Transcript File - Mr. John Middleton Teacher

6 Key Themes
Unit Essential Question: Why were
Europeans responsible for the Age of
Discovery?
 The
3G’s – Gold, Glory, and God
 New Rivals on the “World’s Stage”
 The Slave trade and the Spice trade
 The ecology of expansion
 The economics of expansion
 Globalization
 Gold
– Out from the Iberian Peninsula
(Spain and Portugal)
• Lead by Henry the Navigator (1394-1460)
• Exploration of the African coast.
• Muslims had controlled the trade, but with the
development of Antwerp and Lisbon, trade
routes changed away from the Arab land routes.
 Glory
– Developed out of the Medieval
fantasy writings of places far far away.
 God
– Developed out of the hope for
another crusade.
• Lead by the Jesuit order in Asia, Africa, and the
Americas
• English Puritans in North America
• Key figures include Francis Xavier

The Spanish vs. the Portuguese Empire
• The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) divides the New World between Spain
and Portugal
• Papal Division in 1493 divided the World in two

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Spain and Portugal
had led the way in
the early stages of
the “Age of
Exploration”
By the 17th century,
the Dutch had also
become involved
Shortly thereafter,
the French and
English also joined
the mix
Eventually, Spanish
and Portuguese
dominance in the
New World faded
The impact of this
competition
instigated war at
home and abroad,
and drastic changes
in the social and
economic structure.

Christopher Columbus (1451 – 1506)
• Reached the Bahamas (Oct. 12, 1492)
• Additional voyages (1493, 1498, and 1502)

Additional Discoveries
John Cabot – New England for Henry VII
English route through White Sea to Russia
Jacques Cartier – North America for France
Pedro Cabral – South America (by mistake!) for
Portugal
• Amerigo Vespucci – Writes about voyages
(“America”)
• Nun˜ez de Balboa – Sails across Isthmus of Panama
and into Pacific Ocean for Spain
• Ferdinand Magellan –circumnavigates the Earth –
sort of (death in Philippines) for Spain
•
•
•
•

Magellan and
Tordesillas
Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) divides New World
between Spain and Portugal
• Written by Pope Alexander VI!
• East of Good hope to Portuguese; west to Spanish

Encomienda
• Crown grants conquerors right to use
native labor and collect tribute
• In return, conquerors are to protect, pay
and supervise the religious needs of
the natives – did this happen?

Viceroys
• Replaced encomienda system after its
abuses were exposed
• Served as regional civil and military
governors for king
• Viceroys assisted by advisory council
called audiencias

Bartolome de las Casas exposed
the mistreatment of natives by
greedy conquistadores, leading to
a shift in governing policies in the
Spanish Empire
The Church
• Spanish crown’s authority over Church
• Mass conversion of natives
• Dominican, Franciscan and Jesuit
missionaries
• Spanish Inquisition

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Slavery in Africa not new
Initially, slaves were brought to
Europe and the Middle East as
domestics
Plantation farming escalates
demand for slaves (sugar cane)
• Triangular Trade
• Up to 10,000,000 African slaves
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
taken to the Americas between the
sixteenth and nineteenth Centuries
High death rate during transit
(Middle Passage)
Prisoners of War
Depopulation of African kingdoms
Political effects of slave trade in
Africa (Benin Kingdom)
Power of local African leaders in the
transaction
Criticism of Slavery
(Enlightenment)
Society of Friends = Quakers

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Portugal: did not have the means to
sustain their far-reaching empire
Spain: Seized Philippines as a trade
base, exchanging Asian silk for silver
from Mexico
Netherlands (Dutch)
•
•
•
•
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Seized Spice Islands from Portugal
Built fort in Jakarta for protection
DEI Company: Pepper plantations
Controlled most of SE Asia by end of
18th century
England: Only held one port in Sumatra
Mainland SE Asia generally resisted
European presence
• Europeans initially sought to pit
factions against one another
• Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, and
Vietnam ultimately unified and
resisted
• Only loose trade relations were
established between Euros and these
areas
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Horses and cattle to
the Americas
• Argentine Beef?
• Plains Indians use of
horses?
Transporting crops
• Sugar cane and
wheat to South
America for
plantation-style
cultivation
• Sweet potatoes and
maize to Africa from
Americas
 The
Inca and the
Spanish
• Pachakuti transformed Inca
•
•
•
Atahualpa
captured;
Diamond’s
Guns, Germs
and Steel
•
•
empire into advanced state
Inca buildings and roads
Francisco Pizarro (c. 1475 –
1541)
Smallpox claims many –
including emperor,
triggering civil war
Atahualpa captured
Incas overthrown (1535)
 Jared
Diamond’s thesis:
Guns, Germs and Steel

Economic Conditions in the Sixteenth
Century
• “Price Revolution” – 2-3% inflation on most goods,
including food
• Wages did not reflect the increase
• Influx of gold/silver + population boom as causes?

The Growth of Commercial Capitalism
• Joint stock trading companies
• Profits in shipbuilding, metallurgy and mining
• New economic institutions
 Family banks replaced by banking institutions
(Fuggers bankrupt)
 The Bank of Amsterdam
 Amsterdam Bourse (Exchange)

Agriculture
• 80% still worked in agriculture
• Little changed in lives of peasants, whose lives
often worsened

Total volume of trade unchangeable
• European powers competed for
greatest share of it
• Economic activity = war through
peaceful means
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Importance of bullion and favorable
balance of trade (export more than
you import)
State intervention
• High tariffs on foreign goods
Jean-Baptiste Colbert of
France, financial minister
to Louis XIV:
Mercantilism at its best!
• Use colonies as source of raw materials
and as a market to sell manufactured
goods from mother country
 European
rivalries
• Piracy common and state-
sponsored!
• Determined alliances in
international wars
 New
views of the world
• Gerardus Mercator (1512 – 1594)
and his map (Mercator Projection)
• Helped trigger more exploration
 Psychological
impact
• Relative ease of conquering
• Reinforces belief in superiority of
European civilization and values
 Transoceanic
trade very valuable (luxury
goods) BUT…
 Intra European trade still dominated the
volume of trade for most of the time period
 By 1789, however, a shift in the balance of
trade saw huge increases in overseas trade
and much lower increases in intra-European
trade
 These changing trade patterns interlocked
Europe, Africa, the East and the Americas
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1) What factors best explain the West’s overseas
expansion?
2) In what ways was overseas expansion tied to the
political and economic developments of the 15th and
16th Centuries?
3) What consequences flowed from this interaction of
Western and non-western civilizations?
4) In what ways did accidents of geography effect the
historical trajectories of Africa, South America, and
Europe during the Age of Discovery and the
colonization period?
 The
3G’s – Gold, Glory, and God
 New Rivals on the “World’s Stage”
 The Slave trade and the Spice trade
 The ecology of expansion
 The economics of expansion
 Globalization