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New ideas on trade, religion, and power will drive the
largest exploration in all of World History and change the
ideas of the world going forward, shaping all the rest of
history in the process.
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Beginning in the 1500s, European countries began to
expand into the rest of the world. Why?

Europeans were motivated by trade and potential wealth
that could be gained through trade with Asia and the East

The conquests of the Ottoman Turks in the Middle East
prevented Europeans from traveling to the East and Asia
and cut off all trade routes. Europeans sought oversea
routes instead for goods

European monarchies were stabilized, so the monarchs
could focus on expansion and gaining more power w/o the
blessing of the Church! (Thanks Reformation  )

New technology had increased the ability to take long sea
voyages. Let’s go see the world!

After news of Marco Pollo’s
expedition to China (remember his
visit to see Kubla Khan in China?)
became famous (thanks to the
printing press, #2 most printed book
in Europe) products from Asia
become fashionable.
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Motivation to find ways to get these
items drive the innovation of new
technology, including better ships
called caravels and new navigation
instruments like the compass,
quadrant and the astrolabe. Each of
these instruments made travel on
the sea more precise and
predictable.
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Exploration centers on three ideas that will be
central in our understanding of what the Europeans
do when they come to the New World. These are the
main motivations of all explorers seeking the new
world.

Gold: Motivation to find sources of trade and
gold/silver under the idea of Mercantilism.

Glory: Power and influence, new trade routes and
lands that powerful kingdoms could use to increase
wealth and power.

God: Looking for converts to Christianity and to
spread their ideas of Christian faith.

Portugal was the leader of European exploration and
expansion.

In 1420, under the sponsorship of Prince Henry the Navigator,
Portuguese fleets moved southward along the western coast
of Africa.
 They discovered new sources for gold; the area was called
the Gold Coast!
 Kept going along the coast to see if there were any ways to
get to India and the East.

Vasco de Gama went around the Cape of Good Hope and cut
across the Indian Ocean to India. Showed there was other ways
to get to trade goods in India, sparked the rush to find new
routes to China/India.

De Gama made a profit of several THOUSAND percent. Hugely
profitable! $$$!!!

After de Gama reached the Indies, Portuguese fleets
returned to the area and attempted to destroy Muslim
shipping routes so the Portuguese could control the spice
trade. Trying to create a Monopoly, only way to get spices
would be to buy from the Portuguese. Smart!!!

First concept of invasion for profit, sparking the name
profiteers. Lays the ideas of war for trade and land.


In 1509, Portuguese warships destroyed a combined fleet
of Turkish and Indian ships off the coast of India
 Indian ports captured for the Portuguese
 Also led to trade with China and the Spice islands
 The Portuguese signed a treaty with the Spice Islands allowing
them to control the spice trade.

As the riches of Asia pour into Portugal, other powers in Europe
FREAK OUT! Huge wealth in the world that is not theirs!

Need to find new ways to get to this wealth that will not trigger a
war with new powerful Portugal, and willing to take chances!

Spain decides to back a crazy Italian explorer that wanted to go
east to get west. Christopher Columbus was a navigator who
believed there was a route to India and Asia across the Atlantic
Ocean.

This was risky. Many believed that the world had edges guarded
by sea monsters and ships that came too close were sunk or sailed
off the end of the world!

One problem, The Americas are in the way!! Columbus gets off his
ship in modern day Cuba and believes he is in India. Returned with
little to show for his trip but would return and start a whole new
wave of exploration.
Age of Exploration

Christopher Columbus believed he had reached Asia, but many
others soon realizes he has discovered something else…

Returns with news of the “New World” to Spain, given ships for
three more voyages told to claim any land/resources for Spain.

He attempted to find a route through the major islands of the
Caribbean to central Asia; he named the islands the East Indies
(Caribbean, Honduras, Cuba) No easy route through to India. 

News gets out that there is more land in this New World and the
cramped countries of Europe are interested!

Stories of native “heathens”, or godless people, reach the
missionaries of Europe. Start planning trips.

Other explorers recognized what Columbus did not: he had found an entirely
new part of the world (to the Europeans, at least)

John Cabot, from Venice, explored the New England coastline. Reports
back to Italy, decide it is not worth the trouble.

Pedro Cabral landed in South America in 1500, start mapping good places to
make settlements along the beach.

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Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine, went on several voyages to the Americas
and wrote letters describing what he saw; the letters led to the use of the
name America for the new land.

