European �Exploration & Expansion

An overview prepared by B. Smith 6/3/14

European Maritime Empires: Causes

• Ottoman Control of Itanbul & Bosporus Strait
• Venitian Control of the Mediterranean Sea
• Trade between Asia and Europeto is
• more limited
• more expensive

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European Maritime Empires: Motives

• God, Glory, Gold
• Economic (Gold)
• Mercantilist policy, personal wealth, trading empire
• Renaissance spirit of curiosity/adventure (Glory)
• Spread Christianity (God)
• Catholics after the Protestant Reformation
• Crusading Spirit - Pope, Missionaries, Jesuits
• Isabella finances voyages of Columbus after the capture of Granada, last Muslim stronghold in Spain
• Pride (Glory)
• Increasing strength of the state
• Personal accomplishment

Mercantilism

• Economic theory popular in the 1500s and 1600s
• Tied to age of absolutism and the rising power of the monarchy
• Wealth measured in bullion
• Maintain favorable balance of trade
• Encourages colonization

Mercantilism

Old and New Technology

astrolabe

compass

caravel & lateen sail

Portugal

• Prince Henry the Navigator 1394-1460
• Role of the monarchy; Navigation school
• West Coast of Africa
• Trading posts on coast
• Slave trade
• Guns for slaves
• Dias around the Cape of Good Hope 1488
• Da Gama to India 1458
• 50 trading posts in the Indian Ocean
• Cabral and Portugal’s claim to Brazil
• Sugar plantations
• African slave trade

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Okay guys. Let’s get out there and dominate those trade routes!

Bartolomeu Diaz

• Bartolomeu Diaz was the first explorer to sail around the Cape of Africa.
• Found the passage that would make it possible for other Portuguese explorers to sail around Africa and reach India.
• Orginally named the Cape of Good Hope the Cape of Storms.

Vasco Da Gama

• Vasco Da Gama was the first Portuguese explorer to sail around the southern tip of Africa and reach India.
• He bought goods from India for very cheap and sold them 27 times the price he originally bought them for in Portugal.
• His discovery led to an era of European imperialism and global multiculturalism.

Significance of Portuguese Exploration

• Portuguese sailors were at the vanguard of European overseas exploration, discovering and mapping the coasts of Africa, Asia, and Brazil.
• The Portuguese goal of finding a sea route to Asia was finally achieved in a voyage commanded by Vasco da Gama, who reached Calicut in western India in 1498, becoming the first European to reach India by sea.
• Portugal’s purpose in the Indian Ocean was to ensure the monopoly of the spice trade. Taking advantage of the rivalries that pitted Hindus against Muslims, the Portuguese established several forts and trading posts in the area between 1500 and 1510.
• Reaching the legendary Indian spice routes unopposed helped the Portuguese improve their economy that, until Gama, was mainly based on trades along Northern and coastal West Africa. These spices were at first mostly pepper and cinnamon, but soon included other products, all new to Europe. This led to a commercial monopoly for several decades.

Spain

• Spanish Crown sponsors voyages of Columbus 1492
• Land-based empire in the Americas
• Avoid dispute with Portugal (Pope)
• Treaty of Tordesillas
• Labor systems
• Hacienda (cash crops) and mining
• Encomienda
• Bartolome de las Casas/the Great Dying
• African slaves
• Silver trade—>global trade
• Role of the Catholic Church
• Mixed “races” and a new class structure

Columbus 101

Lands and explores Bahamas, Haiti, Cuba.

Assumes not far from Indonesia or China.

Establishes outpost

Returns on 2nd voyage, outpost gone, so makes another.

Enslaves 560 Natives and sends back to Spain as a gift.

Only 200 make it….

Columbus 101

So that slave gift…

1 - Queen Isabella of Spain is super angry - are the people there to be enslaved or are they her subjects!

2 - Start of Spanish slavery in New World

3 - Idea of barbaric natives, which will be enslaved to find gold or die.

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Columbus 101

Assessment:

1 - Harsh - Did not understand the local cultures. Tried to impose European civilization on Natives & would kill those who he saw as unruly. He also severly punished his own crew for transgressions.

