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北京剑桥少儿英语阅读 RE2课堂切片---大航海时代The age of Exploration

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RE2 UNIT 8 讲到的两个人物---Marco Polo 和Ibn Battuta, 均是在所谓大航海时代The age of exploration之前的人物。

我们有必要沿着这条探索线从历史往下看大航海时代。

马可波罗和伊本·白图塔

The Polos traveled the Silk Road to China where he met the great ruler Kublai Khan. Marco traveled much of China and the east, and his stories were written into a popular book. His book would go on to inspire other explorers....

波罗一家沿着丝绸之路来到中国，在那里他遇到了伟大的统治者忽必烈汗。马可游历了中国和东方的许多地方，他的故事写进了他的游记，据说是马可波罗游记激发了哥伦布的探索热情。

第二个课文里提到的人物是 Ibn Battuta

He was a Muslim explorer who made a series of journeys that spanned nearly three decades. He traveled throughout almost the entire Islamic world, and went as far as India and China...

他是一名穆斯林探险家，进行了近30年的一系列旅行。他几乎走遍了整个伊斯兰世界，远至印度和中国。

Ibn Battuta was a great Medieval traveler and explorer. He is often compared to Marco Polo, who died a year before Ibn Battuta left home. But unlike Polo, Ibn Battuta traveled mostly to and within Muslim regions. His book helped shed light on many aspects of the social, cultural, and political history of a great part of the Muslim world.

伊本·白图塔，是一位伟大的中世纪旅行家和探险家。他经常被和马可·波罗相提，马可在伊本·白图泰出发一年后去世。但与马可波罗不同的是，伊本·白图塔主要在穆斯林地区探索。他的书帮助人们了解了大部分穆斯林世界的社会、文化和政治历史的许多方面。

A Brief History of the Age of Exploration

出自：Historythought

编译：蜜雪老师

(An 1891 print shows a parade in honor of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, whose ships circumnavigated the world between 1519 and 1522, Spain, 1522. Magellan, himself, had died in 1521, and the return was achieved under the command of one of Magellan's captains, Juan)

(一幅1891年的版画展示了为纪念葡萄牙探险家费迪南德·麦哲伦而举行的游行。1519年至1522年，麦哲伦的船队环游了世界。麦哲伦本人于1521年去世，在他的船长胡安(Juan)的指挥下完成了返航。)

The age of exploration brought about discoveries and advances

The era known as the Age of Exploration, sometimes called the Age of Discovery, officially began in the early 15th century and lasted through the 17th century. The period is characterized as a time when Europeans began exploring the world by sea in search of new trading routes, wealth, and knowledge. The impact of the Age of Exploration would permanently alter the world and transform geography into the modern science it is today.

大航海时代，有时也称为发现时代，正式开始于15世纪初，一直持续到17世纪。这一时期的特点是，欧洲人开始通过海上探索世界，寻找新的贸易路线、财富和知识。大航海时代的影响将永久地改变世界，并将地理转变为今天的现代科学。

The Birth of the Age of Exploration

Many nations were looking for goods such as silver and gold, but one of the biggest reasons for exploration was the desire to find a new route for the spice and silk trades.

许多国家都在寻找白银和黄金等商品，但进行探险的最大原因之一是希望为香料和丝绸贸易找到一条新路线。

( The capture and sacking of Constantinople by Turkish troops under Mohammed II, 29th May 1453. The Turkish victory marked the end of the Byzantine Empire and the rise of the Ottomans. )

(1453年5月29日，穆罕默德二世的土耳其军队攻占并洗劫了君士坦丁堡。土耳其的胜利标志着拜占庭帝国的结束和奥斯曼帝国的崛起。)

When the Ottoman Empire took control of Constantinople in 1453, it blocked European access to the area, severely limiting trade. In addition, it also blocked access to North Africa and the Red Sea, two very important trade routes to the Far East.

1453年，奥斯曼帝国控制了君士坦丁堡，封锁了欧洲人进入该地区的通道，严重限制了贸易。此外，它还封锁了通往远东的两条非常重要的贸易通道——北非和红海。

The first of the journeys associated with the Age of Discovery were conducted by the Portuguese. Although the Portuguese, Spanish, Italians, and others had been plying the Mediterranean for generations, most ailors kept well within sight of land or traveled known routes between ports. Prince Henry the Navigator changed that, encouraging explorers to sail beyond the mapped routes and discover new trade routes to West Africa.

第一次大航海时代的旅行是由葡萄牙人进行的。尽管葡萄牙人、西班牙人、意大利人和其他国家的人已经在地中海地区工作了好几代了，但大多数水手都在能看到陆地的地方航行，或者在港口之间沿着已知的航线航行。航海家亨利王子改变了这一状况，他鼓励探险家们在地图上标出的航线之外航行，发现通往西非的新贸易航线。

Portuguese explorers discovered the Madeira Islands in 1419 and the Azores in 1427. Over the coming decades, they would push farther south along the African coast, reaching the coast of present-day Senegal by the 1440s and the Cape of Good Hope by 1490. Less than a decade later, in 1498, Vasco da Gama would follow this route all the way to India.

