Download Early European Explorations

Early European Exploration
The BIG Ideas…
 Why did the Iberians (Portuguese and Spanish
nations on the Iberian Peninsula) begin exploring
the Atlantic and Indian Oceans in the 1400s?
 What were the consequences of this exploration?
Reasons for European
Exploration
(especially by Spain and
Portugal)
1. 1257/1492 C.E.
Reconquista
 Years that Muslims were defeated in Portugal and
Spain
 Wars create a sense of national identity
 New Monarchs consolidated power and the desire to
convert people to Christianity was strong
2. Declining Trade
 Asian/North African cities were hit hard by Plague –
Trade routes disrupted
Black Plague Buboe
 Luxury goods were scarce & expensive
 …a perfect time to make $$$ through trade!
3. Collapse of Pax Mongolica
 Silk Roads unsafe, so trade slows down
 Desire for Indian cotton, E. African gold, S.E. Asian
Spices, Chinese silks & porcelain remained strong
4. Fall of Constantinople
 1453 C.E., Ottoman
Empire defeats the
Byzantine Empire
 Muslims in total
control of trade
routes
 cuts off access to
Slavs (slaves = cheap
labor) from the
Balkans
 Jacked up prices on
luxury goods
What Made European Exploration
Possible?
 Improvements in maritime and
military technologies
 Compass, caravel ship, astrolabe
and sextant, gunpowder
 Revival of urban life & trade
 Desire for trade to acquire
Asian Luxury Products
 Governments in Europe were
willing to sponsor
exploration with financial
backing, in the hopes of
making money
Portuguese Exploration
 Geographically it was natural to
explore routes in the Atlantic
Ocean
 Henry the Navigator = opened a
School of Navigation
 Represents government support of
exploration to seek trade
 Study of navigation and cartography
(mapmaking)
 Improvements on magnetic compass
and astrolabe
 Creation of the caravel ship
 1st Action of Portugal = Attack on
Ceuta ( a rich North African city) in
1415
 Interest in gold and slaves
Portuguese Exploration
 Portugal’s Goal = Go AROUND Africa to reach Asia
 As they moved down the Africa coast…
Portugal LEASED a West African trade port from Songhai
and traded peacefully for gold, ivory, pepper
Were NOT strong enough to dominate – had to pay for
trading rights
Exchanged guns, cannons, metal goods for African gold
They took over some tropical islands, where they began
to grow sugar
1497-1498: Vasco da Gama sailed around Africa and
reached India – he traded at the IOMS port of Calicut for
spices (mostly pepper).
- This wide swing around West Africa to catch the current
led to the discovery of South America (Brazil) in 1500
Changes
in
IOMS
Trade
 Before = no central control.
 Traders operated independently of governments
 Portuguese introduced use of organized gov’t military force
to the system
 Governments invested in the success of trading operations
 Sugar was produced by slaves off the coast of Europe/West
Africa – slave trade from W. Africa picks up
 A new “Atlantic System” of trade develops
Portuguese possessions at their height
Red = actual ownership
Pink = areas of influence
Blue = area of first European Exploration
LESSON: EUROPEANS GAINED SMALL COASTAL
ENCLAVES in the IOMS– THAT’S IT!
Spanish Exploration
 Spain was worried about Portuguese successes
gaining trade through a route around Africa
 Spain’s monarchs purposefully sponsored voyages
by Christopher Columbus
 The Goal was NOT to find a “New World” or to
explore without purpose. The Goal was to get to
Asia by going around the other wide of the globe.
 Treaty of Tordesillas (1494): Spain and Portugal
drew an imaginary line down the middle of the North
Atlantic Ocean – splitting the world’s territory in ½
between themselves. LOL (See “hubris” in the
dictionary)
Spanish
Conquests
 Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the Caribbean
allows Spain to being growing sugar
 Spain also sent “conquistadors” to create colonies in
the Americas
 Aztecs – conquered in 1519
 Incas – conquered in 1532
 Mostly, diseases like smallpox helped the small, weak
government of Spain conquer these huge empires of
millions of people
The Atlantic Trade System
After Portugal and Spain’s explorations, Europe
FINALLY HAS A TRADING SYSTEM THEY CAN
PARTICIPATE IN! WOOHOOOO!
Other European nations like the Netherlands, England,
and France soon get in on the game.
rade Develops/
tlantic Slave Trade Begins
 West African Kingdoms = Empire Building
 Kongo, Benin, Ashanti
 W. African Empires begin using male POWs from African
wars to sell to European in the Atlantic System.
 Europeans traded guns for slaves
 Slave trade was controlled by Africans at first
 After about 100 years, slaves were the #1 export. This
disrupted population patterns, b/c so many men were taken
into slavery.