Milena K, Alanys C, Pedro A, Alejandro J.

Outline Age of Exploration and Colonization

I. Foundations of European Exploration and Colonization
a. Motives and Means
1) Motives
 They started on their journeys in the 1400's their exploration was a
smashing success, reaching all the way to Africa and Asia and getting
some extra information of the North Americas, South Americas and
Australia.
 One day Portugal and Spain were the first nation to establish far-flung
maritime (seafaring or oceangoing; relating to the sea or ocean) empires,
time passes and France, England and the Netherlands soon followed.
 A group of European explorers had long been attracted to Asia, In the late
thirteenth century, Marco Polo has traveled from Venice with his father
and uncle to the Chinese court of the great Mongol rule Kublai Khan, time
passes, and Marco Polo wrote an account of his experiences.
 Economics also fueled the motivation of European expansion, Merchants
rise up, state officials etc., Mercantilism (a set of principles that held that
the prosperity of a nation depended on a large supply of gold and silver), a
new economic principle at the time, one of the easy ways to describe their
motives is the phrase: "Gold, Glory, God."
2) Technological Innovations
 Europeans developed a new sailing technology and the design of a very
elevated keel of the boats made long-distance voyages possible.
 The Portuguese under the sponsorship of Prince Henry, developed a type
of ship called the caravel.
 The caravel was way faster than other models and even lowered the price
of transporting goods.
 An important detail of the caravel is that instead of a square sail, it had a
triangular one called a lateen, which allowed it to sail against the wind.
 Greek sailors used the astrolabe to locate themselves without using a
landmark. The astrolabe uses the sun or the stars to measure latitude.
 China invented the magnetic compass to help chart a course across the
ocean. However European explorers had the most advances in the art of
cartography and map-making, they also gathered the information of past
voyages to help in this.
  European explorers kept increasing their knowledge of the wind patterns
of the Atlantic Ocean. They also had knowledge about the ocean currents,
and spiraling currents called gyres that form because of global winds.
 Europeans used the Trade winds which were winds blowing from the
south and west in the North Atlantic and the winds from west to east called
the westerlies for their benefit.
b. A Race for Riches
1. Portuguese Exploration
 During the fifteenth century, European explorers sailed in new directions. Portuguese and
Spanish ships took the lead. The Portuguese headed south along the coast of West Africa,
while the Spanish headed west across the Atlantic Ocean.
 The Portuguese exploration began in 1415 when Prince Henry conquered the trade city of
Ceuta in northern Africa. Situated at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, Ceuta gave
the Portuguese a strategic port for trade and sparked interest in Africa, especially African
gold.
 The search for gold led the Portuguese south along the western coast of Africa and by
1460 they reached the present-day Sierra Leone, and in 1482, they established a trading
post at Elmina in present-day Ghana. Which later they exchanged European goods.
 Later on, the Portuguese sea captains heard reports of a route to India around the southern
tip of Africa, they began making their way there. The explorer Bartolomeu Dias took
advantage of the westerly winds.
 Ten whole years later Vasco da Gama and his crew rounded and cut across the Indian
Ocean in May 1498.
 A Portuguese treaty is signed.

2. Spanish Exploration

 A group of educated Europeans knew the world was round, but they often used faulty
formulas to determine its size. Sadly, they didn't know the accurate size of Asia or that
another continent lay between it and Europe. While the Portuguese sailed to the south and
east, the Spanish sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean praying to find what they seek.
 Three voyages pass on and Columbs still had not found a route through the outer islands
to what he believed was the Asian mainland. Another voyage gets added to the count,
Columbus reaches the major Caribbean islands and Honduras in Central America--all of
which he named the Indies.
 Another important explorer that is funded by Spain was the Portuguese captain,
Ferdinand Magellan. He has set sail from Spain in September 15119 without the amount
of 270 sailors and five ships in search for Americas. In October 1520, his ships crossed
into the Pacific Ocean through the tip of South America, through a waterway later named
Strait of Magellan. Sadly only 18 sailors returned to Spain, one of the many deaths being
the captain Magellan. Known to be the first human circumnavigate (travel completely
around).
3. Treaty of Tordesillas

