Chapter 15:
The Maritime Revolution, to 1550
The Pacific Ocean
• Over about 1500 years, peoples
originally from Malaysia crossed
ocean & settled in Polynesia to
establish colonies
• Observed stars, ocean currents &
evidence of land
The Indian Ocean
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Malayo-Indonesians colonized Madagascar through 15th century
Arabs used monsoon winds to establish trade routes in Indian Ocean.
Ming dynasty sponsored voyages to Indian Ocean between 1405-1433
– fleets of over 60 large “treasure ships” & hundred of smaller support
vessels
The Indian Ocean
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1415, E. Africa’s cities sent
delegations to China
Zheng He, led voyages to Africa
traded luxuries (silk and precious
metals)
stimulated diplomatic relations
with various African and Asian
states
not profitable
inspired opposition in court
ended in 1433
The Atlantic Ocean
• During warmer early Middle Ages, Vikings navigated by stars & seas
• Explored, settled Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland (Vinland)
• colder climate returned after 1200, northern settlements in Greenland,
Newfoundland abandoned
The Atlantic
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attempted
exploration 13th &
14th centuries
• Voyagers from
Genoa in 1291 &
from Mali in 1300’s
set out into Atlanticdid not return
• Genoese &
Portuguese explorers
discovered, settled
Madeiras, Azores,
Canaries in 14th
century
Early Amerindian Voyages
European Expansion, 1400-1550
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Motivation?
**Adventure
**desire for trade **curiosity **Struggle w/ Islam for control of Mediterranean
**Alliances between rulers & merchants
**Christian Militancy
Italian city-states monopolized access to Asian goods
• ships not designed for violent Atlantic
• Iberian kingdoms had no significant share in Mediterranean trade
– had advanced shipbuilding & cannon technology.
– open to new geographical knowledge
– exceptional leaders
European Exploration 1420-1542
The Portuguese
• Prince Henry, captured
N. African caravan city of
Ceuta
– Gold & slaves
• Sponsored navigation
institute at Sagres
• improved navigational
instruments
– compass & astrolabe
• caravel
– small size
– shallow draft
– square & lateen sails
– cannon
Portuguese Exploration
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explored African coast, reached Cape
Verde in 1444-learned to return to
Portugal faster-sailed NW into Atlantic
–picked up prevailing westerlies
At first, financed by income from
properties held by Prince Henry’s
Order of Christ
In 1440’s, voyages began to produce
financial return, first slaves, then gold
In 1469, private commercial
enterprises got involved
Lisbon merchant Fernao Gomes sent
expeditions-discovered/developed
island of Sao Tome-explored gold coast
Bartolomeu Dias & Vasco da Gama
rounded tip of Africa- established
contact w/ India, foundation for
Portugal’s maritime trading empire
Gold Coast became headquarters of
Portugal’s West African trade
Spanish Voyages
Treaty of
Tordesillas
1494
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Portuguese already established route to Indian Ocean
Spain funded Columbus w/ letters of intro to Asian rulers
After three voyages, Columbus still thought he had found Asia,
Spanish & Portuguese signed Treaty of Tordesillas
Magellan’s voyage across Pacific confirmed Portugal’s claim to Malacca’sestablished Spanish claim to Philippines
African Encounters Portuguese, 1450-1550
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During 15th century, many Africans welcomed
Portuguese
– Made profit-African elites held upper
hand
In return for gold, received Asian, African,
European goods
– firearms
Interaction between Portuguese & African
rulers varied from place to place
The oba (king) of Benin sent an ambassador to
Portugal
– established royal monopoly on trade
Benin exported many goods-some slaves
rulers showed mild interest in Christianity
After 1538, Benin limited contact w/
Portuguese,
– Declined to receive missionaries
– closed market in male slaves
Portuguese & King Alfonso I
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Cavazzi, a capuchin missionary to the
Kongo 1664–1667, depicts King of the
Kongo receiving Capuchin monks
“‘he…(King Alfonso I 1506])…is very just… he
greatly punishes those who adore idols.. he burns
them with their idols…throughout his kingdom he
has sent many men, natives of the country,
Christians, to teach our saintly faith to the people
…there are schools for girls… one of his sisters
teaches, a woman sixty years old, who knows how
to read very well”
– (Rui de Aguiar, Portuguese missionary to
King Manuel of Portugal May 25, 1516
In parts of Kongo, Christianity accepted not as a
new religion that would replace the old, but rather
as a new syncretic cult that was fully compatible
with existing systems of meaning
Kongo relied more on slave trade
Christian King Afonso I lost slave trade monopoly,
weakened, some subjects revolted
African Encounters with Portuguese
Swahili Coast: The rich and merchants
converted to Islam; others kept indigenous
Swahili beliefs
Not impressed with Portuguese-had been
trading with others for long time.
