the age of exploration - world...

Hernán Cortés

186

The Age of Exploration

1500–1800

Key EventsAs you read this chapter, look for the key events of the Age of Exploration.

• Europeans risked dangerous ocean voyages to discover new sea routes.• Early European explorers sought gold in Africa then began to trade slaves.

• Trade increased in Southeast Asia, and the Dutch built a trade empire based on spices in the Indonesian Archipelago.

The Impact TodayThe events that occurred during this time period still impact our lives today.

• European trade was a factor in producing a new age of commercial capitalism that was one of the first steps toward today’s world economy.

• The consequences of slavery continue to impact our lives today.• The Age of Exploration led to a transfer of ideas and products, many of which are still

important in our lives today.

World History—Modern Times Video The Chapter 6 video,“Magellan’s Voyage,” chronicles European exploration of the world.

1480 1510 1540 1570 1600

1497John Cabot andAmerigo Vespucciexplore theAmericas

1519Spanish beginconquest ofMexico

1492ChristopherColumbusreaches theAmericas

1518First boatloadof slavesbrought directlyfrom Africa tothe Americas

1520Magellan sailsinto PacificOcean

Amerigo Vespucci

1595First Dutch fleetarrives in India

Shackled African slaves

187

HISTORY

Chapter OverviewVisit the Glencoe WorldHistory—Modern Times Web site at

and click on Chapter 6–Chapter Overview topreview chapter information.

wh.mt.glencoe.com1630 1660 1690 1720 1750

1767Burmese sackThai capital

1630English foundMassachusettsBay Colony

World map, 1630

Ships of the Dutch East India Company

c. 1650Dutch occupyPortuguese fortsin Indian Oceantrading areas

c. 1700English establishcolonial empire inNorth America

Strait of Magellan

ATLANTICOCEAN

PACIFICSEA

SOUTHAMERICA

188

onvinced that he could find a sea passage to Asia throughthe Western Hemisphere, the Portuguese explorer Ferdi-

nand Magellan persuaded the king of Spain to finance hisvoyage. On September 20, 1519, Magellan set sail on theAtlantic Ocean with five ships and a Spanish crew of about250 men.

After reaching South America, Magellan’s fleet moveddown the coast in search of a strait, or sea passage, thatwould take them through America. His Spanish ship captainsthought he was crazy: “The fool is obsessed with his searchfor a strait,” one remarked.

At last, in November 1520, Magellan passed through a narrow waterway (later namedthe Strait of Magellan) andemerged in the Pacific Ocean,which he called the Pacific Sea.Magellan reckoned that it wouldbe a short distance from there tothe Spice Islands of the East.

Week after week he and hiscrew sailed on across the Pacific as their food supplies dwin-dled. At last they reached the Philippines (named after thefuture King Philip II of Spain). There, Magellan was killed bythe native peoples. Only one of his original fleet of five shipsreturned to Spain, but Magellan is still remembered as thefirst person to sail around the world.

CMagellan Sails Around the World

FerdinandMagellan

Discovery of Magellan Strait by an unknown artist

Why It MattersAt the beginning of the sixteenthcentury, European adventurerslaunched their small fleets into thevast reaches of the Atlantic Ocean.They were hardly aware that theywere beginning a new era, not onlyfor Europe but also for the peoplesof Asia, Africa, and the Americas.These European voyages markedthe beginning of a process that ledto radical changes in the political,economic, and cultural life of theentire non-Western world.

History and You Create a mapto scale that shows Spain, SouthAmerica, and the Philippines. Drawthe route Magellan took from Spainto the Philippines. If the voyage tookabout 20 months, how many mileseach day, on average, did Magellantravel? How long would a similarsea voyage take today?

1630English found MassachusettsBay Colony

1500Pedro Cabral lands in South America

Guide to Reading

Exploration and Expansion

Preview of Events

1550Spanish gain controlof northern Mexico

!1450 !1500 !1550 !1600 !1650 !1700

In a letter to the treasurer of the king and queen of Spain, Christopher Columbusreported on his first journey:

“Believing that you will rejoice at the glorious success that our Lord has granted mein my voyage, I write this to tell you how in thirty-three days I reached the Indies withthe first fleet which the most illustrious King and Queen, our Sovereigns, gave me,where I discovered a great many thickly-populated islands. Without meeting resistance,I have taken possession of them all for their Highnesses. . . . When I reached [Cuba], Ifollowed its coast to the westward, and found it so large that I thought it must be themainland—the province of [China], but I found neither towns nor villages on the sea-coast, save for a few hamlets.”

—Letters from the First Voyage, edited 1847

To the end of his life, despite the evidence, Columbus believed he had found a newroute to Asia.

Motives and MeansThe dynamic energy of Western civilization between 1500 and 1800 was most

apparent when Europeans began to expand into the rest of the world. First Portu-gal and Spain, then later the Dutch Republic, England, and France, all rose to neweconomic heights through their worldwide trading activity.

Voices from the Past

Main Ideas• In the fifteenth century, Europeans

began to explore the world.• Portugal, Spain, the Dutch Republic, and

England reached new economic heightsthrough worldwide trade.

Key Termsconquistador, colony, mercantilism,balance of trade

People to IdentifyVasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus,John Cabot, Amerigo Vespucci, FranciscoPizarro, Ferdinand Magellan

Places to LocatePortugal, Africa, Melaka, Cuba

Preview Questions1. Why did Europeans travel to Asia?2. What impact did European expansion

have on the conquerors and theconquered?

Reading StrategySummarizing Information Use a chartlike the one below to list reasons whyMelaka, a port on the Malay Peninsula,was important to the Portuguese.

CHAPTER 6 The Age of Exploration 189

Importance of Melaka

1488Bartholomeu Dias roundsthe Cape of Good Hope

Christopher Columbus

Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection2,000 kilometers0

2,000 miles0

N

S

EW

Death ofMagellanApril 1521

30°E60°W 60°E 90°E 120°E 150°E 180°120°W 90°W150°W 0°30°W

0°

30°S

30°N

60°N

60°S

EQUATOR

TROPIC OFCAPRICORN

TROPIC OF CANCER

Dias 1487 Elcano (for Magellan) 1522

Elcano

Mag

ellan

1519

-1520

Magellan 1521

Cort´es 1519 Columbus 1492

Verrazano 1524

da GamaCa

bral

1500

Cabral

daG

am

a 1497

Cartier 1534

Cabot

1497

Hudson 1610

Hudson 1609

Magellan

Pizarro

1531-1532 AtlanticOcean

INDIanOcean

pacificOcean

HudsonBay

CaribbeanSea

pacificOcean

Strait of Magellan

Strait ofMalacca

A S I A

AFRICA

EUROPE

AUSTRALIASOUTHAMERICA

NORTHAMERICA

Philippines

Greenland

HispaniolaBahamasCuba

Spice Islands(Moluccas)

SPAINPORTUGAL

NETHERLANDSFRANCE

PERU

CHINAINDIA

JAPAN

HONDURAS

MEXICO

ENGLAND

Lima

Tenochtitl´an(Mexico City)

MelakaCalicut

Goa

For almost a thousand years, Europeans hadmostly remained in one area of the world. At the endof the fifteenth century, however, they set out on aremarkable series of overseas journeys. What causedthem to undertake such dangerous voyages to theends of the earth?

