CHAPTER 17.1

EUROPEAN EXPLORATION AND EXPANSION

MOTIVES AND MEANS

• Age of Discovery: Period from 1500-1800 CE in which Europeans sailed and explored the rest of the world

• Motives for exploration:

• Fascination with Asia

• Marco Polo’s book The Travels detailed his exotic travels became popular with Europeans

• Economics

• Hopes of opening new markets to trade for spices, precious metals

• “Gold, glory, and God”

• A belief that Europeans must Christianize indigenous peoples

MOTIVES AND MEANS

• Means of exploration:

• Caravel: small, fast ship with a longer range and larger cargo hold than previous ships

• Advances in cartography more accurate maps, astrolabe, compass

• Knowledge of wind patterns

PORTUGUESE EXPLORERS

• Portugal was first to explore; led by Prince Henry the Navigator

• Discovered gold on western coast of Africa (“Gold Coast”)

• Vasco de Gama sailed around tip of Africa and reached Calicut, India

• Made large profit from Indian spices

• Portuguese fleets returned to India to defeat Muslims and create trade monopoly

• Portugal dominated trade in India and China, but did not have the population to colonize

SPANISH EXPLORERS

• Europeans knew world was round; did not know existence of the Americas

• Sailed west to find a different route to Asia

• Christopher Columbus sailed to find India for Spain

• Found Caribbean islands which he thought were islands just outside of India

• Never reached mainland Americas

• Ferdinand Magellan: first to sail completely around the globe by sailing around the tip of South America; killed in Philippines

…Columbus once punished a man found guilty of stealing corn by having his ears and nose cut off and then selling him into slavery. Testimony recorded in the report claims that Columbus congratulated his brother Bartolomeo on "defending the family" when the latter ordered a woman paraded naked through the streets and then had her tongue cut out for suggesting that Columbus was of lowly birth. The document also describes how Columbus put down native unrest and revolt; he first ordered a brutal crackdown in which many natives were killed and then paraded their dismembered bodies through the streets in an attempt to discourage further rebellion. "Columbus's government was characterized by a form of tyranny," Consuelo Varela, a Spanish historian…told journalists. "Even those who loved him had to admit the atrocities that had taken place."

Because of their gross mismanagement of governance, Columbus and his brothers were arrested and imprisoned upon their return to Spain from the third voyage. They lingered in jail for six weeks before busy King Ferdinand ordered their release. Not long after, the king and queen summoned the Columbus brothers to the Alhambra palace in Granada. There, the royal couple heard the brothers' pleas; restored their freedom and wealth; and, after much persuasion, agreed to fund Columbus's fourth voyage. But the door was firmly shut on Columbus's role as governor.

NEW LANDS TO EXPLORE

• Spain and Portugal feared the other would try to conquer their new territories

• Outlined territorial control with Treaty of Tordesillas

• Portugal controlled route around Africa; Spain gained rights to most of the Americas

• EU governments began sending explorers to unclaimed parts of the Americas

SPANISH EMPIRE

Conquest of the Aztec

• Conquistadors: leaders in the Spanish conquest of America

• Spanish force under Hernan Cortes landed on Gulf of Mexico

• Marched to Tenochtitlan (Aztec capital) with 550 soldiers and 16 horses

• On the way, he made alliances with city-states tired of Aztec rule

• Cortes welcomed by Montezuma, Aztec leader

SPANISH EMPIRE

• Massacre in the Great Temple: Spanish killed thousands of unarmed Aztec men, women, and children and then took Montezuma hostage

• Aztec population ravaged by EU diseases; 25 million 1.2 million

• Aztec Empire eventually fell to Spanish forces

• Spain expanded control to all of Mexico

SPANISH EMPIRE

Conquest of the Inca

• Francisco Pizarro landed in South America with ~180 men; armed with steel, gunpowder, horses

• Like the Aztec, smallpox devastated Inca society; Inca emperor died

• In the resulting chaos, Pizarro captured the new emperor and executed him

• Pizarro and his soldiers sacked Cuzco and established a Spanish colony at Lima

EUROPEAN RIVALS

• The Dutch (Netherlands), French, and English began challenging Portuguese and Spanish dominance

• Dutch formed West India Company to settle the Americas

• Settled New Netherland on the Hudson River

• Eventually fell to English and French; English seized New Netherland and renamed it New York

• France colonized parts of modern-day Canada, named New France and Louisiana

• France founded Quebec and English settlers began founding American colonies