Ch. 17:
The World Economy
West’s First Outreach

Europeans more aware
of outside world
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European upper classes
desired imports
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Crusades
Contact w/ Mongol
Empire
Spices, etc.
Launched more
attempts to expand

Late 13th century
New Technology

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15th Century
Deep-draft, round
hulled ships (caravel)

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Improved metal
work techniques

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Able to sail Atlantic
Ocean
Better armaments &
weapons (gunpowder)
Compass, better
mapmaking =
improved navigation
Portugal and Spain

Initiative came from
Portugal

The Nobel Prince Henry the
Navigator leads explorations
for:

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Spain followed Portugal’s
example
Vasco de Gama reaches
India in 1497

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1514 = Indonesia and China
1542 = Japan
Columbus reaches Americas
in 1492

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Spread of Christianity
Acquiring wealth
Portugal claims Brazil
Spain claims Philippines in
1519
Northern European Expeditions

16th century = Britain,
Holland, France begin to
dominate expeditions

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Improved design of ships
was key advantage
French establish colonies
in Canada
British establish colonies
in N. America
Dutch create colonies in
Indonesia, challenging
Portugal
Dutch & British traders
create chartered companies
(ex., British East India
Co.)

These powerful merchant
groups acted like
independent political entities
The New World Economy

1.
2.
3.
Europe’s new maritime activity had 3
major consequences for world history:
New exchanges of food, disease,
manufactured products
Forming a more inclusive world
economy
Opening parts of the world to
Western colonization
The Columbian Exchange
1.
Disease:




2.
The major European contribution
Native Americans/Polynesians lacked natural
immunities
Smallpox & Measles
Devastated native populations
People:

Americas, Europe formed new populations

3.
Based on own peoples and importation of African slaves
New Crops, Food, and Animals:

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
New World Crops spread rapidly
Corn, potatoes to Europe caused a population
spike
European/Asian animals (like the horse) to New
World
Western Trade

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Asian shipping continued in
China / Japan
Muslim traders dominated
along coast of E. Africa
Turks active in E. Mediterranean
Mercantilism protected home
markets & supported exports
Outside of Europe, areas
became dependent on world
economy

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Produced and supplied low-cost raw
materials
Received manufactured items from
Europe in return
Systems of Inequality

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Rise of core and
dependent economic
zones
African slave traders
became wealthy
Peasants in all areas
remained untouched by
international markets
Dependence on
world economy
helped form a
coercive labor
system
Others Left Out


Huge world areas remained outside of world
economy
East Asia

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China

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Early openness quickly ended
Became isolationist after interest in gunpowder left
India, Ottomans, Persia

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Uninterested, powerful on its own
Japan

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Did not need European products
All allowed minimal trade, concentrated on internal
development
Russia, non-slave trading Africa

Outside the international economic ring
Colonial Expansion & The
Americas

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Colonies emerged in
Latin America,
Caribbean, N. America
Smaller colonies present
in Africa and Asia
Spain colonizes most of
the Americas

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Conquered the Aztecs and
Incas
Ruthlessly sought gold
N. Europeans begin
colonization of
Americas in early 17th
century
Spanish and Portuguese Claims, by 1550 CE
British and French N. America

Types of early British
colonies:

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French colonies in Canada

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Religious Calvinist refugees – New
England
Huge land grants to people of
influence (William Penn)
New France = Quebec
British take control of Canada in
1764 after the Seven Years War
(known in the U.S. as the ‘FrenchIndian War’)
Treaty of Paris in 1763 ends the
war
N. America not as valuable (at
first) as W. Indies, Asian
colonies, Latin America
Africa and Asia: Coastal
Trading Stations

No colonizing Africa because
of climate, disease, nonnavigable rivers

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European impact locations:


Europeans content to have
fortresses on coast
Angola (Portugal), Cape Colony
(Dutch), Philippines (Spain),
Indonesia (Dutch)
Fall of India

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Mughal Empire weakening 17th
century
French defeat in 7 years war
British controlled, but Mughal
Empire still existed
British, French, Portuguese, Dutch, and Spanish colonial holdings
Impact on Western Europe


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Economically – pushed further industrial
revolution and new technologies
Political – colonial rivalries create
national conflict in Europe
New products change lifestyles
Effects of a New World Order

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Slave labor systems
affect E. Europe, Latin
America, W. Africa
New foods, societies
could now survive,
prosper
Individual merchants,
landowners status
improved
China prospered from
silver income
Global Connections: The World
Economy and the World


1.
2.
3.
Europe’s economy, military, government
changed
Reactions to Europe’s rise
Sit back and watch passively in awe
Consciously isolate self
Blended European ideas with local
customs