Faith, Fortune, and Fame
European Expansion, 1450-1700
Faith, Fortune, and Fame
The Big Picture
Spanish and Portuguese Exploration
Tudor Dynasty in England
Stuart Dynasty in England
English, French, and Dutch Exploration
African Slave Trade
1500
1600
Golden Age of Piracy
1700
2
The World Imagined
The Lure of the “East”
Vasco da Gama: In 1498, four Portuguese ships led by
the explorer Vasco da Gama set sail from Europe to
round the Southern tip of Africa and head toward India.
The harsh weather of the southern Atlantic—cold rain
and violent storms—brutalized the crew, who celebrated
when the ships finally turned northeast into the Indian
Ocean. They stopped on the East African coast to
resupply their water and food, and ate some strange
fruits that nearly poisoned them. Yet the managed to at
last arrive in the India near the city of Calicut on May
20, 1498. Da Gama returned to Portugal with a cargo
worth sixty times the cost of the expedition. Da Gama
had changed the face of East/West trade in one fell
swoop.
3
The World Imagined
• The Lure of the “East”
– Alternate Routes: Europeans started to look for alternate trade routes
that avoided the war-torn areas. They were inspired by old accounts of
eastern journeys, like those of Marco Polo (1254-1324), who had
written vivid accounts of China. The geography of these old works
were wildly incorrect (for example, Marco Polo believed that Japan
was 1,500 miles east of China). These accounts also exaggerated the
botanical and biological features of these lands, which helped to fire
European imaginations about the East.
4
The World Imagined
• The Lure of the “East”
– Eastern Trade: Europeans had long coveted good from the “East,”
luxury items from the far off lands of China and India. They viewed
any Far Eastern land—including Japan—as “China,” while any land in
South and Southeast Asia was considered “India.”
– Luxury: Eastern goods were equated with luxury: silks, fine carpets,
pottery, precious jewelry, and even furniture (the word “sofa,” for
example, comes from the Arabic word for “bench,” which is “suffah”).
– Spices: But Europeans perhaps craved Eastern spices even more than
other luxury items. European food was relatively bland, and in
desperate need of the intense spices of the East: cloves, cinnamon,
coriander, and pepper were all in great demand. These had come
overland through Muslim and Byzantine territories, but in the 1400s,
warfare made overland travel difficult, greatly increasing the cost.
5
The World Imagined
Imagined Peoples
Ever since the classical period,
people had circulated accounts of
strange races of people who lived
outside of the Mediterranean region.
Some had dog-heads, some had no
head at all but had their faces on
their torsos, cyclopses with one eye,
and “sciopods” with one foot. The
works containing these accounts
derived from classical sources like
Pliny the Elder (23 - 79 C.E.). They
had been copied and embellished
over and over again across centuries.
6
The World Imagined
Ptolemy’s Map
– Ptolemy’s Geography: During the 1400s, Europeans acquired the
Geography of Ptolemy (ca. 100 – ca. 178). This geographical guide was
translated from the Greek and widely reprinted by use of the recently
invented printing press.
– Ptolemy’s Worldview: This ancient philosopher thought the world was
made up of three continents—Europe, Africa, and Asia—and two oceans—
the Indian and Western. The map is surrounded by figures of the winds,
which were so important to sailing. He mad two big mistakes: he thought
land covered three-fourths of the Earth’s surface, greatly underestimating
the size of the oceans; and he thought the earth was one-sixth the size it
was. It was thus not surprising that many explorers thought their journeys
would be shorter than they were. Not surprisingly, Europe and the
Mediterranean were at the center of his map (“Eurocentric”).
7
The World Imagined Ptolemy’s Map (a 1467 copy)
8
The World Discovered
Fame, Fortune, and Faith: The Drive to Explore
– The Context: Explorers wished to capitalize on Europe’s desire for
Eastern goods and bring back wealth for themselves and their
sovereigns. Rulers in the 1500s were looking for ways to pay for their
expensive wars, and the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 increased
the price of spices since the Turks imposed heavy taxes on them.
– The Drive to Explore: Potential wealth motivated explorers, some had
other incentives. Converting new people to Christianity played a role;
Christianity in the 1400s and 1500s felt besieged with the Muslim
conquests. The Reformation also played a factor, with Catholics
looking for new places to convert, and Protestants looking for places
where they could practice their faith unmolested.
9
The World Discovered
New Technologies and Travel
– Navigation Instruments: Europeans need strong navigational tools for their
new maritime endeavors, especially when sailing out of sight of land. At night
a quadrant could be used by aligning it with the North Star, providing the
ship’s latitude. During the day, sailors could use astrolabes to measure the
height of the sun, or use it to determine the height of a known star at night. By
the 1500s, mapmakers (also called cartographers) could graphically document
their travels with some accuracy (earlier explorers like the Vikings lacked this
skill).
