1. Exploration & Commercial Revolution,1400 - 1600
Quizlet Link for Vocab
Textbook pages: , ,
Exploration & Commercial Revolution,
Bulliet: ch. 17 Maritime Revolution, p. 417 1

2. Concept questions
What impact did Ming China and the Ottoman Empire have on global trade?
What motivated the Europeans to explore?
How were the Inca and Aztec empires impacted by European exploration and colonization?
What was the significance of the Columbian Exchange on the Americas and Europe?
What were the economic factors that led to the Commercial Revolution?

3. Ming China
Goal of exploration – impress the world with Chinese achievements
Acquire silver in return for Chinese goods, foreign goods not wanted
Demand for silver funded European wars
Expand the tribute system
Many Europeans traveled to China – Marco Polo
Zheng He
Voyages were to increase economic ties between China and foreign powers in the Indian Ocean
After his death, Confucian scholars demanded a return to isolationism
This opened a power vacuum in trade which opened the door for Portuguese merchants in the Indian Ocean and furthered European exploration

4. Ottoman empire Major crossroad for trade
Expansion of the empire resulted in disruption of European trade routes
Cut off trade with Asia through control of the eastern Mediterranean

5. Europeans explore the east:
Factors encouraging exploration:
God
Spread of Christianity to combat the spread of Islam
Glory
Gained prestige for their nation as they acquired land and resources
Gold
Desire for spices, products and control of trade routes
Mercantilism – required colonies and raw materials
Impact:
Created a global trade network for the first time in history
Western culture began to dominate the world

6. Technology Technological advances Magnetic compass Lateen sail Caravel
Astrolabe

7. 7

8. Columbian exchange New crops led to better diets
increased demands for foods leads to more exploration, colonization, and trade

9. Columbian exchange Impact on the Americas Impact on Europe
New livestock – horses change transportation, cattle, sheep, pigs change diet
New foods from Africa – bananas, okra, yams, grains
Diseases – smallpox, measles, influenza
Death of natives leads to new African labor system
Impact on Europe
New foods – maize, tomatoes, chocolate, tobacco, quinine, potatoes – led to increased population
Cotton & sugar gave rise to the planation system, made forced labor necessary
Impact of the Columbian exchange even reached into Asia where populations grew due to increased nutrient-rich foods

10. Impact on South American Indians (Amerindians)
Aztec
conquered by Hernando Cortes
Inca
conquered by Pizarro
Use of the horse for transportation and warfare
Conversion to Christianity
Enslavement and harsh treatment, use as a labor source
Later replaced by Africans

11. Papal Treaty of Tordesillas
Portuguese
– trading empire
*what part of new world is theirs?
Vs.:
Spanish
- Territorial conquest of land
Sent conquistadores &
Jesuits missionaries

12. Latin America Viceroys – sent to rule an empire larger than Spain
- Wealth sent to Spain, strongest power in Europe
Encomienda: labor system – natives farmed, ranched or mined for Spanish landlords (un-free, coercive labor)
Colonial Society:
Peninsulares – Spanish born, officials and land owners
Creoles – Spanish background, born in the New World
Mestizos – mixed Spanish and Native American ancestry
Native Americans – performed most of the hard labor
*Brazil – ruled by Portuguese
Native Americans dying from European diseases: small pox, measles, typhus
Need a new source of labor – importation of Africans

