Chapter 22
Martin Waldseemüller, Universalis Cosmographia, 1507
Transoceanic Encounters and
Global Connections
1
Why Portugal?
Portuguese flag
in the 1400s
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Portugal: a relatively resource- and land-poor
country.
Beginning in the 1300s, Portuguese begin sailing into
the open Atlantic, mainly for fishing, whaling, and
land
Claimed Madeira Islands (settled ca. 1420) and
Azores (settled 1433) in the Atlantic
Acquisition of islands to plant profitable sugarcane
2
Why Portugal?
3
The Lure of Trade
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Asian Luxury Items: spices, silk, porcelain
Overland silk roads more dangerous since spread of
bubonic plague outbreak began in 1346
Prices and profits on Asian goods increase in the
1400s with Ottoman dominance (conquest of
Constantinople in 1453); Venice a trading leader
Indian pepper, Chinese ginger increasingly essential
to diet of European wealthy classes
Sub-Saharan African Trade: gold, ivory, slaves
4
Missionary Efforts
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Franciscan, Dominican missionaries to India, central
Asia and China
Violent efforts with crusades, reconquista – leant a
religious element to encounter with native peoples
across the globe
When Vasco da Gama reached Calicut in 1498, he
told authorities he was looking for “Christians and
spices” (Indian Christians had existed since the first
century A.D. due to the overland trek of St. Thomas
the Apostle)
5
The Technology of Exploration
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Chinese rudder introduced in twelfth century
Square sails replaced by triangular lateen sails
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Navigational instruments
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Work better with cross winds
Astrolabe (from Arabs) measures latitude
Magnetic compass (from China) to find north
Knowledge of winds, currents
The volta do mar
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1500s brass astrolabe
“Return through the sea”
6
Wind and Current Patterns in the
World’s Oceans
7
Portuguese Breakthroughs
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Prince Henry of Portugal (1394-1460)
 Promoted exploration of west African coast
 Established fortified trading posts
1488, Bartolomeu Dias rounds Cape of Good Hope, enters
Indian Ocean basin
 Storms and restless crew force return
Vasco da Gama reaches India by this route, 1497
 By 1500, Portuguese establish a trading post at Calicut
8
Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)
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Believed Earth was smaller
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Estimated Japan approximately 2,500 miles west of
Canaries (actually 10,000 miles)
John II of Portugal refuses to fund the proposed
westward trip since his experts thought
Columbus’s calculations were way off
Fernando and Isabel of Spain sponsor voyage, but
Italian bankers underwrite it
Five weeks from the Canaries he lands in the
Bahamas; also lands on Cuba and Hispaniola
9
Hemispheric Links
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Columbus tries three times, never reaches Asia
But by early sixteenth century, several powers
follow his westerly route
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English, Spanish, French, Dutch
Europeans quickly realize the value of newly
discovered continents
10
European Exploration in the Atlantic
Ocean, 1486-1498
11
Circumnavigation of the Globe
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Vasco Nuñez de Balboa finds Pacific Ocean while
searching for gold in Panama, 1513
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Distance to Asia still only a guess
Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) not supported by
Portuguese, sails in service of Spain
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Sails through Strait of Magellan at southern tip of South
America
Magellan killed in local political dispute in Philippines in
April 1521
Crew assailed by scurvy, only 18 of 250 sailors return to
Spain from journey in Sept. 1522, and only one of the
original five ships made it
12
Exploration of the Pacific
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Spanish build Philippines-Mexico trade route
English, Russians look for northwest passage to Asia
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Most of route clogged by ice in Arctic circle
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Norwegian Roald Amundsen completes route only in
twentieth century
Sir Frances Drake (England) explores west coast of
North America in 1579 (around what is now the San
Francisco), calling it Nova Albion
Vitus Bering (Russia) sails through Bering Strait in
the 1720s
James Cook (England) explores the southern Pacific
in the 1770s
13
European Exploration, Cook’s Voyages in the
Pacific Ocean, 1519-1780, and Magellan’s Voyages
14
Establishment of Trading-Post
Empires
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Portuguese first to set up trading posts
 Fifty by mid-sixteenth century
Not to establish trade monopolies, but to make merchants pay
duties
Afonso d’Alboquerque (1453-1515) was the naval commander
who brought the Indian Ocean under Portuguese control
 Architect of trade duties policy; violators would have hands
amputated
Yet Arab traders continue to evade him and operate
Portuguese control declines by end of 16th century; the small
country can’t sustain the manpower necessary to do so
15
English and Dutch Trading Posts
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In the 1600s and 1700s, rival, parallel trading
networks develop mainly in India and the East
Indies, and on a smaller scale in North America
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English seize “New Amsterdam” from the Dutch in 1664 and
rename it “New York”
English mainly focus on Indian trade, setting up
posts in Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta
