The Atlantic World
1492-1800
Key Themes
• Cultural Interactions
– Interaction between European states
– Native interactions with European states
• Economics
– Mercantilism
– Triangular Trade
• Empire Building
– The Establishment/Destruction of various
European and Native Empires
Christopher Columbus
• Made four voyages to
the Americas
• Voyages evolved over
time
• What is the controversy
surrounding
Christopher Columbus?
The Voyages of Christopher Columbus
First Voyage
• Explorer
• Sought alternative trade
route to Asia
• 3 ships used
• Encountered the Taino
people
• Sought gold and other
riches
Second Voyage
• Empire Builder
• Sought to establish an
empire for Spain
• 17 ships
• Over 1,000 soldiers and
colonists
Columbus’s Voyages
Colonization
• The establishment of colonies
• Lands that are controlled by another, generally
stronger nation
• Colonies used to support a nation
• How could foreign lands support a strong
nation?
Amerigo Vespucci
American continents
named after him
Sailed down the coast of
South America
Ferdinand Magellan
• Led first expedition that
sailed around the world
• Magellan’s crew made it
around the globe
• He was killed in the
South Pacific
Spanish Conquistadors (Conquerors)
• Hernan Cortes
• Conquered the Aztec
Empire in 1521
• Francisco Pizzaro
• Conquered the Incan
Empire by 1533
Fall of the Aztec Empire
• Last Ruler: Montezuma
II
• Could not match
Spanish weapons
• Other natives aligning
with Spanish
• Disease (Smallpox)
Fall of the Incan Empire
• Last Ruler: Atahualpa
• Captured and held
hostage by Pizarro
• Ransom of gold and
silver paid
• Strangled
• Empire without
leadership falls apart
Spain’s Pattern of Conquest
Reconquista
• Imposed Spanish culture on
the natives
• Often intermarried
• Produced a Mestizo
population
– Mixed Spanish and Native
population
Encomienda
• Spanish work system
• Natives mined, farmed, and
ranched land controlled by
the Spanish
• Oppressive system
The Encomienda System
Other Spanish Explorers
• Juan Ponce de Leon
– Explored Florida
• Francisco Coronado
– Explored present day Arizona, New Mexico, Texas,
Oklahoma, and Kansas
Spanish Explorations
Spanish Empire
• Spain claimed a HUGE
empire in the Americas
• Various raw materials
including gold and silver
brought Spain great
wealth
Opposition to Spanish Rule
• Bartolome de Las Casas
• Dominican Monk
• Criticized the actions of
Spain on encomiendas
and treatment of
natives
Pope
• Native leader in today’s
New Mexico
• Led an organized
resistance against
Spanish
Human Cost
• Spain carves out an
immense empire in the
Americas at a huge
human cost
• Millions of natives lost
their lives
– War
– Disease (more deadly)
Two Legacies
• Other European states would attempt
explorations and empire building in the
Americas
• Natives continually subjected to harsh
European rule
European Exploration
European Nations Settle North
America
Diverse Empire Building
Big Idea
• European nations lay claim to large parts of
North America, but England drives the French
and Dutch out and creates the thirteen
colonies.
Competing Claims in North America
• France, the
Netherlands, and
England will each…
– Attempt to find a
Northwest Passage
– Establish colonies in the
Americas
French Explorers
• Giovanni da Verrazano
– Italian who sailed for
France
– Explored New York Harbor
• Jacques Cartier (pictured)
– Explored what is today
Canada
– Explored the St. Lawrence
River
– Founded Montreal
Verrazano’s
Voyages
Cartier’s Exploration
More French Explorers
• Samuel de Champlain
– Established Quebec with 32 colonists
– Became the base for the French colonial empire
– New France
• Jacques Marquette
– Explored Great Lakes regions and…
– Upper Mississippi River
Sieur de La Salle
• Sieur de La Salle
– Explored the lower
Mississippi
– Claimed large land mass
of Louisiana
The La Salle Explorers
The French North American
Trading Empire
• Immense land trading
empire
• Sparsely populated
• Why?
