Chapter 15 The Earth and It's Peoples
Prince Henry
-3rd son of kind of Portugal -led the attacks against Ceuta -known as Henry the navigator cuz he devoted his life to promotions exploration, although he himself never ventured far from home. Instead, He founded a a research center at Sagres to study navigation that built from pioneering efforts of Italian merchants and 14th century Jewish cartographers. This center collected geographical information from sailors and travelers and sponsored new expeditions to explore the Atlantic. Henry's ships established permanent contact with Maderia and Azores in 1418&1439 respectively His motives : -exploration to convert Africans to Christianity -make contact with Christian rulers in Africa and launch joint crusades with them against the ottomans. - discover new places& make new contacts for profit
Columbus's travels
-90 men, departed on Friday August 3rd 1492 "toward regions of India" -their mission was to discover and acquire certain islands and mainland in the Ocean Sea - he carried letters of introduction from Spanish sovereigns to eastern rulers, including on to the grand Kahn, the Chinese emperor, and brought along an Arabic interpreter to facilitate communication with the peoples of Eastern Asia - 3 small ships: Santa Maria, Niña, and pinta. Niña and pinta were caravels - unfavorable headwinds stopped other attempts to explore the Atlantic west if he Azores, but bc Columbus was experienced he knew to choose a southern route - he reached the islands of the Caribbean in 1492 and insisted the inhabitants were Indians bc he believed the islands were a part of the East Indies. -His second voyage to the Caribbean in 1493 did nothing to change his mind. Even when, 2 months after Vasco de Gama reached India in 1498, Columbus first sighted the mainland of South America on his 3rd voyage, he insisted it was part of asia. -By then Europeans are convinced that he had discovered new islands and continents previously unknown to the old world. -Amerigo Vespucci's explorations, first on behalf of Spain and then for Portugal, led mapmakers to name the continents "America" after him, rather than "Columbia" after Columbus
The Treaty of Tordesillas
-A treaty negotiated by the pope to prevent disputes arising from their efforts and new discoveries, Spain and Portugal agreed to split the land between them. The pope drew an imaginary line down the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean -gave lands east of the line in Africa and Southern Asia to Portugal -gave lands west in the Americans to Spain. Cabral's discovery of Brazil, however, gave Portugal a valid claim to the part of South America located east of the line.
Motives for Portugal and Spain exploration
-Ambitious and adventurous rulers sponsoring exploration 4 influential trends evident in Latin Europe: -revival of urban life and trade -unique alliance between merchants and rulers in Europe - struggle with Islamic powers for dominance of Mediterranean That mixed religious motives and desires for trade -growing intellectual curiosity about the outside world
Consequences of the Portuguese expansion
-Asia and East African traders were now at the mercy of Portuguese warships -individual responses affected their fates - some were devastated, others who could meet demands or evade the Portuguese prospered. -Asian and African mainlands were impacted very little bc Portugal sought control of trade routes, not occupying large territories.
What the desire for a passage around Africa to the rich spice trade of the Indian Ocean caused
-Bartolomeu Dias becoming the first Portuguese explorer to lead an expedition to the southern tip of Africa and enter the Indian Ocean in 1488 -Vasco de Gama leading the first naval expedition from Europe to sail to India and opening an important commercial sea route -Pedro Alvarez Cabral commanding ships in 1500, them going too far west and reaching South America. This discovery established Portugal's claim to Brazil, which would become one of the Western Hemisphere's richest colonies. Prince Henry's gamble that had begun 80 years earlier was about to pay off handsomely.
Zheng He
-Commanded the Chinese expeditions -Chinese Muslim w/ ancestral connections to Persian gulf - his expeditions had Arabic speaking Chinese Interpreters and they recorded local customs and beliefs, flora and fauna, noting exotic animals such as black panther of Malaya and the tapir of Sumatra. He also recorded their caste system and the fact that traders in the rich Indian trading port of Calicut could perform error free calculations by counting on their fingers and toes rather than using the Chinese abacus. After the interpreter got home he toured China and told of China's exotic places and majestic virtue.
