Explorations
There were three “waves” of explorations: East, West and then Colonization
Why explore?
The usual explanation is “God, Gold and Glory” although it is more like Gold, God and Glory. Here is
some background.
Europeans for centuries had enjoyed products from the Far East
China: silks, bronzes
India: spices
Other countries: spices
The wealthy sought after them and as the middle class arose the market climbed as well.
The products arrived to Europe two ways:
Silk Road: a series of trade routes from China and India through the desert through Arabia
to the Mediterranean
Sea: from China, by India, through Arabian Sea around Arabian peninsula through Red Sea
to Egypt
Because of numerous middle men by land, and high costs for marine shipping
Markups on products were high
But, the wealthy could afford them and the middle class wanted to purchase them
Then, three events occurred:
1. Rise of Islam in the Middle East, ca. 620 AD
Now Arab middle men were Muslim
2. Crusades: a rogue Muslim leader took Jerusalem
Christians responded with Holy War in 1095
Numerous crusades to rescue Jerusalem over 200 years
These events led to discord, mistrust between Christians and Muslims
Trade: Christian merchants did not want to buy goods going through Muslim hands
Resentment: Christians resented Muslims making so much money
And, since Jewish merchants were often middle men, Christians resented that too
3. Renaissance and wealth
With the Renaissance princes sought power through money
Wanted in on the trade with the East
In essence, trade and religion were intertwined: God and Gold
So, Christian, Renaissance Europe began looking for a way to circumvent the Muslim monopoly on this
trade
There was one problem: how to get there from Europe
The only answer: go south around Africa and then east to India and China
This would be a dangerous journey since no had done so: Glory
If a merchant could bring home a boatload of spices, he would be a millionaire for life
Kings wanted in on this lucrative trade as well
Glory-bound entrepreneurs sought kings for backing to set up voyages
It was a battle between Christian and Muslim traders
God, Glory, Gold
Let the explorations begin!
Explorations East
Atlantic Coast Indians were quite familiar with Europeans before Plymouth colony
1000 AD or so, Norse explorers blown off course to Greenland land in the New World
Later Lief Eriksson finds Newfoundland (or New England)
No permanent settlements made
1480s British fishing vessels near Newfoundland
(1501: Portuguese capture Indians: 2 wore items from Venice!)
But, these were not explorations to find the Indies
East
Portugal led the way
Prince Henry the Navigator, early 1400s, sent explorations of the West Coast of Africa
Trading posts set up on western coast of Africa
Canary Islands; Cape Verde; Azores; Madeira
Down Western Coast of Africa
Over to India; then to China and Japan
Eastern Coast of South America: Brazil
1488, Bartholomew Diaz rounds Cape of Good Hope (very dangerous!)
1498, Vasco da Gama reaches India, brings back shiploads of goods
Battles Muslim ships, ports; believes people of India are Christians
Becomes ruthless in his greedy Christian zeal to take over trade
African Slaves, ivory, gold, then sugar plantations on Islands
Portugal becomes rich!
West
Spain, poor and envious of rich Portugal, enters the picture with Columbus; Cortes; Pizarro
After Spain is united with marriage of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabell of Castile
Occurred in 1469
Now quest for world power
Overcome Muslim rule since 700s AD
Initiate Reconquista: Take over Spain for Catholic Church
Wanted Catholic control of trade, thus Atlantic Explorations
Columbus believes he can go west, not east, and get to Indies
Convinces King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to fund his travel
Believed the earth was smaller than it was; did not know of the Americas
Discovers today’s Dominican Republic/Bahamas on Oct. 12, 1492
Then to Hispaniola: called native Tainos “Indians”
Was on a fight against commercial Islam
Brings back natives, parrots, gold
His writings were laudatory but not accurate
Makes 3 more voyages
Amerigo Vespucci, sailing with the Spanish, discovers Venezuela, 1497 (many dispute this)
So, who owns the new lands? Portugal or Spain? Call in Pope to fix this
Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494: Spain to west, Portugal to east, including Brazil
Now Spanish lured by gold and land
England looks for a “Northwest Passage” to Indies
1497 English send John Cabot to find Northwest Passage: finds Newfoundland
1498 explores further south to New England
1500s – early 1600s: 100s of fishing boats around Newfoundland and New England
1499 Vespucci explores coast of Brazil
Additional voyages to South America in 1501 and 1503
Named the land a New World
1507 German mapmaker Martin Waldesmuller names the area America
1538 both continents named America
1513, Juan Ponce de Leon, searching for a fountain of youth, claims Florida for Spain
1513 Vasco de Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean
1519, Domenico de Pineda explores Gulf of Mexico, beginning with Florida
1519 Ferdinand Magellan’s last ship returns to Spain: 1st circumnavigation of the world
Magellan was killed in the Philippines and did not make it home
1519 Hernan Cortes lands in Mexico and city of Tenochtitlan; begins conquest of Aztecs
Had first conquered Hispaniola 1504
Amazed by sophistication of the Aztecs; repulsed by human sacrifice
Began stealing gold
Used other natives to conquer Aztecs (his Spanish troops were initially defeated!)
