Download The Encounter WHAP/ Napp Do Now: “Portugal was particularly well

The Encounter
WHAP/ Napp
Do Now:
“Portugal was particularly well situated geographically to explore the Atlantic coast of
Africa as the opening step in finding an alternative route to India. At first, however, the
main goal was to achieve supremacy over the Muslims who controlled the southern shores
of the Mediterranean. King John I (c. 1385-1435) launched a crusade to capture at least
part of North Africa from Muslim control…John’s third son, Prince Henry (1394-1460),
later called the Navigator, expanded on his father’s goals. He, too, wished to defeat Muslim
power, but he thought the best policy was to outflank the Muslims by sailing down the
coast of Africa and striking them from the south. Legends of a Christian king, Prester
John, sometimes said to rule in Mesopotamia, sometimes in Africa, led Henry, first, to
believe that he would find an ally. Second, Henry was curious about the possibility of
oceanic exploration. Finally, he believed that it might be possible to reach India by sailing
around Africa, although no-one in Europe had any idea of the size and shape of that
continent…He established a center for the study of navigation and the building of ships.
He gathered a staff of experts, who tested existing navigational tools, such as the magnetic
compass, astrolabe, and compass, and created new geographical and mathematical tables.
They constructed caravels modeled on Arab ships, with lateen sails, which could sail with
the wind or tack against it, so they would be able to return, no matter what the direction of
the prevailing wind. Slowly, Prince Henry’s men attempted a series of explorations; each
reaching just a little further down the African coast…In 1488, Bartholomeu Dias (c. 1450 –
1500) reached the southern tip of Africa and turned northward for 300 miles. He would
have continued onward – toward India – with his two caravels, but his crew refused to go
further. The route, however, now lay open…
By 1488, when Columbus’ plea to the Portuguese court for support was aborted by Dias’
voyage, Columbus had already been trying for three years to gain backing for his venture.
He was known in Portugal, for he had sailed on various Portuguese ships…Finally, in
Spain he received from the newly merged thrones of Ferdinand of Castile and Isabella of
Aragon the backing he needed. In his voyage, Columbus depended on two geographical
estimates and he got both wrong. He underestimated the total circumference of the earth
and he overestimated the total east-west span of the Eurasian continent. The globe was
bigger than he thought. And nowhere in his figures was there space for two continents of
which he and his people of Europe knew nothing, despite Leif Eriksson’s voyages. When
Columbus arrived in the New World, he thought he had reached islands off the eastern
coast of Asia.” ~ The World’s History
1- Why was Portugal well-suited for oceanic exploration?
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2- What motivated King John I in regards to exploration?
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3- Explain Prince Henry the Navigator’s goals and methods regarding exploration.
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4- What did Bartholomeu Dias accomplish?
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5- Explain Columbus’ goals, methods, and outcomes.
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I. European Expansion
A. Geography: Countries on the Atlantic rim of Europe (Portugal, Spain, Britain,
France) led the way to Western Hemisphere because closer to the Americas
1. Fixed winds of the Atlantic blew steadily in the same direction
B. Other Factors
2. European seafaring technology, often from Chinese and Muslims, helped
3. Ironworking, gunpowder, horses had no parallel in the Americas
4. Divisions within and between local societies in the Americas
C. Most significant of European advantages lay in their germs and disease
1. Native Americans had no immunities: smallpox decimated societies
2. Isolation; lack of most domesticated animals; susceptible to European diseases
3. In many cases up to 90% of population died: The Great Dying
4. Created labor Shortage; colonizing Europeans then enslaved Africans
D. Columbian Exchange
1. Global cultural diffusion of plants and animals
a) American food crops (corn, potatoes, cassava) led to population growth
b) Potatoes allowed Ireland’s population to grow but fungus, from Americas,
destroyed crop in mid-19th century (“Great Hunger” or “Great Famine”)
c) Never before in human history had such a large-scale exchange occurred
E. The Silver Trade
1. Silver mines of Mexico and Peru fueled transatlantic and transpacific commerce
2. Enabled Europeans to buy Chinese tea, silk, and porcelain
F. The Transatlantic Slave Trade
1. Plantation owners needed workers and found them by the millions in Africa
2. Brought these workers to colonies (sugar and cotton trade)
G. Mercantilism
1. Belief: Colonies exist for benefit of mother country – accumulate their bullion
(silver and gold); restrict colonial trade; colony exports natural resources
2. Colonies provided closed markets for goods
H. Differences Among Colonial Societies
1. Settler-dominated agriculture, slave-based plantations, ranching/mining
a) Forced Native American labor: Encomienda System in Spanish colonies
I. Colonial hierarchy
1. At the top of colonial society were the peninsulares or Spanish settlers
2. Spaniards born in the Americas (creoles): wealthy but denied top jobs
3. The emergence of a mestizo, or mixed-race population, Spanish-Indian
4. At the bottom were indigenous peoples, known as “Indians”
a) Indians subjected to gross abuse and exploitation/converted to Christianity
b) Christian saints blended easily with specialized indigenous gods
J. In Brazil, ruled by Portugal, and in the Spanish, British, French, and Dutch colonies
in the Caribbean, sugar became an important cash crop
1. Brazilian slave owners calculated useful life of slaves at just seven years but
more slaves were voluntarily set free in Brazil than in North America
2. Color in Brazil and Latin America was only one criterion of class status
K. Third type of colonial society in British colonies of New England, New York, and
PennsylvaniaNumerous small-scale and independent farmers (Protestant)
1- What Western European countries led the way regarding exploration? Why?
