The Early Modern World
(1450-1750)
Key Characteristics
• Beginning of globalization
• Modern science
• Growing European presence in
world affairs
Key Characteristics
• Beginning of globalization
– Colonization of Americas
– Atlantic slave trade
– Global silver trade
– Columbian Exchange
– Missionaries
– Demographic changes
The World in 1492
Middle
East
Ottomans
and
Safavids
India
Dehli
Sultanate
China
Ming
Dynasty
Russia
Empire
building
European Empire Building
• Distinctive because separated by an ocean
(not connected by land)
• Up until this point Asia, India, and Middle East
were centers of power
• Europe had marginal position in world of
Eurasian commerce
• Not initially clear that balance of power will
sway to Europe
Geographic Advantages
• Closer to Americas than Asia
• No monsoon winds across the Atlantic Ocean
(unlike Indian Ocean)
• Rich markets in Indian Ocean provided little
incentive for Chinese, Indians, and Muslims to
look elsewhere
• Guns, germs, and steel enable Europeans to
conquer Native Americans
China
Europe
Ships
Zheng He had hundreds of
ships up to 400 feet long
Columbus had 3 ships, da
Gama had 4 ships about 85 feet
long
Motivation
Did not seek conquest or
colonies (already had
tremendous wealth)
Seeking wealth of Africa and
Asia
Unified state that closed
doors to outsiders
Competing states and rivalries
Had already proven their
greatness
Looking to prove themselves
No religious agenda
Religious agenda (spread
Christianity)
China’s withdrawal from Indian Ocean
trade facilitated European entry.
Europeans did not have to compete
with China’s huge treasure ships.
Moving forward:
-China continues to become
productive and self-sufficient
Moving forward:
-Europe looks to overseas
possessions to expand
production
Reasons for Overseas Trade
• Growing merchant class in Europe during
Renaissance
• Ottoman Empire blocks land routes
• Increase in navigation technology
– Prince Henry the Navigator (school in
Portugal)
– Compass (from Chinese)
– Astrolabe (from Muslims)
– Caravel
– Mercator Projection
How did technology aid
European explorers?
Caravel
Magnetic Compass
Mercator Projection
• New map invented in 1569
• Map that shows shapes accurately, but
distorts size
• Excellent for navigation – showed true
direction of places in relation to each other
Sextant
• Invented 1500 (very early version)
• Determined altitude of sun or stars
• Helped find latitude of the ship
Personal Reasons
WEALTH
Key Explorers
• Diaz: sailed from Portugal to tip of
Africa and back
• Da Gama: sailed from Portugal around
Africa to Asia
• Columbus: sailed west to Americas
• Magellan: first to circumnavigate the
world
Space-Time Compression, 1492–1962
Fig. 1-20: The times required to cross the Atlantic, or orbit the Earth, illustrate how
transport improvements have shrunk the world.
Columbian Exchange
• Global exchange of ideas,
resources, animals, plants
• Also included ideas, diseases,
people
• Total transformation of lives all
over world
WESTERN HEMISPHERE EASTERN HEMISPHERE
(AMERICAS)
(EUROPE, AFRICA, )
FOOD
CROPS
Corn, potatoes, cassava, sweet
potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins,
squash, beans (navy, lima,
kidney, string), peppers (bell,
chili), pineapples, peanuts,
pecans, cashews, avocados,
papayas, cocoa beans, vanilla
beans, wild rice
Wheat, oats, barley, Asian
rice, sugarcane, soybeans,
radishes, lettuce, onions,
okra, chickpeas, olives,
grapes, peaches, pears,
oranges, lemons, coffee,
watermelons, bananas
PLANTS
Cotton, tobacco, marigolds
Dandelions, crabgrass,
bluegrass, roses, daises
ANIMALS
AND
INSECTS
Turkeys, hummingbirds,
rattlesnakes, gray squirrels,
guinea pigs, muskrats, potato
beetles
Cows, horses, goats, sheep,
pigs, chickens, elephants,
house cats, Mediterranean
fruit flies, Japanese beetles,
sparrows, mice, rats
Food from the New World
(Americas)
Plants/Animals from New World
Food from the Old World
(Europe, Africa, and Asia)
Plants/Animals from Old World
Spread of Christianity
• Spanish and Portuguese saw overseas
expansion as a way to spread Christianity
(God, gold, glory)
• Portuguese missionaries in Africa and Asia
• Spanish and French missionaries in Americas
• Great success in Spanish Americas and
Philippines
What is another result of the
Columbian Exchange?
