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Europeans in the World

How they came out into the world and made it their own

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“Explorations”

  • From 1400-1800
  • Global scope
  • Set up networks of commerce, communication and transportation. The world got smaller.
  • Motives: God (convert to Christianity), Gold (find new sources of wealth) and Glory (the thrill of discovery and exploration with your name attached to it.)

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Borrowed Technology Made it Possible

  • Rudders on boats (from the Chinese)
  • Triangular Lateen Sails (from the Indians)
  • Compass (from the Chinese)
  • Latitude (from the Arabs)
  • Understanding current and prevailing winds.

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Portugal goes first

  • Explores African coast around to India (Vasco da Gama)
  • Spain gets jealous, and Fernando and Isabel outfit Columbus.
  • Spain also funds Ferdinand Magellan’s trip around the world. (He doesn’t make it, but his crew does)

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Others follow

Russia

  • Vitus Bering (Danish) Commissioned by Russia to find a northern route to Asia
  • Sails from Arctic Ocean into the Pacific
  • Others sail to California from Alaskan coast and to Hawai’i
  • A map of Russian Expansion

England

  • Sir Francis Drake scouts North America
  • James Cook leads three expeditions to the Pacific, and charted much of Australia and New Zealand

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Everywhere they go, it’s the same song

Trading Posts are established

  • Dutch and Portuguese do this best.
  • Portuguese set up trading posts with cannons to control waterways
  • Dutch just set up trading posts with no attempt to control travel.
    • The Dutch East India Trading Company (VOC)
  • Dutch last, Portuguese don’t

Indigenous people are conquered

  • Eastern hemisphere resists European domination—India and China are too populous and have strong central governments.
  • But Indonesia and the Philippines do fall to the Dutch and Spanish respectively.

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Conquest of the “New World”

  • Suddenly flora and fauna and diseases that had been partitioned began to mix.
  • Smallpox kills 15% of population in American hemisphere.
  • Smallpox and influenza reduce Aztec population by 90% (from 17m to 1.3m) within a century.
  • Around 100 million worldwide die from diseases between 1500 and 1800.

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