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2- What advantages did Western Europeans possess in regards to exploration?
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3- What was the greatest European advantage in the Americas?
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4- Why was smallpox particularly devastating in the Americas?
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5- What was the Great Dying?
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6- How did the deaths of many Native American Indians affect Africans?
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7- Identify a cause and an effect of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
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8- What was the Columbian Exchange?
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9- What new crops from the Americas were particularly welcomed in Eurasia?
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10- How did new crops from the Americas change Europe and Asia?
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11- What was a cause of the Great Hunger in Ireland?
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12- Why was the silver trade the first truly global trade?
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13- What crops were grown on plantations with large slave populations?
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14- Define mercantilism.
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15- How did mercantilism affect people living in the colonies?
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16- Define encomienda.
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17- How did the Encomienda system affect the indigenous peoples of the Americas?
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18- Identify the classes in Spain’s colonial hierarchy.
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19- How did peninsulares differ from creoles?
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20- Define mestizo.
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21- Which groups suffered the most in colonial society? Why?
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22- Identify significant facts about slavery in Brazil.
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23- How did Spanish colonies in the Americas differ from North American colonies?
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1. Most sugar plantations in the New
World were located in
(A) The southern British colonies and
Mexico
(B) The Caribbean and Peru
(C) The French colonies in North
America and Brazil
(D) New Granada and la Plata
(E) The Caribbean and Brazil
2. Which of the following had the
highest social status in Latin
American colonies?
(A) Peninsulares
(B) Creoles
(C) Amerindians
(D) Mestizos
(E) Mulattos
4. Which of the following areas was
probably the destination for the MOST
slaves during the period 1450 to 1750?
(A) Brazil
(B) British West Indies
(C) French West Indies
(D) Spanish America
(E) Southern British colonies
5. Which of the following is the clearest
example of Portuguese and Spanish
ethnocentrism during the late 15th century?
(A) The Columbian Exchange
(B) The Treaty of Tordesillas
(C) The Monroe Doctrine
(D) The Rebellion of Tupac Amaru
6. An important reason for China’s rapid
population increase in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries was
(A) the introduction of new crops from the
Americas
(B) the end of the bubonic plague in Asia
(C) the widespread adoption of the
European three-field system
(D) unprecedented immigration from the
Mughal and Ottoman empires
3. Which of the following most
accurately compares the relationship
that English and Spanish colonists
had with Amerindians?
(A) Both English and Spanish colonists
rejected Amerindian crops and
planting techniques
(B) The English colonists dominated
Amerindians; Spanish colonists
pushed Amerindians out of the way.
7. In the period between 1600 and 1700, the
(C) The English colonists pushed
principal product in the Atlantic trade was
Amerindians out of the way; the
(A) Pitch
Spanish colonists put Amerindians to
(B) Sugar
work for them.
(C) Tobacco
(D) English colonists were more likely to
(D) Cotton
marry Amerindians than the Spanish
(E) Gold
colonists were.
(E) The English colonists were more
interested in converting Amerindians
to Christianity than Spanish colonists
were.
Thesis Practice: Change over Time – the Americas
Analyze changes and continuities in political and cultural forms in the Americas from
1100s to 1600s.
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