New Monarchies, Globalization, and Individual Experiences in European Empires

Review: New Monarchies & Commercial Revolution- New Monarchs: Sought to reduce the power of the nobility (via taxation) and the church.- Commercial Revolution: Marked by the rise of banking, stock markets, increased money circulation in Europe, and the emergence of European empires (initially Spain and Portugal, later France and England).- Shift in Focus: Moving from state-level actors to the experiences of individuals.- The Beginnings of Globalization (16th-18th Centuries)- Defining Globalization: The spreading of culture, ideas, cultural norms, and increased interconnectedness across the globe (e.g., McDonald's in every country).- Historical Origin: The period between the 16^{th} and 18^{th} centuries is identified as the beginning of a process of globalization, though not at the scale of the late 20^{th} century.- Key Transformations:- Parts of the world previously disconnected became newly linked.- Significant reconfigurations of empires occurred.- Trade routes were established and operated beyond individual state boundaries.- The lives of many individuals were increasingly shaped by decisions made by people living far away (e.g., colonists in early America influenced by those in the metropole).- Material objects were transported and recombined in new places (e.g., Triangular Trade and Columbian Exchange reshaped European diets).- Uneven Impact: Offered possibilities for power and profit for some, but new forms of exploitation or enslavement for others. It was not a uniform exchange, with lives bound by "trade, war, money, power, and pain."- Methodology: Understanding global processes through an individualistic lens highlights human action and the agency people had in shaping historical events.- Queen Elizabeth I: England's Emergence on the Global Stage- Reign: Queen Elizabeth I ruled England between 1558 and 1603. She was the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty.- Empire Building: She played a crucial role in bringing England onto the global stage and initiating England's impulse for empire building.- Context of Rivalry: Spain and Portugal had been the dominant empire builders since the 15^{th} century. When Elizabeth ascended, England's maritime activity was concentrated near its own shores.- Motivation for Empire: England sought to emulate Spain and Portugal's imperial successes to gain wealth and prestige.- Rivalry with Spain:- Spanish Armada (1588): A large Spanish invasion (approx. 124 ships) was planned to overthrow Queen Elizabeth.- Defeat of the Armada: The English navy defeated the Spanish Armada, solidifying Britain's position as a dominant naval power. This naval supremacy lasted until World War I (specifically, until 1914), making England essentially "impossible to beat at sea until the 20^{th} century."- Depictions of Power and Aspiration:- Armada Portrait: Signaled wealth (jewelry) and imperial ambition (Elizabeth's hand on the globe, specifically North America, signifying England's colonial sights on the continent). The English Navy is depicted as victorious in clear weather, while the Spanish Armada is shown destroyed in stormy seas, attributing English success to the Queen.- Rainbow Portrait: Depicted Elizabeth as younger (around 30s) than her actual age of 70 when painted, an attempt to flatter and convey her timelessness, signifying the eternal monarchy. She holds a rainbow with the Latin inscription "No rainbow without the sun," portraying her as the indispensable center of the English universe. Her dress, covered in human eyes and ears, symbolized that "the crown is always listening and always watching you" (referencing Elizabeth's extensive spy network). A jeweled serpent on her sleeve represented wisdom and cunning. Her immense wealth was notable: over 600 pieces of jewelry in a 1687 inventory and over 2,000 dresses at her death in 1603.- England's First Empire: Ireland- Initial Colonization: Ireland was the location of England's first empire.- Duration: Ireland remained part of the English Empire until the early 20^{th} century, specifically the 1920s, following a War of Independence.- Modern Status: Northern Ireland remains part of Great Britain, while the Republic of Ireland (the South) is an independent state.- Empire in Popular Culture: John Donne's Poetry- Cultural Infiltration: The concept of empire began to infuse English culture, including artistic and literary works.- Example: John Donne's poem, "His Mistress Going to Bed," uses imperial metaphors to describe intimacy, comparing his lover to America: "Oh, my America, my newfound land, my kingdom safely is when with one man manned. My mine of precious stones, my empire, how blessed am I in discovering thee to enter in these bonds is to be free, then where my hand is set, my seal shall be." Donne was known for his erotic poetry in the 17^{th} century.- Virginia and the Algonquin Empire- Virginia's Naming: Named in honor of Queen Elizabeth, known as the "Virgin Queen" for never marrying.- Jamestown: The first permanent English settlement in the Americas, founded in 1607, named after King James, the reigning monarch.- Algonquin Empire: Prior to English incursions, the region was largely part of the Algonquin Empire, led by Chief Powhatan.