Measures of Central Tendency: Mean, Median and Mode
HIS 2213 LU4 How & When Did Europeans Become Dominant in the World?
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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
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
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)!
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).
Hinweis der Redaktion
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Trading networks were centered on the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. \n
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"The Storming of the Teocalli." (1848). Emmanuel Leutze. (Cortez with stout armored band fights his way back into Tenochtitlan, June, 1520. Based on Prescott's description) \nThe situation as reconstructed by modern historians is not as melodramatic as the summary and description appearing in the passages from Prescott below. Cortez, having exited Tenochtitlan with most of his force to deal with Spanish forces from Cuba hostile to his enterprise, overcame and absorbed them. The combined force then re-entered the Mexica city on June 24 without opposition, to rejoin the beleagured Alvarado and his men, only then to find themselves pent up and in effect besieged within the now hostile city which had turned against Cortez and the captive Moctezuma. The Spanish began house clearing operations around the perimeter of the buildings to which they were confined in preparation for an eventual fighting retreat. The "Storming of the Teocalli" reflects a Spanish assault on the nearby pyramid temple of Yopico, a hard fought battle up the vertiginous steps. Reaching the top of the pyramid (teocalli) the Spanish cast down the "idols," images of the Mexica gods, burned those they could not overturn, and thrust and tumbled the Mexica priests after them. It is probabled that among the cast down objects in this sortie was the famous Aztec Sun Stone, probably the best known symbol of Mexican culture. Contrary to Prescott's envisioning, therefore, this battle, though stenuous, was not a prodigious fighting re-entry into Tenochtitlan and, more importantly, was not fought atop the great teocalli of the Plaza Mayor, the pyramid dedicated to the twin gods, Tlaloc the god of Rain and Huitzilopochtli, the patron War God of the Mexica. Prescott loads his narrative with a symbolism that is close to allegory - the Christian Spaniards fighting to topple the pagan Gods of the Barbarian Mexica and replace them with Christian images at the very heart and pinnacle of the Aztec domain. reference, Hugh Thomas, Conquest: Montezuma, Cortes, and the Fall of Old Mexico, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993, pp. 402-403. (reference, William H. Prescott, HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO, 2 vols., Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1892, II, 63-67) EMANUEL LEUTZE, THE STORMING OF THE TEOCALLI, 1848--BASED ON WILLIAM PRESCOTT'S DESCRIPTION IN HIS 1843 *HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO.* (reference, William H. Prescott, HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO, 2 vols., Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1892, II, 63-67) THE FIGHT ATOP THE TEOCALLI (Temple): BACKGROUND: CORTEZ HAD LEFT A SMALL GARRISON OF SPANISH TROOPS IN TENOCHTITLAN TO GUARD MOCTEZUMA AND HIS TREASURE WHILE HE DEALT WITH A HOSTILE SPANISH FORCE THAT HAD LANDED FROM CUBA. THIS GARRISON, UNDER THE COMMAND OF ALVARADO, HAD FALLEN UPON RELIGIOUS CELEBRANTS DANCING IN HONOR OF THE RAIN GOD, TLALOC, AND HAD MASSACRED THEM [SEE IMAGE 0017]. AT THIS POINT THE AZTECS ROSE UP AGAINST THE SPANISH. CORTEZ IN THE MEANTIME HAD TAKEN THE CUBAN FORCES BY SURPRISE AND WON THEM OVER TO HIS CAUSE. HE THEN HAD TO FIGHT HIS WAY BACK INTO A HOSTILE CITY TO SUCCOR ALVARADO AND REGAIN ACCESS TO MOCTEZUMA AND THE MEXICAN TREASURE. THE DATE IS NOW JUNE 24, 1520. THE CLIMACTIC STAGE OF THIS BATTLE WAS A THREE HOUR STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE SPANISH AND THE AZTECS ATOP THE GREAT TEOCALLI DEDICATED TO HUITZILOPOCHTLI [wee-tsee-loh-POHTCH-tlee], THE WAR GOD, THE HUMMING BIRD OF THE