The Age of Exploration: Motivations, Technology, and Global Consequences

The Age of Exploration - Notes What motivated the European Exploration? (Wed, Mar 3) ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ Brought back new things Spice Silk Animals 1400’s = Europeans will pay a lot of money for the Asian goods High prices for trade routes Find faster route to Asia, gain control of east Silk Road Slow, gov start charging taxes to travel through their land Exploitation starts prior to Renaissance Three Gs ⁃ Gold (wealth in general, and actual gold) ⁃ People want to get rich ⁃ Sponsorship ⁃ Capitalism, people making more than they need ⁃ Wealth made in trading goods unavailable in Europe ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ Glory (printing press=possible to tell stories of people, often about captains. Kings and Queens) Idea of humanism Printing press, social media of the day Kings wanted glory for their kingdoms, race for glory ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ God (church very important to western society, spreading Christianity) Duty to spread Christianity, convert non-believers Competition between different branches of Christianity Race to convert people after contact ⁃ Spain🇪🇸 , Britain🇬🇧 , France🇫🇷 , Portugal🇵🇹 ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ Map - accurate, Europe, Africa and Asia- most accurate parts are the places that have been in Portugal goes south Sailers scared to go around the tip of Africa 1497 Vasco da Gama got around the southern tip of Africa Returns with a cargo ship containing precious stones, spices. Portuguese have found trade route to Africa ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ Christopher Columbus “Discovered” “America” He thinks Cuba is China Thinks world is round Thought that if you sail west (instead of around Africa), you will go around the world Portugal won’t fund him Goes to Spain, Spain will risk funding Columbus’s journey ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ Didn’t know there were two continents in his way (North and South America) Columbus set sail from Spain on August 3, 1492 Lands in Caribbean, thinks he is in Japan - calls them Indians due to confusion Scrambles for the Americas begins, brings people like animals British and French are sent to North America Columbus made 4 voyages ⁃ Columbus has a shady story - something to do with slaves (video somewhere, watch later) ———————————— What new technologies enabled exploration? (Thu, Mar 4) PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR ⁃ prince Henry ⁃ Dies 1460 ⁃ Early interest in exploration ⁃ Like the Medicis but with early exploration ⁃ 1419-brings together mapmakes, shipbuilders & navigators ⁃ *Portuguese shipbuilders design a ship called the Caravel = faster, easier to steer, bigger Portuguese searched for new trade route to Asia, made connections with Africa. ⁃ Missionaries spread Christianity ⁃ Portuguese first Europeans to exploit the Slave Trade NAVIGATION TECHNOLOGY Compass invented by Chinese - 200 - 300 Astrolabe ⁃ Used North Star or sun to calculate latitudes, distance Noth or South of equator ⁃ New astrolabe invented late Renaissance called a Sextant - measured the angle between horizon and sun or a star to find latitude of a ship INNOVATION IN SHIPBUILDING ⁃ Inuit had kayaks ⁃ Vikings had boats with oars and square sails ⁃ Portuguese invent Caravel, triangle sails + rudder = easier to navigate The Caravel ⁃ faster + easier to navigate ⁃ Triangular (lateen - means triangular) sails ⁃ Bilge pumps = ships can float higher = easier to explore coasts + rivers CARTOGRAPHY AND MERCATOR PROJECTION ⁃ Mercator Projection = took round, turn cylinder unroll = flat but distorted map ⁃ Cause countries not on the equator appear bigger or smaller than actual size The Columbian Exchange (Fri, Mar 5) ⁃ Back and forth - pizza invented in Italy, made popular in America = more popular in Italy ⁃ We live in Western Hemisphere ⁃ Before 1492 = Two separate hemispheres, east and west = two different ecosystems, two different disease pools, two sets of culturally diverse peoples, two sets of flora and fauna The period of large scale contact between Europe and the americas ⁃ Disease sexually transmitted from sailers and the people of the places they arrived in ⁃ The exchange of plants. Animals and pathogens between the two hemispheres was biologically the most spectacular theming that has ever happened to humans - Alfred Crosby FOOD ⁃ over theme corps native to America became staples in European diet ⁃ New food provided substantial nutrition = people live longer ⁃ Schoolers estimate on tear of all food crops ⁃ new animals = lama first to be tamed over 45 kg ⁃ Animals from Eastern Hemisphere = pig cow and sheep HORSES ⁃ Horses for food and travel (faster, further) ⁃ Horse adopted happily and eagerly by Native Americans ⁃ They see value right away = tired of walking for days, horse = get there in one afternoon, fighting easier, used for everything ⁃ Colombian exchange brought hoses, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs ⁃ Changed use of land (eg, pastures) ⁃ there were horses in the Americas = suffered extinction event 8,000-12,000 years ago ⁃ Spanish horses brought to