First Global Age:
Europe and Asia
1415-1796
The Age of Exploration
• the Age of Exploration, was a period starting in the early
15th century and continuing to the 17th century during
which Europeans explored Africa, the Americas, Asia and
Oceania.
• The Black Death and the breakup of the Mongol Empire
disrupted trade along the Silk Road
• Since the Silk Road ended in Constantinople, most of the
trade to Europe was controlled by Muslim and Italian
Merchants. The Age of Exploration ended this monopoly.
• The last straw was the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the
Ottoman Turks. This severed European trade links by land
with Asia leading many to begin seeking routes east by sea
and spurred the age of exploration
The Age of Discovery
Historians often refer to the 'Age of
Discovery‘ as the first Portuguese and
Spanish long-distance maritime travels
in search of trade routes to "the East
Indies", to get access to gold, silver
and spices.
The contact between the Old and New
Worlds produced the Columbian
Exchange: a wide transfer of plants,
animals, foods, human populations
(including slaves), communicable
diseases, and culture between the
Eastern and Western hemispheres.
The Columbian Exchange is one of the
most significant global events
concerning ecology, agriculture, and
culture in history.
Motives - Wealth
• The Age of Exploration
was sparked by a
number of motives, the
most prevalent being
profit. After the
Ottoman Turks cut off
the Silk Road, spices
and goods from the
east became very, very
expensive.
Motives - Religion
• Many of these explorers had
religious reasons. The
Catholic Churches and the
Protestant Churches were
now competing for souls, so
if an explorer could discover
new lands, they could claim
them for the Church.
• Many also wanted to
continue the crusades
against the Muslims
Motives – Curiosity and Fame
• Many of the people that went
on these voyages of exploration
went from curiosity about
different cultures.
• Also, since the feudal pyramid
was crumbling, this was a way to
move up in society. Becoming a
famous explorer could help
escape whatever social class one
was born into. Also, discovery
of new markets, could make one
rich, which always helps socially.
Technological Advances
• One of the reasons sailors had not
ventured too far out into the Atlantic
was because there was really no
reliable way to navigate back.
• The invention of the Astrolabe by the
Arabs and used by Europeans
allowed sailors to chart reasonable
courses.
• The Portuguese introduction of the
Caravel, a multi-sail ship with a
functional rudder, made it possible to
sail against the wind. Also, the
Caravel was large enough to carry
supplies and weapons, which makes
discovery and conquest much easier.
The Portuguese Go to India
The Portuguese began
systematically exploring
the Atlantic coast of Africa
from 1418, under the
sponsorship of Prince
Henry.
In 1488 Bartolomeu Dias
reached the Indian Ocean
by this route.
Vasco da Gama led an
expedition in 1497 that
reached India itself
The Dutch Empire
The Dutch were the first to really
challenge the Portuguese in Asia.
They possessed a large and very
effective navy . This allowed them
to set up trading outposts
throughout Southeast Asia.
They settled the southern tip of
Africa known as the Cape of Good
Hope.
In 1602, a group of wealthy Dutch
merchants formed the Dutch East
India Company which effectively
ruled Southeast Asia for 100 years.
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an
Italian sailing for the Spanish royals
Ferdinand and Isabella.
Queen Isabella was a big supporter
of this expedition. She wanted to
spread Catholicism to new lands.
Columbus never really figured out
that he found a new continent. He
thought he had found the East
Indies, thus he named the people
“Indians”.
Amerigo Vespucci, another Italian
sailor, was the namesake for the
New World. A German
cartographer, or mapmaker,
labeled this new area “America”.
Commercial and Cultural influence of
India in Southeast Asia
Indian merchants and Hindu priests filtered into
Southeast Asia over many years, bringing Indian
culture with them.
The prosperity brought to these areas by the
Indian traders was welcomed by the natives.
The height of Indian influence was between 500
and 1000 AD.
The primary effect of India on Southeast Asia was
the introduction of Buddhism and Islam.
One area in which India was not influential in
Southeast Asia was in the role of women.
Traditionally, in India, Japan, Korea and China, the
role of women was severely restricted.
Southeast Asia is different.
