Expanding Horizons(1400-1750)

The Quest for Spices

• Europe of 1300’s had depended on Asia and India for spices

• Uses– To preserve meats– For perfumes, cosmetics, and medicines

Spice trade is controlled by Arabs and Venetian merchants

• Chinese and Indian merchants sold spices to Arab merchants, who shipped the cargoes overland to Europe

• Arabs amass huge fortunes

Cut out the “Middle Man”

• Europeans look for direct trade routes• Land routes are too risky• Look for sea routes

• Motivations that lead Europeans into an era of exploration

Era of ExplorationWhy explore?

• Profit through direct trade with Asia• Christians want to stop the spread of Islam• Spread missionary work• Learning and imagination

Technology of Exploration

• The Compass-Chinese in Origin• By 1100 sailors used the

astrolabe – determines the altitude of the sun or other heavenly bodies• Perfected by the Arabs

• Maps-Inaccurate at the time but constantly improving

• Cartographers—mapmakers• Skilled improved by 1300 become accurate of

Mediterranean coastline• Egyptian astronomer—Ptolemy works appear

in Europe• He introduced the grid system-Longitude and

Latitude

• Construction of ships– Late 1400’s shipwrights outfitted ships with

triangle-shape lateen sails (got from Arabs) makes it possible to sail against the wind–Multiple masts vs. just 1–Moved rudders from the ship’s side to the

stern(back) made ships more maneuverable

• Larger ships–Were built called Caravels–Carry more cargo–But could venture up shallow inlets

Portugal Leads the Way

• 1st to venture out of Atlantic Ocean• 1420-1580—goes down African coast—

looking for a route to Asia• Prince Henry the Navigator– Son of King John I of Portugal– Not a sailor—never made an ocean voyage– Brought together: mapmakers, mathematicians,

and astronomers to study navigation

Prince Henry the Navigator and Portugal

• Sponsored many Portuguese exploration–In the Atlantic (West)–Africa (South)–Discovered the Azores, Madeira

Islands and Cape Verde

Portuguese EmpireandExplorers

• Bartholomeu Dias• 1487-Leaves Portugal• 1488 - discovers the tip of

Africa• Named: The Cape of Good

Hope• Can now reach Asia by

sailing around Africa

Vasco da Gama

Sailed from Portugal to India (took 10 months)

Spain’s Quest for Riches

• 1400’s end long wars with the Moors• King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella• Italian navigator—Christopher Columbus

(1492)—wanted to reach India by sailing West• Other European Rulers declined to finance

Columbus’ voyages

Wedding Portrait of Ferdinand and Isabella

Columbus meeting with Ferdinand and Isabella

Columbus sails from Spain

• August, 1492 sails with three ships (Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria)

• Calculated the trip to be 700 leagues (2,200miles)

• Much longer-crew gets nervous-false sightings of land- crew wants to turn back-Mutiny-Columbus agrees to turn back in 3 days

• After midnight on the 2nd day the expedition sights land

• Sets foot on the Island of Bahamas• Columbus believes he is off the west coast of

India – “Indians”• Spent the next 3 mos. Exploring the island

(present day Haiti/Dominican Republic and Cuba)—looking for GOLD

Columbus Title

• Ferdinand and Isabella give the title:

“Admiral of the Oceans Sea, Viceroy and Governor of the Islands he hath discovered in the Indies”

Amerigo Vespucci

• Stated Columbus discovered a New World

• In honor of him the name “America” begins to appear on maps

Dividing the World

• Spain and Portugal want to protect their claims and turn to the Pope for help

• 1493 Pope draws the Line of Demarcation—an imaginary line running down the middle of the Atlantic from the North Pole to the South Pole

• Spain controls all lands West• Portugal -- East

Treaty of Tordesillas

• (TAWR-duh-See-yahs)• Agree to move the line of demarcation more

WEST• Divides all of the lands between the 2

countries

Line of Demarcation

Voyage of MagellanPortuguese Soldier

Magellan

• Discovered the Tip of South America—Strait of Magellan

• Then sails to the Pacific Ocean (lost ships, killed Captains, Mutiny on the trip)

• Sailed for 4 more months reached the Philippines

• Magellan is killed in a small skirmish between a local chief and his enemy-rest of crew escapes

