By Susan M. Pojer, Horace Greeley HS & Laurie Johnson
A Map of the Known World,
pre- 1492
Motives for European Exploration
1. Crusades  by-pass intermediaries
to get to Asia.
2. Renaissance  curiosity about other
lands and peoples.
3. Reformation  refugees &
missionaries.
4. Monarchs seeking new sources of
revenue.
5. Technological advances.
6. Fame and fortune.
New Maritime Technologies
Better Maps
[Portulan]
Hartman Astrolabe
(1532)
Mariner’s Compass
Sextant
New Weapons Technology
Prince Henry, the Navigator
School for Navigation, 1419
Museum of Navigation
in Lisbon
Portuguese Maritime Empire
1. Exploring the west coast of
Africa.
2. Bartolomeo Dias, 1487.
3. Vasco da Gama, 1498.
Calicut.
4. Admiral Alfonso de
Albuquerque (Goa, 1510;
Malacca, 1511).
Christofo Colon [1451-1506]
Columbus’ Four Voyages
Other Voyages of Exploration
Ferdinand Magellan & the First
Circumnavigation of the World:
Early 16c
Atlantic Explorations
Looking for “El Dorado”
The First Spanish Conquests:
The Aztecs
vs.
Fernando Cortez
Montezuma II
The Death of Montezuma II
Mexico Surrenders to Cortez
The First Spanish Conquests:
The Incas
vs.
Francisco Pizarro
Atahualpa
Slaves Working in a
Brazilian Sugar Mill
The “Columbian Exchange”

Squash

Avocado

Peppers

Sweet Potatoes

Turkey

Pumpkin

Tobacco

Quinine

Cocoa

Pineapple

Cassava

POTATO

Peanut

TOMATO

Vanilla

MAIZE

Syphilis

Trinkets

Liquor

GUNS

Olive

COFFEE BEAN

Banana

Rice

Onion

Turnip

Honeybee

Barley

Grape

Peach

SUGAR CANE

Oats

Citrus Fruits

Pear

Wheat

HORSE

Cattle

Sheep

Pigs

Smallpox

Flu

Typhus

Measles

Malaria

Diptheria

Whooping Cough
Cycle of Conquest & Colonization
Explorers
Official
European
Colony!
Treasures
from the Americas!
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
The Slave Trade
1. Existed in Africa before the coming
of the Europeans.
2. Portuguese replaced European slaves
with Africans.
Sugar cane & sugar plantations.
First boatload of African slaves
brought by the Spanish in 1518.
275,000 enslaved Africans exported
to other countries.
3. Between 16c & 19c, about 10 million
Africans shipped to the Americas.
Slave Ship
“Middle Passage”
“Coffin” Position Below Deck
African Captives
Thrown Overboard
Sharks followed the slave ships!
European Empires in the Americas
Administration of the Spanish Empire in the
New World
1. Encomienda
(forced
labor)—royal
grants of
authority
over the natives.
2. Estancias—land
grants
The Influence of the Colonial Catholic Church
Guadalajara
Cathedral
Spanish Mission
Our Lady of
Guadalupe
The Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494 &
The Pope’s Line of Demarcation
Father Bartolome de Las Casas
New Laws  1542
New Colonial Rivals
1. Portugal lacked the numbers
and wealth to dominate trade in
the Indian Ocean.
2. Spain in Asia  consolidated its
holdings in the Philippines.
3. First English expedition to the
Indies in 1591.
New Colonial Rivals
Impact of European Expansion
1. Native populations ravaged by
disease.
2. Influx of gold, and especially
silver, into Europe created an
inflationary economic climate.
[“Price Revolution”]
3. New products introduced across
the continents [“Columbian
Exchange”].
4. Deepened colonial rivalries.
5. New Patterns of World Trade
The Price Revolution
Unprecedented inflation during 16th
century
 Caused by

◦ 1. Population growth (Europe’s population
doubled between 1460 & 1620)
◦ 2. Flow of silver into Europe from New
World
The Effects of the Price Revolution in England
As food prices increased, profit incentive
drove farmers to produce more food
 Medieval farming vs. new incentives
created by the price revolution
 How landowners tried to transform their
holdings into commercial agriculture:

◦ 1. enclosure
◦ 2. changed conditions of tenure from
copyhold to leasehold
The Effects of the Price Revolution in the
Netherlands

Developed a new kind of farming—convertible
husbandry
◦ Replaced the old three-field system
◦ Alternated the planting of soil-depleting
cereals with the planting of soil-restoring
legumes and grazing.
 2 years—cereals, 3rd year—peas or beans, next 4 or
5 years—pasture for grazing animals whose manure
would restore the soil
 Greatly increased productivity
The Expansion of Trade & Industry

Rising demand stimulated trade and
industry. Demand was caused by
◦ Population growth
◦ Growing income of landlords & merchants led
to a demand for meat, cheese, fruit, wine,
vegetables, sugar, & spices
◦ Growth of the state led to increased demand
for supplies
The Effects of the Price Revolution on Trade &
Manufacturing
Specialization (Eng-wool, Fr & Neth-linen)
 Creation of regional or international markets gave
rise to the creation of merchant-capitalists

◦ People whose operations extended across local & national
boundaries & whose mobility allowed them to buy or
produce where costs were lowest and sell where prices
were highest
◦ Example: the cottage industry or ”putting-out” system
◦ Significant step in evolution of capitalism because it bypassed
the medieval guild system
Innovations in Business
 More
sophisticated banking
operations
 Double-entry bookkeeping
 Development of maritime
insurance
 Development of joint-stock
companies
Patterns of Commercial Development


England and Netherlands led commercial expansion—
Why?
Netherlands
◦ Dutch feudal culture was weak and commercial values were
strong
◦ Small land area
◦ Far larger percentage of urban population than elsewhere
◦ Devised a new boat (flyboat) which allowed them to carry bulky
grain shipments for lowest cost
◦ Dutch displaced the Portuguese in the spice trade with East
Indies

England
◦ The landed gentry supported commercial
enterprises and vice versa
◦ 17th century the British established a colonial
empire
◦ Gov’t economic policies reflected the interest of
big business
 Navigation Act allowed all English shippers to carry goods
anywhere instead of restricting trade with certain areas
to specific traders.
 Also gained the carrying trade from the Dutch

France and Spain—neither took advantage of the
opportunities presented by the price revolution like
England and the Netherlands
◦ Why?
 Aristocratic structure of French society—French nobles
looked down on commerce
 Guilds restricted competition and production & in France
there were fewer opportunities for merchant-capitalists
to operate outside the guilds
 Spanish values regarded business as a “form of social
heresy.” They were contemptuous of commerce &
industry.
 Spain wasted money on its empire and Catholicism rather
than on investing in economic expansion.