Transcript The Age of Exploration 2013

The Age of Exploration
1450-1780
Reasons for Exploration
• Competition for wealth among Europeans
– Trade and product rarity/availability/trade rate
control had made Italians rich and Muslims had
monopoly as well.
– Trade with Orient was overland and people
sought a quicker water route.
• Knowledge of the unknown – curiosity for what
lay beyond the known boundaries of the world,
and the Renaissance spirit for knowledge.
Reasons for Exploration
• Religious Reasons – Desire to spread Christian
faith.
• “Reconquest of Spain” gave impetus for
Portuguese and Spanish to continue to drive
Muslims out. Would also like to take over
Muslim trade routes.
• Felt that it was their “divine duty” to convert
peoples of Africa and Asia (and get rich at the
same time)
• God, Gold, and Glory
Reasons for Exploration
• Technology improvements – Better maps and
navigation equipment allowed going farther
away (no more coast hugging); better built
ships
Factors contributing to the European
discovery of lands in the Western
Hemisphere
• Demand for gold, spices, and natural
resources in Europe
• Support for the diffusion of Christianity
• Political and economic competition between
European empires
• Innovations in navigational arts (European
and Islamic origins) – printing press,
astrolabe, and Mercator projection
• Pioneering role of Prince Henry the Navigator
New Maritime Technologies
Better Maps
[Portulan]
Hartman Astrolabe
(1532)
Mariner’s Compass
Sextant
New Weapons Technology
Portuguese
• First to send out exploratory voyages hoping
for an economic gain on their expenditures.
• Henry the Navigator – explored West African
coast in 1430s-1480s. He made no voyages,
just financed them.
– Collected scientific data of nautical type (e.g.
tides, currents, winds, stars)
– Made maps out of data which were kept secure
Prince Henry, the Navigator
School for Navigation, 1419
Portuguese
• Portuguese were able to start trading centers
on West Africa.
– Central distributors, points for goods storage and
shipment
– Slave trade started
– Portuguese forced local rulers to trade only with
them (monopoly)
Plantations – produced highly profitable
Also, expanded slave trade to work plantations
Other Portuguese Explorers
• Bartolomeu Dias discovered route around
Africa by accident into Indian Ocean (1487).
• Proved India could be reached by direct water
route.
• In 1497, Vasco da Gama was sent to explore
east coast of Africa and go to India to open
trade with them.
– This opening allowed Portugal the riches of the
Spice trade.
Other Portuguese Explorers
• Spice trade cont. –
– This water route cut costs by 80% over the land
route and allowed more Europeans to have access
to these goods, and a greater demand for them.
• Portuguese were now outpacing the Italians in
economic prestige.
Columbus
• The Vikings landed in Newfoundland 500
years before Columbus. (Leif Ericsson)
• Columbus decided to look for a westward
route to Asia
– Portuguese and Italians wouldn’t fund trip
– King and Queen of Spain did after years of asking
them over and over
Christoforo Colon [1451-1506]
Columbus
• He landed in Caribbean and was convinced it
was the Indies with China close by
• Disappointed in his quest, he returned with
proof of his discovery of a western land
(Discovery called West Indies)
• Returned many times to colonize, Christianize
and search for riches.
• Indians exploited, forced labor, died of disease
Columbus
• Columbus was arrested after his 3rd voyage for
inappropriate administration.
• His voyages initiated a flood of Spanish
explorers to exploit his finds.
– This posed a problem with Portuguese
Columbus’ Four Voyages
Line of Demarcation
• Set down by Pope in Atlantic
• Spain got all lands to west of line (discovered and
undiscovered)
• Portugal go all lands east
• Portuguese unhappy, threatened war with Spain
– This led to Treaty of Tordesillas which moved L.O.
Demarcation farther west. Portugal gained Brazil (not
yet discovered)
The Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494 &
The Pope’s Line of Demarcation
Spanish Explorers
• New World claims had to be enforced by
exploration and then colonization. Year after
year Spain established more colonies.
• Amerigo Vespucci – discovered South
American mainland and whole hemisphere
became the Americas (1499)
• Ponce de Leon – discovers and colonizes
Puerto Rico and the Florida peninsula
Spanish Explorers
• Francisco Balboa – a fortune seeker who was the
first to see the Pacific Ocean and established a
colony on the Isthmus of Panama.
• Ferdinand Magellan – conducted the most
ambitious exploration from 1519-1522
– Explored Pacific Ocean and circumnavigated the
world
– Died in a fight with natives in Philippines
– Only 1 of 5 ships made it back with 18 of 250 men
alive
Magellan
Results from Magellan
• Demonstrated that all oceans are connected
• Ocean winds and currents follow consistent
patterns
• Pacific Ocean was largest ocean
Ferdinand Magellan & the First Circumnavigation of
the World:
Early 16c
Other Voyages of Exploration
Conquest of the Americas
• Spanish explores began to move from
Caribbean back into Central and South
America primarily for gold (conquistadores) as
well as adventure
• Hernando Cortez invaded Mexico at the time
Magellan was leaving Spain.
• Had a large force of 500 heavily armored men
bent on conquest
Conquest of Americas
• Aztecs had watched their progress and sent
gifts and ambassadors
• Gifts only emboldened Cortez
• He ordered ships sunk to avoid mutiny, so the
only way was to go forward
• Aztecs attacked Spaniards first
• Cortez lay siege to their capital and won
The First Spanish Conquests:
The Aztecs
vs.
Fernando Cortez
Montezuma II
Conquest of Americas
• The Inca empire in South America fell to Spain
as well but more quickly
• Francisco Pizarro came with just that in mind
• They won the war but greed got the better of
them and they killed each other over the
spoils.
• Pizzaro assassinated
The First Spanish Conquests:
The Incas
vs.
Francisco Pizarro
Atahualpa
Conquest of Americas
• Portuguese settled Brazil @ 1500 by Pedro
Cabral and became a prosperous colony and
large missionary effort.
• The stage is now set for other Europeans to
get involved.
The “Columbian Exchange”

