Causes for Exploration:

God, glory, and gold were the primary motives for exploration. Christian crusaders in the 11th and 14th centuries created European interest in Asia and the Middle East. The rise of nation states (a.k.a. "new monarchies") resulted in competition for empires and trade. Portugal and Spain wanted to break Italian monopoly on trade with Asia. Impact of the Renaissance (search for knowledge). The Renaissance led to: 1.) The revival of the studies of Plato (especially mathematics) 2.) The awareness of Europeans that they were living at the "dawn of a new age" 3.) The invention of the printed book, which resulted in the spread of accurate text and maps Cartography advances that improve navigation. These include: 1.) Martin Behaim created the terrestrial globe (which was 3D) in 1492. This improved navigation. Although it did not contain all the continents, it did depict the Earth as round. 2.) Waldseemuller's world map was made in 1507. It was more accurate as far as distances go, but it did not show the entire Earth, just Western Hemisphere. 3.) The Mercator map, first printed around 1575, was neither a good nor accurate map. It smashed the world flat, greatly distorting the various landmass' actual sizes. Technological advances. These advances helped to facilitate sea travel: 1.) Advances in astronomy helped in charting locations at sea. They used the North star. They also made use of magnetic compasses around 1300 that point to the magnetic north, making it easy to determine direction. 2.) Many instruments were used to determine latitude by looking at the altitude of celestial bodies (a.k.a. the stars). Some of these instruments include: a.) The Quadrant (created around 1450) - Used to determine the latitude by measuring the altitude of celestial bodies (a.k.a. the stars). b.) Mariner's Astrolabe (created around 1480) - Served the same purpose as the Quadrant, but it was more improved. c.) Cross staff (created around 1500) - Used the altitude of the poll star above the horizon to find latitude. 3.) Ships and improvements. Such improvements included: a.) The Portugal caravel (created around 1450) - It was lighter and faster than Spanish ships (called Galleons). Caravels were much better suited for exploration along the West African coast. It could sail into the wind. b.) Lateen sail and rope riggings - Enabled sails to be quickly and efficiently maneuvered to take advantage of wind power. 4.) The Axial Rudder made change in direction quicker and easier. 5.) Gunpowder and cannons provided protection against hostile ships and facilitated domination over indigenous people in lands explored. The European Commercial Revolution led to capitalist investments in overseas exploration. The religious desire to convert pagans peoples in the new world was also a cause.

Portugal - Motives For Exploration:

Economic: Portugal wanted an all-water route to Asia to tap the spice trade. Religious: Portugal sought to find the mythical Prestor John for an alliance against the Muslims.

Important People In Portuguese Expansion:

Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal (1394 - 1460). He financed numerous expeditions along the West African coast line in hopes of finding gold. He ushered in a new era of European expansion. Bartholomew Daz-also spelled "Das- (1450 - 1500). He was the first European explorer to round the southern tip of Africa. He accomplished this feat in 1488. Vasco da Gama (1469 - 1525). **(important): He built on Daz's route and completed an allwater expedition to India in 1498. He brought back Indian goods to Portugal and Europe, creating a huge demand for these products in Europe. His voyage was a huge blow to the Italian monopoly of trade with Asia. His voyage was a cause of the economic and political decline of Italian city states. Amerigo Vespucci (1454 - 1512). **(important): credited with exploring Brazil. He was perhaps the first European to realize that he discovered a continent in the New World. He was not, however, the first to see South America. A man named Cabral had seen it about one year earlier. America was named after Vespucci when a German cartographer honored Vespucci's false claim that he was the first to see what is now America.

Important People In Portuguese Expansion:

Brazil is Portugal's major colony in the New World. Brazil's administrative structure was similar to that of Spain. In the 17th century, large numbers of slaves from Africa were brought to Brazil to make coffee, cotton, and sugar (sugar was important). There was a significant racial mixture in Brazil between white-skinned people, Ameri-Indians, and blacks.