Europeans had long been attracted to Asia. In thelate thirteenth century, Marco Polo had traveled withhis father and uncle to the Chinese court of the greatMongol ruler Kublai Khan. He had written anaccount of his experiences, known as The Travels. Thebook was read by many, including Columbus, whowere fascinated by the exotic East. In the fourteenthcentury, conquests by the Ottoman Turks reduced theability of westerners to travel by land to the East.People then spoke of gaining access to Asia by sea.

Economic motives loom large in European expan-sion. Merchants, adventurers, and state officials hadhigh hopes of expanding trade, especially for thespices of the East. The spices, which were needed topreserve and flavor food, were very expensive afterbeing shipped to Europe by Arab middlemen. Euro-peans also had hopes of finding precious metals. OneSpanish adventurer wrote that he went to the Amer-icas “to give light to those who were in darkness, andto grow rich, as all men desire to do.”

This statement suggests another reason for theoverseas voyages: religious zeal. Many people sharedthe belief of Hernán Cortés, the Spanish conqueror ofMexico, that they must ensure that the natives “areintroduced into the holy Catholic faith.”

There was a third motive as well. Spiritual andsecular affairs were connected in the sixteenth cen-tury. Adventurers such as Cortés wanted to convertthe natives to Christianity, but grandeur, glory, and aspirit of adventure also played a major role in Euro-pean expansion.

“God, glory, and gold,” then, were the chiefmotives for European expansion, but what made thevoyages possible? By the second half of the fifteenthcentury, European monarchies had increased their

190 CHAPTER 6 The Age of Exploration

DutchEnglishFrenchPortugueseSpanish

European Voyages of Discovery

For more than a hundred years European explorers sailedthe globe searching for wealth and glory.

1. Interpreting Maps Which continents were leftuntouched by European explorers?

2. Applying Geography Skills Create a table that orga-nizes the information on this map. Include the explorer,date, sponsoring country, and area explored.

power and their resources. They could now turn theirenergies beyond their borders. Europeans had alsoreached a level of technology that enabled them tomake a regular series of voyages beyond Europe. Anew global age was about to begin.

Explaining What does the phrase“God, glory, and gold” mean?

The Portuguese Trading EmpirePortugal took the lead in European exploration.

Beginning in 1420, under the sponsorship of PrinceHenry the Navigator, Portuguese fleets began prob-ing southward along the western coast of Africa.There, they discovered a new source of gold. The

Reading Check

southern coast of West Africa thus became known toEuropeans as the Gold Coast.

Portuguese sea captains heard reports of a route toIndia around the southern tip of Africa. In 1488,Bartholomeu Dias rounded the tip, called the Cape ofGood Hope. Later, Vasco da Gama went around thecape and cut across the Indian Ocean to the coast ofIndia. In May of 1498, he arrived off the port of Cali-cut, where he took on a cargo of spices. He returnedto Portugal and made a profit of several thousandpercent. Is it surprising that da Gama’s voyage wasthe first of many along this route?

Portuguese fleets returned to the area to destroyMuslim shipping and to gain control of the spicetrade, which had been controlled by the Muslims. In

191CHAPTER 6 The Age of Exploration

Early compass

Sea Travel in an Age of Exploration

European voyagers acquired much of theirknowledge about sailing from the Arabs. For

example, sailors used charts that Arab navigatorsand mathematicians had drawn in the thirteenthand fourteenth centuries. Known as portolani,these charts recorded the shapes of coastlines anddistances between ports. They were very valuable inEuropean waters. Because the charts were drawnon a flat scale and took no account of the curvatureof the earth, however, they were of little help onoverseas voyages.

Only as sailors began to move beyond the coastsof Europe did they gain information about theactual shape of the earth. By 1500, cartography—the art and science ofmapmaking—had reached the point where Europeans had fairly accuratemaps of the areas they had explored.

Europeans also learned new navigational techniques from the Arabs. Pre-viously, sailors had used the position of the North Star to determine their lat-itude. Below the Equator, though, this technique was useless. The compassand the astrolabe (also perfected by the Arabs) greatly aided exploration.The compass showed in what direction a ship was moving. The astrolabeused the sun or a star to ascertain a ship’s latitude.

Finally, European shipmakers learned how to use lateen (triangular) sails,which were developed by the Arabs. New ships, called caravels, were moremaneuverable and could carry heavy cannon and more goods.

Evaluating Which one advance was the most important for earlyexplorers? Why?

Map of the world, 1571

Caravel (small fifteenth- and sixteenth-century ship)

Cargo hold

1509, a Portuguese fleet of warships defeated a com-bined fleet of Turkish and Indian ships off the coastof India. A year later, Admiral Afonso de Albu-querque set up a port at Goa, on the western coast of India.

The Portuguese then began to range more widelyin search of the source of the spice trade. Soon, Albu-querque sailed into Melaka on the Malay Peninsula.Melaka was a thriving port for the spice trade. ForAlbuquerque, control of Melaka would help todestroy Arab control of the spice trade and providethe Portuguese with a way station on the route to theMoluccas, then known as the Spice Islands.

From Melaka, the Portuguese launched expedi-tions to China and the Spice Islands. There, theysigned a treaty with a local ruler for the purchase andexport of cloves to the European market. This treatyestablished Portuguese control of the spice trade. ThePortuguese trading empire was complete. However,it remained a limited empire of trading posts. The

Portuguese had neither the power, the people, northe desire to colonize the Asian regions.

Why were the Portuguese the first successfulEuropean explorers? Basically it was a matter of gunsand seamanship. Later, however, the Portuguesewould be no match for other European forces—theEnglish, Dutch, and French.

Explaining Why did Afonso deAlbuquerque want control of Melaka?

Voyages to the AmericasThe Portuguese sailed eastward through the

Indian Ocean to reach the source of the spice trade.The Spanish sought to reach it by sailing westwardacross the Atlantic Ocean. With more people andgreater resources, the Spanish established an over-seas empire that was quite different from the Por-tuguese trading posts.

Reading Check

What Was the Impact of Columbuson the Americas?Historians have differed widelyover the impact of Columbuson world history. Was he ahero who ushered in eco-nomic well being through-out the world? Or, was he a prime mover in thedestruction of the peo-ple and cultures ofthe Americas?

“The whole history of the Americas stems fromthe Four Voyages of Columbus. . . . Today a core ofindependent nations unite in homage to Christo-pher, the stout-hearted son of Genoa, who carriedChristian civilization across the Ocean Sea.”

—Samuel Eliot Morison, 1942Admiral of the Ocean Sea,

A Life of Christopher Columbus

“Just twenty-one years after Columbus’s first land-ing in the Caribbean, the vastly populous islandthat the explorer had re-named Hispaniola waseffectively desolate; nearly 8,000,000 people. . .had been killed by violence, disease, and despair.[W]hat happened on Hispaniola was the equivalentof more than fifty Hiroshimas.* And Hispaniola wasonly the beginning.”