Squash

Avocado

Peppers

Sweet Potatoes

Turkey

Pumpkin

Tobacco

Quinine

Cocoa

Pineapple

Cassava

POTATO

Peanut

TOMATO

Vanilla

MAIZE

Syphilis

Trinkets

Liquor

GUNS

Olive

COFFEE BEAN

Banana

Rice

Onion

Turnip

Honeybee

Barley

Grape

Peach

SUGAR CANE

Oats

Citrus Fruits

Pear

Wheat

HORSE

Cattle

Sheep

Pigs

Smallpox

Flu

Typhus

Measles

Malaria

Diptheria

Whooping Cough
Impact of the Columbian Exchange
• Shortage of labor to grow cash crops led to
the use of African slaves.
• Slavery was based on race.
• European plantation system in the Caribbean
and the Americas destroyed indigenous
economics and damaged the environment.
• The triangular trade linked Europe, Africa,
and the Americas. Slaves, sugar, and rum
were traded.
English, French, Dutch Explorers
• Compared with Spain and Portugal, the other
countries were small time explorers.
• They ignored the Treaty of Tordesillas and
explored Spain’s lands anyway.
• Like Columbus, they believed in a quicker way
to Asia
– They had a belief in a Northwest Passage (that is
a waterway through North America to Asia)
English, French, Dutch Explorers
• Italian John Cabot – sailed for England in trying
to find N.W. Passage but explored only
Newfoundland
• Henry Hudson – made 4 voyages looking for
N.W. Passage for Dutch and went far up the
Hudson River in N.Y. and into Hudson Bay.
– Claimed area for Netherland (set adrift after 4th
voyage)
– Dutch set up colony of New Amsterdam
– Also, colonized some island in Caribbean
Dutch
• In mid 16th century they took over Portuguese
trade routes to East India and India and
installed the Dutch East India Company
• Gained monopoly there and with Japan
• By 1621 they controlled most trade to West
India, including the slave trade
• Unlike Spaniards, they didn’t enlist
missionaries; profit was their goal
English
• English followed Dutch lead and developed
trade
• Used Privateers to raid opposition and then
protect English trade interests (e.g. Sir Francis
Drake)
• Privateer– a ship which is authorized by a
government to attack enemy shipping, but is
not a naval vessel
Atlantic Explorations
Looking for “El Dorado”
English
• English Puritans established colonies in New
England
• Puritans were at odds (disagreed) with
Church of England
• Quakers founded Pennsylvania, Catholics
went to Maryland for refuge.
English
• Virginia started by fortune hunting
Englishmen at Jamestown.
• Failure, many starved or gave up and went
back
• Wealth was the land, not gold. Fortunes
made in agriculture on the backs of slave
labor over time.
French
• Sought territory for national pride, a check on
the English, and for profit.
• Jacques Cartier – sought NW Passage also and
explored St. Lawrence Seaway.
• Samuel de Champlain – explored coast of
Maine and established colony of Quebec as
part of New France
French
• As New France grew, France sent new
expeditions into interior.
• La Salle – Mississippi Valley (Louisiana) 1682
• Jacques Marquette – Great Lakes
• New France remained Catholic as Louis XIV
didn’t want Protestants moving in.
• Many went to North Carolina
French
• France/England fought over control of eastern
part of North America
• Four different wars between 1689-1763
• French & Indian War ended in France’s defeat
and cost her nearly all its North American
colonies. Kept only Caribbean holdings, lost
