Transcript Europeans Explore the East

Europeans Explore the
East
I. Gold, God, & Glory
Before 1400s = Euros. (little outside contact)
 Motivating factors of exploration?
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A. New Trade Routes
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New sources of wealth = #1 motivation!
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Exposed to exotic spices & silks = Crusades
High Demand + Low Supply = High Prices
Muslims & Italians controlled trade from East
 Euros. grew tired of paying high $$$$$
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B. The Spread of God
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Crusades = hostility betw. Christians/Muslims
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MUST SPREAD THE WORD OF GOD!!!
C. Technological Advances
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1. Mapmaking improved (Ren.---Ptolemy)
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Added info. about Af. & Asia
Sea captains were inspired by new maps
2. Navigation Instruments
Compass (Chinese invention – 70 CE)
 Astrolabe (Muslims – 800 CE)
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3. Caravel (1400s)
Euro. ships could NOT sail against wind
 Caravel = had triangular sails (Arabs)
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II. Portugal Leads the Way
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Port. = first country to est. posts in W. Af.
A. Portuguese in Africa
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Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460)
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Determined to reach the East
Spread God
1419: founded navigation school (Port.)
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Canary Islands, Azores, & Madeira
B. Port. Reach Asia
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1488: Bartolomeu Diaz—reached southern tip
of Af.
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Explored S.E. Af.
1497: Vasco da Gama—explored E. coast of Af.
& reached Calicut (S.W. India)
--returned to Port. (1499) w/spices
--gave Port. direct sea route to India
III. Spanish Claims
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1492: Christopher Columbus convinced Spain
to finance voyage across Atlantic
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Oct.—reached Bahamas (East Indies?)
Opened up Euro. colonization in Amers.
Tensions betw. Spain & Port.
 1493: Pope Alexander VI—Line of Demarcation
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West of line = Spain
East of line = Port.
TREATY OF TORDESILLAS
IV. Indian Ocean Trade
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Euro. nations competed for territory (S. & S.E.
Asia)
A. Port’s. Trading Empire
Port. took control of spice trade from Muslims
 1514: Port. gained control of Straits of Hormuz
 1510: Port. captured Goa (India) (capital)
 1511: Port. sailed to East Indies
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Strait of Malacca (Spice Islands)
Broke Muslim-Italian trade domination
 1521: Ferdinand Magellan (Philippines)
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Spanish claim = 1565
B. Others Challenge Port.
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1600: English & Dutch challenged Port.
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Formed an East India Company (est. & directed
trade)
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Dutch East India Company = LARGEST/DOMINATED
1619: took Spice Islands from Port.
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Dutch = largest fleet (20,000)
Amsterdam
1700: Dutch controlled much of Asian trade
C. British Traders
1700: British East India Co. = India (cotton)
 Euro. impact did not spread beyond ports
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V. China Limits Euro. Contacts
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Euros. sought trade in E. Asia (China & Japan)
A. China Under Ming (1368-1644)
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China = dominated Asia
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Vassal states = paid tribute (Euros. too!)
Yonglo (1398): moved capital to Beijing
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Created the Forbidden City (1406-1420)
1405: funded 7 exploratory voyages
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Impress the world & gain more tribute
B. Voyages of Zheng He
Led all 7 voyages
 EVERYTHING WAS HUGE (distances & ships)
 S.E. Asia to E. Af.
 “Floating City” sailing throughout Indian Ocean
 16 countries sent tribute to Ming
 Too much $$$$$!!!!!
 1433: Voyages ended --- ISOLATION
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VI. The Qing Dynasty
1600: Ming rule declined
 1644: Manchus est. Qing Dynasty
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A. Manchus Cont. Isolation
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Had to obey Chinese rules of trade
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Select ports, tribute, kowtow
Dutch accepted rules
1793: letter from King George III to Qing Emp.
Wanted to import Brit. goods into China
 Qing Emp. declared China to be self-sufficient
There is nothing we lack, as your principle envoy and others
have themselves observed. We have never set much store on
strange or ingenious objects, nor do we need any more of
your country’s manufactures.
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China remained isolated until mid-1800s
VII. Contact Betw. Euro. & Japan
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16th Cent. = Euro. merchants & missionaries
A. Port. in Japan
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1543: Port. sailors shipwrecked in Japan
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Merchants followed—brought manufactured items
(firearms)
Daimyo?
In their hands they carried something two or three feet long,
straight on the outside with a passage inside, and made of
a heavy substance.... This thing with one blow can smash a
mountain of silver and a wall of iron. If one sought to do
mischief in another man’s domain and he was touched by
it, he would lose his life instantly.
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Japanese produced these weapons
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Eliminated Samurai culture
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1549: Christian missionaries arrived
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By 1600: over 300,000 were converted
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Tokugawa Ieyasu (Shogun)– upset by missionaries
1612: Ieyasu banned Christianity
1637: 30,000 peasant Christians revolted against
their daimyo
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Were accepted…at first
Led by Amakusa Shiro
Christians were ruthlessly persecuted
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Euro. missionaries = killed or deported
Japanese = demonstrate faithfulness to Buddhism
B. The Closed Country Policy
Japanese did not like Euro. ideas but
valued their trade
 By 1639: “closed country policy”
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Commercial contacts ended
Nagasaki—only port open—Dutch & Chinese
Japanese forbidden to leave
Self-sufficient
1854: Matthew C. Perry & Millard Fillmore
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Convention of Kanagawa