Download WS – Age of Discovery and Age of Imperialism

WS – Age of Discovery and Age of Imperialism
The Western Campaign of Exploration and Colonization
Unit 3
Name:
Date:
Period:








Matters of Importance
Exploration, colonization, and the rise of the West
The compass and improved naval technology
Gunpowder weaponry
Trade and missionary activity
Slavery and resource extraction
Major explorers and conquistadors
Trading companies
Between the early-to-mid 1400s and the mid-to-late 1700s, the nations of Europe
accomplished what no other civilization had done: They explored the wider world around them,
discovered how to sail around the globe, and mapped out the planet’s major oceans and
landmasses.
With this knowledge came might and wealth. The nations of Europe conquered,
colonized and forced open foreign markets. European explorers an generals were aided by
superior technology, the vulnerability of many non-Europeans to European disease, and, in many
cases, sheer ruthlessness.
The legacy is mixed. On one hand, exploration gave Europe’s nations an unprecedented
amount of geographical and scientific knowledge. Colonization made Europe rich and powerful.
It was during the years of exploration—and largely because of exploration—that Europe started
to be become the dominant civilization on the planet.
On the other hand, Europe paid a moral and ethical price for the knowledge and power is
gained. Exploration and colonization went hand-in-hand with war, greed, prejudice, religious
intolerance, and slavery. Many parts of the world remained under European rule for hundreds of
years. Even now, the long-standing tensions left over between Western nations and their former
colonies continue to have an impact on international relations.
Economic Motivations and Technological Capabilities
Why and how did the Europeans become the first to explore the world? For many
centuries, the peoples of Europe had been less technologically and scientifically advanced than
their neighbors in the Middle East or countries such as China. Any observer during the medieval
era would have thought it unlikely that Europe, only a short time later, would emerge as the
leader in world exploration
Until the 1400s, Europeans’ geographic knowledge was limited. They new the
Mediterranean, Baltic, and North seas well. Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and even Russia were
poorly known, inaccessible, or impassable. For the time being, the only outlet was the Atlantic
Ocean, which was frighteningly unfamiliar.
Economic Motives for Exploration
The Europeans’ primary motivation for exploring was economic. During the Middle
Ages, the nations of Europe had become aware of the fabulous wealth of other parts of the world,
especially to the east. Europeans also know how desirable many eastern goods were.
Before the 1400s, Europeans were dreaming of silk, metal goods, spices, fruit, jewels and
precious metals, and other items unknown or in short supply in their own lands. If they could
reach the Far East directly, rather than trading with middlemen in the Middle East, they would be
able to make tremendous profits.
*Mediterranean trade, greater knowledge about the Middle East gained during the Crusades,
and the tales of Marco Polo all whetted European appetites or the wealth of far-off places such
as China, the Indies, and Japan. *
New Navigational and Maritime Technology
If Europeans were interested in exploring by the 1400s, they needed the technology and
knowledge to do so. Already by the 1300s, Europeans had learned the secret of the compass from
the Chinese. Better knowledge of the stars (gained largely from the Arabs) and better
navigational instruments, such as the astrolabe and sextant, made it possible for European sailors
to venture farther from shore without getting lost.
Naval technology improved as well. During the 1300s and 1400s, the Europeans began to
build large, long ships, allowing them to sail faster, carry larger food supplies, and cover greater
distance. Larger ships were able to crest the huge waves of the open ocean without capsizing or
breaking apart. Finally, stern rudders and the advanced system of sails and rigging allowed ships
to travel in almost any direction the captain wanted to go, even if the wind was not favorable.
Finally, European nations were beginning to use gunpowder weapons by the 1300s and
1400s. Although it was not until the 1500s and 1600s that Europeans invented the huge gunships
that let them carry massive firepower to every part of the globe, European sailors and soldiers
cam equipped with muskets, pistols, and small artillery pieces. Not only could they use
gunpowder weapons at sea, but they would be able to use them against less technologically
advanced native populations when they reached new lands.
The Iberian Wave of Exploration: Spain and Portugal
The first European nations to explore the wider Atlantic world were Portugal and Spain.
Both were on Europe’s Atlantic frontier. They also had a great deal of maritime experience in the
Mediterranean, thanks to trade and a long series of naval wars against the Ottoman Turks.
