2. history of European colonization: Chapter 2: The major metropoles

27.32

settlements Portugal dates

• 1415: ceuta (first settlement)

• 1419: madeira

• 1427-1431: azores

• 1434: cape bojador

• 1460: cape verde

• 1462: serra lyoa

• 1470: sao Tomé and Principe

• 1472: Bioko

• 1473: annobon

• 1483: congo river (diogo cao)

• 1487: cape of good hope (bartolomeu dias) = hope to circumvent africa and reach india

india:

• 1498: Calicut (vasco da gama)

• 1510: Goa (afonso de albuquerque)

Henry the navigator

• late 14th till 15th century

• prince of Portugal

• obsessed with naval travel and supported trips

reasons portugese exploration

• location

• fighting muslims

  • ottomans (emerging in 15th century) blocked old trade routes with east

  • portuguese nation < Reconquista (recapture territory) on muslims

• aspirations

  • hope to find gold

  • prester john (legend) and a grand alliance christians (hoped to create this)

estado da india

• indian state

• established by afonso de albuquerque in goa (capital portugese empire)

• dominance of the oceans

  • armed ships

• enclaves

  • no conquest of land due to demographic incapacity

• trade with Europe

  • 40% pepper trade

• taxation of trade on the indian ocean

Spanish reach america

1492 => Portugal had rejected columbus in 1484 (very upset)

treaty of tordesillas

1494

—> solving spanish-portugese rivalry by dividing the world into 2 spheres of influence

(very similar to situation in berlin after war

Portugal reaches Brazil

• 1500

• Pedro Alvares Cabral

• not only trade but also plantations

• gradually more to the inland for slaves and gems (<=> Africa)

• immigration of europeans and African slaves

• treaty of Madrid (1750): correction on Tordesillas

collapse of portugese empire (disintegration)

• 1578: defeated by Morocco at El Ksar-el-Kebir

  • death of king sebastian

  • 1580-1640: Portugal occupied by spain (same monarch)

• 1588-1654: weakened by spain’s wars (against the dutch,…)

  • dutch and english victories in Asia

    • Portugal loses inter alia malacca (Malaysia) and Ceylon (Sri lanka)

    • portugal keeps Macau, portuguese India and East Timor

  • portuguese victories in Brazil and Africa

• 19th c: loss of brazil & expansion in Africa (Angola and Mozambique)

• 1974: decolonization after carnation revolution

Spain as unique and pioneer

• used mostly Italian travellers: Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci,

• pioneer

  • conquest of vast territories (<=> portugal = trade settlements)

  • economic exploitation

  • demographic impact

conquest of vast territories by spain

• 1492: Hispaniola (Haiti + Domenican Republic) => first capital of spanish colonial empire in santo domingo (first one in America)

• 1512: Panama (american continent)

  • 1519-21: Mayas & aztecs (cortés) —> New Spain

  • 1524-32: Incas (Pizarro) —> New Grenada & Peru

  • 1536: Buenos Aires; 1541: Santiago

• Philippines (1521: Magellan=first to circumvent the globe; 1565: Manila)

• North America:

  • 1565: florida

  • 1595-: New Mexico (and Arizona)

  • 1602 (actually 18th c.): California

  • 1763: Louisiana (took over french colony)

voyages of Christopher columbus

• 1492-1504

economic exploitation by spain

new forms of enrichment (making money out of colonies) => became richest country in Europe

• silver mines in Mexico and Peru

• plantations & Haciendas (coffee, cotton, sugar)

but

• inflation and bankruptcy

• many wars

  • victories: charles V, lepanto (1571)

  • defeats: Armada (1588) & thirty years’ war (1618-1648)

  • 1713: loss of possessions in Italy and Low Countries

demographic impact of Spain

• the columbian exchange

  • Fauna and Flora

  • diseases (smallpox and influenza)

    • Hispaniola: 3-4 M = 1500: 15000 ppl, 1570: 0 ppl

    • America: 1600: 1/10 of ppl in 1500

• almost empty continent => new immigration waves

  • white settlers

    • 240.000 Spaniards in 16th and 500.000 in 17th c

  • the transatlantic slave trade (mostly by Portugal) = deportation of 11M African slaves