There were female merchants, some attained
enough wealth and power to become rulers of
port cities, women could choose to divorce and
matrilineal descent was common
European Advantages
Historians have wondered why
Western Europeans came to
dominate the world. The
answer to a large extent is:
a) more advanced political
organization
b) b) capitalism created a
need for overseas
expansion and provided
the money to do it with
and
c) c)
GUNS
Ming China
1368 - 1644
Admiral Zheng explored most of southeast Asia long before the
occidentals arrived. Zheng was sent out into the world at the behest of
his Emperor. The question has always been “why did they stop”.
Many explanations have been proffered but none explain it, except the
most basic one, which was vanity.
China of the Ming was one of the great civilizations of the world. The
art, the technology and the commerce were probably the greatest that
the world would see at that point. This is wonderful and this is great,
but like other things we have talked about, in success lies the seed of
failure.
The Ming considered their empire to be the entire world worth having.
Anything outside of it was barbarian.
The Ming stopped exploring because they simply chose to. This
attitude guaranteed conquest later because they never had to change.
Ming China
When Portuguese traders reached China
in 1514, they were treated like
barbarians by the Ming. They didn’t
have anything that the Ming particularly
wanted, so they made the Portuguese
make their purchases in gold or silver
rather than in trade.
They restricted the Portuguese traders
to outposts on the island of Macao.
This island later became the trade
center of Asia as the other Europeans
set up outposts there.
Very few of these European traders took
the trouble to find out what the Chinese
were really like.
One of the few was a Jesuit priest
named Mateo Ricci, who learned the
language and dressed like a native. He
didn’t have much success spreading
Christianity.
Manchu Conquest
1644
The Ming Dynasty came to an end for all the
usual reasons and the invaders this time were
the Manchus.
The new Manchu Dynasty was called the Qing
Dynasty. They were led by two brilliant
emperors, Kangxi and his grandson,
Quianlong.
The Manchus wanted to preserve their own
identity, so they held themselves separate
from the Chinese.
It was against the law to intermarry. Women
were not allowed to engage in foot binding,
and for every government post there were
two officials, one Chinese and one Manchu.
This worked quite well because the Manchus
also embraced Confucian ideas about
government, so things worked well.
China prospered and with the new goods from
the New World like potatoes and corn, famine
stopped for a while and the population
doubled.
Tokugawa Japan
The Portuguese reached Japan in 1543,
followed by the Spanish and the Dutch.
Japan was in the midst of a power
struggle between the shogun and the
daimyos.
The Tokugawa adopted western firearms
and castles and used these methods to
centralize the feudal system of Japan.
Christian missionaries had more luck in
China than in China or Korea. Francis
Xavier, a Spanish priest was very
successful at converting many Japanese to
Catholicism.
All of this trade and religion started
scaring the Tokugawa and they expelled
all foreigners in 1638 and started
persecuting and killing Christian converts.
They outlawed any trade outside of Japan
and turned inward.
First Global Age:
Europe and the Americas
1492-1759
First Encounters
In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the
West Indies, in the Caribbean. He
encountered the Taíno people, who were
friendly and generous toward the Spanish.
Spanish conquistadors, or conquerors,
followed in the wake of Columbus. They
settled on Caribbean islands, seized gold
from the Taínos, and forced them to convert
to Christianity.
Meanwhile, smallpox, measles and influenza
carried by the Europeans wiped out village
after native village. Native Americans had no
immunity, or resistance, to such diseases.
CORTÉS IN MEXICO
Hernan Cortés landed on the
Mexican coast in 1519.
Cortés arranged alliances with
discontented peoples who hated
their Aztec overlords.
The Aztec emperor, Moctezuma,
thought Cortés might be a god.
He offered tribute to Cortés and
welcomed him to Tenochtitlán.
When relations grew strained, the
Aztecs drove the Spanish out of
Tenochtitlán.
In 1521, Cortés returned and
captured and demolished
Tenochtitlán.
Montezuma
Montezuma was the Aztec Emperor. He was
considered a god and part of the Aztec religion
required human sacrifice (since the humans
sacrificed were being done so for Montezuma
tended to upset the people in general)
He is actually the one that thought the bearded
Spaniards was Quetzcoatl.
