Download SOL Review 4

World History 1500 to Present
SOL Review
4
Age of Discovery Begins
• The expanding economies of European states
stimulated increased trade with markets in Asia.
• With the loss of Constantinople in 1453, European
nations fronting the Atlantic sought new maritime
routes for trade.
Why did Europeans discover new
lands and markets?
• Europe demanded gold, spices, and natural
resources
• Diffusion of Christianity
• Political and economic competition between
European empires
• Innovations in navigational arts (European and
Islamic origins) – caravel, lateen sail, compass,
cartography (mapmaking)
Important Explorers
• Portugal
– Vasco da
Gama: Sailed
around Africa,
found water
route from
Europe to Asia
• France
– Jacques
Cartier:
Explored St.
Lawrence
River, claimed
E. Canada for
France
• England
– Francis Drake - first
Englishman to
circumnavigate the
globe
• Spain
– Christopher Columbus
– landed in Caribbean,
thought it was India
– Hernando Cortez –
Conquistador, Aztecs
– Francisco Pizarro –
Conquistador, Inca
– Ferdinand Magellan –
his crew finished
circumnavigation
Legacy of Exploration
• Pioneering role of Prince Henry the Navigator
– Portuguese prince who opened navigation schools
• Europeans established overseas empires
• Decimation of indigenous populations
Influence of Religion
• One motive for exploration spreading Christianity
• Means of diffusion of Christianity
– Migration of colonists to new lands
– Influence of Catholics and Protestants, who carried
their faith, language, and cultures to new lands
– Conversion of indigenous peoples
Migration Effect in Americas
• Expansion of overseas territorial
claims and European emigration to
North and South America
• Demise of Aztec and Inca Empires
• Legacy of a rigid class system and
dictatorial rule in Latin America
– Whites over mestizos/mulattos and
natives
• Forced migration of some Africans
into slavery
• Colonies’ imitation of the culture and
social patterns of their parent
country
Migration Effect in Africa
• European trading posts along the coast
• Trade in slaves, gold, and other products
Migration Effect in Asia
• Colonization by small groups of merchants (India,
the Indies, China)
• Influence of trading companies (Portuguese,
Dutch, British)
Columbian Exchange
• Discovery of the Americas resulted in an exchange of
products & resources between the East & West Hemispheres.
• Columbian Exchange
– West Hemisphere agricultural products such as corn, potatoes,
and tobacco changed European lifestyles.
– European horses & cattle changed lifestyles of American Indians
– European diseases like smallpox killed many American Indians
Impact of the Columbian Exchange
• Shortage of labor to grow cash crops led to the
use of African slaves.
• Slavery was based on race.
• European plantation system in the Caribbean and
the Americas destroyed indigenous economics
and damaged the environment.
Triangular Trade
• The European nations established a trade pattern
known as the triangular trade and exported precious
metals from the Americas.
• The triangular trade linked Europe, Africa, and the
Americas. Slaves, sugar, and rum were traded.
Export precious metals from the Americas
• Gold and silver (exported to Europe and Asia)
• Impact on indigenous empires of the Americas
– Harsh working conditions, deaths
• Impact on Spain and international trade
– Spain depended on gold/silver and didn’t manufacture
goods, most New World silver went to purchase
Chinese goods