HISTORY V101

Section 003

Dr. Powers

Fall, 2007

COURSE OUTLINE

 

 

XI               ENCOUNTERING A WIDER WORLD [See “Explorations and Empires” Power Point Outline]

A.    Exploration, Discovery, and Expansion

1.      Major Motives

a.       God

b.      Gold

c.       Glory

2.      Enablers

a.       Modern states

b.      Technology

1)      Portolani

2)      New maps

3)      New ships and riggings

4)      Navigational aids

a)      Compass

b)      Astrolabe

5)      Note how innovation feeds innovation

c.       Improved state of knowledge

3.      The Influence of Marco Polo

4.      Immediate stimuli to exploration

a.       The decline of the Mongol Empire and the partial closure of the Silk Road and other land routes to the Far East

b.      The Italian monopoly on Mediterranean trade

c.       The revived Portuguese Reconquista and the search for a way to flank the Muslims

d.      NOT the Turkish capture of Constantinople

5.      Portugal's Lead

a.       Henry the Navigator

b.      Antam Gonçalves and the Black Cargo

c.       Bartholemeu Dias

d.      Vasco da Gama

e.       Alfonso d'Albuquerque

f.       The Portuguese Empire

1)      Basis in trade

2)      The station system

3)      The necessity of controlling the sea

6.      Spain and America

a.       Christopher Columbus

b.      Treaty of Tordesillas

c.       Hernan Cortes

d.      Francisco Pizarro

e.       Vasco Nuñez de Balboa

f.       Ferdinand Magellan

g.      Encomienda

h.      The great dying

i.        Bartolome' de las Casas

j.        Mass conversions

k.      The Spanish Empire

1)      Based on occupation and exploitation of land and people

2)      Direct governance of vast territories by Spanish

3)      Depends on controlling land, not so much on control of the sea

7.      Other countries catch up

a.       The decline of the Portuguese Empire

1)      Relatively low resource base

2)      Spread of technology removes the Portuguese edge

3)      Nature of empire creates vulnerability

b.      The Dutch, South Africa, Indonesia, America, and stations around Asia

c.       The French, North America, the Caribbean, India, stations around Africa and Asia

d.      The British, North America, India, the Caribbean, stations around Africa and Asia

B.     The Growth of Commercial Capitalism

1.      The growing use of joint stock companies

a.       Dutch East and West India Companies

b.      The French East India Company

c.       British companies

1)      Muscovy Company

2)      Virginia Company of London

3)      Virginia Company of Plymouth

4)      Massachusetts Bay Company

5)      East Indian Company

6)      Royal African Company

2.      The importance of new financial institutions

a.       The Bank of Amsterdam

b.      The Amsterdam Bours(Amsterdam Exchange)

C.     Mercantilism [See “Mercantilism and Colonies” Power Point outline]

1.      The theory

2.      The importance of colonies

3.      The necessity of growth of government in order to regulate trade

4.      International trade rivalries and wars

D.    The importance of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade

1.      Single greatest source of revenue and wealth in the Atlantic economy

2.      Helps fuel the rise of England and France

E.     Impacts of Expansion

a.       On the Americas

1)      Devastation of local societies and cultures

2)      The presence of European and African immigrants

3)      Rise of a slave-based economy

4)      Multiracial Latin American society and culture

5)      Growth of settler colonies

6)      Imperial rivalries and wars

b.      On Africa

1)      Loss of population

2)      Strengthening of slave-trading states

3)      Spread of Christianity

4)      Little direct influence on the interior

5)      Presence of the Boer colony in South Africa

c.       On Asia

1)      Tightening of European, especially British, control over India

2)      Isolation and growth in power of Japan

3)      Spread of Christianity in the Philippines

4)      Decline of Chinese power and of native powers in Indonesia, India, etc.

5)      Unfavorable balance of trade with Europe and loss of control over international trade to Europe lead to relative impoverishment of Asian societies where they are not directly controlled by Europeans

d.      On Europe

1)      Challenges to religious ideas

a)      Two creations? Two Edens?

b)      Where do Indians fit into the postdeluvian pattern?

c)      Are non-Europeans God's creatures?

2)      Challenges to social expectations

a)      Familiarity with very different societies challenges assumption that the European way is the only way. Others do things differently, sometimes very differently, and succeed

b)      Is an Indian chief the equal of a British nobleman, and so superior to a British working man?

3)      Challenges to social structure

a)      How to treat lower-class people who rise in the colonies?

b)      Wealth shifts increasingly to non-noble businessmen involved in colonial trade

c)      Changes in lifestyles, as less wealthy people can afford things that used to be unimaginable luxuries

i.                    Tobacco

ii.                  Sugar

iii.                Cotton textiles

4)      Rivalries and wars among European nations

5)      The "Price Revolution"

a)      What was it?

b)      Why did it happen?

c)      The polarization of wealth

d)     Other effects

6)      Increase in European knowledge and power, so that Europe comes practically to dominate the world.

7)      Increase in European ethnocentrism

e.       The Columbian Exchange

1)      America gets

a)      New plants and animals

b)      New diseases

c)      European technology

d)     European settlers

e)      African slaves

f)       European trade goods

2)      Africa gets

a)      European technology, especially guns

b)      European trade goods

c)      American crops

3)      Europe gets

a)      Rich

b)      Gold and silver

c)      American crops, especially corn and potatoes, tobacco and chocolate

f.       MAJOR EFFECT: A WORLD INCREASINGLY INTEGRATED