APEH unit 4: Age of Exploration

Marco Polo: His father and uncle sell him to the emperor (instead of priests) for a passport, which grants them incredibility and great status wherever they travel to. People were required to feed and provide for the people with the passport.

Polo and Khan become friends and is freed from slavery. He is given a high position and is an important individual in the Mongolian Empire. When he returns to Europe, he writes about many different inventions he saw in China, causing a wide spread motivation to explore in Europe.

A big motive to explore is also the Muslim Empire. They want to expand and become powerful just like them.

Causes of Exploration: Gold, God, and Glory

Trade: European countries sought out trade routes to Asia. The original routes were in authority of the Ottoman Empire, making it expensive and difficult to travel to buy LUXURY GOODS, such as spices, tea, silk, and porcelain. Maintaining a favorable balance of trade, wanting more exports than imports.

Religion: Europeans wanted to spread Christianity and gain converts in native countries.

Technology: Ships were improved, navigation devices were useful, and cartography made exploration effective, fun, and easier than before.

Wealth: Everyone wanted to be wealthy and rich with gold, silver, and resources (Mercantilism)

Christopher Columbus: Italian explorer who is hired by Isabella and Ferdinand to find a route to Asia. He instead discovers the New World or the Americas in 1492.

Disease spreads to the natives. Made it easier for spanish to conquer them because they aren’t capable of fighting

Alfonso de Albuquerque: an admiral naval officer that had the behaviors of a Pirate to cut off the Ottoman empires.

Bartolomeu Dias:

F de Gama: He was a Portuguese explorer. He had discovered a route around the southern tip of Africa that allowed with in reach India in 1498. Significant in the Age of Exploration and contributed to the establishment of a new global trade network.

Exploration results in —

Colonization: Europe colonizes native in the Americas, Africa, and Asia where they spread their influence in culture

Global Trade: new trade routes cause growth of global trade and the rise of capitalism

Cultural Exchange: ideas, goods, and technologies are exchanged between Europe and other parts of the world, emphasizing spread of knowledge

Slavery: Europe enslaves the natives in the territories they colonies, especially in the Americas and Africa.

Conquistadors were led by Hernan Cortes to conquer the Aztec Empire for their gold and treasures. With the motivation of greed and glory, they marched into the city built by the Aztecs, Tenochtitlan. With the desire to kill the Spaniards, the Aztec people caught them trying to sneak out of their city and started a war, the battle of Otumba. When the war had moved to out on the causeways, the Aztecs were frightened by their horses and the surviving Spaniards escaped with their treasures of gold in hand. Many allies of Spain join the war against the Aztecs because many of them dislike the idea of taxes being sacrificing people to their Gods and they began a siege. Tenochtitlan was very plentiful and innovative, making it hard to starve out, so the people resulted in cutting their aqueducts and breaking dikes. Eventually, half of the population dies from spread of small pox, making the town prone to starving. Though this benefited the Conquistadors, the disease spread to everyone, including the people who helped Spain take down the Aztecs. As the numbers of each population died down, the Spanish take advantage and began to enslave everyone. This is significant because the civilizations they took down, especially the Aztecs, had beautiful inventions in their city and prodigious ideas that would’ve been revolutionary for the whole world. Unfortunately, the enslaved people are forced to tear down Tenochtitlan and replace it with a Spanish-dominated civilization.

Hernan Cortes: Hernan Cortes was the leader of the Conquistadors when they had went to conquer the Aztec civilization. He was intrigued by Chistopher Columbus’ story of the natives telling him that there was an empire filled with lots of riches and gold. From one of the native tribes he visited, the chief gifted his daughter to Cortes. Cortes developed a relationship with La Malinche and she became his interpreter when speaking to the Aztecs. This allowed him to communicate even with the language barrier.

The fall of the Aztec empire is caused when Moctezuma angers his native people by forcing them to give their treasures to the conquistadors. Moctezuma falls off the balcony and dies, leaving his people with no leader to defend and protect them against the Spanish.

Battle of Otumba:

95% of natives are killed by disease and slavery

Francisco Pizarro: The second leader of the Spanish Conquistadors. He leads an army of 150 men armed with steel weapons and gunpowder to conquer the Inca Empire. Pizarro plans the kidnapping of Atahualpa, the emperor.

Atahualpa: is the emperor of the Inca Empire. He defends his people and is aggressive towards the Spanish. He is captured and killed .

