大航海時代(だいこうかいじだい)

だいこうかいじだい
noun (proper)
Age of Discovery; Age of Exploration
proper-nounevent-namehistory
1. Age of Discovery; Age of Exploration
The period from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century when Portuguese, Spanish, and other European navigators sailed to Africa, Asia, and the Americas. In Japan it is taught as the background to the arrival of the Portuguese, guns, and Christianity in the 1540s.
大航海時代(だいこうかいじだい)の船(ふね)。
A ship from the Age of Discovery.
コロンブスは大航海時代(だいこうかいじだい)を代表(だいひょう)する人物(じんぶつ)だ。
Columbus is a representative figure of the Age of Discovery.
大航海時代(だいこうかいじだい)に、ポルトガル人(じん)が種子島(たねがしま)に鉄砲(てっぽう)を伝(つた)えた。
During the Age of Discovery, the Portuguese brought firearms to Tanegashima.

The name is a Japanese coinage (literally 'era of great voyages') and is also used figuratively for any bold age of exploration, as in 宇宙(うちゅう)の大航海時代(だいこうかいじだい) 'the great age of space exploration'.

Related words

  • 南蛮貿易(なんばんぼうえき): Japan's trade with the Portuguese and Spanish in the sixteenth century
  • 鉄砲伝来(てっぽうでんらい): the introduction of firearms to Japan (1543)
  • 航海(こうかい): voyage, navigation

Related Words

Related: 航海(こうかい) (voyage, navigation)
general
Added 2026.9.29 5:18 · Revised 2026.9.29 5:23
31000/31182_daikoukaijidai