The Age of Exploration

The Value of Spices Pepper and other spices (like cinnamon, cloves, & nutmeg) were extremely expensive in Europe Spices were used for flavoring food, but also as a preservative (to slow the rotting process) Spices came mostly from the “Spice Islands” (modern-day Indonesia)

The Crusades & Trade The Crusades of the 1100s exposed Europeans to an amazing variety of new trade goods, such as spices, tea, and Chinese silk and porcelain The problem for Europeans was that Muslim traders controlled access to those goods, which kept supplies limited and prices high Europeans longed for a way to bypass these Muslim merchants and to develop a sea trade with India and China more directly

Spice Trade Routes

Why Not Explore Sooner? Sea exploration only became possible in the mid-1400s thanks to new (ironically, mostly Muslim) technologies: – Improved map-making methods – The astrolabe, an instrument (invented by a Muslim) for determining latitude – Better ship designs – Better weapons for defense (naval cannons)

Portuguese Exploration Portugal went east – : Prince Henry the Navigator sent ships to explore along African coast – 1488: Portuguese reached Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa – 1497: Vasco de Gama sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and reached India; trip to India took 10 months but returned a profit of 3000% – Beginning in 1502, Portuguese captured several port cities in Asia to use as trading outposts

What Did They Find in Asia? A heavy trade network already existed between China, Southeast Asia, India, and East Africa Cultures that were heavily dominated by Chinese and Indian influences Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam were already strongly rooted in the area, little interest in Christianity

European Successes in Asia The Portuguese – 1511: Portugal captured the Strait of Malacca, giving them control of the spice trade – Focused on controlling ports so that ships could sail from Europe to Indonesia in short legs; they did not move inland to create colonies The Dutch – Challenged the Portuguese spice monopoly; captured Strait of Malacca in 1641 – The Dutch East India Company was formed by a group of wealthy investors to control the spice trade The Spanish – 1521: Spain claimed the Philippines and quickly colonized and converted the natives to Catholicism

European Failures in Asia India: Mughal Dynasty was too strong for Europeans to conquer until the 1750s China – China was so advanced that Europeans had little to offer in trade that they wanted; Chinese only wanted gold or silver – Strictly limited European access to China until well into the 1800s Japan – At first, welcomed Europeans and traded heavily with them – The shoguns became suspicious of Europeans’ intentions, however, and banned them from Japan in 1638

Spanish Exploration Spain went west In 1492, Christopher Columbus convinced Spain to back his effort to reach Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic He discovered the Americas and established Spain’s claim to two “new” continents; Portugal would claim part of South America (modern day Brazil) under the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1500

Christopher Columbus In Oct. 1492, Columbus landed in West Indies Enslaved and tortured the natives and made them mine for gold Named governor by the Spanish king, Columbus would later be removed from office due to corruption and abuse of power charges Within 50 years of his arrival, 90% of the native Carib population had died from exposure to European diseases like smallpox, measles, and influenza

But Was Columbus First? Asiatic nomads arrived between 10,000 and 30,000 years ago (the Native Americans) The Vikings established trading outposts in Newfoundland (Canada) around 1000 AD Plus, there is some limited evidence to support that the Chinese, Japanese, Africans, and/or Polynesians arrived in the Americas BEFORE Columbus

The Spanish Conquistadores Following Columbus’ establishment of permanent Spanish settlements in the Caribbean, the Spanish sent military expeditions into the continental Americas to explore and conquer Conquistadores, such as Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro, quickly toppled the large Native empires of the Aztec and Inca peoples and expanded Spanish control of both the people and resources of the Americas

Hernán Cortés Arrived in Mexico in 1519 to open diplomatic relations with the Aztec Empire By 1521, had destroyed Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, killed the Aztec emperor Montezuma, and broken Aztec power

Francisco Pizarro Sent to explore Peru in 1532 Captured the Incan emperor Atahualpa and held him for ransom; the Inca paid the ransom but Pizarro killed Atahualpa anyway War that followed resulted in the destruction of the Incan Empire

Spanish Advantages Over Natives So how did a few hundred Spaniards defeat millions of natives? – superior military technology horses armor Guns & cannons – rivalries between native groups kept them from cooperating – disease decimated the native population and destroyed their religious faith systems

The Spanish Empire Spain developed an American empire stretching from Northern California to South America Managing the Empire – Split empire into provinces, each governed by a viceroy – Council of the Indies set up in Spain to oversee the viceroys

Competition Spain’s rivals (primarily England and France, but also the Dutch Republic, Portugal, and even Sweden) began to show an interest in creating their own American empires

Spain Gets RICH! Spain limited colonists to trading only with Spanish merchants Colonists traded raw materials for Spanish manufactured goods Spanish wealth came from exploiting American gold, silver, & sugar resources using slave labor

Slavery Under Spanish Encomienda system: viceroys were empowered by the king of Spain to enslave natives in order to “save their souls” through Christianity In 1542, Spain outlawed enslavement of natives, but it was too late – many had already died and the abuses continued anyway Natives were forced into a form of serfdom after 1542 By the 1530s, Spanish had begun importing African slaves to replace native ones

The Catholic Church in America The Catholic Church’s Jesuit priests helped control the native population – Forcibly converted natives to Christianity – Worked to destroy native cultures and religious practices and replace it with Spanish

Beyond the Americas The Americas, however, still blocked Europeans from reaching Asia by sailing west How to get around the Americas? – Go North? English, Dutch and French looked for a “Northwest Passage” around Canada, but never found one – Go South? In 1520, Spaniard Ferdinand Magellan sailed around the southern tip of South America and into the Pacific

Ferdinand Magellan Magellan’s fleet would go on to be the first to circumnavigate (or sail completely around) the globe (although it would take 3 years to do it, Magellan was killed along the way, and only 18 sailors and 1 ship would complete the voyage)

Magellan’s Route

The Five G’s What were the primary motivating forces that drew Europeans to the Americas? – God: The opportunity for religious freedom, or to act as Christian missionaries to the Native Americans – Glory: To build empires or to become famous – Gold: To get rich What primary advantages allowed them to reach these goals? – Germs: Diseases wiped out much of the Native population – Guns: Military advantage over the Natives