Age of Exploration and European Imperialism

Explorers and Asia

• Explorers aimed to reach Asia due to powerful gunpowder empires blocking traditional routes.
• The Americas were initially seen as a tool to access Asia.
• Spain used silver from the Americas to trade with China.

Phases of European Imperialism

• Phase 1 (1450-1750): Portugal and Spain.
• Phase 2 (1600-1800): Britain, France, and the Dutch.
• Phase 3 (1800s): Primarily Britain and France.

Portuguese Trading Post Empire

• Prince Henry's navigation school and caravel innovations helped them find a route around Africa.
• They established a trading post empire in the Indian Ocean but did not dominate it.
• Faced competition from the Omani Empire, the Mughal Empire, and the Sultanate of Malacca.

Trading Posts

• European powers set up trading posts in coastal cities but lacked the power to penetrate deep into Africa and Asia.
• They focused on conquering smaller territories.
• The next era involved industrialization, which provided the power to colonize further.

Global Flow of Silver

• Silver mines in Peru and Mexico utilized indigenous labor, such as the continuation of the Mita system in Peru.
• Silver was transported to Spain or Manila in the Philippines.

Shift in Economic Power

• Before this period, land was power, but Europeans began to value money (gold and silver) as power.
• Mercantilism emerged as a way for European states to compete and control trade.
• Royal charters were required for companies, like the Dutch and British East India Companies.

Expansion of Labor Systems

• Labor systems became more complex and brutal.
• Indigenous labor was exploited through systems like the encomienda and hacienda systems.
• Indentured servitude was used, particularly in North America.

Chattel Slavery

• Enslaved people were legally and morally considered property.
• It was racially based, with race being invented during this era to justify the enslavement of non-white people.

Resistance

• Enslaved people resisted through revolts.
• African leaders, like Queen Nanny of the Maroons and the King of Congo, resisted European encroachment.

Social Structures and Hierarchies

• The casta system in Latin America created a complex ethnic hierarchy that put lighter skinned people at the top and darker skinned people at the bottom.
• A rising middle class (bourgeoisie) emerged in Europe due to mercantilism and state-sponsored trade, challenging the traditional nobility-based power structure.