Exploration, Conquest, & Colonization, Mercantilism → Capitalism

Exploration is intertwined with Mercantilism & Capitalism sooo that's why they are on the same set

Who was Zheng He & what did he do?

• ZH was a mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during the early Ming Dynasty

• led 7 Chinese maritime expeditions in the early 15th century

  • China → SE Asia → India → Red Sea → E Africa

• Fleets with as many as 317 vessels and 28,000 men

What were the various goals of the expeditions?

• reassert China’s power after the demise of the Yuan dynasty

• giving expensive gifts along the way

• exacting tribute from those encountered

• impressing others with power through sheer size of the expeditions and the ships

• bringing back information to the emperor

  • what he saw along the way – strengths, weaknesses, potential threats, allies, etc

  • brought back exotic plants, animals (giraffe), goods for the emperor – often even diplomats/ambassador types

  • new trade partnerships did happen, though they were an unintended consequence

Who was involved with exploration?

• Portugal & Spain = the kings of exploration

  • Portugal explores first, quickly followed by Spain

  • bickered over who got what in the Americas by the late 1400s

  • the Pope had to settle their dispute in 1493-94 with the Treaty of Tordesillas

• England, France, Netherlands get involved later, also with eyes on land in the Americas

Who was Henry the Navigator?

• aka Prince Henry

• led conquest of Ceuta in Morocco – he gets excited (bc he sees gold/slaves) & gets into bankrolling exploration of Africa

• interests (motivations): wants to find source of gold trade by sailing the coast of Africa 

• actions: 

  • directed development of ships that could do this (ships before were too slow and heavy)

    • used a mixture of classical, Arabic, & Asian technologies

  • donated $$ & facilities to get more schools going for all the humanities – grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, music, astronomy

  • established the Navigation School, which improved navigation technology & attracted Genoese, Jewish, & Portuguese men to study

What did the Treaty of Tordesillas declare? And what were its implications on each country?

Treaty of Tordesillas established a north-to-south separation line in Atlantic 100 leagues W of Cape Verde Islands, off coast of NW Africa

• All land east of that line = Portugal

  • faced toward Africa & Indian Ocean

  • dominated trade from Africa to China

  • but had to settle for quick trade profits

  • Muslims, Hindus, & Buddhists (ppl they traded with) weren’t interested in P’s evangelism

• All land west of that line = Spain

  • faced toward America

  • discovered that after conquering Mexica & Inca…all would be theirs

What was the Columbian Exchange & what did it accomplish?

a transfer of plants, animals, metals, commodities, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, people, & ideas

Ex.) E Hemisphere hadn’t ever seen a tomato before

Led to the hemispheres interacting regularly as never before, essentially establishing world history as known today.

Why did these countries (Portugal, Spain, England, France, & Netherlands) even want to have land in the Americas?

To make money.

Colonies in America made money for these countries by making resources for Euro countries to manufacture & then sell. In essence bc of mercantilism.

What is mercantilism?

An economic system to benefit mother countries. Natural resources (GOLD & SILVER) are brought from colonies (in NW) to be manufactured, then sold for big profits, ultimately to make as much $$ as possible. 

Money is used to fund the states’ plans: new state armies, new bureaucrats to run the various parts of their newly centralized states, new technologies, and of course… for posturing

What is capitalism?

Individualism + mercantilism → Capitalism (individualism applied to economics, basically every man for himself and gov’t shouldn’t be involved) → more resources you have → more $$ you can make; cheaper your labor → more $ you make