  • ethnic mixes: mestizos (EU + local populations), mulattos (EU + Africans) and zambos (Americans + Africans)

disintegration of spanish empire

• 17th century: loss of many carribean islands

  • jamaica, st domingue (haiti), guyana,…

• 18th c: still victorious

  • The Jenkins’ Ear War (1739-1742) = spain defeated britain, spanish empire kept existing for another century

• 1810-1825: decolonization

  • loss of latin american continent

• 1898: Spanish-american War

  • loss of puerto rico, cuba and philippines

• 20th c: minor colonies

  • equatorial guinea, spanish sahara, parts of morocco

dutch particularities

• background

  • naval expertise (just like portugal and Spain)

  • eighty years’ war with spain (and portugal)

    —> low countries split in north and south

    —> stretched to colonies

• the officially chartered company (17th century)

  • first modern joint stock company (shares)

    —> accumulate a lot of money for rather risky project, since there were many share holders individual risk was reduced

  • trading firm with military and political power (state was involved)

  • two companies (smaller comagnies joined)

    • 1602: Vereenigde Oost-indische compagnie

    • 1621: westindische (caribean) compagnie

• trade monopoly

  • initially spices, later also coffee, tea and textile

the northeastern passage

• dutch republic: willem Barentsz (1594-97)

  • reached spitsbergen, wintering on nova zembla

• looking for india

• decided it was not the best idea

muscovy company

• England

• 1555

• reached novaya zemlya, via white sea to russia

the northwestern passage

• Henry Hudson (1565-1611)

  • 2 trips looking for passage to india:

    • 1609: for the dutch VOC => New York (Hudson river)

    • 1610: for england => Canada (hudson bay)

      —> killed by crew

timeline the New Netherlands

• 1609: explored (Hudson)

• 1615: first fortification

• 1623: province

• 1626: purchase of manhattan (island, very cheap)

  • Peter Minuit (“Belgian”) & new amsterdam (Island Man)

• 1664: conquered by England

  • New York

the southeastern passage

• Jan Huygen van Linschoten (1563-1611): Itinerario (1596)

• after failures of northwestern and northeastern => went to portuguese for information (experience, information from arabs,…)

• kickstart golden age VOC

conquests VOC

• 1605: spice islands (moluccas, present day indonesia) = treasury of spices

  —> cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper,…

• 1619: batavia (java, present-day jakarta)

• 1641: Malacca (present day Malaysia) = very strategic

• 1658: Ceylon

• India

European settlements in India

• coastline was patchwork of different european empires

• inland was not European

trade posts VOC

• Taiwan (1624, 1662 driven away by coxinga)

• Japan (1641-1853 the Dutch only Europeans who were allowed to trade once a year on artificial island Deshima near Nagasaki = superior position)

resupply points VOC

• cape colony (Jan van Riebeeck, 1652) = dutch settlers called boeren

further exploration by VOC

• New Holland (Australia)

  —> dutch captains: Willem Jansz (beginning 17th c), Abel Tasman (middle 17th c —> tasmania) = did not completely circumvent the island, Johan Blaeu (1659)

• New Zealand

piracy WIC

• compete with spanish in america (caribean) => attacked spanish ships full of silver

• Piet Hein (1577-1629) and the Silver Fleet (1628) = successful raid

• state terrorism

wars WIC

• with spain

  • dutch antilles (Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire): 1620-1648

• with portugal

  • ex temporary conquest Recife/Mauritszstad Brazil: 1630-1654)

• with england

  • 1664: loss of New Netherlands => not too bad cuz much more interested in more lucrative Guyana’s

  • 1667: conquest of Suriname on England (British Guyana)

English particularities

• similar to other European metropoles:

  • maritime tradition (it’s an island!)

  • competition (17th c: Dutch, 18th c: French, 19th c: Russia)

• different from other European metropoles

  • The Irish experience (1536)

    • the colonization of Ireland

    • establishment of plantations

    • settlers gained demographic majority in some regions

  • families were moving not just men

  • technological innovations (religious reasons)

  • mass-produced articles (textiles,…) rather than luxury goods (<=> Dutch empire)

  • profusion rather than scarcity and monopoly

first decades English colonization

• John Cabot (1451-1498): 1497 Newfoundland (Italian sailor under English flag)

• Francis Drake: 1577-1580 world travel (reached California) = circumvented the globe

= attempts to make own discoveries

the first voyages around the world

piracy and raids England

• Francis Drake (in peacetime) = attacked spanish silver fleets (state terrorism)