– Improved Ships: Portuguese caravels of the sixteenth century were a big
improvement over the old Mediterranean galleys. The innovation that made the
biggest difference for long-distance journeys was the triangular lateen sail, that
could be adjusted to capture changing winds. The old square sails of the galleys
could only capture wind coming from directly behind the ship. Without banks
of oars, ships could be made more solid to withstand rough Atlantic seas, and
could also house cannon below deck.
10
The World Discovered
New Technologies and Travel
Dutch engraving
Caravel of three
caravels from the
1500s
11
The World Discovered
New Technologies and Travel
Quadrant
Mariner’s Astrolabe
12
The World Discovered
The Portuguese Race for the East 1450-1600
– Avoiding the Turks: In 1498, Vasco da Gama’s route around Africa to
trade directly with India was an attempt to “cut out the middleman,” who
happened to be the Ottoman Turks, who had come to dominate the Eastern
Mediterranean and charge tariffs on goods passing through their territory.
– Portugal’s Early Explorations: Beginning in 1418, Prince Henry the
Navigator sponsored annual voyages to explore the West African coast.
Bartholomeu Dias continued Henry’s work by rounding the tip of Africa in
1488, but had to turn back due to a mutinous crew.
– Vasco da Gama (ca. 1460 – 1524): He set off with four ships to complete
what Dias had failed to so. He succeeded and returned with his ships filled
with spices worth 60 times the cost of the voyage. On his second voyage,
he brought kegs of gunpowder, which the Indians valued far more than the
trifles he had brought before.
13
The World Discovered
The Portuguese Race for the East 1450-1600
– Trading Outposts: The Portuguese scored spectacular successes
in opening up trade with the East. They discovered that India
was not the only source of spices, with the Moluccas islands
(known as the “Spice Islands”) being a source of cloves and
other fragrant plants. In these and other locations, the Portuguese
set up trading posts across the East, in which Europeans lived
peacefully in small settlements among the native population.
Portugal had undermined Muslim domination of eastern trade
trifles he had brought before.
14
The World Discovered
Spain’s Westward Discoveries, 1492-1522
– Columbus: A sailor and shipbuilder from Genoa, Italy, believe that
Ptolemy’s map was accurate—that China could be reached by the
untried route across the Western Ocean, just over the horizon. He
visited Portugal in 1476 to learn about that country’s maritime
practices. His imagination was filled with ideas from the account of
Marco Polo’s journey and the Geography of Ptolemy.
– Proposed Journey: He proposed a western journey to the Portuguese
king, but was rejected as a vague dreamer. He then took his idea to
Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. The queen was impressed, and made
him an admiral in 1492 and funded his expedition. Spain had fallen
behind its neighbor in exploration, so Columbus may have offered a
way to catch up.
15
The World Discovered
Spain’s Westward Discoveries, 1492-1522
– Columbus’s Discoveries: Columbus embarked on a journey
with three ships—the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María—and
landed on a small Caribbean island in October (one of the
Bahamas). Upon landing, he claimed the land for Spain and put a
royal standard in the ground, noting that the natives did not seem
to mind (ignoring the language barrier). Columbus made four
voyages between Spain and the New World between 1492 and
1502, during which he created settlements on several Caribbean
islands and visited the coasts of South America and Central
America.
16
The World Discovered
Spain’s Westward Discoveries, 1492-1522
– Columbus’s Mismanagement: On the third voyage, he brought Spanish
women to insure a permanent presence. But Columbus proved to be a poor
manager of the lands he discovered. A report of a revolt in the colony
brought a judge from Spain, who brought Columbus back in chains. He
was released and allowed to make a fourth voyage, but he never received
the wealth he dreamt of.
– Misconception: Columbus never thought he had discovered an entirely
new part of the world. To his death, he clung to the idea that he had
discovered Asian islands, reflected in the misnomer that he gave the
natives: “Indians.”
17
The World Discovered
Spain’s Westward Discoveries, 1492-1522
– Treaty of Tordesillas: Spanish and Portuguese explorers came
into conflict in their explorations, so the monarchs of the two
countries asked the pope to divide the world into two spheres. In
1494, the pope decided that the dividing line would be 370
leagues (about 1,200 miles) west of the Cape Verde islands off
the coast of West Africa. The Portuguese received the right to
everything east of the land (including a part of South America
now known as Brazil), while the Spanish everything west of it
(little did they know it was a much better deal!). Of course
indigenous people were not consulted.
