Transcript Three World Collide

Three Worlds Collide
Early Explorations
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Exploration fueled by trade
Imported goods revitalized Europe
Created great wealth
European leaders wanted to cut out the
Arab traders (middle men) to increase
profits
• Alternate routes to the Far East
• Overland passages (Silk Road) unsafe
due to Mongol/Turkish raiders
• Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean controlled
by Arab traders
• New Concept (shhhh, don’t tell nobody…)
The World may be round……… Say
What???!!!! (actually, most educated
Europeans knew the world was round)
• Finally a group of
European rocket
surgeons realized
that if the world was
round, you could
sail west from
Europe and
ultimately reach
China and India.
• 360 degrees in a
circle—say it ain’t
so……
Technology
• Compass—from the Chinese; could travel
at night, far out to sea and in bad weather
• Improved cartography—by 1300s
mapmaking had vastly improved and
maps more accurate; grid system
coordinates
• Caravel—new ship design with wide,
broad bottom and maneuverable sails;
faster, could carry heavy weight (cannons)
Recreation of the Pinta
The Innovative Portuguese
• Prince Henry the Navigator—son of King
John I of Portugal; never sailed anywhere,
but gathered the best sailors and
engineers together to design ships
• 1488—Bartholomeu Dias sailed around
southern tip of Africa (Cape of Good Hope)
• 1497—Vasco da Gama sailed around
Africa to India
Da Gama’s Route
Spanish Riches—Where’s the
Bling?
• Ferdinand and Isabella—united Spain as a
Catholic nation
• Wealth = Power; rivalries with England
and France
• Christopher Columbus—Italian navigator
who had tried every other monarchy for
financial support
• Gained favor with Isabella
1492, Ocean Blue, Blah Blah Blah
• August 1492, Columbus set sail w/three
ships
• Never before (except for Vikings)
attempted expedition across the Atlantic
• Unsure of calculations (how big is Earth?)
• About to turn back when land sighted
• Landed on Hispaniola, thought he was in
India
• Spent three months on islands of Hispaniola and
Cuba before returning to Spain
• Made three voyages total; some say he died
thinking he had landed in Asia; others say he
knew
• Not until 1507, Amerigo Vespucci, suggested
this was a “new world” with his maps
• Theory: name America derives from the district
of Amerrique in Nicaragua. Gold-rich district was
purportedly visited by both Vespucci and
Columbus, for whom the name became
synonymous with gold. According to some,
Vespucci later applied the name to the New
World, and even changed the spelling of his own
name from Alberigo to Amerigo to reflect the
importance of the discovery.
Spain and Portugal: Divide’n
Conquer
• Spain and Portugal led Europe in the conquest
of the Americas in the 1400-1500s. Claimed
many of the same areas
• Threat of war between two most powerful
Catholic nations. Pope upset by this. Comes up
with a plan—a line of demarcation
• Details finally worked out in the Treaty of
Tordesillas in 1494; basically gave most of the
Americas to Spain and Africa/Asia to Portugal
Are you Gellan?
• 1522, Ferdinand Magellan of Portugal
sails under a Spanish flag across the
Atlantic, down eastern coast of S.
America, around tip and out into the
Pacific—first circumnavigation of the
globe. Magellan died in the Philippines,
but surviving crew made it back to Spain.
Meanwhile, back in Gothom
City…..
• Treaty of Tordesillas not recognized by
anyone but S and P.
• Other European nations began a race to
carve out their own empires.
• In the meantime, Portugal defeated Arab
merchants for full control of the Indian
Ocean. Ca--ching!!!!!
• Portugal also colonized Brazil; it soon
became it’s most valuable colony
• Spain sent conquistadors to the Americas
to search, map and claim territory for its
empire.
• Hernan Cortes—the Aztecs
• Francisco Pizzaro—the Incas
Europe: Royal Rumbles
• Strong monarchies
began to emerge in
western Europe during
the 1500s. In Spain,
England and France
strong kings and
queens emerged
through both conquest
and religious
sponsorship.
Height of Spanish Empire in the early 1500s
Spain
• Had been united under Spanish Catholic
rule during reign of Ferdinand and Isabella
in the 1400s.
• Killed or cast out all non-Catholics
(Protestants, Jews, Muslims); Inquisitions
• Favored by the Catholic Church, unified
Spain grew in wealth and power
• Became dominant sea power in the world
• Philip II becomes king in 1556. Grandson
of Ferdinand and Isabella (his parents
were first cousins)
• Most powerful king in Spanish history
• Fought many religious wars in Europe,
trying to stop the spread of Protestantism
• Netherlands—inherited by Philip II; Dutch
were mostly Protestant (supported by
England) and declared its independence
• Brought Spanish/British into direct conflict
• May, 1588, Spanish fleet of 130 warships head for
England--known as the Spanish Armada
• Outmaneuvered by smaller, faster English ships and
set afire. Then, a storm in the North Sea sank many
ships
• This defeat marked end to direct Spanish threat to
England and the end of Spain’s dominion over the
seas