Download Chapter 13 THE AGE OF EXPLORATION

Chapter 13
THE AGE
OF
EXPLORATION
SECTION 1
Factors that Encouraged
Exploration
1. The search for spices and profits. Italian
merchants had a monopoly and charged high
prices.
2. Desire to spread Christianity. Europeans
believed they had a sacred duty to convert
non-Christians.
3. Ability to use new technology. The Caravel
was able to ride out storms. The compass and
astrolabe allowed them to indicate direction
and determine position by the stars.
Motive and Means
• Because of Ottoman Turks conquest to the
East, Europeans began to sail all over the
world on the dangerous seas.
• 3 Reasons for this:
1. Economic- hoped to find precious metals
and to expand trade, especially for the
spices in the East
2. Religious- Europeans believed it was their
duty to convert other peoples to
Christianity.
3. Glory & Adventure
These 3 motives were known as
“God, glory, and gold”.
The Portuguese Trading Empire
• In 1420, Prince Henry the Navigator, sponsored
fleets that began to explore the coast of western
Africa and found gold. Became known as the Gold
Coast.
• 1488, Bartholomeau Dias rounded the tip of Africa
called Cape Good Hope on his way to India to get a
cargo of spices.
• Vasco da Gama reached India in 10 months and
gave Portugal a direct route to India.
• The Portuguese wanted control of spice trade from
the Muslims.
• Admiral Afonso de Albuquerque set up a port
at Goa, on the western coast of India. He
gained control of Melaka, which was a
thriving port for the spice trade.
• They made expeditions to China and the
Spice Islands and later signed a treaty with a
local ruler and for the purchase and export of
cloves. This treaty gave them control of the
spice trade.
Voyages to the Americas
• While the Portuguese sailed eastward, the Spanish
sailed westward to reach the source of the spice
trade.
• Christopher Columbus (Admiral of the Ocean), an
Italian, persuaded Queen Isabella of Spain to
finance his expedition to reach Asia by sailing west.
Believed the world was round, not flat.
• In 1492, he reached the Americas. He believed he
had reached Asia.
• 4 voyages later, he had reached all of the major
islands of the Caribbean and Honduras. He called
them the Indies, believing he was in Asia.
• With both the Portuguese and Spanish
exploring for new territory, both of them feared
that the other would try to claim land that the
other had discovered.
• Treaty of Tordesillas- created a line of
demarcation, an imaginary line that extended
from north to south through the Atlantic Ocean
and the easternmost part of South America.
• Unexplored territories east of the line would
be controlled by Portugal (Africa), west would
be controlled by Spain (Americas).
• Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese nobleman,
believed he could reach Asia by sailing around the
southern tip of South America. Explored the west
coast of South America.
• John Cabot, a Venetian seaman, explored the New
England coastline for England.
• Pedro Cabral, a Portuguese sea captain, landed in
South America in 1500.
• Amerigo Vespucci, wrote letters describing what he
saw. The New World eventually became known as
the Americas after him. Explored the coastline of
Brazil. He believed that it was not Asia, but a newly
discovered continent.
The Spanish Empire
• Conquistadors- Spanish conquerors of
America.
• Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztec Empire
in Central America.
• By 1550, they had gained control of northern
Mexico.
• Francisco Pizarro took control of the Inca
Empire.
• The Portuguese took control of Brazil.
• By 1535, the Americas were under colonial
administration of the Spanish.
• Encomienda- Spanish settlers- were
allowed to use Native Americans as laborers,
but also were to protect them.
• They were put to work in sugar plantations
and in gold/silver mines. Forced labor,
starvation, and disease (small pox, measles,
and typhus- 30-40%) killed many Native
Americans.
• Their whole way of life was replaced by the
European systems of religion, language,
culture, and government.
Economic Impact and
Competition
• Gold, silver, sugar, dyes, cotton, vanilla,
hides, potatoes, coffee, corn, and tobacco
were all brought back from the Americas.
• Portugal soon became the chief entry point
for the trade in spices, jewels, silk, carpets,
ivory, leather, and perfumes.
• Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer,
sailed around South America to the
Philippines Islands, where they established a
colony.
• In 1595, the Dutch landed in India and began
to compete with the English and Portuguese
for trade. The Dutch created the East India
Company. They created the West India
Company to compete for trade in the
Americas.
• The Dutch established a colony of New
Netherlands (New York) and the
Massachusetts Bay Colony.