Although the Europeans called the Americas the “New World” it was already
inhabited by flourishing civilizations made up of millions of people.
Europeans seemed not too concerned about this , claiming much the land
for European countries.

Now that Portugal has trade routes to Asia, they
expand their power to new areas, exploring more.

Once Columbus comes back to Spain, Portugal
sends an exploration over the Atlantic to claim
part of the new lands.

Portugal is interested in trying to find a way
around the new lands, thinking it can control the
western access to Asia as well. GREEDY, but
smart. Soon find it is much harder than it had
been with Africa (no where to resupply, stop)

Spain and Portugal were both exploring the same new lands
and trade routes. Kind of stepping on each other, causing
tensions to rise.

Both were concerned the other country would attempt to take
their resources and land in newly discovered areas.

They agreed on a line of demarcation, an imaginary line that
divided the earth into two parts.

Both sides agreed on the Treaty of Tordesillas, which gave
Portugal everything east of the line, and Spain control of
everything west of the line.

Portugal gained control of everything around Africa while Spain
had most of the Americas
 Keep in mind they were not concerned with native populations, only
with their expanding territory and wealth.
Spanish Control
Portuguese Control

The Spanish, under the Treaty of Tordesillas, decide to explore
what they could get from the new lands. The Spanish monarchy
sends over conquerors of the Americas were known as
Conquistadors. (soldier/explorers). NEVER MEANT TO BE
FRIENDLY!
 Conquistadors were all about the 3Gs. Gold over all others.

Spanish also brought with them something they didn’t know,
disease. Within a generation, whole societies would die of
Smallpox, a disease that most Europeans had a immunity
against, but that Mesoamerica had never seen.

One of the first Conquistadors was explorer Hernán Cortés, who
came to the Aztec Capitol of Tenichtitlan with less than 500 men.
With their power, guns and horses, the Aztecs thought that the
Europeans were GODS. Rallied all the Aztecs enemies and
attacked the city.Took charge of the city as Aztec gods.

The Emperor of the Aztecs was Montezuma, welcomed
Cortes as a god but once it became clear that the
Conquistadors were there just for the gold and were not gods,
Montezuma tried to kick them out but was held as a
prisoner in his own city.

Eventually the Aztecs revolted, leading to massive battles.
The Spanish send reinforcements and win against the
Aztecs. Cortes is made governor of Mexico AKA New Spain.

As the Aztec get sick from Smallpox they can not fight off
the Spanish who keep arriving! With the help of the disease,
Cortés took only three years to overthrow the entire Aztec
Empire in Central Mexico! Massive death!     

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_DGOQ
pQVVw&safe=active
Age of Discovery
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
Francisco Pizarro, another conquistador, took
control of the Incan Empire in the modern Peru
in different ways.

Pizarro would do ANYTHING for gold, and was convinced,
and correctly, that the Inca had lots of it.



Pizarro fought many battles against the Inca attempting to
find their famed “City of Gold” that did not exist. Pizarro is
filled with greed, doesn’t care who he hurts to get rich. 
He arrived in the middle of a civil war between two brothers.
He killed one of the two brothers and aided the Inca’s
enemies in destroying the other. Inca are also suffering from
Smallpoxs by this point as well as more Spanish keep
arriving in the New World.  Smallpox is spreading…

Pizarro was merciless in the destruction of the Inca. After he ends
the civil war, he attacks Cuzco and destroys the Inca way of life.

He becomes a governor and founded the city of Lima, capital of
Peru near where Cuzco had been.

Pizarro was eventually assassinated by another conquistador over
greed and power, but the damage is done, the Inca are gone.

Within 30 years of the arrival of the Spanish, the western part of
Latin America (including Mexico, Central, and South America) and
the Inca Empire in Peru are under Spanish control. Conquistadors
now take positions of power or stage crazy quests like looking for
mythical city of El Dorado or the Fountain of Youth. Kinda Nuts.

By 1535, the Spanish had created a system of colonial areas,
each divided into regional states.

Queen Isabella of Spain declared all Natives in the Americas
her subjects, under her rule and under all Spanish Law.
 She allowed the Spanish settlers and Conquistadors the right to use
Native Mesoamericans as slave laborers, but they made REALLY
BAD slaves. Would not stop fighting!

