![logo]()
New sailing technology made the voyages of discovery possible. Europeans had now reached a level of ship design that enabled them to make long-distance voyages beyond Europe. The Portuguese invented a ship, called the caravel, that was faster than previous models. It made long voyages of exploration possible and lowered the cost of transport. The caravel's design included a large cargo hold. It used triangular, or lateen, sails, taken from Arab designs, which allowed it to sail against the wind.
European explorers also had more accurate maps because of advances in cartography, the art and science of mapmaking. Sailors used the astrolabe, an invention of Greek astronomers, to plot their latitude using the sun or stars. The magnetic compass, invented in China, also helped sailors chart a course across the ocean.
Another factor assisting European explorers was their increasing knowledge of wind patterns of the Atlantic Ocean. The winds, ocean currents, and climate influenced the journeys of the early sailing vessels that depended on them. The Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans have spiraling currents, called gyres, that result from global winds and other forces. The winds blowing south and west in the North Atlantic, known as the trade winds, and the winds blowing from the west to the east, known as westerlies, were studied and utilized to the explorers' benefit. roanoke,,, then Jamestown
roanoke
a late 16th-century attempt by Queen Elizabeth I to establish a permanent English settlement. The colony was founded by Sir Walter Raleigh. The colonists disappeared during the Anglo-Spanish War, three years after the last shipment of supplies from England. Their disappearance gave rise to the nickname "The Lost Colony." To this day there has been no conclusive evidence as to what happened to the colonists.
jamestown
in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. Jamestown "is where the British Empire began ... this was the first colony in the British Empire." considered permanent after brief abandonment in 1610, it followed several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Jamestown served as the capital of the colony for 83 years, from 1616 until 1699.
The settlement was located within the country of Tsenacommacah, which was administered by the Powhatan Confederacy, and specifically in that of the Paspahegh tribe. The natives initially welcomed and provided crucial provisions and support for the colonists, who were not agriculturally inclined. Relations with the newcomers soured fairly early on, leading to the total annihilation of the Paspahegh in warfare within 3 years. Mortality at Jamestown itself was very high due to disease and starvation, with over 80% of the colonists perishing in 1609-1610 in what became known as the "Starving Time".[4]
In 1608 Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec, the first permanent French settlement in the Americas. the exchange of goods across the Atlantic resulting in European exploration.
European nations sought to increase their wealth by exploiting sources of metals and raw materials in their colonies. They also tried to build wealth by increasing exports of goods from producers at home to colonial markets overseas. All of this economic activity created an immense trade network. {The resulting exchange of plants and animals between Europe and the Americas is known as the Columbian Exchange}. This name recognizes the explorer Christopher Columbus's key role in bringing Europe into contact with the Americas. This complex process had far-reaching results, both good and bad, on peoples around the world. Colonization and trade drove the Columbian Exchange, which had an immense impact on Europe and the Americas. Colonists established plantations to grow sugar, cotton, vanilla, and other crops introduced to the Americas. Colonists established ranches where they raised livestock brought from Europe. Much of what the colonists grew and raised was exported to Europe. Europeans brought such plants and animals as wheat, citrus fruit, honeybees, horses, and cattle to the Americas. Horses altered the lifestyles of Native Americans on the Great Plains, allowing them to travel faster and farther and hunt more effectively. Agricultural products native to the Americas, such as potatoes, cocoa, corn, tomatoes, and tobacco, were shipped to Europe. The exchange of plants and animals between Europe and the Americas transformed economic activity on both sides of the Atlantic. Potatoes, for example, became a basic food staple in some areas of Europe. There was a rapid increase in population because potato plants produced more food per acre than foods that had been grown there before. Elsewhere in the world, new food crops from the Americas not only supported population growth but also changed tastes and created new markets. For example, the export of American crops such as maize and sweet potatoes to China encouraged a population explosion during the Qing dynasty, which began in 1644. Some aspects of the Columbian Exchange proved deadly. With no immunity to European diseases, the native peoples of Mexico and Central and South America, such as the Aztec and the Inca, were ravaged by smallpox, measles, and typhus. Many of them died. Hispaniola, for example, had a population of 250,000 when Columbus arrived in 1492. By 1538, fewer than 500 Native Americans had survived. In Mexico, the population dropped from 25 million in 1500 to 1 million in 1630. Similar devastation occurred elsewhere in the region. In North America, entire communities of Native Americans died in epidemics of smallpox and other diseases brought by European settlers. Colonization had other negative effects, such as the encomienda granted by Spain to Spanish settlers. This was the right to use Native Americans as laborers on plantations. The holders of an encomienda were supposed to protect the Native Americans, but they often abused them. The first Dutch fleet had arrived in India in 1595. Shortly after, the Dutch formed the East India Company and gradually pushed the Portuguese out of the spice trade in Southeast Asia. The Dutch domination of the spice trade led to massive profits for Dutch merchants. These profits helped make the seventeenth century a Golden Age for the Dutch as they surpassed the Spanish and Portuguese in world trade. The English soon followed. During the first half of the seventeenth century, the English presence in India steadily increased. By 1650, the British had established a number of trading posts. From them, English ships carried Indian-made cotton goods to the East Indies. There they were bartered for spices, which were shipped back to England. English success in India attracted rivals. While the Dutch focused on the spice trade, the French established forts along the coast of India. British efforts, however, limited the French, who were soon restricted to a handful of small territories on the southeastern coast of the subcontinent. During the Seven Years' War, the British forced the French to withdraw completely from India. The British East India Company then began to expand, ultimately giving it complete control of India. The Mongol dynasty was overthrown The founder of the new dynasty took the title of Ming Hong Wu (the Ming Martial Emperor). beginning of the Ming dynasty
extended its rule into Mongolia and central Asia. strengthened the Great Wall
made peace with the nomadic tribes that had troubled them for many centuries.
