1. Age of Exploration and Discovery
Europe and the New World:
New Encounters, 1500 – 1800

2. Timeline ? ? ?

3. On the Brink of a New World
Motives: God, Glory, Gold
Fantastic lands
The Travels of John Mandeville (14th century)
Schlaraffenland
Magical Kingdom of Preter John
Religious Zeal
Dominicans, Jesuits, Franciscans
National and personal pride/fame
Economic motives
Access to the East – spices, silk, coffee
The New World of the West – gold, silver, coffee, sugar, tobacco

4. Means Centralization of political authority Maps Ships and Sailing
portalani vs. maps
Ships and Sailing
Naval technology – quadrant & Pole Star; compass & astrolabe
Knowledge of wind patterns

5. Ptolemy’s World Map

6. Ortelius

7. Mercator – 1596

8. Nautical Chart: Map of the Seas
Sea Chart

9. Sundial & Nocturnal

10. Armillary
Mariner’s Astrolabe
Magnetic Compass

11. Back-Staff
Cross-Staff

12. Vermeer, The Astronomer, 1668-69
c Oil on canvas, 50 x 45 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris Order oil painting Signature: Signed and dated 668 on the cupboard (spurious, later additions). Provenance: This painting and the Geographer (Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt) are probably companion pieces, in spite of the fact that the sitter is looking to the left in both of them. They share the same provenance until Thus: sale Rotterdam, 1713; sale Amsterdam, 1720; sale Amsterdam, 1729; sale Amsterdam, Collection Jean-Etienne Fiseau; art dealer Lebrun, Paris; brought to Paris in 1785; sale Amsterdam, 1797; sale Amsterdam, 1800; sale Paris, 1881; collection Alphonse de Rothschild, Paris, 1888; collection Edouard de Rothschild. Abducted by Hitler during World War II. Restored to owner in Acquired by Musée du Louvre, Paris, In view of the fact that the Astronomer and the Geographer are probably pendants, and are the only works in Vermeer's oeuvre that represent male figures involved in scholarly pursuits, we are treating them conjointly. Until 1778, they remained together. The signatures and dates on both paintings are questionable, but they must have been executed toward the end of the 1660s. None of these paintings appears in the sale of 1696, and were therefore commissioned by a patron who was especially interested in astronomy or the celestial sciences. In both paintings, the references to books, scientific instruments, and, in the portrait of the Astronomer, the celestial globe by Jodocus Hondius, are accurately depicted. The latter painting features on the rear wall a picture representing the scene of the finding of Moses, which has been interpreted as being associated with the advice of divine providence in reaching, in the case of the astronomer, for spiritual guidance. Although farfetched, it is likely that the content of the painting is associated in some way with the meaning of the work. The sea chart on the wall of the Geographer does not have any religious association. It must be remembered that the rise of interest in scientific research at the time, fostered by the newly established University of Leyden, and philosophers like Descartes, did not have any specific religious associations. Quite to the contrary, the aim was to explore the universe, and simultaneously to further Dutch navigation in its conquest of faraway lands. Both paintings, with their interiors of scholarly studios and scientific paraphernalia, award Vermeer the opportunity for lightening effects that envelop the scientists in the mystery of an atmosphere that lifts their occupations into the realm of spirituality.

14. Vermeer, The Geographer, 1668-1669
c ; Oil on canvas, 52 x 45.5 cm; Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main
In The Geographer, Vermeer presents another individual in an interior. This male figure, though, is endowed with intense energy in comparison to the contemplative women of other compositions. The flow of light from left to right activates the canvas. The flow is accentuated compositionally by the massing of objects on the left. The light spills forcefully into the open area on the right, casting a powerful series of diagonal shadows. Vermeer adjusted his initial depiction of the figure to provide a more active stance. Detailed study of the canvas reveals that the geographer originally looked down at the table, with his dividers also pointed down. Adjusting the composition to align the man's face and the dividers with the flow of light gave further energy to the movement across the canvas. The folds of the robe also serve to activate the figure, with their dynamic, almost abstract depiction in their sunlit portion.
The painting accurately renders the cartographic objects that express the theme: the sea chart, globe, dividers, square and a cross-staff that was used to measure the elevation angle of the sun and stars. It is probable that Vermeer's sophisticated presentation of these instruments was informed by his association with famed scientist Anthony Van Leeuwenhoek. Although no documents exist linking the two, they were both born in Delft in the same year. A contemporary portrait of Leeuwenhoek closely resembles the figure in Vermeer's geographer, and it is very possible that Leewenhoek served as the model.
Another Vermeer work, The Astronomer, is commonly considered a pendant to The Geographer. In it, the same model is depicted, this time among the instruments of astronomical study. Both paintings dramatically convey the excitement of scholarly inquiry and discovery. Considering these works as pendants offers an allegorical interpretation: the astronomer, student of the heavens, searches for spiritual guidance; the geographer, student of the earth, charts the proper course for temporal life.
-- Mark Harden

