Context: Starting in the 1400s, European countries began sending explorers across the Atlantic Ocean to find new lands. These expeditions were driven by a desire for new sources of wealth 💎, competition for power and status 👑, and a push among Christian sects for new converts ⛪ → “Gold, God, and Glory!”

Q: Why did European nations resort to sea-based routes rather than land-based ones?

A: A growing, wealthy upper class desired luxury goods from Asia, however, Muslims controlled many of the land-based trading routes in Asia. Consequently, Europeans were unable to establish trade with those regions on their terms, motivating them to seek alternative maritime routes that would allow direct access to these valuable commodities.

Technological Advances and a Revolution in Navigation

A series of developments in maritime technology encouraged exploration and transformed the global economy.

The compass 🧭, the astrolabe 💫, the quadrant 📐 and the hourglass ⏳ all aided navigation, helping sailors plot direction, determine speed, and assess latitude.

Caravels ⛵ were equipped with triangular lateen sails, allowing to sail close to the wind and make sharp turns—greater maneuverability than previous nautical vessels.

In 1492, the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus, embarked on his first voyage across the Atlantic funded by the Spanish monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand. Columbus’ three caravels—the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María—set sail toward what he thought was the East Indies, but was actually a Caribbean island that he named San Salvador and claimed for Spain.

Like Columbus, other European explorers set sail to the New World in search of gold, to seek glory, or to spread the word of their God to the native peoples.

1.4 Columbian Exchange, Spanish Exploration, and Conquest

Key Spanish Explorers and Conquests:

Christopher Columbus: Credited with discovering the Americas in 1492 while seeking a westward route to Asia, paving the way for further exploration and colonization.
Hernan Cortés: Led the expedition that resulted in the fall of the Aztec Empire in present-day Mexico, and is known for his ruthless tactics and alliances with local tribes.

Francisco Pizarro: Conquered the Inca Empire in South America, demonstrating similar tactics as Cortés by exploiting divisions within the empire and capturing leader Atahualpa.

Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange refers to the transfer of people, animals, plants, ideas, technology, and diseases between the Eastern and Western Hemisphere.

New World → Old World

Turkeys 🦃
Maize 🌽
Potatoes 🥔
Sweet Potatoes 🍠
Cacao 🍫
Tomatoes 🍅
Avocado 🥑
Chili Peppers 🌶
Pineapple 🍍
Peanuts 🥜
Gold 🥇
Silver 🥈

These foods supplemented the meager diets of the European peasants, providing essential nutrients and contributing to population growth during the subsequent centuries.

The ongoing shift from feudalism to capitalism was facilitated by the influx of wealth (gold, silver, etc.) and resources from the Americas.

Old World → New World

Wheat 🌾
Rice 🍚
Soybeans 🫘
Pigs 🐷
Cattle 🐮
Horses 🐴
Chickens 🐔
Goats 🐐
Grapes 🍇
Sugar 🍬
Bananas 🍌
Diseases—smallpox, measles, typhus, bubonic plague, influenza, cholera, scarlet fever, etc. 🦠

The peoples of the New World, having evolved and adapted separately from the people of the Old World, lacked the immunities to many of the germs and infectious diseases that foreign explorers and settlers brought with them.

The rapid decline of the various peoples in areas of Spanish conquest is not attributed solely to disease—warfare, brutal conquest, and harsh working conditions also contributed to the decline of native populations.

Keep in mind, the main cause of the massive die-off of the natives in the 1600s was disease, not warfare!

Note