effective government using a centralized bureaucracy staffed with officials chosen by the civil service examination system.
nationwide school system
Manufactured goods were produced in workshops and factories in vastly higher numbers.
New crops introduced, which greatly increased food production.
renovated the Grand Canal, making it possible to ship grain and other goods from southern to northern China. The Ming dynasty truly began a new era of greatness in Chinese history.
Ming Hong Wu ruled After his death, his son Yong Le became emperor. Yong Le began construction of the Imperial City in Beijing.
he moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing. The Imperial City was created to convey power and prestige. It is an immense complex of palaces and temples surrounded by six and one-half miles of walls. Because it was off-limits to commoners, it was known as the Forbidden City.
Yong Le also sent a series of naval voyages into the wider world.
In addition to material trade was the exchange of ideas. Christian missionaries made the long voyage to China on European merchant ships. Many of them were highly educated men who brought along instruments, such as clocks, that impressed Chinese officials and made them more receptive to Western ideas.
Both sides benefited from this early cultural exchange. Chinese scholars marveled at their ability to read better with European eyeglasses. Christian missionaries were impressed with the teachings of Confucius, the printing and availability of books, and Chinese architecture.
After a period of prosperity and growth, the Ming dynasty gradually began to decline. Government corruption rose and high taxes, caused in part by this corruption, led to peasant unrest. Crop yields declined because of harsh weather. In the 1630s, a major epidemic greatly reduced the population in many areas. The suffering caused by the epidemic helped spark a peasant revolt that began in central China and spread to the rest of the country. In 1644 peasant forces occupied the capital of Beijing and the last Ming emperor committed suicide in the palace gardens. The overthrow of the Ming dynasty created an opportunity for the Manchus. They were a farming and hunting people who lived northeast of the Great Wall in the area known today as Manchuria. The forces of the Manchus conquered Beijing, and Li Zicheng's army fell. The victorious Manchus then declared the creation of a new dynasty called the Qing (CHIHNG), meaning "pure." This dynasty, created in 1644, remained in power until 1911.
When some Chinese resisted their new rulers and seized the island of Taiwan, the Manchu government prepared to attack them. To identify the rebels, the government ordered all males to adopt Manchu dress and hairstyles. They had to shave their foreheads and braid their hair into a pigtail called a queue. Those who refused were assumed to be rebels and were executed: "Lose your hair or lose your head."
Gradually accepted as legitimate rulers, the Qing flourished under a series of strong early rulers who pacified the country, corrected serious social and economic ills, and restored peace and prosperity. The Qing maintained the Ming political system but faced one major problem: The Manchus were ethnically and culturally different from their subject population. The Qing rulers dealt with this reality in two ways.
First, the Qing tried to preserve their distinct identity within Chinese society. The Manchus, only 2 percent of the population, were defined legally as distinct from everyone else in China. The Manchu nobility maintained large landholdings and received revenues from the state treasury. Second, the Qing dealt with this problem by bringing Chinese into the imperial administration to win their support. Chinese held more than 80 percent of lower posts, but a much smaller share of the top positions. Kangxi (KAHNG • SHEE), who ruled from 1661 to 1722, was perhaps the greatest of the emperors who ruled China during the Ming and Qing dynasties. A person with political skill and a strong character, Kangxi took charge of the government while still in his teens and reigned for 61 years.
Kangxi rose at dawn and worked until late at night. He wrote: "One act of negligence may cause sorrow all through the country, and one moment of negligence may result in trouble for thousands of generations." Kangxi calmed the unrest along the northern and western frontiers by force. As a patron of the arts and letters, he gained the support of scholars in China.
