an exploration to Malacca led by Alfonso D 'Albuquerque who succeeded in conquering Malacca in 1511. After it succeeded, the Portuguese leaders heard that there was still a place of black pearl centers in the eastern archipelago. Thus Alfonso D 'Albuquerque continued his journey eastward to the Moluccas Islands in 1512.

In 1512 the Portuguese arrived in Maluku and occupied the area of Ternate. While in 1521 came the Spanish explorer to Maluku. This creates a sense of discomfort and the peak of a dispute. Eventually, religious leaders in Europe straightened the issue and passed the Saragoza treaty and ended with the departure of Spain from the Moluccas because the Spanish exploration area only reached the Philippines.



C. The exploration of the Dutch

1. Barentz,
The exploration by Barentz was done in 1594 searching the eastern or Asia through another route that is to the north. The exploration of Barentz is hampered because the seawater froze upon arrival at the North Pole. He stopped at an island called Novaya Zemlya Island, then decided back but died on the way.


2. Cornelis De Houtman,
The journey was carried out in 1595 with 4 ships carrying 249 crewmen and 64 cannons. Cornelis De Houtman led the exploration of the spice area to the east taking the path as the Portuguese did. In 1596 Cornelis De Houtman and his entourage arrived in Banten.


3. Jacob Van Neck.
Following in the footsteps of Cornelis De Houtman who came to Banten. He came with a friendly attitude to the people of Banten in 1598. His arrival was welcomed by the people of Banten, because along with the Banten resistance against the Portuguese, so that can be utilized by Jacob Van Neck.


D. The exploration of the English

1. Sir Francis Drake,
Sir Francis Drake's exploration was carried out in 1577 sailing from England to the west. In his explorations, Sir Francis Drake and his entourage bought spices in Ternate to bring home to his country.


2. Pilgrim Fathers,
The exploration of Pilgrim Fathers was carried out in 1607 to explore westward. His ship, named May Flower, managed to bring the group up to North America.


3. Sir James Lancester and George Raymond,
The exploration was done in 1591, Lancester successfully trekking all the way to Aceh and Penang. In June 1602, Lancester and the British merchant carrier (EIC) successfully arrived in Aceh and continued to Banten to establish a trading office.


4. Sir Henry Middleton,
The exploration was conducted in 1604 which is the second voyage of EIC led by Sir Henry Middleton to reach Ternate, Tidore, Ambon, and Banda. This exploration also led to competition with the VOC during the years 1611 to 1619.


5. Thomash S. Rafles.
The exploration was carried out in 1811 when England won the war in Europe and was marked by the British Tuntang agreement to rule the Archipelago over Java. He has also been instrumental in the discovery of Rafflesia Arnoldi, Bogor Botanical Gardens, and History of Java.

The Impact of Ocean Explorer

The positive effects of oceanic explorations include:
a. The trial of the truth of science,
b. Proof that the earth is round,
c. Application of navigation and maritime science,
d. The development of Catholicism and Protestantism,
e. Changing the pattern of trade into transit pattern,
f. The blending of local culture with new or foreign ones.


The negative effects of oceanic exploration include:
a. The spirit of reconguesta, the spirit of hatred against Muslims,
b. Colonialism, which is an attempt to conduct a residential system of citizens of a country outside the territory of its mother country,
c. Imperialism, the attempt to expand the territory or colony to establish empire or power,
d. Mercantilism, an economic system centered on the belief that governments can make a nation more prosperous by regulating trade using tariffs to achieve a balance of exports and imports.

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