9. Overseas Exploration

AP Euro

Causes• Some historians speculate that the Renaissance led

Europeans across the seas. Man became incredibly more self-confident and aware of his potential to succeed. (The Renaissance will be covered in the next unit.)

• Others simply see the desire for wealth as the initial reason for explorations.

• Finally, the Ottoman takeover of the Middle East (Levant) has been suggested as a reason why Europeans, the Portuguese in particular, looked westward.

Medieval Trade Routes

Eurasian Trade Routes. Notice none go around Africa

Portugal Leads the Way

• Portugal began 15th century explorations.• Started in 1415 when Portugal seized Arab city

of Ceuta in northern Morocco.• Portuguese Motive’s: • Christianize muslims, • search for gold, • find overseas route to spice markets of India.

From Asia came silk and spices (pepper and clove). This trade was controlled by Italian city states such as Genoa and Venice and by the Ottoman Turks, who overthrew the Byzantine Empire in 1453.

Portugal’s Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460)

He sent annual expeditions down the west coast of Africa. His main goal was the gold trade, which had for centuries been monopolized by the Arabs. Gold was found along the west coast of Africa.

Voyages Paid for by Prince Henry the Navigator

1441: Slave Trade Begins

• Portuguese capture first African slaves on the coast of Africa.

• Prior, slave trading had been handled by African and Muslim traders.

• .

1487 Bartholomew Dias• Portuguese• Rounded the

Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa.

1492: Spain Begins Exploring

• Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain defeat the last Muslim enclave on the Iberian Peninsula: Grenada.

• With Spain secure, they fund Christopher Columbus’ voyage.

• Instead of heading south as the Portuguese were, he decided to sail due west. The goal was to reach China.

• 1492, he lands in San Salvador

Pope Divides World

• Pope Alexander VI divided non-Christian world into zones for Spain and for Portugal. He drew a line, affirmed by Treaty of Tordesillas. To west of this line was Spain’s territory; to the east was Portugal’s.

• Portugal got Brazil.

1494: Treaty of Tordesillas

1498: Vasco de Gama

• Portuguese• Reached the coast of India.• Returned laden with wealthy goods that cost

1/5 of what the Venetians were selling them.• Portugal’s better ships (caravel) and weapons

eventually win war with Arabs to seize Asian spice trade in the Indian Ocean.

Vasco De Gama’s Voyages

1513: Balboa

• Spanish• Walked across the

Isthmus of Panama and sighted the Pacific Ocean.

• He laid claim to Panama for Spain.

1515

• Spain sent first consignment of African slaves directly from Africa to America while receiving the first shipment of slave-grown American sugar

1519-1521: Cortes Conquers the Aztecs

• Using 100,000 Indian allies, he conquers the Aztec Empire.

1519: Ferdinand Magellan• Spanish• Mission was to reach spice islands south of

China via a southwest passage south of Portuguese held territory.

• He rounds Cape Horn, crosses the Pacific, reaches the Philippine Islands, fights his way back through Portuguese territory, and, in the process, circumnavigates the globe. He dies on the way.

1531-1536: Pizarro Conquers the Incas

• Spain moves into South America by conquering the Inca Empire.

• Francisco Pizarro led the campaign

Advantages of the Conquistadors• Pizarro and Cortes were considered conquistadors

(conquerors). They managed to gain victory against overwhelming odds by their use of

• Steel-bladed swords• Guns and canons• Horses• Diseases• To this list one should also add the shock that the

natives experienced since none of the above had ever been seen before.

Spain gave Indians smallpox; Indians gave Spaniards syphillis

Potosi

• Gold and silver from the New World amounted to 25% of Spain’s total income

1562: John Hawkins• First English sea-captain to

break into Portuguese and Spanish slave monopoly in the Americas. Made a knight by Queen Elizabeth.

• Established the Great Circuit with its threefold profits: English goods sold in Africa, African slaves sold in the Indies (Caribbean Islands), and American products sold in England.

Colonization in North America

• 1536: Jacques Cartier founds Montreal in Canada for France.

• 1565: Spain attempts to set up colony at St. Augustine.

Globalization of Trade

• Across the Pacific, Spain brought in spices and silk from the Far East.

• Across the Atlantic, from the New World to Spain came silver and gold

• Back across the Atlanic Spain shipped European goods to its colonies.