—David E. Stannard, 1992American Holocaust: Columbus

and the Conquest of the New World*The atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, killed at least130,000 people.


The Voyages of Columbus An important figure inthe history of Spanish exploration was an Italian,Christopher Columbus. Educated Europeans knewthat the world was round, but had little understand-ing of its circumference or of the size of the continentof Asia. Convinced that the circumference of Earthwas not as great as others thought, Columbusbelieved that he could reach Asia by sailing westinstead of east around Africa.

Columbus persuaded Queen Isabella of Spain tofinance an exploratory expedition. In October 1492,he reached the Americas, where he explored thecoastline of Cuba and the island of Hispaniola.

Columbus believed he had reached Asia.Through three more voyages, he sought in vain tofind a route through the outer islands to the Asianmainland. In his four voyages, Columbus reachedall the major islands of the Caribbean and Hondurasin Central America—all of which he called theIndies.

A Line of Demarcation By the 1490s, then, the voy-ages of the Portuguese and Spanish had alreadyopened up new lands to exploration. Both Spain andPortugal feared that the other might claim some of itsnewly discovered territories. They resolved their con-cerns by agreeing on a line of demarcation, an imag-inary line that divided their spheres of influence.

According to the Treaty of Tordesillas (TAWR•duh•SEE•yuhs), signed in 1494, the line wouldextend from north to south through the AtlanticOcean and the easternmost part of the South Ameri-can continent. Unexplored territories east of the linewould be controlled by Portugal, and those west ofthe line by Spain. This treaty gave Portugal controlover its route around Africa, and it gave Spain rightsto almost all of the Americas.

Race to the Americas Other explorers soon real-ized that Columbus had discovered an entirely newfrontier. Government-sponsored explorers frommany countries joined the race to the Americas. AVenetian seaman, John Cabot, explored the NewEngland coastline of the Americas for England. ThePortuguese sea captain Pedro Cabral landed in SouthAmerica in 1500. Amerigo Vespucci (veh•SPOO•chee), a Florentine, went along on several voyagesand wrote letters describing the lands he saw. Theseletters led to the use of the name America (afterAmerigo) for the new lands.


Columbus petitions Queen Isabella for financial support of hisexplorations.

“When the two races first met on the easterncoast of America, there was unlimited potentialfor harmony. The newcomers could have adaptedto the hosts’ customs and values. . . . But this didnot happen . . . [Columbus] viewed the natives ofAmerica with arrogance and disdain . . . Colum-bus wrote of gold, . . . and of spices, . . . and‘slaves, as many as they shall order to beshipped. . . .’”

—George P. Horse Capture, 1992“An American Indian Perspective,” Seeds of Change

1. Using information from the text and outsidesources, write an account of Columbus’s voyagesfrom his point of view. If Columbus were toundertake his voyages today, would he doanything differently? If not, why not?

2. Using the information in the text and your ownresearch, evaluate the validity of these threeexcerpts. Which excerpt corroborates theinformation of the other? What might account forthe difference in the viewpoints expressed here?

Europeans called these territories the New World,but the lands were hardly new. They already hadflourishing civilizations made up of millions of peo-ple when the Europeans arrived. The Americas were,of course, new to the Europeans, who quickly sawopportunities for conquest and exploitation.

Examining Why did the Spanish andPortuguese sign the Treaty of Tordesillas?

The Spanish EmpireThe Spanish conquerors of the Americas—known

as conquistadors—were individuals whose guns anddetermination brought them incredible success. Theforces of Hernán Cortés took only three years to over-throw the mighty Aztec Empire in Central Mexico.By 1550, the Spanish had gained control of northernMexico. In South America, an expedition led by Fran-cisco Pizarro took control of the Incan Empire high inthe Peruvian Andes. Within 30 years, the westernpart of Latin America, as these lands in Mexico andCentral and South America were called, had beenbrought under Spanish control. (The Portuguese tookover Brazil, which fell on their side of the line ofdemarcation.)

By 1535, the Spanish had created a system of colo-nial administration in the Americas. Queen Isabelladeclared Native Americans (then called Indians, afterthe Spanish word Indios, “inhabitants of the Indies”) to be her subjects. She granted the Spanish encomienda,or the right to use Native Americans as laborers.

The Spanish were supposed to protect NativeAmericans, but the settlers were far from Spain andlargely ignored their rulers. Native Americans wereput to work on sugar plantations and in gold and sil-ver mines. Few Spanish settlers worried about pro-tecting them.

Forced labor, starvation, andespecially disease took a fearful tollon Native American lives. With lit-tle natural resistance to Europeandiseases, the native peoples wereravaged by smallpox, measles, andtyphus, and many of them died.Hispaniola, for example, had a population of 250,000 whenColumbus arrived. By 1538, only500 Native Americans had sur-vived. In Mexico, the populationdropped from 25 million in 1519 to1 million in 1630.

Reading Check

In the early years of the conquest, Catholic mis-sionaries converted and baptized hundreds of thou-sands of native peoples. With the arrival of themissionaries came parishes, schools, and hospitals—all the trappings of a European society. Native Amer-ican social and political structures were torn apartand replaced by European systems of religion, lan-guage, culture, and government.

Evaluating What was the impact of the Spanish settlement on the Native Americans?

Economic Impact and CompetitionInternational trade was crucial in

furthering a Commercial Revolution, a new age ofcommercial capitalism, one of the first steps in devel-oping a world economy.Spanish conquests in the Americas affected not

only the conquered but also the conquerers. This wasespecially true in the economic arena. Wherever theywent, Europeans sought gold and silver. One Azteccommented that the Spanish conquerers “longed andlusted for gold. Their bodies swelled with greed; theyhungered like pigs for that gold.” Rich silver depositswere found and exploited in Mexico and southernPeru (modern Bolivia).

Colonists established plantations and ranches toraise sugar, cotton, vanilla, livestock, and other prod-ucts introduced to the Americas for export to Europe.Agricultural products native to the Americas, such aspotatoes, cocoa, corn, and tobacco, were also shippedto Europe. The extensive exchange of plants and ani-mals between the Old and New Worlds—known asthe Columbian Exchange—transformed economicactivity in both worlds.

At the same time, Portuguese expansion in theEast created its own economic impact. With theirAsian trading posts, Portugal soon challenged the

Italian states as the chief entrypoint of the eastern trade in spices, jewels, silk, and perfumes. Other Europeannations soon sought similareconomic benefits.

New Rivals Enter the SceneBy the end of the sixteenthcentury, several new Euro-pean rivals had entered the scene for the easterntrade. The Spanish established

Reading Check


Incan mask

0186-0207 C06SE-860705 10/7/03 2:42 AM Page 194

themselves in the Philippine Islands, where Ferdi-nand Magellan had landed earlier. They turned thePhilippines into a major Spanish base for trade acrossthe Pacific. Spanish ships carried silver from Mexicoto the Philippines and returned to Mexico with silkand other luxury goods.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, anEnglish fleet landed on the northwestern coast ofIndia and established trade relations with the peoplethere. Trade with Southeast Asia soon followed.