Reactions to Portugal power grab
-Emperors of china& Mughal emperors of India largely ignored Portugal's maritime intrusions, seeing their interests as maintaining control over their vast land possessions. - The ottomans responded more aggressively , supporting Egypt against the Christian intruders w/ a large fleet &15,000 men from 1501-1509. Then, having absorbed Egypt into their empire, the ottomans sent another large expedition against the Portuguese in 1538. Both expeditions failed b ottoman galleys were no match for the faster, better armed vessels in the open ocean. However, the ottomans continued to exercise control over the Red Sea and Persian gulf - since smaller trading states that were less capable of Portuguese domination head on, some chose to cooperate to keep prosperity and security. Others engaged in evasion and resistance. -the Calicut resisted(one of he strongest resistors) &in restallarían the Portuguese embargoed all trade with Aden, Calicuts principal trading partner, and centered their trade on the port of Cochin.(Calicuts main point of trade) some Calicut merchants were good at evading Portuguese naval patrols, but the price of resistance was shrinking Calicut commercial importance as Cochin gradually became the major pepper exporting port on the malabar coast. - gujarat resisted attempts of Portuguese monopoly, but failed, then in 1509 they joined Egypt's failed attempt to sweep the Portuguese from the Arabian Sea. But in 1535, finding is state at a military disadvantage due to Mughal attacks, the ruler of gujarat made a fateful decision to allow the Portuguese to build a fort at Diu in return for their support. Once established, the Portuguese gradually expanded their control, so that by mid century, they were licensing and taxing all Gujarati ships. Even after the Mughals(who were Muslim) took control of Gujarat in 1572, the Mughal emperor Akbar allowed the Portuguese to continue their maritime monopoly in return for allowing one ship a year to carry pilgrims to Mecca w/o paying the Portuguese any fee.
How did the rise of medieval Islam give Indian Ocean trade a boost?
-Great Muslim cities of the Middle East provided a demand for valuable commodities and networks of Muslim traders were active across this region. These traders shared a common language, ethic, and law and actively spread their religious to distant trading cities. - By 1400 there were Muslim trading communities all around the Indian Ocean. Chinese merchant communities were present as well
Malayo Indonesians achievements
-Highly skilled sailors, navigators, and innovative shipbuilders. They influenced Chinese and Arab maritime advances. -In 350 they discovered two direct sea routes between Sri Lanka and the South China Sea through the Straits of Malacca and Sunda, thus opening a profitable link to China's silk markets. -They were the first to use seasonal monsoon winds of the Indian Ocean to extended their voyages for thousands of miles, ultimately reaching East Asia and settling in Madagascar. -They traded with merchants of India and SE asia for spices, gold, and aromatic woods, even sending spices as far west as Rome through Mediterranean intermediaries. -Their success attracted African, Arab, and Chinese mariners and merchants into the region creating a large, integrated, and highly profitable market in the centuries that followed. -By 1000 the dhows of Arabs and Africans, as well as Malay jongs and Chinese junks, came together into the regions harbors for commerce
History and geography of the Iberian kingdoms
-In the 8th century Muslim invades from North Africa conquered Iberia and ventured if warfare between muslims and christians followed - by 1250, the Iberian kingdoms of Portugal, Castile, and Aragon had reconquered all of Iberia except the southern Muslim kingdom of Granada. - the dynastic marriage of Isabel of Castile and ferdinand of Aragon in 1469 facilitated the conquest of Granada in 1492 & begain the creation of Spain, 16th century Europe's most powerful state.
Christopher Columbus
-Leader of the Spanish overseas mission. He was a Genoese mariner and set out in 4 voyages between 1492-1504 and established the existence of a vast new world across the Atlantic, whose existence few in the "old world" Eurasia and Africa had never suspected. Columbus refused to accept he had founded new land and people's, insisting that he had succeeded in finding a shorter route to the Indian Ocean -as a young man he gained considerable experience of the south Atlantic while participating in Portuguese explorations akin the African coast, but he had become convinced that there was a shorter way to reach the riches of the east than the route around Africa. He believed this bc of a misunderstanding he had while reading a 9th century Arab authority. He believed that the canaries were a mere 2,400 nautical miles from Japan. The distance is actually 5 times as far. - he was rejected twice by Portuguese authorities and once by queen Isabel of Castile in 1486. In 1492 his persistence was finally rewarded, and the queen and he husband, kind Ferdinand of Aragon, agreed to fund a modest expedition.
Portuguese achievements
-Never fully gained complete control of the Indian Ocean trade, but their naval supremacy allowed them to keep dominant key ports& trade routes during the 16th century. -resulting profit from spices&other luxury goods had a dramatic effect. The Portuguese were now able to break the pepper monopoly long held by Venice and Genoa, who both depended on European middlemen, selling at much lower prices. They were also able to fund a more aggressive colonization of Brazil.
Italy trade and expansion
-Northern Italy had well established trade w/ Northern Europe, Indian Ocean, and Black Sea. -Their merchant princes sponsored an intellectual and artistic Renaissance - Venice and genoa(Italian trading states) maintained profitable commercial ties with Mediterranean due to alliances with muslims. This gave their merchants privileged access to lucrative trade from the east. - after Ottoman Empire disrupted Italy's trade with the east, many individual Italians still played leading roles in the Atlantic exploration
Spanish& Portuguese empires compare and contrast
-Portugal was a large over seas trading empire, Spain was a large territorial land empire in America -Spain had much larger population and greater resources -both had similar motives for expansion and used identical ships and weapons. -Amerindian isolation made their responses to outside contact different from African and Indian Ocean people, slowed the development of metallurgy &military technologies, made their large populations more susceptible to diseases introduced by Europeans. This made them vulnerable to both Spain and Portugal.
