Exploration

What are the basic characteristics of capitalism as an economic system?

Capitalism involves the use of capital, or assets worth anything, to be reinvested in order to further grow capital in compound interest, thus growing the economy

How did European society change in the 16th century and early 17th century as a result of rapid economic growth?

European society became more prone to criminal activity due to privilege gap; in some parts of eastern europe, serfdom reappeared. New dynasties and claims to power could be made due to new land confiscated from the church or land in the new world

What motivated the Europeans to embark on overseas explorations by the 15th century?

Europeans (namely the portuguese) were primarily enchanted from earlier conquests of ceuta and stories of inland christian kingdoms that were rich. Therefore, the portuguese slowly inched around africa to try to reach asia. Meanwhile, some explorers believed that by circumnavigating earth, they could reach asia

Why did the Europeans have a long attraction to the Far East?

Europeans have been interested in the fine silk and spices able to be imported from the far east, spiked by the literature and stories of travel of Marco Polo

Why didn't the Chinese merchants continue to dominate the vast Afro-Asian trade network of the 15th century?

Portugal had established its trading supremacy via military power and a huge navy that could be distributed and established throughout the world

Bartholomew De Las Casas

a 16th-century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians". His extensive writings, the most famous being A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies and Historia de Las Indias, chronicle the first decades of colonization of the West Indies and focus particularly on the atrocities committed by the colonizers against the indigenous peoples

The Fuggers

a German family that was a historically prominent group of European bankers, members of the fifteenth and sixteenth-century mercantile patriciate of Augsburg, international mercantile bankers, and venture capitalists. Alongside the Welser family, the family controlled much of the European economy in the sixteenth century and accumulated enormous wealth. This banking family replaced the de' Medici family, who influenced all of Europe during the Renaissance. The Fuggers took over many of the Medicis' assets and their political power and influence.

Ferdinand Magellan

a Portuguese explorer who organised the Spanish expedition to the East Indies from 1519 to 1522, resulting in the first circumnavigation of the Earth.

Vasco de Gamma

a Portuguese explorer. He was the first European to reach India by sea, linking Europe and Asia for the first time by ocean route, as well as linking the Atlantic and the Indian oceans entirely and definitively, and in this way, the West and the Orient. This was accomplished on his first voyage to India (1497-1499). Da Gama's discovery was significant and opened the way for an age of global imperialism and for the Portuguese to establish a long-lasting colonial empire in Asia. The route meant that the Portuguese would not need to cross the highly disputed Mediterranean nor the dangerous Arabian Peninsula, and that the whole voyage would be made by sea

Hernando Cortes

a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century. Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish colonizers who began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Encomienda System

a dependency relation system, that started in Spain during the Roman Empire, where the stronger people protected the weakest in exchange for a service. It was later used during the Spanish colonization of the Americas and the Philippines. The Spanish monarch would assign a Spaniard with the task of "protecting" a specific group of Native Americans

Bartholomew Dias

a nobleman of the Portuguese royal household, was a Portuguese explorer. He sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488, reaching the Indian Ocean from the Atlantic, the first European known to have done so.

comerical (price)revolution

a period of European economic expansion, colonialism, and mercantilism which lasted from approximately the late 13th century until the early 18th century. It was succeeded in the mid-18th century by the Industrial Revolution. Beginning with the Crusades, Europeans rediscovered spices, silks, and other commodities rare in Europe. This development created a new desire for trade, and trade expanded in the second half of the Middle Ages. European states, through voyages of discovery, were looking for new trade routes in the 15th and 16th centuries, which allowed the European powers to build vast, new international trade networks. Nations also sought new sources of wealth. To deal with this new-found wealth, new economic theories and practices were created. Because of competing national interest, Europeans had the desire for increased world power through their colonial empires. The Commercial Revolution is marked by an increase in general commerce, and in the growth of financial services such as banking, insurance, and investing.

viceroy

a regal official who runs a country, colony, or city province (or state) in the name of and as representative of the monarch.