18
The World Discovered
Spain’s Westward Discoveries, 1492-1522
– Amerigo Vespucci: This accomplished author and diplomat who
worked for Florence’s Medici family set off on a voyage that
took him to South America. He took careful navigational notes
and wrote vivid letters back to his patrons. His writings were
widely published and immensely popular among the European
elite. Vespucci and other European scholars realized that this was
a new land mass, and a famous map published in 1507 by the
German cartographer Marin Waldseemüller that labeled the new
continent “America” in honor of Vespucci’s popular travel
writings.
19
The World Discovered
Spain’s Westward Discoveries, 1492-1522
– Circumnavigating the Globe: After Vespucci, people began to set out to
purposely explore the new continent. One was the Spaniard, Vasco Núñez
de Balboa (1475-1517), who trekked across the Isthmus of Panama to
become the first European to see Pacific in quite some time. Balboa’s
journey inspired Ferdinand Magellan (ca. 1480-1521), who set sail
westward for Spain in 1519 to sail around the world, and discovered the
Straits of Magellan at the southern tip of South America. He crossed into
the Pacific Ocean (which he named), and his crew braved the vast expanse
of that ocean. In 1521, Magellan was killed while interfering with a local
war in the Philippine islands. His navigator nonetheless managed to bring
the survivor back to Spain by way of the Indian Ocean, and the remaining
ship was packed with enough spices to pay for the journey.
20
Exploration and Conquest: Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries
21
The World Discovered
The Northern Europeans Join the Race, 1600-1650
– Northern Europeans: Northern European countries generally
ignored the Treaty of Tordesillas, starting their own explorations.
– Settlements in Canada: Starting in 1534, Frenchman Jacques
Cartier led three voyages down the St. Lawrence River,
exploring what is now Canada. One early attempt to settle near
what is now Quebec failed, but in 1600, Samuel de Champlain
(ca. 1567-1635) succeeded in create the permanent settlement at
Quebec City, signing treaties with local natives.
22
The World Discovered
The Northern Europeans Join the Race, 1600-1650
– Dutch Colonies: The Dutch set up trading posts in the Spice Islands off the
coast of Southeast Asia. They set up a way station at the tip of South Africa
to resupply ships going to the Spice Islands and India. They also set up a
colony across the Atlantic on the tip of Manhattan Island in the 1620s, and
settled the Hudson Valley.
– English Colonies: The English created a permanent settlement at
Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, and then did so in New England in the 1620s
and 1630s, eventually seizing “New Netherlands” from the Dutch,
renaming it “New York” in the late 1600s. By 1700, about 250,000 English
colonists lived along the Atlantic coast of North America.
23
European Expansion, ca. 1700
24
Confrontation of Cultures
The Original Americans South of the Rio Grande
– Agriculture: Around 5,500 B.C.E., tribes of people in central Mexico
developed agriculture, which allowed large settled populations to
become established. Differing topographies and growing seasons
slowed the expansion of agriculture, taking about 3,500 years for maize
(corn) to reach the southern farmlands of what is now the United States.
– Growth of Empires: Agriculture allowed big empires to grow in
Central and South America, including the Maya, Aztec, Inca, and
others. These mostly relied on the cultivation of maize, a derivative of a
grass plant that was easy to grow and high nutritious. The Incas
supplemented maize with a crop native to the Andes, the potato, which
grew well in the harsh, high altitude areas much better than maize.
25
Confrontation of Cultures
The Original Americans South of the Rio Grande
– Empire Building: The Maya, Inca, and Aztecs built magnificent cities,
roads, and temples, most in the form of large step pyramids. These are even
more remarkable when we know that these were created without wheels, or
for the most part without power from domesticated animals (The Incas had
domesticated the llama, but it was not an effective beast of burden since
wheeled carts or wagons did not exist).
– Aztec Empire: The center of the Aztec empire was the city of
Tenochtitlan, built on an island in the middle of a lake (now filled in, a
great plain in the heart if Mexico City). The Aztec called themselves
Meshica, and practiced a form of human sacrifice to Aztec gods who
threatened destruction if they were not appeased with human blood. These
sacrifices greatly angered the Aztec’s subject peoples, who were the
victims. The Spaniards would use this animosity in their effort to
overthrow the Aztecs.
26
Indigenous Peoples and Empires in the Americas, ca. 1500
27
Confrontation of Cultures
Original Northern Americans
– The Southwest: In North America, the Pueblo and Navajo peoples of the
dry, desert Southwest created systems of irrigation to grow maize, and built
large adobe structures that resembled apartment buildings in some places.
