Великие географические открытия

of European global exploration that started in the early 15th

century with the first Portuguese discoveries in the Atlantic archipelagos and Africa, as well as the discovery of America by Spain in 1492, and the discovery of the ocean route to the East in 1498, and by a series of European naval expeditions across the Atlantic and later the Pacific, which continued until the 18th century. It is sometimes regarded as a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Modern era, along with its contemporary Renaissance movement. European overseas expansion led to the rise of colonial empires, with the contact between the Old and New Worlds producing the Columbian Exchange: a wide transfer of plants, animals, foods, human populations (including slaves), communicable diseases and culture between the Eastern and Western hemispheres. This represented one of the most-significant global events concerning ecology, agriculture, and culture in history. European exploration allowed the global mapping of the world, resulting in a new world-view and distant civilizations acknowledging each other, reaching the most remote boundaries much later.

sea route to India.
2. The discovery and exploration of the

new continent.
3. Defined the contours of almost all continents.
4. Enrichment by new knowledge of the history, Ethnography, Zoology, botany.

by the European expeditions in the mid-15th to mid 17th

century: the discovery of H. Columbus America, discovery V. da Gamma India.

contours of the inhabited continents, explored most of the earth's

surface, was obtained representation on the form of the Earth as a huge balloon and its dimensions. The great geographical discoveries have given impetus to the development of not only the geography, but many other fields of science, providing extensive new material for botany, Zoology, Ethnography. The Great geographical discoveries Europeans first became acquainted with a number of new agricultural crops (potatoes, maize, tomato, tobacco).
The great geographical discoveries helped to establish new trade and cultural contacts between the two countries has expanded people's ideas about life on other continents and in different countries. Many European countries have acquired new colony - dependent peoples and Nations for new natural and economic resources. However, there are new diseases that were previously unknown, new weapons and tools.

– 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer,

and captain in the Royal Navy. Cook made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.

joined the Royal Navy in 1755. He saw action in

the Seven Years' War, and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec. This helped bring Cook to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society. This notice came at a crucial moment in both Cook's career and the direction of British overseas exploration, and led to his commission in 1766 as commander of HM Bark Endeavour for the first of three Pacific voyages.
In three voyages Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail and on a scale not previously achieved. As he progressed on his voyages of discovery he surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions.
Cook was killed in Hawaii in a fight with Hawaiians during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific in 1779. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge which was to influence his successors well into the 20th century and numerous memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him.

1778 – 25 January [O.S. 13 January] 1852; Russian: Фаддей

Фаддеевич Беллинсгаузен, Faddey Faddeyevich Bellinsgauzen) was a Baltic German officer in the Imperial Russian Navy, cartographer and explorer, who ultimately rose to the rank of Admiral. He was a notable participant of the first Russian circumnavigation and subsequently a leader of another circumnavigation expedition, which discovered the continent of Antarctica.

Fadey Bellinsgausen

the prices of basic products associated with the influx of

a large number of gold and silver from the new world;
· the beginning of the formation of the colonial system;
· move the trade routes from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic ocean;
· the formation of the world market.