European Exploration & Empires

What factors in Europe contributed to the changes in their economy?

• Mercantilism: maximize exports →more silver & gold

• Renaissance + Protestant reformation → new ideas/values

  • Catholic church began losing revenue

• Establishment of new trade routes (Age of Exploration)

  • more interconnections with others

• Technological advancements → aided colonization

What prompted Europeans to explore & what new forms of technology enabled this?

3 g’s: God, Gold, & Glory

Astrolabe, Compass, Caravel

How were Europeans able to control trade routes?

• Avoidance of Ottoman Turks in the middle →exploration of alternate routes (Giant U turn) to Asia

• Military might

  • Monopoly over sites of production (EX: Dutch East India Company & Indonesia)

• Establishment of several strategies to ensure wealth

  • Such as mercantilism, trading companies, colonies, etc, all of which consolidated power to do things like gain monopolies/impose tariffs

What role did Europe play in Southeast Asia?

Europeans utilized trading post empires

• Portuguese monopolize spice trade in Malacca

• Dutch East India Company controlled Indonesian spice islands

• Spain colonizes Philippines →Manila (capital)

  • Major site of trade w/ China

  • Christianity

How does Russian expansion compare to Western Europe?

Russian expansion was primarily land based (Siberia & central Asia)

How did the Columbian Exchange affect China?

• Introduced new crops; like Africa, better nutrition →more population growth + integration of diverse foods into culture

• Silver boosted Chinese economy + increased trade w/ Europe

What role did China play in Southeast Asia?

• China heavily involved w/ trade, especially in Manila (Philippines capital)

  • Their resistance to Spanish conversion led to them being massacred

What role did technology play in Chinese trade?

Compass, gunpowder, paper making & printing, & trade networks → economic growth & cultural exchange

How did the Columbian Exchange affect the Islamic empires?

• New crops (like potatoes, maize, & tomatoes) → staples in diet

• Popularized coffee & tobacco

  • frowned upon at first but then people started liking it

How receptive were the Islamic empires to foreign trade?

Highly receptive, viewed it as..

• a source of wealth

• cultural exchange

• political influence (control over trade routes & accessibility to goods)

• essential to their economy & societies

How did new contacts affect religion?

• Spread of religion (Catholicism & Protestantism)

  • Mass conversion (EX: Spanish converting Native Americans & Filipinos)

• Syncretic religions

  • Voodooism: West African traditions + Catholicism