The first Dutch fleet arrived in India in 1595. Shortlyafter, the Dutch formed the East India Company andbegan competing with the English and the Portuguese.

The Dutch also formed the West India Company tocompete with the Spanish and Portuguese in theAmericas. The Dutch colony of New Netherlandstretched from the mouth of the Hudson River as farnorth as Albany, New York. Present-day names suchas Staten Island, Harlem, and the Catskill Mountains arereminders of Dutch influence.

After 1660, however, rivalry with the English andthe French brought the fall of the Dutch commercialempire in the Americas. The English seized the colonyof New Netherland and renamed it New York.

During the 1600s, the French colonized parts ofwhat is now Canada and Louisiana. English settlers,meanwhile, founded Virginia and the MassachusettsBay Colony. By 1700, the English had established acolonial empire along the eastern seaboard of NorthAmerica. They also had set up sugar plantations onvarious islands in the Caribbean Sea.


Checking for Understanding1. Define conquistador, colony, mercan-

tilism, balance of trade.

2. Identify Vasco da Gama, ChristopherColumbus, John Cabot, AmerigoVespucci, Francisco Pizarro, FerdinandMagellan.

3. Locate Portugal, Africa, Melaka, Cuba.

4. Explain why the Spanish were so hun-gry for gold.

5. List the institutions of European societythat were brought to the Americas byEuropean missionaries.

Critical Thinking6. Describe Identify and briefly describe

the negative consequences of the Span-ish encomienda system. Were thereany positive consequences?

7. Identifying Information Use a webdiagram like the one below to listmotives for European exploration.

Analyzing Visuals8. Examine the photograph of the Incan

mask shown on page 194 of your text.How could artifacts such as this haveincreased the European desire toexplore and conquer the Americas?

Motives forExploration

9. Descriptive Writing Research oneof the expeditions discussed in thissection. Write a journal entrydescribing your experiences as a sailor on the expedition. Providedetails of your daily life on the shipand what you found when you firstreached land.

Trade, Colonies, and Mercantilism Led by Por-tugal and Spain, European nations in the 1500s and1600s established many trading posts and coloniesin the Americas and the East. A colony is a settle-ment of people living in a new territory, linked withthe parent country by trade and direct governmentcontrol.

With the development of colonies and tradingposts, Europeans entered an age of increased interna-tional trade known as the Commercial Revolution.Colonies played a role in the theory of mercantilism,a set of principles that dominated economic thoughtin the 1600s: According to mercantilists, the prosper-ity of a nation depended on a large supply of bullion,or gold and silver. To bring in gold and silver pay-ments, nations tried to have a favorable balance oftrade. The balance of trade is the difference in valuebetween what a nation imports and what it exportsover time. When the balance is favorable, the goodsexported are of greater value than those imported.

To encourage exports, governments stimulatedexport industries and trade. They granted subsidies, orpayments, to new industries and improved transporta-tion systems by building roads, bridges, and canals. Byplacing high tariffs, or taxes, on foreign goods, theytried to keep these goods out of their own countries.Colonies were considered important both as sources ofraw materials and markets for finished goods.

Identifying What products were sentfrom the Americas to Europe?Reading Check

196

Columbus Lands in the AmericasON RETURNING FROM HIS VOYAGE TO THEAmericas, Christopher Columbus wrote a

letter describinghis experience. Inthis passage fromthe letter, he tellsof his arrival onthe island ofHispaniola.

“The people of this island and of all the otherislands which I have found and of which I haveinformation, all go naked, men and women, as theirmothers bore them. They have no iron or steel orweapons, nor are they fitted to use them. This is notbecause they are not well built and of handsomestature, but because they are very marvelously timid.They have no other arms than spears made ofcanes, cut in seeding time, to the end of which theyfix a small sharpened stick.

They refuse nothing that they possess, if it beasked of them; on the contrary, they invite any oneto share it and display as much love as if they wouldgive their hearts. They are content with whatever tri-fle of whatever kind they may be given to them,whether it be of value or valueless. I forbade thatthey should be given things so worthless as frag-ments of broken crockery, scraps of broken glassand lace tips, although when they were able to getthem, they fancied that they possessed the bestjewel in the world. So it was found that for a leatherstrap a soldier received gold to the weight of twoand half castellanos, and others received muchmore for other things which were worthless. . . . I gave them a thousand handsome good things,which I had brought, in order that they might con-ceive affection for us and, more than that, mightbecome Christians and be inclined to the love andservice of Your Highnesses [king and queen ofSpain], and strive to collect and give us of the thingswhich they have in abundance and what are necessary to us.

They practice no kind of idolatry, but have a firmbelief that all strength and power, and indeed allgood things, are in heaven, and that I haddescended from thence with these ships and sailors,and under this impression was I received after theyhad thrown aside their fears. Nor are they slow orstupid, but of very clear understanding; and thosemen who have crossed to the neighbouring islandsgive an abominable description of everything theyobserved; but they never saw any people clothed,nor any ships like ours.”

—Christopher Columbus, The Journal of Christopher Columbus

Caribbean Sea

ATLANTICOCEAN

HispaniolaCUBA

HAITI DOMINICANREPUBLIC

Columbus landing in the Americas

Analyzing Primary Sources

1. Why did Columbus give the peoples of Hispaniola “a thousand handsome good things”?

2. How did the explorers take advantage of Native Americans?

Guide to Reading

Africa in an Age of Transition

Preview of Events

Early European explorers sought gold in Africa but were soon involved in the slavetrade. One Dutch trader noted:

“As the slaves come down to Fida [a port on the west coast of Africa] from theinland country, they are put into a booth, or prison, built for that purpose, near thebeach, all of them together; and when the Europeans are to receive them, they arebrought out into a large plain, where the surgeons examine every part of them, menand women being all stark naked. Such as are found good and sound are set on oneside. Each of those which have passed as good is marked . . . with a red-hot iron,imprinting the mark of the French, English, or Dutch companies, so that each nationmay distinguish its own and prevent their being changed by the natives for worse.”

—Documents Illustrative of the Slave Trade to America, Elizabeth Dorman, ed.,1930

The exchange of slaves became an important part of European trading patterns.

The Slave TradeTraffic in slaves was not new, to be sure. As in other areas of the world, slavery

had been practiced in Africa since ancient times. In the fifteenth century, it con-tinued at a fairly steady level.

The primary market for African slaves was Southwest Asia, where most slaveswere used as domestic servants. Slavery also existed in some European countries.


Main Ideas• European expansion affected Africa with

the dramatic increase of the slave trade.• Traditional political systems and cul-

tures continued to exist in most ofAfrica.

Key Termsplantation, triangular trade, MiddlePassage

People to IdentifyKing Afonso, Ibo

Places to LocateBrazil, Benin, South Africa, Mozambique

Preview Questions1. How did European expansion affect

Africa’s peoples and cultures? 2. How were the African states structured

politically?

Reading StrategyCause and Effect Use a table like theone below to identify economic and polit-ical factors that caused the slave trade tobe profitable. List the economic and polit-ical effects of the trade.


