Download APWH CH 15

CHAPTER XV
The Maritime
Revolution
to 1500
Chapter 15 Quote
“By prevailing over all obstacles
and distractions, one may
unfailingly arrive at his chosen
goal or destination.”
Christopher Columbus
Chapter Objectives
• Compare the routes, motives, & technologies of those
who undertook global maritime expansion before 1450 to
the Portuguese & Spanish explorers of 1400–1550
• Explain the environmental, technological, economic, &
political factors that inspired Portugal & Spain to
undertake voyages of exploration
• Understand & explain the reasons for the various
different reactions of African & Asian peoples to the
Portuguese trading empire
• Describe & account for the Spanish ability to conquer a
territorial empire in the Americas
Global Maritime Expansion before 1450
The Pacific Ocean
• Over a period of several thousand years, peoples originally from
Asia crossed the ocean to settle the islands of the East Indies, New
Guinea, the Melanesian & Polynesian islands, the Marquesas, New
Zealand, & other Pacific islands out to Hawaii
• Polynesian use of the sweet potato, domesticated in South America,
suggests that they may have reached the Americas (hmm…?)
• Polynesian migration & establishment of colonies was aided by the
development of large, double-hulled canoes that used oars & sails
• Polynesian mariners navigated by the stars & by their observations
of ocean currents & evidence of land
Indo-Pacific Exploration
The Indian Ocean
• Malayo-Indonesians colonized the island of Madagascar in a
series of voyages that continued through the 15 th century
• Between 1405 & 1433 the Ming voyages of Zheng He were
carried out on a grand scale, involving fleets of over sixty
large treasure ships & hundreds of smaller support vessels
• The treasure ships carried out trade in luxury goods including
silk & precious metals, as well as stimulating diplomatic
relations with various African & Asian states
• The voyages, which were not profitable & inspired opposition
in court, were ended in 1433
The Atlantic Ocean
• In the early Middle Ages, Vikings explored and settled Iceland,
Greenland, & Newfoundland. With colder climate … abandoned
• A Southern Europeans & Africans attempted to explore the
Atlantic in the 13 th & 14 th centuries. From Genoa in 1291 &
from Mali in the 1300s set out into the Atlantic - did not return
• Genoese & Portuguese explorers discovered & settled the
Madeira, Azores, & Canary Islands in the 14 th century
• In the Americas, the Arawak from South America had colonized
the Lesser & Greater Antilles (Caribbean) by the year 1000
• The Carib followed, taking over Arawak settlements in the
Lesser Antilles & then, later raiding the Greater Antilles
Greater Antilles
MAYA
AZTEC
INCA
Lesser
Antilles
Section Review
• Polynesians explored & settled the eastern Pacific
from the Marquesas to Hawaii & Easter Island
• Indian Ocean became a center of commerce and
cultural exchange. Between 1405 and 1433 Chinese
Admiral Zheng He’s seven expeditions established
contacts with south Asian & African peoples
• Vikings, Amerindians, & Africans also pursued
long-distance explorations and settlements
EUROPEAN
EXPANSION
1400–1550
Motives for Exploration
• Iberia sponsored voyages for a number of reasons:
• Revival of urban life & trade
• Unique alliance between merchants & rulers in Europe
• Struggled with Islamic powers for Mediterranean dominance
• A growing intellectual curiosity about the outside world
• A history of centuries of warfare with Muslims
• No significant share in Mediterranean trade
• Had advanced shipbuilding & cannon technology
• Had exceptional leaders
• Italian City-States had no incentive to explore the Atlantic because
they had alliances/trade with Muslims giving them a monopoly on
Asian trade. Italian ships were designed for the calm waters of the
Mediterranean, could not stand up to the Atlantic
Portuguese Voyages
• Portugal gained knowledge of gold & slaves below the
Sahara Prince Henry captured North African caravan city of
Ceuta. Prince Henry the Navigator sponsored a Sailing
School at Sagres to improve Sailing Technology & send
expeditions to Sub-Saharan Africa
• It studied & improved navigational instruments, including
the compass & astrolabe, Cartographers learned new
techniques. Also designed a new vessel, the Caravel, whose
small size, shallow draft, combination of square and lateen
sails, & cannon made it well suited for the task of
exploration
• Portuguese explorers learned to pick up the prevailing Westerly
Winds that would blow them back to Portugal, contributing
important knowledge about oceanic wind patterns (and MAPS!)
to the maritime community
• Produced a financial ($) return!, from trade in slaves, & then
from the gold trade
• In 1469, the process of exploration picked up speed as private
commercial enterprises got involved. The Lisbon merchant
Fernao Gomes sent expeditions that discovered and developed
the island of São Tomé and explored the Gold Coast (Africa)
• Bartolomeu Dias & then Vasco da Gama rounded the tip of
Africa and established contact with India(!), thus laying the
basis for Portugal’s maritime trading empire
Spanish Voyages
• Christopher Columbus approached the Spanish crown with his
project of finding a new route to Asia, (Portugal already established
route to Indian Ocean Trade). Ferdinand & Isabella funded a
modest voyage of discovery, Columbus set out in 1492 with letters
of introduction to Asian rulers and an Arabic interpreter
• After three voyages, Columbus still certain that he had found Asia,
but other Europeans realized that he had discovered entirely new
lands. These new discoveries led the Spanish and the Portuguese to
sign the Treaty of Tordesillas, in which they divided the world
between them along a line drawn down the center of the North
Atlantic
• Ferdinand Magellan’s voyage across the Pacific confirmed
Portugal’s claim to the Molucca Islands and established the Spanish
claim to the Philippines
Section Review
• Portugal & Spain initiated overseas explorations to
expand Christianity & gain new markets. TO GET
AROUND ISLAM & Italian Merchants!!!