Montezuma welcomed Cortez into his capital of
Tenochtitlan (Mexico City). Cortez returned his
courtesy by taking Montezuma captive until a
ransom of gold was delivered. Remember, this
pretty much set the pattern for relations between
the natives and the Europeans.
The Aztecs were able to drive the Spanish from the
city, but Montezuma was killed and the Aztec
empire was essentially finished.
Pizarro
Pizarro was inspired by Cortez (shows you
what kind of people we are dealing with that
he was INSPIRED)
Pizarro took his Conquistadores further south
into South America to what is now Peru in
1532
There they set about conquering the Incas led
by Atahualpa.
Using Incan allies just like Cortez, Pizarro
slaughtered thousands of natives and took
Atahualpa prisoner for a ransom.
This conquest added a large chunk of South
America to the new Spanish Empire in the new
world.
Land Claims in the Americas
By 1675, Spain, France, Britain, and Portugal possessed sizable overseas
empires.Trade ships carried goods between Europe and the Americas and Africa.
New Spain
In the beginning the Spanish Empire produced thousands of TONS
of gold and silver as its main export.
This is what drove most of the exploration of the Americas by
everyone from the Dutch to the English. All came looking for gold.
The problem was that most of the gold was in Mexico and South
America. It took years before the real important exports like sugar
(the most important product), tobacco and coffee were
recognized. These products over the long run produced far more
wealth than the gold that essentially ruined Spain (more on that
later)
The Spanish understood what they had and set about to control it
as quickly and as rigidly as possible.
The did this first by importing Spanish feudalism. This basically
reinforced the Spanish social and political system into the New
World.
They set up the Council of the Indies to pass laws for their new
empire. They essentially ruled in the King’s name in the New
World.
Viceroys or representatives of the crown were then appointed to
rule each province.
The Catholic Church played a huge role in the colonies. Priests
served as local rulers. Franciscan, Jesuit and Dominican
missionaries worked to convert the natives. The forced European
culture on the natives against their will. No wonder they were
hated.
Economic Control
The Spanish were diligent in controlling the economy of New Spain.
The first and most important rule was that all goods had to go to Spain
first before they were sold elsewhere. This gave the Spanish a
supposed advantage over their economic competitors the French and
the English. This was most important part of the policy of Mercantilism
(more about this later)
The Spanish also used the idea of the Encomienda to provide labor for
the sugar plantations. This was used instead of outright slavery, though
it was the same thing. With the encomienda, the Spanish could
demand labor or tribute from the natives. They put them to work in
the mines and they died by the hundreds of thousands.
A very, very few people opposed the use of slaves, the most important
being Bartolommeo de las Casas, a priest.
Las Casas said the exploitation of the Indians was sinful and that the
Spanish should import African slaves because they were better suited
to being slaves. The Council of the Indies listened to him and allowed
the importation of slaves.
The combination of Spanish feudalism and slavery created a social
pyramid in New Spain that was based on the Peninsulares, the Spanish
conquerors, on top. Below them were Mestizos, the product of the
union of Spaniards and Natives (usually against the latter’s will) and
Mulattoes, the product of Spaniards and African slaves (ditto).
Land Claims in the Americas About 1750
Portuguese in the New World
• The Portuguese in South America were
concentrated in what is now Brazil.
• Brazil was primarily rainforest, so they
did not immediately get rewarded
with gold.
• They exported Brazil wood which
yielded dyes and lumber.
• Eventually they moved into plantation
farming using forced labor from the
Indians.
• Later African slaves were imported
and Brazil became the largest importer
of slaves in the Western Hemisphere.
New France
• The French colonies in North America
were huge, but grew slowly.
• These colonies were concentrated in
what is now Canada and this is one of
the reasons the colonies grew so
slowly. The climate was harsh and not
many settlers wanted to come to the
New World.
• Also, agriculture was not nearly as
successful as fur trapping which
required lots of space and few people.
• Seemed the only way to get people to
settle in New France was to force them,
which is exactly what the very Catholic
king, Louis XIV did. He forced settlers
here, but wouldn’t allow Protestants,
which also retarded the progress of the
colony.
Massachusetts Bay Colony
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The Massachusetts Bay colony was settled as a
business venture.