Columbus

an Italian explorer, navigator, colonizer and citizen of the Republic of Genoa. Under the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean which established permanent settlements on the island of Hispaniola, initiated the Spanish colonization of the New World. In the context of emerging Western imperialism and economic competition between European kingdoms through the establishment of trade routes and colonies, Columbus's proposal to reach the East Indies by sailing westward eventually received the support of the Spanish Crown, which saw in it a chance to enter the spice trade with Asia through a new westward route. During his first voyage in 1492, instead of arriving at Japan as he had intended, Columbus reached the New World, landing on an island in the Bahamas archipelago that he named "San Salvador". Over the course of three more voyages, Columbus visited the Greater and Lesser Antilles, as well as the Caribbean coast of Venezuela and Central America, claiming all of it for the Crown of Castile

mercantilism

an economic theory and practice, dominant in Europe from the 16th to the 18th century, that promoted governmental regulation of a nation's economy to augment state power at the expense of rival national powers. the economic counterpart of political absolutism or absolute monarchies. Mercantilism includes a national economic policy aimed at accumulating monetary reserves through a positive balance of trade, especially of finished goods. High tariffs, especially on manufactured goods, are an almost universal feature of mercantilist policy.

Prince Henry the Navigator

an important figure in 15th-century Portuguese politics and in the early days of the Portuguese Empire. The main initiator of the Age of Discoveries. Henry was the third child of the Portuguese king John I and responsible for the early development of Portuguese exploration and maritime trade with other continents through the systematic exploration of Western Africa, the islands of the Atlantic Ocean, and the search for new routes.

How did business practices change in Europe by the end of the 16th century?

by the 16th century, the commercial revolution was well underway; as consequence of growing trade volume, new methods were devised to transfer wealth and streamline economic processes. Capitalism was being founded.

How did capitalism disrupt society in the Old Word and in the New World?

capitalism not only challenged more conservative and slow minded religious attitudes, it also led to widespread vagrancy and unemployment

What were the motives for expansion and the outcomes?

demographic and economic growth at home are likely the reasons most acceptable for increasing expansion. The results were higher city populations and an expansion in overseas colonies

Why did expansion occur at this time?

expansion could occur after the black death due to growing immunities, warming climate, and better survival rates in children

What clues do we have for the development of European racial attitudes towards non-Europeans?

in one of Christopher colombus' early journals, he makes mention of how the island population of hispaniola seems "naive" and exploitable

What were some of the results of the population increase in Europe Between 1470 and 1620?

increased population growth led to the reclamation of lands laid fallow during the black plague, expansion of cities, and the exploration of the new world to accommodate for a growing population

Why were overseas voyages possilbe by the end of the 15th century?

navigational techniques learned from arabic scholars, such as use of the compass and the astrolabe, spread to europe, and investments made in naval academies from the nobility allowed for advancements in navigation

Treaty of Tordesillas

signed at Tordesillas on June 7, 1494, divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Portugal and the Crown of Castile, along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa. This line of demarcation was about halfway between the Cape Verde islands (already Portuguese) and the islands entered by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage (claimed for Castile), named in the treaty as Cipangu and Antilia (Cuba and Hispaniola).

Trace the origins and development of Portuguese exploration and expansion. What relationship did it have to Italian commercial activities? Why were the Portuguese so successful?

starting with efforts on behalf of henry the navigator, investments were put into the establishment of trading posts and naval armadas on behalf of portugal. They had an advantage over italians because of ottoman hostility in the meditteranean.

Conquistadors

term used to refer to the soldiers and explorers of the Spanish Empire or the Portuguese Empire in a general sense.[1][2] During the Age of Discovery conquistadores sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, Oceania, Africa and Asia, conquering territory and opening trade routes. They colonized much of the world for Spain and Portugal in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries

did the prosperity of the age extend to all segments of society?

the age of prosperity was only applicable to the middle classes and upper classes, not to the majority of the population, which was further impoverished by the gain in prosperity by these upper classes. However, there was an increase in opportunity

What was the encomienda system? How did it work?

the ecnomienda system established a system of indentured servitude from conquered natives to wealthy conquistadors with newfound authority. In exchange for services, the conquistadors gave the indentured workers shelter and work

How did the new Spanish Empire created in the Americas continue the traditions of the older Reconquista? How did they organize their vast empire?

the reconquista sought to spread the Spanish faith of catholocism throughout iberia, and later on, throughout the new world.

What new problems were created by the rapid growth of trade in the 16th century?

there was a reduced purchasing power emerging throughout europe due to capitalism 's regrowth; only the upper bourgeoise could keep up with capitalism, and poverty began to reappear as income inequality emerged.

How did Spain come to acquire an overseas empire?

through efforts backed by mercenaries which had fought in iberian wars (conquistadors) and their ambitions, the spanish ousted the mexica empires from the mexican mainland and set up colonies across south america and north america.