Enconmienda: system developed by Isabella and Ferdinand in Spain to justify slavery, Spanish landlords(nobles) were able to collect money from natives

Audiencias:advisodry groups that supported viceroys or the head. They governed the small territories ike a judicial body in the Spanish government. and viceroy take from the land together

Trianglular Trade: Portuguese traders ride ocean gyres in the Atlantic. take slaves from Africa to tend sugar plantation in the Atlantic Islands and Brazil and later in the Americas, Spain, France, and Britain as well.

The Triangular Trade consisted of three continents: Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

EUROPE brought trades of finished goods to Africa in exchange for slaves. Slaves from AFRICA were taken to Americas to work on the sugar plantations. The profits made from sugar, tobacco, and cotton were used to buy raw materials in the AMERICAS, and given to Europe.

There a lot of goods that don’t exist everywhere. The new world has no big animals.From Europe to Americas: animals make work easier and reproduce like crazy,

Disease: kills all of the natives

New world to old world: plants, food supply is re made.

Abolitionists fight for the end of the slave trade. Racism and inequality remains in societies around the world.

Middle Passage: pathway from Americas to the Southern states where slaves were transported in cargo boxes. Slaves in the southern states would farm for sugar and tobacco.

Colombian Exchange: exchange of goods, such as crops, plants, animals, and diseases between the Old World (Europe, Africa, and Asia) into the New World (the Americas) after Columbus’ discovery.

Old World is introduced to new crops, such as corn, potatoes, tomatoes, improving the population’s diet. They learn about metal like gold and silver, which increases their wealth. Small pox kills many Native Americans

New World becomes home to many new animals, such as horses and cattle. Native Americans learn to improve their agriculture. New technologies, such as guns and iron tools, advanced military techniques of the Europeans over the Natives. Many Natives die because of transferred diseases.

This messes with the ecosystem though.

Price revolution: things are more expensive

The Commericial Revolution:

• growth of trade

• rise of capitalism

• development of banking

• joint-stock companies

• increase in prices

Social effects

• Urbanization: industries and trade allowed for the growth of cities and the migration of people from rural to urban

• Rise of middle class: Merchants, traders, and bankers rose their status in wealth, a new social class

• Development of consumer culture: growth of commerce, making more variety of goods available to the public

• Expansion of colonialism: European powers with colonies in Asia, Africa, and the Americas exploited their resources and enslaved people

How did the rise of global markets increase economic competition between European States and lead to war?

European focus in the Americas, competition of trade in the Indian Sea

The Age of Exploration’s main motive was to find a sea trade-route to the spice islands in Southeast Asia.

Maritime powers vied for dominance.

The French, Dutch, and England create companies to challenge the Portuguese

Dutch East India Company (VOC).. a joint-stock company (private company that made money by selling shares to invest them. The first transnational corporation. Very profitable because of their trade in the Indian ocean. Challenged by the British East India Company

British East India Company: struggled, but built up. While Dutch took up the east, the British took up India. At the time, the Indian Mughal Empire was at a decline, so the British were able to conquer the subcontinent. The power of the British East India Company was then shifted to the British government itself.

Louis XIV of France

creates the French East India Company under the influence of John-Baptiste Colbert. French vied for power against the British in India

War of Austrian Succession (Conflict between Austria and Prussia) but France and Britain are involved. Result in the Indian Ocean: Madras is seized from Britain, but it is their fortress.

France almost controls all trade in India, but peace treaty gives Madras back to England. France focuses on clearing the West Indies instead

Atlantic Ocean Trade:

After the 80 years war, the Dutch Republic became the dominant maritime trade power in the atlantic. Britain didn’t like this. They create economic warfare with the navigation acts that says any good being shipped to Britain or ITS COLONIES had to be shipped on a Britain vessels. Ensured monopoly for British merchants, making them wealthy, while the Dutch dominance in the Atlantic weakened.

France became England’s economic rival in the West, causing warfare (War of Spanish Sucession)

Concerns: balance of power in the European continent.

When it looked like Louis XIV was going to unite France and Spain ((and their colonial holdings)). The balance of power would be tipped.

SOO a coalition of states fought against this

Treaty of Utrecht (1713):

consequences. France had to give some of its holding to England Spain had to give Britian contol over their west African slave trade called Asiento

MASSIVE ECONOMIC SHIFT OF POWER into BRITAIN’s FAVOR

Great Britain

Acts of Union: created the United Kingdom of Britain