Spanish motives in Antilles and Muslim wars of the past
-Spreading Christianity and god, become rich in the process, and glory. - individual conquistadors(conquerers) extended that pattern around the Caribbean as gold and labor became scarce in Hispaniola. New expeditions for gold and Amerindian laborers across the carribeam region, capturing thousands of Amerindians and relocating them to Hispaniola as slaves. The island of Borinquén(puerto rico) was conquered in 1508 and Cuba in between 1510-1511
Who caused a maritime revolution
-The Iberian kingdoms of Portugal and Spain. - They profoundly altered the course of history by ending the isolation of the americas and increasing the volume of global interaction. -The kingdoms decided to expand in the first place, due to economic, political, and religious movies and maritime and military improvements to master treacherous, unfamiliar ocean environments, seize control of existing maritime trade routes, and conquer new lands
Evidence of contact among Amerindian peoples.
-Transfer of maize cultivation to South America in mesoamerica - use of small boats along the pacific coast. In the centuries after 100 there was significant ongoing contact between pacific coast populations in South America and mesoamerica. Mariners carried pottery, copper, gold and silver allot jewelry,and textiles from the coast of Ecuador north in two masted balsa wood rafts that measured up to 36 ft in length. Rafts up to this size could carry more than 20 metric tons of cargo and 10 or more crew members -travel north was facilitated by the favorable winds and currents of the pacific, but these crafts had the capacity to make the return trip carrying cargoes of sacred spondylus shells as well. One important result of these contacts was the introduction of metallurgy to mesoamerica after 500.
Why Portugal invested in exploration
-Well established Atlantic fishing industry -history of Muslim warfare: a Muslim gov in morocco in NW Africa was weak, Portugal attacked and conquered the city of ceuta in 1415. This city gave Portugal better intelligence and h understanding of caravans bringing tools and slaves to Ceuta from Africa states. Bc Portugal was militarily unable to push inland and gain direct access to gold trade, they sought contact with gold producers by sailing down the African coast.
Portuguese force wasn't always necessary
-on the china coast local officials &merchants interested in new trade w/Portuguese persuaded the imperial gov to allow the Portuguese to establish a trading center @macao in 1557. Operating from Macao, Portuguese ships came to nearly monopolize trade between china and Japan
Benefits of Columbus's failed mission of finding a new route to the east
-those who followed in his wake laid the basis for Spain's largest colonial empire in the Americans and for the empires of other European nations. - in turn, those empires promoted the growth of a major new trading network, whose importance surpassed the Indian Ocean network. - both eastward and westward voyages of exploration marked a tremendous expansion of europe's role in world history.
Polynesians
A linguistically and culturally distinct culture that emerged in 500 BCE. The dates of Polynesian colonization of remote islands in the Pacific Ocean are debated, but their mastery of long distance maritime exploration in an era European sailors stayed close to shore is undeniable. Polynesians went east from Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji and colonized Marquesas and the Cook and Society archipelagos by about 300 BCE before 500 CE. Polynesians colonies were established on the Hawaiian islands and settled on Easter island by 800 CE. Finally, they established permanent colonies in New Zealand around 1000 CE. Polynesians voyagers also made periodic contact with South America after 1000CE, passing on the domesticated Asian chicken and returning with the sweet potato, an American domesticate that soon became staple throughout the pacific region.
Hernan Cortes
After 2 filed expeditions to Mexico, governor Velazquez of Cuba appointed an ambitious, ruthless nobleman, Hernan Cortés. He left Cuba in 1519 with 600 fighting men, many who sailed in earlier expeditions, and most of the islands stock of weapons and horses. After demonstrating his military skills in the battles with the maya, Cortes learned of the rich Aztec empire in central Mexico.
Genoese and Portuguese
Applied maritime skills acquired in the Mediterranean and along the northern Atlantic coast to explore the south. They pushed into the Atlantic in the 14 century, eventually exploring and settling on the islands of Madeira, the Azores, and the Canaries.
Why did New Guineas population and agriculture increase?
Around 3000 BCE seafaring peoples from SE asia reached New Guinea. The austronesian-speaking migrants and New Guinea natives sustained contact, this led to population and agricultural developments and the settlements of nearby islands. The descendants of these peoples forged a new cultural identity: lapita. They're called lapita by archaeologists bc they colonized the islands chains of Melanesia. Lapita settlers reached Tonga, Fiji, and Samoa around 1000 BCE.
Portugal enforcing a trading monopoly
As their power grew they required spices and all goods carried between their ports to be carried in Portuguese ships. The Portuguese also taxed and controlled other Indian ocean trade by requiring all merchant ships entering& leaving one of their ports to carry a Portuguese passport and pay custom duties. Portuguese patrols seized vessels that attempted to avoid these monopolies, confiscated their cargoes, and either killed the captain& crew or sentenced them to labor.