Conquers in 1521: named Tenochtitlan “Mexico City”
“Brought” smallpox virus
Aided by woman given to him: Malintzin or La Minche or Dona Maria
She translated for Cortes
Traitor to her people or victim of Spanish?
1531 Francisco Pizarro lands in Peru and begins conquest of Incas to get their wealth
Captured Inca ruler Atahualpa 1532
Initially explored Caribbean in 1509; explored Panama
With Spanish in firm control of the southern areas, France and England begin looking in earnest for a
“northwest passage.”
France
1534 France sends Jacques Cartier to find Northwest Passage to India
After several voyages claimed eastern Canada and
land between Appalachian Mountains and Mississippi River
Did not find mineral wealth like Spaniards in South America
Native resistance meant no permanent settlement
1539, Spaniard Hernando DeSoto lands near Tampa Bay, looks for gold and silver
600 soldiers, 200 horses, 300 pigs (that carried diseases)
Eventually explored FL, GA, NC and SC, TN, AL, MI, AR, TX, LA
Met large populations
Raped, tortured, enslaved, killed
De Soto dies in the expedition, 1492
By 1682, French explorers found few people there
Urbanized societies were wiped out: now Indians are nomadic hunter/gatherers
1540 Grand Canyon “discovered”
1541 De Soto “discovers” Mississippi River
1540-1542 Coronado explores New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas
1565 Saint Augustine, FL, founded by Pedro Menendez de Aviles
kicked out French Huguenots
oldest permanent settlement of US
Catholic Portugal and Spain have conquered the world!
The Pope adds his blessing, thus priests “convert” the natives
Portugal could not compete with Spain
With South and Meso-American gold and silver, Catholic Spain dominates Europe
Spanish Golden Age begins
Wealth brings European prestige
Arts, literature, new ideas, new lands
Hapsburg Dynasty: conquers Austria, Netherlands, Naples, Siciliy
England, France and Dutch are envious!
Religious interlude
While Spain was exploring and beginning to get rich a rift exploded in Christendom
1517 German Martin Luther protests the ways of the Catholic Church
Helped by a surge of nationalism, the Germans break away from the Catholics
Now we have two branches of Christianity
Roman Catholic
Protestants
Soon Europe was splintered according to Christian denominations: “Christian wars” erupt
Lutherans in Germany fighting German Catholics
France: Catholics fighting Protestants (Huguenots)
Church of England in England fighting Catholics
England shifted between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism
Then Puritans emerged: persecuted by both sides
Presbyterians in Scotland
Netherlands: Catholic but soon to be Protestant
Now the explorations took a national as well as religious import
England wants to rule the world as a Protestant nation
But, soon the Puritans break off from Church of England
Go to Amsterdam, eventually to New England
Church of England was not pure enough from Catholic influence
France likewise was officially Catholic
Spain: Catholic
Netherlands: not so religious but were Protestants
1534 France sends Jacques Cartier to find Northwest Passage to India
After several voyages claimed eastern Canada and
land between Appalachian Mountains and Mississippi River
1577-80 Sir Francis Drake from England rounds South America and explores the Pacific Coast
Circumnavigates the world
1585 Roanoke Colony, NC is “settled” by British: Sir Walter Raleigh leads company
It was to be a privateering base for English ships to attack Spanish merchants
Privateering was “legalized” piracy begun by England’s Queen Elizabeth
War between Spain and England meant no supplies from 1587-1590
By then, colony was ??? Lost Colony of Roanoke
Were settlers captured/killed by local Indians? Absorbed? Died from lack of supplies?