In 1689, during Kangxi's reign, China and Russia signed the Treaty of Nerchinsk. Beginning in the 1620s, Russian traders had pushed eastward into land under China's protection in search of trade routes and goods. The treaty stopped Russia's push east, ended the frontier wars, and established trade between the two empires. This gave the Russians a special status with the Qing. Other European powers were limited to trade at certain ports.
Also during Kangxi's reign, the efforts of Christian missionaries reached their height. The emperor was quite tolerant of the Christians. Several hundred officials became Catholics, as did an estimated 300,000 ordinary Chinese. Ultimately, however, the Christian effort was undermined by squabbling among the Western religious orders. After the death of Kangxi, his successor began to suppress Christian activities. A Spanish force under the command of Hernán Cortés marched to Tenochtitlán with a SMALL number of troops. As he went, he made alliances with city-states that were tired of the oppressive rule of the Aztec. Cortés arrived at Tenochtitlán and was welcomed by the Aztec monarch Montezuma. The Aztec were astounded to see the unfamiliar sight of men on horseback with firearms, cannons, and steel swords. These weapons gave the Spaniards a great advantage in fighting the Aztec. Eventually, tensions arose between the Spaniards and the Aztec. The Spanish took Montezuma hostage and began to pillage the city. One year after Cortés had first arrived, the local population revolted and drove the invaders from the city. Many of the Spaniards were killed. In the end, contact with Europeans proved disastrous for the Aztec empire. With no natural immunity to European diseases, many Aztec fell sick and died, especially from smallpox carried to the Americas by the Spaniards. Meanwhile, Cortés received fresh soldiers from his new allies in city-states such as Tlaxcala. After four months, the Aztec surrendered. The forces of Cortés leveled pyramids, temples, and palaces and used the stones to build Spanish government buildings and churches. They filled in Aztec canals to make roads. The magnificent city of Tenochtitlán was no more. During the 30 years after the fall of the Aztec Empire, the Spanish expanded their control to all of Mexico. When the first Spanish expeditions arrived in the central Andes of South America, they encountered a flourishing empire ruled by the Inca. In early 1531, Francisco Pizarro landed on the Pacific coast of South America with only a small band of about 180 men. Like Cortés, Pizarro brought steel weapons, gunpowder, and horses. The impact these Europeans would have on the Inca empire would be grim. The Spanish also brought smallpox. Like the Aztec, the Inca had no immunities to European diseases. Smallpox soon devastated entire villages. Even the Inca emperor was a victim. When the emperor died, both of his sons claimed the throne. This led to a civil war. Taking advantage of the situation, Pizarro captured Atahuallpa, the new emperor. With their stones, arrows, and light spears, Inca warriors provided little challenge to Spanish technology. After executing Atahuallpa, Pizarro, his soldiers, and their Inca allies sacked Cuzco, the Inca capital. By 1535, Pizarro had established a new capital at Lima for a new colony of the Spanish Empire. Under Qianlong (CHEE • UHN • LUNG), who ruled from 1736 to 1795, the Qing dynasty experienced the greatest period of prosperity and reached its greatest physical size. It was during this great reign, however, that the first signs of decay appeared.
As the emperor grew older, he fell under the influence of destructive elements at court. Corrupt officials and higher taxes led to unrest in rural areas. Population growth also exerted pressure on the land and led to economic hardship. In central China, unhappy peasants launched a revolt, the White Lotus Rebellion (1796-1804). The revolt was suppressed, but the expenses of war weakened the Qing dynasty.
Unfortunately for China, the Qing dynasty was declining just as Europe was seeking more trade. At first, the Qing government sold trade privileges to the Europeans, but to limit contacts between Europeans and Chinese, the Qing confined all European traders to a small island just outside Guangzhou. Traders could reside there only between October and March and deal only with a limited number of Chinese firms licensed by the government.
At first, the British accepted this system. By the end of the eighteenth century, however, some British traders had begun to demand access to additional cities, as Russian traders already enjoyed, along the Chinese coast. Likewise, the Chinese government was under pressure from its own merchants to open China to British manufactured goods.
Britain had an unfavorable, or negative, trade balance with China. That is, Britain imported more goods from China than it exported to the country. For years, Britain had imported tea, silk, and porcelain from the Chinese. To pay for these imports, Britain had sent Indian cotton to China, but this did not cover the entire debt, and the British had to pay for their imports with silver. The British sent ever-increasing quantities of silver to China, especially in exchange for tea, which was in great demand by the British.
In 1793 a British mission led by Lord George Macartney visited Beijing to seek more liberal trade policies. However, Emperor Qianlong responded that China had no need of "your country's manufactures." 