The Spanish were supposed to protect the Natives (after all,
they were the queen’s “subjects”) but rules were ignored
 The distance to Spain meant any rules were difficult to enforce
 Natives were used as laborers on sugar plantations and in mines,
but this was not as good as other slaves that were now being
imported from places like Africa. Remember: the native
Mesoamericans are on their home turf, they were invaded!

Forced labor, starvation, war, and disease wiped out most of
the Native Americans tribes of Mesoamerica.
 In Mexico, the population dropped from 25 million to only 1 million
24 million in just over 100 yrs! …WOW, that is horrible!    

Catholic missionaries arrived and started converted and
baptized hundreds of thousands of native people. Why the
Catholic Church? Remember, Spain was VERY Catholic.
(Inquisition much?)
 The missionaries established schools, hospitals, and churches; all
from European society, trying to change the culture.
 Native American social and political structures were destroyed and
replaced with the Spanish equivalent.    

Colonists established plantations and ranches to
raise sugar, cotton, vanilla, livestock and other
products for export to Europe. Huge profit to be
made! $$$$

Conquerors sought gold and silver, and found
deposits throughout Latin America, although not as
much as they would have liked. They actually found
more silver than gold, but still enough to make Spain
EXTRMELY rich, now more rich and powerful than
Portugal. Lost out on the treaty.

New products, like cocoa, potatoes, corn, and
tobacco were introduced to the Europeans, and they
LOVE THEM. Demand more.

Trade with the new world transformed economic
activity in both worlds, and created great wealth for
the Spanish!

You are going to partner up with another student for this activity. One with a
chip, one without. The one of you that got the chip will be the Spaniard.

You are going to pick four things that you think are going to be important to
both sides, natives and Spanish. Write these four points down on one sheet
of paper and put both your names on it.

Each person is actually 3 people for their side:
The Warrior, the Priest, the Helper
The Warrior wants to fight, the Priest wants to change the minds of the
other side, and the Helper wants peace. You choose which one you use to
make your points.



You need to role play out how your side would address the four issues you
came up with before and mark down on your paper who would win the
argument for each of the four and why. Due into me at the end of the hour.
Age of Exploration

Other nations wanted the economic boon
of the Spanish, want the trade goods and
$$$ so they began exploring the New
World. Start looking at North America.
Why North America?

Other European countries not bound by
the Treaty of Tordesillas so they come
over and start setting up colonies, but
away from the Spanish, don’t want a war…

Spain is still INSAINLY wealthy thanks to the silver mines of
the New World. Very Powerful.

Portuguese trade empire is broken by more powerful
countries like England, who has now they are the main
trading power with India and has taken notice of the
Americas. Queen Elizabeth of England orders North America
explored for English colonies away from the Spanish.

The Dutch also begin trading and move into areas left over
by the Portuguese in Southeast Asia, India, and some in
the New World. Create the Dutch East India Company, a
huge trade business.

European nations established trading posts and colonies
in the Americas and the East
 A colony is a settlement of people living in a new
territory, linked with the parent country by trade and
direct government control.

European powers expected colonies to export goods,
and in return they would build up the colonies with
roads, towns, forts, and ports, to encourage trade. This
made all the colonies get stronger and stronger.

But Europe also charged a tariff, or a tax, on imports to
the colonies. Colonists have to pay taxes on goods they
get from Europe. European powers get money from both
directions! All colonies HATE this.

During the 1600s, the French start colonized
parts of Canada and Louisiana. Start trading
with native peoples of North America, and
get along rather well…mostly.

The English founded colonies in Virginia and
Massachusetts for tobacco and cotton
production
 By 1700, the English had a colonial empire
along the eastern seaboard of North America
(13 colonies)
 The English also established sugar
plantations throughout the Caribbean Islands

As trade increases, ships now are packed
with trade goods or money (if they sold
goods) and are traveling all over the Atlantic
and South Pacific Oceans.

It became dangerous to go back and forth
between colonies and Europe due to
pirates, groups of armed men who would
attack the ships and take what they had.

Pirates stalked colonies and didn’t really
want the trade goods, looking for the
money on the way back to Europe to steal.

Pirates sometimes worked for themselves, but
also worked for trade groups attacking the ships
of the competition. The East India Trade
company employed many pirates to smuggle
goods and attack ships.

Some countries employed privateers (legal
pirates) to sail for their countries and attack ships
that used their trade routes/ traded illegally with
their colonies.

Between pirates and privateers, the seas now
were MUCH more dangerous for trade then they
were before in almost every part of the world!