1588 England defeats the Spanish Armada in Naval battle
Now England is the dominant power in Europe
But, intermittent spats continue
Now French, Dutch and English threaten Spanish American dominance
1603 and on: Samuel de Champlain of France explores and settles northeast coast
St. Lawrence River, Quebec (founded in1608), Montreal, Great Lakes
Had explored Caribbean in 1601
Made good relationships with natives in North America
Explored the Great Lakes and down to the Mississippi River
Set up commercial outposts with natives: furs exchanged for beads and other items
1605 (or 1609) Santa Fe founded as capital of Spanish colony of New Mexico
The longest running state capital in US
England cannot/ will not afford colonies, so, joint stock companies are formed
1607 British: Jamestown, in Virginia
144 men and boys to settle: Jamestown
Many settlers were poor: longed for instant new world wealth
First year: starvation; bad management; lazy gentry; cannibalism
“saved” by Indians
Dutch: became powerful merchants in the world trade
Dutch East India Company, 1602: trade with Asia
Dutch West India Company, 1621: trade in Americas
1609 Dutch Henry Hudson, looking for Northwest Passage to Asia
Founds “New Netherlands”
Claims Hudson River, sets up trading posts
New Amsterdam (later New York)
Albany
1610-1611 explores Canada: Hudson Bay
Trade with natives for furs
Dutch set up colonies on Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, St. Martin, St. Eustatius, and Saba Islands
Now rivals Spain in commerce
Amsterdam is new commercial hub for world trade
English settle on Bermuda 1609; and islands in Caribbean
St. Christopher Island 1624; Barbados 1627; and others by 1632
These islands became tobacco and sugar plantations
Slaves brought in to replace native workers
1620 British Pilgrims settle at Plymouth, Cape Cod
Some were religious; others were out for fortune
William Bradford led settlers in Plymouth New England, 1620
Pilgrims were known as Separatists” from the Church of England
102 came over, only a third were religious
Mayflower Compact: was this the first sign of American Democracy?
1630 Puritans settle in New England
Massachusetts Bay Colony
French established colonies on Guadeloupe and Martinique, 1635
Sugar plantations with African slaves
New Worlds, new trade, new labor
Initially, natives were used for labor
Recall that Americas had no beasts of burden
Spain has encomiendas, legalized use of native labor
Successful conquistadors given permission to use natives
For their work, they were converted to Catholicism: salvation for work
Natives resisted work and religion
Brutal work conditions (See Bartolome Las Casas)
Thus, Black Legend: other countries demonize the Spaniards for their treatment
of laborers
Natives were worked to death or died of diseases on tobacco and sugar plantations
European’s craving for tobacco and sugar meant rich market for both
Africans were immune to diseases like malaria, so were brought in to work
Europeans took advantage of African west coast slave “factories” for laborers
Europeans sold white slaves to Africa!
Africans and African Muslims had long enslaved others
Many were “sold” because they could not pay off debts
Others were captured in local wars
Portuguese led the way in slave trade
Sold to Spanish, English, Dutch
Trade mostly in South America and Caribbean
Mercantilism
Idea that a nation traded only with itself
Thus, needed colonies to trade with and get resources from
Colonies needed raw materials, cheap labor, loyalty to home government, control of shipping
Raw goods sent to Motherland; finished goods sent back to the colony
Columbian Exchange
Three-way trade (actually four if China/Asia is included)
Sugar and tobacco plantations were major producers
Sugar emerged from Muslim plantations in Middle East then taken to Islands
And then to South America
Natives use tobacco for religious and medicinal purposes
Became a global commodity after 1590s
Chocolate from South America
See my other notes on the Columbian Exchange
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