AP World History 4.5 Maritime Empires Develop

Dutch East India Company

A company chartered in 1602 that allowed residents of the Netherlands to participate in trade with varying amounts of investment.

Maritime Empires

Sea-based empires that transformed commerce from local trading to large-scale international trade using gold and silver.

Joint-Stock Companies

Economic models where investors financed trade by buying shares in corporations, such as the East India Company.

Atlantic Trading System

The movement of labor, including slaves, and the mixing of African, American, and European cultures.

Mercantilist Empires

Empires that relied on silver, sugar, and slavery for their development.

Accumulation of Capital

The growth of material wealth available to produce more wealth in Western Europe.

Commercial Revolution

The transformation to a trade-based economy using gold and silver, affecting all regions of the world.

Price Revolution

The high rate of inflation in the 16th and early 17th century, characterized by a general rise in prices.

Limited Liability

The principle that an investor is not responsible for a company's debts beyond the amount of their investment.

European Middle Class

A developing class that had capital to invest from successful businesses and money to purchase imported luxuries.

British East India Company

A joint-stock company established in 1600 that played a significant role in British trade.

Trade Routes

Paths established for commerce, maintained by the Dutch to connect Europe with Latin America, North America, South Africa, and Indonesia.

Inflation

The general rise in prices, partly caused by population growth and increased amounts of gold and silver in circulation.

Economic Strategies

Methods used by countries to maximize gold and silver by selling goods to other countries and minimizing spending on imports.

Laborers

Individuals who, due to the accumulation of capital, were positioned to become consumers and investors.

Exploration Ventures

Efforts supported by joint-stock companies to explore and colonize distant lands with limited risk to investors.

Dutch Commercial Advantage

The advantage held by Dutch ships, which were faster and lighter than those of their rivals during most of the 17th century.

Cultural Synthesis

The blending of African, American, and European cultures and peoples as a result of the Atlantic trading system.

Economic Models

New frameworks for trade and investment that emerged during the rise of maritime empires.

Entrepreneurs

Individuals who entered long-distance markets, contributing to the growth of capital in Western Europe.

Government Investment

In Spain and Portugal, the government primarily funded exploration through grants to explorers.

Stock Exchange

A market established by the Dutch as early as 1602 for trading shares.

Bank of Amsterdam

An institution that began trading currency internationally by 1609.

Financial Bubbles

Speculative financial schemes based on the sale of shares to investors promising returns, which eventually burst, causing massive losses.

Triangular Trade

A complex Atlantic trading system involving three segments: European goods to West Africa, enslaved Africans to the Americas, and sugar or tobacco to Europe.

Sugar

The most profitable good from the Americas, particularly from Caribbean production.

Caribbean Rum

A product made from sugar that financed fortunes in Britain, France, and the Netherlands by the 1700s.

Portuguese Naval Victory

The Portuguese defeated a combined Muslim and Venetian force in a naval battle in the Arabian Sea in 1509.

Moroccan Forces

Defeated the Songhai Kingdom in 1590 using firearms despite being outnumbered.

Spanish Colonies

Sources of silver that flowed to Asia, where goods like silks and porcelain were exchanged for silver.

Monopolies

Exclusive rights granted to certain merchants or the government to trade, such as the Spanish monopoly over tobacco.

Tobacco Revenues

Made up about one-third of total revenues for the Spanish government from its American colonies.

Afro-Eurasian Markets

Traditional regional markets that continued to flourish alongside new global trade networks.

Improved Shipping

Enhanced the volume of products that merchants could trade.

Enslaved Africans

Labor source transported through the triangular trade from West Africa to the Americas.

European Manufactured Goods

Products such as firearms sent to West Africa as part of the triangular trade.

Songhai Kingdom

An empire that was defeated by Moroccan forces in 1590 despite having a greater number of fighters.

Diamonds, Linen, Pottery, Tulip Bulbs

Goods that contributed to the high standard of living in the Netherlands during the 17th century.

Bankruptcy

A state many investors faced after the bursting of financial bubbles.

Atlantic Ocean Trade

Significant trade that developed after Europeans discovered the Americas.

Speculative Financial Schemes

Investment strategies that promised returns but often led to financial disaster.

Atlantic Slave Trade

A trade system that weakened several West African kingdoms, such as Kongo, and slowed population growth due to the loss of people.

Dahomey

An African society that became richer from selling captives to Europeans during the slave trade.

Oyo

An African society that conducted slave raids and benefited economically from the Atlantic Slave Trade.

Polygyny

The practice of taking more than one wife, which rose due to the gender imbalance caused by the slave trade.

Columbian Exchange

The exchange that introduced new crops such as maize, peanuts, and manioc to Africa, ultimately spurring population growth.

