Unit 3: Age of Exploration
1492-1660
Goals of this unit:
• To understand why Spain and Portugal were
the leaders in early European Exploration.
• To develop an understanding of the Iberian
system and its impact upon the social,
economic, political, and religious
developments in the New World.
• To gain an understanding of the Columbian
Exchange and the African slave trade.
• To understand the changes in motivation and
power as the Age of Exploration progressed.
The Iberian Golden Age
• Conditions Favored Iberian Expansion
– Muslim control of routes
– Prices rising in Europe
• Portuguese and Spanish mastered new technology
and techniques
– Compasses, astrolabe (navigation aid to
determine distance)
– Produced more accurate maps, charts
– Built bigger ships to sail stormy Atlantic
• Lateen sails AKA caravels
– Brass cannons to attack enemies from afar
• Benefited from immunities to diseases that
devastated native populations in conquered areas
Iberian Golden Age
Motives:
• Growing population called for more wealth
• Spain: Reconquista – period of 600 years
(9th-15th centuries) of Spanish crusade
against Muslim presence in Iberian
peninsula
– Provided fighting spirit, hoped to unite
and fight alongside Prester John in
Ethiopian against the Muslim
– Fueled by both war and economic goals
• Portugal: Avis Dynasty fueled by commerce
Portugal vs. Spain
• Portugal gained lead on Spain in 1400s
– Claims along coast of West Africa
– Led by Prince Henry the Navigator and Diaz
• Took Cueta, later reached tip of Africa by
1488
• Spain began to challenge Portuguese claims
– Conflict resolved in Treaty of Alcacovas (1479)
– Columbus lobbied to both Portugal and Spain
for financial support of his West Indies trip
(1492)
• Queen Isabella (Spain) would his patron
• Portugal saw trip as threat to their Atlantic
monopoly
• Compromise – Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
– Line drawn by Pope Alexander VI to distribute land in New
World
Iberian Conquest of America
GOAL OF TODAY:
To develop an understanding of how and
why the Portuguese and Spanish were
able to conquer the natives of the
Americas.
Portuguese Empire
• World empire, commercial supremacy by 1550
– Posts around Africa, Southeast Asia
– Vasco de Gama (1460-1524)
• Voyage to India very lucrative
– Pedro Cabral (1468-1520)
• Stumbled onto Brazil
• Portuguese in Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia
– Alfonso de Albuquerque dominated eastern African
regions, fortified trading posts
– Goa 1510, Malacca in 1511, less success in China
Growth of New Spain
• 1500s – Spain sets up American empire
– Begin in West Indies, conquers –
“conquistadores”
– “Vice-royalties” of New Spain
• Aztec Empire declining
– Hernando Cortes arrives (1519) with army
of 600, horses, crossbows, muskets,
cannons
– Montezuma (Aztec leader) welcomes Cortes
– War breaks out, Spanish defeat Aztecs after
struggle
– Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), becomes capital
of Spanish Empire
Spanish in South America
• Francisco Pizarro (1470-1541)
–Conquered Inca state with 200 men
–Bold, brutal, treacherous treatment of
Incas
–20 years of anarchy ensue
• Conquistadores took, plundered South
America
–Vice-royalties in decline by mid 1600s
Growth of New Spain
• Notable ventures:
– Hernando de Soto (1500-1542) explored area
of U.S. southeast
– Francisco de Coronado (1510-1554) explored
area of U.S. southwest
– First colony established in St. Augustine, FL
(1565)
– Vasco de Balboa (1479-1519) discovered the
Pacific
– Francisco Magellan (1480-1521) expedition
first to circumnavigate globe, Magellan killed
in Philippines
Cycle of Conquest &
Colonization
Explorers
Official
European
Colony!
The Columbian Exchange & African
Slave Trade
GOAL OF TODAY:
To gain an understanding of the impacts of
the Columbian Exchange and the African
Slave Trade
The Columbian Exchange
• Massive movement and interaction of
biological organisms after Columbus
• People, plants, animals, diseases
• Between Europe, Americas, Africa
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
Effects of Columbus’ Journey
• Exploration became journeys of conquest
• Three centuries of Spanish dominance
• Largest and longest-surviving trading bloc
• Financed Spain’s commanding role
• Spurred other European nations to explore
• Virtual destruction of American societies
• Warfare, diseases, exploitation of labor
• Spanish Catholicism, economic dependency,
hierarchical social structure
Need For Labor
• Native populations in America dying off
fast
• Cultivation of sugar led to spread of
slavery in Brazil and West Indies
• Only slavery provided enough workers
for profitable slave plantations
• By 1600 the slave population exceeded
the white population in the West Indies
Majority of
Africa Slave
trade based
out of West
Africa
Middle Passage – journey from
Africa to New World
Slave Ship
“Middle Passage”
“Coffin” Position Below
Deck
African Captives
Thrown Overboard
Sharks followed the slave ships
Many slaves die during Middle
Passage
Plantation Slavery
• Plantations drew Africans into the heart of
transatlantic economy
• West and central Africa – center for slaves
• Economic needs of colonial powers
• Willingness to exploit weaker peoples
• Built on racist notion that non-European, nonwhite tribal peoples were subhuman
Slave Life
• Daily life of most slaves consisted of
– Hard agricultural labor
– Poor diet and clothing
– Inadequate housing
• Death rate among slaves was high
Effects of Slave Trade on Africa
• Measurably changed patterns of life and
balances of power
– By stimulating trade or warfare
– By disrupting previous market and political
structures
– By substantially increasing slavery inside Africa
– By disrupting the male-female ratio
• Important regional variations in impact
Effects of Slave Trade
• Greatest active period for slave trade
– 1701–1810 – 60% of total
• Total numbers still debated
• Number who died along the way unknown
– “Middle Passage”
• Best estimates:
– “Occidental trade” – at least 11 million
• Between Africa and New World
– “Oriental trade” – at least 5 million
• Between Africa and Islamic lands
– Enslaved within African – 15 million
Iberian Systems in the New World
GOAL OF TODAY:
To develop an understanding of the Iberian
system and its impact upon the social,
economic, political, and religious
developments in the New World.