Many have believed that the Puritans came to the
New World for religious freedom. This is simply not
true. They were able to practice their religion in
England but chose not to. They were intolerant
and were not welcomed.
When they got to the Massachusetts colony they
created a theocracy and essentially outlawed the
practice of other religions.
The Puritans first came over on the Mayflower, a
transport. They initially were going to Virginia to
raise tobacco and got lost.
When they realized they were not in the King’s
land, they had to draw up a document to design a
government called the Mayflower Compact. What
this document decreed was majority rule, the basis
of democracy.
13 Colonies
• Geography is destiny. The thirteen colonies
were shaped economically and socially by
their climate and land.
• The southern colonies had a mild climate
that encouraged large plantation style
farming. This in turn encouraged the need
for African slaves.
• The Middle or Atlantic colonies were more
diverse, in Pennsylvania for instance, you
could raise wheat in the west , lumber in
the north and tobacco in the east. The
diversity of their economy ensured that
these would eventually be the wealthiest
colonies.
• The New England colonies had to rely on
trade and commerce rather than
agriculture. The soil was so thin and the
winters so cold that agriculture was small
scale without need for slavery.
Triangular Trade
The Middle Passage
The Atlantic slave trade was initially driven by the
Spanish need for labor in the sugar islands.
Later, more slaves were imported into the rest of the
New World by the English, Portuguese, Dutch, you
name it. Everyone was guilty.
The need was so great that the European and
African slave traders couldn’t keep up with the
demand. This was insanely profitable.
The Europeans didn’t go into the interior of Africa to
get the slaves, they relied on African traders to get
them.
This Middle Passage was a vision of Hell. No one
knows how many died as they were packed into fetid
ships like cordwood. Surely hundreds of thousands,
probably millions. No one cared.
The effect on Africa was destruction of ancient
cultures and it prevented those that followed to
develop much beyond mere subsistence.
The Middle Passage
African Slave Trade
By the 1800s, an estimated 11 million
enslaved Africans had reached the
Americas. Another 2 million probably died
during the Middle Passage.
The slave trade caused the decline of some
African states. In West Africa, the loss of
countless numbers of young women and
men resulted in some small states
disappearing forever.
At the same time, new African states arose
whose way of life depended on the slave
trade. The rulers of these new states waged
war against other Africans in order to gain
control of the slave trade in their region.
New African States
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In this period, large states started to form in Central
Africa.
The strength of these states rested largely on the slave
trade itself. They traded gold and slaves to the
Europeans for weapons, much as is done now.
Osei Tutu was the leader of the Asante Kingdom in the
1680’s. He was a great war leader and chose his
officals based on merit rather than blood, which
allowed him to create a powerful state.
In the early 1800’s, there were a series of Islamic
Crusades in north central Africa. The Islamic states
there went through a religious revival and tried to get
rid of the corruption in their systems.
They were led in Nigeria by Usman dan Fodio, a
preacher. He inspired the Hausa and Fulani people to
rebel against their rulers and establish a more pure
Islamic state.
This in turn inspired others to create Islamic states.
Europe and the Commercial
Revolution
Columbian Exchange
Price Revolution
• The Price Revolution occurred as a result of
inflation.
• This inflation occurred as a result of
population growth and the flow of gold and
silver from the New World
• What resulted was a permanent rise in prices
which also led to a rise in profits.
• These increases kicked capitalism into high
gear.
Mercantilism
• Mercantilism is an economic system practiced by Europeans in
the years from 1500 to the late 1700’s.
• In Mercantilism, the wealth of a nation is measured in how
much gold remains in the nation’s borders.
• What this means is that you should export as much as
possible and import as little as possible.
• What this led to in Europe was tariff barriers and depressed
economies. The cure for this was thought to be colonies. The
colonies would serve as markets within the mercantilist
system of each country.
• What this led to was imperialism and industrialization
Capitalism
• The rulers of nations like France, England, Russia, etc. thought
that colonies would solve the problems of mercantilism.
• They may have thought that, but the individual business
people in those countries saw it as a chance to expand their
markets even farther.
• When England created the colonies as a mercantilist market,
the colonists responded by not selling just to England, as the
law said, but illegally to anyone.
• This sparked the development of capitalism.