Economic/ Economic/Political Factors Political Effects

1518A Spanish ship carries the first boat-load of African slaves to the Americas

1591Moroccan forces defeatthe Songhai army

!1510 !1525 !1540 !1555 !1570 !1585 !1600

Captured Africans,yoked and shackled

During the last half of the fifteenth century, for exam-ple, about a thousand slaves were taken to Portugaleach year. Most wound up serving as domestic ser-vants. The demand for slaves changed dramatically,however, with the discovery of the Americas in the1490s and the planting of sugarcane there.

Cane sugar was introduced to Europe from South-west Asia during the Middle Ages. During the six-teenth century, plantations, large agricultural estates,were set up along the coast of Brazil and on islandsin the Caribbean to grow sugarcane. Growing canesugar demands much labor. The small Native Amer-ican population, much of which had died of diseasesimported from Europe, could not provide the laborneeded. Thus, African slaves were shipped to Braziland the Caribbean to work on the plantations.

Growth of the Slave Trade In 1518, a Spanish shipcarried the first boatload of African slaves directly fromAfrica to the Americas. During the next two centuries,the trade in slaves grew dramatically and became partof the triangular trade that marked the emergence of anew world economy. The pattern of triangular tradeconnected Europe, Africa and Asia, and the Americancontinents. European merchant ships carried Europeanmanufactured goods, such as guns and cloth, to Africa,where they were traded for a cargo of slaves. Theslaves were then shipped to the Americas and sold.European merchants then bought tobacco, molasses,sugar, and raw cotton and shipped them back toEurope to be sold in European markets.

An estimated 275,000 African slaves were exportedduring the sixteenth century. Two thousand wentevery year to the Americas alone. In the seventeenthcentury, the total climbed to over a million and jumpedto six million in the eighteenth century. By then thetrade had spread from West Africa and Central Africato East Africa. Altogether, as many as ten millionAfrican slaves were brought to the Americas betweenthe early sixteenth and the late nineteenth centuries.

One reason for these astonishing numbers, ofcourse, was the high death rate. The journey of slavesfrom Africa to the Americas became known as theMiddle Passage, the middle portion of the triangulartrade route. Many slaves died on the journey. Thosewho arrived often died from diseases to which theyhad little or no immunity.

Death rates were higher for newly arrived slavesthan for those born and raised in the Americas. Thenew generation gradually developed at least a partialimmunity to many diseases. Owners, however, rarelyencouraged their slaves to have children. Many slaveowners, especially on islands in the Caribbean,believed that buying a new slave was less expensivethan raising a child from birth to working age.

Sources of Slaves Before the coming of Europeansin the fifteenth century, most slaves in Africa wereprisoners of war. When Europeans first began to takepart in the slave trade, they bought slaves from localAfrican merchants at slave markets on the coasts inreturn for gold, guns, or other European goods.


Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection2,000 kilometers0

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Atlantic Slave Trade, 1500s–1600s

Slave-gathering areasMajor concentrations of slavesGold CoastIvory CoastSlave CoastRoutes of slave traders

From 1450 to 1600, about275,000 Africans wereexported as slaves to theAmericas.

1. Interpreting MapsWhat part of Africa wasthe greatest source ofslaves? Why?

2. Applying GeographySkills What, if any,adjustments to climatewould African slaveshave to make in NorthAmerica and Europe?

Only a few Europeanslamented what they weredoing to traditional Africansocieties. One Dutch slavetrader remarked, “From usthey have learned strife,quarrelling, drunkenness,trickery, theft, unbridleddesire for what is not one’sown, misdeeds unknownto them before, and theaccursed lust for gold.”

The slave trade had adevastating effect on some African states. The case ofBenin in West Africa is a good example. A brilliantand creative society in the sixteenth century, Beninwas pulled into the slave trade.

As the population declined and warfare increased,the people of Benin lost faith in their gods, their artdeteriorated, and human sacrifice became more com-mon. When the British arrived there at the end of thenineteenth century, they found a corrupt and brutalplace. It took years to discover the brilliance of theearlier culture destroyed by slavery.

Describing Describe the purposeand path of the triangular trade.

Political and Social StructuresThe slave trade was one of the most noticeable

effects of the European presence in Africa between1500 and 1800. Generally, European influence did notextend beyond the coastal regions. Only in a fewareas, such as South Africa and Mozambique, werethere signs of a permanent European presence.

Traditional Political Systems In general, tradi-tional African political systems continued to exist. Bythe sixteenth century, monarchy had become a com-mon form of government throughout much of thecontinent. Some states, like the kingdom of Benin inWest Africa, were highly centralized, with the kingregarded as almost divine.

Other African states were more like collections ofsmall principalities knit together by ties of kinship orother loyalties. The state of Ashanti on the GoldCoast was a good example. The kingdom consistedof a number of previously independent small stateslinked together by kinship ties and subordinated tothe king. To provide visible evidence of this unity,each local ruler was given a ceremonial stool of officeas a symbol of the kinship ties that linked the rulers

Reading Check

At first, local slave traders obtained their suppliesof slaves from the coastal regions nearby. As demandincreased, however, they had to move farther inlandto find their victims.

Local rulers became concerned about the impact ofthe slave trade on the well-being of their societies. Ina letter to the king of Portugal in 1526, King Afonsoof Congo (Bakongo) said, “so great is the corruptionthat our country is being completely depopulated.”

Protests from Africans were generally ignored byEuropeans, however, as well as by other Africans. Asa rule, local rulers who traded slaves viewed theslave trade as a source of income. Many sent raidersinto defenseless villages in search of victims.

Effects of the Slave Trade The effects of the slavetrade varied from area to area. Of course, it alwayshad tragic effects on the lives of individual victimsand their families. The slave trade led to the depopu-lation of some areas, and it deprived many Africancommunities of their youngest and strongest menand women.

The desire of local slave traders to provide a con-stant supply of slaves led to increased warfare inAfrica. Coastal or near-coastal African leaders andtheir followers, armed with guns acquired from thetrade in slaves, increased their raids and wars onneighboring peoples.


Slaves were kept in the ship’s cargo deck, called the hold.

Web Activity Visitthe Glencoe WorldHistory—Modern Times Web site at

and click on Chapter 6– Student Web Activity to learn more about theAge of Exploration.

wh.mt.glencoe.com

HISTORY

Nevertheless, the Europeans were causing changes,often indirectly. Europeans introduced new foodproducts—sweet potatoes, maize (corn), and peanuts—to Africa in the sixteenth century. In the westernSahara, Europeans caused trade routes to shifttoward the coast. This led to the decline of the Song-hai trading empire.

Morocco had long hoped to expand its influenceinto the Sahara in order to seize control over the tradein gold and salt. In 1591, after a 20-week trek across thedesert, Moroccan forces defeated the Songhai armyand then occupied the great trading center of Tim-buktu. Eventually, the Moroccans were forced to leave,but Songhai was beyond recovery. Its next two centuries were marked by civil disorder.

Foreigners also influenced African religious beliefs.Here, however, Europeans had less impact than theIslamic culture. In North Africa, Islam continued toexpand. Muslim beliefs became dominant along thenorthern coast and began to spread southward.

