European Exploration, the Columbian Exchange, and the Commercial Revolution
European Exploration and Technology
Motives for European Exploration (1400s):
Core Desires: Driven by the desire to grow rich, spread Christianity, utilize advanced sailing technology, and discover new sources of wealth.
Three Pillars of Motives: Summarized by three key words: God, Gold, and Glory.
Enabling Factor: Exploration goals were made possible through rapid advancements in technology.
Sailing and Navigational Technology:
The Caravel: A newly designed vessel that was significantly sturdier than earlier ships. It adopted triangular sails from the Arabs, which allowed it to sail effectively against the wind.
Astrolabe: A brass circle instrument equipped with carefully adjusted rings marked off in degrees. It allowed sea captains to sight the stars and calculate latitude accurately.
Latitude: Defined as how far north or south of the equator something is.
Cartographers: Specialized mapmakers who mapped geography for maritime navigation.
Key Explorers, Navigators, and Demarcation
Portuguese Exploration along Africa and to Asia:
Portugal: The first European nation to establish direct trading outposts along the west coast of Africa.
Prince Henry the Navigator: The most enthusiastic supporter of European exploration in Portugal.
Route Strategy: Portuguese navigators planned to reach Asia by sailing around the southern tip of Africa.
Bartolomeu Dias: Portuguese captain who successfully blew around the tip of Africa.
Vasco da Gama: Portuguese captain who successfully navigated around Africa and made it all the way to India.
Spanish Voyages and Westward Expansion:
Christopher Columbus: An Italian sea captain who convinced Spain to finance a bold plan: finding a route to Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean.
Timeline: Executed his voyage in October of 1492.
Landing: Landed in South America / the Americas rather than Asia.
Impact: Opened the way for European colonization of the Americas.
Amerigo Vespucci: An Italian sailing in the service of Portugal who traveled along the eastern coast of South America.
Vasco Nuñez de Balboa: Spanish explorer who marched through modern-day Panama and became the first European to gaze upon the Pacific Ocean.
Ferdinand Magellan: Portuguese explorer who led the boldest exploration yet, leading the expedition that achieved circumnavigation.
Circumnavigate: To sail around the world.
Territorial Division between Spain and Portugal:
Line of Demarcation: An imaginary line drawn North to South through the Atlantic Ocean, establishing areas east of it as belonging to Portugal and west of it as belonging to Spain.
Treaty of Tordesillas (1494): An agreement ratified between the Spanish and Portuguese in 1494 to decide what areas belonged to each nation.
Settlers and Native Conflicts in South Africa
Dutch Settlement: The Dutch were the European group that settled in South Africa.
Boers: Dutch farmers in South Africa.
Zulu Conflict: The Dutch Boer settlers came into conflict with the native South African Zulu group.
The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Middle Passage
Origins and Trade Networks:
Spain: The first European country to use African slaves in the Americas.
Triangular Slave Trade: A profitable transatlantic trading network operating across Europe, Africa, South America, and the rest of the Americas.
The Middle Passage:
Definition: The transatlantic voyage that brought captured Africans across the Atlantic to the West Indies and later to North and South America.
Conditions Onboard: Captives had around 4 feet of space and were packed on top of each other, stacked in a manner resembling stacked spoons.
Impact on Africa:
Numerous cultures lost generations of their fittest members—their young and able—to European traders and plantation owners.
Families were torn apart.
Introduced guns into the African continent.
Impact on the Americas:
Contributed greatly to the economic and cultural development of the Americas.
Their greatest contribution was their labor.
The Columbian Exchange
Definition: The global transfer of foods, plants, and animals during the colonization of the Americas.
Items Introduced from the Americas to the Rest of the World:
Foods: Corn and potatoes.
Animals: Turkeys.
Items Introduced to the Americas from Europe, Africa, and Asia:
Livestock Animals: Horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs.
Agricultural Foods: Bananas, black-eyed peas, yams, wheat, rice, barley, and oats.
Other Additions: Enslaved human beings transported via trade routes.
The Commercial Revolution and Modern Economic Systems
The Commercial Revolution:
Definition: The period of economic growth and change that occurred in Europe due to the opening of direct links with Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Inflation:
Definition: A steady rise in the price of goods.
Cause: Occurs when people have more money to spend and thus demand increases for goods and services.
Capitalism:
Definition: An economic system based on private ownership and the investment of resources, such as money, for profit.
Joint-Stock Companies:
Definition: A business venture that worked much like the modern-day corporation, with investors buying shares of stock in a company.
Mechanism: Involved a number of people combining their wealth for a common purpose.
Purpose in 1500s & 1600s: Investors combined their wealth to fund expensive, high-risk overseas ventures and colonization.
Historical Example: Jamestown.
Mercantilism:
Definition: An economic theory holding that a country's power depended mainly on its wealth, because wealth allowed nations to build strong navies and purchase vital goods.
Methods to Increase Wealth:
Colonies as Source of Supplies: Provided raw materials that could not be found in other places.
Colonies as Outlets: Provided a captive market for manufactured goods.
Favorable Balance of Trade:
Definition: Achieving a state where a nation sold more goods than it bought.
Tariffs:
Definition: Taxes imposed on imported goods.
Societal Impacts of the Economic Revolution:
Small towns and cities grew into bigger sizes.
Urban populations flourished.