Download Chapter 13 – European Explorers

Chapter 2 – European Explorers
“Age of Exploration”
Chapter Summary
• Europeans risked
dangerous ocean
voyages to discover
new sea routes.
• Spain and Portugal
control the “New
World”
• Early European
explorers sought
gold in Africa, then
began to trade
slaves.
Motives and Means
• 1500-1800 Dynamic
Energy in Europe leads
to European Expansion
• Why would they
risk so much to
explore?
• The 3 G’s:
• God
• Gold
• Glory
The Portuguese
• Southern coast of Africa along the Atlantic =
•“The Gold Coast”
The Portuguese = look to round Africa to return from India with Spices
• In 1488, Bartholomeu
Dias rounded the tip of Africa
looking for a route to India.
• Vasco da Gama
rounded the tip
of Africa and
sailed on to the
port of Calcutta
in India in 1498.
DIAS
• He took on a cargo of
spices and returned to
make a profit of several
thousand percent.
da Gama
Da Gama’s Ship
What Did Columbus Look Like?
Spanish – Sail West & Voyage to Americas
• As the Portuguese sailed
east to reach the source
of the spice trade, the
Spanish sailed west to
find it.
• Italian Christopher
Columbus sails for
Spain.
• 4 voyages – believes
he reaches the Indies
• Opposing viewpoints –
page 410
The Voyage
Video: Age of Exploration- Race for Riches
Voyages to the Americas (cont.)
• Both Spain and
Portugal feared the
other would claim
some of its newly
“discovered”
territories.
• In the 1494 Treaty of
Tordesillas, they decided on
a north-to-south line through the
Atlantic Ocean and the
easternmost part of South
America.
• Portugal claimed the unexplored
territories east of the line, Spain
to the west.
Like the modern “Space Race” –
European Nations were in a race
to find new territories.
Spanish Win the Treaty:
They get the best
Of the deal
Voyages to the Americas (cont.)
• Amerigo Vespucci – Italian
Explorer, Navigator, and
Cartographer.
• Wrote letters of the New
World.
• The European public
learned about the newly
discovered continent of the
Americas for the first time
• Led to the use of his first
name Americus in Latin
for “Americas”
The Conquistadors - Spanish Explorers
• Cortes, Pizarro examples of Conquistadors
• Forced labor of Native
Americans led to the
cruel treatment
Video: Francisco Pizzaro
Voyages to the Americas (cont.)
Disease Ravages Native Americans
Smallpox, Measles, Typhus
Hispaniola – pop. 250,000 in 1492
pop. 500 in 1538
Mexico – pop. 25 Million in 1519
pop. 1 Million in 1630
Measles
Typhus
Commerce & Trade
• Mercantilism – set
of principles that
dominated economic
thought in the 17th
century.
• Prosperity depends on
supply of bullion – gold &
silver
• Balance of Trade – diff
between what a nation
imports and exports
Mercantilism
The prosperity of a nation is
dependent upon its supply of
capital, and that the global
volume of international trade is
"unchangeable".
Economic assets (or capital) are
represented by bullion (gold,
silver, and trade value) held by
the state, which is best increased
through a positive and healthy
balance of trade with other
nations (exports minus imports).
Europeans Needed Cheap Labor
• The Middle
Passage – name
for the transport
of slaves from
Africa to America.
Africans originally
brought to the
new world to
supply labor for
sugar
plantations
Slave Trade
The Middle Passage: Drawings by Tom Feelings
March 12 - December 3, 2000
Video: Slave Trade
Video: The Triangular Trade: Growth of European Slave Trade
Triangular Trade
Triangular Trade