Dutch in Cape Town, Colombo, and Batavia (now
Jakarta on the Indonesian island of Java)
16
European Trading Posts in Africa and
Asia, about 1700
17
The Trading Companies
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Advantage of Dutch and English over Portuguese
English East India Company, established 1600
Dutch United East India Company (VOC, which
stands for Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie),
established 1602
Privately owned ships, government support
Empowered with right to engage in trade, build
posts, even make war
Exceptionally profitable
18
The Trading Companies
VOC ship Mauritius ca. 1618 painted by Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom
19
European Conquests in Southeast Asia
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Spanish conquer Philippines in 1565 under
conquistador López de Legazpi (1502-1572), name
them after King Philip II
Manila proclaimed capital in 1571 and becomes
major port city
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Influx of Chinese traders, highly resented by Spanish, Filipinos
Frequent massacres throughout seventeenth, up to nineteenth
century
Significant missionary activity
Dutch concentrate on spice trade in Indonesia
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Establish Batavia, trading post in Java
Less missionary activity
20
Russian Expansion in Asia
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Russians begin to take over Mongol khanates in
Central Asia in mid-sixteenth century
Astrakhan becomes major trading city
Caucasus absorbed into Russian Empire in the
eighteenth century
Expansion into Siberia from the sixteenth to
seventeenth century
Trade with indigenous Siberian peoples
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Little success with missionary efforts
Some local rebellions
.
21
Russian Occupation of Siberia
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As early as the 1590s, criminals and prisoners of
war were exiled to Siberia
Beginning in the 1600s, many fugitive peasants
fled east to escape harsh conditions of serfdom
Trading posts develop
Russian population expands dramatically
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In 1763: 420,000 Russians in Siberia, outnumber
indigenous peoples 2:1
22
The Seven Years’ War (1756-1763)
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Commercial rivalries between empires at sea
Global conflict erupts: multiple theatres in
Europe, India, Caribbean, North America
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North America: merges with French and Indian War,
1754-1763
British emerge victorious, establish primacy in
India, Canada
23
The Seven Years’ War (1756-1763)
Blue: Great Britain, Prussia, Portugal, with allies
Green: France, Spain, Austria, Russia, Sweden with allies
24
The Columbian Exchange
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Named for Christopher Columbus
Global diffusion:
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Plants and crops
Animals
Human populations
Disease pathogens
Links between previously
independent biological zones
Permanently alters human geography, natural
environment
1563 German illustration of a tomato plant
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25
Epidemic Diseases & Population Decline
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Smallpox
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No prior exposure to these diseases in western
hemisphere or Oceania
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Also bubonic plague, chicken pox, cholera, common cold,
diphtheria, influenza, leprosy, malaria, typhoid, whooping
cough, yellow fever
No inherited, acquired immunities (in part due to lack of
domesticated animals)
1519 smallpox outbreak hits the Aztec empire
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Population declines 90 percent within 100 years (17 million
to 1.3 million)
.
26
Food Crops and Animals
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Columbian exchange also increases overall food
supply
Introduction of European animals to Americas
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Horses, cattle, pigs, chickens, rats, etc.
Introduction of American foods and crops to
Europe, Asia, Africa
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Maize, potatoes, beans, cocoa, etc.
The tomato was only slowly accepted in Europe
because it was thought to be poisonous
Spanish introduced tobacco to Europe by 1520
27
World Population Growth, 1500-1800 C.E.
900
800
700
600
500
Millions
400
300
200
100
0
1500
1600
1700
1800
28
Migrations
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Enslaved Africans
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To South America, Caribbean, and North America
Curiously, only five percent of enslaved Africans go to
North America—the vast majority of the more than
twelve million who made the voyage went to South
America and the Caribbean (a little less than 600,000)
European colonizers
29
Origins of Global Trade
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Transoceanic trade in Atlantic Ocean basin
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Manufactured goods from Europe
Raw goods from Americas
The Manila galleons
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1565-1815, Spanish galleons dominate Pacific Ocean
trade
Chinese luxury goods for American raw materials,
especially silver
30
Environmental Effects of Global
Trade
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Fur-bearing animals hunted to extinction or
near-extinction in North America and Siberia
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Also whales, codfish, other animals with early industrial
uses
Relentless human exploitation of the natural
environment, especially through logging and mining
By 1750, nearly all populated parts of the world
except Australia were integrated into some global
trade networks
31