Effect: Spread of Christianity
Significance: Native Americans often forced to
convert (Latin America today is mostly Catholic)
What is another result of the
Columbian Exchange?
Effect: Spread of disease
Significance: Millions of Native Americans died
from smallpox (destroyed civilizations)
What is another result of the
Columbian Exchange?
Effect: Forced labor of Native Americans
Significance: Native Americans forced to work
on their own land under terrible conditions
What is another result of the
Columbian Exchange?
Effect: Beginning of slave trade
Significance: Africans replace Native Americans
as the labor force (triangular trade)
Mercantilism
• Economic policy stating that a country’s
power depended mainly on its wealth
1. Set up colonies
2. Obtain as much gold and silver as possible
from colonies
3. Establish a favorable balance of trade
Middle Passage: the route taken by slave ships
1. Which area had the most Africans transported there?
2. How many Africans were sent to this area?
Long Term Benefits of Atlantic Trade
• Colonies become extension of European
civilizations (language, religion)
• Americas eventually allow Europe to become
a world power
Silver Trade
• Silver mines in Mexico and Peru fueled transAtlantic and trans-Pacific commerce
• Enabled Europeans to buy Chinese silk, tea,
and porcelain
Colonial Structure in the Americas
• Spanish were early starters
– Earliest cities, universities, and churches in new
world
– Silver/gold mining
– Commercial agriculture (cash crops)
• Encomienda system: forced labor of Native
Americans
• Spanish colonization generated new societies
and new races
• Sought 3 G’s – God, gold, glory
What
happened
to the
Native
American
population
between
1518 and
1593?
Why did
this
happen?
Social
Structure of
Spanish
colonies
Peninsulares –
People born in Spain
Creoles –
People of European descent
born in the colonies
Mestizos – People of
Mulattoes – People of
mixed Native American mixed African and
and European descent European descent
Native Americans and Africans
Peninsulares
Mestizos
Government in the Spanish colonies
King of Spain
Viceroy
Viceroy
Viceroy
Viceroy = representatives appointed by the king to
rule over provinces in Spanish colonies
Cultural Blending
• Religious syncretism: Christian saints
blended with indigenous gods (magic, folk
medicine, communion with dead)
– Native American beliefs blended with Christianity
– Churches replaced temples as centers of cities
• New races:
– Mestizos were blends of European and Native
American races (Mexico, Peru)
– Mulattoes were blends of European and Africans
(Brazil, Caribbean)
The Aztec city of Tenochtitlan was built on an island in Lake Texcoco.
The center of the city was dominated by the Templo Mayor. The twin
shrines on the top of the temple were dedicated to the Aztec God of
rain and agriculture (blue) and Aztec god of war (red).
Lady of Guadalupe
• Juan Diego (Aztec
converted to Christianity)
• Claims he saw Virgin
Mary on Tempeyac Hill
• Gathered flowers in tilma
(garment)
• Image of Virgin Mary
appeared where flowers
had been
Santeria worship
Santeria alters
Santerian
Priest
Sugar Colonies
•
•
•
•
•
Brazil and Caribbean
Sugar in high demand in Europe
Colonies set up almost exclusively for export
Labor intensive (slave labor)
About 80% of captured Africans went to these
areas
North America
• England got later start and North America
initially seen as leftovers
• Cash crops: tobacco, cotton, rice, indigo
• Much less racial mixing
• Sharply defined races
• Settler colonies: many came for religious
freedom (Puritans, Quakers)
The potato was first introduced to Ireland in 1589 when British explorer
Sir Walter Raleigh first planted them at his Irish estate. Legend has it
that he made a gift of the potato plant to Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603).
The local gentry were invited to a royal banquet featuring the potato in
every course. Unfortunately, the cooks were uneducated in the matter of
potatoes, tossed out the lumpy-looking tubers and brought to the royal
table a dish of boiled stems and leaves (which are poisonous), which
promptly made everyone deathly ill. The potatoes were then banned
from court. However, once the Irish became potato experts, this
vegetable soon became a staple in Irish diets. The Irish became so
dependent on this crop that when a disease destroyed potato crops in the
late 1840s, millions died of starvation. This potato famine (or Great
Famine) left many poverty stricken families with no choice but to
struggle for survival or emigrate out of Ireland. Towns became deserted,
and all the best shops closed because store owners were forced to
emigrate due to the amount of unemployment. Over one and a half
million people left Ireland for North America and Australia. Over just a
few years, the population of Ireland dropped by one half, from about 9
million to little more than 4 million.