Portuguese and Spanish exploration during the 1400s and early 1500s proceeded in two
ways. First, the Portuguese attempted to reach the lands of the Far East by inching their way
down the coast of Africa, rounding the continent, and then sailing across the Indian Ocean to
Asia. In the meantime, the Spanish, competing with the Portuguese, attempted to find their own
route to Asia by sailing west, around the world. Famously they found the continents of North and
South America instead ass well as an ocean previously unknown to them: the Pacific. Quickly,
both countries figured out the relationship between the Atlantic and Pacific.
Henry the Navigator and Portugal’s Exploration of West Africa
The Portuguese began Europe’s age of exploration thanks mainly to their prince, known
popularly as Henry the Navigator (1394-1460). He and his successors sent out many voyages to
the west and south, attempting to find a sea route to India and the Far East. The Portuguese
claimed several Atlantic island groups, including the Madeiras and Azores, and traveled down
Africa’s western coast, conquering and exploring. They seized the Moroccan port of Ceuta in
1411, and soon afterward, the Cape Verde Islands. The Portuguese continued to expand along
Africa’s western shore, taking over or domineering areas like Congo. In 1488, Bartholomeu Diaz
reached the southern tip of Africa. In honor of the completion of his first leg of the journey to
India, the Portuguese named the tip of Africa the Cape of Good Hope.
Spain, Christopher Columbus and the New World
The Spanish, distracted by the Reconquista, were not as quick as the Portuguese to start
exploring. Falling behind meant that, if the Spanish wanted their own sea route to Asia, they
would have to try something different. The result was the famous voyage of the Italian captain
Christopher Columbus in 1492, sponsored by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.
What Columbus proposed was to sail west to reach China and India. The boldness of his
plan lay not in that the world was round, that was well known to educated Europeans. What
made his proposal striking was his belief that the world was small enough that an expedition
would be able to sail from Spain to Asia without getting lost or running out of food and water.
He set sail in August 1492, and his ships reached the islands of the Caribbean on October 12.
Columbus was convinced that he had found the Indies (hence the mistaken term Indians
for Native Americans), but the Spanish and Portuguese realized quickly that what he found were
lands completely unknown to them. The two countries turned to the pope to determine who
would be allowed to claim which parts of the New World In lines of demarcation agreed to in
1494 and 1592, the pope gave jurisdiction over most of South America and all of North America
to the Spanish. The Portuguese received Brazil.
Spanish and Portuguese Colonization
Having reached Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Far East on one hand and the New World
on the other, the Spanish and Portuguese established a colonial presence in all these areas. In the
Far East and Southeast Asia, many countries were too strong or too advanced for the Portuguese
to conquer, and for the most part they settle for trade. Still the Portuguese seized some areas,
including the Indian port of Goa (1510), the thriving commercial center of Malacca (1511), and
the island of Sri Lanka. As they had in West Africa, the Portuguese took over much of the East
African coast, setting up strongholds in cities such as Mombasa and Zanzibar.
In the New World, the Portuguese moved into Brazil during the early 1500s. The Spanish
built up their power in the Caribbean, using islands such as Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola
(today Haiti and the Dominican Republic) as bases.
The North and South American mainland tell to the conquistadores—generals who
brought huge parts of both continents under Spanish control. Florida fell to Juan Ponce de Leon
after 1513. From 1519 to 1521, Hernan Cortes waged an effective and brutal campaign against
the Aztecs. The Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, became Mexico City, headquarters of what the
Spanish now called New Spain. Later, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas,
Missouri, Louisiana, and Alabama were taken over by other conquistadores, such as Hernando
de Soto, Francisco de Coronado, and Alvar Cabeza de Vaca. Farther to the south, in the 1530s,
Francisco Pizarro destroyed the mighty Incan Empire.
Both in Africa and the New World, Portuguese and Spanish colonies were originally
intended to boost their home countries’ power and wealth through the exploitation of raw
materials. From the start, the Spanish and Portuguese attempted to use Native Americans as
slaves. When that effort failed, they brought slaves to the New World from Africa.
The Northern Wave: France, The Dutch Republic, and England
During the 1500s, other European nations began to explore and colonize. The most
important were France, the Dutch Republic, and England.
For decades, the Spanish and Portuguese jealously guarded their geographic knowledge
and navigational techniques, and were anxious to lock the counties of northern Europe out of
Atlantic exploration. At stake were military power, immense wealth, and Catholic-Protestant
rivalry.
