A History of World Societies Tenth Edition

CHAPTER 16The Acceleration of Global Contact,

1450–1600

Copyright © 2015 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

John P. McKay ● Patricia Buckley Ebrey ● Roger B. BeckClare Haru Crowston ●Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks

Jerry Dávila

I. The Afroeurasian Trade WorldA.The Trade World of the Indian Ocean

1. The South China Sea trade was the most developed part of the Indian Ocean sea trade. Chinese goods heading east had to travel through the South China Sea ports.

2. China was heavily involved in overseas trade. Admiral Zheng He’s journeys took him as far as Egypt, but the voyages came to an end following the admiral’s death and the death of the emperor who had initiated the voyages.

3. India became another important link in the flow of trade. Indian ports became the link between China and the Persian Gulf.

B.Peoples and Cultures of the Indian Ocean 1. The peoples throughout the eastern rim of the

Pacific Ocean all spoke languages of the Austronesian family. These peoples included the populations of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

2. Women in these cultures enjoyed a higher status than most other women throughout the world. In Southeast Asia, a groom paid his bride’s family a sum of money at the time of marriage. This was identified as “bride wealth.”

The Afroeurasian Trade World Before Columbus

C. Trade with Africa and the Middle East1. Africa became the source of gold and slaves.

Gold was transported across the Sahara Desert to North African ports. Slavery was practiced in Africa before the Europeans arrived.

2. Arabic and African merchants had marketed slaves from Africa to European and Middle Eastern markets for years.

D.Genoese and Venetian Middlemen1. Italian merchants dominated the European trade

following the end of the Crusades. When the Atlantic Ocean explorations began, the Italian merchants, navigators, and financiers advised the Spanish and Portuguese monarchs.

2. Ancient Roman slave markets were based in the Black Sea areas. Many of the Roman slaves were from the Balkans or other eastern regions. With new slave markets opening in the West, the trade shifted focus to the African continent.

II. The European Voyages of Discovery

A. Causes of European Expansion

1. Luxury goods: Rebounding from the devastating Black Death, Europeans developed a taste for enjoyment and comfort. The philosophy that life was short and needed to be enjoyed created a market for luxury items.2. Religious fervor: The desire to spread Christianity helped to fuel the explorations of distant lands. There also was concern about the Islamic religion spreading unchecked throughout the uncharted regions of the world

3. Inquisitive minds: . Many explorers simply wanted answers to questions that had annoyed people for generations. This tied in with their desire to gain glory and name recognition.

4. Royal competition: The growth of government power and competition among monarchs helped propel the voyages of discovery. Once the exploration business began, monarchs throughout western Europe immediately showed interest and offered financial support.

5. Employment opportunities: For many who were not in the elite social class, job opportunities were slim. Sailing on an ocean vessel and charting unknown seas was an opportunity for ordinary men to escape poverty and improve their quality of life.

II. The European Voyages of DiscoveryB.Technology and the Rise of Exploration

1. The magnetic compass assisted sailors in determining their direction and sea position.

2. The astrolabe identified the altitude of the sun and enabled mariners to plot their position relative to the equator.

C. The Portuguese in Africa and Asia1. Portuguese explorers hoped to gain military glory,

and defeat the Muslim powers. They also hoped to find gold and develop a trade in the slave and spice markets.

2. Prince Henry was dubbed “the Navigator” because he supported the study of geography and navigation and sponsored expeditions to West Africa.

3. The Portuguese understood the need for friendly ports along the trade routes. A string of trading posts and forts were built along the African coast for Portuguese vessels.

4. The Portuguese fought for and won control of the Indian spice trade from Muslim defenders.

II. The European Voyages of DiscoveryD. Spain’s Voyages to the Americas

1. Christopher Columbus’s proposed westward voyage was first rejected by Portugal. He finally received financing for his voyage from the Spanish monarchs.

2. Initially thinking he had landed in the Indies, Columbus continued south and found a large island. What he thought was Japan was to be identified later as Cuba. He did find gold ornaments worn by some native groups, which he reported to the Spanish rulers.

3. In the following decades, Spain developed colonies throughout the New World. Columbus made several journeys to the New World but was never interested in governing the region.

II. The European Voyages of Discovery

E. Spain “Discovers” the Pacific1. Amerigo Vespucci was the first to describe

America as a continent separate from Asia. 2. The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas gave Spain

everything to the west of an imaginary line drawn down the Atlantic and Portugal everything to the east.

3. Ferdinand Magellan also sailed for the Spanish crown. Although his crew was the first to circumnavigate the globe, what started as a fleet of five ships finished with a crew of eighteen survivors returning to Spain with one ship. Magellan was killed in a battle in the Philippines.

F. Early Exploration by Northern European Powers

1. John Cabot discovered Newfoundland and explored the New England coast.

2. French explorer Jacques Cartier made exploratory trips into the St. Lawrence region of Canada, looking for a passageway to Asia.

III. Conquest and Settlement

A. Spanish Conquest of the Aztec and Inca Empires

1. The vast Aztec Empire, also known as the Mexica Empire, was a sophisticated civilization with a capital larger than any European city of the time. After landing on the Mexican coast, Hernan Cortés ignored orders to limit his activities to trade and exploration and established a settlement. From the coast, he moved inland and conquered the native populations, claiming the land for Spain.

2. The Aztec leader, Moctezuma, was killed in battle, opening the entire region for the conquistadors.

3. The Inca Empire was located in the South American region of Peru. The Incas were an isolated population living more than 9,800 feet above sea level.

4. Following five years of war, Francisco Pizarro defeated the Incas. The Inca leader, Atahualpa, planned a trap for the Spanish, but the Spaniards ambushed and captured him and later executed him.

