Chapter 2
The Rise of the Atlantic World, 14001625
Introduction
• Oct. 12, 1492
• Columbus and crew
landed on the island of
San Salvador
• Ended isolation of the
Western Hemisphere
from Europe and Asia
4 important questions
• What forces were transforming West Africa
before the advent of the Atlantic slave trade?
• How did European monarchs use commerce
and religion to advance their nations’
fortunes?
4 important questions (cont.)
• What role did the Columbian exchange play in
the formation of an Atlantic world?
• How did relations with Native Americans
affect the success of early European colonizing
efforts?
African and European Peoples
• West Africa: Tradition and Change
– Grasslands of the Sahara Dessert and east of the West
African coast, kingdoms arose that rivaled those in Europe
in size and wealth
– 14th Century
•
•
•
•
Mali
Dominated entire region
Lucrative trade with Europe and the Middle East
Timbuktu=leading city (center of Islamic learning)
West Africa: Tradition and Change
(cont.)
West Africa: Tradition and Change
(cont.)
• By 16th century Mali was conquered by Morocco
• 15th century=small states on Guinea and
Senegambian coast grew in population and
importance
• Gold was mined and traded
• mid-1400’s=Portuguese arrived on the coast looking
for gold and slaves
West Africa: Tradition and Change
(cont.)
• West African leaders ranged from powerful
emperors (who claimed demigod status) to
heads of small states (who ruled by
persuasion)
• Kinship groups formed the most important
unit holding people together
West Africa: Tradition and Change
(cont.)
• Men could marry more than one woman
• Allowed high-status men to establish kinship
networks with other important families through their
several wives
• High mortality rate in West Africa=led to many
marriages
• Frequent famines and tropical disease epidemics
• Shortage of people placed a high premium on the
production of children
West Africa: Tradition and Change
(cont.)
•
•
•
•
•
Children helped with food production
Most food was obtained by farming
Children, men, and women all farmed
Yams, rice, other grains
15th century=market economy had developed
– Farmers trading surplus crops for artisan-made goods
West Africa: Tradition and Change
(cont.)
• Religion and spirituality permeated African culture
and inspired artistic endeavors
• Sophisticated art and music (much of 20th century
jazz is based on)
• 1500’s=Islam was starting to spread beyond the kings
and upper class to the common people of the
grasslands
• Christianity (intro. by Portuguese in 1400’s and
1500’s) made limited headway until the 19th century
European Culture and Society
• Europe was at height of the Renaissance (a great
cultural revival) in the late 1400’s
• Trying to map the world and understand natural
science and astronomy
• Society was hierarchical (kings at the top and
peasants-75% of the people at the bottom)
• Population increases in the 16th and 17th centuries
made land in Europe scarce and valuable
European Culture and Society
(cont.)
• Upper classes enclosed more of the fields and made
them private property
• Displaced country people drifted to the small towns
(dirty, crowded, diseases)
• Nuclear families were replacing kinship networks
– Father ruled over wife and children as the king ruled over
his subjects
European Culture and Society
(cont.)
• New business enterprises and organizations (joint
stock companies) broke the bonds of social
reciprocity
• Emerging entrepreneurs favored “unimpeded
acquisition of wealth” and unregulated competition
• They “insisted that individuals owed one another
nothing but the money necessary to settle each
market transaction.”
Religious Upheavals
• Most Europeans in 1492 were Christians
– Roman Catholic Church
• Headed by a pope
• Administered by a hierarchy of clergy who did not
marry
• By 15th century, selling indulgences (blessings that
would shorten the repentant sinner’s time in purgatory)
for donations to the church
Religious Upheavals (cont.)
• Protestant Reformation
–
–
–
–
–
1517
Martin Luther
Denounced indulgences and other corrupt practices
Broke from the Catholic Church
Preached that one could not buy or earn salvation good
works (or donations to the church)
Religious Upheavals (cont.)
• God alone decided
who was saved and
who was damned
• Christians must have
faith in his love and
justice
Religious Upheavals (cont.)
• John Calvin
• French Protestant leader
• Emphasizing the doctrine
of predestination (God’s
foreknowledge of who was
saved and who was
damned)
Religious Upheavals (cont.)
• Counter-Reformation
– Modern Roman Catholic Church was born
– Aimed to clean out corruption and stimulate
religious zeal
– Attempting to suppress Protestantism
– European countries divided into rival Protestant
and Catholic camps
The Reformation in England,
1533-1625
• King Henry VIII
• Ruled 1509-1547
• Reformation began in
England under Henry VIII
• Asked the pope to annul
his marriage
• Pope refused
The Reformation in England, 15331625 (cont.)
• Henry VIII then pushed through Parliament
the laws of 1533-1534, which dissolved his
marriage
• Also, the laws declared the king head of the
Church of England (Anglican)
The Reformation in England,
1533-1625 (cont.)
