The Age of Exploration

1400-1800

Important Concepts

• When: 15th-19th century• What: exploration expeditions• Who: Portugal, Spain, France, England, and

the Netherlands.• Where: Europe, Asia, Africa, & the

Americas• Result: diffusion of ideas and cultural forces

that reshaped the global environment

Changes in Technology

• Magnetic compass, world maps, navigation charts, better engineering designs for ships, lighter weight muskets and artilleryconquest made easier/effective

Why? GOLD,GLORY, and GOD

• The crusades stimulated European demands from the middle east.

• Italian and Muslim traders controlled trade, people began to look for new routes.

• Wanted to spread Christianity.

Portugal Leads the Way

• 1st country to establish trading posts on the west coast of Africa.

• Prince Henry- promoted exploration through the gov’t. (created a navigational school).

• Bartolomeu Dias- Found a direct route to India.

Spain Also Makes Claims

• Columbus–Italian sea captain

convinced Spain to finance his voyages.•Landed on an island in the Caribbean.

Tension: Portugal Vs. Spain

• Signed the treaty of Tordesillas: The newly discovered lands of the west on an imaginary line would belong to Spain and discovered lands east of line would belong to Portugal.

Competition for Colonies

• Conflict between Spain & Portugal

– Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

– Treaty of Saragossa (1529)

• England, France, & the Netherlands also joined in on the competition

Spanish Conquistadors

Hernando Cortez

• Conquered the Aztec empire

• How? • 1. superior weapons• 2. convinced natives to

fight• 3. disease killed

hundreds of thousands

Francisco Pizzaro

• Conquered the Incan empire

• How?• 1.ambush attack• 2. captured their leader

19.2 China Limits European Contact

Ming Dynasty

• United under Hongwu- Confucius ideas, killed thousands of government officials, agricultural reforms

• Voyages led to isolation

• Only the government handled trade

Comparing Seats of Government

White House The Forbidden City

Manchus Found the Qing Dynasty

Kangxi=First emperor

• Moved out of the Forbidden city and focused more on the common people

• Learned about scientists and medicine from Europe

Prosperity in China under Ming and Qing Dynasties

• Food production increase

• Creativity- art, pottery, and drama

Japan Returns to Isolation

After Civil War in 1467

• Japan was ruled under a Feudal System under the Daimyo

• Japan was not unified until 1600 by the Tokugawa Shogunate

Japanese Feudal System

Life in Tokugawa Japan

Social

• Very structured

• Agriculture

• Urban society

• Haiku poetry

• Kabuki Theater

• Zen Buddhism

European Contact

• Interested in Portuguese muskets and cannons

• Later on banned Christianity

• Stayed isolated for more than 200 years!

Samurai

The Encomienda System

• How Spain imposed rule- the right to rule

– Named viceroys

• Near-absolute power

• Ruled plantations & mining operations

–(native labor) Serfs to slaves

–Cheap labor

– Life on the ecomienda

• Brutal, inhumane treatment

Human Tolls of Imperialism: Slavery & Mercantilism

• Imperialism=strong nation wants to dominate other countries, major effects on global pop.

– Disease & forced labor=decimated Native Americans

– Exploitation=killed @ 100,000 Incas & Aztecs

– Diseases (small pox/influenza)=killed millions

• Need help on plantations and in mines

African Slavery

Spanish gov’t abolished the Encomienda system.

• Turned to African slavery: Why?

• Needed cheap labor

• Africans were strangers to the Americas and would have no place to hide

• The Aksum, Kush, Mali, and Songhai- all groups who had a long history before 1st contact with Europeans.

Consequences of the Slave Trade

• African families torn apart

• African culture loses generations of members

• Through the skills & labor of African slaves, the economy of the Americas prospers

• Today’s populations of the Americas are multicultural

Columbian Exchange• What is it?

– Global transfer of foods, plants, and animals during colonization of Americas

• New foods=

–live healthier & longer lives

–World population up

Results of Columbian Exchange

• Native American civilizations destroyed• European diseases killed millions of Native Americans• European powers built extensive overseas empires• Large numbers of Europeans migrated to the Americas• Native American crops brought to Europe• European plant diseases and rats infested the New World• New World plantations required millions of African

slaves• Capitalism expanded with the growth of trade• Cultural exchanges occurred

Effects of the Columbian Exchange

• Make a list of 2 positive effects of global exploration and 2 negative effects of global exploration.

• Do you think the aftermath of exploration was more positive or more negative? Explain your answer.

Explain. . .

• What does the following quote mean?

– “Publication of new world maps, navigation charts, and engineering designs for better ships changed the guesswork of open ocean navigation into a science.”

Mercantilism

• Command economic system

• Gold=success

• Used by European govt’s.

• Sell more goods than you buy=more $

– Favorable balance

– Colonies were helpful in this-produced materials

– Downside: some disobeyed rules

Word Bank

• Columbian Exchange• Middle Passage• Mercantilism• Colony• Quipu• Joint Stock Company• Mestizo

• Mesoamerica• Obsidian• Triangular Trade• Encomienda• Glyph• Capitalism• Conquistadors