Transcript Opening of the Atlantic

 Until about 1500, the Atlantic Ocean was seen as a
barrier
 Breaking of this was good for Europe, but bad for
native populations
Portuguese
 1450, settle in Azores
 They wanted to find a route to Asia, where they could
find silk, cotton, rugs, sugar, spices
 1498 Navigator Vasco Da Gama found himself in a new
world of Arabic Commerce
 Southwest coast of India
 Next trip he brought 21 other ships with him
 In the following years, Portugal built stations in the
area
 1509 reached Singapore and went into China
 Portugal owned a commercial monopoly in spices for a
short while
Discovery of America
 The same quest for a route to the East led to the
discovery of America
 Thought he was in India
 Columbus was backed by Queen Isabella of Spain,
 Magellan: 1520 found southwest passages into pacific,
discovered Phillipine islands
Motivations for European Contact
 1. Wealth – explorers were motivated by personal
wealth and increased wealth for their nation. They
had to be ruthless because they had to repay any debt
 2. Salvation – The Papal Bull declared that all people
had to be ruled by a Christian King, and all natives
must be Christain. Those who resisted should be
killed.
 Spanish Conquistadors fell upon new lands
 Cortez conquered the Aztecs in Mexico
 Pizarro conquered the Incas in Peru
 Natives were put to forced labour in Mines
 Many died
 Church was converting them
 All this led to the eventual use of African slaves
Effects of Euro Contact
 Most interactions were friendly at first, Euro influence
on natives was disasterous
 Entire nations of people destroyed
 Most of the damage unintentional – new diseases
Brutality
 Columbus – created plantations based on slave labour,
hunted natives for sport
 Pizzaro – his conquistadors attacked with 100 soldiers
an Incan army that offered no resistance. 70 000
Incans were killed in one day. Took Incan king hostage
and killed him anyway
 Cortez – tried to take Tenochititlan, but failed.
Surrounded the city, starved natives
Consequences of exploration
 1. obviously, the native issue
 2. 1545 – Silver discovered in Bolivia by Spanish
 At the same time, better methods of silver extraction
developed
 Spanish develop a trade route between Mexico and
Phillipines
 Carried silver to Asia for luxury goods
 Huge network develops – Europe becomes a trade
center
The Atlantic Slave Trade
 Estimated that 15 million Africans were forced to leave
Africa to cross the Atlantic to be sold into Slavery
 Millions were killed during slave raids and many more
died while they were being forced to coastal towns
Why were Slaves needed?
 Large agricultural plantations developed in the
Americas
 Vast majority went to Brazil, the Caribbean, and
Spanish speaking regions of South America
 Plantations demanded a large amount of labour
because of the crops – sugar cane, coffee, cocoa and
rice
 Labour on plantations was excessively strenuous
 Plantation owners used them inhumanely
 Portuguese started in Americas growing those crops
 Eventually spread to America were cotton and tobacco
was grown
Why Africans?
 Africans – excellent workers, had experience in
agriculture, used to tropical climates, and could be
worked very hard on the plantations
 ‘New Slavery’ – race became an explicit basis of the
new slavery. Africans’ blackness and alien religion
dehumanized them in European eyes
How did it work?
 Slaves were obtained from along the west coast of
Africa with full and active cooperation of African Kings
and merchants
 In return, African Kings and merchants recieved
various trade goods ie textiles, brandy, horses and guns
 These guns were used to acquire more land, more
slaves and to expand empires
Triangular Trade
 1. Trade Goods to Africa From Europe
 2. Transport of slaves from Africa to American –
Middle passage
 3. Return to Europe of the plantation goods
Conditions on the Ship
 Terrible – middle passage – estimated mortality rate of
15%