HIS 2213 Learning Unit Four Lecture

1. Learning Unit #04 Lecture
Vasco Nunez
de Balboa,
first European
to reach the
Pacific
“How & When Did Europeans Become
Dominant in the World?”

2. Part One:
What’s Been Happening in
the ‘Old World’ Since the
Break-Up of the Roman
Empire?
2

3. The ‘Old World’
The ‘Old
World’ =
Europe,
Africa, &
Asia (E.
Hemisphere)--all
known
to each other,
but, in 1492,
culturally &
biologically
separated from
the ‘New World’(W.
Hemisphere)
for the past 10,000
years.

4. The traditional date for the
‘fall’ of the Roman Empire is
476 C.E., but it applies only
to the Western part. The
Eastern part survived until
the fall of Constantinople to
the Ottoman Turks
(Muslims) in 1453.

5. The Muslim world experienced its “Golden Age” at the time of the “Dark Ages” in Europe.
Expansion of Islam, a new world religion based on revelations to the
Prophet Muhammad c. 622-900 C.E.

6. Building
Achievements
of Islamic
Civilization
Dome of the Rock (Mosque), Jerusalem (687-691)

7. Alhambra, Granada, Spain (1248-1354)

8. European Christians & Muslims came into
conflict during the former’s failed attempts
to oust the latter from the ‘Holy Land.’
The Crusades 1096-1291

9. What Europeans Learned from
the Crusades
• How to organize and support large-scale
military expeditions and explorations of
unknown territory.
• Islamic peoples possessed very desirable
material resources (silks, spices) that could
be gained through trade.

10. What Europeans Learned…. (Cont’d)
• Beyond the Muslim world even greater
riches were to be had through direct
trade with East Asia (India, China)

11. Marco Polo (1253-1324) Ibn Battuta (1304-1369)

12. Travels of Marco Polo & Ibn Battuta

13. The Italian City-States
Situated in the
eastern
Mediterranean--
& therefore
closest to the
trade arriving
from the Far
East--by 1300,
Venice,
Florence,
Genoa, & Milan
were on their
way to
becoming world
trading centers.

14. Silk Road and Spice Routes

15. The Bubonic Plague,
a.k.a. “The Black Death.”
No one understood that it
was spread by fleas;
millions perished; labor
shortages elevated serfs
to peasants in W. Europe.

16. The spread of the Black Death
followed trade routes across
the Eurasian Continent.

17. Mercantilism

18. Colonialism
Mercantilism resulted from booming economic growth & expanding royal power &
ultimately led to the adoption of colonialism, especially by countries located
on Europe’s Atlantic side. A nation-state’s power could be greatly expanded by:
1.) Accumulation of wealth – Rulers decided that in order to gain economic power
& military strength, the state had to build up wealth in the form of gold & silver
bullion. Rulers encouraged exports & discouraged or outlawed imports (using
tariffs & import quotas), because they wanted to have a favorable balance of
trade. (Balance of trade = the difference in value between imports & exports.)
2.) Trade with colonies – Colonies were expected to supply the colonizing country
with wealth—either gold or silver from its mines or valuable raw materials.
Rulers insisted that the colonies buy goods only from the colonizing country.

19. As Atlantic trade becomes more important,
Mediterranean trade will become less important.
Nation-states with
easy access to the
Atlantic Ocean were
perfectly located to
be the first to
encounter & exploit
the Americas.

20. At the time of its encounter with the
New World, Europe was…
• politically fragmented.
• NOT the world’s
dominant military
power (the Ottomans
arguably were).
• NOT the world’s most
advanced civilization
(China & the Muslim
world were more
impressive).
• NOT the center of
world trade (China &
India were).

21. The Rise of Gunpowder Empires
Between about 1350 &
1550 early nation-states
appear in Europe. Because
of the need for standing
armies, larger political units
encompassing more & more
people were the wave of the
future. Weak but stable
monarchies gradually
gained “absolute” control
over more & more territory
& resources. Spain &
Portugal led the way.

