NOTE – The Europeans - FACTORS MOTIVATING EUROPEANS TO

EXPLORE AND SETTLE

Caribbean History

Arima North Secondary School Teacher: Ms. M. Seaton

Term II Form: 4:3

TOPIC: The Europeans - FACTORS MOTIVATING EUROPEANS

TO EXPLORE AND SETTLE

The Europeans

FACTORS MOTIVATING EUROPEANS TO EXPLORE AND SETTLE IN THE

CARIBBEAN UP TO THE END OF THE 17TH CENTURY

What are the factors that motivated the Europeans to explore and settle in the
Caribbean up to the end of the 17th century?
 wind systems and ocean currents
 technology,
 trade,
 religion
 and national rivalry.

TRADE

THE DEMAND FOR GOODS FROM INDIA, CHINA AND THE EAST INDIES
European interest in Asia developed during the 13 th century after the Mongols had
established some sort of order over the region from the Black Sea to China.
Routes to the East became reasonably safe for travellers and opened the way for
missionaries and merchants.
A man from Venice named Marco Polo is believed to have visited China several
times between 1271 and 1295.

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Such travellers helped Venice to become an important centre for the trade which
developed between Europe and the east over the next 200 years.
The silk spices, cotton and other goods which were then sold in Venice because they
were brought overland in Arab caravans, and passed through the hands of so many
middlemen, were very expensive.
This made no difference to the demand for such goods, which continued to increase.
As Europe then produced very little that was wanted by the Arabs, payment too had
to pass through Arab hands before reaching Europe. for them had to be made in
gold.
As the only known source of gold was in the Niger region of West Africa this too had
to pass through Arab hands before reaching Europe.
Many European traders made their biggest profits on goods they brought from Arab
merchants in towns on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean.
Well-to-do Europeans learned to enjoy food seasoned with pepper, nutmeg, ginger
and other spices.
For the first time, they could drink coffee sweetened with cane juice.
Fine eastern textiles were used for wealthy ladies’ dresses, cloaks and costly church
vestments.
Europeans were eager to buy more and more perfumes, gems, gold, ivory and
ebony carvings and leather goods.
In their thrust overseas, Europeans were attracted by the profits which overseas
trade with India, China and the East Indies could bring.

THE PROBLEMS WITH THE TRADE ROUTES / THE DESIRE TO FIND A TRADE
ROUTE TO INDIA, CHINA AND THE EAST INDIES

DANGEROUS AND UNKNOWN:

The Arabs controlled trade routes into parts of the world which were quite unknown
to Europeans.
From the North African cities of Tunis, Tripoli and Cueta, Arab caravans made a
slow trek across the Sahara Desert to the African cities of Gao and Timbuctu,
bringing gold, ivory and ebony goods.
There were three (3) main routes to the Indies. Two (2) of them left from
Constantinople by land into Persia, India and China. The third (3 rd) began with a land
journey to the Red Sea and then crossed the Indian Ocean by Chinese junk or Arab
dhow to India, Indo-China or the spice islands of the East Indies.

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The problem was that the Arabs were Muslims and the European traders were
Christians. These two religious groups did not like each other and therefore were at
war with each other.
Few Europeans risked their lives by travelling across the lands between Europe and
the Indies, but many grew wealthy by buying goods from Muslim merchants.
But many European traders made their biggest profits on goods they brought from
Arab merchants in towns on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean.

EXPENSIVE:
Following their conquest of Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1453, the Ottoman
Turks gradually extended their control over the lands bordering the Eastern
Mediterranean. The Turks were Muslims, and their entry into Europe was part of a
new Islamic surge of conquest which would not end until towards the end of the 17 th
century.
As a result, the old trade routes between Europe and Asia by land and sea
were impeded by the excessive tolls/taxes exacted by the Turks.
In addition, a controlling monopoly over certain branches of the Asian trade
was held by Genoese and Venetian merchants.
In order to by-pass the obstacles to profitable trade with Asia imposed by the
Turkish impediments and the Italian monopoly, it was necessary that Western
Europe, should find alternative trade routes.
All these goods were expensive, especially because of the taxes placed on them by
the rulers of the Arab states, who were all Muslims and generally unfriendly to the
Christian Europeans.
Because of the high prices European merchants began to consider ways of finding
their own sea-route to the Indies.
The resurgence of Islam in the 15th century meant that the luxury goods of the east
and the means of paying for them, were both in great danger of being cut off.
This led the Italian financiers to begin looking for people with whom they could form
an alliance in order to find a sea route to West Africa.

BY SEA TRADE MORE GOODS COULD BE CARRIED:

It had been estimated that one (1) ship alone could carry half the amount of pepper
brought into Europe by land each year.
Yet no one in Europe knew if it was possible to sail to the Far East.

FEAR:

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Seamen feared to go far west of Gibraltar or south of the northern curve of Africa.
They told each other fantastic stories of ship-eating monsters, boiling seas and
reaching the edge of the world.
Most sailors did not trust those men who told them that the world was round.

UNFAVOURABLE BALANCE OF TRADE

The growing demand for eastern products in the 14 th and 15th centuries, together with
the high cost of those products, resulted in an unfavourable balance of trade for
European countries and in a flow of gold and silver from Europe to Asia to cover
deficits.
At the same time the output of European gold and silver mines was going down and
there was a need to find a new sources of these metals. It was hoped that in the
process of establishing more direct contact between Western European and Asian
countries new gold and silver producing regions would be discovered.

