Age of Exploration and Trade
Chapter 22: Winds and Currents
European mariners ventured into the oceans, learning the patterns of winds and currents.
Strong winds created wind wheels that determined navigational possibilities.
Winds and currents followed different but consistent patterns; once understood, mariners capitalized on them.
Volta do Mar
Mariners employed indirect routes to reach their destinations.
Europeans advanced from the Mediterranean to the Canary Islands.
In the mid-15th century, Portuguese mariners developed the volta do mar strategy.
This technique allowed them to sail from Portugal to the Canary Islands without fighting against trade winds.
They sailed into the open ocean, relying on western winds.
Vasco da Gama utilized the volta do mar strategy to navigate to the Indian Ocean.
This method facilitated reliable travel to coastlines around the world.
Historical Voyages
1291: The Vivaldi brothers departed from Genoa, intending to sail around Africa to India.
Although unsuccessful, their journey escalated the establishment of maritime trade routes connecting the Mediterranean with India.
14th century: Spanish, Genoese, and Portuguese mariners rediscovered the Canary Islands.
The Guanche people had settled in the Canaries, originating from Morocco, with no contact with others since the Roman Empire.
15th century: Castilian forces conquered the islands, making them an outpost for further exploration.
Prince Henry of Portugal
1415: Prince Henry conquered the Moroccan port of Ceuta and sponsored voyages along West African ports.
Fortified trading posts were established such as São Jorge da Mina.
These posts facilitated the exchange of horses, leather, textiles, and metalwares for gold and slaves.
1488: Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope.
Despite storms and unrest among his crew, he created a potential route to Southeast Asia, reducing the influence of Muslim intermediaries in trade.
Vasco da Gama
1497: Vasco da Gama departed from Lisbon with a fleet of four armed merchant ships.
He did not see land for three months, and some cargo items were unpopular in Indian cities.
Less than half of his original crew returned to Portugal.
By 1500, Gama built a trading post at Calicut after visiting many Indian Ocean ports.
Christopher Columbus
Columbus, a Genoese mariner, sought a western route to Asia.
He believed the world was smaller than it was and calculated a profitable westward trip, seeking royal sponsorship.
The Portuguese court declined, unsure of his calculations due to Dias's successful route to India.
Sponsored by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, with funding from Italian bankers, Columbus departed in 1492.
He sailed to the Canaries for supplies and then headed west, landing in the Bahamas at an island he named San Salvador.
Encountered Native Taino people whom he mistakenly thought to be Indians from the Spice Islands.
For three months, he scoured the Caribbean for gold and aimed to reach China.
Hemispheric Links
Columbus gathered little gold from the Caribbean; however, news of his voyages spread rapidly, prompting other mariners to follow suit.
Early 16th century: Mariners sought alternate routes to Asian waters.
Discovered the Americas and the Caribbean held abundant entrepreneurial opportunities.
The voyages of exploration created links between the eastern and western hemispheres, leading to conquest, settlement, and exploitation of the Americas.
Later Voyages of Exploration
Vasco Núñez de Balboa sighted the Pacific Ocean while searching for gold in Panama.
By the early 16th century, the expanse of ocean between the Americas and Asia was still uncharted.
Ferdinand Magellan
Served Portugal but later completed his Pacific voyage under Spanish service.
He believed Asian markets lay close to the Americas and pursued Columbus's goal of finding a strait to the Pacific Ocean from South America.
Circumnavigation
Magellan's expedition commenced in 1519, searching for a strait to the Pacific from South America.
He discovered a strait near the southern tip of South America (Strait of Magellan).
The fleet faced numerous hardships, relying on biscuits, leathery rations, and an unclean water supply.
Crew members suffered from scurvy; many died due to its detrimental effects.
After exiting the strait, the fleet reached Guam, then continued to the Philippine Islands.
Magellan became entangled in a local dispute and was killed alongside 40 crew members.
Survivors continued to the Maluku Islands, obtained cloves and returned home, completing the first circum-navigation three years later with only 18 of the original crew.
Exploration of the Pacific
It took centuries for European explorers to fully chart the Pacific's features.
Spanish merchants capitalized on Magellan's expedition, establishing a trade route between the Philippines and Mexico.
English navigators sought a northwest passage to Asia.
The path exists but is constrained by ice in northern waters.
Sir Francis Drake scouted the North American west coast in the 16th century.
By the mid-18th century, French mariners collaborated with the English to explore the northwest passage.
Russian expansion was primarily land-based until the early 18th century, when they also explored the Pacific Ocean.
Vitus Bering undertook two maritime voyages seeking the northwest passage to Asia, traversing the Arctic Ocean and Bering Strait.
Russian expeditions extended from Alaska to Canada and northern California, reaching as far as the Hawaiian Islands by 1800, where they established a small fort and engaged in trade in the early 19th century.
Captain James Cook
James Cook led three exploratory voyages in the Pacific.
Died in a conflict with indigenous peoples in Hawaii.