5. With the Inca leader gone, Spanish forces moved in and ransacked Cuzco, the capital of the Inca Empire.

III. Conquest and SettlementB.Portuguese Brazil

1. In 1500 the Portuguese crown named Pedro Alvares Cabral commander of a fleet headed for the spice trade of the Indies. The fleet accidentally landed on the coast of Brazil, which Cabral claimed for Portugal under the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas.

2. In the 1520s Portuguese settlers brought sugarcane production to Brazil.

3. The settlers initially used enslaved indigenous laborers on the plantation, but when the indigenous populations started to die out they turned to forcibly transported African slaves. This model of slave-worked sugar plantations would spread throughout the Caribbean in the seventeenth century.

C. Colonial Administration1. Spanish holdings in the New World were divided

into viceroyalties or administrative divisions: New Spain, Peru, New Granada, and La Plata. Each viceroyalty had an imperial governor or viceroy.

2. Each viceroy was advised by an audiencia, a panel of judges. Other colonial officials included intendants and corregidores.

III. Conquest and SettlementD. Indigenous Population Loss and Economic

Exploitation1. The Spanish emperor granted conquerors the

right to use the indigenous people for the betterment of the colony. The encomienda system reflected the efforts of the Spanish to exploit the labor of Native Americans.

2. Europeans introduced natives to new and unknown diseases. A large portion of the native population died from European diseases such as smallpox.

E. Patterns of Settlement1. Although the first Iberian migrants were men—

conquistadors, priests, and colonial officials—soon whole families began to cross the Atlantic, and the European population began to increase through natural reproduction.

2. Spaniards settled into former Aztec and Inca towns and cities and also established new cities such as Santo Domingo on Hispaniola and Vera Cruz in Mexico.

3. Despite their growing population, Europeans remained a minority of the total inhabitants of the Americas. European men often took native women as wives and concubines, leading to a substantial population of mixed Iberian and Indian descent known as mestizos.

IV. The Era of Global Contact

A.The Columbian Exchange1. A transatlantic exchange of crops occurred after

the Europeans colonized the New World. Corn became an important crop in Europe, as did tomatoes and a variety of beans, squash, and other types of vegetables. This increased the nutritional value of the European diet and over time improved Europeans’ health.

2. Potatoes spread throughout the world as a major food staple for humans and for livestock as well.

B. Sugar and Early Transatlantic Slavery1. Sugar was initially considered a luxury that few could

afford. Sugarcane was difficult to raise because it was labor intensive and had to be marketed quickly or else it would spoil. Yet, if it could get to a market, it would bring in large amounts of profits.

2. Using slaves from Africa, Europeans developed sugarcane plantations on the islands. Large fields would be planted and harvested, producing large quantities of sugarcane.

3. The production of sugarcane influenced the transatlantic slave trade. Portuguese ships brought the first shipment of African slaves to Brazil around 1550. By 1700, large numbers of slaves were used in sugarcane production.

IV. The Era of Global ContactC. The Birth of the Global Economy

1. While overland routes could only link trade from continent to continent, sea routes linked the entire world. States that had access to the open seas now found themselves in prime locations on the global map.

2. Most nations became addicted to commodities from faraway places. The world wanted silk and porcelain from Asia, slaves from Africa, and riches from the New World.

3. As more European states became involved in global trading, some had the ability to maintain large empires, while others found their resources were seriously stretched to the limit. Those who were stretched to the limit would become targets for the stronger states.

V. Changing Attitudes and Beliefs

A.Religious Conversion1. European missionaries took on the task of

converting native peoples to the Christian Church. Catholic friars sought to understand native cultures so that they might make Christianity more comprehensible to indigenous people.

2. The Virgin of Guadalupe became an icon for Catholics in Central and South America.

B.European Debates About Indigenous Peoples– 1. Denunciations of Iberian exploitation of the

native population of the Americas by Catholic missionaries in Spain led King Charles V to assemble a group of churchmen and lawyers to debate the issue in 1550 in the city of Valladolid.

– 2. Elsewhere in Europe, others debated these same questions. Those who read denunciations of Spanish abuses derived the Black Legend of Spanish colonialism, the idea that the Spanish were uniquely brutal and cruel in their conquest and settlement of the Americas.

C. New Ideas About Race1. Ideas about the inferiority of certain races were

needed to justify the institution of slavery. Some Europeans claimed that Africans lived like beasts, lacked rational thought, and were extremely ignorant.

2. Other views supporting black enslavement were biblical in origin. Ham was the cursed son of Noah who was exiled in Africa; therefore, Africans were the cursed sons of Ham.

• Mixed Races (p. 477)

• 1. Can you see how these pictures show an imagined “racial” hierarchy?

• (Answer: The top two rows present mixed marriages involving one “white” Spanish partner. The bottom two rows seem to involve marriages with partners of African descent. Supposedly lighter skinned people are at the top of the hierarchy, darker skinned toward the bottom.

• 2. Is there any suggestion that the social hierarchy (of occupation, social status) parallels the racial hierarchy?

• (Answer: The pattern is not completely clear, but the “darker” families toward the bottom of the page tend to have more simple clothes and humble occupations. For example, the women in the third row down are carrying baskets of goods they might be selling at a market or bringing home after purchase. The women at the top are not laden and have clothes that appear more expensive. )

• 3. Who do you suppose the audience for a painting like this might have been?

• (Answer: It seems unlikely that the people living in the mixed-race societies of Latin America and the Caribbean would have needed a guide to the various “mixes” and their social ranks – they grew up acutely aware of these things. More likely this set of images was to satisfy the curiosity of educated Europeans about societies in the New World and the intermarriage of Europeans, Africans, and indigenous Americans.)