• Religious strife continued
in England for more than
100 years
• Henry’s son and successor
(Edward VI) leaned toward
Protestantism
• 1547-1553
The Reformation in England,
1533-1625 (cont.)
• Mary I
• “Bloody Mary”
• tried to restore
Catholicism
• Often burned Protestants
at the stake
• 1553-1558
• Turned majority of English
against Catholicism
The Reformation in England,
1533-1625 (cont.)
•
•
•
•
Elizabeth I
1558-1603
1/2 sister of Mary I
Anti-Catholicism
The Reformation in England, 15331625 (cont.)
• The English differed on how Protestant the Church of
England should be
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–
–
–
Puritans (Calvinistic Puritans)
Wanted to remove all vestiges of Catholicism
Believed in predestination
Felt that only the saved should belong to the church
Each congregation to be self-governing and free from
interference from bishops and church hierarchy
The Reformation in England, 15331625 (cont.)
• “Nonseparating” Puritans
– Remained with the Church of England
– Hoping to reform the Church of England
• Separatists
– Withdrew
– A “pure” church had to be entirely free of Anglican
“pollution”
The Reformation in England, 15331625 (cont.)
• Puritanism with its message of righteousness
and self-discipline appealed to landowning
gentry, small farmers, university-educated
clergy, intellectuals, merchants, shopkeepers,
and artisans
The Reformation in England,
1533-1625 (cont.)
• Elizabeth managed to
satisfy most of English
Protestants (both Puritan
and Anglican)
• Her successor (James I) did
not
• James I (1603-1625) was
completely against
Puritans
Europe and the Atlantic World,
1400-1600
• Portugal led the way in Europe’s ocean expansion
(1400-1500)
– Advances in maritime technology
• Caravel
• Magnetic compass
• Prince Henry the Navigator
• Sent Portuguese sailors farther down the coast of
Africa
Europe and the Atlantic World,
1400-1600 (cont.)
•
•
•
•
•
Fought Muslims
Seek opportunities for profitable trade
Established a gold-processing factory at Arguin
Rounded Africa’s Cape of Good Hope
Developed valuable commercial links with India
Europe and the Atlantic World,
1400-1600 (cont.)
• These Portuguese voyages brought Europeans
face to face with black-skinned Africans and
an entrance into the already flourishing slave
trade
The “New Slavery” and Racism
• Slavery existed in West Africa before the arrival of
Europeans
– Not based on racial differences between masters and
slaves
– Slaves were often eventually absorbed into the owners’
families
• First Muslims from North Africa, then Europeans
turned African slavery into an “intercontinental
business”
The “New Slavery” and Racism
(cont.)
• European slavers bought war captives from
African slave-trading kings
• This encouraged those rulers to engaged in
warfare with their neighbors, using the guns
they had obtained from earlier slave sales
The “New Slavery” and Racism
(cont.)
• Nearly 12 million Africans were shipped across the
Atlantic under horrific conditions to labor in the
Western Hemisphere
• The new slavery was based on race
– Dehumanized black Africans in the eyes of white
Europeans
– Regarded slaves as property (not as persons)
To American and Beyond, 14921522
• Christopher Columbus insisted that Europeans
could reach Asia by sailing westward across
the Atlantic
• King and Queen of Spain were anxious to
break Portugal’s monopoly of trade around
Africa
– They financed Columbus’ voyages
To American and Beyond, 14921522 (cont.)
• 1492 trip=Columbus landed on the island of
Guanahani in the West Indies (he called it San
Salvador)
• On a subsequent voyage, he claimed and colonized
for Spain the island of Hispaniola
• Even after his last expedition (1498-1502), he did not
realize he had discovered a new world
To American and Beyond, 14921522 (cont.)
• John Cabot
• 1497
• Explored and claimed
the north Atlantic coast
for England
To American and Beyond, 14921522 (cont.)
• Later explorers eventually realized that a big
landmass (America) blocked the way to Asia
• They focused discovering a water route
through or around the Americas to reach Asia
To American and Beyond, 14921522 (cont.)
• Balboa
–Crossed the Isthmus of
Panama
–Reached the Pacific
–1513
• Magellan
–1519
–sailed around the tip of South
American and reached the
Philippines before being killed
To American and Beyond, 14921522 (cont.)
• Verrazano
–Explored the coast of North
America
–1524
• Cartier
–Sailed up the St. Lawrence
–Looking for supposed
Northwest passage to Asia
–1534
Spain’s Conquistadores, 1492-1536
• Early Spanish explorers soon became
conquerors
• Columbus
– Exported Indian slaves from Hispaniola
– Gave grants to Spaniards to extract labor from
native population
Spain’s Conquistadores, 14921536 (cont.)