22. SPAIN & Portugal:
The Iberian
Peninsula

23. Spain and Portugal were ahead of the
rest of Europe because:
• They had consolidated their respective
monarchies.
• ‘Mission from God’; both ruthlessly spread
Catholic Christianity (the only kind there
was in W. Europe until Reformation
begins, 1517).
• Their Islamic heritage from the Middle
Ages & geographic position put them far
ahead of the rest of Europe as navigators
of the world’s oceans.

24. The Portuguese were the true pioneers of
expansion prior to the Spanish, but why?
• Favorable
Prince Henry the
geography. Navigator
• Midpoint of trade
between NW
Europe and
Mediterranean. Sagres
• Consolidated their
monarchy 200 yrs.
before Spanish;
House of Avis;
Prince Henry;
sponsored maritime
academy at Sagres.

25. Portuguese Advantages (Cont’d.)
• Already a
presence in the
Atlantic in the
early 1400s
(Canaries,
Azores, Cape
Verde, Madeira).
• Established trade
w/ the West Coast
of Africa in the
mid-1400s.
• Already had the
world’s first global
trading post Portuguese caravel with triangular
empire by 1500. lateen sails, which enabled the vessel
to tack against the wind.

26. European exploration in the Atlantic and Indian
Oceans, 1486-1498 In 1498, Vasco
da Gama found
the shortest
route from
Europe to the
Far East by
sailing around
Africa and
across the Indian
Ocean.
Vasco
da Gama

27. Africa
Mansa
Musa
Mansa Musa
Africa in the1400s & 1500s was even more diverse than
Europe & the Americas as far as ethnicities, religions, &
languages that could be found on the continent; not one
‘Africa’ but many. Africa was made up of hundreds of
societies & cultures from small tribes to powerful empires
that did not think of themselves as one single continent or
people. Islam was the main religion among elites.

28. West Africa and
Europe in 1492

29. Caravan routes

30. Africa (Cont’d.)
• The most important thing to remember about
Africa’s relationship to Europe in the 1400s and
1500s was that they were on equal footing
politically, militarily, and technologically.
• Unlike the later era of European imperialism in
Africa during the 1800s, in earlier times
Europeans could not impose their will on African
peoples (whites got malaria; lacked
technological advantages).
• Slaves not yet a major source of commercial
activity between Africans & Europeans.
• Pattern of trade between Europe & Africa in
1400s & 1500s would begin to shift flow of trade
out of Mediterranean & into the Atlantic, creating
a new world economy.

31. Part Two:
Christopher Columbus & the
Columbian Exchange
31

32. The Age of European
Exploration was really a
desperate gamble by
European countries to
raise their positions
relative to the rest of the
world. Led by Portugal,
Spain, and, later, England,
they were eventually
successful at planting
colonies to exploit the
resources of the New
World to enrich the Old.
Since the voyages of
Columbus both halves of
Christopher Columbus the globe have been
connected.

33. Was the ‘New World’ reached before
Columbus?
• YES: Leif Ericsson,
Viking; ca. 1000
C.E.; Vinland
• DOUBTFUL: Zheng
He, Chinese
admiral; some
claim his ships
sailed to the
Americas in 1421,
but most scholars
doubt this ever
happened.

34. When
Columbus
met the
Arawak
(or Tainos)
Indians on
the shores of
San
Salvador, he
was
encountering
his own
distant
cousins.

35. Significance of Columbus’
Encounter with the New World
• Brought together ‘Old World’ of Europe,
Africa, and Asia & the ‘New World’ of the
Americas.
• Both had lived in biological & cultural
isolation for thousands of years.
• Columbus’ voyage began the sustained
exchange between these two worlds in an
irreversible process that still continues
today. This was the beginning of
‘globalization.’