Spain's Explorers:

Christopher Columbus (1451 1506). Columbus was eager for Spain to compete with Portuguese expansion. Ferdinand and Isabella financed Columbus voyage. In 1492, Columbus reached the Bahamas, believing he had reached the Indies, somewhere west of India. His 4 expedition charted most of the major islands in the Caribbean as well as the coastline of Honduras and central America. The monumental significance of Columbus expeditions was that they ushered in an era of European exploration and domination of the New World. Bartholomew de las Casas (1474 1566). He began his life as a conquistador. He came to the New World and treated the Ameri-Indians badly. Then he had a religious experience and became

a priest. He wrote A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies in 1552. This book publicly criticized the treatment of the Native Americans. His writings helped to spread the black legend, a legend in which the Protestant states claimed that Spain was killing Native Americans in the name of Christianity. But in reality, Protestant groups were just as guilty.

The Treaty of Tordesillas:

The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) was established because Spain wanted to secure Columbus' discoveries in the new world. The provisions of the treaty were as follows: (1) The new world was divided between Spain and Portugal with the approval of the pope, who at that time was Pope Leo V. (2) Portugal was granted exclusive rights to the African slave trade, called asiento. (3) A north-south line was drawn arbitrarily down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Everything to the west of the line was given to Spain, and everything to the east of the line was given to Portugal. Unintentionally, Brazil was given to Portugal. Portugal also received Africa, Asia, and the Spice Islands. Although it seemed otherwise at the time, Spain did get the better half of the deal: the Americas.

More Spanish Explorers:

Balboa (1475 - 1517). He discovered the Pacific Ocean when he crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513. Magellan. His ship was the first to circumnavigate the globe. He charted the enormous size of the Pacific Ocean, but he largely underestimated. Cortez & Pizarro were two conquistadores who colonized the Western hemisphere. Cortez conquered the Aztecs in Mexico, and Pizarro conquered the Incas.

Spanish Empire in New World:

The Spanish empire more resembled the "new imperialism" of the late 19th and 20th centuries by outright conquering entire regions and enslaving the populations. The goal of native Spain was mercantilism. They believed that colonies existed for the benefit of Spain. They thought mining for silver and gold was the most important thing. The king of Spain got 1/5 of the total income from colonial benefits, and this income composed 25% of the king's annual income. In 1545, the Spanish found the world's richest silver mine in Potoso. This finding ushers in the golden age. Spain shipped manufactured goods from Spain to the Americas and discouraged the establishment of native industries in the new world in order to avoid competition with Spanish merchants.

Structure of Spain's New Empire:

The empire was divided into four vice royalties. These vice royalties were ruled by a viceroy. The viceroy is advised by the audiencias, which was the highest judicial body. The Spanish began the encomienda system, whose goal was for the Spanish government to reduce the exploitation of Native Americans in the Spanish empire. Native Americans were supposed to work for a landowner for a certain number of days per week and be allowed to farm their own land. But the law was not enforced, and the Native Americans became slaves. *Spain's ability to use Native American slaves was a major reason why Spain did not import many slaves from Africa. Because many Spanish women did not want to join their husbands on quests to the new world, the men decided to look for with the Native American women instead. The children of these half-Spanish, half-Native American relationships were called Mestizos. Spanish people who were born in the new world were called Creoles. To summarize: The order of class dominance, from highest to lowest, was (1) the Spanish, (2) the Creoles, (3) the Mestizos, and (4) the Native Americans.

Old imperialism:

Old imperialism took place in Africa and Asia. It was characterized by establishing forts on the coast but not penetrating inland to conquer regions or subjugate peoples. This is a sharp contrast to "new imperialism", where entire nations were conquered and exploited for the benefit of the European colonial powers.

Portugal:

By 1495, Portugal had established forts along Guinea's coast and had gone to Mali's capital:Timbuktu. Vasco da Gama set up trading posts in India in the cities of Goa and Calcutta. Alfonso d'Albuquerque did 5 major things: (1) He laid the foundation for Portuguese imperialism in the 16th and 17th centuries. (2) He established a strategy of making coastal regions that were taken from the Muslims as a base to control the Indian Ocean area. (3) He did not seek to create an empire in India. (4) He established a Portuguese empire in the Spice Islands. (5) He served as governor of India from 1509 to 1515(?) [Not sure if it was until 1515]. Francis Xavier led the Jesuit ministers to Asia, and by 1550, thousands of natives converted to Christianity. The Dutch Republic is not the Netherlands. In 1602, they founded the Dutch East India Company, which was a major force behind Dutch imperialism. The Dutch Republic expelled all Portuguese from Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) and the Spice Islands (present-day Indonesia) and took them over. By 1650, the Dutch Republic controlled most of the African territory.