Although their voyages centered on trade with theEast, Europeans were also interested in spreadingChristianity. The Portuguese engaged in some mis-sionary activity, but the English, the Dutch, and theFrench made little effort to combine their tradingactivities with the Christian message. Except for atiny European foothold in South Africa and the iso-lated kingdom of Ethiopia, Christianity did not stopthe spread of Islam in Africa.

Describing What was the mostcommon form of government throughout Africa? What otherpolitical systems existed?

Reading Check


Checking for Understanding1. Define plantation, triangular trade,

Middle Passage.

2. Identify King Afonso, Ibo.

3. Locate Brazil, Benin, South Africa,Mozambique.

4. Explain how the Europeans obtainedaccess to slaves. To what port cities inEurope and the Americas were theAfrican slaves shipped?

5. Identify the effects of the slave trade onthe culture of Benin.

Critical Thinking6. Analyze Why did Africans engage in

slave trade? Did they have a choice?

7. Compare and Contrast Use a tablelike the one below to compare andcontrast the political systems of Benin, the state of Ashanti, and the Ibo peoples.

Analyzing Visuals8. Examine the picture of the inside of a

slave ship shown on page 199. Fromlooking at this picture, what conclu-sions can you draw about the condi-tions that slaves endured during theirvoyage to the Americas?

9. Persuasive Writing Does the factthat Africans participated in enslav-ing other Africans make the Euro-pean involvement in the slave tradeany less reprehensible? Write an editorial supporting your position.

together. The king had an exquisite golden stool tosymbolize the unity of the entire state.

Many Africans continued to live in small political units in which authority rested in a villageleader. For example, the Ibo society of eastern Nigeriawas based on independent villages. The Ibo wereactive traders, and the area produced more slaves thanpractically any other in the continent.

Foreign Influences Many African political systems,then, were affected little by the European presence.

Benin Ashanti Ibo

King Afonso Ic.1456–c.1545—African king

Afonso I was the greatest king ofCongo (present-day Angola and theDemocratic Republic of the Congo).He was born Mvemba Nzinga, son ofthe king of Congo. After the Portuguesearrived in the kingdom, Mvemba con-verted to Catholicism and changed his name toAfonso. After he became king in 1506, Afonso soughtfriendly relations with the Portuguese. In return for tradeprivileges, the Portuguese sent manufactured goods,missionaries, and craftspeople to Congo. Afonso soonfound, however, that the Portuguese could not betrusted. They made more and more raids for Africanslaves and even attempted to assassinate King Afonsowhen they thought that the king was hiding gold fromthem. Afonso remained a devout Christian, buildingchurches and schools.

1511Portuguese seizeMelaka

c. 1600Dutch enter spicetrade

1619Dutch establish a fort at Batavia(present-day Jakarta)

Guide to Reading

Southeast Asia in theEra of the Spice Trade

Preview of Events!1510 !1530 !1550 !1570 !1590 !1610 !1630

After establishing control of the island of Java, the Dutch encountered a problem inruling it. One observer explained:

“The greatest number of the Dutch settlers in Batavia [present-day Jakarta, Indone-sia], such as were commonly seen at their doors, appeared pale and weak, and as iflaboring with death. . . . Of the fatal effects of the climate upon both sexes, however, a strong proof was given by a lady there, who mentioned, that out of eleven personsof her family who had come to Batavia only ten months before, her father, brother-in-law, and six sisters had already died. The general reputation of the unhealthiness of Batavia for Europeans, deter most of those, who can reside at home with anycomfort, from coming to it, notwithstanding the temptations of fortunes to be quicklyamassed in it.”

—Lives and Times: A World History Reader, James P. Holoka and Jiu-Hwa L. Upsher, eds., 1995

Such difficult conditions kept Southeast Asia largely free of European domination.

Emerging Mainland StatesIn 1500, mainland Southeast Asia was a relatively stable region. Throughout

mainland Southeast Asia, from Burma in the west to Vietnam in the east, king-doms with their own ethnic, linguistic, and cultural characteristics were beingformed.


Main Ideas• The Portuguese occupied the Moluccas

in search of spices but were pushed outby the Dutch.

• The arrival of the Europeans greatlyimpacted the Malay Peninsula.

Key Termsmainland states, bureaucracy

People to IdentifyKhmer, Dutch

Places to LocateMoluccas, Sumatra, Java, Philippines

Preview Questions1. How did the power shift from the Por-

tuguese to the Dutch in the control ofthe spice trade?

2. What religious beliefs were prevalentin Southeast Asia?

Reading StrategySummarizing Information Use a chartlike the one below to list reasons why,unlike in Africa, the destructive effects ofEuropean contact in Southeast Asia wereonly gradually felt.


European Contact in Southeast Asia

A parasol shades a European from the sun.

202 CHAPTER 6 The Age of Exploration202 CHAPTER 5 Rome and the Rise of ChristianityCHAPTER 5 Rome and the Rise of Christianity

Gunpowder and Gunpowder EmpiresGunpowder and guns were invented in China in the

tenth century and spread to Europe and Southwest Asiain the fourteenth century. However, the full impact ofgunpowder was not felt until after 1500.

Between 1500 and 1650, the world experienced adramatic increase in the manufacture of weaponsbased on gunpowder. Large-scale production of can-nons was especially evident in Europe, the Ottoman

Empire, India, and China. By 1650, gunswere also being made in Korea,

Japan, Thailand, Iran, and, to alesser extent, in Africa.

Firearms were a crucialelement in the creation ofnew empires after 1500.Spaniards armed withfirearms devastated the civi-lizations of the Aztec and Incaand carved out empires inCentral and South America.The Ottoman Empire, the

Mogul Empire in India, and theSafavid Empire in Persia alsoowed much of their success in cre-ating and maintaining their largeempires to the use of the new weapons.Historians have labeled these empires the“gunpowder empires.”

The success of Europeans in creating newtrade empires in the East owed much to the useof cannons as well. Portuguese ships, armed withheavy guns that could sink enemy ships at a dis-tance of 100 yards (91 m) or more, easily defeated thelighter fleets of the Muslims in the Indian Ocean.

Although gunpowder was invented in China, it wasthe Europeans who used it most effectively toestablish new empires. Evaluate the reasons whythis occurred. In your explanation, be sure toinclude the historical impact of European expansionthroughout the world.

! Spanish galleon with cannons

" Seventeenth-century

pistol

Conflicts did erupt among the emerging states onthe Southeast Asian mainland. The Thai peoples hadsecured their control over the lower Chao PhrayaRiver valley. Conflict between the Thai and theBurmese was bitter until a Burmese army sacked theThai capital in 1767, forcing the Thai to create a newcapital at Bangkok, farther to the south.

Across the mountains to the east, the Vietnamesehad begun their “March to the South.” By the end ofthe fifteenth century, they had subdued the rival stateof Champa on the central coast. The Vietnamese thengradually took control of the Mekong delta from theKhmer. By 1800, the Khmer monarchy (the successorof the old Angkor kingdom—see Chapter 3) had vir-tually disappeared.