13. The Atlantic slave trade
Captured by neighboring tribes
African leaders showed political power by exchanging slaves for guns and gold
Led to more fighting between African nations
Africans begin producing goods for Europe, primarily ivory sculptures
Europeans controlled only coastal areas – later cures for diseases led to interior travel
Previously exposed to European diseases
“Middle Passage”
Plantations caused an increase in demand
Christianity spread to Africa
African culture (food, music, art) left a lasting impact on American culture
Library of Congress
Because so much of the slave trade was done illegally it is difficult to estimate the actual numbers of Africans who were shipped as slaves on European vessels. By the end of the sixteenth century the estimated annual exports of slaves from Africa was 9,500 per year. The result was that literally millions of Africans crossed to the Atlantic and Caribbean Islands, and to the Americas, between 1450 and For most Africans the starting point for this crossing was the Middle Passage. The Middle Passage was at best a voyage that was very unpleasant and dehumanising. At its worst it was an ordeal that led to a slow and painful death.
European ships were loaded with groups of six people chained together with neck and foot shackles. On board, they were put below the decks, placed head to foot, still chained in long rows. Some historians estimate that for every ton of cargo there were four slaves transported. Conditions below deck were horrendous: crowded cargo holds where the air circulation was very bad, unbearable heat, and a chronic lack of adequate supplies of food and water. Most Africans suffered from seasickness and vomited often. The poor food led to widespread diarrhea and these conditions led to the outbreak of diseases like typhoid fever, measles, yellow fever, and smallpox.
The unhealthy conditions were made worse by the common practice of overcrowding a ship in order to maximise profit. The longer the ship was at sea the higher the slave mortality rate. There was never any question that Africans would die during a voyage, only how many. Short voyages, like the run to São Tomé from Benin, could expect a 5 to 10 per cent mortality rate. Longer voyages, like the run to Lisbon from São Tomé might be 30 per cent or higher. Those that survived the voyage were usually reduced to skeletons and many would die from neglect while awaiting customs clearance and sale.
The extreme human degradation that characterised the Middle Passage left many Africans to suffer severe psychological shock. This was compounded by a common fear among the Africans that they had been taken by the Europeans to be eaten, to be made into oil or gunpowder, or that their blood was to be used to dye the red flags of Spanish ships. In fact it was their skill as agricultural labourers and their adaptability to tropical climates that were sorely needed in the agricultural economy of the European colonies, an economy based upon the plantation system.
Interior of a Slave Ship: 13

14. Triangle of Trade or Great Circuit

15. Slave Routes
Triangle of Trade

16. Africans capture Africans
Gold Coast & the Slave Coast : See map p. 513
-prisoners of war; wars of expansion of Lunda kingdoms in interior
-by-product of war, not the cause of!
Environmental crisis in Angola; severe drought led to large # of refugees
Trade was partnership between Europeans & African elites:
foreign textiles, metals & weapons for slaves 16

17. “Am I not a Man and a Brother?”
Were Blacks captured for slavery, or were they sold
because they were captives?
Kneeling enslaved man in chains: 1812 English engraving based on the Wedgewood cameo titled "Am I not a Man and a Brother"
“Am I not a Man and a Brother?” 17

18. Slave coast: Black Gold
The Bight (Bay) of Biafra & Angola p. 514
Gold Coast & the Slave Coast 18

19. Development of the slave trade
Phase I
Started in the 600’s when Muslim traders took African slaves to Southwest Asia. They were treated as servants and had rights.
Phase II
1500’s, Europeans joined and expanded the African slave trade to replace the natives in the Americas. Slaves had no rights and were treated harshly.
Process
Many African rulers captured fellow Africans to trade with Europeans for guns and goods.
Effects
1) Encouraged African warfare between tribes
2) Disrupted African culture and left bitterness and violence
3) Increased cultural diffusion between continents

20. Influence of British Slave Trade
William Wilberforce
Led the abolitionist movement in Britain
Inspired abolition movements around the world
Introduced a bill to abolish the slave trade
1807 – Slave Trade Act
1833 – Slavery Abolition Act
p. 516
Comparing European & Islamic contacts:
European domination in Atlantic Africa, paralleled Islamic influence along southern border of the Sahara and eastern Africa
Have students compare: political, commercial, & cultural impacts of these 2 external influences on sub-Saharan Africa between 1500 & 1800 20

21. Slavery Today?
Contemporary forms of slavery According to the International Labour organisation (ILO), there are today 200 million slaves in the world : child labour, house slaves, prostitution and others. 21

22. Commercial revolution
Increased availability of trade goods and new ways of doing business
Cause: Exploration > Colonies > Atlantic Trade > Profits
Effects:
Economies changed from local to global
As trade increased across continents, new business practices developed
1) Capitalism – privately owned businesses have the right to earn profits on investments
2) Joint-Stock Company – investors start a business together by pooling their money and sharing profits and losses
3) Mercantilism – more wealth = more power (for nations)