Transcript 1TheAgeofExploration

Warm-Up Question
■ If you were planning a long-distance sea voyage during the
second half of the fifteenth century to little-known
destinations along unknown routes, what problems with the
physical environment would you expect to have to deal with
during the voyage?
■ What problems of human-to-human relations would you
expect to have to deal with on board and on arrival at your
destination?
■ What preparations might you make to avoid or minimize the
problems you expect?
■ What personal characteristics would most help you, and your
crew, deal with these problems?
■ What solutions to the problems might you try?
■Essential Question:
–What factors encouraged the
European Age of Exploration?
•What were 2 effects of exploration?
•How did gov’t change because of the
Renaissance & Age of Exploration?
•How did world history change by the
end of the 1450-1750 periodization?
From the 1400s to the 1700s, Europe experienced
an “Age of Exploration”
The Renaissance encouraged
curiosity & a desire for trade
Motivations:
Why did Europeans want to explore?
As a result of exploration, European
nations grew powerful & spread their
influence throughout the world
Gold (Money)
lookingoffor
quick,was
direct
AMerchants
desire for began
new sources
wealth
the
trade
to avoidexploration
Muslim &
main routes
reasonto
forAsia
European
Italian merchants & increase profits
The Crusades & Renaissance
stimulated European desires
for exotic Asian luxury goods
Glory
Kings
sponsored
voyages
of exploration
Thewho
Renaissance
inspired
new
possibilities
gained overseas
colonies,
new sources of
for power
& prestige
wealth for their nation, & increased power
Exploration presented Europeans
the opportunity to rise from poverty
and gain fame, fortune, & status
God
European Christians, especially Catholics,
wanted to stop the spread of Islam &
convert non-Christians to the faith
Explorers were encouraged to
spread Christianity or bring
missionaries who would focus
only on conversions
Means:
The
Age
of
Exploration
How were explorers able to sail
so far & make it back again?
Before the Renaissance, sailors did not have the
technology to sail very far from Europe & return
Navigation
Trade & cultural diffusion during the Renaissance
introduced new navigation techniques to Europeans
Astrolabe
used stars
were more accurate
Magnetic compass
made Maps
to show
and
direction
used longitude & latitude
sailing more accurate
European shipbuilders built a better ship;
The caravel was a strong ship that could travel
in the open seas & in shallow water
Caravels had
triangular lateen
sails that allowed
ships to sail
against the wind
A moveable
rudder made
Cannons & rifles
the caravel more
gave ships protection maneuverable
Wind Patterns
The captain of a steam ship naturally chooses the
shortest route to his destination. Since a sailing ship
is pushed by the winds and currents its captain must
find a route where the wind will probably blow in the
right direction.
■ The early European explorers were not only
looking for new lands. They also had to discover
the pattern of winds and currents that would
carry them where they wanted to go.
Remarkable new transoceanic
maritime reconnaissance occurred
during this time period.
■Which technology do you think
played the biggest role in making
that possible?
Who were
theAge
explorers,
where did they go,
The
of Exploration
& how did they change world history?
Europeans were not the first to explore
the oceans in search of new trade routes
Islamic merchants explored the Indian Ocean
& had dominated the Asian spice trade for
centuries before European exploration
Early Exploration
From 1405 to 1433, Zheng He led
the Chinese treasure fleet on
7 expeditions to SE Asia, India, &
Africa during the Ming Dynasty
The End of the Golden Age
■ Despite the wealth & culture during under
the Tang & Song Dynasties, the Chinese
were briefly overthrown by the Mongols
–From 1279 to 1368, foreign nomads
called the Mongols ruled China
In 1368, the Chinese overthrew the
Mongols & established the Ming Dynasty
The Ming emperors
encourage overseas trade…
…and began a series of
explorations led by Zheng He to
demonstrate Chinese superiority
19
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Zhengthe
He had
excerpt
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ships &Zheng
traveled
He
farther
and than
the
With
fleet of over
100 ships,
any aEuropean
explorers
would for 100 years
Treasure
Fleet
Expeditions
Zheng He led 7 different expeditions
Zheng He explored areas along the
Indian Ocean & Africa, expand trade,
& collected tribute from foreigners
China - Zheng He Chinese
Mariner
Admiral Zheng He (pron. jung huh) commanded a fleet
of over 300 ships carrying 27,000 people that sailed
as far as the East African coast.