The situation was different in the Malay Peninsulaand the Indonesian Archipelago. The area was grad-ually penetrated by Muslim merchants attracted tothe growing spice trade. The creation of an Islamictrade network had political results as new statesarose along the spice route. Islam was accepted firstalong the coast and then gradually moved inland.

The major impact of Islam, however, came in thefifteenth century, with the rise of the new sultanate at

Melaka. Melaka owed its new power to its strategiclocation astride the strait of the same name, as well asto the rapid growth of the spice trade itself. Within afew years, Melaka had become the leading power inthe region.

Examining How did Muslim mer-chants affect the peoples of Southeast Asia?

The Arrival of EuropeansIn 1511, the Portuguese seized Melaka and soon

occupied the Moluccas. Known to Europeans as theSpice Islands, the Moluccas were the chief source ofthe spices that had originally attracted the Por-tuguese to the Indian Ocean.

The Portuguese, however, lacked the military andfinancial resources to impose their authority overbroad areas. Instead, they set up small settlementsalong the coast, which they used as trading posts oras way stations en route to the Spice Islands.

A Shift in Power The situation changed with thearrival of the English and Dutch traders, who werebetter financed than were the Portuguese. The shift in

Reading Check

202

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power began in the early 1600s when the Dutch seizeda Portuguese fort in the Moluccas and then graduallypushed the Portuguese out of the spice trade.

During the next 50 years, the Dutch occupied mostof the Portuguese coastal forts along the trade routesthroughout the Indian Ocean, including the island ofCeylon (today’s Sri Lanka) and Melaka. The aggres-sive Dutch traders drove the English traders out ofthe spice market, reducing the English influence to asingle port on the southern coast of Sumatra.

The Dutch also began to consolidate their politicaland military control over the entire area. They triedto dominate the clove trade by limiting cultivation ofthe crop to one island and forcing others to stopgrowing and trading the spice. Then the Dutchturned their attention to the island of Java, wherethey established a fort at Batavia in 1619. The pur-pose of the fort was to protect Dutch possessions inthe East. Gradually the Dutch brought the entireisland under their control.

Impact on the Mainland Portuguese and thenDutch influence was mostly limited to the MalayPeninsula and the Indonesian Archipelago.

The arrival of the Europeans had less impact onmainland Southeast Asia. The Portuguese estab-lished limited trade relations with several mainlandstates (part of the continent, as distinguished frompeninsulas or offshore islands), including Thailand,Burma, Vietnam, and the remnants of the old Angkorkingdom in Cambodia. By the early seventeenth cen-tury, other European nations had begun to competeactively for trade and missionary privileges. In gen-eral, however, the mainland states were able to uniteand drive the Europeans out.

In Vietnam, a civil war temporarily divided thecountry into two separate states, one in the south andone in the north. After their arrival in the mid-seventeenth century, the European powers began totake sides in local politics. The Europeans also set uptrading posts for their merchants.

By the end of the seventeenth century, however, ithad become clear that economic opportunities werelimited. Most of the posts were abandoned at thattime. French missionaries tried to stay, but theirefforts were blocked by the authorities, who viewedconverts to Catholicism as a threat to the prestige ofthe Vietnamese emperor.

Why were the mainland states better able to resistthe European challenge than the states in the MalayPeninsula and the Indonesian Archipelago? Themainland states of Burma, Thailand, and Vietnamhad begun to define themselves as distinct politicalentities. They had strong monarchies that resistedforeign intrusion.

In the non-mainland states, there was less politicalunity. Moreover, these states were victims of their own


Port city controlled by:EnglandFranceNetherlands

PortugalSpain

Trading forts were established in port cities of India andSoutheast Asia.

1. Interpreting Maps According to this map, which coun-try controlled the most ports?

2. Applying Geography Skills Do outside research tocreate your own map of European trade. Show the traderoutes each country used. What route do ships taketoday between Europe and Southeast Asia?

European Trade in Southeast Asia, 1700

# Replica of a Dutch ship.

sacred and the material world. The royal palace wasdesigned to represent the center of the universe. Raysspread outward to the corners of the realm.

Islamic sultans were found on the Malay Penin-sula and in the small coastal states of the IndonesianArchipelago. In the Islamic pattern, the head of statewas a sultan. He was viewed as a mortal, although hestill possessed some special qualities. He was adefender of the faith and staffed his bureaucracy(a body of nonelective government officials) mainlywith aristocrats.

In Vietnam, kingship followed the Chinese model.Like the Chinese emperor, the Vietnamese emperorruled according to the teachings of Confucius. Hewas seen as a mortal appointed by Heaven to rulebecause of his talent and virtue. He also served as theintermediary between Heaven and Earth.

Comparing How did the Javanesestyle of kingship compare to the Buddhist style of kingship?Reading Check


Checking for Understanding1. Define mainland states, bureaucracy.

2. Identify Khmer, Dutch.

3. Locate Moluccas, Sumatra, Java,Philippines.

4. Explain why the Portuguese decided toset up only small settlements in theMoluccas.

5. List the places where the Dutch estab-lished their forts. What were the majorobjectives of the Dutch? How did theygo about accomplishing their objectives?

Critical Thinking6. Evaluate Why did the Malay world fall

to foreign traders, while the countriesof mainland Southeast Asia retainedtheir independence?

7. Categorizing Information Use a tablelike the one below to describe the four types of political systems thatdeveloped in Southeast Asia.

Analyzing Visuals8. Examine the picture of the Thai king

shown above. How does this picturereflect the Buddhist model of kingshippracticed in Southeast Asian states suchas Thailand?

9. Expository Writing Pretend thatyou are a Portuguese merchant try-ing to establish trade relations withSoutheast Asia. Write a letter to theauthorities in Portugal explaining the particular difficulties you areencountering in Southeast Asia.

Region Political System

resources. The spice trade there was enormouslyprofitable. European merchants and rulers were deter-mined to gain control of the sources of the spices.

Evaluating Why were Europeans sointerested in Southeast Asia?

Religious and Political SystemsReligious beliefs changed in Southeast Asia during

the period from 1500 to 1800. Particularly in the non-mainland states and the Philippines, Islam andChristianity were beginning to attract converts. Bud-dhism was advancing on the mainland, where itbecame dominant from Burma to Vietnam. Tradi-tional beliefs, however, survived and influenced thenew religions.

The political systems in Southeast Asian statesevolved into four styles of monarchy. Buddhist kings,Javanese kings, Islamic sultans, and Vietnameseemperors all adapted foreign models of governmentto local circumstances.

The Buddhist style of kingship became the chiefform of government in the mainland states of Burma,Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. In the Buddhistmodel, the king was considered superior to otherhuman beings, and served as the link betweenhuman society and the universe.

The Javanese style of kingship was rooted in thepolitical traditions of India and shared many of thecharacteristics of the Buddhist system. Like Buddhistrulers, Javanese kings were believed to have a sacredquality, and they maintained the balance between the

Reading Check

Thai king

Making Inferences and Drawing ConclusionsWhy Learn This Skill?

While driving, you hear a news report about afire downtown. As you approach downtown, trafficis very heavy. You cannot see any smoke, but youinfer that the traffic is caused by the fire.

