Unit 4 Transoceanic Interconnections (1450 - 1750)

Unit 4: Transoceanic Interconnections (1450 - 1750) 4.1 Technological Innovations ● Developments of Transoceanic Travel and Trade ○ Europe had been trading with East and South Asia through the Indian Ocean trade routes, receiving silk, spices, and tea. ○ Omani-European Rivalry: Trade competition - Europe and Oman, a Middle Eastern kingdom ■ Portuguese set up forts in Oman, but the Omani people constantly tried to remove them ■ One reason for Columbus’s search for a new route to India ○ Voyages of Columbus facilitated trade for Europe by liking Afro-Eurasia and the Americas ■ Purchased sugar, tobacco, and rum from the Americas ■ Purchased enslaved people from Africa ■ Purchased silk, spices, and rhubarb from Asia ○ Massive trade turned Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, France, and Holland into maritime empires, empires based on sea travel ● Classical, Islamic, and Asian Technology ○ Prince Henry the Navigator: Portuguese ruler financed expeditions along Africa’s Atlantic Coast and around the Cape of Good Hope ○ Cartography: Mapmaking ○ Astronomical Chart: Maps of the stars and galaxies, guided ships’ direction before the compass, expanded upon those of Babylonia and Mesopotamia in the second millennium B.C.E. and China in the 5th century B.C.E. ○ Rudder from China improved ship movement ○ Astrolabe innovation of the Muslims allowed sailors to measure their distance from the equator ○ Magnetic compass from China helped sailors steer ships in the right direction ○ Lateen sail: Originally used by Arab sailors, Triangular sail that could catch the wind on both sides of a ship, allowing it to travel in different directions ● European ships ○ Caravel: A small, three-masted ship created by the Portuguese in the 15th century, helped sailors survive storms at sea and was useful in long voyages ○ Gunpowder from China helped Europeans in their global conquests 4.2 Exploration: Causes and Events ● The Role of States in Maritime Exploration ○ Reasons for sponsoring ■ Wealth in the form of gold, inspired by mercantilist ideals ■ Europeans felt it was their Christian duty to convert foreigners ■ Wanted the glory of controlling an expansive empire, competition ○ Christopher Columbus: Sponsored by Spanish monarchs Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in 1492 to voyage across the Atlantic. ● Expansion of European Maritime Exploration ○ Portuguese in Africa and India ■ Prince Henry the Navigator: First European monarch to sponsor seafaring expeditions. Portugal traded with Africa and received slaves and gold. ■ Bartholomew Diaz: Sailed around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope in 1488. Fearing a mutiny of his crew, he returned to Portugal. ■ Vasco Da Gama: Sailed eastward to India in 1498, establishing Portuguese ports there. ○ Portuguese in Southeast and East Asia ■ Admiral Afonso de Albuquerque established a factory in Malacca ■ The Portuguese arrived in China in 1514 with Roman Catholic missionaries and the Jesuits, who tried to convert the Chinese. Their scientific knowledge impressed the Chinese, but the scholar gentry perceived them as barbaric. ○ Trading Post Empire: An empire based on small outposts rather than large territories. The Portuguese established forts in Hormuz, Goa, and Malacca in the early 1500s to control the area’s spice trade. ○ Portuguese Vulnerability ■ Small country without enough workers to manage an expansive empire ■ Some Portuguese merchants disobeyed their government and traded independently ■ Political corruption ■ Dutch seized Malacca and built a fort in Batavia in 1620. They then attempted to control the spice trade. ■ The British pushed the Portuguese out of South Asia. ■ After the Portuguese and their missionaries travelled to Japan, the Japanese rulers outlawed Catholicism ○ Spanish in the Philippines ■ Ferdinand Magellan: Voyage was the first to travel the entire globe. He died during the expedition in the Philippine islands in 1522, but one of his ships made it through the complete journey. ■ Conquered the Philippines in 1521 under Magellan, established Maila, a Spanish commercial center that appealed to Chinese merchants. Many Filipinos converted to Christianity. ● The Lure of the Riches ○ Spanish interacted with the Aztecs in Mesoamerica and the Incas in South America, who had gold and silver. Also, Europeans discovered that they could use Native American and later African slaves to produce profitable crops. ○ Silver traveled from Mexico to East Asia in Spanish ships called galleons that stopped in the Philippines. At Manila, Europeans traded silver for silk and spices. China started to use silver as its main currency. ○ French, Dutch, and English explorers looked for a northwest passage route around North America that would lead to East Asia and the trade in spices and luxury goods ○ Jaques Cartier: French explorer who sailed from the Atlantic Ocean into the St. Lawrence River ○ Cartier and Samuel de Champlain discovered rich goods in the Americas, realizing that they didn’t need to go to Asia ○ Quebec: French town and trading post rich in furs and natural resources ○ New France: French colony in North America, had few settlers compared to English