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European Exploration
1450-1650
1420- what is going on the world?
 China- Ming Dynasty
 Japan- Shogun period
 Saharan/ North AfricaSonghai Empire
 SubSaharan AfricaSwahili city states;
Great Zimbabwe
 Americas- Aztec & Inca
 India- separate states
 Middle EastOttoman Expansion
 Europe:
– recovery from Black
Death
– Renaissance
– 100 Years’ WarJoan of Arc
– War of the Roses
(England)
What did they already
know?
 Marco Polo- his “travels” created interest
in exploration (Colon carried them with
him)
 “Spice Islands”- the Malaccas of
Indonesia- visited by Zheng He
 Banking system to provide money
Why?
Reasons for Exploration
God
convert the heathens
Gold
trading goods
Glory
"adventure"
 God- to spread the Christian faith- first Catholicism and
then Protestantism
 Gold- gold itself (more gold= more power!) wealth to be
made from spice trade, later other commodities were
added (primogeniture, only the oldest son received
inheritance)
 Glory- often the younger sons of a noble, or a poor
sailor; conquistadors; nationalism- fame for your country
How? New Technology
 From the Arabs or
Chinese
– 1. Early maps called
portolani from Arabs
– later cartography,
accounted for curvature of
the earth so useful on
overseas voyages
– 2. astrolabe to determine
latitude
– 3. lateen (triangular) sailscan sail INTO the wind
– 4. magnetic compass
 From Europeans
– own development of
caravels• to carry more goods
• Multi-mast with large
holds
Who? Portugal?
 Prince Henry the Navigator
(Portugal)- 1420
- established School for
Navigators- redesigned ships,
made maps, trained captains
and crews
- down W African coast to
Songhai
 Bartolomeu Dias (P)1488
Cape of Good Hope
 Vasco de Gama (P)- 1498around Africa, across to India
 Returned with cargo of
spices 1000sX in value
 Afonso de Albuquerque(P)1510- port at Goa ,
Melaka (Malay pen.), Spice
Islands (Moluccas)
 Ferdinand Magellan (S)1521- circumnavigated the
world
Race for the Americas
 Spain- financed by
Ferdinand and Isabella
 Cristobal Colon- 1492sailed west to find Spice
Islands; found Hispanola
instead…
 Treaty of Tordesillas
(1494)- div. between
Spain and Portugal by
Pope
Race for the Americas
 Pedro Cabral (P)- 1500coast of South America; with
Amerigo Vespucci
 Giovanni Caboto- (UK)1497- New England coast
 Henry Hudson (Neth.)1609- N. America
 Jacques Cartier (F)- 1534St. Lawrence Seaway
Economic Impact
 In New World: destruction of empires; plantation
system- sugar, cotton, vanilla, livestock
 North America- colonies created by Dutch and
English- Jamestown, Virginia (1607) and
Massachusetts Bay Colony(1630)
 In Europe- increased economic competition for land,
spice and gold trade
- development of major trading corporations: Dutch
East India Company (1600)- India; Dutch West India
Company (1600)- Hudson valley, New Netherlands
Reasons for colonies
 There is a FIXED amount of gold in the world and
we need to find it ALL!
 Economic policy for gaining wealth from colonies
 Export more than you import- favorable balance of
trade
 Get trade goods from colonies
 Control balance of trade with colonies
 High tariffs on imports
 Encourage those industries that expanded trade
 Goal: wealth in the form of GOLD (bullion)
Mercantilism- Commercial
Revolution!
 Standardized money
– New metal supplies allowed states to fix the value of
their coins.
 Joint-stock companies
– Businesses sell shares of the company to investors,
raising money for their activities.
 Mercantilism
– Favorable balance of trade
• Selling more than you buy
– Subsidies
• Government money to establish new industries so you
needn’t import goods
 Trade shifts from Mediterranean to Atlantic