1450-1750 - Unit 4 Exploration and Colonization

Terms in this set (59)

Omani (European rivalry in the Indian Ocean):

Europeans and Arabs struggled for dominance over the Indian ocean trade, which led to several wars. The regions both wanted to have exclusive rights to supply the West with Eastern goods and move Western goods to the East.

maritime empires

oversea colonies under full European control

science or art of making maps

astrolabe and compass

Important navigational instruments enabling sea exploration

The main economic system used during the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. The main goal was to increase a nation's wealth by imposing government regulation concerning all of the nation's commercial interests. It was believed that national strength could be maximized by limiting imports via tariffs and maximizing exports

Problems with Mercantilism

_______ assumes the wealth of a nation depends primarily on the possession of precious metals such as gold and silver. This type of system cannot be maintained forever, because the global economy would become stagnant if every country wanted to export and no one wanted to import. After a period of time, many people began to revolt against the idea of _________ and stressed the need for free trade. The continued pressure resulted in the implementation of laissez faire economics in the nineteenth century.

Portuguese empire

This empire grew in the 15th to 16th centuries as Portuguese sailors, explorers, and merchants established numerous trading posts in Africa and Asia, including Goa and Macau. Portugal also colonized Brazil. The advanced maritime skills of Portuguese sailors helped the empire expand. However, the country's relatively small size and population combined With the rise of other seaborne empires (such as the Spanish, Dutch, and British) led to Portugal's decline as a major power by the late 16th century.

Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal

Sent ships to explore the West African coast and look for a sea route to the East

Bartholomew Diaz

(1487-1488) Portuguese, first European to reach the southern tip of Africa in 1488.

Portuguese explorer. In 1497-1498 he led the first naval expedition from Europe to sail to India, opening an important commercial sea route.

An imperial eunuch and Muslim, entrusted by the Ming emperor Yongle with a series of state voyages that took his gigantic ships through the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to Africa.

1400s- Late 1900s. Made up of territories and colonies in Europe, Africa, and Asia controlled from Spain. At its strongest, it was one of the biggest empires in world history according to how much land they had, and one of the 1st global empires. Royalty from the Castile and Aragon kingdoms ruled it. Christopher Colombus led the first Spanish exploration trip which led them to colonizing America.

(1200-1521) 1300, they settled in the valley of Mexico. Grew corn. Engaged in frequent warfare to conquer others of the region. Worshipped many gods (polytheistic). Believed the sun god needed human blood to continue his journeys across the sky. Practiced human sacrifices and those sacrificed were captured warriors from other tribes and those who volunteered for the honor.

Trading Post Empire (significance)

Western European nations developed these places on the continents of Africa and Asia; resulted in an increase of wealth for the nations and merchants involved; dramatically increased European power in these areas.

This empire, which flourished during the 17th century was based largely on the power of the Dutch merchant fleet. The Netherlands had interests ranging from the Caribbean to Sri Lanka, and wielded considerable economic and political power. It began to decline in the 18th century as the power of its fleet waned.

a conqueror, especially one of the Spanish conquerors of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century.

Hernán Cortés

(1485-1547) was a Spanish conquistador, responsible for the audacious conquest of the Aztec Empire in Central Mexico in 1519. With a force of 600 Spanish soldiers he was able to conquer a vast Empire that had tens of thousands of warriors. He did it through a combination of ruthlessness, guile, violence and luck.

Francisco Pizarro

(1471 - 1541) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador. With a small force of Spaniards, he was able to capture Atahualpa, Emperor of the mighty Inca Empire, in 1532. Eventually he led his men to victory over the Inca, collecting mind-boggling quantities of gold and silver along the way. Once the Inca Empire was defeated, the conquistadors took to warring among themselves over the spoils, Pizarro included, and he was killed in Lima in 1541 by forces loyal to the son of a former rival

South American Indians who, at the time of the Spanish conquest in 1532, ruled an empire that extended along the Pacific coast and Andean highlands from the northern border of modern Ecuador to the Maule River in central Chile. The Inca established their capital at Cuzco (Peru) in the 12th century. They began their conquests in the early 15th century and within 100 years had gained control of an Andean population of about 12,000,000 people.

What was the global currency from 1500-1800?

Colombian Exchange

An exchange of goods, ideas and skills from the Old World (Europe, Asia and Africa) to the New World (North and South America) and vice versa.

Impact of Smallpox on the Americas

The indigenous population of the Americas fell by more than 50 percent through disease alone in less than a century. Some American lands lost up to 90 percent of their original populations. It was one of the greatest population disasters in human history.

Compare Them: Coerced Labor Systems

Although slavery was not a new system, the demands of the newly global economy resulted in an expansion of systems of forced labor in the empires.

1. Russia's attempts to control their large land mass relied on the forced labor of the serfs.
2. In the Spanish part of the New World, haciendas were established in which Natives owed labor to their landlords-not unlike the feudalism of Europe.
3. The Portuguese took advantage of the already thriving intra-African slave trade and transformed it into a trans-oceanic one. The majority of transported Africans would up on plantations in Brazil and the Caribbean where life expectancy was just three to five years.

Indentured Servitude

labor under contract to an employer for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for their transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities. Often used in the late 19th and early 20th century as a replacement of slave labor, but with fairly similar exploitative working conditions. Laborers were often transported thousands of miles and could not easily afford to return home.

chattel slavery

A chattel slave is an enslaved person who is owned for ever and whose children and children's children are automatically enslaved. Chattel slaves are individuals treated as complete property, to be bought and sold.