– Great Plains and Northern Forest: The peoples of these areas did not
rely as much on settled agriculture, but more on hunted game, and in
coastal areas, fishing.
– Cahokia: Along the Mississippi Valley, there were some settlements, like
the mound-building people of Cahokia, near present-day St. Louis, which
had a population between 15,000 and 38,000 inhabitants by 1,250 C.E. The
people of Cahokia relied mainly on trade. The largest mound that they
built—probably a religious temple of some sort—was 100 feet high and
1,000 feet long.
28
Confrontation of Cultures
Early Contacts
– Cortes: Spanish settlers had heard rumors of massively wealthy
cities on the mainland. Hernando Cortes (1485-1547) took 600 soldiers
and sailed across the Gulf of Mexico in search of gold in 1519. Once
ashore, people told him of wealthy empire inland, the Aztecs. He soon
gained the skills of a gifted native linguist, a young woman named
Malinche (alson known as Dona Marina), who spoke four different
Indian languages and easily picked up Spanish. She converted to
Christianity and bore Cortes a son, and served as an adviser and guide.
29
Confrontation of Cultures
Early Contacts
Cortes and Malinche
meeting Montezuma
in Tenochtitlan
30
Confrontation of Cultures
Conquest of the Great Empires, 1520-1550
– Aztecs Conquered: The center of the Aztec empire was
the city of Tenochtitlan, which was a 250 mile march inland
for Cortes and his men. There, they met Montezuma II
(1502-1520). With the help of 100,000 neighboring people,
Cortes schemed to overthrow the Aztecs. Even with gun
powder, armor, and fierce dogs, it took over a year for
Cortes to subdue the Aztecs. In 1522, Cortes declared the
Aztec Empire “New Spain,” making it a colony under his
personal rule.
31
Confrontation of Cultures
Conquest of the Great Empires, 1520-1550
– Incas Conquered: The Incan Empire fell to another
conquistador, Francisco Pizarro (ca. 1475-1541), in a
campaign that begun in 1532. the Incan royal house had
just finished a five-year civil war when Pizarro and his
small force landed. The new Incan leader, Atahualpa,
came to a meeting with Pizarro unguarded, and was seized.
Pizarro offered a ransom of gold, which the Incas paid.
When Pizarro got his gold, he killed his hostage. Incas
fought fiercely against the hated Spaniard, but were
eventually subdued, creating a new part of the Spanish empire to
compliment New Spain to the North: New Castile, centered in Peru.
32
Confrontation of Cultures
Conquest of the Great Empires, 1520-1550
– Germs: How did these small bands of conquistadors capture whole
empires? Gunpowder, steel swords, armor helped, and better
organization (including written messages that helped communications),
but the biggest ally of the Spanish was disease.
– Lack of Domesticated Animals in the New World: Amerindians were
an isolated population that had no contact with diseases common in the
rest of the world, especially the ones that evolved from contact between
people and domesticated animals: measles, tuberculosis, flu, whooping
cough, and the deadliest one: smallpox. Europeans had developed a
degree of immunity to these diseases over the centuries, while the
Amerindians had absolutely none. Disease followed the colonists
everywhere, killing off huge portions of the Indian population.
33
Confrontation of Cultures
North American Contacts
– Northern Spread of Disease: In North America, disease arrived before
the actual Europeans did, spread through Indian trading networks. What
the actual population of North America was before contact is almost
impossible to estimate, but by the time settlers arrived, it was obviously
greatly reduced from what it had been before the Spaniards landed.
Environmental historians believe that the vast natural abundance that
colonists encountered (like the great buffalo herds of the Great Plains)
was in part due to the fact that so much of the human population had
been wiped out.
34
Confrontation of Cultures
Life and Death Under European Rule, 15501700
– Enforced Labor: Columbus had desired to enslave the Indians,
but Queen Isabella rejected the idea. Instead, she proposed a
system called encomienda, in which conquistadors had the right
to extract a measured amount of labor from the Indian
population in exchange for protection and conversion to
Christianity. Needless to say, the conquistadors greatly abused
this system, and it disappeared by the end of the 1500s. In its
place came the systems in which Amerindians had to work a
fixed number of days a year, usually for a plantation called a
hacienda. Conditions under these contracts were very harsh.
35
Confrontation of Cultures
Life and Death Under European Rule, 15501700
– Amerindian Mortality: Spaniards demanded labor to work in mines and
plantations, and made themselves incredibly wealthy. For example, Indian
labor was used to extract massive amounts of silver from the Potosí mine in
what is now Bolivia. Many workers perished in the inhumane conditions
in the mine; they worked underground for most of the week, and had to
provide their own food.
