age of exploration: impacts on europe, the americas & africa
TRANSCRIPT
Age of Exploration: Impacts on Europe, The Americas & Africa
Three Worlds Collide
Europeans Seek New Trade Routes to ASIA
Main reason: To gain wealth Crusades spurs demand for Asian goods Muslims and Italians control trade from
East to West Other European nations want to bypass
these powers
FOR GOD, GOLD & GLORY Desire to spread Christianity
also spurs exploration Portuguese explorer
Bartholomeu Dias wanted to serve God and king
Technology:
In 1400s, the caravel made it possible to sail against the wind
Astrolabe makes navigation easier
Magnetic compass improves tracking of direction
Ay caramba!
Caravel
Crosshatch
Log
CompassMariner’s Astrolabe
Hourglass
Tools of Navigation
Mariner’s Astrolabe Used to measure Latitude,
using the positions of the Sun or a well known star
A simple brass ring, marked off in graduated in degrees with a rotating blade for sighting the Sun or a star.
Not very accurate - errors of four or five degrees were common
The Portuguese Explore Africa
Prince Henry of Portugal
1419 - founded Portuguese navigation school
By 1460, Portuguese trading posts along west coast of Africa
Portuguese Sailors Reach Asia
1488 - Dias sailed around Africa
1498, Vasco da Gama sailed to India
Returned with valuable cargo
Portugal’s Trading Empire
1509 - Portugal defeated Muslims took over Indian Ocean trade in India & Malaysia Also control southern tip of Africa
These gains broke Muslim-Italian hold on Asian trade
Challenges to Portuguese in Asia
English & Dutch move into Asia
Portuguese weakened
England & France move into India
A Rival Power - Spain Spanish want access to ASIA
also
They sponsored Columbus
Idea: Sail west to reach Asia
OOPs - Found the Americas instead
IMPACT: Opened Americas to exploration and colonization
Shoulda asked for directions…
Columbus
Columbus and the Taino meet – two worlds collide
Impact on Indigenous Populations: 1. No immunity to European diseases. 2. Whole tribes decimated.3. Brutal treatment of local peoples. Enslaved & tortured.
Fr. Bartolome de Las Casas convinced the King of Spain to halt the mistreatment of the natives.
Impact on Africans:
Over time, Africans replace native peoples as slaves.
Slavery becomes essential part of
N & S American colonial systems
Between 1500-1800, at least 12 million people were taken from Africa.
Impact on Europeans:
Merchants & monarchs seek to increase wealth• Thousands of Europeans voluntarily left for a
new life – for religion, land, gold, or power
• Spain, England & Portugal gain profit, land, power
• Treaty of Tordesillas 1494 : Split the New World into two between Spain and Portugal.
Columbian Exchange: Massive exchange of plants and animals
between Europe and America.
Spain’s New Empire
Conquistadors: Spanish explorers searched the Caribbean, Central America and South America for gold and silver.
Hernán Cortés:
Lands in Mexico in 1513 600 men, 17 horses, ten cannons.
3. Cortés “subdues” the Aztecs and Montezuma aided by Spanish firearms, diseases and native allies.
Tenochtitlan
Wealth from the Americas
1. New Spain: Colony in Mexico
2. Mestizos: Mixed native and Spanish blood.
3. Encomienda: Spanish plantation system.
Chinese Explorations Ming Dynasty- rule China
from 1368-1644
collect tribute from many Asian countries
1405 – Launch explorations
The Voyages of Zheng He Chinese admiral Zheng He leads 7 long voyages
Distributes gifts to show China’s superiority
Chinese then turn away from exploration More concerned with threat from Mongols
Comparison of a Chinese Junk to a Portuguese Caravel