• Henry Morgan in the 1660s (first governor of Jamaica)

Wars england

• with spain

  • Francis Drake: 1588 defeat Armada (Spanish fleet)

  • conquest of spanish or foundation of new colonies

England in the caribbean

• gradual conquest of spanish colonies

  • many attempts ia Barbados and Guyana = permanent

  • 1655: Jamaica (Morgan becomes governor)

  • 1666: Bahamas

• profit from sugar plantations

  • 1773: Jamaica 5X more profitable than British North America (=> much more keen on keeping this colony)

  • carribean planters were willing to pay roughly 8 or 9 times what a slave costs on the West African coast

England in North America

• 1607-1624: Jamestown (Virginia company, first english company —> pocahontas) = economy

  • tobacco, but exhausted soil and prices collapsed

  • terra nullius and native americans

• 1620: Plymouth (Pilgrim Fathers, first permanent english colony in present-day US) = religion

  • families & procreation (one of many reasons why america now majority white populations) vs mixed races in spain

• 1644: New York = conquest

• 1681: Pennsylvania (william Penn & Quakers) = philosophy (±religious)

  • Tolerance: Philadelphia (“brotherly love”)

  • mass migration (British Isles, Germany,…)

==> different colonies established in different times for different reasons

The thirteen Colonies

British North America

British colonies in north america cs 1750

• Newfoundland

• Nova Scotia (acadia)

• the thirteen colonies

• bermuda

• bahamas

• belize

• jamaica

• lesser antilles

England in Asia

• 1600: English East India Company

  • only 1/10 of means of VOC

• first attempts

  • succes in India (1612: Surat on Portuguese)

  • Failure in East Indies (1622: ‘massacre of Amboyna’)

• gradual growth

  • 1639: fort St George (Madras/Chennai)

  • 1661: Bom Bahia (bombay/mumbai)

  • 1690: Fort william (calcutta/kolkata)

Anglo-Dutch Wars

• Oliver Cromwell (17th c, interregnum, lord protector of the commonwealth of england, scotland and ireland)

  • expansion of naval fleet

    • doubled between 1649 and 1660

  • navigation acts (1651, 1660)

    • restricted foreign shipping for trade England and its colonies = obstruct the Dutch => war

• 1652-54, 1664-67, 1672-74

• dutch proved stronger than england (victories Maarten Tromp and Michiel De Ruyter)

• Glorious revolution

  • 1688

  • william III of Orange marries Mary of England

  • collaboration

    • bank of england & stock exchange (financial expertise of dutch)

  • dutch keep supremacy until 1720

most important centuries for major metropoles

• 15th c: portuguese

• 16th c: Spanish

• 17th c: Dutch

• 18th c: English

french particularities

• world leader eg in 1700

  • territory: france 2x larger than britain

  • population: france 3x larger than britain

• little colonial interest (focussed on European continent)

  • colonies: often (some exceptions) big and thinly populated areas (didn’t want to lag behind <=> failed to invest)

    • little development

    • little immigration (exception algeria)

  • more about politics than about trade

    • compagnie des indes: nobles rather than merchants

    • 1740: french export from india only half of british one

the New World France

• Canada

  • 1534-42: Jacques Cartier explores St Lawrence

  • 1604: Acadia

  • 1608: Samuel de Champelain founds Québec

• French Guyana (1624 ff)

  • many traces of French: place names, baguettes, buildings,…

• Caribbean (1635ff)

  • Guadeloupe & Martinique (conquered on the spanish)

  • St Domingue (Haiti, officially in 1697) (half of hispaniola, first place columbus reached)

• Louisiana

  • named after Louis XIV

  • 1682: Cavalier de La Salle (1643-1687) sails the Mississippi river => french able to claim large territory

La nouvelle france

very big => surrounded british north america

France in the old world

• 1624ff: Senegal

• 1664: compagnie française des Indes orientales

  • islands in indian ocean

    • réunion, mauritius, seychelles

  • 1673ff: colonies in India

    • pondicherry, chandernagar,…

la france d’outre-mer

overseas departments and territories of France

Ostend company

• 1717-1731

• Austria got southern netherlands => access to north sea

• 55 ships to China and India

• Banquibazar (1726-29/44) = settlement in India => “first belgian colony”

other metropoles

• Ostend company

• Danish East India Company (1616)

• Swedish East India Company (1731-1813)

• Prussia

• Courland