• Portugal, aided by Prince Henry the Navigator & his
Sailing School, created a trading empire in Africa & the
Indian Ocean
• Columbus, trying to get around Islam & Portugal, first
revealed the Americas to Europe. Other Spanish explorers
reached Asia by crossing the Pacific
Encounters with Europe, 1450–1550
Western Africa
• During the 15 th century, many Africans welcomed the Portuguese &
profited from their trade, in which they often held the upper hand
• Trading gold, Africans received a variety of Asian, African, and
European goods, including firearms. Interaction between the Portuguese
and African rulers varied from place to place
• Benin exported a number of goods, including some slaves, and its rulers
showed a mild interest in Christianity. After 1538, Benin purposely
limited its contact with the Portuguese, declining to receive missionaries
& closing the market in male slaves
• The kingdom of Kongo had fewer goods to export & consequently relied
more on the slave trade. When the Christian King Afonso I lost his
monopoly over the slave trade, his power was weakened and some of his
subjects rose in revolt
Eastern Africa
• Some Muslim states were suspicious of the Portuguese,
while others welcomed the Portuguese as allies in their
struggles against their neighbors. On the Swahili Coast,
Malindi befriended the Portuguese & was spared when the
Portuguese attacked and looted many of the other Swahili
city-states in 1505
• Christian Ethiopia sought & gained Portuguese support in
its war against the Muslim forces of Adal
• The Muslims were defeated, but Ethiopia was unable to
make a long-term alliance with the Portuguese because the
Ethiopians refused to transfer their religious loyalty from the
patriarch of Alexandria to the Roman Pope!
Indian Ocean States
• Vasco da Gama arrived in Calicut in 1498, made a poor impression with
his gifts. But, superior ships & firepower gave the ability to trade
• The Portuguese bombarded the Swahili city-states in 1505, captured the
Indian port of Goa in 1510, & took Hormuz in 1515. Portuguese forces
captured Malacca in 1511 & set up a trading post at Macao in Southern
China in 1557
• Portuguese used control over major ports to require that all Spices be
carried in Portuguese ships & any other ships purchase Portuguese
passports & pay taxes to the Portuguese
• Reactions to this Portuguese aggression varied. Mughal emperors took
no action, the Ottomans resisted & were able to maintain superiority in
the Red Sea Persian Gulf (Aden)
• Portuguese never gained complete control of Indian Ocean trade, but did
dominate it enough to bring considerable profit & break Italian CityStates’ monopoly on PEPPER!
The Americas
• Spain built a territorial empire in the Americas
• 2 reasons for territorial conquest were isolation of Amerindian
communities & their lack of resistance to Old World diseases
• Spanish Conquistadors killed thousands of Arawak &
undermined their economy; by 1502, remaining Arawak of
Hispaniola were forced to serve as laborers for the Spanish
• On the mainland, Hernan Cortes relied on native allies, cavalry
charges, steel swords, and cannon to defeat the forces of the
Aztec Empire and capture Tenochtitlan
• Francisco Pizarro’s conquest of the Inca Empire made possible
by the dissatisfaction of the Inca Empire’s recently conquered
peoples and by Spanish cannon and steel swords (And
STUPIDITY)
Section Review
• African kingdoms reacted in various ways to the
opportunities & threats created by the arrival of the
Portuguese, but only Kongo embraced Christianity &
accepted a large Portuguese military presence in the 16 th
century
• The Portuguese used military force to consolidate a trade
empire in the Indian Ocean
• After the Spanish occupied the Caribbean, Cortes led an
expedition that conquered the Aztecs, weakened by epidemic
• The Spanish under Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire,
already suffering from civil war, & then fell on each other,
but surviving conquistadors continued to explore the
Americas
Conclusion
• Imperial Comparisons
• Strong centralized governments like China’s were not inclined to attempt
long-distance exploration
• Weaker rulers such as the Iberian monarchs left the details of exploration
to individuals, such as Columbus, who proposed them
• Dominance of the Americas by Spain and Portugal was aided by the
native populations’ vulnerability to European disease and by the superior
weaponry of Europe
• Natives of Asia and Africa had more immunity to European diseases from
earlier contact and were more able to resist militarily
• Economic Comparisons
• Europeans found sophisticated markets & trade networks in Africa & Asia
• Europeans needed to introduce new technology & strong political control
over American natives to exploit their natural resources