Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Conquest and Empire Dr. Andy Mansfield Non-European Voyages • Arab Merchants: all over the Arabian peninsula and into Asia • Polynesians: double-hulled canoes – colonise across the Pacific • China (Zheng He: 1405-33): Asia, southeast Asia, Africa - 28k soldiers and sailors - Chinese isolation (1477) Admiral Zheng He (1371 - c.1435) Henry the Navigator • Lack of Portuguese wealth so pursue exploration: - African Gold - Mythical Crusaders: Prester John - Coptic Ethiopia • Loss to Senegal & Senegambia • Slavery: ‘Black Gold’ (8 August 1444) Henry the Navigator (1396 - 1460) Portuguese Exploration Vasco de Gama (c. 1460 - 1524) Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480 - 1521) 1492: Christopher Columbus • Accidental discovery • Isabella and Ferdinand • The most symbolic journey: unintentional broadening of European mind-set • Surpassing ancient wisdom Taking Possession of the World • On Columbus’ return: Spanish petition Pope for title of lands they have ‘discovered’ • 1493: Pope Alexander VI – future discoveries ratified over non-Christians • 1455: Pope Nicholas V gives Portugal a license to reduce all Africa to ‘perpetual slavery’ • 1494: Tordesillas Line: Portugal and Spain Crosby’s Columbian Exchange • Europeans and their descendant most successful immigrants • Odd worldwide distribution • Failure in the Tropics • Temperate ‘swarm’ Four Organisms (1) Humans (2) Animals – agriculture, horses & rats (3) Weeds – exchange of crops, plants & weeds (4) Pathogens: (‘lethal microbes’: Diamond) – Cortes (Aztecs), Pizarro (Incas), & de Soto (North America) = 95% of population dead - Smallpox, Typhoid & Measles --- Syphilis = Disease helped supplant these populations The Exchange Spanish Empire • Vast unexpected wealth: war and luxury • No development of agriculture, trade or economy • Bankruptcy & Collapse (mid-C17) • Colonies taken or Republics (C19) Philip II (r. 1556 - 98) Northern European Exploration • French and English search for gold in Canada • New focus on commerce • Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun: ‘Golden Ball’ • Masters of the Sea: Seaborne Empires • Navy and Merchants • Avoiding past horrors (Rome and Spain) • Landes on Max Weber British Empire • East India Company (1600) • Competition with Dutch & French • Harmonious Christian Empire: commercial, benevolent & liberal • Loss of American Colonies (1776) • India: Cornwallis Code (1793) George III (r. 1760 - 1820) Modern Slavery • • • • All empires prior to C19 slave-owning Slaves used from Antiquity Portuguese & modern slavery (’Black Gold’) Britain and slavery – (5% of economy) ‘No African Trade, no Negroes, No Negroes, No Sugar; no Sugar no Islands, no Islands no Continent, no Continent no Trade; that is to say farewell to your American Trade, your West Indian Trade’ – Daniel Defoe (1713) Atlantic Triangle The Slave Trade • More Africans than Europeans to Americas • Portuguese, British, French, Spanish, Dutch & U.S. (by numbers in Atlantic) • 12 million Africans – (same eastwards) • Use of African system • Generation of wealth: people & places • Replaced indigenous populations Justifications of the Trade • Old Slavery: punishment & war • Bible & Qu’ran: just to take slaves in war • Trade not War • Curse of Ham (Africa) Abolition of Slavery • 1688: French code noir • Humanitarianism: (1833) • The Rights of Africans • Repatriation & Abolition William Wilberforce (1759 - 1833) Scramble for Africa • Berlin Conference (1884) • European control: childlike Africans • Belgian Congo (rubber) • Britain in Southern Africa • New Imperialism