NATIONAL RIVALRY
From the 14th century to the 16th century was a time of growing nationalism in
Europe. There was a tendency to stress national differences and to forget the
international concept of Christendom.
Thus, European nations, countries like Spain, Portugal, France and England sought
to establish and maintain their strong identity under the sovereignty of strong kings
and queens independent of foreign control.
National individuality and identity were strengthened by ‘national’ wars. National
kings sought to maintain their power against the power of the Pope and European
Emperor and to project the status of their new states. To do this the acquisition of
new territory became important.
Thus, this ambition found expression in the search for new lands whose resources
could be exploited to increase national wealth and pay the army, navies and
administrations with which to reinforce nationalism.

MERCANTALISM, the desire to increase national wealth through foreign trade; and
capitalism, the use of resources to produce a profit for the owner of the resources,
were the driving forces behind expansion overseas.

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Explorers such as Bartholomew Diaz, Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus
and the nations they represented, wanted also the glory and fame the overseas
territories could bring.

RELIGION
Religion was a powerful navigating motive or force. The Pope -The Roman Catholic
Church- governed society.
The philosophy held by society at this time, was that God’s will was enough to
explain all that happened in society.
Service to God was the sole legitimate purpose of all humans.
Laymen and clergy alike took it for granted that the Catholic Church had all the
answers to life’s questions.
The Roman Catholic Church believed that the devil was the personification of all evil.
The Church believed hat the devil was waiting to seize all non-believers, and other
forms of belief outside the Roman Catholic Church was sinful.
Everyone in Christendom, from Kings and princes downwards, formally
acknowledged the supremacy of the Pope.
Education, charity, administration, justice and much of the economic life of Europe all
came all came within the scope of the Roman Catholic Church.
Men’s lives were defined by it, as the Roman Catholic Church recorded and
authenticated the various stages of their existence – marriage, the birth of children,
baptism and deaths.
One Prince Henry the navigator’s reasons for embarking on his enterprise of
discovery was to send out missionaries ‘to bring to him all the souls that should be
saved’.
Christians of the 15th century aimed to christianize the heathens, and it was said of
Queen Isabella that she was willing to help Columbus only after he had agreed to
engage in this important task.
The expulsion of the Jews from Portugal and Spain in the 15 th century and the
persecution in the 16th century of some Christian sects made many European
peoples see the overseas territories as places to live unmolested and free to practise
their religion.
In keeping with centuries of crusading for the recovery of Jerusalem’s Christian holy
places from Muslim control, 15th century Europeans saw overseas voyages as a
means of establishing alliances with other Christian people living behind Muslim
territories in the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa.

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The ability to attack the Muslims from the rear as well as from the front could break
the Muslim encirclement of Europe. It might also avert the anticipated possible
invasion and possible conquest of Christian Europe by the infidels -Muslims.
Europeans were affected to a large extent by a missionary zeal to convert heathens
to Christianity and at the same time to end the power of the Muslim Turks.
Associated with this aim, was their desire to find the Utopia or perfect society to
provide the pattern for their own institutions and which they believed could be found
overseas.

WIND SYSTEMS AND OCEAN CURRENTS

Oceanic currents and hemispheric winds favoured navigators sailing between
Europe and the West Indies.
As voyages into the outer and unknown areas of the Atlantic were undertaken,
navigators took advantage of the winds and currents to chart their courses.
The currents followed roughly the same direction as the winds.
In the Atlantic there were two currents which flow towards the Caribbean; the North
Equatorial Current and the South Equatorial Current.
The North Equatorial Current and the South Equatorial Current flow from east to
west.
The North Equatorial Current and the South Equatorial Current flow in from the
Atlantic. North of Tobago they became the Caribbean Current. This flows to the
Gulf of Mexico where it turns back through the Florida Channel as the Gulf Stream.
The currents flow only at three or four knots but they forced ships in a westerly
direction.
Seamen started the return journey to Europe by following the Trades west to the
Yucatan Strait.
Then they tacked north until the Gulf Stream carried them through the Florida
Channel and into the Atlantic far enough north to pick up the Westerly Winds. The
Spanish therefore quickly realised the importance of controlling the Florida Channel.
Leaving the Caribbean to the north, sailors took advantage of the Gulf Stream and
North Atlantic Drift a warm sea current of favourable weather, to carry them back to
Europe.

The prevailing winds follow the same general circular pattern as the ocean currents.
Sailing ships leaving Europe were aided in the eastern Atlantic by the North-east
Trade Winds blowing from the Tropic of Cancer to the equator.

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To sail west, sailors from Europe sailed south to the Canary Islands or as far as the
Cape Verde Islands to pick up the trade winds.
These winds will carry them across the Atlantic to the Caribbean area at about five
knots. They blew throughout the year in the latitude of the Canaries and were very
reliable except for hurricanes, the trade winds form a belt of fair weather.
Of course, the return to Europe had to be made by a different route as the trade
winds made a return in the same latitudes impossible.
The return to Europe was best made by leaving the Caribbean to the north and
sailing up the east coast of North America until favourable Westerly Winds blew the
ships back to Europe. These Westerlies blew around latitude 40 degrees north.

Please check p.46 of your textbook -Caribbean History: Foundations Book 1-

William Claypole and John Robottom for the map showing: Winds and
Currents in the Caribbean.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Claypole, W. and Robottom, J. Caribbean History Foundation Book 1 Harlow, Essex:
Longman, 2009.

Honychurch, Lennox. Caribbean People Book 2 [Kingston]: Nelson Thornes

Caribbean, cop.1979.

Greenw, Robert, Amerindians to Africans Book 1 Macmillian Publishers Limited

Caribbean 2nd edition 2003.

Lennox Honychurch; Karl Watson (contrib.); James Rose (contrib.); Veta Dawson
(contrib.); Caribbean Examinations Council. CXC Study Guide Caribbean History for
CSEC OUP Oxford; August 2018

Norman, Alma. The people who came Book 2 Trinidad and Tobago ; Kingston ;
London : Longman Caribbean, 1986, 1968.