RENAISSANCE AND DISCOVERY III
UNIT VI
THE NEW WORLD: EMPIRES IN AMERICA
Europe’s economy after the Renaissance was one dominated by scarcity, demand, and supply. Much of what was in high
demand (coffee, chocolate, tea, and sugar) in Europe was scarce or unable to be grown. However, this was not so in
American where the supply was as much as a colony was willing and able to grow.
colony – a settlement of people living in a new territory, linked with a parent colony by trade and governmental control
THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
Under the theory that wealth is fixed (based on gold/silver which is limited), to become wealthier, someone else has to
become poorer. In an attempt to gain land that could earn wealth, Europeans scrambled to build colonies in the new
world to gather resources they could sell becoming the overall goal of Europeans during the early colonial period.
mercantilism – state controlled economy where what products and services are made available depends on the will and
oversight of the state allowing it to keep a positive balance of trade by exporting (sell) more than it imports
(buys) through controlling trade to and from colonies
- to keep from having to import needed goods from other states that costs money, if a state could gain
territory/colonies, the state can import needed goods from its colonies and export the rest earning profit
- essentially the overal goal of mercantilism is to establish colonial empires to benefit the state
BUILDING EMPIRES
The Spanish, unable to build trading post due to the lack of goods to trade, turned to mining where they found abundant
amounts of gold and silver in the mainland of Central and South America. Yet, mining required many workers that the
Spanish lacked needing a new form of labor in the system of the encomienda.
encomienda – system of labor that allowed the Spanish to force the natives to work in exchange for assuming
responsibility for their health and welfare
- under this system labor was harshly enforced while the general welfare of the natives was ignored resulting
in numerous attempts and rebellions and death of overworked and starved workers
While Spanish profit lay in the mines of Mexico and Peru in Central and South America, their Caribbean holdings were
largely abandoned. On these islands of the West Indies, other English, French and Dutch settlers swarmed these islands
to establish plantations (large agricultural estates) to grow profitable cash crops.
- like the Spanish, these settlers attempted to use the native population as a labor force but there were too few
to work the massive fields of the plantations
AFRICAN SLAVERY
The desire for more labor forced Europeans to look beyond the native to find suitable workers to harvest their goods.
While natives were used at first, African were favored due to tolerance of European diseases and unfamiliarity with
surrounding areas thus creating the need for a system to transport African slaves from Africa to the Caribbean.
slave trade (1440s-1830s) – the selling and trading of human cargo from Africa for use as forced laborers in the
Caribbean.
1444 – the town of Lagos, Portugal, becomes the location of the first slave market created by Europeans for the
sale of imported African slaves
1452 – Pope Nicholas V issued a decree granting Portugal the right to reduce any pagans or unbelievers to
hereditary slavery including fellow Europeans as well as Africans and Native Americans
1518 – a Spanish ship carried the first enslaved Africans to the Americas
Africans were looked at as inferior to Europeans for their lack of civilized culture and more suited for the harsh
conditions of tropical climates. Eventually Africans were looked at as property rather than actual people increasing their
use as trade goods.
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Triangle trade – historical term give to the trade between Europe, Africa and the Americas involving the exporting
of goods that were not needed or in excess to another region in exchange for ones that were needed or scarce 
triangular trade provided a mechanism for correcting trade imbalances
EXPORTS
Europe to Africa – rum, cloth, manufactured goods
Africa to America – slaves
America to Europe – cotton, tobacco, sugar, molasses
Middle Passage - the middle portion of the triangle trade voyage where the forced transportation of African
slaves from Africa to the New World occured
- took anywhere from one to four months depending on weather conditions
- ships could carry up to 700 slaves aboard one slave ship with nearly 10 million African slaves forced
from Africa to the America from 1400-1800s
SUCCESS IN THE NEW WORLD
While the Spanish led exploration in the New World, they did not grow or prosper as much as their new competitors: the
Dutch, French and British. Explanations for why this occurrence happened are among the following:
 Pirates of the Caribbean – pirates (many of them English like Sir Francis Drake) raided Spanish ships and ports
hurting Spanish trade
 Lack of excitement due to lost voyages (pirates, hurricanes) dampened immigration
 Mercantilism focused too much on gaining wealth for Spain, but never investing that wealth back into colonies
Dutch: the Dutch were the first to explore the eastern seaboard of America near Long Island and the Hudson River
establishing a Dutch colony called New Amsterdam at the mouth of the river
- outside of the New World, the Dutch had a large and extensive trading empire from Cape Town South Africa
to the Spice Islands of Indonesia through the Dutch East India Trading Company
France: French merchants were the first to explore and settle the region around the St. Lawrence River and what would
become Canada
- much like the Spanish, the French didn’t colonize much either, but did make a large profit off fur trading that
required friendly relations with the Indians who they bartered with
England: like the Dutch, the British too had a large and extensive trading empire outside of the New World in Africa and
India through the British East India Trading Company
- however in the New World the English settled two separate colonies on the east coast of N. America; one in
the south and one in the north:
Virginia Colony (southern colony) – was the first English colony in the New World established at Roanoke on
the Carolina coast in 1585 for economic reasons
- the Roanoke Colony became the “Lost Colony” when after a delayed supply ship returned from England
to find the colony abandoned
Jamestown (1607) – the first permanent English settlement in America, which prospered after the leadership
of John Smith and the harvesting of tobacco introduced by John Rolfe
Plymouth Bay Colony (northern colony) (1620) – the second permanent English settlement in America
established for religious reasons by a group of pilgrims seeking religious freedom that eventually became the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
As European nations built these trading empires in the New World, they gave birth to the global economy where small
trade between nations was replaced with large trade between continents. This was all made possible by establishing trade
colonies along with enforced labor to harvest Europe’s most desired luxury goods.
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