Causes and Effects of European Exploration (Unit 4)

Magnetic Compass

A navigational instrument from China that indicates direction.

Astrolabe

An ancient tool from Greece and the Arab world used to understand latitude.

Lateen Sail

A sail design from the Arab world that allows ships to cut through the wind.

Portuguese Caravel

A type of ship that was better able to navigate inland through rivers and shallow coastal areas, known for its speed.

Cross-Cultural Interactions

The exchange of knowledge, scientific learning, and technology among different cultures that facilitated changes in trade and travel patterns from 1450-1750.

Transoceanic Travel

Travel across oceans made possible by developments in tools, ship design, and understanding of wind and current patterns.

Seasonal Wind Patterns

Understanding of these patterns allowed explorers to navigate south of the Equator around Africa and explore the Indian Ocean.

Growth of State Power

The centralization of power by European monarchs, shifting power away from traditional nobles, which inspired maritime exploration.

Mercantilism

An economic theory that posits a finite amount of wealth in the world, leading countries to hoard silver and gold and maintain a favorable balance of trade.

Favorable Balance of Trade

A situation where a country takes in more gold and silver than it sends out, achieved through more exporting of goods and less importing.

Colonies in Mercantilism

Colonies created a closed market for exports from the imperial parent country, enriching it.

Economic Strategies

Methods employed by rulers to consolidate and maintain power throughout the period of exploration.

Joint-Stock Companies

Limited liability businesses chartered by states and funded by private investors, allowing them to risk only what they invested in a voyage.

Dutch East India Company (VOC)

A well-known joint-stock company chartered in 1602 that dominated Indian Ocean trade and expanded Dutch influence.

Limited Liability

A business structure where investors only risk the amount they put into a voyage, protecting their entire savings from loss.

Imperial Parent Country

The country that controls colonies and benefits from their resources and markets.

Economic Consolidation

The process of rulers expanding and controlling their economies through strategic economic policies.

Exploration Financing

The use of joint-stock companies by merchants to fund exploration efforts.

Global Trade Competition

The rivalry among rulers and states to dominate trade routes and resources during the age of exploration.

Prince Henry the Navigator

Brought together sailors, map makers, and shipbuilders to figure out how to sail down the Atlantic Coast of Africa to access West African gold.

Portuguese trading post empire

Created around the coast of Africa and throughout the Indian Ocean, consisting of trading posts called factories to control trade.

Caravels and gunpowder weapons

Technological advancements that helped the Portuguese achieve their maritime empire.

Christopher Columbus

Sponsored by the Spanish crown to find a western route to Asia for the spice trade, he found the Americas.

Spanish colonization

Involved lands in the Americas and the Philippines, demanding tribute and using coerced labor.

French exploration

Focused on trade rather than colonization, creating a presence in Canada that led to a lucrative fur trade.

Northern Atlantic crossings

Attempts by the English and Dutch to find routes to Asia.

Sir Walter Raleigh

Established England's first colony on Roanoke Island called Virginia.

Jamestown

Established in 1607 in the Americas, it was a more successful English colony compared to Roanoke.

British trade in India

Established before 1750 but not strong enough to defeat the Mughals.

Dutch independence

Gained from the Spanish, leading to the creation of the Dutch East India Company.

Dutch East India Company

Allowed the Dutch to challenge Spanish and Portuguese control in the Indian Ocean.

New Amsterdam

Settled by the Dutch in the Americas as part of their maritime empire.

Monopoly over the Indian Ocean spice trade

Achieved by the Dutch through their maritime activities.

Economic disputes

Led to rivalries and conflicts between European states.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of new diseases, food, plants, and animals between the Eastern and Western hemispheres.

Environmental phenomena

Describes the Columbian Exchange, which was not trade.

Diseases transferred to the Americas

Included disease vectors like mosquitoes and rats, leading to catastrophic effects on the indigenous population.

Indigenous population effects

Catastrophic due to the spread of diseases from European colonization.

Maritime empires

Established by European states including the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French, and British.

Political, religious, and economic rivalries

Drove European states to establish new maritime empires.

Lucrative fur trade

Result of French presence in Canada during their exploration.

Virginia

The name of the first colony established by Sir Walter Raleigh on Roanoke Island.

Roanoke Island

The site of England's first colony, which was a disaster.

Smallpox

A disease that contributed to the Great Dying of the indigenous population in the Americas, with a 90% mortality rate among those infected.

Great Dying

The significant decline of the indigenous population in the Americas due to diseases like smallpox, measles, and malaria.

Afro-Eurasian foods

Foods such as wheat, olives, grapes, rice, bananas, and sugar that were introduced to the Americas by Europeans.

Effect of Afro-Eurasian foods

Diversified the diet of Native Americans and contributed to an increase in lifespans.

American foods

Maize (corn) and potatoes that were introduced to Afro-Eurasia, leading to healthier populations.

Population explosion after 1700

A significant increase in population in Afro-Eurasia attributed to the introduction of American food crops.

Staple crops

American food crops that became essential in various parts of Afro-Eurasia, benefiting populations nutritionally.