China and Africa trade and contact
Atleast 3 trading cities on the Swahili coast of east Africa sent delegations to china between 1417 and 1433. The delegations from one of them, Malindi, presented the Chinese emperor with a giraffe, creating a stir among normally reserved imperial officials. These African delegations may've encouraged more contacts bc the next three of Zheng voyages reached the African coast. Unfortunately, no documents record how Africans and Chinese reacted to each other during these historic meetings between 1417 and 1433, but it appears that China's lavish gifts stimulated the Swahili market for silk and porcelain
Where would Spain and Portugals sphere of influence divide in the east?
Bc Europeans were ignorant and didn't know how big the world was in 1494, It wasn't clear whether the Moluccas, whose valuable spices had been a goal of the Iberian voyages, were on Portugal's or Spain's side side of the Tordesillas line. The size of the Pacific would determine the boundary, and the moluccas lied well within Portugal's sphere, as Spain formally acknowledge in 1529
Ferdinand Magellan
Began his expedition to complete Columbus's interrupted westward voyage by sailing around the Americas and across the Pacific. Despite his death during his voyage on behalf of the kind of Spain, he was still considered the first person to encircle the the globe bc a decade earlier, he had sailed from Europe to East Indies as a part of an expedition sponsored by his native Portugal. His 2 voyages took him from across the Tordesillas line, though separate spgeres claimed by Portugal and Spain, and established the basis for Spanish colonization of the Philippines after 1564
Amerindian voyagers from the carribran coast of South America colonized the west Indes
By the year 1000 amerindians know as the Arawak(also called Taino) had followed the small islands of the lesser Antilles to the greater Antilles as well as the Bahamas. The Carib followed the same route in later centuries, and by the late 15th century they overran most Arawak settlements in the lesser Antilles and were raiding parts in the greater Antilles. Both Arawak and Carib peoples also made contact with the North American mainland. Columbus conquered hispanol and conquered the Arawak(killed them wit smallpox accidently, then killed for gold)the Carib were fine bc they were in the lesser Antilles
Chinese treasure ships
Carried silk/ other valuable goods as gifts for distant rulers and in turn those rulers sent back gifts of equal/ greater value. Although main purpose was diplomatic, this stimulated trade between China and its southern neighbors, and interest in new contacts was not limited to the Chinese.
Christian Ethiopia and Portuguese
Christian Ethiopia also saw potential benefit in the alliance. In the 14th and 15th century Ethiopia faced increasing conflict with Muslim states along the Red Sea. The Muslim state of Adal, previously emboldened by the ottoman Turks who conquered Egypt in 1517 and sent a major fleet in the Indian Ocean to conquer the Portuguese, launched a furious assist on Ethiopia. Adal's victory in 1529 reduced the Christian kingdom to a dangerous and unstable state. At this point Ethiopia contacts with Portugal became crucial. - for decades delegations from Portugal and Spain had considered an alliance based on their mutual adherence for Christianity, but the alliance could never be arranged. This is bc Queen Helena of Ethiopia, who was filling in for her dead husband bc he sons were too young, sent a letter and 2 small crucifixes said to be made of wood from the crops Christ died on in Jerusalem to the king of Portugal and proposed an alliance against the Turks. She died in 1522 and the alliance could never be made. Ethiopians situation here more desperate. -in 1539, when another woman who was holding the empire together, a small Portuguese force commanded by Vasco de gamas son, Christopher arrived to aid Ethiopia. With Portuguese help, Ethiopians won. Although Christopher de Gama was captured and tortured to death the Ethiopians still won bc the Muslim leader was also wounded in battle - although Portugal helped save the Ethiopian kingdom, but the alliance faltered bc Ethiopian rulers refused to transfer from their pope to the pope in Rome.
