Unit 4 AP World - Green, Chanel

Causes of European Explorations

  1.  Adoption and Innovation of Maritime Technologies 

  • Technologies came form the Classical Greek, Islamic, and Asian worlds

Magnetic Compass: China

Astolabe: Ancient Greece and Arab world 

  • Helped sailors know their latitude 

Lateen Sail: Arab world 

  • Enabled them to take wind on both sides 

❥ Europeans made their innovations in shipbuilding 

  • Caravel - traveled fast and were abled to upstand canons

  • Carrack -

  • Fluyt

❥ Improved understanding of regional wind patterns in Atlantic and Indian Oceans


2.  Growth of State Power

Monarchy vs Nobility

Main idea → Monarchs held a significant role in the economic decisions of their state There was centralization of power.

Example:

Context → Many upperclassmen demanded spices and goods from Asia. Interregional trade was in use when they wanted spices.

Problem → Land-based empires (Ottomans, Safavids, etc.) controlled the land-based trading routes where the spices were exchanged. The time the spices did arrive in Europe, The prices were overly expensive.

Solution→ European states wanted to find other routes, namely sea-based routes, to Asia, which would allow them to trade on their own terms


3.  Economic

Mercantilism: A state-driven economic system that characterized imperial European states during their period. Simple terms → a form of increasing power through restrictive trade practices

  • Mercantilism measured wealth in gold and silver

To get as much gold and silver they used Favorable Balance of Trade

Favorable Balance of Trade: When States organize their economics around exports and avoid imports as much as possible because importing means that the silver and gold are shipped out while exporting is having the gold and silver come in.

Main take-away → Mercantilism created a strong motivation for expanding empires through overseas colonization because once a colony was established, it created a closed market for exports from the imperial country. Simple terms → Colonies existed only to enrich their imperial parents

Joint-Stock Company: A limited liability business, often chartered by the state, that was funded by a group of private investors. Simple terms → Large, investor-backed companies that sponsored European exploration and colonization in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Limited liability business: Investors who pooled their money to finance the exploration could only lose what they invested

  • States relied on merchants to expand their influence in far-off lands while merchants relied on states to grant them monopolies on various regions of trade

Example:

Dutch East India Company (AKA: VOC) → chartered by the Dutch state in 1602, included in the charter was a monopoly on the Indian Ocean Trade

Vocab.

Interregional trade - the exchange of goods/services/capital between different regions within a country

Charter: a document granting certain specified rights, powers, privileges, or functions from the sovereign power of a state to an individual, corporation, city, or other unit of local organization.

Centralization of power - a government where power is concentrated in a single authority

Portuguese Expansion

  • First European State to get power was Portugal with the help of Prince Henry the Navigator

    Prince Henry the Navigator brought together sailors, map makers, and ship builders