and Spanish colonies because the French traded for furs more than they settled permanently. ○ John Cabot: Sent by the English king in 1497 to America to look for a northwest passage. Claimed land in Canada for Britain and found a shorter route across the Atlantic than that of Columbus. ○ In 1588, the English defeated most of the Spanish Armada, declaring itself a major naval power ○ Jamestown: England’s first successful colony in the Americas, named after King James I, Virginia ○ Henry Hudson: Sent by the Dutch to explore the East Coast of North America, did not find a northwest passage but allowed the Dutch to claim the Hudson River valley and Manhattan, where they settled in New Amsterdam. There, the Dutch bought fur and tobacco and sold manufactured goods from the Netherlands 4.3 Columbian Exchange ● Columbian Exchange: Exchange of food, disease, and animals linked the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. ● Disease and Population Catastrophe ○ Due to the isolation of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, Americans did not have immunity to European diseases ○ Spanish conquistadors such as Francisco Pizarro and Hernan Cortes brought smallpox ○ Rats and insects carried diseases ○ Measles and malaria also decimated indigenous American populations ● Animals and Foods ○ Afro-Eurasian horses, pigs, and cattle were traded to the Americas ○ In exchange, Americans gave Europeans maize, potatoes, cacao, and tobacco ■ Potato caused significant population growth in Europe, particularly Ireland ● Cash Crops and Forced Labor ○ Enslaved Africans sold to the Americas brought okra and rice ○ Yams from Brazil spurred population growth in Africa ○ Portuguese-controlled Brazil had a suitable climate for sugarcane cultivation, but there were not enough indigeneous American laborers available. As a result, the Portuguese imported African slaves. ○ Transatlantic slave trade: Africans captured and sold into slavery for sugar production ■ Awful working conditions, starvation, and exhaustion ○ Cash crops: Produced for profit instead of subsistence, sugar and tobacco, cultivated by the Portuguese and the Spanish ● African Presence in the Americas ○ African Diaspora: Scattering of Africans outside of Africa ○ Creole: Combination of European languages and West African grammar ○ Brought their own music, influenced gospel, blues, jazz, hip-hop ■ Used to cope with hard labor ○ Combined European Christian music with their own religious songs and invented the banjo ○ Gumbo: Dish in the United States with African influences 4.4 Maritime Empires Link Regions ● Indentured servitude: Servants worked a number of years in exchange for passage ● Chattel slavery: A system in which individuals were considered as property to be bought and sold ● Trading Posts in Africa and Asia ○ Asante Empire and the Kingdom of the Congo grew as a result of their trade with European maritime empires ○ In 1498, Vasco da Gama invaded the Swahili city-states of East Africa, and the Portuguese took control of trade in Kilwa and Mombasa. These cities went from prosperous commercial centers in the Indian Ocean trade to devastated and declined. ○ Some Portuguese Christians destroyed Buddhist shrines in Japan ■ 1587 - Japan banned Christian worship services ■ By 1630s, Japan expelled almost all foreigners and forbidden Japanese people from traveling to other countries ○ Ming China prohibited private foreign trade, limited the size of ships, and started to reconstruct the Great Wall, trying to eliminate Mongol influences from the Yuan Dynasty. ● European Rivalries ○ European trading posts in India ■ British East India Company had a commercial relationship with the Mughal Empire in the 17th century ■ Portugal controlled a trading post in Goa ■ France controlled Pondicherry ○ France and Great Britain competed for power during the Seven Years’ War. Britain won in 1763, driving the French out of India. Portuguese driven out in the mid-20th century. ○ British in India ■ East India Company built small forts on the coasts for trade ■ Expanded and gained political power by taking advantage of the conflicts between Muslims and Hindus ■ Negotiated treaties with local rulers ■ Sepoys gave the company more influence inland ■ Gained more control through political and military interventions ○ British established trading posts in West Africa ● Europeans in the Americas ○ Aztec and Inca Empires declined because of European diseases and Spanish attacks ○ Hernan Cortes overthrew the Aztec in 1521 and created the colony of New Spain, Spanish destroyed the Aztecs’ treasures and sent gold back to Spain ■ Decimated Tenochtitlan and built the capital of Mexico City ○ Francisco Pizarro captured the Incan ruler, Atahualpa, offering to release Atahualpa in exchange for gold. Even though the Inca gave in, the Spanish killed Atahualpa in 1533. They fully conquered the Inca Empire in 1572. ○ Treaty of Tordesillas - Spain and Portugal divided the Americas between them. Brazil was under Portugal’s control, while Spain took the rest of the Americas. ○ The British arrived in upper New York, where they established connections with the Iroquois, who had fought with France over trade issues. However, the Iroquis saw the British as more