36. The Columbian Exchange
• FROM NEW WORLD • FROM OLD WORLD
TO OLD TO NEW
• Animals: Turkey • Animals: Horses,
Cattle, Pigs, Sheep,
• Plants: Corn, Goats, Rats
Potatoes, Tomatoes,
Squash, Beans, • Plants: Wheat, Oats,
Chili Peppers, Rye, Barley, Rice,
Peanuts, Chocolate, Sugar Cane,
Tobacco “weeds”
• Diseases: Syphilis • Diseases: Smallpox,
Measles, Malaria,
Tuberculosis,
Alcoholism

37. Pineapple, potatoes, and cassava—all plants native to the
Americas and unknown to Europeans before the 1500s.

38. “Montezuma’s Revenge” – the Spirochete,
bacterial organism that causes syphilis

39. Positive and Negative Aspects of the
Columbian Exchange
As far as food choices, the exchange of plants,
animals, and cultures that Columbus initiated has
enormously enriched all parts of the planet.

40. Smallpox
strikes
the
Aztecs.
The Native Americans paid a high price for being
“discovered.” European diseases were new to the
Americas and decimated Native American peoples.
Within two generations, the population of the
Americas plummeted by possibly as much as 85-90
percent in the greatest demographic catastrophe in
world history.

41. Also contributing to the high body count among Native Americans were
the murderous, barbarous crimes of the Spanish, who enslaved Indians
to work their encomiendas and also first brought African slaves to the
Americas in the 1530s.

42. Part Three:
Guns, Germs, & Steel
42

43. The Aztecs were an
Indian group living in
central Mexico; they
used military force to
dominate nearby
tribes; their
civilization was at its
peak at the time of
the Spanish
Conquest (1519 -
1521).

44. Tenochtitlan, Aztec capital, as it probably looked at the time the
Spanish arrived in 1519.

45. Conquistadors
• Hernan Cortez,
1519
• Francisco Pizarro,
1532
• How did a few
hundred Spaniards
take down the Aztec
and Inca Empires?
--Guns;
Germs; Steel;
Indian Allies;
Horses; Attack
Dogs
• Hernando
DeSoto, 1538-
1542
• Francisco de
Coronado,
1541-42

46. “The Storming of the Teocalli by Cortes and His Troops”

47. G
U
N
S
16th-century
Arquebusier
Arquebus

48. Smallpox
GERMS

49. S
T
E
E
L

50. The Aztecs fought using:
• Padded armor
• Obsidian-bladed
spears & war clubs
• Wooden shields

51. Tlaxcalans—Indian
Gateway to Allies of the Spanish
Aztec Capital
War Hound
Indian Spanish
supply soldier
carrier
(for
Spanish)

52. Cortez &
Spanish
soldiers
Aztecs
Tlaxcalan Allies of the Spanish

53. Some saw Indians as the
The impact of discovering the ‘spawn of Satan’
Americas on Europe was but others
profound, like finding life on admired them
as ‘noble
Mars. Why was info about the
savages’
New World not in the Bible? Are free from the
Native Americans even human? temptations
Some said it was okay to treat of civilization.
Indians like beasts because they
had no writing systems (not true
for all!) & thus no civilization.
Europeans evaluated Indian
cultures by European standards.
De Las Casas defended the
Indians, but he said they still
must be converted. His book,
Spanish Cruelties, was a
bestseller in England. Bartolome de Las Casas

54. Juan Gines de Sepulveda Bartolome de Las Casas

55. Spanish Rule in the New World
• New Spain
• Encomienda system
• Royal Fifth
• Gold & Silver
• By 1530s African slaves are working
mines; African slavery was instituted by
Spanish as a reform measure (to ease
the burden of forced labor on the
Indians)!

56. Spanish
America,
ca. 1600

57. Spain’s New World Competitors
• Engaged in piracy against Spanish
shipping as a matter of state policy.
• Portugal; Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
• The Netherlands (Holland); Dutch revolted
against Spanish rule (1568-1648)
• France; far north (Canada); Jacques
Cartier, 1534; Samuel de Champlain
• England; John Cabot, 1497

58. Spanish “doubloons,” i.e. gold coins England, and
others, were
jealous of Spain’s
New World Empire.
Catholic Spain
used its wealth to
make war on
Protestant England.
England wanted to
harass Spain in the
New World and
seize their gold.
Spanish
silver The English also
believed they could
rule over the
Indians with more
justice and less
cruelty than the
Spanish had
shown (but they
“Pieces
would not live up to
of Eight”
this ideal).