European Exploration

Why? Who? What? Where? When?

What?
Gold
Silver
Ivory
Spices
Cinnamon
Pepper
Cloves
Jewels
Slaves
Why?
Seek Greater Wealth
Merchants and traders wanted to expand the
already profitable business of trading new
luxuries.
Also, European merchants/kings wish to rid of
the Italian middleman.
Crusades/Reformation Spread of
Christianity
Crusades left feeling of hostility towards
Muslims, so they felt the need to continue
fighting and to convert non-Muslims.
God, glory, and gold
Why?
New Technology
Needed new technology to make discovery
possible
Caravel triangular sail allowed ships to sail
against the wind
The astrolabe and the compass (both came
from the Muslims and the east)
Renaissance curiosity about other lands
and peoples.

Who?
Portugal
Prince Henry strong government support
1419 created his own navigational school
Portugal had established trading posts along the
shores of Africa.
Later, wished to find a sea route to Asia.
Dias made it around the tip of Africa but ultimately
failed.
Gave room to Vasco de Gama who reached the coast of
India.
Who?
Spain
Good ole Chris Columbus wanted to have his
extreme trip around the Atlantic to be funded
Spain needed to find a route to beat Portugal.
So in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
Sought a different route to India by sailing West across
Atlantic
He miscalculated where he had landed (Bahamas not
India)
His voyage started European colonization of the Americas
Conquistadors
Conquered Native American land
Native Americans could do little to stop them
Europeans had superior weapons, recruited resentful Native
Americans and introduced new disease

Who?
Netherlands
Owned largest fleet of ships in the world
Set up many successful trading posts in Asia
Set up trading posts along the Hudson river,
where major activities were fur trading
Colonized several Caribbean islands
Broke down the Portuguese influence on
Philippines
Who?
England
Set up trading posts in Asia
Set up colonies on east cost of North America
where major economic activity was tobacco
growing.
Virginia and North Carolina area
France
Focused mainly on North America
Main activity was fur trading
They did not colonize North American territories like
England
Colonized several Caribbean islands

Problems Already



European Disagreements
Treaty of Tordesillas Line of Demarcation
Between Portugal and Spain to claim new land, eastern
lands to Portugal, western to Spain
Treaty didnt apply to other countries so they ignored it



Beginning of Colonies
Christopher Columbus had
three more trips financed
and returned to create
colonies.
Pedro Cabral (Portugal)
founded Brazil
1501 Amerigo Vespucci
discovers that the new
land is not a part of Asia,
but a new world
Had the land named after
him.
1513-1522 Magellan
and his crew became the
first people to
circumnavigate the globe
Columbian Exchange
Global transfer of foods, plants, and animals
during the colonization of the Americas
Perhaps the most important item to travel from the Americas to the
rest of the world were the potatoes
Traffic across the Atlantic flowed both ways
Europeans introduced livestock animals into the Americas (horse,
cattle, pigs)
Food and slaves and disease also came from Africa to the America

Columbian Exchange
Squash Avocado Peppers Sweet Potatoes
Turkey Pumpkin Tobacco Quinine
Cocoa Pineapple Cassava POTATO
Peanut TOMATO Vanilla MAIZE

Syphilis

Trinkets
Liquor
GUNS
Olive COFFEE BEAN Banana Rice
Onion Turnip Honeybee Barley
Grape Peach SUGAR CANE Oats
Citrus Fruits Pear Wheat HORSE
CATTLE Sheep PIGS Smallpox
Flu Typhus Measles Malaria
Diptheria Whooping Cough
Effects of Columbian Exchange
Beginnings of Capitalism
Economic system based on private ownership and the
investment of wealth for profit.
No longer the government more privatized
Joint-stock companies
A business in which investors pool their wealth for a
common purpose, then share the profits.
Growth of Mercantilism
Countrys power depended mainly on its wealth.
Nation could increase wealth in two ways
Obtain as much gold and silver as possible
Establish a favorable balance of trade sold more goods
than it bought
Ultimate goal was self-sufficiency
The Reconquista
Spanish settlers in
America
peninsulares
(mostly men)
Married native
women to create
large mestizo
population.
Although the
Spanish married the
natives, they
oppressed them.

Encomienda
Europeans had
authority from
rulers to run natives
land
Early system of slave
labor
Harsh treatment of
natives
Usually overworked
and abused often
Opposition to Spanish Rule
Spanish priests worked to spread Christianity
but they pushed for better treatment of the
Native Americans.
Criticized the pattern of labor under the
encomienda system.
Bartolome de Las Casas suggested the better
treatment of natives and the use of Africans (later
changed his mind)
Encomienda system was abolished in 1542.
Between 1510 to 1610, native population in Mexico
was reduced from 25 million to 1 million.
Native American Reaction
Working relationship with the French and
Dutch
Strained relationship with the English
WHY?
English wished to populate colonies, which meant
moving the Natives out
Misunderstanding with religions
King Philips War
Again, the backbreaker to the natives was
the various European diseases.
Led to shortage of labor which is why they began
to go after the Africans in both North and South
America.


The Atlantic Slave Trade
As the native labor in the America began to
die out, the Europeans had to begin looking
elsewhere
That place was Africa.
3 major reasons why Africans:
1. Immunities to European diseases.
2. Experience in farming
3. Strangers to America nowhere to hide
Spain and Portugal lead the way in terms of
importing slaves
Portugal was #1, by late 1800s over 3.6 million
Africans were transported to Brazil
Triangular Trade
Exchange of various
goods between the
colonies in the
Americas, Europe,
and Africa.
Raw goods from
Americas,
manufactured goods
from Europe, and
slaves from Africa
The Middle Passage
Known as the Middle
Passage because it
was the middle leg of
triangular trade.
Extremely hard
environment
Beaten continuously
Cramped, disease
spread like wildfire
At least 20% of each
ships captives
perished.
Impact of Slave Trade
In Africa:
Numerous cultures and tribes lost generations of their
youth.
Families torn apart that split culture
Introduced guns that can still be seen in effect today.
In America:
Greatly influenced to the economic and cultural
development of the Americas.
Helped stabilize colonies that would not have survived
w/o their labor
Also helped continue the population growth of the
Americas by marrying natives and creating a large
mixed-race population
Spain Creates an Empire
1519 Hernando Cortes
lands in Mexico
Always looking for gold
and silver
Spanish first settlers in
Americas
Aztecs believed Spanish
to be gods.
Aztecs gave some gold but
not enough to satisfy the
Spanish.
Spanish fought back and
conquered them in 1521.
Greatly outnumbered
Superior weapons
Use of natives that hated
Aztecs
Diseases
VS.
Now the Incans
1532 Pizarro lands in
Peru
Conquers the Incans
with a smaller force
than Cortes
In a meeting, the 200
beat an unarmed force
of thousands
Kidnapped the king
Then strangled him
The rest of the empire
fell to Pizarro
Other Explorers took
over other native
peoples
VS.