Great Geographical Discoveries

A common term in Western historiography for a series of seafaring activities in which seafarers and explorers from a number of European countries opened up new direct routes to the East in the 15th and 17th centuries, and explored seas and lands that had not been reached by the Europeans before.

During these oceanic explorations, the Europeans discovered many countries or regions that were unknown in Europe at that time. The great geographical discoveries include a series of historical events, notably the discovery of the Cape of Storms (the Cape of Good Hope) at the southern tip of Africa by the Portuguese Dias (ca. 1450–1500) in 1486; the voyage of the Italian navigator Columbus to reach America in 1492; and the opening of a voyage around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa to India by the Portuguese explorer da Gama in 1498; the expedition led by the Portuguese Magellan for the Spanish government from 1519 to 1522 saw his fleet complete the first human circumnavigation of the globe; the Dutch Tasman sailed to Australia, New Zealand and other places from 1642 to 1643.

The great geographical discoveries took place during the period of the primitive accumulation of capital. They have changed the perception that the world’s continents and oceans are in a split and isolated state, strengthened worldwide interrelations, and furthered the formation and development of “world history”. They have started off the colonial plunder, expanded the world market, stimulated the development of commodity economy as well as a “commodity revolution” and a “price revolution” in Western Europe, accelerated the primitive accumulation of capital and the dissolution of the feudal system in Western Europe, raised the status of the bourgeoisie and pushed forward the development of the newborn capitalism in Europe. As Marx and Engels pointed out in The Communist Manifesto, the discovery of America, the rounding of the Cape, opened up fresh ground for the rising bourgeoisie. The great geographical discoveries were also the beginning of the bloody and violent division of colonies in modern times, laying the groundwork for the wars of plunder and division of colonies among the Western powers.

The term “great geographical discoveries” essentially reflects a Eurocentric notion of history.