Began in 1405, each voyage lasted 2 years & he visited
30 countries around the rim of the Indian Ocean.
★ A Muslim, a eunuch, & an outsider to the Chinese
dynasty. He was chosen because he was less of a
threat to become powerful.
★ Ship tech was 500 years ahead of the west. The
hull technology was later used to build the Titanic.
Advanced navigational techniques included being
able to calculate speed, direction, latitude &
longitude.
★ Chinese already understood the difference
between true & magnetic north.
If the Chinese were such great mariners then why is
Columbus so much more remembered?
YouTube Video Link: Engineering an Empire: China (Fleet of Zheng He)
33:44
Traces of Zheng He’s explorations remain:
★ Type of ginger named after him.
★ On the west coast of India, Chinese fishing nets still
grace the harbor.
Chinese technology ruled the seas, but Zheng He's
voyages marked the beginning &
the end of imperial China's seaborne exploration.
By 1430, politicians persuaded the emperor to abandon
global ambitions. Emperor Yongle's successors
viewed expansion as a waste of time and resources.
"Barbarian kings," wrote one scholar, "Should be greeted
like harmless seagulls. The outside world has
nothing to offer China."
Zheng He was recalled from sea. The records were
destroyed.
Today Zheng He and his voyages are virtually unknown
in his own country.
(Although some attention has been brought to his travels in
much more educated portions of Chinese culture. But
nothing like the attention given to Christopher Columbus
in America.)
Monument to admiral Zheng He,
located in the Stadthuys, Melaka
in Malaysia.
Chinese Isolation
■ After the 7th treasure fleet voyage in 1433,
Chinese leaders unexpectedly ended the
expeditions & retreated into isolationism
–Scholar-officials complained that Zheng
He’s voyages used valuable resources
that were needed to defend China
–China’s official trade policy was to keep
the influence of outsiders to a minimum
–China’s geography & gov’t policies kept
it relatively isolated for the next 300
years until European merchants in the
1800s demanded access to Chinese trade
Assume for the moment that the Chinese had not
ended their maritime voyages in 1433.
How might the subsequent development of world
history have been different if China expanded?
Chinese maritime voyages could have had a profound
impact on the course of world history.
China was the richest, most prosperous, & most
technologically advanced civilization in the world at
that time.
★ If the Chinese had aggressively competed with
their European counterparts, they likely would
have prevailed as the preeminent maritime
power in the world.
★ Most likely limiting the influence of Western
Europe & of Christianity on other regions of the
globe.
★ Chinese cultural, economic, & political
influences beyond East Asia would have
flourished.
But in the late 1400s, the European sailors did
what neither Muslim nor Chinese explorers could:
Begin global (not regional) exploration &
create colonies to increase their wealth & power
In Portugal, Prince Henry the
Navigator started a school of
navigation to train sailors
He brought in Europe’s best
map-makers, ship-builders,
& sailing instructors
He wanted to
discover new
territories,
find a quick
trade route to
Asia, & expand
Portugal’s
power
Portugal was the
early leader in the
Age of Exploration
Prince Henry’s navigation school & willingness
to fund voyages led the Portuguese to be the
1st to explore the west coast of Africa
Vasco
Bartolomeu
da Gama
Dias
was
thewas
1st explorer
the first to
find
explorer
a directtotrade
go
around
route tothe
Asia
tipby
of
going around
Africa. Africa
to get to India
Portugal gained a
sea route to Asia
that brought them
great wealth
34:00
During the Age of
Exploration, Portugal
created colonies along the
African coast, in Brazil, &
the Spice Islands in Asia
The Spanish government
saw Portugal’s wealth &
did not want to be left out
More than any other
European monarch,
Ferdinand & Isabella
of Spain sponsored &
supported overseas
expeditions
Like most educated men of Columbus reached the
the Renaissance, Columbus Bahamas in America
believed the world was
but thought that he
round & thought he could had reached islands off
reach Asia by sailing west
the coast of India
He made 4 trips to
“India” never knowing
he was in “America”
Despite the fact that
Magellan became the
Columbus never found
first explorer to
Asia, Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigate the Earth
still thought he could
(go all the way around)
reach Asia by sailing West
During the
Age of Exploration,
