Technological Innovations

Technological Innovations

Alexander Neckham Quote

• Alexander Neckham (1157-1217) described the use of a magnetized needle by sailors to determine direction in cloudy weather or darkness.

Essential Question

• How did cross-cultural interactions spread technology and facilitate changes in trade and travel from 1450 to 1750?

Developments of Transoceanic Travel and Trade

• Various inventions enabled Europeans to undertake long ocean voyages.
• Magnetic Compass:
  • Originally created in China for fortune telling.
  • Helped steer ships.
• Astrolabe:
  • Improved by Muslim navigators in the 12th century.
  • Determined latitude (distance north or south from the equator).
• Caravel:
  • Developed by the Portuguese in the 15th century.
  • Small, three-masted ship able to withstand storms better than earlier ships.
• Improvements in cartography (mapmaking) and knowledge of current and wind patterns also enhanced navigation.

Demographic Pressures

• Demographic pressures drove European exploration and trade:
  • Population growth led to unemployment and food scarcity.
  • Primogeniture laws meant not all sons of the wealthy could inherit land (estates went to the eldest son).
  • Religious minorities sought tolerant places to settle.
  • Desire for adventure and glory.
• These factors contributed to a global demographic shift as people sought work, food, land, tolerance, and adventure.

European Involvement in the Indian Ocean

• Europe had some connection to East and South Asia
• Indian Ocean trade routes already brought silk, spices, and tea to the Mediterranean via the Red Sea.
  • Islamic traders knew land routes from China to Baghdad, Constantinople and Rome.
• In the 16th century, more Europeans entered the Indian Ocean seeking wealth and converts.
• They faced competition from Middle Eastern traders, e.g., in kingdoms like Oman.
  • The Portuguese set up forts in Oman but faced repeated challenges.
• The Omani-European rivalry contributed to Christopher Columbus's search for a new route to India.

Voyages by Columbus

• Columbus's voyages connected people across the Atlantic Ocean.
• European traders became intermediaries between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas.
  • From the Americas: sugar, tobacco, and rum.
  • From Africa: enslaved people.
  • From Asia: silk, spices, and rhubarb.
• This trade transformed Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, France, and Holland into maritime empires.
• Much of the trade was carried out by men; however, in Southeast Asia, Europeans primarily interacted with women, who traditionally managed markets and money-changing services.

Classical, Islamic, and Asian Technology

• Western European countries developed naval technology, drawing on classical Greek knowledge (e.g., using stars for navigation).
• They combined this with ideas from Islamic and Asian sailors and scholars, facilitated by cross-cultural interactions through trade networks.
• Al-Andalus in Spain was a key area for the diffusion of Islamic ideas into Europe.
• Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal supported exploration by financing expeditions along Africa's Atlantic coast and around the Cape of Good Hope.
  • Portugal explored African coastal communities and kingdoms before other European powers.

Advances in Ideas

• Scholars improved the safety of sailing.
• Newton's discovery of gravitation improved knowledge of the tides, allowing sailors to predict water depth changes near shores.
• Accurate records of wind direction and intensity improved sailing confidence.
• Improvements in cartography also improved navigation.

Astronomical Charts

• An astronomical chart is any map of the stars and galaxies.
• Mariners used astronomical charts to guide ships' direction, especially before the compass.
• Ancient astronomers in Babylonia and Mesopotamia created star charts as early as the 2nd millennium B.C.E.
• Chinese astronomical charts date back to the 5th century B.C.E.
• Classical Greek astronomers also widely used charts. Telescopes used to create astronomical charts starting in 1609 became widely used to map the stars by the end of the 17th century.
• Astronomers divided charts into grids to locate constellations and objects.

Advances in Equipment

• New rudder design imported from China improved ship maneuverability.
• Astrolabe improved by Muslim navigators helped determine latitude.

Compass

• The compass is the primary direction-finding device in navigation.
• Works with magnets or a gyroscope (a spinning wheel or disk).
• Some compasses determine the location of the sun or a specific star.
• The magnetic compass, originally invented in China, allowed sailors to steer a ship.
  • Discovered by mariners in both China and Europe in the 12th century.
  • Works because Earth acts as a giant bar magnet, with its magnetic field nearly parallel to the north-south axis.

Lateen Sail

• The lateen sail (triangular sail) was used by Arab sailors in the Indian Ocean and significantly impacted medieval navigation and trade.
• Unlike square sails that only allowed sailing in one direction (with the wind), the lateen sail could catch the wind on either side, enabling travel in various directions.
• Combined with the square sail, the lateen enabled sailors to travel successfully into large bodies of water.

New Types of Ships

• Adjustments to ship length-to-width ratio, number of masts, and sail types improved efficiency.
• (Connect: Compare technological advances of the Mongols and Chinese of the 12th and 13th centuries with the following ship types).

Three Types of Ships

• CARRACK
  • Typical Length: 150 feet
  • Sails and Masts: Square and lateen on 3-4 masts
  • Purpose: Trade
  • Primary Users: Portuguese
  • Centuries of Peak Use: 14th to 17th
• CARAVEL
  • Length: 75 feet
  • Sails and Masts: Lateen sails on 2 or 3 masts
  • Purpose: Long voyages at great speed
  • Primary Users: Portuguese and Spanish
  • Centuries of Peak Use: 15th to 17th
• FLUYT
  • Length: 80 feet
  • Sails and Masts: Square on 2 or 3 masts
  • Purpose: Trade
  • Primary Users: Dutch
  • Centuries of Peak Use: 16th to 17th

Long-Term Results

• Combining navigational techniques from Europe and other regions led to a rapid expansion of exploration and global trade.
• Polynesia was largely unaffected due to its remoteness from trade routes.
• Gunpowder, another Chinese invention, helped Europeans in conquests.
  • Sea pirates, particularly Dutch Sea Beggars, also used gunpowder technology.

Spread of Islam

• Islam spread rapidly in North Africa and along Africa's east coast due to the Abbasid Empire (centered in Baghdad) and Muslim merchants.
• Interactions among cultures inside and outside Africa brought extensive trade and new technology.

Navigational Techniques

• Navigational techniques continued to spread in the 17th century.
• Russia's Tsar Peter the Great visited Western Europe in 1697 to study military and naval technology.
  • He hired technicians from Germany and elsewhere to build Russia's military and naval power.

KEY TERMS BY THEME

• ECONOMICS: Europe
  • primogeniture laws
• TECHNOLOGY: Navigation
  • cartography
  • astronomical chart
• GOVERNMENT: Europe
  • maritime empires
  • Omani-European rivalry