LEFT, THE PATRON GOD OF THE MEXICA. THE SPANISH STORMED THE PYRAMID AND, ON "THIS AERIAL BATTLEFIELD, ENGAGED IN MORTAL COMBAT IN PRESENCE OF THE WHOLE CITY," TO QUOTE PRESCOTT. ON THE FIELD ATOP THE PYRAMID, AGAIN TO QUOTE PRESCOTT, "NO IMPEDIMENT OCCURRED. . EXCEPT THE HUGE SACRIFICAL BLOCK, AND THE TEMPLES OF STONE WHICH ROSE TO THE HEIGHT OF 40 FEET . . . ONE OF THESE HAD BEEN CONSECRATED TO THE CROSS. THE OTHER WAS STILL OCCUPIED BY THE MEXICAN WAR-GOD. THE CHRISTIAN AND THE AZTEC CONTENDED FOR THEIR RELIGIONS UNDER THE VERY SHADOW OF THEIR RESPECTIVE SHRINES; WHILE THE INDIAN PRIESTS, RUNNING TO AND FRO, WITH THEIR HAIR WILDLY STREAMING OVER THEIR SABLE MANTLES, SEEMED HOVERING IN MID AIR, LIKE SO MANY DEMONS OF DARKNESS URGING ON THE WORK OF SLAUGHTER!" \nThe following is a close paraphrase from William Truettner, "Prelude to Expansion: Repainting the Past," in THE WEST AS AMERICA: REINTERPRETING IMAGES OF THE FRONTIER, Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 59-62 \nEMANUEL LEUTZE'S PAINTING OF THIS BATTLE WAS INSPIRED BY THIS DESCRIPTION AND LIKE PRESCOTT'S WORDS TILTS TOWARD THE SPANISH. \nTHE TEMPLE OF THE WAR-GOD AT THE TOP IS A SQUAT UGLY MENACING STRUCTURE, A PRIMITIVE BARRICADE AGAINST LIGHT AND REASON. THE TOWER, WITH ITS CRUELLY DISTORTED HUMAN FACES IS BATHED IN A DIABOLICAL RED LIGHT. ALTHOUGH RESISTANCE IS FIERCE THE FLOW OF ENERGY AND VICTORY IS WITH THE SPANISH--THE AZTECS ARE POISED IN RECOIL. THE ADVANCING SPANIARDS, CLAD IN BLACK ARMOR, RESEMBLE HUMAN DREADNOUGHTS--THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT THE MOMENTUM OF TECHNOLOGY AND CIVILIZATION IS IN THEIR FAVOR. [IN A SIMILAR FASHION, THE US ARMY, EQUIPPED WITH THE LATEST IN RIFLES AND WEAPONRY, HAD PREVAILED OVER THE MEXICAN ARMIES IN THE LATE WAR.] THE AZTECS BATTLE HALF NUDE, WEARING JEWELS, BRIGHT CLOTHES, FANCIFUL HELMETS SUGGESTIVE OF THEIR DECADENCE. TO THE RIGHT, ABOVE THE DRUMMERS, ONE OF THEIR PRIESTS HOLDS ALOFT A PARTLY DISEMBOWELLED INFANT OFFERED IN SACRIFICE. [INFANT SACRIFICE WAS NOT PART OF THE AZTEC RITUAL WHICH EMPHASIZED THE OFFERING OF WARRIOR OPPONENTS TAKEN IN BATTLE] AT THE FAR LEFT A SPANISH PRIEST OFFERS LAST RITES TO A DYING MEXICAN --AT LEAST ONE SAVAGE SOUL WILL BE SPARED FROM HELL. JUST BEHIND THE PRIEST A SPANISH SOLDIER PLUCKS A NECKLACE FROM AN AZTEC CORPSE--WE ALL KNOW HOW GREEDY THOSE CONQUISTODORES WERE APPLAUDED IN ITS DAYS BY THE CRITICS AND PUBLIC, LIKE ALL PAINTINGS, LEUTZE'S WORK DOES DOUBLE, EVEN TRIPLE DUTY. IT COMMENTS NOT ONLY ON PRESCOTT'S HISTORY, BUT ON THE JUST ENDED MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR--GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT HAD FOLLOWED LITERALLY IN CORTEZ'S FOOTSTEPS AND THE VICTORIOUS US WAS SEEN AS BRINGING TO THE BENIGHTED MEXICANS THE FRUITS OF A SUPERIOR CIVILIZATION AND RELIGION. AND ONE CAN ALMOST READ INTO THE PAINTING A COMMENTARY ON THE INDIAN-WHITE ENCOUNTERS OF THE 19TH CENTURY--WHERE SOME OF THE WORST WARS WERE YET TO COME. THE STORMING OF THE TEOCALLI THEREFORE REPRESENTS THE FUTURE AS WELL AS THE PAST. \nIN PRESCOTT'S WORDS, THE SUBJECT REPRESENTED: "THE FINAL STRUGGLE OF THE TWO RACES--THE DECISIVE DEATH GRAPPLE OF THE SAVAGE AND THE CIVILIZED MAN. . . WITH ALL ITS IMMENSE RESULTS." \nTruettner notes (see above reference) that Leutze had modelled the architectural stage for the battle from a volume of lithographs, published in 1844 by Frederick Catherwood, which contained detailed renderings of ruined MAYAN temples, which Catherwood and archaeologist John Lloyd Stephens had explored in the Yucatan several years earlier. "Leutze copied the giant serpent head in the right foreground, the heads inserted over the doorway and at the base of the tower, and the decorative designs bordering the terraces of the great pyramid. The entire architectural stage appears to be freely adapted from a number of Mayan temples, not one of which closely matches the altarlike appearance of Leutze's structure." (WEST AS AMERICA, p. 59) Never mind that the Mayan and Aztec cultures were far apart in time and space: Leutze senses both as pagan and barbaric. \nOlder readers and/or science fiction aficionados might also notice