The Early Modern World(1450-1750)

Key Characteristics

• Beginning of globalization

• Modern science

• Growing European presence in world affairs

Key Characteristics

• Beginning of globalization– Colonization of Americas

– Atlantic slave trade

– Global silver trade

– Columbian Exchange

– Missionaries

– Demographic changes

The World in 1492

Middle East

India China Russia

Ottomans and Safavids

Dehli Sultanate

Ming Dynasty

Empire building

European Empire Building

• Distinctive because separated by an ocean (not connected by land)

• Up until this point Asia, India, and Middle East were centers of power

• Europe had marginal position in world of Eurasian commerce

• Not initially clear that balance of power will sway to Europe

Geographic Advantages

• Closer to Americas than Asia• No monsoon winds across the Atlantic Ocean

(unlike Indian Ocean)• Rich markets in Indian Ocean provided little

incentive for Chinese, Indians, and Muslims to look elsewhere

• Guns, germs, and steel enable Europeans to conquer Native Americans

China Europe

Ships Zheng He had hundreds of ships up to 400 feet long

Columbus had 3 ships, da Gama had 4 ships about 85 feet long

Motivation Did not seek conquest or colonies (already had tremendous wealth)

Unified state that closed doors to outsiders

Had already proven their greatness

No religious agenda

Seeking wealth of Africa and Asia

Competing states and rivalries

Looking to prove themselves

Religious agenda (spread Christianity)

China’s withdrawal from Indian Ocean trade facilitated European entry. Europeans did not have to compete with China’s huge treasure ships.

Moving forward:

-China continues to become productive and self-sufficient

Moving forward:

-Europe looks to overseas possessions to expand production

Reasons for Overseas Trade

• Growing merchant class in Europe during Renaissance

• Ottoman Empire blocks land routes• Increase in navigation technology

– Prince Henry the Navigator (school in Portugal)– Compass (from Chinese)– Astrolabe (from Muslims)– Caravel– Mercator Projection

How did technology aid European explorers?

Astrolabe

Caravel

Magnetic Compass

Mercator Projection

• New map invented in 1569• Map that shows shapes accurately, but distorts

size• Excellent for navigation – showed true

direction of places in relation to each other

Sextant

• Invented 1500 (very early version)• Determined altitude of sun or stars • Helped find latitude of the ship

Personal Reasons

CURIOSITY

RELIGION

WEALTH

FAME

NATIONAL PRIDE

Key Explorers

• Diaz: sailed from Portugal to tip of Africa and back

• Da Gama: sailed from Portugal around Africa to Asia

• Columbus: sailed west to Americas

• Magellan: first to circumnavigate the world

Space-Time Compression, 1492–1962

Fig. 1-20: The times required to cross the Atlantic, or orbit the Earth, illustrate how transport improvements have shrunk the world.

Columbian Exchange

• Global exchange of ideas, resources, animals, plants

• Also included ideas, diseases, people

• Total transformation of lives all over world

WESTERN HEMISPHERE(AMERICAS)

EASTERN HEMISPHERE(EUROPE, AFRICA, )

FOOD CROPS

Corn, potatoes, cassava, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, squash, beans (navy, lima, kidney, string), peppers (bell, chili), pineapples, peanuts, pecans, cashews, avocados, papayas, cocoa beans, vanilla beans, wild rice

Wheat, oats, barley, Asian rice, sugarcane, soybeans, radishes, lettuce, onions, okra, chickpeas, olives, grapes, peaches, pears, oranges, lemons, coffee, watermelons, bananas

PLANTS Cotton, tobacco, marigolds

Dandelions, crabgrass, bluegrass, roses, daises

ANIMALS AND INSECTS

Turkeys, hummingbirds, rattlesnakes, gray squirrels, guinea pigs, muskrats, potato beetles

Cows, horses, goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, elephants, house cats, Mediterranean fruit flies, Japanese beetles, sparrows, mice, rats

Food from the New World (Americas)

Plants/Animals from New World

Food from the Old World (Europe, Africa, and Asia)

Plants/Animals from Old World

Spread of Christianity

• Spanish and Portuguese saw overseas expansion as a way to spread Christianity (God, gold, glory)

• Portuguese missionaries in Africa and Asia• Spanish and French missionaries in Americas• Great success in Spanish Americas and

Philippines

What is another result of the Columbian

Exchange?