Cook charted Eastern Australia and New Zealand, incorporating islands like Hawaii into European maps.
He spent months interacting with Polynesian culture and studying their manners, customs, and languages.
Trade and Conflict in Early Modern Asia
Europeans sought commerce upon reaching Asian ports, establishing fortified trading posts.
They aimed to control the spice trade in the Indian Ocean but had limited success due to insufficient manpower and military strength.
Spanish and Dutch nations created small empires in the Philippines and Indonesia.
Russians established a presence in Central Asia and Siberian tundras, laying foundations for a large Eurasian empire.
Commercial and Political Competition
Competition among European nations led to conflicts, culminating in the Seven Years' War in 1763.
British military and commercial forces gained the upper hand over rivals, allowing them to dominate world trade.
This paved the way for the establishment of the British Empire in the 19th century.
Portuguese Trading Posts
The Portuguese sought to control trade routes rather than conquer territories, forcing merchant vessels to use fortified trading sites.
Vasco da Gama was granted permission to establish a trading post in Calicut in 1498.
By the mid-16th century, they had over fifty trading posts from West Africa to East Asia.
The Portuguese traded slaves and attempted to control the South African gold trade, while overseeing trade in Indian pepper and regulating access to the Persian Gulf.
Melaka served as a central site for managing spice trade in the Maluku Islands, facilitating access to China and Japan.
Afonso d'Alboquerque
Commanded Portuguese forces in the Indian Ocean in the early 16th century.
Established an aggressive policy of training cannons onshore, capturing strategic locations such as Hormuz, Goa, and Malaka.
He sought control over Indian Ocean trade through the enforcement of safe conduct passes; violating this policy could lead to execution or mutilation.
Despite naval superiority, the Portuguese struggled to enforce their orders, as traders from other nations continued participating in regional commerce.
By the late 16th century, Portuguese influence weakened due to a small population.
The crew of Portuguese ships increasingly included sailors from Spain, England, and the Netherlands, familiarizing them with Asian waters and facilitating the emergence of new expeditions.
English and Dutch Trading Posts
The English and Dutch sought to establish trading posts in Asian ports but did not dominate transoceanic shipping.
Their fleets occasionally seized Portuguese territories, exemplified by the Dutch conquest of Melaka in 1641.
The Portuguese retained most trading posts, while the English and Dutch developed parallel networks.
The English focused on India, whereas the Dutch established a broader presence around African port cities.
Superior shipbuilding technology gave the English and Dutch advantages in trade: faster and more powerful vessels.
This led to the establishment of joint-stock companies, allowing investors to become wealthy while limiting their risks.
Trading Companies
The English East India Company was founded in 1600; its Dutch counterpart, the VOC, was established in 1602.
Private merchants provided funding for these companies, supplying ships, crews, commodities, and financial resources necessary for operation.
Although governments supported these companies, they were privately owned enterprises focused on lucrative trade.
They received charters permitting them to trade, establish posts, and wage war in their commercial interests.
Immediate successes arose from advancements in nautical technology, military power, and organizational structure.
European Conquests in Southeast Asia
While Europeans aggressively conquered indigenous populations in the western hemisphere, they struggled to impose their will on powerful centralized states in Asia.
The decline of Portuguese efforts to control trade led to peaceful trading relations in most Asian waters.
The densely populated Philippines and Indonesia lacked powerful states upon European arrival in the 16th century, allowing easier establishment of imperial regimes favoring European merchants.
Conquest of the Philippines
The Spanish approached the Philippines in 1565, led by Miguel López de Legazpi, naming the islands after King Philip II of Spain.
Local authorities lacked central governance; Spanish forces faced disunited chiefdoms, making conquest easier.
By 1575, Spanish forces controlled coastal areas and most of the islands by the 17th century, except for Mindanao where large Muslim communities resisted expansion.
Manila
Manila became a multicultural port city, serving as a trade hub (notably for silk) and coordinating Spanish commercial activity in Asia.
Chinese merchants flourished within a specific district, providing silk that Spanish traders transported to Mexico.
The prosperity of Chinese merchants sparked suspicion, leading to violent incidents where thousands were killed.
Spanish authorities pressured Filipinos to convert to Roman Catholicism and opened schools to teach the doctrine while providing basic literacy.
Resistance emerged from highland communities, but by the 19th century, Filipinos embraced Christianity, positioning the Philippines as a fervent Catholic land.
Conquest of Java
Dutch mariners imposed authority on Indonesia, primarily focusing on spice trade rather than Christianity.
Jan Pieterszoon Coen founded Batavia in 1619 on Java as a VOC hub, strategically situated near the Sunda Strait.
Coen sought to monopolize spice production and trade, leveraging military power against local suppliers.
Direct governance from the Dutch was limited; alliances with local authorities facilitated control.
Foundations of the Russian Empire in Asia
Russian empire expansion began in the mid-16th century when forces took over Mongol khanates, gaining control of the Volga River for trade with the Ottoman Empire, Iran, and India.
