The Atlantic World 1492 – 1800

World History Chapter 4 Review

The Voyages of Columbus• First Encounters

– Convinced that he had a way to reach China, Columbus tried to find backers for a voyage, but did not succeed until Queen Isabella of Spain agreed to fund his voyage west across the Atlantic in 1492.

– With three ships, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, Columbus crossed the Atlantic and found land in the Caribbean Islands, which he though was really the Indies (Islands between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific), and therefore called the inhabitants, Indians which has stuck ever since, even though the islands were actually on the far side of the world.

– San Salvador (Holy Savior)– Delighted with his discoveries, Spain funded three more voyages, 17

ships, more than a 1000 soldiers. Columbus was named Admiral and Viceroy over the islands.

• Other Explorers– Cabral (Portugal) 1500 Brazil– Amerigo Vespucci (Italian working for Portugal)“New World” not asia– “New World” Named America to honor Vespucci– Vasco Nunez de Balboa (Spain) crosses Panama, “discovers” Pacific

Ocean– Ferdinand Magellan (Spain) 1519 first circumnavigation of the world

• One ship, 18 survivors

Spanish Conquests in Mexico• Cortez and the Aztecs

– In 1519, a Spanish Conquistador, Hernando Cortez landed in Mexico, to search for “God, Glory, and Gold”

– Cortez is at first greeted cautiously and with great fear and deference as it was believed that the Spaniards were the foretold return of the Gods (Viracocha).

– Tenochtitlan – main city of the Aztec– Montezuma II– Greeted as guests at first, but the greed of the Spanish

led them to confront the Aztec, and at the beginning, they were forced to retreat.

– Malinche – former slave given to Cortez for translator• Mother of Mexico• The Traitor

– Found allies among various tribes who hated the Aztec– Disease – Small pox, measles, mumps, typhus, and

others– Downfall of the Aztec

Spanish Conquests in Peru • Pizzaro Subdues the Inca

– 1532, Francisco Pizzaro and less than 200 men

– Atahualpa, overconfident of his ability to kill the Spanish, left himself defenseless

• Spain’s Pattern of Conquest– Spain and the Moors– Encomienda system– Peninsulares – From the peninsula (Spain)– Mestizo – Mixed Spanish and Native

American• The Portuguese in Brazil

– No gold, plantations of sugar

Spain’s Influence Expands– Spain’s new wealth created an age of art and culture,

as well as a massive military and navy• Conquistadors Push North

– Ponce de Leon, Florida, 1513, Fountain of Youth– Francisco Vasquez de Coranado, 1540-41 southwest

US, City of Gold (El Dorado)– Little gold was found, so most expansion was for

converts• Opposition to Spanish Rule

– Bartolome de Las Casas wrote extensively on Spanish oppression and cruelty of the natives

– Many opposed what was happening• African Slavery and Native Resistance

– Many times natives rebelled against the Spanish, but were rarely successful for any amount of time.

– The encomienda system did not work well, and new labor was brought in,l African slaves

Competing Claims in North America

– Though the Pope split the world between Spain and Portugal (Catholic Kingdoms), the Protestant Kingdoms wanted colonies too, and ignored the Popes treaty.

• Explorers Establish New France– Giovanni da Verrazzano

• New York Harbor – 1524

– Jacques Cartier• St Lawrence River – 1534• Mount Royal (Montreal)

– Samuel de Chaplain• Founded Quebec with 32 Colonists (New France) - 1608

– Jaques Marquette and Louis Joliet 1673• Great Lakes• Upper Mississippi

– Sieur de La Salle• Lower Mississippi – Claimed whole river valley for

France – Louisiana (Louis XIV)

• A Trading Empire– By 1760, the French population of New France was

only 65,000. The French were more interested in fur trapping and trade than in colonization.

The English Arrive in North America• The Settlement at Jamestown 1607

– Charter created by King James for London investors, sent an expedition of 3 ships and 100 colonists.

– At first, the settlers were only interested in finding gold (very little), and many starved or were killed by Native Americans (7 in 10)

– Once tobacco was found, this cash crop became very lucrative for the investors and land owners.

• Pilgrims and Puritans Create a “New England” 1620– Pilgrims left Europe seeking of religious freedom (why this

religion?) and started the Plymouth Colony.– A group of Puritans (purify the church) also came to New England

and founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony– Wanted to create a “City on a Hill”, a model city of Christianity

• Dutch Found New Netherlands– Henry Hudson, 1609, looking for the Northwest passage, found

Hudson's Bay, Hudson’s River and Hudson’s Straight.– Created Colonies in Fort Orange (Albany) and Manhattan Island,

mainly for the fur trade.• Colonizing the Caribbean

– Plantations of Sugar and Cotton, large amounts of slave labor– French: Haiti, Guadalupe, Martinique– English: Jamaica, Barbados– Dutch: Antilles, Aruba

The Struggle for North America• The English oust the Dutch

– The Dutch colony in New Netherlands (New York) was in between Jamestown and Plymouth.

– In 1664, Charles II of England’s brother, the Duke of York, was granted permission to drive out the Dutch.

– The Dutch surrendered without a fight, area renamed New York.

– By 1750, 1.2 million English colonists from Maine to Georgia• England Belittles France

– The colonists wanted more land, and tried to move west, but the French had already staked out the Mississippi and Ohio valleys.

– This led to the French and Indian War in 1754, called the Seven Years War by Britain and France because it was much larger than North America, they fought over the globe.

– In 1763, the French were defeated, England claimed most of North America now, with the Spanish in Florida, and the Southwest, and the Russians claiming Alaska and the coast down to California.