America by Columbus in 1493 ⁃ Horses change methods of hunting, warfare, modes of travel, lifestyles and standards and prestige (status) DISEASE ⁃ Europeans brought new diseases o the America that the indigenous pope ha not natural resistance to\ ⁃ Smallpox, measles, influenza and malaria killed millions ⁃ People looked to religion for answers, thought that disease was evil ⁃ European thought that the native peoples were sinner and were dying as punishment ⁃ Disease compote of the Columbian exchange was decidedly one-sided and had a devastating impact = disease went to the Americas but non went back to Europe ⁃ Estimate that new diseases led to the death of 80% - 95% of Indigenous people in the Americas within the 150 yrs of the arrival of Columbus NEW ECONOMICS ⁃ Growth of trade markets changed the world forever ⁃ Europeans developed the plantation system to cultivate cash crops, reliant on slave labor ⁃ Slave trade exploded = people reduced to items to be sold ⁃ Over next 300 yrs (1500-1800) over 12 million people taken forcibly taken as slaves SUMMARY ⁃ Different Foods = exchange of the foods and animals had a dramatic impact on world diets ⁃ Effect of disease = Indigenous American population decreased dramatically ⁃ New Economics = Europeans need ed laboratory to cultivate new cash crops in the Americas —> they turned to slavery to make the plantation system work A Brief History of Piracy (Tuesday, Mar 9) PIRATE BRAINSTORM ⁃ Jolly Roger ⁃ Treasure ⁃ Swords ⁃ Captains ⁃ Unsanitary ⁃ Walk the plank ⁃ Eyepatch ⁃ Hook hand ⁃ Peg leg ⁃ Puffy shirts ⁃ Pirate ships FACT CHECK ⁃ Pets ⁃ Parrots ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ Monkeys Pirates lost limbs = replaced with pegs Would launch from the long boats - far away, didn’t swing on ropes Weaponry Ships didn’t fire cannons from right beside another ship Walking the plank was not common - only recorded one time They did use guns, pistols = which were not very reliable Swords and blades cutlasses = short, practical easy to keep out of ropes Daggers = could tuck into boots, etc. Rapier = for duels Axes and pikes = popular ⁃ Pirates are not nice people! ⁃ Thieves, murderers, lairs, kidnappers, rapists , terrorists and torture experts Why do people celebrate pirates? How did the Columbian exchange create the conditions for piracy? ⁃ opportunity of riches sailing by THE “OG” PIRATES: PIRATES OF THE BARABY BOAST ⁃ off Barbary coast ⁃ Estimated 1.25 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates, sold as slaves in the Arab world, 16th + 14th centuries ⁃ Pirates = Muslims ⁃ Pirates sworn to oppose the European Christians ⁃ Took slaves rather than kill them ⁃ Those who converted to Islam = treated as equals + avoided slavery ⁃ Barbary pirates sanctioned by gov ⁃ Barbary states demanded annual payment to unmolested across the Barbary coast ⁃ 18th century most of European powers paid More Knowledge (Thu, Mar 11) The Triangle Trade = Columbian Exchange THE AMERICAS THE “GOLDEN AGE OF PIRACY”: 1650 - 1730 Pirates of the Caribbean ⁃ pirates stayed close to shipping lanes + trade routes (between host countries and colonies) ⁃ Need to resupply often so needed islands and land to come ashore - pirates stayed close to land ⁃ Warm waters easier to pretend in tarn cold waters ⁃ Today pirates operate throughout the world ⁃ Still mainly found in warm waters today ⁃ “It’s all about the booty....” want for reward Practical and common plunder: ⁃ Food and water supplies ⁃ Cloth for sails and markets ⁃ Spare parts and pieces for their ships (masts, ropes, lumbers, etc.) Treasure: ⁃ Spanish silver and gold coins ⁃ Ingot (gold or silver cast into a bar) ⁃ Enslaved people (to be sold) ⁃ Some slaves joined pirate crew LIFE AS A PIRATE Why become pirate? (Pros): ⁃ treasure, gold, jewels ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ ⁃ Quick way to get rich, good life: wine, food, and luxury An easy way to get money to spend in brothels and taverns Some forced to join pirate crews age after attacks (carpenters, surgeons) No jobs for sailors during times of peace = became pirates Why not to become a pirate (cons): - people turned to piracy for pure survival, either piracy or death by starvation ⁃ Very few ever became rich ⁃ Most were captured and executed ⁃ Even most successful pirates head careers 2yrs or less “If I didn’t shoot a crewman or two now and then they’d forget who I was...” - Blackbeard TWO TYPES OF PIRATES: “OFFICIAL” AND “UNOFFICIAL” Privateers: ⁃ independent contractors, legally licensed by got to attack and harass the shipping of other counties ⁃ Could attack any ships other than the country that licensed them Pirates: ⁃ individuals without license, preyed on the shipping of any and all countries for their own enrichment ⁃ Pirates often former privateers who’s license had expired DEMOCRACY IN ACTION ⁃ a pirate ship ran like a democracy: captains were chosen by popular vote ⁃ Could be voted out at any time ⁃ Women were captains too ⁃ Women and people were treated as equals if they were part of the crew ⁃ Pirates had no social class: could earn your way to a better life FLAGS ⁃ No one knows why it’s called a Jolly Roger ⁃ Two flags ⁃ Red = no quarter, intent to kill ⁃ Black = plunder, overwhelm and