Canada and Louisiana territories.
Impact of European Expansion
1. Native populations ravaged by
disease.
2. Influx of gold, and especially
silver, into Europe created an
inflationary economic climate.
[“Price Revolution”]
3. New products introduced across
the continents [“Columbian
Exchange”].
4. Deepened colonial rivalries.
The Slave Trade
• Slavery is not a new issue. It still exists today.
• Slavery has existed since the first civilizations.
Slaves treated differently among them.
• Reasons for slavery:
– Labor in manpower intensive jobs (plantations)
– Punishment
– Economic savings
– Cultural differences
Slave Trade
• Slavery existed in Africa among Africans long
before the Europeans engaged in the practice.
• Criminals, prisoners of war, debtors were
often most common slave types
• North Africa was the center of African Slave
Trade.
• Muslims had been involved for centuries too.
Slave Trade
• Portuguese first became engaged in slavery
during early years of setting up trading posts
along Africa’s coast.
• African kings would offer to pay in slaves if
they had no gold, silver or marketable
commodities.
• They were sent to Portugal as house servants
Slave Trade
• Demand grew as Portuguese Plantations grew
and labor needed.
• Appeals by King Alfonso of the Congo to stop it
failed, especially as overseas colonies in New
World expanded
• Native Americans, it was found, made an inferior
quality slave.
• Slave trade became linked to the Triangular
Trade pattern between Europe, New World, and
Africa.
The Slave Trade
1. Existed in Africa before the coming
of the Europeans.
2. Portuguese replaced European slaves
with Africans.
Sugar cane & sugar plantations.
First boatload of African slaves
brought by the Spanish in 1518.
275,000 enslaved Africans exported
to other countries.
3. Between 16c & 19c, about 10 million
Africans shipped to the Americas.
Triangular Trade
• Ships loaded with trade goods travel to Africa
• Ships drop goods at trading posts along
African coast
• Same ships pick up new cargo: slaves
• Brought them to America where they were
exchanged for New World products (Middle
Passage)
• Products brought home to Europe
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
Triangular Trade
• “Middle Passage”
“Coffin” Position Below Deck
Triangular Trade
• During Middle Passage many died or
committed suicide.
• Those that survived became even more
valuable as their numbers were less than
when they started out.
African Captives
Thrown Overboard
Sharks followed the slave ships!
Impact of Slave Trade
• Coastal African communities fared worse as they
were closer to raiding parties.
• African culture survived and most of it was
unaffected by contact with European because it
was far in the interior
• Few colonies were established early in Africa
because it was looked upon more as a slave
repository.
• Many African communities near trading center
and coast were decimated.
End of Slave Trade
• European Abolitionists campaigned to end the
practice because of its immorality
• Britain was first to prohibit slave trade in 1807, U.S.
in 1808 (slave trade abolished, not slavery itself!!)
• Other European nations followed soon after.
• Slave running was illegal but profitable
• European efforts on West African coast shifted
slavery to east coast
• Americas last place to end slavery (1870) which
finally did in the trade.