Major Questions: Why did Europeans with their history of

fragmentation and internal problems, begin to look towards expansion abroad?

What were European motives? Who were the major European colonial powers? How did they accomplish overseas expansion? What effects did expansion have on European

societies? What effects did expansion have on colonized

or enslaved peoples?

Question: What were European motives for expansion? Economic – search for profits: silks, spices and

other goods that could benefit the Crown and merchant classes

Religious – Spanish Reconquista – take colonial possessions before Muslims could gain influence

Racial – through contact with other peoples, Europeans formulated ideas of racial superiority – combined ideas of cultural, scientific, religious, economic, and physical superiority

How did Europeans expand beyond Europe? Creation of stable governments/monarchies

Spanish example – unification of different small kingdoms into one

Battle against Muslims (Reconquista) helped unify Spanish Crown (Ferdinand & Isabella)

Monarchs gained wealth, wanted to spend it on new things: new trade routes, exploration, expansion

New technologies or used borrowed technologies – Portolini (navigation maps), compass, astrolabe, knowledge of wind patterns

Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) Wanted to find a mythical Christian Kingdom in

Africa to ally against Muslims Acquire new trade opportunities Extend the influence of Christianity

India and Vasco da Gama original goal of da Gama’s mission was to

destroy the Muslim monopoly over the Spice Trade (economic)

1497 sails around Cape of Good Hope in Africa Success = military superiority & seamanship

Global Exploration 1415 – 1522 C.E.

Flow of Commerce in Portuguese World 1600

Spain’s Success = naval superiority, military strength & religious zeal

Spanish Model: crown maintained control over colonies most colonists were male (intermarried) wealth based on exploitation of native population and

slaves (not African) system of encomienda (labor system of service to the local

Spanish governors) – brutal exploitation 1592 Slave Laws – Catholic Church convinced Crown to

outlaw the use of the Native population as slaves

http://www.history.com/search.do?searchText=columbus Link for History Channel information on Christopher

Columbus

Competition with Spain

France (1534-1635) North America – 1534 Cartier (fur trade) Caribbean – Haiti – SUGAR (became most

important)

English Attempts Roanoke, NC (Sir Walter Raleigh), 1585: Link to

PBS, Time Team America episode on Roanoke Island

East India Company, 1591 (India)

French Exploration in Americas

English in North America

Dutch East India Company, 1602 designed to breakup Portuguese monopoly

1621 Dutch West India Company (WIC) – Caribbean & North America

New Amsterdam (New York) – Fur Trade Curacao (Caribbean – slave trade, pirating,

cacao trade) Trade with Native Americans in North

America:Creates problems for French & English and a mini arms race among Native Americans in the Northeast for furs. In exchange for beaver pelts – guns, gun powder, steel headed tomahawks & alcohol

Dutch Atlantic Empire

Colonization & Empires based on exploitation of native and African populations Spanish system = encomienda labor system =

mining and agriculture by natives (slaves/serfs) Portuguese, French, and English = enslavement of

Africans Creation of plantations in Caribbean, No. and So.

Americas to grow staple crops: sugar, coffee, tobacco, cotton

Racial system of slavery eventually developed – Europeans rationalized only blacks could be slaves

Related Links for European Exploration: http://www.nps.gov/seac/outline/07-

exploration/index.htm PBS Link for Guns Germs & Steel

The Columbian Exchange: exchange of crops and germs between Europe and the Americas – primarily benefited Europe, while harming native American societies

Link to National Geographic Columbian Exchange

This link will take you to Guns Germs Steel on YouTube.

Link to Guns Germs Steel

Episodes 1 and 2 summarize much of what you’ve learned about pre-history and early civilization in this semester.

Diamond presents an interesting theory about the roots of inequality and power in human history and is debated very much in history.

Episode 7 delves into the European colonial conquest of North and South America.