Iberian Systems in New World
• Devastation from violence, disease, slavery
– Iberian period pre-1600s:
• Inhumane treatment, ruthless, populations wiped out
– Native Americans lost 90% of population
• Demographic mix from immigration, African slaves
• Iberian Economies in America
– Plantations began to develop
– Encomienda – system of distributing grants,
allowing buyer to take land or people living on that
land
• Forces those natives into labor
• Brought horrendous abuses
Treasures
from the Americas!
Iberian Systems in New World
• Initially used Amerindian labor,
imported African slaves after
epidemics
– Slaves worked on mines, plantations
• Suppression of native religions
– Conversion to Christianity the moral
justification of colonization
• Priests report back atrocities to
Spain, Rome
– Charles V tries to intervene but is legally
powerless
– Bartoleme de Las Casas (1474-1506)
Dominican Friar who decried system,
helped phase it out in favor of contract
labor
The Colonial Class System
Peninsulares
Full-blooded Spanish population
Creoles
2nd Generation
Full-blooded Spanish
Mestizos
Spanish-Indian population
Native Indians
Mulattos
Spanish-African
population
Black Slaves
Northern European Exploration
GOAL OF TODAY:
To understand the changes in motivation
and power as the Age of Exploration
progressed
The Commercial Revolution
• (Mid 1500s – mid 1700s) – period of economic
expansion, colonialism, and mercantilism
– Mercantilism: a collection of governmental
policies for the regulation of economic activities,
especially commercial activities, by and for the
state
• A nation’s international power was thought to be based
on its wealth, specifically gold supply
• To accumulate gold, a country always had to sell more
goods abroad than it bought
• Utilize expansion and land overseas
• Create a self-sufficient economy
Northern European Expansion
• The Commercial Revolution shifts power
– Iberian states declining, northern states emerging
• Dutch, French, British
– New products, foreign trade, bullion (gold, silver)
• Spain and Portugal lacked structure to absorb precious
metals
– European markets become swamped with
• New products: silks, furs, ivory, carpets
• New foods: potatoes, peanuts, maize, tomatoes
• Also: spices, sugar, coffee, tobacco
Northern European Expansion
• Economic power spreads to English,
Dutch, French, then Italians, Germans
–In search of “the Northwest Passage”
to Asia
–Northern European capitalism
flourishes
–Joint-stock companies (monopolies)
form
–Agricultural practices and technology
changes
The Dutch Empire
• By 1650, Dutch dominated south Asia, Atlantic
– Commercial empire, overpowered and
captured Iberian holdings in Africa, West
Indies, Brazil
• Dutch East India Company
– Chartered company, monopoly, dominated
Asian trade in 1600s
• Pepper, cinnamon, sugar, tea, tobacco,
coffee
• Dutch West India Company
– Settled in Hudson River region, profited from
fur trapping
– Founded New Amsterdam, would become
NYC
The French Empire
• Starting colonizing in North America in 1600s
• French based claims to North America from
past voyages of Verrazzano (1524) and Cartier
(1530s)
– Samuel de Champlain (1567-1635)
• Founded Quebec, fur trade is main industry
• Took advantage of declining Iberian empire
– Overtook Iberian stakes, set up new trading
posts
• Santo Domingo (Haiti) – maintained slave
labor
–Became largest sugar and coffee producer
in 1700s
The English Empire
• Pre-1650, English expansion not large
–Internal conflicts, restricted expansion
–Population growth, religious
persecution, entrepreneurship led to
growth
• Influx of families led to stable
development of colonies
• 1500s – British voyages:
–John Cabot to North America in 1497
–Francis Drake – first Englishman to
circumnavigate the globe in 1580
The British Empire
• Jamestown (Virginia) – 1607
– Became first permanent settlement in North
America
• Faced numerous hardships (winter, disease,
drought, Native American attacks)
• Persevered, established English culture,
political institutions
• More colonies founded
• Plymouth (1620)
• Massachusetts Bay (1629)
• Maryland (1632)
• English commercial gains fared better in India (East
India Company)
Conclusion
• Europeans initiated new age of oceanic expansion
• Spain, Portugal led explorations in 15th, 16th centuries
– Spain declined due to lack of economic development at
home, inflation, too large an empire
– Iberian domination gave way to north European
expansion
• Dutch, English, French gained new vitality through
financial organization, shipbuilding, metalworking,
manufacturing
• Europeans encountered many societies around the world
– Interacted with establish governments; respected their
domains
– Intervened more directly in smaller, less organized
areas
• Spanish, Portuguese expansion brought drastic change
– Disease drastically reduced indigenous population
– Iberians generated new cultural fusion in America
– Atlantic slave trade brought disastrous consequences