threatening than the French. In the Great Peace of Montreal treaty of 1701, the Iroquis and French united to drive the British out of Canada. ● Continuity and Change in Economic Systems ○ Unlike the British East India Company’s use of connections, the Portuguese used their military might to expand ■ Won the Battle of Diu in the Arabian Sea in 1509, defeating the Gujaratis, the Mamluks, and the Zamorin. ○ Columbus thought that Hispaniola had abundant gold, but was incorrect. He kidnapped the indigenous people, Tainos, and brought them to Spain enslaved. ● ● ● ● ● ● ○ Encomienda: Spanish system in which indigenous people worked for landowners in exchange for food and shelter, brutal coercive labor system ○ Hacienda: Landowners used coerced labor to work their fields of wheat, fruit, vegetables, and sugar ○ Silver in Mexico and Peru provided wealth to the Spanish ■ Zacatecas in Mexico ■ Potosi in the Andes Mountains ○ Mit’a System: Incan system used by the Spanish, young men were required to devote a certain amount of labor to public works projects ○ Mercantilism: An economic system that increased government involvement in economic matters through high tariffs and the establishment of colonies Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade ○ Portugal and Brazil needed laborers for sugar plantations ○ African laborer descendants became the majority population of Brazil ○ African Slaves mainly went to the Caribbean and South America ○ Europeans failed to establish a labor force of enslaved Native Americans ■ Disease ■ Easy to escape because they were familiar with their own territory ○ Africans sold lower-class Africans such as servants and criminals to slavery Journey (Middle Passage) ○ Captive in holding prisons ○ Crammed into ships with little food, water, and freedom to move ○ 1500s to the mid-1800s ○ 10-15% died before reaching the Americas Demographic, Cultural, and Social Changes ○ Social structures based on race and ethnicity ○ More male slaves led impacted families by increasing the practice of polygyny ○ The mixing of ethnic groups created new multiracial people, such as the mestizos and the mulattoes ○ Signares: Cross-cultural marriages between African women and European merchants, which allowed African women to build and manage their own trading networks Indian Ocean Slave Trade ○ East African slaves sold to Northern Africa, the Middle East, and India ○ Peaked in 18th and 19th centuries ○ Could work in the shipping industry as servants, develop communities ○ In Islamic communities, slaves could marry Triangular Trade - A trading system involving the exchange of sugar, slaves, rum, and manufactured goods among Africa, Europe, and the Americas Cultural Effects of the Slave Trade ○ African Diaspora: Dispersion of Africans out of Africa ○ Syncretic Belief Systems blending Christianity and African traditions ■ Santeria: African and Latin American faith ■ Vodun: Africa and Haitian ■ Candomble: Africa and Brazil ● Long-term effect: European imperialism of the 19th century ○ Interactions through slave trade developed racial ideologies such as Social Darwinism ○ Trading posts established a European presence in Africa, which Europe expanded upon in conquest ○ African slave-raiding kingdoms became economically dependent on guns and manufactured goods from Europe ○ Slavery slowed population growth 4.5 Maritime Empires Develop ● The accumulation of capital in Western Europe grew as empires were involved in long distance markets ● Commercial Revolution: Transformation to a trade-based economy using gold and silver ○ Factors ■ The development of European overseas colonies ■ The opening of new trade routes ■ Population growth ■ Inflation caused by population growth and increased mining in gold and silver ○ Price Revolution: High rate of inflation ○ Joint-stock companies: Owned by investors who bought stocks or shares ■ British East India Company - 1600 ■ Dutch East India Company - 1602 ○ Limited Liability: The idea that an investor was not responsible for a company’s debts; made investment safer ● Rivalries for the Indian Ocean Trade ○ The Portuguese failed to conquer Morocco ○ Morocco lost a battle against the Songhai Kingdom in 1590 and declined. The Portuguese then took control of its territory. ● Change and Continuities in Trade Networks ○ Silver from Spanish colonies in the Americas went to Asia, which traded silk, porcelain, and steel ○ Monopolies: Granted merchants the exclusive right to trade through a joint-stock company or the government ■ Spanish monopoly on tobacco in Spain and the Americas ○ Continued peasant and artisan labor ■ Wool and linen from Western Europe ■ Cotton from India ■ Silk from China ● Political and Cultural Changes for Indigenous Peoples ○ Spanish and Portuguese eliminated indigenous traditions in the Americas ○ Viceroys: Administrators and representatives of the Spanish royalty ○ Audiencias: Royal courts to which Spanish settlers could appeal viceroys’ decisions or policies ○ The Spanish burned almost all Aztec documents ○ African slaves who were Muslim became the first notable presence of Islam in the Americas ○ Catholic religious orders in Europe, such as the Jesuits, Dominicans, and Franciscans, sent missionaries to Latin America. Today, most