– Bartolomé de Las Casas (1474-1566): Not everyone accepted this
brutality. A Dominican friar, Bartolomé de Las Casas, wrote a powerful
account called The Tears of the Indians, which detailed Spanish cruelties.
While disease was probably the biggest culprit, this harsh treatment played
a role in the devastation of Indian populations. The Caribbean went from
6,000,000 Taino natives before 1492 to only a few thousand fifty years
later. Peru fell from 1,250,000 in 1570 to 500,000 in 1620, while 24 million
36
natives died in Mexico from 1519 to 1605. Dwindling populations led the
Confrontation of Cultures
The African Slave Trade
– Sugar Plantations: In the 1400s, sugar grew in Egypt and North
Africa, but was scarce and expensive. Europeans began to grow
it on islands in the Mediterranean and also the Atlantic islands,
like the Canary Islands. Sugar was brought to the Caribbean in
the 1500s, and became a highly profitable crop. The intense
harvest required a huge amount labor, and in 1532, the first
shipment of African slaves departed for plantations in Brazil and
the West Indies.
– African Slaves: By 1650, 7,000 slaves had made the crossing,
hitting 14,000 by 1675. Most Africans brought to North America
came from the Caribbean, not directly from Africa, and were a
relatively small number.
37
Confrontation of Cultures
The African Slave Trade
– Impact in Africa: Slavery had always been a part of African
warfare and society, but the European demand stepped up the
practice, causing great instability and destructive competition
between competing tribes. Africans help to facilitate the
European trade, and by 1700, about 30,000 slaves a year were
brought across the Atlantic.
– Palmares: Escaped slaves in Brazil formed a community in the
jungle called Palmares, which the Portuguese attacked in 1692.
38
Confrontation of Cultures
• Gathering Souls in the New Lands
– Converting Souls: Conversion was certainly a goal of many
early explorers and conquerors, who brought missionaries who
employed many strategies to bring the natives into the fold.
Conversion generally did not lead to better treatment of natives.
– Virgin of Guadalupe: an indigenous convert named Juan Diego
had a vision of the Virgin Mary, who appeared to him at
Guadalupe in Mexico, commanding him to build a church, and
miraculously brought out-of-season roses to the bishop to prove
his claim. This site became a major pilgrimage site, and attracted
many natives to the faith.
39
Confrontation of Cultures
• Gathering Souls in the New Lands
– Missionaries: Christian missionaries traveled around the world,
even to China, in their quest to convert. The Jesuit missionary
Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) traveled to China, carefully studying
the language, and tried to convert Emperor Wanli (r. 1573-1620),
bringing him gifts of mechanical clocks and other devices. Ricci
won the respect of the emperor, but no conversion. The Chinese
thought Christian belief in one god was too restricting.
– Christianity Transformed: As Christianity spread, it was
transformed by local populations, such as in Haiti, where it was
combined with African spiritual practices to create Voudoun, and
elsewhere in the Caribbean, Santeria.
40
The World Market and
Commercial Revolution
High Prices and Profits: Trading on the World Stage
– Inflation: European countries, especially northern ones like the
Netherlands, experienced a vast improvement in quality of life,
with exotic luxuries arriving from all over the world. But it came
at a price: skyrocketing inflation. European population increased,
causing a greater demand for goods, and an influx of gold and
silver from the New World—especially Spanish silver—drove
the cost of these goods up. In the 1500s, for example, the price
of cereal grains increased fivefold, and manufactured goods
increased three times over.
41
The World Market and
Commercial Revolution
• The Rise of Commercial Capitalism
– Capitalist ideas
– Joint-stock companies
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42
The World Market and
Commercial Revolution
• Mercantilism: Controlling the Balance
of Trade
– Economic nationalism
– Economic regulations
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43
The World Market and
Commercial Revolution
• The Growth of Banking
– State banks
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44
The World Market and
Commercial Revolution
• The Danger of Overspending:
Spain Learns a Lesson
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45
The World Market and
Commercial Revolution
• Redefining Work Roles
– Women’s work
– Leaving the workforce
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46
The World Market and
Commercial Revolution
• Piracy: Banditry on a World Scale,
1550-1700
– Early privateers
– Pirate life
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47
The World Transformed
• European Culture Spreads
– Plants
– Population mixing
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48
The World Transformed
• European Culture Transformed
– New foods
– New stimulants
– Tobacco
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49
The World Transformed
• A New Worldview
– Scientific observations
– Mercator maps
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