2 - Christianity - forced Natives to accept it; they were fine with what they had.

3 - Always thought he was on the edge of Asia.

4 - Introduced Europe to idea of Americas.

The Encounter

Portuguese Empire

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Spanish Empire

Ferdinand Magellan

• Ferdinand Magellan was the first Portuguese explorer to discover a western route to Asia.
• He named the Pacific Ocean
• His explorer to circumnavigate the globe.
• Provided evidence that the world was round.

Bartolome de las Casas

The treatment of the Native Americans is very troubling indeed…

The Middle Passage

The Atlantic slave trade: What too few textbooks told you - Anthony Hazard

Latin American Race-Based Class Structure

The Dutch

• Joint-stock company (VOC)
• Individuals share risk and reward
• Take over most Portuguese trading posts due to superior ships and stronger economy during the 1600s
• Centered in Jakarta
• Attempt to control spice trade
• Boers in South Africa
• Roots of apartheid

The French

• Monarchy and private investors
• Indian Ocean trade plus search for the Northwest Passage
• Influence in Canada and North America
• Lose foreign interests to English during the 1750s �(7 Years War)

There must be a Northwest Passage around here somewhere…

The English

• British East India Company
• Wins exclusive rights to trade with India at the Battle of Plassey in 1757
• Hegemonic power after 1750s
• English political stability, powerful navy, and overseas empire
• Pax Britannica after 1750

English Patterns of Contact

This place looks nice…

The Columbian Exchange

Imperialism

The domination by one country of the political and/or economic life of another country.

15th, 16th, 17th Century Political Systems

Political systems develop based on� - the economic resources available� - the needs of the people

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Absolutism - kings/queens have complete control

-centralize their government

I have the power! -limit power of nobles � -control of lives of their subjects

-power over everything.

15th, 16th, 17th Century Political Systems

Absolutism - kings/queens have complete control

Begins in the 1500s

Spain - emerges as first modern European power

-Following Charles V, Philip II expands Spanish influence, strengthens the Catholic Church, and states he rule by divine right. This means that God has given him the right to be king, and anything he says/does must be God’s will.

-Spain becomes most powerful European state at this time through exploration, expansion, mercantilism.

15th, 16th, 17th Century Political Systems

Absolutism - kings/queens have complete control

France -

Following religious wars between Catholics and Protestants through the 1500s….

… in 1640 Louis XIV assumes absolute power. � He was born into royalty, therefore� his power/authority are from God.

He is known as “the Sun King”

Rules for 72 years.

15th, 16th, 17th Century Political Systems

“. . .The person of the King is sacred, and to attack him in any way is an attack on religion itself. Kings represent the divine majesty and have been appointed by Him to carry out His purposes. Serving God and respecting kings are bound together.”

—Bishop Jacques Bossuet

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This statement describes the philosophy that existed during the Age of Absolutism

15th, 16th, 17th Century Political Systems

Age of Absolutism elsewhere:

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Russia - Peter the Great - uses his power to modernize Russia, with economic & social reforms

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Muslim World

Not exactly the same concept, but close…

• Suleiman (Ottoman sultan) is considered the perfect ruler
• Akbar the Great (Mughal Emperor, India)

15th, 16th, 17th Century Political Systems

Meanwhile…

• in England the people REJECT the idea of Absolutism.
• English Civil War in 1642 as Charles I and Parliament fight over power/authority
• In 1649, Charles I is beheaded for treason.
• 1688 - English Bill of Rights, where England becomes a Constitutional Monarchy. The king/queen is only a symbol of the country.

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Eurasian Land Empires

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Eurasian Land Empires

Despite periods of territorial and economic expansion, the great land empires failed to participate in the commercial revolution led by Northern Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Ottoman, Mughal, and Safavid empires (all Muslim) declined as the commercial and military power of the Europeans expanded.

EXIT SLIP

• How were Columbus’ voyages a major turning point in history?

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• Describe two positive and two negative outcomes of his voyages.

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• How did global trade patterns change from the 1400s - 1700s?