• By 1700, the English established a colonial
empire along the eastern seaboard of North
America.
• During the 1500s and 1600s, European
nations established trading posts and
colonies in North America and the East.
• Colony- a settlement of people living in a
new territory, linked with a parent country by
trade and direct government control.
• Mercantilism- set of principles that the
prosperity of a nation depended on a large
supply of bullion (gold/silver).
• Balance of trade- the difference in value
between what a nation imports and what it
exports over time.
• Tried to keep foreign goods out of their
own countries by placing high tariffs
(taxes) on these goods.
• Colonies were and excellent source of raw
materials and an excellent market for
finished goods.
Worldwide Contact Brought
Hazards and Benefits
1. Epidemics- Europeans brought smallpox,
measles, influenza to America. Native Americans
were not immune and many died.
2. Farm Animals- Europeans brought goats, horses,
pigs, cows, chickens, sheep, donkeys, and oxen
to America.
3. New Plants- Spanish brought wheat, barley, rye,
oats, oranges, apples, bananas, coffee,
sugarcane, peaches, apricots, olive trees to
America. Took back corn, potatoes, beans,
squash, pineapples, melons, and tobacco.
Section 2
The Slave Trade
• The demand for slaves increased with the
discovery of the Americas in the 1490s.
• Plantations- large agricultural estates,
that grew sugar required large amounts of
labor. African slaves were shipped to
Brazil and the Caribbean to work the
plantations.
• 1518, the first boatload of slaves from Africa
to the Americas arrived.
• Triangular trade- European ships carried
manufactured goods, such as guns and cloth
to Africa, where they were traded for a cargo
of slaves.
• The slaves were taken to America and sold.
• Europeans brought back tobacco, molasses,
sugar, and raw cotton.
• As many as 10 million African slaves were
brought to the Americas between early 16th
and 19th centuries.
• The journey from Africa to the Americas
became known as Middle Passage.
• Prior to the Europeans becoming involved
with transporting slaves from Africa, most
slaves were prisoners of war. Some local
rulers traded slaves as a source of income
and for guns and gun powder.
• It led to the depopulation of some areas. The
demand for slaves increased warfare in
Africa.
• In the 1700s, roughly 6-7 million Africans
were shipped to the Americas as slaves.
Political and Social Structures
• In most areas, traditional African political
systems continued to exist.
• Monarchy becomes a common form of
government throughout Africa.
• Some continued to live in small political units
in which authority rested in a village leader.
• Trade routes shifted toward the coast
weakening the Songhai trading empire.
• The Portuguese sent missionaries to Africa
to convert them to Christianity. It was mainly
limited to South Africa and Ethiopia.
• Islam continued to spread in North & West
Africa.
Section 3
Emerging Mainland States
• Conflicts erupted between the Thai and the
Burmese.
• In 1767, a Burmese army sacked the Thai capital.
The Thai created a new capital at Bangkok.
• Vietnamese gradually took over the Mekong delta
and the Khmer monarchy disappeared.
• New states developed along the trade routes
created by the Muslims.
• In the 15th century, Melaka became the leading
power in the region due to its lockation and the
rapid growth of the spice trade.
The Arrival of Europeans
• In 1511, the Portuguese seized Melaka and soon
occupied the Moluccas (Spice Islands).
• The Portuguese set up trading posts, since they
didn’t have the resources to set up colonies.
• In the early 1600s, the Dutch gradually pushed the
Portuguese and the English out of the spice trade.
• Took control of Java, built a fort, and limited the
growth of cloves to one island.
• The Portuguese had limited trade relations with the
mainland states, like Burma, Thailand, and
Vietnam. They resisted foreign intrusions. The
mainland states were able to unite and drive out
invaders.
Religious and Political Systems
•
Between 1500-1800, religious beliefs
changed in SE Asia. Traditional beliefs still
survived, but Islam, Christianity, and
Buddhism attracted converts.
• Four different styles of kingship arose in SE
Asia.
1. Buddhist kings- king superior to other
human beings.
2. Javanese kings- king believed to have
sacred quality and maintained the balance
between the sacred and the material world.
3. Islamic sultans- sultan was the head of state
and viewed as a mortal. He defended the
Islamic faith and staffed his bureaucracy
mainly with aristocrats.
4. Vietnamese emperors- ruled according to
Confucius teachings. A mortal appointed by
Heaven to rule because of his talents and
virtue. Also was an intermediary between
Heaven and Earth.