Only after the mid-1500s were the French, Dutch, and English able to steal enough
information, shadow enough Spanish and Portuguese ships, and gain enough knowledge about
sea routes to begin their own exploration and colonization. During the 1500s and 1600s, for the
French, English, and Dutch to explore and colonize typically meant also fighting the Spanish and
Portuguese—either at sea or on land—as the new arrivals tried to take colonial territories away
from the older powers.
* During the early 1500s, the only area that France, the Dutch Republic, and England were able
to settle was the northern coast of North America, which the Spanish saw as less desirable. One
reason these countries explored here was their hop of finding an alternative route (a “northwest
passage”) to Asia through the Arctic. *
French Exploration and Colonization
In the 1520’s, the Italian captain Giovanni da Verrazano, commissioned by the French,
surveyed North America’s Atlantic coast. From 1534 to 1541, Jacques Cartier traced the course
of the St. Lawrence River, the first step in France’s settlement of Canada. France established its
first cities in Canada in the early 1600s: Port Royal in Nova Scotia (1605) and Quebec, founded
by Samuel Champlain (1608).
Later in the 1600s, the French moved southward, exploring the Great Lakes and major
rivers. In 1673, Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette, traveling west from the Great Lakes
discovered the Mississippi River and mapped its northern reaches. In 1682, Rene Robert de la
Salle sailed down the entire length of the Mississippi, claiming land for France, even though
much of this territory was already under Spanish control. During the late 1600s and 1700s, the
French took much of the Mississippi basin and some of the Gulf of Mexico away from the
Spanish. This large expanse was called Louisiana (different from the state of the same name).
* The primary reason for colonizing Canada was its rich supply of animal furs. *
Dutch Exploration and Colonization
Dutch exploration was closely tied to the war of independence against Spain. Dutch
strategy in the late 1500s and early 1600s was to fight the Spanish at sea and, if possible, disrupt
connections with their colonies. The Dutch did the same to the Portuguese and, by the 1590s,
were seizing colonies from them: the Spice Islands in 1595, the Southesast Asian port of
Malacca in 1641, the island of Sri Lanka, much of West Africa, and a number of Caribbean
islands. To manage their colonies in Asia, the Dutch formed the Dutch East India Company
(1602). The Dutch also invaded Indonesia, where they maintained a colonial presence for
hundreds of years. They ran pepper and spice plantations on the island of Sumatra. On Java, they
established the colonial capital of Batavia (1619), now the Indonesian capital Jakarta.
The Dutch colonized North America as well. In 1609, they commissioned the English
sailor Henry Hudson to explore the bay and river that now bear his name.
* In 1642, Dutch settlers purchased the island of Manhattan from the local Native Americans
and build a city their called New Amsterdam. That city eventually became New York, after the
English took it from the Dutch in the mid 1600s*
English Exploration and Colonization
Although England did not begin a major campaign of exploration until after the mid1500s, it claimed parts of North America as early as the 1490s, thanks to the voyages of John
Cabot, who attempted to find an Arctic passage to Asia through Canadian waters. During the
mid-to-late 1500s, the English fought a series of naval wars with the Spanish. The English
gained much navigational knowledge from these conflicts. Francis Drake, raiding Spanish ports,
became the first Englishman to sail around the world (1577-1580).
In the 1600s, the English established their own colonies in North America, from the
Carolinas to the Canadian border. Two colonies failed during the 1580s, but the English
settlement of Jamestown, led by John Smith, gave the English a foothold in the New World.
English Puritans, the so-called Pilgrims, came to America as well, seeking religious freedom.
They sailed across on the Mayflower, which landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620.
The English made incursions into South Asia as well. Their fist expedition to the Indies
came in 1591. Shortly afterward, they founded the British East India Company (1600) to manage
economic—and, later, military—relations with South and Southeast Asia. The English were in
northwestern India by 1608 and would gradually take over more of the subcontinent. The
English seized the Southeast Asian port of Malacca from the Dutch in 1795.
As with the Spanish and Portuguese, the counties of the northern wave were eager to gain
military strength and, especially, economic wealth form their colonies. Exploitation of natural
resources—and of the native populations—was the norm. Like the Spanish and Portuguese, the
French and English brought slaves to the New World from Africa.
* The English were eager to turn their colonies into genuinely permanent settlements (something
other colonizing powers were for a long time less interested in doing. *
McCannon, John. AP World History, 4th ed. (2010), p. 183-188