Spain created colonies in
North & South America
Spain sent explorers called conquistadors
to the New World to find gold, claim land,
& spread Christianity
Cortez
conquered
the Aztecs
Pizarro
conquered
Thethe
influx
Incaof gold from
America made Spain the
most powerful country
in Europe during the
early years of the
Age of Exploration
England, France, & the Netherlands became involved
in overseas exploration & colonization as well
After failing to do so,
Champlain founded the
French colony of Quebec
The
French
explorer
Samuel
de
Champlain
Thesearched
French would
soon
carve
out
a
large
colony
along
Canada
for
a
northwest
passage
to
Asia
the Mississippi River from Canada to New Orleans
Unlike other
European nations
whose kings paid
for colonies, the
English colonies
were paid for
by citizens who
formed jointstock companies
English colonies
formed along the
Atlantic Coast of
North America by
colonists motivated
either by religion
or wealth
The English explorer James Cook was
the first European to make contact with
Australia, New Zealand, & Hawaii
Like England, the
The Dutch had colonies in
Netherlands (the Dutch) America & Africa, but the
allowed private companies Dutch East India Company
to fund exploration
dominated trade in Asia
Period 4 (1450-1750) Aim: How did European companies facilitate
new global circulation of goods and maintained established
regional markets in Afro-Eurasia?
■ Do NOW: 1. What is Columbus discussing? 2. Who is it addressed to?
3. Why does he use this tone? EVIDENCE?
■ In reference to the transportation of gold from the island to Castile,
that all of it should be taken on board the ship, both that belonging
to your Highnesses and the property of every one else; that it should
all be placed in one chest with two locks, with their keys, and that the
master of the vessel keep one key and some person selected by the
governor and treasurer the other; that there should come with the
gold, for a testimony, a list of all that has been put into the said
chest, properly marked, so that each owner may receive his own; and
that, for the faithful performance of this duty, if any gold whatsoever
is found outside of the said chest in any way, be it little or much, it
shall be forfeited to your Highnesses.
Royal Chartered Companies
Companies enabled merchants to band together
to undertake ventures requiring more capital
($) than was available to any one merchant
or family. WHY?
Formed from the sixteenth century onwards by
groups of European investors to underwrite
and profit from the exploration of Africa,
India, Asia, the Caribbean and North America
Usually under the patronage of one state, which
issued the company's charter.
British East India Company
■ Commonly associated with
trade in basic commodities,
which included cotton, silk,
indigo dye, salt, saltpetre, tea
and opium WHY these items?
■ The Company received a
Royal Charter from Queen
Elizabeth in 1600, making it
the oldest among several
similarly formed European
East India Companies- Why
were other countries
involved? How does this
differ from China’s trade?
Dutch East India Company
■ It is often considered to
have been the first
multinational corporation
in the world. The first
company to issue stock.
■ It was also arguably the
first megacorporation,
possessing quasigovernmental powers,
including the ability to
wage war, imprison and
execute convicts,
negotiate treaties, coin
money, and establish
colonies
■ Dutch Verenigde
Oostindische Compagnie
(VOC) had military and
naval forces of their own
that dwarfed even the
average European state's
armed forces, and adequate
funds to buy the best men
and equipment, in effect
making them a state within
a state. BENEFITS?
Drawbacks?
Silver from the Americas
■ European merchants’ role in Asian trade was characterized
mostly by transporting goods from one Asian country to
another market in Asia or the Indian Ocean region.
■ Commercialization and the creation of a global economy
were intimately connected to new global circulation of silver
from the Americas
Spanish Galleon Trade Routes (Silver Ships) –
Effect on Spain? Global Economy?
■ The new global circulation of goods was facilitated
by royal chartered European monopoly companies
■ They took silver from Spanish colonies in the
Americas to purchase Asian goods for the Atlantic
markets
■ But regional markets continued to flourish in AfroEurasia by using established commercial practices
and new transoceanic shipping services developed
by European merchants.
Conclusions
As a result of the Age of Exploration, European
knowledge & influence of the world increased greatly