Foods brought by enslaved Africans

Okra and rice were introduced to the Americas by enslaved Africans.

Braiding food into hair

A practice by enslaved parents to hide rice or other foods in their children's hair for survival during kidnappings.

Cash cropping

The practice of focusing on a specific crop for export, such as sugar, often grown on plantations with coerced labor.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of crops, animals, and goods between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia.

Animals in the Columbian Exchange

Pigs, sheep, cattle, and horses introduced by Europeans to the Americas for agricultural work and hunting.

Impact of animal transfer

Improved agricultural productivity and food supply for indigenous populations.

Japan's resistance to western powers

A response to European intrusion led by Tokugawa Japan, which included the suppression of Christianity and isolation from European powers.

Fronde Rebellion

A rebellion in France starting in 1648 against increased taxes, led by nobles and peasants against the centralized power of the king.

Centralized power

The process by which the king of France removed power from nobles to establish himself as an absolute monarch.

Christianity in Japan

A religion that became a threat to the Shogun, leading to the expulsion of missionaries and suppression of the faith.

Dutch trade with Japan

Despite isolation from European powers, Japan continued trading with the Dutch.

Slave resistance

Enslaved people who ran away formed maroon societies, which were small villages living outside imperial authorities.

Queen Nanny

Led a rebellion against British colonial troops in Jamaica and won, leading to a treaty recognizing the Maroons' freedom.

Asante Empire

Thrived c. 1450-1750 by trading ivory, gold, and enslaved people to Europeans, which helped expand their military and political power.

kingdom of the kongo

Gained power and wealth through trade relationships with the Portuguese, leading to the conversion of their leaders to Christianity.

Indian Ocean trade networks

Middle Eastern, South Asian, East Asian, and Southeast Asian merchants continued to trade, with European entry increasing Asian profits.

Gujarati merchants

Increased the wealth of the Mughal Empire through trade with Europeans.

Silk Roads

Controlled by various Asian land-based powers like Ming and Qing China and the Ottoman Empire during c. 1450-1750.

Portuguese shipping service

Became a new transoceanic and regional shipping service, exchanging goods between states and being paid for this service.

Peasant and artisan labor

Continued and intensified as demand for food and consumer goods increased, such as cotton in South Asia and silk in China.

Atlantic System

A new trading system that included the western hemisphere.

Atlantic trading system

The movement of goods, wealth, and labor, including slaves, between the eastern and western hemispheres.

Sugarcane

A trade good grown on plantations in the Americas.

Silver

A precious metal mined by coerced labor in the Americas that made Spain very rich and satisfied China's demand for silver.

Global circulation of goods

Facilitated by chartered European monopoly companies and the global flow of silver, especially from Spanish colonies in the Americas.

Mit'a system

An existing labor system utilized in the Americas where Native Americans were forced to work for part of the year in Spanish mines.

Spanish Mit'a

A labor system for private gain, differing from the Inca Mit'a which was for public benefit.

Chattel slavery

A form of slavery in which the enslaved person is owned like property, race-based and hereditary in the Americas.

Demographic changes

Changes in population structures, including gender imbalance in West Africa and the rise of polygyny due to reliance on enslaved males.

Trans-Atlantic slave trade

A massive slave trade system that was significantly larger in size compared to earlier systems.

Cultural synthesis

The mixing of African, American, and European cultures and peoples, leading to developments like creole languages in the Caribbean and Brazil.

Indentured servitude

A system where servants were bound to work for seven years and then could go free, mostly used by the British in North America.

Encomienda System

A labor system introduced in the Americas that involved the forced labor of indigenous people.

Forced indigenous labor

A labor system where Native Americans were compelled to work under coercion.

Joint-stock companies

Companies that handled trade in the Atlantic system.

Plantation economy

An economic system that increased the demand for slaves in the Americas.

Gender imbalance

A demographic consequence in West Africa resulting from the reliance on enslaved males.

Polygyny

A social structure where men marry more than one woman, which rose due to demographic changes from the slave trade.

Cultural developments

The emergence of new cultural forms, such as creole languages, due to the mixing of different cultural influences.

Hereditary slavery

A form of slavery in which the status of being enslaved is passed down through generations.

Afro-Eurasian trade networks

Older trade networks that existed before 1500, where a slave trade existed but was not race-based.

Incan Mit'a

A labor system for public benefit used by the Inca, contrasting with the Spanish Mit'a.

Economic dependence

The reliance of newly developed colonial economies in the Americas on existing labor systems.

Silver flow

The movement of silver from the Americas that was used to purchase Asian goods for the Atlantic markets.

Hacienda

Huge plantations on which Native Americans were forced to work.

Christian Missionaries

Mostly Jesuits who spread Christianity to the American colonies.

Syncretic Religions

Religions that blend elements of Christianity with indigenous practices, such as Vodun.

Inquisition

A Catholic Church effort to root out heresies in the Americas.

Casta System

A social hierarchy imposed by the Spanish based on ancestry and race, determining social rank.

Purity of Spanish Blood

The criterion used in the Casta system to determine social status.