葡萄牙探险家在1419年发现了马德拉群岛，1427年发现了亚速尔群岛。在接下来的几十年里，他们沿着非洲海岸向南推进，在1440年代到达现在的塞内加尔海岸，在1490年到达好望角。不到十年后，也就是1498年，瓦斯科·达·伽马沿着这条路一路来到印度。

The Discovery of the New World

( Illustration titled 'Embarkation and Departure of Columbus from the Port of Palos', On His First Voyage of Discovery, On The 3rd of August, 1492. )

(图:1492年8月3日，哥伦布第一次发现新大陆，从帕洛斯港出发。)

While the Portuguese were opening new sea routes along Africa, the Spanish also dreamed of finding new trade routes to the Far East. Christopher Columbus, an Italian working for the Spanish monarchy, made his first journey in 1492. Instead of reaching India, Columbus found the island of San Salvador in what is known today as the Bahamas. He also explored the island of Hispaniola, home of modern-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

当葡萄牙人沿着非洲开辟新的海上航线时，西班牙人也梦想着找到通往远东的新贸易航线。为西班牙王室工作的意大利人克里斯托弗·哥伦布于1492年首次踏上征程。但哥伦布到达的不是印度，而是圣萨尔瓦多岛，今天的巴哈马。他还到达了伊斯帕尼奥拉岛，即今天的海地和多米尼加共和国的所在地。

Columbus would lead three more voyages to the Caribbean, exploring parts of Cuba and the Central American coast. The Portuguese also reached the New World when explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral explored Brazil, setting off a conflict between Spain and Portugal over the newly claimed lands. As a result, the Treaty of Tordesillas officially divided the world in half in 1494.

哥伦布又进行了另外三次航行到加勒比海，探索古巴部分地区和中美洲海岸。葡萄牙探险家佩德罗·阿尔瓦雷斯·卡布拉尔(Pedro Alvares Cabral)探索巴西时也到达新大陆，这引发了西班牙和葡萄牙之间争夺新领土的冲突。结果，1494年，《托尔德西亚斯条约》正式将世界一分为二。

Columbus' journeys opened the door for the Spanish conquest of the Americas. During the next century, men such as Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro would decimate the Aztecs of Mexico, the Incas of Peru, and other indigenous peoples of the Americas. By the end of the Age of Exploration, Spain would rule from the Southwestern United States to the southernmost reaches of Chile and Argentina.

哥伦布的旅行为西班牙征服美洲打开了大门。在接下来的一个世纪里，像埃尔南·科尔特斯和弗朗西斯科·皮萨罗这样的人大量屠杀了墨西哥的阿兹特克人、秘鲁的印加人和美洲的其他土著居民。到大航海时代结束时，西班牙统治了从美国西南部到智利和阿根廷最南端的地区。

Opening the Americas

Great Britain and France also began seeking new trade routes and lands across the ocean. In 1497, John Cabot, an Italian explorer working for the English, reached what is believed to be the coast of Newfoundland. A number of French and English explorers followed, including Giovanni da Verrazano, who discovered the entrance to the Hudson River in 1524, and Henry Hudson, who mapped the island of Manhattan first in 1609.

英国和法国也开始寻找新的贸易路线和跨越海洋的陆地。1497年，为英国人工作的意大利探险家约翰·卡伯特到达了纽芬兰(New FoundLand)海岸。许多法国和英国探险家紧随其后,1524年Giovanni da Verrazano发现哈德逊河入口, 1609年, Henry Hudson首次绘制曼哈顿岛地图。

(Henry Hudson, his boat being greeted by Native Americans at the lakeshore. )

(亨利·哈德逊，他的船在湖岸受到印第安人的欢迎。)

Over the next decades, the French, Dutch, and British would all vie for dominance. England established the first permanent colony in North America at Jamestown, Va., in 1607. Samuel du Champlain founded Quebec City in 1608, and Holland established a trading outpost in present-day New York City in 1624.

在接下来的几十年里，法国、荷兰和英国都在争夺新领地的统治地位。1607年，英国在弗吉尼亚州的詹姆斯敦建立了北美第一个永久殖民地。1608年，塞缪尔·杜·尚普兰成立了魁北克市，1624年，荷兰在今天的纽约市建立了一个贸易前哨。

Other important voyages of exploration during this era included Ferdinand Magellan's attempted circumnavigation of the globe, the search for a trade route to Asia through the Northwest Passage, and Captain James Cook's voyages that allowed him to map various areas and travel as far as Alaska.

在这一时期，其他重要的探险航行包括费迪南德·麦哲伦的环球航行，通过西北航道寻找通往亚洲的贸易路线。詹姆斯·库克船长从航行中绘制不同地区的地图，他最远到达阿拉斯加。

The End of the Era

The Age of Exploration ended in the early 17th century after technological advancements and increased knowledge of the world allowed Europeans to travel easily across the globe by sea. The creation of permanent settlements and colonies created a network of communication and trade, therefore ending the need to search for new routes.

17世纪早期，随着技术的进步和对世界的了解的增加，欧洲人可以便利地通过海路环游世界，大航海时代就此结束。永久定居点和殖民地的建立建立了通信和贸易网络，也不再需要寻找新的路线了。

It is important to note that exploration did not cease entirely at this time. Eastern Australia was not officially claimed for Britain by Capt. James Cook until 1770, while much of the Arctic and Antarctic were not explored until the 20th century. Much of Africa also was unexplored by Westerners until the late 19th century and early 20th century.

值得注意的是，探索并没有完全停止。直到1770年，詹姆斯·库克船长才正式宣称东澳大利亚是英国的领土，而北极和南极的大部分地区直到20世纪才被勘探过。非洲的大部分地区直到19世纪末和20世纪初才被西方人探索过。

然而，以上提到的大航海时代的探险家，基本都死得很惨，航海时代也是一个痛苦的发现之旅。并且形成了早期欧洲霸占世界的格局，也改变了世界历史。