1. The Opening of the Atlantic
Section 3.11
The Opening of the Atlantic

2. What was the impact of the Age of Exploration?
Growth of capitalism
global trade
Columbian Exchange
new products
Depopulation of Native Americans and Africans
Destruction of cultures
huge population growth
New commercial class
New emphasis on naval power
cultural relativism

3. Why did Europeans Explore?
Motives
Gold, God, Glory
Conquistadores
Cortes, Pizarro
Fall of Constantinople (1454)
Eastern Mediterranean trade cut off
Desire for new trade routes
New Technologies
Astrolabe/quadrant, compass, dead reckoning, caravel, lateen sail

4. Significance of Constantinople’s Fall
The East
The Orient
How are Europeans
going to get the Stuff?
Constantinople

7. Portuguese
Ceuta

8. Portuguese Eastern Goods
Sugar, silk, nutmeg, rugs, medicines, porcelain
Henry the Navigator/Ceuta
Old Land Routes
Silk road= slow and unreliable
Sahara= Ditto
New Routes
Water is now a bridge
Da Gama
Machiavellian
Reaches Calicut in 1494
Torches cities, prisoners butchered
Portuguese concentrate on the East (Africa and Asia)

10. Spanish Empire in America
Encomienda System
Colonial feudal system
Catholicism forced on native populations
Natives die at incredible rate
Leads to renewal of African Slave Trade
9-11 mil
Black Legend
Belief that Spanish conquistadores were extremely cruel
Less cruel than Aztecs
Established universities
Lima (1551), Mexico (1553)
Potosi Silver Mines (Bolivia)
500 thousand lbs of silver, 10 lbs of gold annually
Finances Counter Reformation
Where’s England, Germany, France?

11. Why did the Europeans win?
Better weapons
Guns, horse
Alliances
Aztecs hated by Toltec and others
Quetzalcoatl
Were the Europeans gods?
Machiavellian
Pizarro’s ransom of Altahualpa
Disease
smallpox

13. Middle Passage

14. Treaty of Tordesillas
Rivalry between Spain and Portugal settled by pope
Divided world in half
East – Portugal
West – Spain