• Hernan Cortes
–1519
–Landed in Mexico
–Subjugated the mighty
Aztec Empire
• Francisco Pizarro
–1532-1536
–Conquered the Incas
Spain’s Conquistadores, 1492-1536
(cont.)
• Spanish conquerors were awestruck by the
civilizations they encountered (size, govt., wealth,
etc.)
• Spanish conquerors fanned out over the Caribbean
and the Americans from Mexico to Chile
– Subduing and enslaving the native peoples and enriching
themselves and Spain
Spain’s Conquistadores, 1492-1536
(cont.)
• The Indian population was nearly decimated
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–
–
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Forced labor
Warfare
Starvation
Alien diseases (small pox & measles)
• When shortages of Indian slaves developed, the
Portuguese delivered African substitutes
• In 1519=Central Mexico’s population was between
13 and 25 million
• By 1600=it was 700,000
The Columbian Exchange
• “Columbian Exchange” or the “biological
encounter” of Europe, Africa, and America
had tremendous impact on the peoples,
animals, and plants of all 3 areas
The Columbian Exchange (cont.)
• Diseases
– Disease-causing microbes
– Europeans and Africans brought with them
– Wiped out whole tribes of Indians who lacked natural
immunity
– Made it easier for Europeans to conquer and colonize
• Animals
– Horses, cattle, sheep
The Columbian Exchange (cont.)
• Plants
– Wheat, coffee, sugar
• Food
– Rice and yams from Enslaved Africans
– Corn, potatoes, tobacco, turkeys
• Transplanted crops and animals enriched human
diets but also caused environmental change and
damage to the new habitants
The Columbian Exchange (cont.)
• Peoples mingled
– 300,000 Spanish colonists who arrived in the Americas in
the 16th century were 90% male
– Many took Indian wives and produced mestizo populations
of Mexico and Latin America
– European planters begot mulatto children with enslaved
African women
– Children of mixed Indian-African ancestry were also
common
The Columbian Exchange (cont.)
• The Americas produced fabulous wealth for Spain
and her colonists in the 16th century
– Gold and silver from Mexican mines
– sugar cane from West Indians plantations
– sheep and cattle from Mexican ranches
• Span’s kings became wealthy
• Failed to use the wealth wisely limited the long-term
benefit for their nation
Footholds in North America, 15121625
• Spain’s Northern Frontier
– 1500’s, looking for gold, sliver and slaves penetrated areas
that would become the United States
– Cabeza de Vaca and Estevanico=traveled from Florida to
Texas to New Mexico
– de Sato=Tampa Bay to Appalachians then to Texas
– First lasting European post was established at St. Augustine
Spain’s Northern Frontier (cont.)
• No gold was found
• Spread European diseases that wiped out most of
the surviving Mississippian communities, most
before they even laid eyes on the newcomers
• Coronado plundered pueblos and searched for riches
from the Grand Canyon to Kansas
• 1598=Juan de Onate proclaimed the royal colony of
New Mexico which barely survived Indian resistance
and uprisings
France: Colonizing Canada
• Attempted to create permanent colonies
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–
–
–
1541=St. Lawrence
1562=South Carolina
1564=Florida
All failed
• French carried on a lucrative fur trade with the
Indians from Newfoundland to Maine and along the
St. Lawrence
France: Colonizing Canada (cont.)
• Sensing the importance of this fur trade and
determined to beat their rivals, the English
and Dutch, to its profits, the French found
Quebec in 1608
• First permanent French settlement in Canada
France: Colonizing Canada (cont.)
• Samuel de Champlain
–Founded Quebec
–Allied it with the local
Huron, Algonquins, and
Montagnais
England and the Atlantic World,
1558-1603
• Late 1500’s, England took an interest in the
Western Hemisphere
• Queen Elizabeth encouraged English “sea
dogs” (like Francis Drake) to raid Spanish
treasure ships and ports in the Western
Hemisphere
• She split the riches with them
England and the Atlantic World,
1558-1603 (cont.)
• English searched for the Northwest Passage
• Scoured America for gold and colony sites
• 1st English settlement was in Newfoundland
(1583)=it did not last
• Sir Walter Raleigh
– Settlement on Roanoke Island (VA)
– 1584
England and the Atlantic World,
1558-1603 (cont.)
• The English colonists antagonized the initially
friendly Indians and failed to plant crops to
feed themselves
• Colonists requested more supplies be sent by
English govt.=pleas went unanswered because
of the Anglo-Spanish War
England and the Atlantic World,
1558-1603 (cont.)
• England won Anglo-Spanish War and defeated
Spanish Armada in 1588
– Established the English as a major power in the
Atlantic
• In 1590=relief ship landed in Roanoke only it
find no Englishmen
– Roanoke became the “lost colony”
Failure and Success in Virginia,
1603-1625
• Jamestown settlement
– May 1607
– VA
– 105 English landed
• Virginia Company of London
– Joint-stock company
– Organized and financed Jamestown
Failure and Success in Virginia,
1603-1625 (cont.)