 Spain and Portugal each had a mutual fear of others not recognizing their claims
of new lands. To prevent that conflict, Spanish monarchs Ferdinan and Isabella
asked Pope Alexander VI (Originally from spain) for his aid. In the year 1493 the
pope proposed a line of demarcation, an imaginary line on the map, running from
the North pole to the South Pole west of the Cape Verde Islands off the African
coast. Spain owning the West and Portugal owning the East.
 This action alarmed the Portuguese due to their line being cut off their routes to
West Africa, were their gold and slaves reside, they protested a division.
Representative of the two nations met at Tordesillas in Spain and, in 1494, they
agreed to move the line of demarcation farther west. This was later on called the
Treaty of Tordesillas gave Portugal an advantage of the easternmost port of the
South American continent, as well as any unexplored territories east of the line of
demarcation. They gained their control to the tip of Africa.
 Later on, a race sponsored by the government was held.

c. French, English, and Dutch Colonization of America

1. France
 By the end of the 16th century, European rivals, French, English, and
Dutch challenged the Portuguese and Spanish for colonial dominance.
 These were motivated by gold and riches, commanding explorers to the
Americas in search of territories, wealth and trade opportunities.
 Limited technology made governing their colonies all around the world
hard.
 Giovanni da Verrazano and Jacques Cartier explored what is now Canada
and claimed it in the name of France.
 The region of New France was colonized by the French during the 17th
century.
 Quebec was the first permanent French trading post in the Americas and
was founded by Samuel in 1608, it worked by capturing animals and
selling their fur.
 Montreal, a second French settlement, was founded in 1642 and was a
missionary colony and base for Catholic evangelization (the act of
converting people to Christianity).
 King Lous XIV (the fourteenth), a French King in 1663, changed the
government of New France, originally, it was run by traders, but the king
made it royal province. He assigned a governor, who also served as a
 military commander, and an intendant. The intendant attracted colonists to
settle in New France, thus developing economy.
 The economy developed by fishing and fur trading. The cod fish were
important to the Europeans who did not have much money because it was
a cheap source of protein, as they could not afford meat.
 The colony of Louisiana was established by French explorers Cavelier and
de La Salle because they claimed the Mississippi River valley.
 French Louisiana was expensive and stretched from the Great Lakes to the
Gulf of Mexico and from there to some mountains. Still, all of that was
administered by the governor and the intendant from New France.
2. England

 Although John Cabot claimed the lands in North America as early as 1497,
internal problems kept the English from developing their new land and extracting
its valuable resources. With time passing on Queen Elizabeth I authorized sea
captains to raid the Spanish ships and win their gold. The admiral Sir Francis
Drake was one of English raiders with the highest win rate. This Journey led him
to become the first English sea captain to circumnavigate the globe.
 Time goes to 1600, but English concluded that they needed colonies that could
provide raw material they were buying from other countries. If England did not
have to import so many resources, it could become more self-sufficient. Obtaining
a colony also meant more jobs, which were much needed, new markets rise giving
more English goods.
 Six years pass to 1606, King James 1 issued a royal charter to the Virginia
Company of London for the purpose of establishing a colony in North America. In
1607, the company established an English settlement at Jamestown, it was named
for the King James I, in what is now Virginia. The first African slaves were sent to
Jamestown in 1619.
 A second settlement was established in Plymouth in what is now New England in
the year 1620. This settlement was founded by some religious dissenters known
as Pilgrims. It later became known as the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
 In the 17th century, the English established more colonies in North America very
quickly. They developed three types of colonies, Charter colonies, administered
by shareholders belonging to a join-stock company, and royal colonies, owned
and administered by a monarch. George Calvert created the concept of proprietary
colonies in 1634 and founded Maryland to create a place for Catholics and
religious freedom.
 By the end of the 17th century, the English controlled most of the eastern seaboard
of North America and established plantations to grow sugar on many Carribean
islands. North American colonies were minor importance to English economy.
 3. European Rivals in the East

