A Wider World: European Expansion 1450-1600

From Lecture Notes and Wiesner-Hanks Textbook

What were households like in Early Modern Europe?

They were organised around a marital couple who supported themselves and paid obligations through agricultural production

What were the main reasons for travel in Early Modern Europe?

Trading luxury goods over land and sea routes (merchants) or visiting holy sites (pilgrims)

What was the dominant socio-economic group in European society?

The nobility

What major event would contribute to increased European exploration?

The Ottoman capture of Constantinople in 1453 and their continued expansion into southeastern Europe

What were main traits of the Christian church in central and western Europe?

It was a wealthy, hierarchical, and bureaucratic institution headed by the popes with significant power held by bishops

What was the major religion in Europe?

Christianity, although Jews and Muslims were also present

How was production mainly organised in Early Modern Europe?

It was organised through urban craft guilds with the exception of clothmaking and mining starting to be organised along capitalist lines

How were clothmaking and mining organised along capitalist lines?

An investor would provide the financial backing for machinery, tools, and raw materials and would pay workers wages

What were the most significant technological developments in Early Modern Europe?

The printing press and gunpowder, which was invented in China and spread westward by the Mongols

What was the main motivation for increased European exploration in the 15th century?

Existing trade networks, especially in the Indian Ocean

How did the Portuguese pursue exploration and trade?

They sailed around Africa to reach the Indian Ocean and profited from trade with West Africa, mainly of gold and slaves

How did Spain respond to Portuguese exploration and trade?

They aimed to compete and counter the rising Ottomans with Columbus’ 1492 voyage → landed in the Caribbean rather than Asia but sparked further exploration

Which nation built the largest empire in the Americas?

Spain, who conquered the Aztec and Inca empires

What was England’s initial exploration of North America like?

They explored, such as with John Cabot’s expedition, but wouldn’t establish successful colonies until the 1600s

What were the main impacts of European expansion to Asia?

They were minimal with local systems remaining in tact

What were the main impacts of European expansion on West Africa?

Trade and weapons disrupted power dynamics, fuelled warfare, and the slave trade rose and expanded

What were the main impacts of European expansion in the Americas?

Indigenous populations were devastated, being subject to deadly diseases and outmatched by European weaponry

What were the main economic impacts of European expansion on Europe?

• Plantations emerged and generated wealth

• Precious metals were mined and sold → gold and silver enriched

• Trade networks expanded and moved crops, animals, and people across continents

• Establishments of churches grew religons

What were the key commodities carried in the Indian Ocean trading network?

• Spices → food, medicine, prestige

• Textiles → widely traded, high demand

• Precious metals, pearls → valuable for trade and status

• Chinese porcelain and manufactured goods

• Slaves and raw materials

Why were nations attracted to trade routes in the Indian Ocean?

• High profits

• Bypassing of middlemen (Ottomans, Venetians)

• Already established trade networks make entering easier

• Religious/political motives → countering Muslim influence and increasing own power

What were Columbus’ preconceptions about what he would find on his voyages?

He believed the earth was smaller and hoped to reach Asia by sailing across the Atlantic → hoped to find gold, spices, friendly inhabitants, and Christian allies

How did Columbus’ preconceptions shape his voyage?

• Able to get state funding from Spain for his voyages

• Loaded his ship with preparations in anticipation of an Asian or Muslim court

• Thought that the Caribbean islands he found were off Asia and treated indigenous peoples accordingly

What were the two main motivations for European exploration?

1. Opportunities for ‘God, gold, and glory’ → religious conversion, profit, and national prestige

2. Restriction of typical trade routes by Ottoman Empire → increased pricing and reduced access

Why did the Aztec and Inca civilisations fall to European explorers?

They were decimated by diseases (small pox, measles, influenza) with population shrinking by over 90% as well as being vulnerable to more advanced European weapons and warfare

Why did initial European expansion not impact the Near East, India, and China?

They all had similar military technology and were able to adopt fighting techniques quickly to counter Europeans

How did European colonisation change Mesoamerica?

Mesoamerica became increasingly tied to Europe, being governed and occupied, evangelised, incorporated into trade networks, and exploited → shaped to more closely resemble Europeans through diet and activities

What crops became staples in Europe after colonisation of the Americas?

Tobacco, beans, maize, and the potato

How did religious conversion occur in the Americas?

Colonists were concerned due to traditional faith being maintained and syncretism, so had people build their churches to inspire faith

What were internal reasons for why the colonists not make indigenous Americans European?

1. Europe had become accustomed to increased diversity with the Reformation → individual states, differing beliefs, etc.

2. Competing religions made complete conversion of colonies more complex → differing states and religions competing for conversion and territory

3. Rise of pluralism in the Renaissance reduced expectations for uniformity, even in Europe

How did projections of the globe influence European trade?

Globes and maps fed into the European idea that the more of the world you knew and understood, the more you could control → ideals of domination and expansion

What were the three main world projections the Europeans had?

• Mappa Mundi (1300) → first globe; centre of the map is Italy due to Christian beliefs

• Waldseemüller map (1507) → first map representing Americas, although they are underdeveloped with SA being elongated and NA almost non-existent

• Mercator Projection Map (1720) → better representation of world through charting; Australia not completely defined; NA not completely defined

How was slave labour used in European expansion?

West African slaves were sold into labour in the west by many European nations → an estimated 10-15 million enslaved people and brought from West Africa

What was the largest, primary impact of European expansion?

The slow emergence of a global trade network/world economy → Dutch have one of the largest, most sophisticated trade networks