- Pocahontas:- Encounter with John Smith (December 1607): Powhatan's daughter, Pocahontas, famously encountered John Smith, who was exploring the Chesapeake Bay. After being captured by Pocahontas's brother, Smith was purportedly saved from execution by Pocahontas's intervention, though some historians suggest this was an elaborate adoption ritual.- Anglo-Powhatan War (1609-1614): Tensions escalated into war due to colonists' starvation and Smith's return to England.- Peace through Marriage: Pocahontas was used as a hostage for negotiations. She declared her desire to "dwell with the Englishman who loved her" and subsequently married John Rolfe, securing a period of peace and partnership between the English and Algonquin Indians.- Transformation and Exploitation: Married as Rebecca Rolfe, she was baptized into the English church. The Virginia Company capitalized on her transformation, presenting her as a success story of converting a "savage" into a Christian, English woman. She visited London in 1616, was paraded as a symbol of colonial success, and received by the king.- Resistance and Death: Despite being paid £100 to return to Virginia and encourage the conversion of other Native Americans, Pocahontas was unwilling. She died at the age of 21 in 1617 on the boat shortly after leaving the English Channel, en route back to Virginia.- Eunice Williams and Cultural Mixing in Deerfield- Deerfield Context: In the 18^{th} century, Deerfield, Massachusetts, was England's westernmost outpost in North America, a township of about 50 families (270 people) focused on farming and trading. Its fertile land in the Connecticut River valley, purchased from indigenous populations, also made it vulnerable due to its proximity to New France (modern-day Canada).- Attack (February 1704): A combined force of French and Native Americans attacked Deerfield to create fear among New Englanders and claim the territory. Their primary goal was to take captives as an economic resource (for labor, ransom, or sale).- Captives' Fate: 112 Deerfield settlers were taken hostage, with only 89 surviving the harsh journey to Canada (the rest succumbed to hunger and cold). Most survivors were eventually sold to the French.- Eunice Williams's Story: A 7-year-old girl taken captive, Eunice was adopted by a Mohawk family. She learned their language (forgetting English), received a Mohawk name, married a Mohawk man, and raised children within the Mohawk community.- Resistance to Return: Despite her family's persistent efforts to retrieve her, Eunice chose to remain with her Mohawk family. She eventually returned to see her family in Deerfield after 36 years (1740), following her father's death, requiring an interpreter as she no longer spoke English. She made no plans for a permanent return to New England and died at age 89 in her Mohawk community.- Significance: Eunice Williams's experience exemplifies the complex processes of cultural mixing and individual choice within the context of imperial encounters, challenging a one-sided view of historical change.- European Empires in Asia: The British in India- Pre-existing Connections: Unlike the Americas, Asia was not "discovered" by Europeans; its existence, goods, ideas, and people had been known and exchanged for centuries.- Historical Importance: The East was crucial for Spanish and Portuguese ambitions (Columbus sought a route to Asia, and Spain aimed to break Italy's spice trade monopoly).- English East India Company (EIC):- Formation: Established in 1600 as a joint-stock company, a form of economic safeguard offering shared risk to investors.- Focus: By 1670, the EIC concentrated on trade between Europe and Asia, primarily exchanging gold and silver for highly valued Indian textiles.- Challenges: Europeans had to rely heavily on Asian intermediaries due to their knowledge of vast land networks and numerous Indian languages. This reliance on indigenous knowledge and India's established trade networks and diverse governmental systems (many princely states) made India much more difficult to conquer compared to the Americas. England had to operate within existing Indian frameworks.- Accounts of Interaction:- Dutch Account: Describes conflicts between the English and the Dutch (the dominant power in Asia before the English, who also had their own East India Company), mentioning incidents where people were "slain."- Letter from King Jahangir to King James: This letter from the Indian king to the English monarch is characterized as friendly, with Jahangir using flattery to gain favor and secure the most advantageous relationship for himself ("When your majesty shall open this letter, your royal heart be as fresh as a sweet garden"). This illustrates how local Indian governance sought to leverage the British for their own benefit, a strategy that worked for a time.- Depicting Empire in Popular Culture: "The East Offering Its Riches to Britannia"- Allegorical Painting: This artwork provides insight into how the British Empire was idealized for a British audience.- Key Figures and Symbolism:- Hermes/Mercury: The god of communication, commerce, and business, emphasizing the economic dimension of empire. He is depicted looking at allegorical Native Americans.