Chapter 17: An Age of Exploration and Expansion

Exploring New Lands Main Reason for Exploration: New Wealth Spices and Asian luxury goods made many merchants wealthy during Crusades Simple Supply and Demand How it worked Early: Muslims brought goods from the East to Mediterranean and sold to Italians Italians took goods and spread over W. Europe This became very Expensive for Europeans To bypass the Italians, Trade routes were found

The other goal: Spread Christianity Europeans believed it was their sacred duty to: fight Muslims convert non-Christians

Technology New Advances made Exploration possible Caravel: sturdy new sea vessel Triangular sails allowed movement against wind Astrolabe: Allowed for better Navigation Compass

The Portuguese Leaders in European Exploration Had great govt. support Prince Henry: Great Supporter Wanted to locate the treasures of the east Founded a navigation school Helped set up trading posts on African coast Gold and Ivory! 1448: Bartolomeu Dias reaches African tip 1497: Vasco da Gama begins explring E. Africa Coast Reaches India in 1498 Cargo from the trip was worth 60X what the trip cost to make

The Spanish do work 1492: Columbus sailed across the Atlantic in search of Asia Found the Caribbean, thought it was Asia Led to European Colonization of America Rivalry between Spain and Portugal Ferdinand Magellan Magellan passed through a waterway along the tip of South America, Strait of Magellan Philippines, but indigenous people there killed Magellan

New Lands to Explore Treaty of Tordesillas called for a boundary line extending from north to south through the Atlantic Ocean and the easternmost part of the South American continent. treaty gave Portugal control over its route around Africa gave Spain rights to almost all of the Americas

John Cabot, explored the New England coastline of the Americas on behalf of England Portuguese sea captain Pedro Cabral landed in South America in 1500, which established Portugal’s claim to the region later named Brazil Amerigo Vespucci, His letters describing the lands he saw led to the use of the name America (after Amerigo) for the new lands.

The Spanish Empire Conquistadors: firearms, organizational skills, and determination brought them extraordinary success Conquest of the Aztec: Hernán Cortés landed at Veracruz, Cortés marched to Tenochtitlán with a small number of troops—550 soldiers and 16 horses

as he went, he made alliances La Malinche Cortés arrived at Tenochtitlán and was welcomed by the Aztec monarch Montezuma one year after Cortés had first arrived, the local population revolted and drove the invaders from the city many Aztec fell sick and died, especially from smallpox carried to the Americas by the Spaniards

Francisco Pizarro landed on the Pacific coast of South America with only a small band of about 180 men Pizarro brought steel weapons, gunpowder, horses, and smallpox Pizarro captured Atahuallpa Pizarro had established a new capital at Lima for a new colony of the Spanish Empire.

Portugal’s Trading Empire 1500:Continued to Expand East from India Goa (Western Indian Coast) was capital Gained control of the “Spice Islands” Europeans like this Empire It was much cheaper than paying the Italians Most goods were 1/5 the price Other nations followed soon after

Other Nations Challenge the Empire 1600: English and Dutch (Netherlands) take power from Portugal Ned.: gains independence in 1581 Became a sea power thereafter 20,000 ship fleet largest in the world Created East India Companies to improve trade Dutch East India Company: more powerful than English Soon had complete control of the region Amsterdam becomes Europe’s leading commercial center

Trade, Colonies, and Mercantilism In less than 300 years, the European age of exploration changed the world European nations established many trading posts and colonies in the Americas and in the East. these colonies played a role in the theory of mercantilism – favorable balance of trade

The Columbian Exchange Colonization and trade drove the Columbian Exchange Colonists established plantations to grow sugar, cotton, vanilla, and other crops introduced to the Americas Europeans brought such plants and animals as wheat, citrus fruit, honeybees, horses, and cattle to the Americas

Agricultural products native to the Americas, such as potatoes, cocoa, corn, tomatoes, and tobacco, were shipped to Europe.

European Rivals in the East Dutch formed the East India Company and gradually pushed the Portuguese out of the spice trade the British had established a number of trading posts in India English ships carried Indian-made cotton goods to the East Indies

The Atlantic Slave Trade Spanish ship carried the first enslaved Africans directly from Africa to the Americas The triangular trade European manufactured goods, such as guns and cloth to Africa enslaved Africans were then sent to the Americas and sold (middle passage) merchants then bought tobacco, molasses, sugar, and raw cotton in the Americas and shipped them back to Europe

Colonial Empires in Latin America Colonial Latin America was divided by social classes that were based on status Peninsulares - Creoles Spanish rulers permitted intermarriage between Europeans and Native Americans -mestizos the offspring of Africans and Europeans -mulattoes

Economic Foundations Wealth for the Portuguese and Spanish came from resource extraction Farming became a more enduring source of prosperity the Spanish used the encomienda system