Latin Americans are Roman Catholic. ○ Virgin of Guadalupe: A cult in Mexico developed around her. She was dark-skinned and praised for her ability to perform miracles. Involved the Catholic belief in the Virgin Mary. 4.6 Internal and External Challenges to State Power ● Resistance to Portugal in Africa ○ Ana Nzinga of Ndongo fled west, taking over the state of Matamba. She started a rebellion Ndongo, allied with the Dutch, and freed enslaved Africans. She continued to rule for decades, helping Matamba prosper economically. ○ Cossacks: Peasants who were skilled fighters, defended Russia against the Swedish, Tartar, and Ottomans ○ Cossack Uprisings: Led by Yemelyan Pugachev in 1774 against Catherine the Great for giving the nobility power over the serfs on their lands. ○ After the Russian government captured Pugachev, the Pugachev Rebellion caused Catherine t further her mistreatment of the peasants with the support of nobles ● Rebellion in South Asia ○ Maratha: A Hindu warrior group that resented Muslim rule, fought the Mughals in a series of battles from 1680-1707. They ended the Mughal Empire and created the Maratha Empire. ● Revolts in the Spanish Empire ○ Pueblo Revolt: 1680, the Pueblo and Apache indigenous groups fought colonizers who were trying to force religious conversions. Killed hundreds of Spaniards and destroyed churches. ● Struggles for Power in England and its Colonies ○ Maroon Wars: Enslaved people in the Caribbean and former Spanish territories in the Americas fought for freedom in the years 1728-1740 and 1795-1796 ■ Queen Nanny escaped slavery and united the maroons of Jamaica ○ Gloucester County Rebellion: North America, 1663. African slaves and white indentured servants workers together to demand freedom from the governor. ○ Metacom’s War: Indigenous people attempted to drive the British out of New England. The Mohegan and Pequot groups sided with the British. ○ Glorious Revolution: 1680s. James II, a Catholic, became king of England. Many English people were upset by his anti-Protestant measures. William of Orange invaded England with an army, as requested by a group of nobles. After James II fled to France, William and his wife Mary II began their rule in 1689. Not much violence. 4.7 Changing Social Hierarchies ● Ottomans ○ Ulama scholars in Islamic law competed with the warrior aristocracy for bureaucratic positions ○ Janissaries gained power and prestige, tried to rebel against the sultans ○ Viziers - Advisors to the sultan ○ Timar: A system in which the sultan granted land or tax revenues to the people he favored, used to keep soldiers loyal ○ After the Spanish monarch drove Jews out of his kingdom in 1492, Sultan Mehmed II invited them to stay in Istanbul, where they became court physicians and diplomats ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ■ Could only live in specified areas of the cities ■ Paid the jizya tax ■ Could not hold top positions in the empire Akbar the Great of the Mughal Empire ended the jizya tax, gave grants of land and money to Hindus and Muslims, provided funds to build a Catholic church, and supported Sikhism. Women in the Ottoman Empire ○ Wives and concubines of the sultan promoted their children as successors of the sultan ○ Roxelana: Enslaved before becoming the wife of Suleiman the Magnificent, commissioned public works projects. Influenced Ottoman politics when her son took power after Suleiman. Barbary pirates: Captured Europeans in the Mediterranean and sold them to the sultan or other officials. Some people were impressed or forced into service in the navy, one million between the 16th and 19th centuries Manchu Power Conflicts in the Qing Dynasty ○ Qing intolerance towards the Han - could not wear traditional Han clothing, men forced to wear their hair in queues, a style of the Manchu, as humiliation; could be executed for refusal ○ Qing used Han Chinese defectors to massacre the Han people who refused to assimilate to the Qing culture ■ Li Chengdong in Jaiding ■ Liu Liangzuo in Jiangyin European Hierarchies ○ Social hierarchy ■ Royalty - members of a royal family ■ Nobility - Wealthy landowners ○ Nobility held political power in Dutch government and English parliament ○ a failed uprising in France in the mid-1600s, convinced Louis XIV to keep power from the common people and the nobility ○ Gunpowder weapons destroyed nobles’ fortresses and were used to conquer their lands ○ Discrimination against Jews lessened during the scientific revolution Russian Social Classes ○ Boyars - Noble landowners ○ Merchants ○ Peasants and serfs - peasants who received a plot of land and protection from a noble, but were bound to their land with no freedom, could be sold along with their land ○ Boyars of Novgorod opposed Ivan IV’s expansionist policies; he defeated them and sent them and their families to Moscow Political and Economic Elites in the Americas ○ Castas system in Latin America ■ Peninsulares - Born on the Iberian peninsula ■ Creoles - European descent born in the Americas ■ Castas - People of mixed race ancestry ● Mestizos - European and indigenous ● Mulattos - European and African ● Zambos - indigenous and African ○ People could not move up except through marriage, lower-class had to pay higher taxes and tributes