Unit 3
Age of Exploration
Early Exploring Nations
• Why Portugal?
– Strategic Location
– Trade relations with Muslims
– Support of Royal Family
– Maritime Experience
Who was Exploring?
• Dias-Western Africa to Cape of Good
Hope
• De Gama-Cape of Good Hope to India—
made 6000% profit on investment—guess
what happened?
• Magellan-circumnavigated the globe—was
inspired by Balboa (Panama Canal)
Strategy and Colonization
• Explore African Coast
• Claim several islands
• Far East was too strong and powerful to
conquer, so they settled for a few ports to
colonize and trade
• Primarily headed East to trade
Spain headed West
• Why Spain?
– Spain was temporarily delayed from wars with
the Islamic Moors
– Portugal had head start on African Coastline,
had to have Plan B
– Strategic Location
– Trade Relations with Muslims
– Support of Royal Family
– Maritime Experience
Voyage By Columbus
• Financed by Ferdinand and Isabella
• Believed earth was a sphere, but size
estimates were incorrect—not surprised
world is round, but surprised by vast
proximity
• 1492 West Indies, Cuba
• Never new what he really found
• Amerigo Vespucci mapped the New World
Treaty of Tordesillas
• Line of Demarcation—Brazil vs.
Everything Else
• Western sides size still unclear at time of
Treaty
• Line drawn by Pope
Spain and Portugal Try to Stop
Northern Wave of Exploration
• Why? What was at stake?
– Military Power
– Immense Wealth
– Religious Rivalry
• During 1500s, Spain and Portugal allowed the
exploration of Northern part of North America by
England and France—thought the land was
useless
• By mid 1500s Northern Europeans had stolen
information and shadowed ships
• Wars break out between Spanish and English—
encourage piracy
British Establish colonies in 1600s
• Motivations
– Gain military strength
– Gain wealth
• Desire to establish permanent settlements made
them different
• Exploitation of natural resources became the
norm for all European powers
• Brought slaves to the new world
• Established British East India Co. to manage
economic and military relations
France
• Explored and Colonized Canada
• Rich in animal furs
• Late 1600s and early 1700s controlled
Mississippi Basin
Netherlands—the Dutch
• In battle for independence from Spain
• Attempted to attack Spanish and
Portuguese ships to disrupt trade
• Created Dutch East India Co.
• Established colonies in Indonesia and ran
pepper and spice plantations
Effects of European Exploration
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Created colonies and conquered new lands
Led to wars
Led to nationalism
Emergence of truly global economic system
Worldwide system of military competition—wars
between European powers also taking place on
other continents
Positive Legacy for Europe
• Europe gained unprecedented
geographical, navigational, and scientific
knowledge
• Europe became extremely wealthy and
powerful
• Europe no longer the smallest, weakest
civilization
Moral and Ethical Legacy
• Connections to:
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War
Greed
Prejudice
Religious intolerance
Slavery
• Tensions between nations still have impact on
international relations
• Altered dramatically:
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Environments
Populations
Economic systems
Political systems
Trade Imbalance
• China not interested in European products—just silver or
regional trade
• Europeans trading silver for Chinese products
• Japan prohibited foreign trade
• Russians traded with central Asian nomads
• Ottomans dismissed importance of European
technologies
• Mughal India encouraged trade—led to British takeover
• Europeans feared internal Africa—fear of Malaria in
combination with lack of navigable rivers
Columbian Exchange
Commercial Revolution
• New financing
– Joint Stock Companies
• Pooling money reduces cost and risk
• Encourage investors with potential for huge profit
– Huge cargoes, and piracy rampant
– Church revised bans on business practices
• Lending money—usury
• Charging interest
– Monarchies granted trade monopolies
• Dutch East India Co.—spice islands and Indonesia
• British East India Co.—India
– Fostered growth of capitalism
Mercantilism
• Why?
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Countries sought trade
Export more than import—trade deficit implied weakness
To have surplus, someone else had to have deficit—colonies
Colonies sent resources to mother country
Colonies bought only from mother country
Colonies only used mother country’s ships
Huge tariffs on trade outside of country—low tariffs on trade
within
• Colonies annoyed
– Sent resources away
– Not free to buy cheapest or best product
– Added taxes
Social Diversification
• Growing importance of non-agricultural ways to
earn money—growing middle class
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Banking
Commerce
Trade
Shipping
Shop keeping
Artisanry
Craftsmanship
• Wealth now being based on industries around
money and NOT land
Extraction of Precious Metals—
Especially Silver
• Affected economies around the world
• Glut of precious metals
• Severe inflation
Birth and Growth of Atlantic Slave
Trade
• 1400-1800 A.D.—12 million African Slaves
Chartered Companies and State
Banks
• The Crown allowed charter companies
• Large banks were also chartered by the
Monarchy
– Facilitated lending and management of
kingdoms economy
– Lent money to the government
– Lent money and issued bank notes—
redeemable for gold/silver coins
The foundation toward Revolutions
is being cemented…