- Father Thames: The legendary river god of London's major river, seen pouring water, symbolizing the crucial role of waterways and navigation in empire building. In the far background, a ship flying the East India Company flag underscores the company's central role in Britain's economic ties with its colonies.- Britannia: The seated woman allegorically represents the nation of Britain.- Tribute from the East: Britannia is depicted receiving gifts from various parts of her dominion:- The woman closest to her, offering a basket of jewels, symbolizes the Indian Subcontinent.- Next, China is represented by a giant blue and white vase.- In the far background, a man offers textiles from Persia (modern-day Iran).- A lion often represents English power in such paintings.- Idealized View: The painting portrays a willing homage to England, where other nations willingly offer their most valuable goods. This contrasts sharply with the reality of imperial dynamics, which were far from voluntary, serving primarily to celebrate the British Empire's perceived glory.- Maritime Labor: The Backbone of Empire- Importance: The construction and maintenance of empires were heavily reliant on maritime labor (sailors, naval personnel, merchant crews).- Growth of Workforce: This period saw a dramatic increase in ships and sailors. Estimates suggest a jump from roughly 3,000 English sailors in the mid--16^{th} century to about 16,000 by 1750.- Work Conditions:- Physical Demands: Maritime work was extremely hard and physical, requiring immense bodily strength to manage large ships, cargo, and guns across vast distances. Tasks included loading/unloading, unfurling/furling sails, and keeping watch.- Specialized Roles: Ships functioned as "floating mini cities," requiring not only sailors but also carpenters, gunners, pursers, surgeons, and cooks.- Sailor's Account (Edward Barlow):- Lack of Rest: Sailors endured severe sleep deprivation, often getting only four hours of rest, sometimes as little as half an hour during storms. They slept in their clothes and were frequently called to duty "half asleep."- Danger: The work was perilous, with ships described as "rolling and tumbled as though some great millstone were rolling up one hill and down another." Sailors faced raging seas, darkness, and violent storms, constantly fearing falling overboard or being swallowed by waves.- Hardship: Barlow described the life as "no life for an old man" (anyone over age 40), comparing it to being a slave due to constant need, misery, hardship, and frequent hunger.- Injustices: Complaints included harsh discipline, uncertain wages, and poor food. A clear class divide existed, with officers dining well while regular sailors received meager rations. Barlow recounted a Christmas dinner consisting of "Irish beef for four men, which had lain in pickle for two or three years and was as rusty as the devil with a little stinking oil or butter, which was all the colors of the rainbow."- Significance: Despite its brutal nature, maritime labor was indispensable for the imperial system's functioning.- Piracy:- Romanticized vs. Reality: Often romanticized (e.g., Pirates of the Caribbean), pirates were historically defined as "enemies of humanity" driven by greed.- State-Sponsored Piracy: Prior to the establishment of standing navies, nations often hired pirates (privateers) to conduct naval warfare.- Global Presence: Pirates operated across all major oceans, including the Indian Ocean, South China Seas, Mediterranean, Atlantic, and Caribbean.- Decline: As national navies became more prevalent, pirates were gradually marginalized and demonized.- Women Pirates: Notable examples include Anne Bonney (from Ireland, born 1608). She dressed as a man, joined a pirate ship, and along with Mary Read (another woman pirate), successfully "pleaded the defense of the belly" (claiming pregnancy, which spared them execution) when captured. Bonney later disappeared from historical records.- The African Slave Trade: The Largest Forced Migration- Scale: Represented the largest forced migration in history.- Complexity of Atlantic Slavery: This system involved an interconnected network of trades, various goods, diverse forms of labor exploitation, commodity production, and modes of warfare. It encompassed the economics and politics of American plantations as well as those of African states and merchants engaged in trade with Europeans and warfare against each other.- Olaudah Equiano's Autobiography: Offers crucial insight into the realities of slavery.- Equiano's Life: Born in modern-day Nigeria around 1745, he was enslaved as a child in West Africa, sold to a Royal Navy officer in the Caribbean, brought to England, sold two more times, and eventually purchased his freedom for £40 (approximately ext{ extdollar}10,000 today) in 1763. He became a leading figure in the abolitionist movement, publishing his autobiography in 1789.- Life Aboard a Slave Ship (Chapter 2):- Dehumanizing Conditions: Equiano described intensely polluted air, making breathing physically difficult, and people packed tightly together.- Extreme Cruelty: Noted moments of profound cruelty, such as captors catching, preparing, and cooking fish only to throw the leftovers overboard instead of feeding the enslaved.