17. Life of an Explorer / Sailor
Cramped quarters
Diseases & their cures
Food
Order, morale and punishment
Crewmen and their jobs
Pressgangs
By 18th century new health measures

18. Portugal: A Maritime Empire
Prince Henry the Navigator (1394 – 1460)
Portuguese explore the Western (Gold Coast) and Eastern coasts of Africa – looking for all-water route to the East
The Portuguese in India
Bartholomeu Dias (1488)
Vasco da Gama (1497
Conquer Turkish and Indian fleets and trade centers by force!
Alfonso d’Albuquerque (1510) - Albuquerque wants to control Malacca = destroy Arab trade & provide a way station on route to Moluccas (Spice Islands)
Portuguese in the New World
Pedro Cabral (1500)
Brazil sighted and claimed – on to India
Amerigo Vespucci (1497)
mapped out the eastern shoreline of South America

19. Portugal: A Maritime Empire
Reasons for Success
Excellent naval technology
More advanced weaponry (gun ships)
Unable to maintain longterm empire abroad
Lacked the power as a European nation
Lacked the population necessary to expand abroad
Lacked the desire to colonize Asia

20. Map 14.1: Discoveries and Possessions in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

21. Spain in the New World
Reach the East by sailing westward across the Atlantic
Christopher Columbus – 1492, 1493, 1498, 1502
Rejected by the Portuguese but sponsored by Europe’s “most Catholic” nation
1492 reached the Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti and Dominican Republic (Hispaniola)
Vasco Nunez de Balboa
reached the Pacific Ocean (1513) by crossing the Isthmus of Panama
Magellan 1519: sent by Charles V (Spain)
To find direct route to Moluccas – spices
He dies – but SUCCESS – circumnavigates the globe
Cortez & Conquistadors (1519):
to Mexico – vs. Aztecs and Montezuma
Pizarro :
Peru & the overthrow of the Inca Empire

22. Map 14.1: Discoveries and Possessions in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries
Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) – decreed by Spanish pope Alexander VI, that all trade to the west go to Spain and to the east to Portugal.

23. The Americas
John Cabot (Italian) BUT explored New England sealine for Henry VII of England
Spain and Portugal
The West Indies
The British and the French
The “Sugar Factories”
North America
The Dutch
New Netherlands
The English
Jamestown (1607)
Thirteen Colonies
The French
Canada

26. Plight of the Native Americans

27. The Spanish Empire in the New World
Administration of the Spanish Empire
Encomienda – natives = subjects of Castile (taxed and put to work) to be protected, paid and spiritually supervised – instead they were exploited and abused
Anton Montecino and Bartholome las Casas decry abuse
Encomienda abolished in 1542!!
Viceroys &– chief civil and military officer to the king (in Mexico City and Lima)
audiencias – advisory group that also functioned as supreme judicial body
The Church – Spanish monarchs allowed to appoint bishops & clergy, build churches, collect fees, supervise religious orders in New World; Spanish Inquisition in Peru (1570) and Mexico (1571)
Compare and Contrast PS: Columbus and Las Casas

28. Africa: The Slave Trade
Portuguese and Dutch on western African coast
Desire for gold and eventually the sale of slaves
Cape Town (South Africa) inhabited by the Boers (Dutch farmers) = permanent European settlement
Origins of the Slave Trade
15th century Mediterranean slave market; war captives & other Europeans used in agriculture; African slaves to Portugal as domestic servants
~1490s Sugar cane production off central African coast; by 16th c. in Brazil and Caribbean = native American pop. not enough – turn to Africa
1518 1st Spanish ship carrying African slaves to New World

29. Africa: The Slave Trade
Growth of the Slave Trade
Up to 10,000,000 African slaves taken to the Americas between the Sixteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
Asiento, 1713; Prior to 1713 only Spanish ships brought slaves to Spanish Americas, BUT after 1713 England receives this “privilege” = 4,500 slaves a year
The Middle Passage: mortality rate averaged 10%
Triangular Trade
Effects of the Slave Trade on Africa
Effects in Africa: depopulation of African kingdoms & increased tribal warfare in Africa
Economic effects in Africa – cheap manufacturing of European goods undermines local cottage industry = increased poverty
Effects of Slave Trade on Europe/New World
Growth of plantation economy = increasing need for slave labor
Increase in trade: sugar (molasses, rum), cotton, tobacco, indigo, coffee, rice

30. Stereotypes and Justifications
Read pg European Stereotypes and Africans and answer the following questions:
Why did many Europeans view Africans as racially inferior?
What reasons were often given to justify the enslavement of another human being?

32. Map 14.2: Triangular Trade Route in the Atlantic Economy

33. A Seventeenth-Century World Map