Arawak rebel
Columbus made his second trip to Hispaniola in 1493 and brought several thoughts and settlers who wanted to make fortune and missionaries to spread Christianity. The bad behavior of settlers: forced labor& Sexual assaults on native women provoked the Arawak to rebel in 1495. Spanish win bc of superior armor&weapons and horses. They slaughtered thousands and forced many into labor. The Spanish also introduced pigs, cattle, and goats that devoured the native crops, starting many deaths from famine and disease. The Spanish appointed a governor in 1502 who divided the surviving Arawak on Hispaniola among his allies as laborers
The aztecs
Conquered their vast empire during the previous century and a half,& its people were ready to embrace the aztecs as allies. They resented tribute payments, forced labor, and human sacrifice demanded by the aztecs. Aztecs had powerful native enemies, ex: Tlaxcalans, who eventually became crucial allies to Cortes. - like African and asians, when the Europeans confronted the Amerindian peoples calculated their best to determine potential benefits or threats. Individuals also made these calculations - Malintzin(malinche)- native woman given to Cortes shorty after he arrived in maya region, became his translator, key source of intelligence, and mistress. - as peoples and individuals, natives were crucial to the Spanish campaign. -emperor moctezuma II- didn't use force, but diplomacy. When Cortes pushed toward the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán using firearms,cavalry tactics, and steel swords,(these were their great advantages as natives didn't have these) moctezuma agreed to welcome the Spanish & when Spanish arrived the emperor went out in great procession, dressed in finery to welcome Cortes. -despite Cortes saying he came in peace he imprisoned moctezuma, looted him, interfered with city's religious rituals, and massacred hundreds during a festival. Natives rebelled against both moctezuma and Spain. When Spain desperately tried to escape, aztecs killed half their forces &4000 of Cortes 's naive allies. In confusion, moctezuma lost his life and its unknown if he was killed by Spain or aztecs. - Spain's survivors retook Tenochtitlán in 1521 when it was helped by Spanish reinforcement and aided by the Tlaxcalans. Their victory was also aided by a smallpox espesemos that killed more of the city's defenders than the fighting. Many amerindians, and Europeans, blamed the disease&death on supernatural forces. Cortés& other Spanish leaders then led the expeditions north&south accompanied by Tlaxcalans&other indigenous allies. Everywhere, diseases such as smallpox, helped crush indigenous resistance
How Polynesians traveled and were able to settle
DNA and linguistic evidence show that Polynesian settlement of the islands of the eastern pacific was planned and not the result of an accident. Following voyages of reconnaissance, Polynesian mariners led colonizing expositions in fleets of large double hulled canoes that relied on paddling and sails. Their largest canoes were 120 ft and could hold 50 men. A wide platform connected 2 hills of these crafts and allowed for the transportation of animals such as pigs, dogs, and chickens. They could also take plants such as taro, bananas, yams, and bread-fruit. Their success depended on the observation of currents, stars, and evidence of land.
Calicut impression of Vasco de Gama
De Gama arrived on the malabar coast of India in may 1498 with 4 small ships, far less imposing than the Chinese fleets that had called at the Calicut 65 yrs earlier and no longer than many of the dhows that filled the harbor of this rich and important trading city. The samorin(ruler) of Calicut and his Muslim officials only showed mild interest in the Portuguese, since de Gamas gifts made them laugh: 12 pieces of ordinary striped cloth, 4 scarlet hoods, 6hats, and 6 wash basins he presented seemed inferior goods to those around the Indian trades luxuries. When da Gama defended his gifts saying they were those of an explorer not a rich merchant, samorin cut him short saying if he had come to discover men or stones," if he had come to discover men, as he said, why would he bring nothing?"
African and Asian thoughts on the Europeans
European action alone didn't determine global contact, those who they invaded influenced development as well -indigenous people evaluated them as potential allies or enemies. -this caused slow progress of establishing colonies or political influence in Africa and Asia. -in America, on the other hand, Europeans rapidly moved to create colonies. This is bc Americans were isolated from the rest of the world and this made them vulnerable to their diseases, limiting their potential for resistance and facilitating European settlement - people along west African cost were eager to trade with Portuguese bc it offered new markets for exports and cheaper imports than the people they already traded with. -especially evident on the Gold Coast of West Africa. Miners who had long sold their gold to traders, who took trading cities in the Sahara, where it was sold to traders who had crossed the desert from North Africa. Africans recognized that they might get favorable terms from the new visitors from the sea and were ready to negotiate with the royal representative of Portugal who had arrived in 1482 to seek permission to erect a trading fort - Portuguese nobles and officers (most likely including Christopher Columbus in his time serving with them to get experience in 1476) were eager to make a proper impression. They dressed nicely, made and decorated a reception platform, celebrated a Catholic mass, had trumpets,tambourines, and drums play to signal the start of the negotiations. -the Africans also came to impress: King Caramansa stage show entrence with many musicians and attendants. Through an interpreter the both delivered flowery speeches, full of good will have mutual benefit. Caramansa granted a small trading fort bc he believed these Portuguese not to be fowl like ones from a decade ago. -neither was forceful, but Africans had upper hand bc caramansa said that if Portuguese acted aggressively he would take back his fort he gave them and take away the food and water he provided. - both parties profited from the post of Saint George of the mine: Portuguese purchased 1/10 of the world gold production at the time and the Africans received large quantities of food the Portuguese brought from Asia Europe and other parts of Africa
Prince Henry and his staffs contributions
Improved upon navigational instruments that had already been developed elsewhere such as: magnetic compass (china), and the Astrolabe(Greek and Arab invention that determines location based in sun and star position). Even with such instruments, voyages still depended on skilled and experienced navigators
How did the Ming restore China's power and influence?
