THE GREAT GLOBAL

CONVERGENCE
Economic, technological and demographic changes in the 15 th -16 th c. world
Columbian exchange began with GGG… and
ended with the Great Global Convergence
Why did European rulers pay for these
expensive, dangerous voyages?

God,
Gold
and
Glory
The Three Gs:
1. GOD:
► Convert more people to Christianity
► King and Queen of Spain had successfully driven Islamic rulers from Spain in
1492 = called the Reconquista (Reconquest)
2. GOLD:
► Europeans wanted spices, silks and other luxury goods from the East. In turn, they
had to offer the Chinese what they wanted: silver and gold (plentiful in the New
World)
► 3. GLORY:
► National pride and Rivalry with Portugal
The result: the Columbian Exchange
…and continued with the Great Global Convergence
Great Global Convergence= People, ideas, resources, and
ideas from the whole world came together

Several factors happened that accelerated (sped up the

whole process
How was each part of the world involved in the Great Global
Convergence?
Europe:
 Colonised the New World
Controlled by  Colonised parts of Asia
Wants everything
Europe  Exchanged ideas and goods with Asia:
The Americas Asia o Provided demanded
(New World):  Started the Transatlantic slave trade goods to Europe
 Provided silver and gold  Technological, intellectual and o Provided technological
 Provided plants only ideological innovations and scientific
Wants silver
found there innovations
 Great plantations with
enslaved people
 Provided land for settling Africa:
of white immigrants  Its people enslaved
and exploited as
Controlled by Europe workforce in the Australia, discovered in 1606:
New World Similar fate to the Americas
The Great Global Convergence saw a big demographic shift

What changed in the New World for each group:

Indigenous people, Spanish and Africans?
What is demography?
◦ Demos = People Graphos = Writing (down), counting, measuring

►The study of births, diseases and deaths.

►These numbers show how human populations change over

time.
Compare with the population of Europe
The Great Dying: the Black Death
-the population dip you see between 1300-1400s-
 BIG QUESTION #1: Was there slavery in the Old
World before 1500?
Discuss: Yes/No Answer. Explain in one sentence the
reason for your answer.

 BIG QUESTION #2: What is the link between the

growing African slave trade and the discovery of the New
World?
Write 2 – 3 complete sentences
 Sub-Saharan Slave Trade before 1500

Black slave of the Roman Empire (wall mosaic)

Arab Slave Trade
► The trade was conducted through
slave markets with the slaves
captured mostly from Africa's interior.

► A preference for female slaves

► Female slaves were used as pleasure

slaves or for household tasks

13th century Slave market in

Yemen
 Historical evidence for Europe
Evidence #1: 14th century primary source (personal correspondence)
From the residence in Venice, Francesco Petrarch could watch the unloading of the cargo from the galleys moored
along the waterfront beneath his window. At one point in the late 1360s, he witnessed a scene that he described in
a letter to his friend the archbishop of Genoa:
◦ Whereas huge shipments of grain used to arrive by ship annually in this city, now they arrive
laden with slaves, sold by their wretched families to alleviate their hunger. An unusually
large and countless crowd of slaves of both sexes has afflicted this city with deformed
Scythian faces, just like when a muddy current destroys the brilliance of clear one.

Evidence #2:
Etymology = word origins
Slave = Slav/Slavic peoples
 Spain in the 15th century
► The Reconquista provided a steady supply of captured Moors who
were enslaved. They were sometimes ransomed and could return to
their families.

► At the end of the Reconquista Muslim rulers were unable to pay

ransoms and the capture of southern Muslim territories made
enslaving all Muslims who lived there impractical.

► Result: Spaniards had to look further into Africa for a source

of slaves. The first Portuguese slave raid in sub-Saharan Africa
was in 1411 and they sold them to the Spanish.

► By the end of the 15th century Spain had the largest population of
black Africans in Europe. A small but growing population of ex-
slaves.
► Case Study: Seville – 1565
► Population: 85,000 / 6,300 slaves (most of them from Africa)
BIG QUESTION #3:
Why did the Spanish, Portuguese, British,
French need slave labor in the New
World?
*List three possible reasons.
The Transatlantic Slave Trade
◦ Watch this Ted-Ed Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NXC4Q_4JVg&ab_channel=TED-Ed

◦ Note one short-term effect of Slavery

◦ Note one long-term effect of Slavery

Transatlantic Slave Trade
◦ https://www.slavevoyages.org/voyage/database#timelapse

While watching the video - write a question:

What do you want to know more about?
BIG QUESTION #4: Would have modern-day USA and
Europe been economic superpowers without slavery?