 Spanish contact with the people of Southeast Asia began in 1521 when Magellan's
expedition reached the archipelago later named the Philippines. In the year 1565
Philip II the Spanish king (Philippines was named after him) sent Miguel Lopez
de Legazpi to conquer the islands and establish the first permanent Spanish
colony there. Then, in 1571, the Spanish annihilate the Muslim settlement of
Manila and built a fortress that became the capital of the new Spanish colony in
Asia.
 Manila became an important bridge in Spain's global trade network as galleons
(Spanish trading ship larger and heavier than a caravel) carried goods from
Manila across the Pacific Ocean to Acapulco on Mexico's Pacific coast. Items
were also moved to Mexico's Atlantic coast, loaded in galleons for transport to the
port of Seville, Spain. This route covered a whopping 15 thousand miles and
operated from 1566 to 1790.
 Dutch was also another European power active in Asia. The first Dutch fleet had
arrived in India in 1595. A short time passes by, and the Dutch formed the East
Indian Company and greatly pushed the Portuguese out of the spice trade in
Southeast Asia. Dutch domination of the space trade led to massive amounts of
profits. The profits led to the rise of large middle and merchant classes and helped
make the Dutch East Indian Company the world's first multinational corporation
(a company operating in many countries).
 The English soon followed.
 English success in India attracted rivals. While the Dutch focused on the spice
trade, French people mase forts along the Indian coast. English efforts, but then
limited the French who were soon restricted to a handful of small places on the
southeastern shore of the subcontinent. During the Seven Year's War, Great
Britain (a union of England and Scotland) forced France to withdraw completely
from India.
 This coupled with the decision of the Chinese Qing Empire to withdraw from
Indian Ocean trade, allowing the British company to expand giving it the ownage
of India. The British East India Company, founded in 1600, rules India until 1858,
when the British government took over due to company mismanagement.

II. Impact of European Colonization

a. Spanish Conquests
 Conquistadors were soldiers and explorers who led the Spanish conquest
of the Americas (empire in Mesoamerica and the Andes).
1. Conquest of the Aztec
 The Aztec rules central Mexico from the Gulf of Mexico in the east to the
pacific coast.
  The empires capital was Tenochtitlan, in present-day Mexico City
 1519: a Spanish force of conquistadors under command of Hernan Cortes
landed at Veracruz and marched to Tenochtitlán.
 Cortes formed alliances with city-states who were against the Aztec rule
(such as Tlaxcala).
 After being welcomed in Tenochtitlan, the Spanish took Montezuma II
(the Aztec monarch) hostage and began to pillage the city.
 1520: local population revolted and drove the Spanish from the city.
 Many Aztec fell sick and died because of Spanish carried diseases
 Cortes received soldiers from his allied city-states and after four months
the Aztec empire surrendered and collapsed. The Spanish destroyed Aztec
structures and used the stones to build Spanish buildings.
2. Conquest of the Inca
 1531: Francisco Pizarro and about 180 men landed on the Pacific coast
of South America
 They encountered the Inca empire.
 Smallpox devastated Inca villages, even causing the Inca emperor
Wayna Qhapaq’s death.
 When both of the emperor’s sons claimed the throne, civil war broke
out
 Pizarro took advantage of the situation and captured Atahuallpa, the
new emperor
 After executing him, Pizarro and his soldiers/allies sacked the Inca
capital, Cuzco.
 By 1535: Pizarro founded a capital at Lima, a new Spanish colony.
b. Colonial Latin America
 16th Century: Spain established an empire that included most of South
America and parts of Central and North America. Portugal governed
Brazil.
 Called Latin America because Spanish and Portuguese derived from Latin.
1. Economic Foundations
 Main source of wealth for the Portuguese and Spanish came from
resource extraction, especially gold and silver.
 Farming became another source of prosperity as settled landowners
created estates. This led to deforestation, overgrazing, and
overcultivation of single export crops.
 Spanish used the encomienda system: Spanish landowners forced
indigenous Americans to provide labor and pay taxes, in return, they
would protect them and instruct then in the Catholic faith.
  In Peru, the Spanish used the mita: an arrangement that allowed
authorities to draft indigenous labor to work the silver mines.
 Harsh working conditions led to a drastic decline in Native American
population, leading to the use of enslaved Africans.
 Bartolome de las Casas, a Catholic priest, first arrived as a settler with
his own encomienda, he then gave it up after realizing how unfair the
system was for the natives. After attempting to speak to Spanish
leaders of his concern he turned to writing.
 He spent the rest of his life speaking out against the encomienda.
 Spanish and Portuguese traded sugar, tobacco, diamonds, and animal
hides for manufactured good.
 Spain and Portugal initially kept other nations out of trade but by the
18th century Britian and France became part of these markets.
2. Social Classes
 Colonial Latin America was divided into social classes based on racial
status.
 At the top were peninsulares, Spanish or Portuguese officials residing
in Latin America for political and economic gain who then returned to
Europe. Held all important government positions.
 Below them were creoles (second-class citizens), descendants of
Europeans born in Latin America. They resented peninsulares.
 Beneath these were numerous multiracial groups (inferior)
 Africans and Native Americans were at the bottom.
 Over a period of 3 centuries, as many as 8 million Africans were taken
to Latin America.
 Mestizos were the offspring of native Americans and Europeans (the
Spanish permitted these marriages). These grew in status due to their
increasing number (artisan, merchant, farmer, rancher).
 Mulattoes were the offspring of Africans and Europeans.
c. The Atlantic Slave Trade
 Demand for enslaved Africans increased after Europeans started planting
sugarcanes in the Americas (mostly Caribbean/Brazil)
 1619: slave ships began to arrive in British colonies in North America
 Slave trade formed part of the triangular trade that connected Europe,
Africa, and the Americas.
 Europe traded manufactured good (guns, cloth) in Africa for enslaved
people who were then sold in the Americas for labor to produce sugar,
molasses, cotton, tobacco, etc. on large plantations.
 The wealth of these products fueled slave trading voyages to Africa.
  As many as 10 million enslaved Africans were taken to the Americas.
 The Middle passage was the journey from Africa to the Americas. This
voyage was very dangerous, and many Africans died on it. Those who
survived often died later from diseases. Africans born in the Americas
developed a partial immunity to many diseases.
 Before European slave trade, most enslaved people in Africa were
prisoners of war, as demand grew, local rulers who viewed slave trade as a
source of income sent raiders into villages.
 Atlantic slave trade led to the rise of slave kingdoms (ex. Ashanti Empire
and the kingdom of Dahomey) because slave trade enabled them to
become regional powers.
 The condemnation of slavery by Quakers and Protestant critics, resistance
by enslaved africans, and the French, American, and Haitian revolutions
shifted public views on the morality of slave trade.
 This led to the abolition of the Slave trade in 1807 and later the abolition
of slavery in different territories (British – 1833, U.S. – 1865, Cuba –
1886, Brazil – 1888).
d. State and Church
 European monarchs could keep a close watch on their overseas territories,
leading to the position of viceroy, a representative of the monarch meant
to assert the monarchy’s control over the colonies.
 This practice started mid-16th century in Brazil by the Portuguese and later
by the Spanish in New Spain and Peru.
 The Catholic Church had the goal of Christianizing the natives and held
great influence over the society and culture of the Americas.
 Missionaries (Dominicans, Franciscans, and Jesuits) created missions in
different parts of the empire.
 They brought Native Americans together into villages (missions) to be
converted, learn trades, and farm. Missions enabled missionaries to control
the lives of natives and make them subjects of the empire.
 Owners of encomiendas were tasked with building churches, paying for
the Christian instruction of indigenous peoples, and teaching them to read
and write.
 Missionaries encouraged native people to speak Spanish/ Portuguese.
 Bartolome de las Casa recommended the use of African slave labor instead
of indigenous people, which he later regretted doing.
 Clergy contributed to the expansion of the slave trade.
 Women also had had a role in the Church, they could enter convents and
become nuns and often ran schools and hospitals.
III. The Commercial Revolution

