Europeans in Asia:
1450-1750
Mr. Roseman
Tasks for you to complete:
1. Read through the PowerPoint. Generally, it follows the text for the first half of
Chapter 22. If you need further clarification, check out the reading on pages 482491 as you go through the PowerPoint.
2. On the next slide, is a link to a “Crash Course” video on the Indian Ocean Trade
network during the POST-CLASSICAL ERA. Please watch this video review before
moving on to the rest of the PowerPoint.
3. On the last 2 slides of this PowerPoint are 4 questions dealing with “Christian
Outreach in the Indian Ocean World” and then 4 more questions on “Early Impacts
of Europeans on the Indian Ocean World by 1700”. Use the given textbook pages
listed on those two slides to answer these questions completely on a separate sheet
of notebook paper. These will be due on Monday.
Crash Course World History:
• Please watch this video review of the Indian
Ocean Trade Network in the Post-Classical Era!
• Hang on! He goes quickly!
• Click here for the video link.
• If the link does not open, go to YouTube and search for “Crash Course, Int’l
Trade, Snorkeling Camels, and the Indian Ocean Trade”
Q: What was the nature of Indian Ocean trade c1500?
(What was the Indian Ocean trade network like at the
time Western Europeans first arrived?)
= chokepoint for trade
Silk
Carpets
Cotton textiles
Textiles
Gems
Horses
Salts
Porcelain
Spices
Silver
Spices
Chinese
zone
Slaves
Gold
Arab
zone
Ivory
Indian
zone
Q: What was the nature of Indian Ocean trade at the
time W.Europeans first arrived there?
• Vast trade network
– 3 zones: Arab, Indian, Chinese
– Unique goods exported
•
•
•
•
•
•
coastal routes
“choke points”
Muslims most common
Muslims & Asian powers divided
no central control
peaceful trade
• Europeans begin involvement
– Portuguese 1st
– Vasco da Gama to Calicut, India:
1498
Arab dhow on the
Indian Ocean
Europeans access the Indian Ocean Trade Network
India has:
-Fair trade
Portugal has:
-Little wealth in
comparison
-mercantilist
economic policy
-Cotton textiles
-Gems
-Salts
-Spices
“Do you want our
iron pots?!”
Europeans ask themselves:
“How can we gain consistent
access to Asian goods in a way
that benefits us?”
•We’ll use Force!
Indian Ocean Trade Network:
Europeans try to consolidate their power
For the Portuguese:
• mercantilist policy dominates
• seek spice trade monopoly
– Try to control entire Indian O. trade
network
• royal control of Portuguese trade
• superior fire-power
•
•
•
•
– defeat Asian navies (ex.
Ottomans)
Christian mission
– esp. Catholics (Jesuits)
seize choke points
– Goa (India), Malacca (Malaysia)
forts & warehouses (factories)
tribute system
Portugal lost its Early Advantage…
• Portuguese weaknesses
exploited by Dutch & English
– What were these weaknesses?
• Portuguese were too few in # to control trade
• Impossible to control all Asian merchants in
Indian O.
• Dutch – Dutch East Indies Co.
– focus on East Indies (Spice Islands,
Indonesia)
• captured Malacca
• established. Batavia on Java
– more realistic monopoly goals
– Integrate into pre-existing trade
network (transport goods for Asians +
ship goods to Europe) $$$
• English – British East India Co.
– focus on India
– India later becomes “jewel” in the
crown of the British Empire
Key Commodities for Export to Europe
Ceylon
(Sri Lanka)
Java (Indonesia)
Batavia in the 17th Century
-new capital of the Dutch East Indies
(modern-day Jakarta, Indonesia)
European strength was limited in
the Indian Ocean Trade Network
• Control sea & coastline and…
• only Some degree of dominance over
locals…
– Dutch on Java (Treaty of Gijanti, 1757)
– Spanish in Northern Philippines
– tribute systems w/limited authority
• ..but Europeans not far inland
elsewhere
– Why?
• Europeans became subjects of most
foreign Asian powers
– ex. Ming China & Japan
Christian outreach in the
Indian Ocean World
Use the reading on pages 490-491 to help
you answer these questions.
1. Which Christian denomination was
strongest in Asian missionary activity?
Francis Xavier
2. Why was it difficult to win converts to
Christianity in areas such as India,
Indonesia, & areas of the Philippines?
3. What strategies were practiced to win
converts?
4. How successful were these missionaries?
Matteo Ricci
Early Impacts of Europeans in the Indian
Ocean World by 1700
Use the reading on page 502 to help
you answer these questions.
5. To what degree did Europeans impact South & Southeast
Asia?
6. What became this area’s major commercial centers after
European arrival to the Indian Ocean?
7. Which had greater impact: Columbian Exchange or
changes that came with European involvement in the
Indian Ocean trade network?
8. In general, how impressed were Asians by the Europeans?