- Psychological Trauma: Equiano recounted being in a state of shock, fainting from fear, and begging for death. Many attempted suicide, which slavers saw as a loss of profit, highlighting the view of people as unfortunate commodities.- Perceptions: Equiano initially feared his captors were cannibals, a poignant reversal of typical European depictions of Africans.- Appeal to Christianity: He concluded this section with a powerful plea, questioning how "nominal Christians" could inflict such suffering, asking, "Do you unto all men as you would men should do unto you? Is it not enough that we are torn from our country and friends to toil for your luxury and lust of gain, must every tender feeling be likewise sacrificed to your avarice or your greed?" This was a key argument in his abolitionist campaign.- Treatment of Slaves in the West Indies (Chapter 5):- Brutal Punishments: Slaves faced severe punishments, including having limbs chopped off for attempting to escape.- Hypocrisy: Equiano highlighted the moral hypocrisy of slave society; for example, young enslaved girls (as young as 12) were sexually assaulted by slave owners, while a male slave caught fraternizing with a white woman had his ear chopped off.- Dehumanization: Slaves were often branded with their master's initials for easy identification if they ran away. Some were sold "by the pound," likening them to deli meat. Families were routinely separated, with wives, husbands, and children sold to different owners.- Concluding Appeal: Equiano's account ends with another appeal for slaves to be recognized as individuals and human beings, not mere commodities.- Abolition Timeline: England abolished the slave trade in 1807 but did not abolish slavery itself until the 1830s. Slavery continued in America until 1865 and in Brazil until nearly the end of the 19^{th} century.- Sugar Plantations in Barbados: A Paradigm of Industrial Slavery- Founding (1627): Around 50 British settlers landed on Barbados, aiming to convert the uninhabited island into farmland.- Early Workforce - Indentured Servants: These poor individuals sold their labor for typically five years in exchange for transport from Britain, basic provisions (food and shelter), and the promise of 10 acres of land upon completion. While not legally slaves, they were often poorly treated and lacked freedom.- Shift to Sugar: Initially, the colony farmed tobacco, cotton, and indigo. However, farsighted pioneers like James Drax began to invest in cultivating sugarcane (a giant grass from New Guinea introduced by the Portuguese), which became "the catalyst for the use of slave labor on an industrial scale."- The Economics of Slavery:- African Slaves: The first black African slaves in the British Caribbean were ten Africans seized from a Portuguese ship by British settlers en route to Barbados.- Prohibitive Cost vs. Long-Term Value: An African slave cost twice as much as an indentured laborer, but the economics favored slavery: an indentured laborer had to be freed after five years, whereas a slave belonged to their master for life, and crucially, any children born to slaves automatically became the master's property.- Industrial Scale and Brutality (St. Nicholas Abbey, 1650s):- Terrifying Destination: For enslaved Africans, plantations like St. Nicholas Abbey were horrific.- Relentless Labor: Hundreds of slaves toiled in organized work gangs across vast fields.- 24-Hour Shift System: The perishable nature of sugarcane (juice quickly spoils after cutting) forced a "twenty-four hour shift system," making it one of the first industries to adopt continuous operation. This was a very modern approach to industrial farming.- Processing: Raw sugarcane was processed in factories powered by windmills. The extracted juice had to be rapidly processed into granules to prevent fermentation and spoilage.- Life Expectancy: The brutal regime on sugar plantations resulted in a life expectancy of only 7 years for Africans arriving there.- Legacy: This model of industrial-scale, slave-driven plantation farming was so advanced it endured into the 20^{th} century, and the British quickly replicated it across other Caribbean islands.- Conclusion: Global Lives and Historical Agency- Individual Experiences: The lecture provided individual narratives ("global lives," "individual sketches") to illustrate broader historical processes of European empires, particularly British ones.- Ordinary People's Role: Emphasized how "ordinary people" (not just state actors or monarchs) were both shaped by and actively shaped historical events, making their experiences crucial to understanding the past.- Beyond European Boundaries: Demonstrated that the boundaries of Europe and "Western Civilization" are not geographically limited, with today's discussion touching on Asia, Africa, and the Americas while examining European processes.- Critique of Western Civilization: The lecture posed the question, "Is Western civilization always good?" particularly in the context of justifying institutions like slavery.- Understanding Encounters: Focusing on individual actions and experiences offers a clearer understanding of historical encounters and the continuous processes of cultural mixing and exchange.- Next Week: The Scientific Revolution, with a reading on Copernicus.