The Age of
Exploration
The Value of Spices
• Pepper and other spices
(like cinnamon, cloves, &
nutmeg) were extremely
expensive in Europe
• Spices were used for
flavoring food, but also as
a preservative (to slow
the rotting process)
• Spices came mostly from
the “Spice Islands”
(modern-day Indonesia)
The Quest for Cheaper Spices
• The spice trade was
controlled by the Muslims
(remember, they were
between Europe and
Indonesia), so Europeans
needed to find a way to “cut
out the middleman” and
bypass Muslim traders
• Europeans (especially Spain
and Portugal) began to
explore Africa’s Atlantic
coastline to see if they
could go around Africa to
reach Indonesia
Spice Trade Routes
Why Now and Not Sooner?
• Sea exploration had
became possible thanks
to new inventions:
– Improved map-making
methods
– The astrolabe, an
instrument (invented by
a Muslim) for
determining latitude
– Better ship designs
– Better weapons for
defense (naval cannons)
Portuguese Exploration
• Portugal went east
– 1415-1460: Prince Henry the
Navigator sent ships to
explore along African coast
– 1488: Portuguese reached
Cape of Good Hope at the
southern tip of Africa
– 1497: Vasco de Gama sailed
around the Cape of Good
Hope and reached India; trip
to India took 10 months but
returned a profit of 3000%
– Beginning in 1502,
Portuguese captured several
port cities in Asia to use as
trading outposts
What Did They Find in Asia?
• A heavy trade network
already existed between
China, Southeast Asia,
India, and East Africa
• Cultures that were heavily
dominated by Chinese
and Indian influences
• Buddhism, Hinduism, and
Islam were already
strongly rooted in the
area, little interest in
Christianity
European Successes in Asia
•
•
•
The Portuguese
– 1511: Portugal captured the Strait of
Malacca, giving them control of the
spice trade
– Focused on controlling ports so that
ships could sail from Europe to
Indonesia in short legs; they did not
move inland to create colonies
The Dutch
– Challenged the Portuguese spice
monopoly; captured Strait of Malacca in
1641
– The Dutch East India Company was
formed by a group of wealthy investors
to control the spice trade
The Spanish
– 1521: Spain claimed the Philippines and
quickly colonized and converted the
natives to Catholicism
European Failures in Asia
•
•
•
India: Mughal Dynasty was too strong
for Europeans to conquer until the
1750s
China
– China was so advanced that
Europeans had little to offer in
trade that they wanted; Chinese
only wanted gold or silver
– Strictly limited European access to
China until well into the 1800s
Japan
– At first, welcomed Europeans and
traded heavily with them
– The shoguns became suspicious of
Europeans’ intentions, however,
and banned them from Japan in
1638
Spanish Exploration
• Spain went west
• In 1492, Christopher
Columbus convinced Spain
to back his effort to reach
Asia by sailing west across
the Atlantic
• He discovered the Americas
and established Spain’s
claim to two “new”
continents; Portugal would
claim part of South America
(modern day Brazil) under
the Treaty of Tordesillas in
1500
Christopher Columbus
• In Oct. 1492, Columbus landed
in West Indies
• Enslaved and tortured the
natives and made them mine
for gold
• Named governor by the Spanish
king, Columbus would later be
removed from office due to
corruption and abuse of power
charges
• Within 50 years of his arrival,
90% of the native Carib
population had died from
exposure to European diseases
like smallpox, measles, and
influenza
Hernán Cortés
• Arrived in Mexico in
1519 to open
diplomatic relations
with the Aztec Empire
• By 1521, had destroyed
Aztec capital of
Tenochtitlan, killed the
Aztec emperor
Montezuma, and
broken Aztec power
Francisco Pizarro
• Sent to explore Peru in
1532
• Captured the Incan
emperor Atahualpa and
held him for ransom;
the Inca paid the
ransom but Pizarro
killed Atahualpa anyway
• War that followed
resulted in the
destruction of the Incan
Empire
Spanish Advantages Over Natives
• So how did a few hundred
Spaniards defeat millions of
natives?
– superior military technology
• horses
• armor
• Guns & cannons
– rivalries between native
groups kept them from
cooperating
– disease decimated the native
population and destroyed
their religious faith systems
The Spanish Empire
• Spain developed an
American empire
stretching from Northern
California to South
America
• Managing the Empire
– Split empire into provinces,
each governed by a viceroy
– Council of the Indies set up
in Spain to oversee the
viceroys
Spain Gets RICH!
• Spain limited colonists
to trading only with
Spanish merchants
• Colonists traded raw
materials for Spanish
manufactured goods
• Spanish wealth came
from exploiting
American gold, silver, &
sugar resources using
slave labor
Slavery Under Spanish
• Encomienda system: viceroys
were empowered by the king
of Spain to enslave natives in
order to “save their souls”
through Christianity
• In 1542, Spain outlawed
enslavement of natives, but it
was too late – many had
already died and the abuses
continued anyway
• Natives were forced into a
form of serfdom after 1542
• By the 1530s, Spanish had
begun importing African slaves
to replace native ones
The Catholic Church in America
• The Catholic Church’s
Jesuit priests helped
control the native
population
– Forcibly converted
natives to Christianity
– Worked to destroy
native cultures and
religious practices and
replace it with Spanish
Beyond the Americas
•
•
The Americas, however, still blocked
Europeans from reaching Asia by
sailing west
How to get around the Americas?
– Go North?
• English, Dutch and French
looked for a “Northwest
Passage” around Canada,
but never found one
– Go South?
• In 1520, Spaniard Ferdinand
Magellan sailed around the
southern tip of South
America and into the Pacific
Ferdinand Magellan
• Magellan’s fleet would
go on to be the first to
circumnavigate (or sail
completely around) the
globe (although it
would take 3 years to
do it, Magellan was
killed along the way,
and only 18 sailors and
1 ship would complete
the voyage)
Magellan’s Route