Consequently, other European nations started searching for alternate trade routes in
1400s as the too desired spices, silk, and other items from Asia.

a. Foundations of the Commercial Revolution

 The 300-year exploratory era, known as the Commercial Revolution, had a
significant impact on the global economy due to its profound economic
impact.
 1543: Portuguese sailors arrive in Japan and establish new trade routes for
products such as silk and silver in Asia.
 1596: A Dutch expedition arrived in Java in Indonesia, with the aim of
establishing the lucrative Dutch spice trade.

b. New Financial Practices

 At that time, and economic system called capitalism continued to flourish.
 A joint-stock corporation, which dates back to the Middle Ages is a type of
organization in which shareholders purchase and hold firm shares.
 The British East India Company was among the most well-known businesses.
 During the Middle Ages, a public limited corporation was a sort of capital
market.
 December 31, 1600: A British firm is established with the goal of profiting
from the Asian spice trade.
 Currently, the East India Company stands as one of the oldest corporations in
history.
 The commercial Revolution was also successful because of the new economic
theory known as mercantilism.
 Another way was to obtain the gold and silver through a positive trade
balance.
c. Government Assistance

 To encourage exports, government provided subsidies to industries.

d. Colonization and Trade
 Getting rich was one of the primary goals of European exploration.

e. The Impact of the Columbian Exchange

 The exchange of plants and animals between Europe and the Americas
transformed economic activity on both sides of the Atlantic.
 The contemporary world system began in the 16th century, bringing both
advantages and disadvantages.
 China's monetary economy was based on silver since the Yuan dynasty (1279-
1368)