Chapter 17 - Age of Exploration

Motives for exploration

Gold - Find valuable resources; precious metals, spices, fur

Glory - rivalries with other powers

God - spread Christianity, civilize

Means for exploration

- Improved sailing technology; ship design (Caravel) and instruments

- More accurate maps and advanced cartography

- Increased knowledge of wind patterns

Henry the Navigator

Discovers the gold coast on the Western coast of Africa

Vasco de Gama

Reaches the Indian Ocean. Returns cargo of spices for a massive profit. Began push to take spice trade from Muslims.

Bartholomew Dias

Reaches the southern tip of Africa known as the Cape of Good Hope

Christopher Columbus

Reaches the Americas but believes them to be the far East

Ferdinand Magellan

Sought passage through the Americas. Rounded tip of South America and went through the Pacific to reach the Philippines. Credited with being first to circumnavigate the globe.

John Cabot

Explorers New England Coastline in the Americas

Pedro Cabral

Claims territory of Brazil as colony

Amerigo Vespucci

Joins several voyages of other explorers as a writer. Documents new world.

Hernan Cortes

Conquistador and explorer that defeated the Aztec

Francisco Pizarro

Conquistador and explorer that defeated the Inca

European rivalries

The Dutch, French, and English, had begun to challenge the Portuguese and the Spanish for colonial dominance. They were motivated by the promise of gold and other precious goods.

Social Results of Exploration

- Columbian Exchange

- Slavery

- Colonization

Mercantilism

Type of economy that emerged in then Age of Exploration period.

Economic system that believed the prosperity of a nation depended on a large supply of gold and silver

Nations attempt to achieve favorable trade balance. Export more than import to return gold/silver profit. Use tariffs and embargos.

Columbian exchange

Exchanges of goods and ideas from Europe to the Americas and the Americas to Europe

Americas receive Positive: domesticated animals for food and laborNegative: diseases

Europe receivesPositive - new plants and animals/better diet that increases lifespanNegative - Bad morals/hostility towards others

Triangular Trade

Trade practices that connected Europe to Africa to the Americas and back to Europe to maximize profit.

Finished goods from Europe used to bribe cooperation of some African kingdoms.Slaves taken from Africa and sold to plantations/colonizes in Americas.Resources and cash crops sent from Americas back to Europe to be turned into more finished products.

Slavery

Middle passage of the Triangle of trade becomes the slave trade. Destroys African civilizations.

King Afonso of the Congo appealed to Europeans to stop the destruction of African culture and society. Was ignored.

Peninsulares

Spanish and Portuguese officials born in Europe that held the important government positions (considered other groups inferior)

Creoles

Descendants of Europeans born in Latin America

Mestizos

Multiracial group that held labor positions. Born from European and Native Americans

Mulattoes

Multiracial group that held labor positions. Born from European and African

Encomienda

Practice of forcing indigenous into labor

Mita

Practice of forcing indigenous into work in mining for precious metals

Jesuits

Led by Ignatius of Loyola; spread Catholicism through education. Associated with the objective to convert indigenous to Christianity.

Colonial government

Ruled by governors and the church out of necessity. This was due to the time it took to communicate between the colonies in the Americas and the mother country in Europe

Goals of Missionaries

Convert natives to Catholicism, teach trades, built schools, build churches, build hospitals, teach farming

Marco Polo

Secondary reason to why the Europeans were interested in exploration. Documents travel from Italy to China in book The Travels; fascinates Europe

Colonization

Destroys what is left of indigenous civilizations. Those that are not killed by disease and conflict pressed into labor on plantations.

Viewed as sources of raw materials for manufactured goods. Focused on cash crops like sugar, cotton, tobacco.

Ottoman Empire

Secondary reason to why the Europeans were interested in exploration. Restricted European trade by land to Asia. Looked for routes by water.

Destruction of Indigenous

- African civilizations for slavery

- Pre-Columbian civilizations destroyed through disease and colonization

Economic Results of Exploration

- Triangle of Trade

- Mercantilism

- Colonization

European Rivalries/Conflict

Nations competing to out-do one another; have the best colonies, and access to resources. Some nations focused on trade, others colonization.

Examples:

- Imperial Wars; wars fought over colonies, resources, trade routes.

- Control of Spice Trade prompts conflict. Passes from control by Portuguese to Spanish to Dutch (Dutch East/West India Companies).

Political Results of Exploration

- Destruction of indigenous civilizations

- European rivalries

Treaty of Tordesillas

One of few points of cooperation. Spain given ability to claim lands West of line (most of Americas). Portugal to claim East of line (Control of Spice Islands in SE Asia).

Other powers will catch up and they are aren't bound by it. England, France, Dutch, etc.