To infer means to evaluate information andarrive at a conclusion. When you make inferences,you draw conclusions that are not stated directly.

Learning the SkillFollow the steps below to help make inferences

and draw conclusions:

• Read carefully to determine the main facts and ideas.

• Write down the important facts.

• Consider any information you know that relatesto this topic.

• Determine how your own knowledge adds to orchanges the material.

• What inferences can you make about the materialthat are not specifically stated in the facts thatyou gathered from your reading?

• Use your knowledge and reason to develop con-clusions about the facts.

• If possible, find specific information that provesor disproves your inference.

Practicing the SkillRead the passage below, then answer the ques-

tions that follow.

In 1511, the Portuguese seized Melaka and soonoccupied the Moluccas. Known to Europeans as theSpice Islands, the Moluccas were the chief source ofthe spices that had originally attracted the Por-tuguese to the Indian Ocean.

The Portuguese, however, lacked the military andfinancial resources to impose their authority overbroad areas. Instead, they set up small settlementsalong the coast, which they used as trading posts oras way stations en route to the Spice Islands.

The situation changed with the arrival of theEnglish and Dutch traders, who were betterfinanced than were the Portuguese. The shift inpower began in the early 1600s, when the Dutchseized a Portuguese fort in the Moluccas and droveout the Portuguese.

During the next fifty years, the Dutch occupiedmost of the Portuguese coastal forts along the traderoutes throughout the Indian Ocean. The aggressiveDutch traders also drove the English traders out ofthe spice market, reducing the English influence to asingle port on the southern coast of Sumatra.

1 What events does the writer describe?

2 What facts are presented?

3 What can you infer about the Dutch tradersduring this period?

4 What conclusion can you make about the spicemarket, other than those specifically stated bythe author?

205

Applying the Skill

Scan the newspaper or a magazine for a political car-toon. Paste the cartoon on a piece of paper or posterboard. Underneath, list three valid inferences based onthe work.

Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook,Level 2, provides instruction and practice in keysocial studies skills.

Bags of spices for sale

CHAPTER 6 The Age of Exploration206

Using Key Terms1. A set of principles that dominated economic thought in the

seventeenth century was called .

2. were Spanish conquerors who were motivated byreligious zeal and the desire for glory and riches.

3. A body of nonelective government officials is called a .

4. Many Africans were removed from their homes and shippedto large landed estates in the Americas called .

5. States that form part of a continent are called .

6. The is the difference in value between what a nationimports and what it exports.

7. A settlement in a new territory, linked to the parent country,is called a .

8. is the route between Europe, Africa, and America.

9. The journey of slaves from Africa to America on the worstportion of the triangular trade route was called the .

Reviewing Key Facts10. History What did the Europeans want from the East?11. History Who was the conquistador who overthrew the

Aztec Empire? Who conquered the Inca?12. Economics What did Europeans want from the Americas?13. Geography What was the name of the city located on the

Malay Peninsula that was the central point in the spicetrade?

14. Economics When Vasco da Gama reached India, whatcargo did he bring back? How profitable was his voyage?

15. History How did most Africans become slaves?16. History What European country conquered Brazil?17. Science and Technology How did the Portuguese make

effective use of naval technology?18. Geography What did Christopher Columbus believe about

the size and shape of Earth?19. History Why were European diseases devastating to the

peoples of America?

Marco PoloBartholomeu DiasChristopher ColumbusJohn CabotVasco da GamaAmerigo VespucciPedro CabralAfonso de AlbuquerqueVasco de BalboaJuan Ponce de LeónHernán CortésFerdinand MagellanGiovanni da VerrazanoFrancisco PizarroJacques CartierHernando de SotoFrancisco de CoronadoJoão CabrilhoSamuel de ChamplainHenry Hudson

Late 13th cent.1488149214981497149915001511151315131519152015241531153415391540154216031609

ItalyPortugalSpainPortugalEnglandPortugal, SpainPortugalPortugalSpainSpainSpainSpainFranceSpainFranceSpainSpainSpainFranceNetherlands, England

AsiaCape of Good HopeBahamas, Cuba, HispaniolaIndiaNew England coastlineSouth American coastBrazilMelakaPacific OceanFloridaMexicoSailed around the worldEast coast of North AmericaPeruSt. Lawrence RiverNorth America’s southeastNorth America’s southwestCaliforniaGreat Lakes and QuebecHudson River, Hudson Bay

Date Sponsoring Country DiscoveryExplorer

Listed below are the major European explorers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Marco Polo is the one explorer listed who predates the Age of Exploration.

Analyzing Maps and ChartsStudy the chart on the opposite page to answer the followingquestions.27. Approximately how many years separated the explorations

of Marco Polo and those of Vasco da Gama?28. Which countries sponsored the most explorations?29. The voyages of discovery began in Europe. What continents

did the explorers visit?

Self-Check QuizVisit the Glencoe World History—Modern Times Website at and click on Chapter 6–Self-Check Quiz to prepare for the Chapter Test.

wh.mt.glencoe.com

HISTORY

Critical Thinking20. Drawing Conclusions What might have resulted from the

fact that many slave owners believed it was more economi-cal to buy a new slave than to raise a child to working age?

21. Making Generalizations Describe the impact on history ofthe voyages of Christopher Columbus.

Writing About History22. Informative Writing Write an essay in which you analyze

the reasons why Native Americans in both North and SouthAmerica might be offended by the term New World. Whatdoes the use of the term suggest about European attitudestoward the rest of the world? Refer to the Treaty of Torde-sillas and use other specific examples.

Analyzing SourcesRead the following comment by an Aztec describing the Spanishconquerors:

“[They] longed and lusted for gold. Their bodiesswelled with greed, and their hunger was ravenous;they hungered like pigs for that gold.”

23. Based on this quote, what might the Aztec have inferredabout the Spaniards and their civilization?

24. What do you think is meant by “they hungered like pigs forthat gold”?

Applying Technology Skills25. Using the Internet Search the Internet for additional infor-

mation about early European explorers and their achieve-ments. Organize your information by creating a spreadsheet.Include headings such as name, regions of exploration, typesof technology used, and contributions.

Making Decisions26. Pretend that you are the leader of a country and must

decide whether or not to explore outer space. What are thebenefits and risks involved in undertaking space exploration?Compare and contrast modern space explorations withEuropean voyages of exploration. Consider the technologiesused, the ways explorations were funded, and the impact ofthese ventures on human knowledge.

Directions: Use the map and your knowl-edge of world history to choose the bestanswer to the following question.

The Dutch established Batavia as a fort in 1619 to helpthem edge the Portuguese traders out of the area nowcalled Indonesia. Today, which city is located where Bataviawas established?A New DelhiB JakartaC MelakaD Beijing

Test-Taking Tip: If a test question involves reading a map,make sure you read the title of the map and look at themap carefully for information before you try to answer thequestion.

Batavia

Melaka

PACIFIC OCEAN

INDIANOCEAN

Java

SpiceIslandsSpice

Islands

0 mi. 750

0 km 750

N

E

S

W

Spice Islands, Early Seventeenth Century


StandardizedTest Practice

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