• Crew sails back to Spain• Voyage last 3 years (1519-1522)• The last ship of Magellan’s reaches Spain-ship

is the Victoria—lands in Seville, Spain• THIS IS THE 1ST CIRCUMNAVIGATION of the

globe

Results of Magellan

• Proved that the world was round• The oceans are connected• Columbus did not discover a

route to Asia

Overseas Empires

• Portugal and Spain• Portugal: Main interest lay in Africa and Asia—

TRADE• Eager to trade with India• Less than 6 mos. After the return of Vasco de

Gama, 13 ships were dispatched to India—Spices—Led by Pedro Alvares Cabral—defeated Muslims in a trade war (bloody)

Portugal

• Now control the trade routes• Expand trade to ports in China and Japan• They also colonized Brazil–Grew sugarcane, tobacco, coffee and

cotton–Brought slaves from Africa

Spain

• Conquistadors• Hernan Cortes—left Cuba for Mexico in 1519• Sailed with 11 ships and 500 men• Landed and marched towards TenochtitlanThe Aztec capital

Cortes

Montezuma II• Aztec ruler• Aztecs thought the Spanish as, “supernatural

creatures riding on hornless deer, preceded by wild animals on leashes, dressed in iron.”

• Believed that the Spanish had come to fulfill a legendary prophecy—he offers gold

• Spaniards see the riches of the city• Spanish slaughter 50,000Aztecs• European diseases killed hundred of

thousands

•Within 3 years Cortes ruled Mexico

Francisco Pizarro

• Invaded Incas (present day Peru)• Captures Inca leader Atahualpa • (AH-tuh-WAHL-puh)• Pizarro has 100 men—he slaughters 2,000 of

Atahualpa’s body guards• Atahualpa– fill room with gold in 3 mos.• Doesn’t accomplish it• Pizarro kills him—chokes vs. burns

Pizarro

Building an Empire

• 1600’s Spanish Empire includes•West Indies, Central America,

much of South America and parts of U.S.

2 Goals in Americas

• Exploit wealth• Convert natives to Christianity– Believed that Natives were their subjects—

entitled to land must abide by Spanish Law

However: They were abused by plantation owners, destroyed their temples, and banned their religions

• Disease was their worst enemy• Locked immunity to: small pox, measles, and

influenza• In the first 50 years of Spanish control– Inca population fell from 7 million to 1 million– Spanish bring more enslaved Africans over as

laborersMost valuable export—Silver and GoldCrown keeps 1/5 of every shipmentPirates cut into profits

Colonies of the Netherlands

• Late 1500’s the Dutch win their Independence from Spain

• Dutch Middle Class see commerce the key to survival

• Dutch efficient sailors– Carry more cargo with smaller crews– Why is this good?

Amsterdam•Becomes the world’s

largest commercial city• Enjoy the highest standard

of living

Dutch Trading

• 1602 The Dutch East India Co. is chartered• 1619 Co sets up headquarters at Batavia on

the island of Java (Indonesia)• Control island trade in: sugar, spices, coffee

and tea• By 1621 push the Portuguese and English out

of Asia—Muslims were pushed out as well

Indonesia

Dutch Explorers

• Henry Hudson• Sets out for N. America—claims land along the

Atlantic coast• In 1621 the governments charters the Dutch

West Indies Co. to establish colonies in America

• New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River

• 1652-establish colonies in Africa• Dutch farmers known as Boers settled at the

Cape of Good Hope• By 1700’s Dutch power declines—English had

emerged as Europe’s leading maritime nation

French and English Colonies

• France• 1524-Giovanni da Verrazano (Italian) hired by

the French in order to find a Northwest passage to Asia—NO SUCCESS

• 10 years later• 1534-Jaques Cartier sails up the St. Lawrence

River to present day Montreal (claims much of Eastern Canada for France)

• 1608-Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec-the 1st permanent settlement in America for the French

• 1673-Missionaries Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet explore the Mississippi Valley

• Robert Cavalier A.K.A> Sueur de La Salle claim the entire inland region surrounding the Mississippi River for France

• French send Jesuits missionaries to convert the Native Americans

• French explorers trade with Native Americans• French also set-up colonies in the West Indies

England

• 1497-Henry VIII commissions Italian John Cabot to explore the coast of Newfoundland

• Giving English the claim to the Americas• 1500’s English sea captains harass the