Effect: Spread of ChristianitySignificance: Native Americans often forced to convert (Latin America today is mostly Catholic)

What is another result of the Columbian Exchange?

Effect: Spread of diseaseSignificance: Millions of Native Americans died from smallpox (destroyed civilizations)

What is another result of the Columbian Exchange?

Effect: Forced labor of Native AmericansSignificance: Native Americans forced to work on their own land under terrible conditions

What is another result of the Columbian

Exchange?

Effect: Beginning of slave tradeSignificance: Africans replace Native Americans as the labor force (triangular trade)

Mercantilism

• Economic policy stating that a country’s power depended mainly on its wealth

1.Set up colonies

2.Obtain as much gold and silver as possible from colonies

3.Establish a favorable balance of trade

Middle Passage: the route taken by slave ships

1.Which area had the most Africans transported there?2.How many Africans were sent to this area?

Long Term Benefits of Atlantic Trade

• Colonies become extension of European civilizations (language, religion)

• Americas eventually allow Europe to become a world power

Silver Trade

• Silver mines in Mexico and Peru fueled trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific commerce

• Enabled Europeans to buy Chinese silk, tea, and porcelain

Colonial Structure in the Americas

• Spanish were early starters– Earliest cities, universities, and churches in new

world– Silver/gold mining– Commercial agriculture (cash crops)

• Encomienda system: forced labor of Native Americans

• Spanish colonization generated new societies and new races

• Sought 3 G’s – God, gold, glory

What happened to the Native American population between 1518 and 1593?

Why did this happen?

Peninsulares –People born in Spain

Creoles – People of European descent

born in the colonies

Native Americans and Africans

Mestizos – People of mixed Native American and European descent

Mulattoes – People of mixed African and European descent

Social Structure of Spanish colonies

Peninsulares Mestizos

King of Spain

Viceroy Viceroy Viceroy

Government in the Spanish colonies

Viceroy = representatives appointed by the king to rule over provinces in Spanish colonies

Cultural Blending

• Religious syncretism: Christian saints blended with indigenous gods (magic, folk medicine, communion with dead)– Native American beliefs blended with Christianity– Churches replaced temples as centers of cities

• New races: – Mestizos were blends of European and Native

American races (Mexico, Peru)– Mulattoes were blends of European and Africans

(Brazil, Caribbean)

The Aztec city of Tenochtitlan was built on an island in Lake Texcoco. The center of the city was dominated by the Templo Mayor. The twin shrines on the top of the temple were dedicated to the Aztec God of rain and agriculture (blue) and Aztec god of war (red).

Lady of Guadalupe

• Juan Diego (Aztec converted to Christianity)

• Claims he saw Virgin Mary on Tempeyac Hill

• Gathered flowers in tilma (garment)

• Image of Virgin Mary appeared where flowers had been

Santeria alters

Santeria worship

Santerian Priest

Sugar Colonies

• Brazil and Caribbean• Sugar in high demand in Europe• Colonies set up almost exclusively for export• Labor intensive (slave labor)• About 80% of captured Africans went to these

areas

North America

• England got later start and North America initially seen as leftovers

• Cash crops: tobacco, cotton, rice, indigo• Much less racial mixing• Sharply defined races• Settler colonies: many came for religious

freedom (Puritans, Quakers)

The potato was first introduced to Ireland in 1589 when British explorer Sir Walter Raleigh first planted them at his Irish estate. Legend has it that he made a gift of the potato plant to Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). The local gentry were invited to a royal banquet featuring the potato in every course. Unfortunately, the cooks were uneducated in the matter of potatoes, tossed out the lumpy-looking tubers and brought to the royal table a dish of boiled stems and leaves (which are poisonous), which promptly made everyone deathly ill. The potatoes were then banned from court. However, once the Irish became potato experts, this vegetable soon became a staple in Irish diets. The Irish became so dependent on this crop that when a disease destroyed potato crops in the late 1840s, millions died of starvation. This potato famine (or Great Famine) left many poverty stricken families with no choice but to struggle for survival or emigrate out of Ireland. Towns became deserted, and all the best shops closed because store owners were forced to emigrate due to the amount of unemployment. Over one and a half million people left Ireland for North America and Australia. Over just a few years, the population of Ireland dropped by one half, from about 9 million to little more than 4 million.

So basically, the introduction of the potato from the Americas to Ireland later led to the introduction of the Irish to the Americas!!