France:

Jacques Cartier, France's most important explorer at the time, set sail for France in search of the Northern Passage. Quebec was Frances permanent settlement in the new world.

England:

England came into the exploration of new territory relatively late but still manages to take over the new world. John Cabot, England's most famous explorer at the time, explored the Northeast coast of North America. Their king was actually not in favor of colonizing the new world because there was no gold or silver to be gained form it. England's first important settlement was Jamestown. Tens of thousands of English people came to North America. This was far more than the French, Spanish, or Portuguese people. In other words, England dominates.

Slave Trade:

The slave trade was called asiento. Portugal first introduced slavery in Brazil to farm the sugar plantations. After 1621, the Dutch West India Company transported thousands of slaves to the new world. England's royal African company entered the slave trade in the late 17th century. By the 1800s, blacks comprised about 60% of Brazil's population, compared to the U.S.' percent of the population (approximately 20%). An estimated 50 million Africans died or became slaves during the 17th and 18th centuries. Some slaves were sent to Europe and were seen as exotic and highly prized in certain areas.

Columbian Exchange:

*Main Idea: Europe and the new world was transformed as a result of the age of exploration and the exchanges that occurred between the two regions. For Europeans, the Columbian Exchange resulted in improved diet, increased wealth, and the rise of global empires. For Native Americans, the results were catastrophic. Michel de Montaigne wrote a book in the 1580s contrasting the greed and violence of the Europeans with the simple and harmonious life of the Native Americans. This made the Europeans look very bad. During the Columbian Exchanged, diseases were transmitted. Between 1492 and 1600, 90% of all Native Americans died. The reason for such a massive die-off was the fact that Native Americans lacked immunities to the diseases that the Europeans had. However, the Europeans got an STD from the Native Americans: syphilis. Thousands in Europeans were infected and died from syphilis.

*Main Idea: For Europeans, the Columbian Exchange was a revolution in diet. This can be seen through the potato, which became a major food source by the 1800s. Other new foods included maize, corn, pineapples, tomatoes, tobacco, beans, and vanilla/chocolate (both were very important). Europe brought wheat, sugar, rice, and coffee (coffee was extremely important to South America). Europe also brought cows, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, and horses (important) to the new world as well. During the Columbian Exchange, the only thing that the new world took to Europe was turkey.

Commercial Revolution:

The commercial revolution went from approximately 1500 to 1700. The following were the major causes of the commercial revolution: (1) Population growth in Europe. (2) Nations sought empires to increase their wealth. (3) Perhaps the most important was the rise of capitalism (at that time called laissez-faire). Entrepreneurs invested money in their own businesses. The bourgeoisie led the way in the commercial revolution. The nobility had nothing to do with the commercial revolution; instead, they looked down on people who handled money, and as a result, their standard of living dropped. The bourgeoisie, on the other hand, flourished. Also, the city of Antwerp in Flanders became an important banking and commercial center. The establishment of joint-stock companies took place. These companies worked like this: Investors pooled their money together for a common purpose. Joint-stock companies were the forerunners of the modern corporation and were can early form of capitalism. Also, stock markets emerged. One example would be the bourse. Mercantilism was developed in the 17th century. The goal was for a nation to create a selfsufficient economy. Their strategy was to create a favorable balance of trade where a country exports more than it imports. The concept of bullionism took root. Bullionism was the belief that a country should acquire as much gold and silver as possible.

Significance:

The significance of all this is as follows: European society changed from rural and isolated to urban. The emergence of more powerful nation states in England, France, Spain, and Portugal occurred. Also, there was a price revolution. Prices in the 16th century rose gradually. The rising population of Europe increased the demand for goods, which led to increased prices. Furthermore, all of the gold and silver brought in from the new world led to inflation, which was good for the bourgeoisie, but bad for the nobility. The bourgeoisie got wealthy from trading and manufacturing, causing their political and social standard of living to increase. The nobility, however, refused to participate, and thus, their standard of living decreased. The bourgeoisie's political influence grew in the Italian city states, the Netherlands, France, and England.