In 1368 the Ming Dynasty overthrew Mongol rule and begin to reestablish China's predominance and prestige abroad. Having restored Chinese power and influence in east Asia, the Ming moved to establish direct contact with the people around the Indian Ocean, sending out seven Imperial fleets between 1405 and 1433. The enormous size of these expeditions, far a larger than needed for explanation or promoting trade, indicate that the Ming sought to inspire awe of their power and achievements. While curiosity about this prosperous region may have been a motive, the fact that the ports visited by the fleets were major commercial centers suggest that expanding China's trade was also an objective. The scale of ming expeditions to the Indian Ocean basin reflects Imperial China's resource and importance. The first consisted of 62 specially built "treasure ships," larger Chinese junks about 300 feet long by 150 feet wide. There were also at least 100 smaller vessels. Each treasure ship had 9 masts, 12 sails, many decks, and carrying capacity of 3000 tons. One expedition carried over 27,000 crew and passengers, including infantry and cavalry troops. The ships were armed with small cannon, but in most Chinese sea battles arrows from highly accurate crossbows dominated the fighting
Caravel
Invented by Portuguese mariners bc the existing Chinese junk and European ships were inadequate for exploration on the Atlantic. It was much smaller than previous ships, and this permitted them to explore shallow waters and upriver. The boat was also able to travel in storms and its triangular sails could take the wind from either side and enhanced maneuverability. It could've also been fitted with square sails to make it a good fighting ship. It's speed, economy, agility, and power made it the best ship that sailed on the seas
Manikongo
King of the southern Kongo in the lower Congo ever. -had very different outcomes than Benin, they also sent delegates to find out more about Portuguese, but they actually adopted their faith. This eventually became a problem bc they didn't have as much resources as Benin and couldn't trade ivory and and paper. To acquire goods brought by Portugal and to pay the costs of the missionaries, it had to sell more and more slaves. Soon manikongo began to lose his royal monopoly on trade. In 1526 the Christian manikongo, Alfonso 1 rite his "royal brother" the king of Portugal begging for help& the stop of the slave trade bc unauthorized kongolese were kidnappong and selling people, even members of good families. This didn't get him anywhere, and the king of Portugal didn't reply bc his interests were now concentrated in the Indian ocean. The effects of rebellion and relocation of the slave trade from his kingdom to the south weakened the manikongo's authority.
Benin
Kingdom in the Niger Delta that expanded of a century of aggression first came in contact with the Portuguese at its speak power. It's oba(king) presided over an elaborate bureaucracy in a spacious palace in his large capital, Benin. - when Portuguese encountered them the first time, the oba sent out an ambassador to Portugal to learn more about them; he then established a royal monopoly on trade with the Portuguese. They sold pepper and ivory tusks, stone beads, textiles, and POW. In return, Portugal provided Benin with copper, brass fine textiles, glass beads, and a horse for the kings royal procession. In the 16th century, as the rise for slaves on the sugar plantation on São Tomé grew, the iba raised the price of slaves and imposed restrictions that limited their sale - early contacts generally involved a mix of commercial, military, and religious exchanges. Some african rulers like European firearms better than their spears and arrows and actively sought trade for that(also alcohol) and this lead to more warfare and issues. Also, bc Africa religions were generally not exclusive, they tested the value of Christian practices promoted by the Portuguese. The rulers of Benin and Kongo(2largest coastal kingdoms) accepted Portuguese missionaries and soldiers as allies to test their efficiency -for some reason, Portuguese efforts failed and king of Benin didn't accept their religion. Early kings showed interest, but after 1538 they declined to receive any more missionaries. Benin closed the slave market for the rest of the 16th century. We don't know why, but this does show that these ruler had the power to limit their contact with the Europeans.
Motives for exploration In later Iberia
Material returns, much more willing to seek new routes for riches via the Atlantic bc of their modest share of the Mediterranean trade, and still open to geographical knowledge and Christian militancy
Muslim rulers reaction to Vasco de Gama and the Portuguese
Most Muslim rulers were cautious bc of the crusaders crosses on their sails, but the malindi saw them as potential allies who could help them expand the city's trading position and provides de Gama with a pilot to guide him to India. The initial suspicions of the other rulers were correct, when 7yrs later A Portuguese war fleet bombarded and looted most of the coastal cities of Eastern Africa in the name of Christianity and commerce, while sparing malindi.