– More interested in the
fur trade than
settlement
The English Arrive in North America
• 1607: Jamestown
established
• Disastrous Start
• More interested in
finding gold
• At times, starvation
• Tobacco: “Savior of
Jamestown”
Puritans Create a “New England”
Pilgrims
Puritans
• Separatists from the Church
of England
• Founded Plymouth
Plantation in 1620
• Famous Leader: William
Bradford
• Sought total religious
freedom
• Reformers of the Church of
England
• Founded Massachusetts Bay
in 1630
• Famous Leader: John
Winthrop
• Sought religious freedom
AND PROFITS
Pilgrims
John Winthrop
• “City on a Hill”
• Famous governor and
leader of Massachusetts
Bay Colony
Henry Hudson
• Henry Hudson, and English Captain, was hired by the Dutch
East India Company to scout for opportunities in North
America, specifically the “Northwest Passage”
• He explored three waterways looking for this passage
• Later all named after him
– Hudson River
– Hudson Bay
– Hudson Strait
• Through these voyages, the Dutch claimed settlements in
modern day New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania
The Dutch
• Formed the Dutch West
India Company (1621)
• Colonized the region
• Included present day
Manhattan
• Became New
Netherlands
The Dutch vs. The British
• The British easily
defeated the Dutch
• The British were
starting to become one
of the world’s strongest
powers
• Opened up the Atlantic
coast of North America
for worldwide trade
Britain vs. France
• French and Indian War
(1754)
• Caused by a dispute
over the Ohio Valley
• Part of a larger
European War (Seven
Years’ War)
• British win war by 1763
Before and After
Native Americans Interactions with
Europeans in North America
• While some peaceful trade existed, Natives
fought against…
– Dutch
– French
– BRITISH (ESPECIALLY)
British View Towards Natives
• British pushed the Natives off of land
• Wanted Natives isolated
• Saw Natives as heathens (little attempts to
convert)
• How does this view compare to the Spanish?
War Between Colonists and Natives
• English battled
Powhatan around
Jamestown
• King Philip’s War
– Native leader Metacom
and his warriors
defeated by British
– Massacres on both sides
• Why do you think the
fighting was so
ferocious?
Disease (Artist Representation)
• Natives decimated by
diseases
• Smallpox ravaged whole
tribes
• Led to a severe labor
shortage in colonies
• Who would fill the
void?
British Treatment of Natives
• Would foreshadow future cruel actions of the
United States towards native populations
• Methods which the US would also use in deal
with Native Americans:
– Treaties not followed by the US
– Taking away of land
– Forced migrations
– War
The Atlantic Slave Trade
Oppressive Cultural Interactions
Big Idea
• The slave trade decimates African social and
family life, and millions of slaves are brought
to the Americas to work.
Agency
• Purposeful, goal-oriented activities of
individuals or groups of people
• Think about the agency of Europeans and
Africans in this story
Slavery
• A 10,000 year old
system
• Existed around the
world
• Usually conquered
prisoners of war
• However, race would
play a key role in the
Americas
• Hereditary
Causes of Slavery
• Existed in Africa for
hundreds of years
• Slave trade spread
through Muslim slave
trade
• Slaves had some
avenues to advance
Demand for Africans
• Needed to replace
native slaves
• Why Africans?
• Africans had built up
immunity to Euro.
Diseases
• Experience in farming
• Ignorance of landscape
• Easily identifiable by
skin color
Atlantic Slave Trade (The Numbers)
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Between 1500-1600
300,000 slaves brought
Between 1600-1700
1.3 million slaves
brought
• By 1870
• 9.5 million slaves
brought to Americas
Atlantic Slave Trade
Slavery Spreads Throughout the
Americas
• England would be a
leader in the slave trade
• Transported 1.7 million
slaves
• Transported 400,000 to
what would become
USA
• By 1830: Grew to 2
million
African Cooperation and Resistance
• Local African rulers
directly participated in
the slave trade
• Africans enslaved did
not go willingly
• Agency of Africans
• Traded for gold, guns,
and other goods
– Would resist
enslavement by various
means
African Resistance
A Forced Journey
• Triangular Trade System
• Europe: Manufactured
goods
• Africa: Slaves
• Americas: Raw
Materials
• Note: There were
various ways for these
goods to travel
The Middle Passage
• Voyage that brought
Africans to West Indies
• Later transported to
Americas
• Appalling Conditions
• 20% of slaves died each
trip
• Disease and suicide
(agency)
The Middle Passage
Crammed Into the Holds of Ships
Olaudah Equiano
• “the air soon became unfit for
respiration, from a variety of
loathsome smells, and brought
on a sickness among the slaves,
of which many died, thus falling
victims to the improvident
avarice, as I may call it, of their
purchasers. This wretched
situation was again aggravated
by the galling of the chains, now
become insupportable. The
shrieks of the women, and the
groans of the dying, rendered
the whole a scene of horror
almost inconceivable.”