• In East Africa, some Muslim states suspicious of Portuguese, others
welcomed them as allies in struggles against their neighbors
• On Swahili Coast, the ruler, Malindi, befriended Portuguese-was spared
when other Swahili city-states were attacked in 1505
• Christian Ethiopia sought & gained Portuguese support in its war against
the Muslim forces of Adal
• Muslims defeated-Ethiopia unwilling to make long-term alliance-refused
to transfer religious loyalty from patriarch of Alexandria to Roman Pope
Portuguese & Indian Ocean States
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After Vasco da Gama arrived in Calicut in 1498 Portuguese determined to control IOT
superior ships & firepower made it possible
bombarded the Swahili city-states in 1505
captured Indian port of Goa in 1510
took Hormuz in 1515
captured Malacca in 1511
set up a trading post at Macao in southern China in 1557
required all spices be carried on Portuguese ships, all other ships purchase Portuguese passports
and pay customs duties to them
Varied Indian Ocean State Reactions
A Turkish sketch from the 16th century shows
the Ottoman fleet, which protected Aden and
Jiddah from the Portuguese. By the 1560’s,
more spices reached Jiddah than Lisbon.
• Mughal emperors took no
action
• Ottomans resistedmaintained superiority in
Red Sea & Persian Gulf
• Some smaller states
cooperated with
Portuguese; others tried
evasion/resistance
• Portuguese never gained
complete control of Indian
Ocean trade
• But did profit & broke Italian
city-states’ monopoly on
pepper
Spanish in The Americas
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Portuguese built maritime trading
empire in Africa & Asia, but
Spanish built territorial empire in
Americas
Reasons for difference?
Amerindian communities were
isolated-lacked resistance to Old
World diseases-relatively easy to
conquer
Arawak were agricultural-mined &
worked gold-did not trade over
long distances-had no iron
Killed tens of thousands of
Arakaws , economy undermined;
by 1502, forced to serve as
laborers
continued policy of defeat of nonChristians- then put them under
Christian control
actions of conquistadors in other
parts of Caribbean followed same
pattern
Spanish & The Americas
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Cortes defeated Aztecs by:
– spread of smallpox
– native allies
– cavalry charges, steel swords
& canon
• captured Emperor Montezuma
after promise of friendship
• Francisco Pizarro’s conquest of
Inca made possible by:
– prior spread of smallpox
– dissatisfaction of recently
conquered peoples
– Spanish cannon & steel
swords
Patterns of Dominance
• Within 50 years of Columbus’ first landing in 1492, Spanish
located & occupied all major population centers of Americas
• Three factors contributed to Spain’s ability to establish vast
land empire in Americas:
– Amerindians lack of resistance to diseases brought from the Eastern
Hemisphere
– Spanish superior military technology (swords, armor, horses, and some
firearms), combined with aggressive fighting techniques and local
allies
– Spain’s ability to apply the pattern of conquest, forced labor, and
forced conversion-a pattern developed during the re-conquest of the
Iberian Peninsula-to the Americas.
Patterns of Dominance
• In Eastern Hemisphere, African & Asians shared same diseases
as Europeans & had the numbers to resist European forces
when necessary
• Portuguese & Spanish able to gain profit by engaging in
already existing trade networks-they could gain wealth
without conquering territory
• The age of exploration & conquest began modern era