The Search for Spices - Sherer Historyshererhistory.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/9/2/37924013/whap_age_of_exploration.pdf•Europeans Explore the High Seas •Europeans had traded with Asia

Exploration 1. What drives human

exploration?

2. Create a timeline of Zheng He’s life; what were the major turning points?

3. How did being a eunuch affect Zheng He’s life?

4. What was their motives?

5. Strengths / Limitations

6. Significance: Immediate / Long Term

Economics Yo • If the of a commodity is low, and the for said

commodity is high, we can assume that the price of the commodity will be

• High (expensive) or low (relatively cheap)?

• If the of a commodity is high, and the for said commodity is low, we can assume that the price of the commodity will be

• High (expensive) or low (relatively cheap)?

The Search for Spices

• Europeans Explore the High Seas

• Europeans had traded with Asia BEFORE the Renaissance

• luxuries reintroduced during the Crusades

• Black Death = trade difficult



• Agricultural Output Increases = Population Increase

• Towns become Cities = larger middle class

• Incorporation and possible tax revenue

• Larger middle class = more “demand” (capabilities)

• More “demand” = more trade incentives w/ “securities”

• Most popular items were spices and silks

• Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and pepper

• Spices used for drying meat, flavor/preservation, and medicines/perfumes



• Motives (The Three G’s)

• What are the 3 G’s that motivate nearly all human conflict? • First Portugal then Spain begin exploring for a sea route to Asia

(Gold)

• want to cut out the Italian and Muslim “middle men”

• other nations soon join in the exploration

• some explored for adventure and Glory

• some explored to spread their religion (God)

• however, some were simply curious (humanist)



• Improved Technology Made it Possible • CARTOGRAPHERS

• compass, rediscovered the ASTROLABE

• CARAVEL

• square sail from European vessels

• triangular “lateen” sail from Arab vessels

• rudder and multiple masts from Chinese vessels

• more guns and cannons than anyone, muhahahaha


• Portugal Sails Eastward • Prince Henry the Navigator / Sagres

• goal was to reach Asia (India and China) by sailing AROUND Africa to the east

• 1488 – rounded Africa

• [Cape of Good Hope]


• Columbus Sails to the West

• Seeking same Spice Islands

• Columbus’ major miscalculations: time and distance!

• 2 months with mutinies / “magic” and “Indians”

Columbus: Good or Bad? • YOUR HIGHNESSES, as Catholic Christians and Princes who love the

holy Christian faith, and the propagation of it, and who are enemies to the sect of Mahoma [Islam] and to all idolatries and heresies, resolved to send me, Cristóbal Colon, to the said parts of India to see the said princes … with a view that they might be converted to our holy faith …. Thus, after having turned out all the Jews from all your kingdoms and lordships … your Highnesses gave orders to me that with a sufficient fleet I should go to the said parts of India …. I shall forget sleep, and shall work at the business of navigation, so that the service is performed.

• Columbus’ Proposal to Monarchy of Spain

Columbus: Good or Bad? • As soon as I arrived in the Indies, in the first island which I found, I

took some of the natives by force, in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts. And so it was that they soon understood us, and we them, either by speech or by signs, and they have been very serviceable.

• Columbus’ Personal Account

Columbus: Good or Bad? • They … brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many

other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks’ bells. They willingly traded everything they owned… . They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features…. They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane… . They would make fine servants…. With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.

• Columbus’ Personal Account

Columbus: Good or Bad? • While I was in the boat, I captured a very beautiful Carib woman,

whom the said Lord Admiral [Columbus] gave to me. When I had taken her to my cabin she was naked—as was their custom. I was filled with a desire to take my pleasure with her and attempted to satisfy my desire. She was unwilling, and so treated me with her nails that I wished I had never begun. But—to cut a long story short—I then took a piece of rope and whipped her soundly, and she let forth such incredible screams that you would not have believed your ears. Eventually we came to such terms, I assure you, that you would have thought that she had been brought up in a school for whores.

• Michele de Cuneo, crewman for Columbus


• Spain and Portugal

• Pope Alexander VI -

• divides the entire NON-EUROPEAN WORLD into halves

• Who might be upset by the Line of Demarcation?


• Portugal Sails Eastward

• 1497 – reaches Calicut, India • 10-month journey; starvation, dehydration, and scurvy

• over half the ships were lost / made 3,000% profit

• Portuguese establish outposts • (Wall-Street mentality)


• Europeans continued quest for efficiency

• 1513 – Vasco Nunez de Balboa - Pacific Ocean via Panama

• 1519 – Magellan’s epic quest: 3 years! • first CIRCUMNAVIGATION (trip around) the globe


• The Search Continues

• English, French, and Dutch - seek a route to Asia THROUGH North America

- explored Newfoundland

- explored the St. Lawrence River

- explored the Hudson River and Bay


• The Search Continues

The “Indies” • important - ALL trade between China and India had to pass between

one of two straights; Malacca or Sundra.

• Monsoon – seasonal winds

• Northeast in Summer and Southwest in Winter

• Trade boomed in port cities along the coast

• Most goods (spices) not bound for Europe

The “Indies” • India, China, and Southeast Asia (all the land and

hundreds of islands in between)

The “Indies” • Southeast Asia has 2 major

regions

• Mainland Southeast Asia a. Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and parts of Malaysia

The “Indies” • Southeast Asia has 2 major

regions

• Island Southeast Asia – more than 20,000 islands scattered between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.

• Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, and the Philippines

The “Indies” • 4 Major River Valleys

European Footholds in Southeast Asia and India

• Portugal’s Empire in the East

• seized port cities and straits

• created

O O

O O


• The Rise of the Dutch

• first Europeans to challenge Portuguese / Spanish Subjects

• mid-1500s, far superior warships / vessels

• by 1641, Dutch captured Strait of Malacca /

• coexist better with natives (PROTESTANTISM)

• France and England will weaken the Dutch’s dominance


• France and England in Mughal India

• France and England play the divided Mughal against itself

• a. both used Indian sepoy troops

• eventually, England pushes out France

• British East Indies Company


• Spain seizes the Philippines

• their “half” - Line of Demarcation

• Filipinos divided in war

• Catholic missionaries convert

• key link in Spain’s trading empire

• especially for Aztec and Inca gold

• Europeans closer to the Americas

• Powerfully motivated after 1200 for commerce

• Competing groups with various motives:

• Competing monarchs

• Merchants

• impoverished nobles and commoners

• Christian missionaries

• Persecuted minorities

• European states and trading companies = structure

• New European seafaring technology

• Astrolabe, compass, rudder, lateen sail

• Iron, horse, gunpowder weapons

• Divided native societies

• European germs and diseases

• In a sentence, what is her backstory?

• How did she help the Spanish? Why?

• What is her overall significance?

• How do you think she is considered thereafter by the Spanish / “Latin” Americans?

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•

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• Compare the Russian and Spanish Empires

– Factors Promoting Expansion

– Process of Expansion

– Effects of Expansion at Home

– Effects of Expansion on Conquered Peoples

Why were the Spanish Victorious? 1- Superior Military Technology

a. Horses (mounted warriors), guns (muskets and cannons), and metal helmets and armor.

2- Divide and Conquer b. Old grudges fuel manpower for both Cortes’ and Pizarro’s

fighting forces.

3- Disease a. Literally tens of thousands were dying in the cities

DURING the years of invasions.

4- “It’s the end of the world as we know it” a. catastrophic disaster…sign from gods?

How did Spain rule its empire in the Americas? 1. Spain felt it was their duty to bring Christianity and “civilization”

2. Divided lands into 5 provinces ran by a viceroy, a representative ruling in the Spanish King’s name.

a. [New Spain (Mexico) and Peru]

3. Franciscan, Jesuit, and other Christian missionaries

a. Introduce Spanish language and European “norms”

4. Plantations a. large estates ran by overseers [encomiendas]

5. Africans are brought in to supplant Native American labor

1. What is the meaning of RACE?

2. Why would the Spanish be as concerned (or more so) than other

Europeans?

3. How did race factor in to American Colonial society?

What were the chief features of colonial society and culture?

1: social structure

○ a. Peninsulares – those born in Spain (Iberian Peninsula)

i. Highest positions in government and Church

○ b. Creoles – American-born descendents of Spanish

i. Owned plantations, ranches, and mines

○ c. Mestizos – Native American and European descent

○ d. Mulattoes – African and European descent

• Encountered experienced

populations with almost as good tech

• Couldn’t use spread of disease to penetrate inland

• Had a MARITIME trade empire

• Focused on dominating the IO trade, trade with West Africa

• Encountered Naïve

populations with little technology

• Used spread of Smallpox to weaken population

• Established LAND EMPIRES

• Focused on extracting resources (esp. Specie) from land

1. global trade economy; Columbian Exchange.

a. Europe received from the Americas…

b. Americas received from Europe…

c. Africans received…

d. Asians received…

2. New crops fueled the population explosion that

was occurring in Europe and Asia.

“replaces” displaced Africans

What impact did the and

have on European economies?

1. The Commercial Revolution a. price of ordinary food increases dramatically

○ i. b/c increases in money circulation (from the importation of gold and silver to Europe)

○ ii. there was a scarcity of goods available

2. Growth of Capitalism a. Merchants were more willing to take risks because prices

were high…so more merchants competing to sell New World goods to Europe caused competition of selling goods ○ i. Capitalism!

3. Joint Stock Companies a. Merchants pooling money/resources together for overseas

business ventures.

4. Mercantilism a. Idea that a nation’s

wealth was based on the amount of gold and silver it possessed. ○ i. A country must export

more than it imported

○ ii. To accomplish this Europeans set up colonies

What impact did the commercial revolution and mercantilism have on European economies?


5. Colonies a. provided the parent nation raw materials and a market to

export finished products

b. Colonies were forbidden to set up manufacturers and could only trade with its parent nation

c. Tariffs were established in the parent nations to discourage consumption of imported goods ○ i. Tariff: tax on an imported good to encourage consumption of

domestic goods


6. Impact in Europe a. Nobles were hurt economically because their wealth was based on

how much land they owned. Land was less valuable because there was now “more” of it… i.e. the Americas.

b. Nobles had to sell off land to keep up with inflation making land in

Europe cheaper

c. Cities began to be dominated by successful merchants.

d. Lawyers gained power and popularity writing legal contracts.

e. Beginning of world dominance by Europe

Documents

The Search for Spices - Sherer Historyshererhistory.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/9/2/37924013/whap_age_of_exploration.pdf•Europeans Explore the High Seas •Europeans had traded with Asia