Transcript European Exploration Causes and Reasons (2008).

Causes for and Effects
of European Exploration
1450-1650
Portugal, Spain,
France, Britain and
the Netherlands
Click for Video
1420- what is going on the world?
 China - Ming Dynasty
 Japan - Shogun period
 Saharan/ North Africa Songhai Empire
 Sub-Saharan Africa Swahili city states;
Great Zimbabwe
 Americas - Aztec &
Inca
 India - separate rajput
 Middle EastOttoman Expansion
 Europe:
– recovery from Black
–
–
–
–
Death
Renaissance
100 Years’ War
National monarchies
Printing press
What did they already know?
 Marco Polo - his purported travels to the Court
of Kublai Khan created interest in exploration
(Cristobal Colon voyages with this book)
 “Spice Islands”- the Malaccas of Indonesiavisited by Zheng He
 Banking system provides money for a
Commercial Revolution
– Joint stock company- a business organization that sells
shares of stock ownership in a company
Why?
Reasons for Exploration
God
convert the heathens
Gold
trading goods
Glory
adventure or power
 God- to spread the Christian faith - first Catholicism and
then Protestantism
 Gold - gold itself (more gold = more power!) wealth to be
made from spice trade especially from the Malaccas or
“Spice Islands,” later other commodities were added.
They hoped to get wealthy with a new route to Asia
 Glory - often the younger sons of a noble, or a poor
sailor; conquistadors; nationalism - fame for your
country
How? New Technology
 From the Arabs or
Chinese
– 1. Early maps called
portolani from Arabs
– later cartographers created
accurate maps and charts,
they accounted for
curvature of the earth so
useful on overseas
voyages
– 2. astrolabe to determine
latitude while at sea
– 3. lateen (triangular) sailscan sail INTO the wind
– 4. magnetic compass
 From Europeans
– development of
caravels
• carried more goods
• multi-masted ships
with large holds
Areas Explored
 Portugal: coastal
Africa, Indian Ocean,
East Indies, Brazil
 Spain: Southern U.S.,
SW U.S., Mexico,
Central America,
South America, and
West Indies
Video One
 France: North
America- Mississippi
River, Great Lakes,
Louisiana
 England: Atlantic
Coast, Hudson Bay in
Canada
 Dutch: East Indies,
Spice Islands and SW
tip of Africa
Portugal leads the Way!
 Prince Henry the Navigator  Afonso de Albuquerque1510- Goa (India), Melaka
- established School for
(Malay pen.), Spice Islands
Navigators- redesigned ships,
(Moluccas)
made maps, trained captains
and crews
 Ferdinand Magellan
- explored West African coast
(Spanish)
to Songhai
 ((Fernão de Magalhães)
 Bartolomeu Dias 1488
 1521- circumnavigated the
Sails around south tip of
world
Africa
 Missionaries sought to convert
 Vasco de Gama - 1498 gets
natives to Christianity
to India by sailing around
Africa
 Returned with cargo of
spices 1000% profit
Click for Video
Race for the Americas
Spain Competes with Portugal
 financed by King Ferdinand
and Queen Isabella
 Cristobal Colon- 1492- sailed
west to find Spice Islands; found
Hispaniola in the West Indies
instead…
 Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)Pope divided new world between
Spain and Portugal
 Missionaries sought to convert
natives to Christianity
Race for the Americas
 Pedro Cabral (P)- 1500coast of South America;
with Amerigo Vespucci
 Giovanni Caboto- (UK)1497- New England coast
 Henry Hudson (Neth.)1609- N. America
 Jacques Cartier (F)- 1534St. Lawrence River. The
French also sought to
convert natives to
Christianity.
Economic Impact
 New World - destruction of empires; plantation
system - sugar, cotton, vanilla, livestock
 North America- colonies created for religious and
economic gain by Dutch and English - Jamestown,
Virginia (1607) and Massachusetts Bay
Colony(1630)
 Europe - increased economic competition for land,
spice and gold trade
- development of major trading corporations: Dutch
East India Company (1600)- India; Dutch West India
Company (1600)- Hudson valley, New Netherlands
Negative Consequences
 Diseases - chicken pox, measles, flu, smallpoxkilled 90% of native population
 Slavery (phase 1) - Spanish made slaves of
Native Americans
 Military force - Dutch used military to control
Asian ports
 Slavery (phase 2) – Spanish, Portuguese and
English imported African slaves to work on the
plantations
 Class system - Spain instituted an authoritarian
government and a rigid class system with natives
and slaves at the bottom
Positive and Lasting Contributions
to North American Life
 Languages: Spanish and English (most important)
– Place names: (in USA)
• Spanish in Florida, Texas and the US SW
• French along Mississippi River and Great Lakes
• Dutch in New York
 Economic Structure: stock based companies and profit
goals are from the Dutch and English
 Law concepts from the English and Spanish
 Government responsible to the people
Click for Video
Bullion
Buillon
Mercantilismthe reason for
colonies
 There is a FIXED amount of gold in the world and
we need to find it ALL!
 Economic policy for gaining wealth from colonies
 Export more than you import - favorable balance of
trade
 Get raw goods from colonies, sell them finished
goods
 Control balance of trade with colonies
 High tariffs on imports from other nations
 Encourage those industries that expanded trade
 Goal: wealth in the form of GOLD (bullion)