Viceroys

Spanish royalty appointed officials to act as administrators and representatives of the Spanish crown in colonial Latin America.

Audiencias

Royal courts established by Spain to which settlers could appeal viceroys' decisions or policies.

Conquistadors

Spanish conquerors, such as Cortés, who ordered the burning of native books and contributed to the loss of indigenous culture.

Nahuatl

The language of the Aztec, in which very few original accounts exist today due to the destruction of documents by Spanish conquistadors.

Population Growth

An increase in population spurred by an improved diet from new crops introduced during the Columbian Exchange.

Slave Raiding Kingdoms

African societies that became economically dependent on European goods by conducting slave raids.

Cultural Erasure

The process by which European empires in the Americas erased the basic social structures and many cultural traditions of indigenous peoples.

Intergroup Warfare

Increased conflict among societies as a result of the slave trade, leading to bloodier and more common warfare.

Economic Dependence

The condition of African slave-raiding kingdoms becoming reliant on European goods due to the slave trade.

Political Changes

The replacement of indigenous political structures in Latin America by Spanish and Portuguese colonial administrations.

Transportation and Communication

Challenges faced by the Spanish crown in exercising direct control over New Spain due to slow networks between Europe and the Americas.

Scarcity of Firsthand Accounts

The limited availability of original documents from indigenous peoples, affecting historians' understanding of the period.

Cultural Changes

The significant loss of culture and history experienced by indigenous peoples at the hands of European conquerors.

Economic Growth

The increase in wealth for societies like Dahomey due to the sale of slaves, which also led to political advantages.

Firearms

Weapons that gave raiding societies an advantage over rival groups that lacked them, intensifying the effects of the slave trade.

Guns for Slaves

The exchange of slaves for firearms, which fortified raiding societies and increased their wealth.

Gender Imbalance

The disproportionate ratio of males to females in West African societies due to the slave trade, leading to social changes.

Florentine Codex

A compilation by Bernardino de Sahagún in 1545, considered one of the most widely cited sources about Aztec life before conquest.

Creoles

Individuals born in America of Spanish origin who enjoyed political dominance in New Spain by 1750.

Syncretic belief systems

Religious systems that combine different religious beliefs and practices, often arising from cultural interactions.

Santería

A religion meaning 'the way of the saints,' originally an African faith that became popular in Cuba and spread throughout Latin America.

Vodun

A belief system meaning 'spirit' or 'deity,' originating with African peoples of Dahomey, Kongo, and Yoruba in Haiti.

Candomblé

A religion meaning 'dance to honor the gods,' combining Yoruba, Fon, and Bantu beliefs, developed in Brazil.

African American church

A hybrid of Christianity and African spiritual traditions, one of the oldest and most stable institutions in African American communities.

Islam in the Americas

About 1 in 10 of the enslaved Africans practiced Islam, marking the first significant presence of Islam in the Americas.

Catholic religious orders

Groups such as the Dominicans, Jesuits, and Franciscans that sent missionaries to Latin America to convert people to Christianity.

Virgin of Guadalupe

A dark-complexioned Virgin revered in Mexico for her ability to perform miracles, associated with religious syncretism.

Sufism

A mystical Islamic belief system focused on personal salvation, which helped spread Islam and may have influenced Sikhism.

Mughal leader Akbar

A leader who tried to mediate conflicts between Muslims and Hindus under his control.

Sunni and Shi'a split

A division within Islam that worsened conflicts between the Ottoman and Safavid empires.

Catholicism and Protestantism split

A religious division that contributed to the settlement of North America as people sought freedom to worship.

Spanish and Portuguese languages

Languages transplanted into the Americas by conquerors, with Spanish predominating in Latin America and Portuguese in Brazil.

Religious conflicts

Conflicts that arose as global interactions increased, often influenced by differing religious beliefs.

Indigenous languages

Languages that thrive in certain regions of Guatemala and Mexico, despite Spanish predominance in much of Latin America.

Political dominance of creoles

The situation by 1750 where individuals of Spanish origin born in America held significant political power in New Spain.

Religious syncretism in Spanish colonies

The blending of Catholic and indigenous beliefs, exemplified by the celebration of Catholic saints' days alongside indigenous honored days.

Protestant denominations in Latin America

Religious groups that have begun to gain members in recent decades, alongside the predominant Roman Catholicism.

Cultural interaction remnants

The lasting effects of Spanish and Portuguese cultural influences in the Americas, evident in language and religion.

capital

The wealth or resources used to produce goods and services.

syncretism

The blending of different religious and cultural beliefs and practices.

East India Company

A British trading company established in 1600 to exploit trade in the East Indies.

Santéria

A syncretic religion that blends African traditions with Catholicism, primarily practiced in Cuba.

monopoly

The exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service.