the similarity of Leutze's composition, in its flat bas- relief lack of depth, its lurid subject matter, and the clash of alien technology against unprotected beings, to the covers of the old ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION in the cold war inspired decades of the 1940s and 50s. In fact that magazine once published a paraphrase of Prescott's CONQUEST OF PERU as a science fiction story under the title of "Despoilers of the Golden Empire." A further sub-text of Prescott's history also is at play in Leutze's imaging of a turning point in the Conquest--for this painting portrays the moment where, as Prescott conceives it, Christianity overcame Aztec paganism atop the city on a battlefield that was the religious heart of the Mexica.. Part of the US victory of the Mexican War had entailed a perceived victory of an industrious, disciplined, and on the whole, Protestant nation against a backward, indolent, southern, and Catholic nation. In the polarized images of Protestant versus Catholic that occupied the imagination of mid 19th century America, "southerness", laziness, and strange, even quasi-pagan rituals were associated with Catholicism: industry, vigor, discipline, and clean productive harshness accrued to images of Protestantism. Thus, somewhat strangely, the values of Prescott's narrative of the conquest tend to assign to the conquering Spaniards and Cortez the to-be commended qualities of Protestant virtue, zeal, and technological innovation--even though in historical fact the Spaniards were, of course, of the Catholic faith. But who becomes the "Catholics" in protestant, Bostonian Prescott's narrative? The Aztec's--in their decadence and strangeness of ritual and through the horrors of their cannibalistic rites as infamously expatiated upon by Prescott, perhaps sensed as paralleling the savageries of the Inquisition, (whose auto-da-fe's in Spain had featured mass burnings of victims in cages). To support this statement it is profitable to consider the language of one of Prescott's concluding paragraphs: phrases depicting the religion of the Mexica are similar to those encountered in writings opponents to Catholicism alarmed by the challenge of Rome. Indeed the Aztecs and "the Romans" are directly linked. \n"The influence of the Aztecs introduced their gloomy superstitions into lands before unacquainted with it, or where at least it was not established in any great strength. The example of the capital was contagious. As the latter increased in opulence, the religious celebrations were conducted with still more terrible magnificence; in the same manner as the gladiatorial shows of the Romans increased in pomp with the increasing splendour of the capital. Men became familiar with scenes of horror and the most loathsome abominations. Women and children--the whole nation--became familiar with and assisted at them. The heart was hardened, the manners were made ferocious, the feeble light of civilization, transmitted from a milder race [Prescott refers here to the allegedly benign influence of the Toltecs who had earlier inhabited the valley of Mexico], was growing fainter and fainter, as thousands and thousands of miserable victims, throughout the empire, were yearly fattened in its cages, sacrificed on its altars, and served at its banquets! The whole land was converted into vast human shambles! The empire of the Aztecs did not fall before its time." \n(references, William H. Prescott, HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO, 2 vols., Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1892, II, 351. and Franchot, Jenny, ROADS TO ROME: THE ANTEBELLUM PROTESTANT ENCOUNTER WITH CATHOLICISM, Berkeley : University of California Press, c1994. \n
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Tlaxcalan Artist, c. 1560. The entrance to Chalco, on the way to the Aztec capital. The single Spaniard is accompanied by three Tlaxcalan soldiers, plus an Indian carrier. With few exceptions the murals depict the Spanish on horseback armed with lances, as in this scene. The Spanish use of guns or cannons was rarely illustrated. The dog is one of the oversized mastiffs accompanying the Spaniards. \n