Exploration and Trade from Crusades to Columbus

Muslim merchants and Italian city-states

Controlled the Mediterranean trade routes between the Crusades and Columbus.

Motivations for Exploration

Access to Asian spices and luxury goods, spread of Christianity, glory and national prestige, curiosity from the Renaissance (humanism), technological advances in navigation, desire to bypass Muslim and Italian middlemen.

Portuguese exploration

First explored the West African coast with the goal of gold, slaves, and trade access.

Prince Henry (1394-1460)

Founded a navigation school in 1419, encouraged exploration of the African coast, advanced ship designs like the caravel, improved use of the astrolabe and magnetic compass.

Vasco da Gama

Reached Calicut, India (1498) via sea, opened a direct trade route to India, invaded Swahili city-states, returned to Portugal in 1499 with spices and wealth.

Cartographers

Mapped coastlines and routes, aiding future exploration.

Cape Town

First permanent European settlement in Africa (Dutch).

Privateer

A pirate licensed by a government to attack enemy ships.

Inculturation

Missionaries learned local languages and customs and adapted Christianity to local cultures to aid conversion.

Effects of the Columbian Exchange

Exchange of crops, animals, diseases; Europe got potatoes, corn, tomatoes; Americas got wheat, horses, cattle, smallpox; massive population loss among natives due to disease; cultural blending and new food supplies worldwide.

Effect of Silver

First globally traded commodity, extracted from mines in Peru and Mexico, caused inflation in Spain, fueled global trade with Asia (especially China).

Catholic missionaries

Converted most natives, especially the Spanish and Portuguese.

Triangular Trade

Europe to Africa: Manufactured goods (guns, textiles); Africa to Americas (Middle Passage): Slaves (high death rate); Americas to Europe: Raw goods (sugar, tobacco, cotton).

Obtaining slaves

Purchased from African rulers and traders, often exchanged for guns, rum, or goods.

Reasons for limited French migration to New France

Harsh climate, focus on fur trade over farming, government controlled immigration tightly.

Mulattoes

People of mixed African and European descent.

Mestizos

People of mixed Native American and European descent.

Ferdinand Magellan

Sailed west to Asia, first to round South America's tip (Strait of Magellan), crew was first to circumnavigate the globe, proved the world is round.

Line of Demarcation

1493-1494 Treaty of Tordesillas divided the world between Spain (west) and Portugal (east).

Hernan Cortés

Conquered the Aztecs using superior weapons and horses, formed alliances with enemies of the Aztecs, and disease (smallpox) weakened native resistance.

Francisco Pizarro

Conquered the Inca Empire (1530s), took advantage of civil war and disease, captured and killed Atahualpa.

Effects of the Slave Trade on Africa

Depopulation, political instability, increased warfare, economic disruption.

Effects of the Slave Trade on the Americas

Plantation economy dependence, cultural blending, racial hierarchies established.