The Age of Exploration

1. The Age of Exploration

10. Motives • Europeans had remained in one area of the world • 15th C – began voyages overseas – WHY? • Asia – Long standing interest; Marco Polo (13th C); extensive travels in China, Japan • Mongol Turks (1453) limited access to east • Looked to the sea; spices important • ECONOMIC MOTIVE – Middle East controlled – extremely expensive; Europeans wanted this market

11. Motives cont. • RELIGIOUS MOTIVE – to serve God; covert Muslims • POLITICAL MOTIVE - New monarchies wanted to expand. • Had grown extremely powerful and united (SP, FR, POR, ENG) • New knowledge and technology • Gold, God, Glory!

12. First – Portugal (then Spain) • Prince Henry the Navigator – School for navigators; trade opportunities and expand Christianity • Along coast of Africa • Brought cargo of Africans; sold as slaves (1000 per year to Portugal) • Gold, ivory, slaves; built forts along coast • Bartholomew Diaz – rounded Cape of Good Hope

13. Portugal cont. • Vasco de Gama – rounded Cape and made it to India! • Ginger and cinnamon (earned 1000% profit) • Remember commercial capitalism???? • Conflicts w/Muslim shipping though • Alfonso d’Albuquerque set up port at Goa • Important geographic location • Destroyed Muslim population • Later to Malacca (Indo.) controlled whole region

14. Others follow…. • Spanish had greater resources; headed West • Christopher Columbus – most believed world was round, but no knowledge of size • Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain financed • 1492 arrived in Caribbean (Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola) – called the Indies • Held belief until his death

16. Others cont. • John Cabot (Italian) explored N. Am. Coast for England • Pedro Cabral (Portugal) – South America • Amerigo Vespucci (Italian)- several voyages, wrote letters describing geography; new name – America! • Flourishing civilizations already; NOT new • Treaty of Tordesillas – divided Americas between Spain and Portugal; Spain got the most

18. Spanish Empire • Conquistadors – motivated by glory, greed, and religious zeal • Hernan Cortes – overthrew Aztec empire (Mexico) • Francisco Pizarro – Inca empire of Peru • Helped by firearms, armor, diseases • Isabella granted the Spanish encomienda – the right to use “Indians” as slave labor; brutal treatment

19. Spanish Empire cont. • Bartolome de Las Casas disapproved; became monk and fought for rights of Indians • Ravaged by smallpox, measles, typhus • 30-40% died • Missionaries set up to convert Indians • Church collected taxes – sent back to Spain • Later dioceses, parishes, schools, hospitals

20. Impact of Exploration • Native civilizations destroyed • Social, political, economic, language systems replaced by European ones • Greed and power (gold and silver mines) • New products from NA – sugar, dyes, cotton, vanilla, hides, potatoes, coffee, corn, tobacco) • Columbian Exchange – Exchange of goods and ideas from Old World & New World • Fierce rivalries & tensions

22. New Rivals • English and the Dutch • Dutch competed in India and N. America (West India Company) • Settlements “New Netherlands” on Hudson River to Albany (Manhattan, Staten Island, Harlem, Catskills – Dutch); didn’t last • 2nd half of 17th C. England & France

23. New Rivals • Canada goes to France • England creates colonial empire along the Atlantic Coast • Economic interests and desire to escape religious persecution led thousands to NA • Jamestown, VA – 1607 First Eng. Colony • Massachusetts Bay Colony (pilgrims/puritans) • To be continued in U.S. History….. 

25. Section 2 – African Slave Trade • Portuguese had discovered high profits from African slave trade • Colony at Cape of Good Hope established in S. Africa; Boers (Dutch farmers) came • Inland Africa not as affected • Coastal countries devastated • Millions sent to plantations in New World

26. Slavery • Had been practiced within Africa for centuries • Primary market had been Middle East, but also existed in Europe; most domestics • Discovery of the Americas changed things drastically • Sugar plantations of Caribbean needed human labor • Native populations had been killed or died from disease; needed workers

27. Slavery cont. • First ship to NA – 1518 (Spanish ship) • Increased dramatically over the next few years • 10,000 over time brought to the Americas! • Even as Great Britain and others had tried to stop the slave trade, it flourished • High death rate: journey itself, disease • Didn’t encourage children; cost more $; later changed though when prices went up

28. Slavery cont. • In early days in Africa, slaves were prisoners of war • Europeans bought slaves from local rulers • Increasingly turned inland; African leaders began to protest • But generally viewed slave trade as source of income; rulers sent raiding parties – if they didn’t, someone else would • Self-preservation

29. Effects • Undermined local economies • Depopulated local areas – strongest, young men taken • Increasing warfare to compete • Cultures, education, art, etc. deteriorated (Benin) • Overall devastation of West Africa

30. African Political & Economic Systems • Monarchy most common govt. • Some had strong central govt. where leader was almost divine (Yoruba custom – commit suicide when ruler died) • Some independent states, or linked by kinship ties; EX: • Ibo – (Nigeria) independent villages linked by convenience • Songhai – western coastline threatened by growing Moroccan traders; war & eventually crushed by Moroccans

31. Africa cont. • Sometimes Africans allied against European operations • Gold Coast – involved heavily; profited greatly from trade (slave trade too) • Other conflicts – Zaire, Congo, Kenya, Tanzania • Muslim maintained stronghold in N. Africa • Some Christianity in S. Africa

32. Southeast Asia • Malaysia – already Muslim influence • Portugal first moves into Spice Islands • Later Dutch and English • Dutch in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Malacca, Sumatra, Jakarta (Indonesia) • Less impact in Vietnam, Burma, Thailand • Resisted foreign intrusion