The World Economy
New Technology: A Key to
Power
Sailing ships, compass, mapmaking
Development of the Mercator map
Guns and cannons- led to European military
superiority
Portugal and Spain Lead the
Pack
Portugal’s rulers drawn by- excitement of
discovery, harm to Muslim world, thirst for wealth
Prince Henry, the Navigator- builds school in
Portugal to teach navigation
Bartholomu Dias- around the Cape of Good Hope
(southern tip of Africa)- 1488
1498- da Gama reached India
Spain, meanwhile, began claiming the Americas
(1492- Columbus’s voyage)
Treaty of Tordesillas- divides land Spain and
Portugal can rightfully claim
Magellan- 1519- circumnavigated the world
Northern European
Expeditions
French explorers in Canada- 1534
British in North America- Jamestown 1607 and
further settlement of the east coast
Dutch dominated in southeast Asia
Dutch, British, French- all establish trading
companies, ie. Dutch East India Company
The companies had rights to raise armies, coin
money, enact treaties
The Columbian Exchange of
Food and Disease
Diseases like smallpox and measles wiped
out about 50% of the Native American
population
Corn and potatoes help increase world
population
European and Asian animals like the horse
and cattle introduced to New World
The West’s Commercial
Outreach
Although Muslim trading still very active
and commerce in the Middle East strong,
Europeans began dominating a great deal of
oceanic shipping and getting into trade
between other societies
Increase in European profits
Battle of Lepanto 1571- Spanish defeat
Ottomans and end Muslim threat
Imbalances in World Trade
Competition within Europe (Spain,
England, France, Netherlands)
Expanded manufacturing
Core nations in the new world system
supplemented their growing economic
prowess by self-serving political policies,
i.e. mercantilism
A System of International
Inequality
Most area relationships established in late
17th century still exist today
Coercive labor systems spread- Dutch East
Indies, Americas, 18th century India
How Much in the World
Economy?
Still, many areas of the world not part of
this global system
Asia left out by choice (China, Korea,
Japan, India, Persia, Ottomans)
Africa also untouched largely
The Expansionist Trend
European dominance spread to new areas
during 17th and 18th centuries
British and French merchants strengthen
positions in India
Eastern Europe exporting grain
European Colonial Holdings
Colonial Expansion The
Americas: Loosely Controlled
Colonies
European advantage- guns, horses, iron
weapons
Vasco de Balboa- first colony for the
Spanish in present-day Panama
Francisco Pizarro- conquered the Inca
France, Britain, Holland also developed
colonies in N. America
British and French North
America: Backwater Colonies
Dutch in New York area (1664 overtaken by English) but
Dutch more attached to Asian colonial holdings
Louis XIV in Canada- New France. Strong organization of
Catholic church helped
Seven Years’ War (1756-1763)- France lost
North American products- timber, fur, sugar, tobacco, and
cotton
European settlers arrived driven by religious dissent,
ambition, and other motives
Spread of western values facilitated by weak native pop.
By 1700 importation of African slaves part of American
experience
North America and Western
Civilization
Most settlers replicated patterns in western
Europe, i.e. family unit (but in the Americas
children were more important)
Western political ideas led them to revolt
later on
Africa and Asia: Coastal
Trading Stations
Europeans only had small holdings in Africa for
trade as they were deterred by climate, disease,
and non-navigable rivers
Portugal sent expeditions into Angola in search of
slaves- major disruption
Cape Colony by Dutch on Cape of Good Hope
(1652)
British and French struggle for control of India
(late 17th century on) and French eventually lose
British East India company advantages: station at
Calcutta, more influence on British government
European administration limited
Impact on Western Europe
Colonial wars and rivalries added to
existing hostility between the nation-states
Sugar trade expansion
Wealth and capital from new profits
increased Europe’s commercial character