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Chapter 23: TRANSOCEANIC ENCOUNTERS & GLOBAL CONNECTIONS
Chapter Outline
A. The European reconnaissance of the world's oceans (p. 598)
1. Motives for exploration (598-600)
a. Resource-poor Portugal searched for fresh resources
 From the 13th-15th centuries they ventured out onto Atlantic
 Established sugar plantations in the Atlantic islands
b. The lure of direct trade w/out Muslim intermediaries
 Asian spice trade
 African gold, ivory, & slaves
c. Missionary efforts of European Christians
 New Testament urged Christians to spread the faith throughout the world
 Crusades & holy wars against Muslims in early centuries
 Reconquista of Spain inspired Iberian crusaders
d. Various motives combined & reinforced each other
2. The technology of exploration (600-604)
a. Sternpost rudder & 2 types of sails enabled ships to advance against wind
b. Navigational instruments
 Magnetic compass
 Astrolabe (& cross/back staffs)
c. Knowledge of winds & currents enabled Europeans to travel reliably
 Trade winds north & south of the equator
 Regular monsoons in Indian Ocean basin
 The volta do mar (maps on 602-603)
3. Voyages of exploration: From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic (604-606)
a. Dom Henrique, king of Portugal, encouraged exploration of west Africa
 Portuguese conquered Ceuta in north Africa in 1415
 Soon after, established trading posts at Sao Jorge da Mina, west Africa
 Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope & entered the Indian Ocean, 1488
b. Vasco da Gama of Portugal
 Crossed Indian Ocean; reached India, 1497; brought back huge profit
 Portuguese merchants built a trading post at Calicut, 1500
c. Christopher Columbus, Genoese mariner
 Proposed sailing to Asian markets by a western route
 Sponsored by Catholic kings of Spain; sailed to Bahamas in 1492
d. Columbus's voyage enabled other mariners to link east & west hemispheres.
4. Voyages of exploration: from the Atlantic to the Pacific (606-609)
a. Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese navigator, in service of Spain
 Crossed both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans 1519-1522
 One ship out of five completed the circumnavigation of the world
 Magellan died in conflict in a Philippine island on the way home
2. Exploration of the Pacific took 3 centuries to complete
 Trade route between the Philippines and Mexico, by Spanish merchants
 English mariners searched for a northwest passage from Europe to Asia
3. Captain James Cook (1728-1779), British explorer
 Led 3 expeditions to the Pacific, the Arctic, Australia; died in Hawaii
 By late 18th century, Europeans had reasonably accurate geographical
knowledge of the world
B. Trade & conflict in early modern Asia (609-610)
1. Trading-post empires (610-614)
a. Portuguese built more than 50 trading posts between west Africa & east Asia
b. Alfonso d'Alboquerque, 16th-c. Portuguese commander in Indian Ocean
 Seized Hormuz in 1508, Goa in 1510, and Melaka in 1511
 Forced all merchant ships to purchase safe-conduct passes
 Portuguese hegemony grew weak by the late 16th century
c. English & Dutch established parallel trading posts in Asian coasts
 English in India, the Dutch at Cape Town & Indonesia
 Sailed faster, cheaper, & more powerful ships than Portuguese
 Created an efficient commercial organization--the joint-stock company
d. Formation of powerful, profitable joint-stock companies
 The English East India Company, founded in 1600
 The United East India Company (VOC), Dutch company founded1602
 Both were private enterprises, enjoyed gov’t support, little oversight
2. European conquests in SE Asia (614-617)
a. Spanish conquest of the Philippines led by Legazpi, 1565
b. Manila, the bustling port city, became the Spanish capital
 Spanish & Filipino residents massacred Chinese merchants by thousands
 Christianity throughout the archipelago
 Muslim resistance on southern island of Mindanao
c. Conquest of Java by the Dutch
 Began with VOC trading city of Batavia in 1619
 Policy: secure VOC monopoly over spice production & trade
 Enormous monopoly profit led to prosperity of Netherlands, 17th century
*d. Foundations of the Russian Empire in Asia (617-620)
 mid 16th c.—took over several khanates in central Asia
 Siberian furs desired; came across 26 ethnic tribes (Yakuts)
 Gov’t sponsored Orthodox Christian missionaries w/ little success
3. Commercial rivalries & the Seven Years' War (620-621)
a. Global competition & conflict
 Dutch forces expelled most Portuguese merchants from SE Asia
 Conflict between English & French merchants over control of Indian
cotton & tea from Ceylon, early 18th century
 Competition in the Americas among English, French, & Spanish forces
b. The Seven Years' War (1756-1763)
 In Europe: British & Prussia against France, Austria, & Russia
 In India: fighting between British & French forces, each w/ local allies
 In the Caribbean: Spanish & French united to limit British expansion
 In North America: fights between British & French forces
c. Outcome: British hegemony
 British gained control of India, Canada, Florida
 In Europe, Prussian armies held off massive armies of the enemies
 War paved the way for the British empire in the 19th century
C. Global exchanges (p. 621)
1. The Columbian Exchange (621-624)
a. Biological exchanges between Old & New Worlds
 Columbian Exchange--global diffusion of plants, food crops, animals,
human populations, & disease pathogens after Columbus's voyages
 Permanently altered the earth's environment
b. Epidemic diseases--smallpox, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, &
influenza--led to staggering population losses
 Smallpox reduced Aztec population by 95% in one century after 1519
 Contagious diseases had same horrifying effects in the Pacific islands
 Between 1500-1800, 100 million people died of imported diseases
c. New foods & domestic animals
 Wheat, horses, cattle, sheep, goats, & chickens went to Americas
 American crops included maize, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, peppers,
peanuts
 Growth of world population: 425 million (1500)—900 million (1800)
d. Migration of human populations
 Enslaved Africans were largest group of migrants from 1500-1800
 Sizable migration from Europe to the Americas
 19th century, European migration to South Africa, Australia, & Pacific
Islands
2. The origins of global trade (624-626)
a. Transoceanic trade: European merchants created a genuinely global trading
system of supply & demand, linking the ports of the world
b. The Manila galleons
 Sleek, fast, heavily armed ships that sailed between Manila & Mexico
 Asian luxury goods to Mexico, silver from Mexico to China