Native Americans Respond• A Strained Relationship

– The French and Dutch had good relations with the native Americans, trading and not colonizing for the most part.

– The English were determined to colonize, and the Indians were in the way.

• Settlers and Native Americans Battle– The fighting began almost as soon as the

English landed, though for the first 20 years it was isolated incidents on both sides.

– The Powhatan tribe and the Virginia colony of Jamestown became the first open conflict in 1622.

– The Plymouth and Massachusetts colonies fought King Phillips War (Metacon).

• Disease Strikes Native Americans– European diseases ravaged the Native

American population, and some of it was deliberate.

– This had another affect though, as the labor from Native Americans became harder to get, the colonies turned to African slaves.

The Causes of African Slavery– Initially, Native American labor was used on the plantations of the European colonists,

but disease, harsh conditions, and runaways were a major problem.– To deal with shortages of labor, Europeans began to import African slaves around

1500.• Slavery in Africa

– Slavery has existed in Africa for a very long tie, but it was usually minor. Once Islam began to spread however, Muslims justified enslaving non-Muslims, and from 650 to 1600, some 17 million slaves were taken by the Muslim empires and Caliphates.

– Slave had some rights in the Muslim world, and could even reach positions of authority, like a general.

• The Demand for Africans– The Portuguese trading posts in Africa were more interested in gold and ivory, but

when Native Americans died in large numbers, slaves became more important and profitable.

– African slaves were preferred because• They had similar immunities as Europeans to disease• They had experience in farming• They did not know the land and could not escape• Those who did escape could easily be caught (skin color)

– This started the Atlantic Slave Trade• Between 1500 and 1600, some 300,000 Africans were forcibly taken across the Atlantic• By 1700, 1.3 million• By 1870, some 9.5 million Africans sold into slavery

• Spain and Portugal Lead the Way– Most slavery did not take place in North America, but in the Caribbean and South

America (mostly Brazil)– Spain was the early leader in African slaves, but Portuguese needs for labor in Brazil

(40% of all slaves) caused the largest transport of slaves.

Slavery Spreads Throughout the Americas

• England Dominates the Slave Trade– The need for labor in the English colonies on the plantations

increased the need for African Slaves, and from 1690 to 1807, the English brought in 1.7 million slaves.

– The Colonies themselves also participated and brought in another 400,000.

– Though the number of slaves brought in stopped as the slave trade became illegal, the population in the colonies continued to grow, unlike the plantations of Brazil and the Caribbean.

• African Resistance and Cooperation– Most African’s who were captured to be slaves were not

taken by Europeans, but by African trades along the coast, who traded for guns, gold, and other products, making the coastal tribes powerful at the expense of the interior tribes.

A Forced Journey• The Triangle Trade

– Colonies to Africa• Bibles, Rum, Guns

– Africa to Caribbean• Slaves, gold, ivory

– Caribbean to Colonies• Sugar, slaves

• The Middle Passage– The Middle Passage was the trip from Africa to the

Caribbean or straight to the colonies. – The passage was often brutal for Africans, and the usual

loss during the voyage was about 20%, though sometimes much higher.

– “Horse Latitudes”

Slavery in the Americas• A Harsh Life

– Slave life in the American Colonies was not as harsh as the Caribbean and Brazil, but still bad.

– Harsh punishments– Runaways– Field workers and house workers– Community of different tribes (Aunties and Uncles)– Language, culture, music, beliefs

• Resistance and Rebellion– Passive resistance (breaking tools)– Active resistance – slave uprising

• Consequences of the Slave Trade– Weakened Africa– Profits for Europeans and Americans– Families split (selling down the river)– Culture of oppression and discrimination

The Columbian Exchange

From the Americas• Corn• Potatoes• Tomatoes• Squash• Beans• Avocadoes• Tobacco• Vanilla• Cacao• Peanuts• Turkeys

From Europe, Asia, Africa• Grains (Oats, Wheat, Rice…)• Fruits (Banana, Orange, Grapes…)• Livestock (Cows, Sheep, Goats,

Chickens, Horses, Pigs…)• Olives• Onions• Coffee• Sugar• Honey Bees

More than anything else, the “Columbian Exchange” introduced new foods, animals, and ideas all over the globe, transforming the lives of people virtually everywhere.

The Columbian Exchange

Global Trade• The Rise of Capitalism

– Capitalism is a system of economics based on the ideas of private property, markets setting the price of goods, and profit.

– Based mainly on the ideas of Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations”– Before this time, trade was largely controlled by the King/ruler, and

prices were largely set by the crown.– As trade increased and with all of the gold and silver coming from the

Americas, European nations saw tremendous increases in trade and business, which in turn raised demand for everyday goods like food, and causes an increase in prices as goods become more scarce. This is called inflation.

• Joint-Stock Companies– To pay for expensive trade voyages around the world, investors

teamed up to fund these voyages.– The investors would buy shares of a voyage, and at the end, the

money would be divided up amongst the investors based on how much they invested, or how many “shares” they had.

– Joint-stock companies could also be used to fund colonies, such as Jamestown.

The Growth of Mercantilism• The Central Ideas of Mercantilism

• Wealth is the measure of the power of a country.• Wealth can be obtained by acquiring gold and silver.• Wealth can also be obtained by selling to other countries

more than you buy from them .

• Balance of Trade– To achieve a favorable balance of trade, a country must:

• Become self sufficient (not buying from other countries.)• Develop colonies to produce raw materials (and for markets.)• Sell more to other countries than they sell to you, thus

increasing your wealth while depleting theirs.

• Economic Revolution Changes European Society– While European economies improved, most were still

poor, and lived in rural areas.– Trade increased ideas of nationalism.– Wealth of European nations gave them more power.