Portuguese expanding their control
Portuguese had no intention of remaining poor competitors in the rich trade of the Indian Ocean. When de Gama returned to Portugal in 1499(1yr after Calicut laughed at them) the jubilant king Manuel styled himself." Lord of conquest, navigation, and commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, and India" and setting forth the ambitious scope of his plans. Previously, the Indian Ocean had been an open sea, used by merchants(&pirates) of all the surrounding coasts. Now the Portuguese crown intended to make it a Portuguese sea, the private property of Portugal alone. - Portugal was able to do this bc if their superior ships & weapons, especially against lightly armed merchant dhows. -in 1505 81 Portuguese ships and 7000 men bombarded Swahili coast cities. -in 1510 the Goa, on the west coast of India, fell to the Portuguese. This became a base for them when they prepared to conquer Gujarat. Shortly after the Portuguese took Calicut & other malabar coast cities to the south, the port of Hormuz, controlling entry to the Persian gulf, but in 151, Aden, at the entrance to the Red Sea, successfully resisted. The addition of the Gujarati port of Diu in 1535 Portuguese dominance of the western Indian Ocean. -Portuguese explorers observed the Bay of Bengal and the waters farther east. The City of Malacca on the strait between the Malay peninsula and Sumatra became the focus of their attention. During the 15th century Malacca had become a main entrepôt for trade from china, Japan, India, and SE Asian mainland, and the moluccas. The city had more than 100,000 residents and 84 languages. Many non Muslim residents supported letting the Portuguese join its cosmopolitan trading community, perhaps to offset the growing power of Muslim traders. In 1511,however, the Portuguese seized this strategic trading center outright with a force of a thousand fighting men, including 300 recruited in southern India.
Portuguese gains from exploration
Raids on NW coast of Africa and Canary Islands in 1440s and returned with slaves, due to a profitable market in an Iberia still recovering population loss from the Black Plague. They captured/ purchased over 80,000 Africans as slaves by the end of the century and rose steadily afterward. Gold trade became more important when the Portuguese contacted trading networks that flourished in west Africa and reached across the Sahara. By 1457 they had enough African gold coming back to Portugal for the kingdom to issue a new gold coin cruzado(crusader), another reminder of how deeply the Portuguese entwined religious and secular motives.
Gold Coast
Region of Atlantic coast of west Africa occupied by modern Ghana; named for its gold exports to Europe from the 1470s onward
Spain vs Portugal
Spain success doesn't come from persistence and planning, like Portugal, but luck. Spanish kingdom as were too preoccupied with internal affairs(re conquest of southern Iberia from muslims, consolidation of the territories of Isabel and Ferdinand, and the conversion/expulsion of religious minorities) to worry about overseas exploration, but when Spain was ready, Portugal had already found all the routes.
Inka
Spanish settlers in panama heard rich tales of these rich and powerful people to the south even before the conquest of the aztecs. During the previous century, the inka had built a vast empire along the Pacific Ocean of South America. As their empire expanded through conquest, they enforced new labor demands and taxes and even exiled rebellious populations from their land. - Huayna Capac- inka Ruler in about 1525 who died in Quito, where he had successfully led a military campaign. 2of his sons fought for the throne, and in the end Atahuallpa (for the North) defeated Huascar (the candidate of the royal court at Cuzco). As a result the inka military was decimated and the empires political leadership was weakened by their violence. -Francisco Pizzaro- had a force of 180 men,37 horses, and 2 cannons. Came to the americas in 1502 @age25 seeking fortune and had participated in the conquest of Hispaniola and in Balboa's expedition across the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific. In 1529s he gambled his fortune to finance the exploration of the Pacific south of the equator,where he learned of the riches of the inka. With a license from the king of Spain, he set out from panama in 1531 to conquer them. - Pizarro saw the civil war as soon as he arrived and wanted to meet with the inca emperor, atahuallpa. They met in the Andean city of Cajamarca in November 1532. With boldness and brutality, pizarro's small band of armed men attacked atahuallpa and his followers as they entered the enclosed courtyard. Though pizarro was surrounded by inka army of atleast 40,000 the Spanish were able to win bc of their cannons. They cannon killed, but also confused some and bought time to attack. Pizarro now replicated in Peru Cortes' strategy by capturing the inka ruler. - atahuallpa was scared of losing his power, and executed his brother huascar. He also noticed Pizarro's glee towards gold and silver and tried to buy his freedom. He offered a ransom of a room filled with gold and silver(13,400pounds of gold & 26,000 pounds of silver). The Spanish still executed him atahuallpa anyway. With the unity of the inka empire already battered by the civil war and the death of the ruler, the Spanish occupied Cuzco, the capital city. -manco inka- who the Spanish had chosen to replace atahuallpa, led a massive rebellion in 1536. He was defeated, but he and his followers retreated to the interior and created a much reduced independent kingdom that survived until 1572. The victorious Spaniards, now determined to settle their own rivalries, initiated a bloody civil war fueled by greed and jealousy. Before peace was established, this struggle took the lives of Francisco Pizarro and most of the other prominent conquistadors. Invited by the fabulous wealth of the aztecs and inka, conquistadors now extended their exploration and conquest of South and North America, dreaming of treasures and loot.