African Agency
• Africans kept their
culture alive
• Musical and oral
traditions
African Agency
• Africans privately and
openly opposed slavery
• Private: Broke tools,
uprooted plants, and
worked slowly
• Public: Led slave
rebellions (Stono
Rebellion of 1739)
African Resistance
African Resistance
Consequences of Slavery
• Broke apart African
families
• Africans added distinct
labor and culture in
Americas
• Many American nations
have significant AfricanAmerican peoples
The Columbian Exchange and
Global Trade
Capitalism! Mercantilism!
Communism…..! (Not Yet)
Big Idea
• The colonization of the Americas leads to
global exchange of food, plants, animals, and
diseases. These goods enrich the diets and
economies of Europe and further shatters the
native civilizations of the New World.
The Columbian Exchange
• Global transfer of foods,
plants, and animals
during colonization of
the Americas
• Americas sent back
items never seen before
in Asia, Africa, and
Europe
• Including
– Tomatoes, squash,
pineapples, tobacco,
cacao beans, turkey
– CORN AND POTATOES
The Columbian Exchange
• Europe/Africa/Asia
introduced new things
as well
• Including
– Horses, cattle, sheep,
and pigs
– Bananas, black-eyed
peas, yams
– Grains: wheat, rice,
barley, and oats
– Disease: smallpox,
measles, influenza,
malaria
Global Trade
• Colonial empires influenced nations of Europe
• New wealth + overseas trade = new business
and trade practices
The Rise of Capitalism
• Economic system based
on private ownership
and investment of
resources (money)
• Businesses across
Europe grew and
Flourished
• Why?
• Overseas colonization
and trade
One Effect: Inflation
• Steady rise in the price
of goods
• Increased money supply
increased demand for
goods
• Supply often could not
keep up
• Thus goods were scarce
and valuable
Joint-Stock Companies
• Investors bought shares
of stock in a company
• Paid for establishment
of overseas colonies
• Examples: Jamestown
and Massachusetts Bay
The Growth of Mercantilism
• Economic policy that
emphasized the
importance of wealth
and a good balance of
trade
Mercantilism
Mercantilism (Two Important Steps)
Step 1: Gold!
• Obtain lots of gold and
silver
Step 2: Favorable Balance of
Trade
• Sell more goods than you
buy
• Exports out value imports
What role did colonies play in
mercantilism?
• Provided silver and gold
• Provided raw materials
• Was a sizeable market
for manufactured goods
Economic Revolution Changes
European Society
• Great changes in
European society
• Growth of towns
• Rise of merchants
• Increased wealth of
nations
• Strengthening of
national identities
• Yet……
• Europe still a largely
rural society
• Most Europeans did not
enjoy social mobility
like merchants
• Communism?
• Not Yet.
Items that came from the Old World
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Onion
Carrot
Garlic
Rats
Pigeons
Diseases
Lettuce
Coffee
Hazelnuts
Sugar
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Rice
Watermelon
Olives
Citrus Fruits
Bananas
Yams
Honey Bee
Horses
Peaches
Artichokes
Cantaloupe
Items that came from the New World
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Llama
Vanilla
Corn
Chili Pepper
Tomato
Potato
Cotton
Cranberry
Sweet Potato
Sun Flowers
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Pineapple
Pecans
Tobacco
Cacao Beans