Portuguese and Spanish—become Privateers or Pirates

• 1580’s Francis Drake-1st Englishman to circumnavigate the globe-also a pirate

English Trading

• 1600 English found the English East Indies Co.• Chartered by Queen Elizabeth I• Settled on the island of Jamaica, Bahamas,

and Barbados• 1640-English introduce sugarcane plantations

to the island– Worked by slave labor– Made 3x’s more profit than tobacco

• 1606- The Virginia Co. of London—sent expeditions to America to search for gold and silver

• The following year the Co. founded the 1st permanent English settlement-Jamestown

• A group of religious dissenters calling themselves Pilgrims founded a second colony Plymouth—present day Massachusetts

Slave Trade

• In the 1600’s the colonies of the America’s based their economies on agricultural products that required intensive labor

• Sugar, tobacco, coffee, and mining

Triangular Trade• Ships sailed the legs of the triangle formed by

Europe, Africa, and the Americas• In European ports ship carried: manufactured

goods (knives, swords, guns, clothes, rum)• West Africa: traded enslaved Africans bought

from local rulers• America: Enslaved Africans brought for labor-

sold and money used to purchase sugar, molasses, cotton, and tobacco

• Ships returned to Europe to sell goods-completing the triangle

The Middle Passage

• Name given to the ordeal an enslaved person’s journey from the West coast of Africa to the lands of the Americas

• Slave traders packed the ships as tightly as possible with their “human cargo”

• Occupied a space of 4 to 5 feet high to 2-3 feet wide

• Chained together-they could neither fully stand-up nor lie down

• Lived in darkness and stifling heat• Trip took 5-12 weeks• Estimated range of Africans brought to

the Americas 10-24 million• 1 in 5 who began the trip did not survive• Psychological torment may have been

worse than physical—some Africans jumped overboard, some refused to eat (suicide)

An Enslaved Person’s Life

• Face the slave auction—dehumanizing• Examined and prodded• Most worked as laborers– Clearing land– Hoeing– Planting– Weeding– Harvesting

• The work is hard and the hours are long• Life expectancy was short

• Many Europeans believed that Africans were physically suited to hard labor, especially in hot, humid climates. The enslaved people were viewed as nothing more than a unit of labor to exploit for profit.

Resistance

• Many enslaved people take action to gain their freedom

• Some fled and started their own free communities

• Mass Rebellion was the ultimate weapon– Slaves out-numbered free populations– Most rebellions take place in the Caribbean– Carried out attacks on plantations, burned crops

and murdered their owners

Saint Dominique

• Only successful uprising was in the French-ruled island of Saint Dominique

• Rebellion in 1790’s leads to a proclamation of independence in 1804

• Haiti

Changing Ways of Life• The Commercial Revolution• With a growing economy—Europe expands its

business methods in order to facilitate profit from world trade

• By 1600’s the nation has replaced the city and village now compete for markets and goods

• New Business: Investing money=venture capitalism

• This becomes known as the Commercial Revolution

New Business Methods

• Overseas trading Ventures• Risky• Had to raise money to pay for supplies and

goods• Hire a captain and crew• Often took several years—the trips

Finance methods

• 1st turn to Bankers to finance—Medici’s of Florence

• By 1600’s Chartered Government Banks replace wealthy families– Bank accept deposits– Charge and give interests– Bank notes and checks—large payments of heavy

coins a thing of the past– Exchange currencies—now have exchange rates

• Joint Stock Companies– Raise money for ventures– Sold stock– Make profits in the risk of trading voyages

• Entrepreneurs– Combined money, ideas, raw materials, and labor

to make goods and profit– Take risk and get reward– Bring products from conception to sale

How European Countries Gain Wealth

• Mercantilism- a theory of national economic policy that states power depends on its wealth.

• Goal of every nation is to become as wealthy as possible

• Bullion- gold and silver---can measure wealth of a nation by this

• Balance of trade-favorable by exporting more goods than importing

• Government encourage manufacturing by setting tariffs and taxes on imports and exports

Social and Religious Trends

• Population in Europe– 1450 55 million– 1650 100 millionWhy the increase?

Trade/higher standard of livingnew foods from the Americas

thought potatoes caused leprosy

• Many cases the merchant class exceeded the nobility in wealth

• Peasants lives did not change that much• Religious values emphasized the Value of

Work• Law: It’s a crime not to work• Some government relief to the “worthy poor”• A strong nation needs healthy citizens for

work and soldiers

Overseas Colonies

• Became an outlet for surplus population• Why people left for colonies– Poor– Criminals– Social Outcasts– Volunteers seek wealth– Wars– Religious persecution