Transcript European Exploration and Expansion

European Exploration and
Expansion
The Age of
Discovery
• Renaissance spirit of inquiry
• New technology
--compass
--gunpowder (cannons, firearms)
--cartography & astronomy (map
making)
encourage European overseas
exploration in the 1400’s
-Spain and Portugal lead the way
Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Exchange
• Christopher Columbus “encounters” the Americas in
1492
• Columbian Exchange leads to the introduction of
new foods, livestock, diseases between both
hemispheres and creation of European colonial
empires
Impact of Columbian Exchange
• Europe exposed to (corn, potatoes,
chocolate, tomatoes, turkey)
• Europeans brought (cattle, chicken,
pigs, wheat, sugar, and rice)
• Millions of Native Americans died from
exposure to European diseases
(smallpox/measles)
The Conquest of the Americas
Spanish conquerors subdued the Aztecs and Incas
(wanted gold and silver)
--Cortes (Aztecs)
--Pizarro (Incas)
• Establish colonies in the Americas
Later Explorers
• Vasco Da Gama (1460-1524) found water route to
India around tip of Africa
• Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) circumnavigated
(circled) the world
• Other nations send explorers to find routes to Asia and
lay new claims in America
Colonial Latin America
• New Spanish
colonies were ruled
by Viceroys
• Native Americans
gradually convert to
European
Christianity
• http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8D
ww&feature=related
Other European Colonial Empires
• France, Holland, England set up colonies in the New
World
• New colonial societies emerge provide wealth and
increased trade to Europe
• The Netherlands
– Strong player in the Spice Islands, formed Dutch
West India Company in Americas
• England
– Eventually gained strong influence in North America
and Caribbean
• France
– Colonized Louisiana and Canada
Other European Colonial Empires
• New colonial societies emerge provide
wealth and increased trade to Europe
The Atlantic Slave Trade
• Africans were captured by other African
tribes and sold to European slave traders
on West Coast of Africa
The Atlantic Slave
Trade
• “Middle Passage”
• Millions of slaves
taken in ships
(inhumane
conditions) for the
voyage across the
Atlantic to the New
World
• Over 15 million
slaves shipped due
to high death rate
The Atlantic Slave Trade
• Enslaved Africans were treated to brutal working
conditions in the Americas
• Slave trade increased African warfare and destroyed
African culture, but led to cultural diffusion
The Commercial Revolution.
• New Age of Global Trade
• Leads to increase in manufacturing and
living conditions in Europe
The Commercial Revolution
• Mercantilism—
rulers increase
power by
amassing gold
and silver
--used conquest,
trade, taxes,
and colonies
Colonies are later
used to develop
overseas
empires
The Commercial Revolution
• Free Enterprise (Capitalism)
--merchants developed new methods to
finance large business ventures
--used borrowing and joint-stock
companies to raise large amounts of
capital
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f7UAqU-wNc
Video Resources
• Columbian Exchange-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQPA5oNpfM4
• Explorers-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjEGncridoQ
• Spanish Empire-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjhIzemLdos
• Atlantic Slave Trade-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnV_MTFEGIY