Do Now (Doc 2) Describe THREE factors that make the Caribbean a great place to grow sugar.
Why is corn/maize revolutionary?
Indirect Discoverers of the New World 1,000 C.E. Vikings “discover” America
Why no stay? No strong-nation state that wanted to expand Settlements soon abandoned
Europeans focused on Asia/Africa
Chain of events leads to accidental “discovery” of America
Christian Crusaders 11th-14th centuries Fighting Muslims for control of the Holy Land Discover super cool new stuff while losing wars
Examples: Silk Drugs Perfumes Fabrics Sugars Spices
How do Europeans get these goods? China, India, and Spice Islands (Indonesia) Travel across Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea OR Caravan routes Ports on the eastern Mediterranean
middlemen
Marco? . . . Polo! Italian adventurer returns to Europe in 1295 20 years in China Stimulated desires
Portuguese Technological Advances Caravel Africa and winds Moral of the story= sub-Saharan Africa accessible
Access to Sub-Saharan Africa Gold! Slaves Portuguese develop trading ports
Slave Trade Africans and Arab “flesh merchants” Portuguese developed same practices
Why slaves? Sugar plantations 40,000 Africans transported from 1450-1500 Origins of modern plantation system
Other Portuguese Discoveries Dias De Gama Stimulated desires
Unification of Spain Ferdinand of Aragon m. Isabella of Castille Expulsion of Moors (Muslims) from Spain Sudden burst of nationalism Portuguese going west, Spain goes east
Renaissance “Ambitious spirit of optimism and adventure”
Printing Press Spreads info
Stage is set . . . “Europeans clamored for more and cheaper products from the lands beyond the Mediterranean. Africa had been established as a source of cheap slave labor for plantation agriculture. The Portuguese voyages had demonstrated the feasibility of long-range ocean navigation. In Spain a modern nation-state was taking shape, with the unity, wealth, and power to shoulder the formidable tasks of discovery, conquest, and colonization . . .
Columbus story
6 degrees of separation Six degrees of separation is the theory that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world, so that a chain of "a friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. It was originally set out by Frigyes Karinthy and popularized by a play written by John Guare.