Wtwa Chapter 12 Summary Worlds Together Worlds Apart
Wtwa Chapter 12 Summary Worlds Together Worlds Apart
Wtwa Chapter 12 Summary Worlds Together Worlds Apart
CHAPTER 12
CONTACT, COMMERCE,
AND COLONIZATION (1450 - 1600)
I. Introduction
First Encounters
1.) Caribbean Tainos - bloodshed with the Spanish
a.) No religion - but did have some gold
b.) Conversion and rich soils - ideal for settlement
c.) Opinion of Europeans - may have frightened them
2.) Explorers become conquistadors (conquerors)
First Conquests
1.) Columbus discovers gold on the island of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic)
a.) 10 years later the Spanish dispatch a fleet of 2.5K men (Columbus had 87)
2.) 1492 - 1519 Experimentation of the colonial rule for Spanish
a.) Recurring Issues
i.) Indian Resistance - sparked in 1494 when starving Spaniards raided and
pillaged Indian villages
(1) Spanish began enslaving natives for work in gold mines
ii.) Encomiendas - Spanish crown promoted systematized grants for control
over Indian labor which allowed for a rich class of Spanish
(Encomederos)
3.) Abuse of the Indians - seen as potential converts that were equal in the Eyes of God
a.) 1511- Father Antonio Montesinos - accused settlers of barbary
The Incas
1.) Valley of Cuzco - Inca Empire controlled a population of 4-6 million
2.) Issues for Succession of Huayna Capac (Inca ruler) who died (possibly from Smallpox)
which spread through trade routes
a.) Huascar - “the official” son - took Cuzco (killed by Atahualpa - who used his skull
as a vessel for maize-beer
b.) Atahualpa - took the province of modern-day Ecuador
Silver
1.) Europeans extract precious metals of gold and silver and introduce it to the Afro-
Eurasian markets
a.) More gold was extracted from Mexico and Andean than was accumulated by
Europeans
2.) Mining
a.) 1545 - Andean Potosi mines
i.) 1560 - 1685 - Spanish sent 25-35K tons of silver annually to Spain
(1) After 1685 - sum doubled
ii.) Motherlodes - Potosi (Bolivia) and Zacatecas (northern Mexico)
3.) Effects of Colonia Mines
a.) Required extensive network of drafted and enslaved labor
i.) Spanish adopted Inca and Aztec practices of subjugating village labor
Coastal Enclaves
1.) Failure to find native cities - colonists remained in more dispersed populations
a.) Late 17th Century - Brazil had a white population of 300K
2.) Use of native labor - later rebellions forced the Portuguese to stay near the enclaves -
extracted brazilwood (source of red dye) and sugar
a.) Began importing African slaves
i.) Bay of All Saints (northeast Brazil) becomes Atlantic’s first sugar-
producing commercial center
Sugar Plantations
1.) Cultivation first originated in West Africa and Indian - but was transported to Caribbean
and Brazil
a.) Sugar becomes major export - requires a lot of labor
2.) The Transatlantic Flow of Slaves becomes a rapid component
a.) Plantations were exposed to 60-100 slaves who worked in horrendous conditions
and died off fairly quickly
i.) Queen Elizabeth made him a knight as a reward for his assaults on the
Spanish Empire
b.) Spain responds… sails an armada of 130 ships (20K men) into the English
Channel
3.) Defeat of the Spanish Armada and death of the Sir Francis Drake
a.) English occupy city of Cadiz (Spanish premier Port) for two weeks
b.) War between European powers negates possibility of a Christianized Empire
The Reformation
1.) Similar to the Renaissance - Protestant Reformation drove to return to ancient sources -
biblical scriptures
a.) Interpretation of the bible was dangerous - Church feared heresies and
challenges to authority
a.) Trade networks into Asia and New World and eventual trade wars
5.) France
a.) St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of 1572 - Catholic crowds murder Parisian
Huguenot men, women, and children
i.) 3K dead in Paris and 10K dead in provincial towns
ii.) Fall of the Valois Dynasty
(1) Henry of Navarre - Protestant prince who be Henry IV and
converted to Catholicism but issued the Edict of Nantes (gave
Protestants freedom of religion)
PROSPERITY IN ASIA
1.) Asian empires expand and consolidate power as trade flourishes
a.) European sailors and traders in Indian Ocean strengthen trading ties in region
i.) Ming elegance in textiles
ii.) Mughal Akbar
iii.) Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottomans
i.) Emergence of market towns and ports - peasants sold produce to pay
taxes
a.) 1591 - Captain James Lancaster makes first English voyage to East Indies in
1591 and 94’
b.) 1599- English subscribers (101) establish the English East Indian Company and
gain rights to import goods and displaced the Portuguese in the Arabian Sea and
Persian Gulf
i.) Acquired ports on both coasts of Indian
(1) Fort St. George (Madras; 1639), Bombay (1661), and Calcutta
(1690)
CONCLUSION OF CHAPTER 12