Download Encounter Must Know

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
REASONS FOR EUROPEAN EXPLORATION
 European trade routes were disrupted by newly acquired Ottoman control of the eastern Mediterranean Sea and
overland routes through the Middle East.
 Portugal and Spain took the lead in trying to bypass the Ottomans and find an ALL-WATER route to Asia.
 New technology diffused into Europe made overseas exploration possible: gunpowder, cartography (mapmaking and
printing press) made better maps, magnetic compass, astrolabe (indicated latitude at sea), and the lateen said (sailed
against big ocean winds).
 Bartholomew Dias and Vasco DaGama (both from Portugal) sailed around the southern tip of Africa en route to
Asia and inspired Spain to also take part in the search for an all-water route to Asia.
 Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain hired many explorers (including Christopher Columbus) in an effort to expand their
“Christian Kingdom.”
 Many European nations wanted spices from Asia.
 The Three G’s also motivated many exploration initiatives: GOLD, GOD and GLORY!
 1492- Columbus sailed from Spain and landed on an island in the Caribbean Sea (thought he had landed in India…
called it the Indies… named the natives “Indians”… )
THE SPANISH CONQUER LATIN AMERICA
 Spanish conquistadors (conquerors) landed in Latin America looking for gold and glory and to spread
Christianity.
 Hernan Cortes landed in central Mexico in 1519 and easily conquered and destroyed the mighty Aztec
Empire in two years.
 Francisco Pizarro landed in Peru in 1532 and easily conquered and destroyed the Incan Empire.
 Armor, WEAPONS (gunpowder), and horses made the Spanish a superior force over the natives.
 The Spanish also allied with those natives who hated being ruled by the Aztec and Inca Empires.
 European diseases such as SMALL POX and the measles killed millions of natives, decimating the
population and expediting their demise.
EFFECTS OF SPANISH COLONIZATION IN LATIN AMERICA
 The Spanish Empire in Latin America stretched from southern California to the southern tip of South America.
 Creating colonies in Latin America brought great wealth to Spain
 And to Latin America, Spain brought their form of government (monarchy), religion (Christianity), economy
(mercantilism), and language and culture (Spanish).
 MERCANTILISM- an economic system where colonies existed to only benefit the mother country. Spanish
colonies could only trade with Spain. The colonies had to provide Spain with raw materials and markets to resell
their products.
 Native Americans and Africans were enslaved and forced to work on plantations for no profit.
 For the most part, the entire culture of Latin America was lost and the new look of Central and South America
resembled the culture of the Europeans.
THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE
 A new global trade network resulting from the contact between the eastern and western hemispheres
 It was the exchanging of plants, animals, people and diseases between the eastern and western hemispheres
 It profoundly changed the world (demographically, economically, culturally, and socially)
 Beans, corn, squash, and potatoes from Latin America to Europe, Asia and Africa
 Bananas, rice, horses, cattle, chickens, and diseases from Europe, Africa, and Asia to the Americas
THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE
 Also known as the Triangular Trade and the Cruelest Trade
 It was a three point trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas where slaves became the most valuable
African commodity
 The shortage of labor on the plantations in the Americas (because most of the native population died from small
pox) led Europeans to trade manufactured goods and guns for African slaves. They took Africans from their own
continent and forced them to work long hours and under grueling conditions on the plantations.
 The Middle Passage was the second leg of the triangle from Africa to America. It was a horrible journey slaves
endured in order to reach the Americas. They were crammed into the bottom of a ship for weeks with little food,
room to move and even air as they sailed across the Atlantic to the Americas.
 11 million Africans were brought to the Americas through the slave trade- the shift in demographics changed both
continents forever!