• The only role English government played was
to grant a charter to the company giving it
right to land anywhere from Cape Fear to the
Hudson River
Failure and Success in Virginia,
1603-1625 (cont.)
• Jamestown settlers
– Most were “gentlemen”
– Refused to farm
– Looking for gold
• Failure to secure foodstuffs combined with the
companies failure to adequately supply them, led to
starvation and conflict with the Powhatans
Failure and Success in Virginia,
1603-1625 (cont.)
• During the 1st several years, majority of settlers died
• Survivors were on the verge of leaving several times
• The discipline and forced work imposed worked for a
while; but settlers started to rebel
• Captain John Smith helped to save the colony by
acquiring food from Powhatan
Failure and Success in Virginia,
1603-1625 (cont.)
• Settler John Rolfe’s development of a tobacco
palatable to Europeans gave the colony the
profitable export that ensured its financial
success
Failure and Success in Virginia,
1603-1625 (cont.)
• At first stockholders in England treated the settlers as
company employees
– Denied them any say in the colony’s government or
ownership of any of its land
• To get more people in VA and get more $$$$
– Started to award land to people who paid their own and
other people’s passage to VA
– Called “headrights” system
Failure and Success in Virginia,
1603-1625 (cont.)
• “headlights” system allowed planters who imported
many indentured servants to acquire large estates
• 1619=company also granted inhabitants the right to
elect delegates to a legislative assembly
– Beginning of representative govt. in North America
Failure and Success in Virginia,
1603-1625 (cont.)
• 1622=an Indian attack killed many of English
settlers
• 1624=charges or mismanagement of Virginia
Company of London led King James I to revoke
the charter
– VA became a royal colony
Failure and Success in Virginia,
1603-1625 (cont.)
• 1624=VA had about 500 colonists
– Most were indentured servants
– Did not live long
• Poor diet
• Diseases
• overwork
New England Begins, 1614-1625
•
•
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•
Plymouth Bay
1620
Mayflower landed
102 English
Founded Plymouth
http://www.history.com/m
edia.do?action=clip&id=tdi
h_dec18_broadband
New England Begins, 1614-1625
(cont.)
• Settlement was financed by some London
merchants who received a charter from the
Virginia Company of London to establish a
colony
• English Separatists who had been living in
Holland to escape Anglican persecution
New England Begins, 1614-1625
(cont.)
• The Separatists and other non-Puritan
Englishmen who joined the expedition
promised to send lumber, furs, and fish back
to Weston for 7 years in return for his
investment
New England Begins, 1614-1625
(cont.)
• Winter storms blew the Mayflower off course
• The colonists landed outside the boundaries
of VA and the jurisdiction of its govt.
New England Begins, 1614-1625
(cont.)
• Mayflower Compact
– Adult males of the Mayflower signed it
– Created their own civil govt. and pledged to abide by its
laws
– http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/revolution/ma
yflower.htm
• Half the Pilgrims died during the 1st winter in
Plymouth
New England Begins, 1614-1625
(cont.)
• Those still alive in spring of
1621 were greatly helped
by 2 friendly Indians
(Squanto and Samoset)
–Taught them how to plant
corn
–Arranged treaties with
neighboring tribes
New England Begins, 1614-1625
(cont.)
• Plymouth never grew wealthy or large
• Vanguard of a mighty Puritan migration to
New England in 1630’s
• Proved that a self-governing farm community
could survive in New England
A “New Netherland” on the
Hudson, 1609-1625
• 1614
– Dutch traders
– Fort Nassau (near present-day Albany)
• 1626
– local Munsee Indians allowed the Dutch to settle on an
island at the mouth of the Hudson
– Dutch named it Manhattan
– Started settlement of New Amsterdam
A “New Netherland” on the
Hudson, 1609-1625 (cont.)
• Most of the settlers lived by fur trade,
competing with the French
• They dealt primarily with the Iroquois
(enemies of the French-backed Hurons)
Conclusion
• 1500’s an Atlantic world developed
• Connected Europe, Africa, and the Americas
• Through exploration, trade, and conquest, emerging
Western European nation-states exploited for their
benefit the peoples and resources of West Africa and
the Americans
Conclusion (cont.)
• By 1600=Spanish had planted their empire
firmly in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central
and South America
• Indian peoples north of Mexico still held back
European conquerors and colonizers
Conclusion (cont.)
• Between 1600 and 1625
– the Spanish made a few settlements to the north
of Mexico to protect the borders of New Spain
– French and Dutch established fur-trading colonies
– English had begun farming on formerly Indian land
in VA and Plymouth