First Amerindian encounters with Columbus and Portuguese and Spain
The Arawak of Hispaniola were the first to encounter them. They cultivated maize. Cassava, sweet potatoes, hot peppers, cotton, and tobacco. Although the natives didn't have large gold deposits bc they didn't trade long distances, they were still skilled in dealing with gold. The Arawak were cautious of the Spanish and learned to exaggerate and tell stories of Alden's with greater gold and luxuries in order to persuade the Spanish to move on.
Why china didn't play a dominant role in Indian Ocean trade
The Ming court didn't wish to promote trade for the profit of its merchants, and opposed increased contact with people's whom they regarded as barbarians incapable of making contributions to china, this caused suspension in the voyages from 1424 to 1431. The final Chinese expositions sailed between 1432 and 1433. Later Ming will focus on internal matters, but Chinese merchants will still continue to be major participants in Indian Ocean trade, contributing to rapid growth of prosperous commercial entrepots. The sultan of one of these prosperous trade centers, meleka, described the era in 1468," we have learned that to master the blue oceans people must engage in commerce and trade. All the lands within the seas are united in one body. Life has never been so affluent in preceding generations as it is today.
Evidence of African voyages in this period
The Syrian geographer al- Umari said that when mansa musa, the ruler of west African empire of Mali, passed through Egypt on his lavish pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, he told of voyages into the Atlantic undertaken by his predecessor, mansa Muhammad. According to this source, mansa Muhammad sent out 400 vessels of men and supplies telling them not to come back unless they've reached the other side of the ocean or if they'd run out of food/water. After a long time only one canoe returned, and the others were lost in a violent current in the middle of the sea. Muhammad himself then set out a larger expedition, from which no one returned.
Malayo Indonesians/ Malay
The archipelagos and coatal regions of Southeast Asia were connected in networks of trade and cultural exchange from and early date. While the region was divided politically, culturally, and religiously, the languages of Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines- as well as coastal regiond of Thailand, Southern Vietnam, Cambodia, and Hainan, China- all originated from a common austronesian linguistic root.
Greater Antilles
The larger islands of the Caribbean, Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico.
Hierarchy and social structures of the Polynesians
The most hierarchical social structures and political systems developed in the Hawaiian and Tongan archipelagos, where powerful hereditary chiefs controlled the lives of commoners and managed resources. Here, as well as in New Zealand, competition among chiefs led to chronic warfare.
Why it took so long for prince Henry's men to explore the southern Atlantic
They were scared the water was boiling hot or contained dangerous water currents that would prevent them form coming back home. It took prince Henry 14 yrs to persuade an expedition beyond southern morocco, 40yrs for the Portuguese to cover 1,500 miles from Lisbon to Sierra Leone, and 30yrs to explore he remaining 4000 miles to the southern top of the African continent. W/ experience, navigators learned how to return home speedily by sailing the NW into the Atlantic to the latitude of the Azores, where they picked up prevailing westerly winds. The knowledge that ocean winds tend to form large circular patterns helped later explorers discover many other trade oceans
Why, although all Polynesians descended from the same culture, same tools, and farming and fishing technologies, did their settlements have different economic, political, and social systems?
This bc, although they all depended on farming and fishing, the intensity of the practice varied due to their environment and local conditions. Ex: in Hawaii there were many forests they could burn for farmland using controlled burns, and they could builds ponds to increase fish yields, as a result this Polynesian colony thrived into the era of European expansion. However, on Easter island, among the most isolated Polynesian colonies, population growth led to deforestation, soil erosion, intense resource completion, and ,ultimately, to a brutal cycle of warfare that drastically reduced the polulation.
Vikings
Were the greatest mariners of the Atlantic in the early Middle Ages. These Northern European raiders used their small, open ships to attack Europe's coastal settlements for several centuries. Like the Polynesians, they used their knowledge of the heavens and seas rather than maps and other navigational devices to find their way over long distances. They first settled Iceland in 770 and then Greenland in 982. By accident one group sighted North America in 986. 15 yrs later Leif Ericsson established a short lived settlement on the island of Newfoundland, which he called Vinland. When a colder climate returned after 1200, the northern settlements in Greenland went into decline and the Vikings abandoned Vinland.
Fernao Gomes
While the Portuguese crown still continues to sponsor voyages, the growing participation of private commercial interests accelerated the pace of exploration. Gomes, one of the private commercial investors, was a prominent Lisbon merchant who purchased crown privilege to explore 350 miles in return for a trade monopoly. He discovered the uninhabited land of São Tomé on the equator and made it into a major sugar production dependent on slaves imported from the African mainland; São Tomé will serve as a model for future sugar plantations of Brazil - Caribbean. Gomes also explored the Gold Coast, which became the headquarters of Portugal's west African trade.
Lesser Antilles
the smaller Caribbean islands southeast of the Greater Antilles, Barbados, Martinique, and Guadeloupe.