This type of crop is grown to be sold rather than to serve as feed for livestock. During the colonization of the Americas, crops such as cacao, tobacco, and sugar were grown primarily on plantations that relied on a great deal of slave labor. These crops were then exported mostly to Europe and the Middle East.

Contrast Them: Expansion in the Americas versus Empire-Building Elsewhere

We've talked about a lot of empires that expanded into far-reaching territories: the Romans, the Mongols, the Muslims, and the Macedonians, for example. In each of these cases, the empires either allowed existing cultural traditions to remain intact, or converted the existing population to their way of doing things, forcibly or not. By contrast, in the case of the Americas, the existing populations were largely wiped out. In addition, huge numbers of people moved in, far outnumbering the number of natives that survived. Never before had an empire moved into such a vast territory that was so depopulated.

Sugarcane and Slavery

As disease had decimated the indigenous population, however, there were not enough laborers available
to do the cultivation. In response, the Portuguese began to import enslaved people from Africa, especially from the Kongo Kingdom and cities on the Swahili coast.

Spanish colonial possessions in Mesoamerica; included most of central Mexico; based on imperial system of Aztecs

Transatlantic Slave Trade

The brutal system of trading African Slaves from Africa to the Americas. It changed the economy, politics, and environment. It affected Africa, Europe, and America. It implies that slaves were used for cash crops and created a whole new economy.

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

An agreement between Portugal and Spain which declared that newly discovered lands to the west of an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean would belong to Spain and newly discovered lands to the east of the line would belong to Portugal.

African Diaspora

The separation of Africans from their homeland through centuries of forced removal to serve as slaves in the Americas and elsewhere.

An economic system in which the means of production are privately owned; supply, demand, price, distribution, and investments are determined mainly by private decisions in the free market, rather than through a planned economy; and profit is distributed to owners who invest in businesses

royal charter companies

These European companies were chartered by governments to conduct specific long-distance trade. These charters both granted companies specific rights and required specific obligations. Monarchs themselves often had a financial stake in such ventures. Royal chartered companies dominated the trans-Atlantic trade during the era of European exploration.

This action occurs when a country explores, conquers, and settles an area. Extensive European colonization of the Americas was a defining feature of the era of European exploration. Colonization affected nearly every aspect of life in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

Social Structure of the Spanish Colonies

American-born Spaniards who owned land, but ranked below "real" Europeans.

encomienda system

A system whereby the Spanish crown granted the conquerors the right to forcibly employ groups of Indians; it was a disguised form of slavery.

A new racial concept that develops in Latin America following the intermixing that occurred between European colonists and the native American population.

hacienda system

This plantation system was introduced to the Americas by Spanish settlers during the colonial era. In the hacienda system, laborers were supposedly free and due a wage, but in practice the system allowed landowners to tie laborers (native Amerindians at first) to the land through debt. In some parts of the Americas, this system lasted until the 20th century.

The term used in Spanish and Portuguese colonies to describe someone of mixed African and European descent.

In the colonial caste system of Spanish America and Spanish Philippines, a peninsular was a Spanish-born Spaniard or mainland Spaniard residing in the New World, as opposed to a person of full Spanish descent born in the Americas or Philippines, who were known as creoles. The word "peninsular" makes reference to the Iberian Peninsula in Europe, where Spain is located.

The Atlantic system

This trading pattern relied on the trans-Atlantic exchange of goods, wealth, and free and enslaved laborers through the slave trade. The Atlantic system resulted in a blend of African, American, and European peoples and cultures. The basis of this system was the triangular trade between Europe, West Africa, and American colonies

A voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies

money for investment

Commercial Revolution

A dramatic change in the economy of Europe at the end of the Middle Ages. It is characterized by an increase in towns and trade, the use of banks and credit, and the establishment of guilds to regulate quality and price.

Price Revolution

increase in prices in 16th century-inflation-increased demand for goods-influx of gold and silver

Joint Stock Companies

businesses formed by groups of people who jointly make an investment and share in the profits and losses

Triangular Trade

A three way system of trade during 1600-1800s Africa sent slaves to America, America sent Raw Materials to Europe, and Europe sent Guns and Rum to Africa

a ruler exercising authority in a colony on behalf of a sovereign.

Courts appointed by the king who reviewed the administration of viceroys serving Spanish colonies in America.

a blending of beliefs and practices from different religions into one faith

a pantheistic Afro-Cuban religious cult developed from the beliefs and customs of the Yoruba people and incorporating some elements of the Catholic religion.

or voodoo is a New World syncretic faith that combines the animist faiths of West Africa with Christianity

17th century Angolan queen who fought off the Portuguese colonizers by pretending to accept Christianity, but actually was partnered with their enemies, the Dutch, and also developed a powerful trade nation instead of waging internal war.

Angolan kingdom that reached its peak during the reign of Queen Nzinga (r. 1623-1663).

This Confederacy was a South Asian imperial power that existed from 1674 to 1818. An excellent example of yet another rebellion against imperial power (the Mughals) in this time period

Atlantic System

The network of trading links after 1500 that moved goods, wealth, people, and cultures around the Atlantic Ocean basin. (p. 497)

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