AP World HistoryPOD #11 – Transatlantic Slave Trade

Sea Trade Motivation

Class Discussion Notes

Bulliet – “European Expansion, 1400-1550”, pp. 425-431

Historical Context

“… maritime expansion occurred in many parts of the world before 1450. Nevertheless, the epic sea voyages sponsored by the Iberian kingdoms of Portugal and Spain are of special interest because they began a maritime revolution that profoundly altered the course of world history. The Portuguese and Spanish expeditions ended the isolation of the Americas and increased the volume of global interaction.” (Bulliet, p. 425)

Underlying Motives for Exploration

The sea voyages between 1400 and 1550 built upon four changes evolving in Europe

1. revival of urban life and trade (especially after the Crusades and the years prior to the Bubonic Plague)

2. alliances between merchants and rulers (rise of the bourgeoisie who were willing to support strong leaders who would maintain pro-business order with taxes)

3. struggle with Islamic powers for dominance of the Mediterranean that mixed religious motives with the desire for trade

4. growing intellectual curiosity about the outside world (Renaissance & Scientific Revolution)

Immediate Motives for Exploration

Christian Militancy – spread the Christian faith (this would become even more of a priority after the Reformation as both Catholics and the Protestant sects competed for control of new lands and new peoples)

Material Wealth – desired by both kings and the people (especially the rising bourgeoisie) and, therefore, sought new trade routes to Asia, Africa and later the Americas

Although the Iberian Peninsula was not a center of the Renaissance both Portugal and Spain were open to discovering new ideas (especially geographical knowledge)

Role of the Italian City-States

By 1450 the Italian City-States had gained control of Mediterranean trade as well as trade with Northern Europe

This trade was highly profitable and allowed for the Renaissance to explode on the scene

Despite the fact that the Ottomans in the east disrupted trade the Italian city-states did not lead the way in exploring the Atlantic

It should be noted that many of the individual explorers, however, were of Italian ancestry

Leading Exploration Sponsors

Iberian rulers had strong economic, religious and political motives to expand their influence

Military & Maritime technological innovation provided the means to overcome the dangerous and unfamiliar ocean environments, gain control of the existing maritime trade routes and conquer new lands

Iberian Peninsula

History and geography led the Iberian kingdoms in a different trade and exploration path

By 1250 the kingdoms of Portugal, Castile, and Aragon had reconquered all of Iberia from the Muslims (except for the southern Kingdom of Granada)

1469 –marriage of Isabel of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon led to the conquest of Granada by 1492

The creation of Spain created the 16th century’s most powerful state

Portuguese Voyages

“Portugal’s decision to invest significant resources in new exploration rested on the well-established Atlantic fishing industry and a history of anti-Muslim warfare. When the Muslim government of Morocco in northwestern Africa showed weakness in the fifteenth century, the Portuguese attacked, conquering the city of Ceuta in 1415. The capture of this rich North African city gave the Portuguese better intelligence of the caravans bringing gold and slaves to Ceuta from African states south of the Sahara. Militarily unable to push inland and gain direct access to the gold trade, the Portuguese sought more direct contact with the gold producers by sailing down the African coast.” (Bulliet, p. 426)

Prince Henry the Navigator

Third son of the king of Portugal Led the attack on Ceuta Devoted his life to promoting exploration (he himself never

traveled far from home) Goal – convert Africans to Christianity, make contact with

Christian rulers in Africa, and join with the African Christian in a joint crusade against the Ottomans

Goal – discover new places and new contacts that would prove to be profitable (first Africa and later Asia, especially India)

Researcher – established a research center at Sagres to study and improve upon the ideas of the Italian merchants and Jewish cartographers and the technology of the Chinese and Muslims

European Sailing Technologies

Old Technology – Galleys powered by large numbers of oarsmen, Three-Masted Ships using square sails were both insufficient for the Atlantic Ocean

Caravel – new ship smaller than the older model European ships, Chinese Junks or Indian Dhows – their size allowed them to enter shallower water and triangular sails allowed them to take wind from either side and yet still use the square sail when in a following wind – increased maneuverability – cannon placement also made them an effective fighting ship

Portuguese Explorers

The slave trade in Africa quickly became the most profitable commercial activity

Gold Coast would become the headquarters of the Portuguese West African Trade

Bartolomeu Dias – first Portuguese sailor to round the southern tip of Africa and enter the Indian Ocean

Vasco da Gama – sailed around Africa and reached India

Pedro Alvares Cabral – sailed too far west and reached the South American mainland allowing Portugal to lay claim to Brazil (one of the western hemisphere’s richest colonies)

Spanish Voyages

“In contrast to the persistence and planning behind Portugal’s century-long exploration of the South Atlantic, haste and blind luck lay behind Spain’s early discoveries. Throughout most of the fifteenth century, the Spanish kingdoms were preoccupied with internal affairs: completion of the reconquest of southern Iberia from the Muslims; amalgamation of the various dynasties; and the conversion or expulsion of religious minorities. The Portuguese had already found a new route to the Indian Ocean by the time of the Spanish monarchs were ready to turn to overseas exploration.” (Bulliet, p. 429)

Christopher Columbus

Genoese mariner, made four voyages across the Atlantic between 1492 and 1504

Refused to accept that he had found a new unknown continent to the old world, insisting that he had found a new shorter route to the Indian Ocean

A four year study by a Castilian commission concluded that a westward sea route to the Indies rested on too many questionable geographical assumptions

His math had the distance of his journey being fives times shorter than it was it reality

Treaty of Tordesillas

“To prevent disputes arising from their efforts to exploit their new discoveries and spread Christianity, Spain and Portugal agreed to split the world between them. The Treaty of Tordesillas, negotiated by the pope in 1494, drew an imaginary line down the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. The treaty allocated lands east of the line in Africa and southern Asia to Portugal; lands to the west in the Americas were reserved for Spain. Cabral’s discovery of Brazil, however, gave Portugal valid claim to the part of South America located east of the line.” (Bulliet, pp. 430-431)

Ferdinand Magellan

1519 began an expedition to complete Columbus’ journey to the east

His journey began with 5 ships and 230 men and returned home to the Iberian peninsula with 1 ship and 19 men

Despite his death in a war in the Philippines he was considered the first person to circumnavigate the earth as ten years earlier he had sailed from Europe to the East Indies under his native Portuguese flag