Astrakhan emerged as a commercial center connected to merchants from varied regions.
Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, Indian merchants traded along the Volga, contributing to expansion strategy into the Baltic region.
Encounters in Siberia
Russians entered northeastern Eurasia, overcoming environmental challenges in Siberia for lucrative fur trade.
Expansion began in 1581 with Yermak capturing the khanate of Sibir in the Ural Mountains, moving into Siberian interiors.
By 1639, explorers reached the Pacific Ocean, marking significant territorial acquisition.
Native Peoples of Siberia
Home to 26 ethnic groups, these communities engaged by hunting, trapping, and fishing exhibited varied responses to Russian encroachment.
Some groups willingly traded furs for Russian goods, while others resisted tribute demands.
Yakut people's 1642 rebellion against Russian expansion led to severe population decline after retaliatory measures.
Epidemics caused by contact with Russians further reduced indigenous populations by more than half.
Violence and Disease
Epidemics caused by European contact significantly diminished fur production efforts, leading to punitive actions against resistant groups.
Although missionary work sought to convert Siberians to Orthodoxy, interest was minimal outside of social outcasts.
Conversion relieved obligations for fur tribute but did not secure widespread uptake of Christianity; indigenous religious practices largely persisted.
Russian Occupation of Siberia
Migrants to Siberia often included societal misfits, criminals, and prisoners of war, altering the demographic landscape.
Agricultural settlements emerged near trading posts along the Amur River.
By 1763, about 420,000 Russians had settled in Siberia; expansion continued into the 19th century.
Commercial Rivalries and the Seven Years' War
European exploration and imperial ambitions led to conflict among Europeans and interactions with Asian entities.
Competitive engagements for Asian trade and optimal market control provoked various clashes.
Competition and Conflict
Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, commercial rivalries fueled multiple wars, like the VOC's promotion of spice trade dominance and confrontations with English mariners.
The competition escalated, culminating in military actions over valuable trading posts and settlements, including the English and French conflict over sugar islands in the Caribbean.
The Seven Years' War
Spanning from 1756 to 1763, this global conflict unfolded across multiple regions including Europe, India, the Caribbean, and North America.
It had profound implications for global dynamics and established conditions for British imperial dominance for the next 150 years.
In Europe, Britain and Prussia faced off against France, Austria, and Russia while forming alliances in India and the Caribbean for territorial control.
British Hegemony
The outcomes of the Seven Years' War positioned Britain for future dominance in world trade and empire, despite its historical standing.
Ecological Exchanges
European explorations fostered interactions and exchanges between distinct populations, leading to biological exchanges that had sweeping effects on global demographics.
These exchanges, propelled by trading posts established by Europe in various oceans, facilitated a burgeoning global network by the mid-18th century.
The Columbian Exchange
The Columbian Exchange marked the global diffusion of food crops, animals, humans, and diseases after Columbus's voyages, with effects distinct from other exchanges due to the geographical separation of the involved lands.
Its introduction of Eurasian diseases to the Americas caused massive population declines, notably from smallpox.
Epidemic Diseases and Population Decline
In the Aztec Empire, smallpox decimated 90% of the population within a century (from 17 million to 1.3 million).
Densely populated areas suffered most severely from imported diseases which spread rapidly, impacting remote localities even before European intrusions.
Food Crops and Animals
The Columbian Exchange increased food availability, driving world population growth starting in the 18th century.
Crops like wheat, rice, sugar, and various fruits were transferred from Eurasia to the Western Hemisphere whereas maize, potatoes, and other American crops were introduced to Eurasia.
Migration
The Columbian Exchange involved forced and voluntary migrations; central to this was the transatlantic slave trade.
The influx of Europeans into depopulated regions of the Americas and others engaging in the tropical and subtropical regions shaped historical circumstance.
Origins of Global Trade
The establishment of trading posts by the Portuguese, English, and Dutch created connections to Asian markets, facilitating extensive trade opportunities for European mariners.
The late 16th century witnessed increased prominence of Europeans in the Indian Ocean basin.
Transoceanic Trade
European voyages cemented the foundation of a global trading system by establishing colonies and expanding trade networks.
The trade of commodities such as silver, sugar, and textiles proliferated through the Atlantic, alongside the horrendous trade of enslaved individuals.
The Manila Galleons
The Manila Galleons exemplified early global economic operations across the Pacific, dominating shipping routes for 250 years.
Asian luxury goods were traded for silver in Mexico and subsequently moved to China where demand was high.
Some goods circulated within Mexico and Peru, before traversing across to European markets.
Environmental Effects of Global Trade
The global market of the 17th and 18th centuries pressured animal species and agricultural resources due to heightened demand.
From the 17th century onwards, vast quantities of beaver pelts and other commodities flooded into global markets, leading to significant exploitation of wildlife.
The 18th century demonstrated a notable expansion of global trade as Europeans engaged in agricultural exploitation and trading networks more aggressively.