What problems did Europeans have to overcome in order to find an all water route to Asia?

Answer 1

For an all-water route to Asia, the Europeans had to first build ships that were strong enough to travel the far distance involved and large enough to hold plenty of goods (otherwise the journey wouldn't be worth the trouble).

Then there is the issue of finding a good route to sail. Captains were forced to navigate alongside Coastlines because a practical navigation tool hadn't been invented until the late 15th century. Thus, in order to get to Asia, ships had to venture down to the tip of South Africa and then all the way up around the other side, which sometimes took years to go just one way.

By the late 1400s, mariners began using a tool called an astrolabe to navigate. They could now find their latitude by measuring the Sun and stars, and thus could travel away from the coastlines. The primary star that Europeans used with the astrolabe was Polaris (AKA the North Star) since it was only one degree away from true north and could easily be spotted. The problem with this, however, was that the North Star could only be seen from the Northern Hemisphere! So when the Europeans attempted to travel south using the astrolabe, they usually got lost.

Answer 2

Issues:

1. scurvy - sailors become Vit. C deficient during long voyages, hence, scurvy outbreaks are sometimes inevitable for the unprepared.

2. uncharted waters - no official maps on pioneer voyages.

3. provisions - long voyages needed frugality. thrift rationing was applied to provisions in order to outlast the voyage.

4. monsoon and climate - unfamiliar climate and wind currents directly affected ship sailing performance as well as sailor health.

5. patron - expeditions are risky and equally expensive. Explorers must be financially backed by a wealthy donor. Vasco da Gama was backed by the Portuguese crown.

Answer 3

Ships i think