HIST 150: Chapter 12 - Contact, Commerce, and Colonization

Spanish and Portuguese explorers believed the Americas to be filled with easy-to-obtain wealth and easy-to-conquer people.

Columbus said of the Tainos in the Caribbean, "I showed them swords and they took them by the edge and through ignorance cut themselves." On the island of Hispaniola, he said "he had found what he was looking for" -- meaning gold. Cabral said the inhabitants of Brazil had "all the innocence of Adam" and that their land "if rightly cultivated would yield everything." Which statement most accurately interprets the predictions of Columbus and Cabral about the Americas?

end cannibalism, teach Amerindians about the Christian god, and protect lives and property in the name of the Spanish king

Consider Cortes's description of his actions as he headed into Tenochtitlan: "...a Spaniard saw an Indian...eating a piece of flesh taken from the body of an Indian who had been killed...I had the culprit burned, explaining that the cause was his having killed that Indian and eaten him, which was prohibited by Your Majesty, and by me in Your Royal name. I further made the chief understand that all the people...must abstain from this custom...I came...to protect their lives as well as their prosperity, and to teach them that they were to adore but one God." Based on this passage, how might Cortes have described his purpose in Mexico?

European visitors were astonished and impressed by both Ming China and Aztec Mexico.

Consider the two following passages. A Jesuit missionary writing about Nanjing: [It surpasses all other cities] in beauty and grandeur...It is literally filled with palaces and temples and towers and bridges...There is a gaiety of spirit among the people who are well mannered and nicely spoken. A Spanish soldier writing about Tenochtitlan: It was all so wonderful that I do not know how to describe this first glimpse of things never heard of, seen or dreamed of before. Choose the most accurate deduction from these two passages.

Modification of the mita system to meet labor needs in silver mines: established system of conscript labor in Inca territory. Establishment of massive plantations by settlers who lived like feudal lords in dispersed settlements: extensive fertile land in Brazil. Establishment of major inland cities, like Mexico City and Cuzco: preexisting cities like Tenochtitlan and the Inca capital. Importation of millions of African slaves: very limited local labor supply in Brazil.

European conquerors in the Americas adapted their practices to fit the regions they controlled. Match each circumstance on the left with the Spanish or Portuguese adaptation that most clearly resulted from it.

Ignatius Loyola formed a new order of priests, the Jesuits, whose goal was the revival of the Catholic church; the church held the Council of Trent, at which church leaders both reaffirmed Catholic beliefs and addressed corruption in the institution; Jesuit priests traveled the world, spreading Catholic doctrines and converting people to Catholicism.

How did the Catholic Church respond to the challenges posed by Protestant reformers?

Agra resident: "I hear the Europeans control a few distant coastal cities. They moved in while our empire was still expanding, before we controlled the coasts. Sometimes they visit our king to discuss religion and economics." Guangzhou resident: "The Europeans are allowed limited access to our city so they can buy our goods. They're ill-mannered nuisances, but we let them trade with us because they have plenty of silver." Cuzco resident: "The Europeans murdered our king and required us to worship their god. We fought back for years, but they now control our city and force us to mine silver for them."

Imagine that three people got to meet and talk in the year 1600: one from Cuzco (the former Inca capital), one from Guangzhou (Canton) in southern China, and one from Agra (the Mughal capital), far inland in northern India. Match each person with the statement he or she might have made about European explorers.

Protestantism challenged the power of Southern Europe over Northern Europe; Protestantism challenged the role of Catholic clergy, asserting that they were unnecessary; Protestantism challenged the Catholic-backed hierarchy of feudalism.

In what way(s) did Protestant teachings challenge the existing social order in Europe?

Europeans saw Chinese products as cultured and luxurious, and China's growing economy needed silver.

Ming China was home to one-third of the global population in the mid-seventeenth century, and its cities were rich and varied cultural hubs. How was this economic and cultural vibrancy related to growing European trade?

astrolabes and compasses, gunpowder and cannons, and caravels

Portuguese mariners used a number of technologies to enter and gain control of Indian Ocean trade routes. What technologies did they combine?

The quantity of gold and silver Spain took in its conquest of the Aztecs and the Inca was worth more than 100 percent of the value of all of the gold accumulated in Europe over the previous several centuries.

The enormous amounts of gold and silver that the Spanish took from Mexico and the Andes between 1520 and 1540 transformed the global economy. Consider the amount in context:

The English East India Company was owned by 101 shareholders who liked the fact that the English government allowed only their company to import goods from Asia and England.

The text describes the new English East India Company, which entered the Asian marketplace in 1594. How was this trading venture funded, and why were its supporters willing to finance it?

Aztec and Inca rulers required people to work on infrastructure projects, such as terraced farmland and irrigation canals. By contrast, Spaniards required others to mine gold and silver in order to increase their own private wealth.

The text explains, "Whereas Aztec and Inca rulers had used conscripted labor to build up their public wealth, the Spaniards did so for private gain." What does this statement mean?

True

True or False: Between 1492 and 1820, about 83 percent of the Afro-Eurasian settlers in the Americas were from Africa, brought to the Americas forcibly as slave labor. During that same time, about 17 percent of Afro-Eurasian settlers were from Europe.

False

True or False: Companies, like the English East India Company, generally wanted to be active in Asia, whereas religious organizations, like the Jesuits, avoided interacting with non-Europeans?

False

True or False: Portugal used the same system in both the Indian Ocean and Brazil: it took control of key port cities, taxed local merchants, took a cut of the profits on items that moved through the port, and didn't interfere with the flow of goods.

False

True or False: The Ming official He Ao would have been surprised to hear about the Amerindians' negative experiences with Portuguese colonists.

False

True or False: The conquest of the Aztec Empire was exclusively a fight between the Aztecs and the Spaniards; the Spaniards won primarily because of their superior weaponry.

the Columbian exchange

What do historians call the global transfer of plants, animals, people, and microorganisms that took place after Columbus's voyages?

the Protestant Reformation

What religious movement was based on the ideas of Martin Luther and Jean Calvin?

Atlantic system

What was the set of complex interactions that connected African labor, American land and mineral resources, and European technology and military power?

the Aztecs and the Inca

What were the two major powers that Spain conquered in the Americas?

The Ottoman government paid "protection money" to local chieftains to stop raids on the Silk Road; the Ming government adopted silver as a means of paying taxes, thus increasing the demand of foreign silver; the Ming government reconstructed the Grand Canal, linking Beijing and the lower Yangtze region.

Which of the following government policies led to increases in global trade interactions during the time period from 1450 to 1600?

"In many ways this area, which saw the rise of a group of powerful slave-supplying kingdoms in the eighteenth century...owed its prosperity to the cultivation of this New World crop." "The streets were so filled with dead and sick people that our men walked over nothing but bodies." "The Chinese found that they could grow corn in areas too dry for rice and too wet for wheat, and in Africa, corn gradually replaced sorghum, millet, and rice."

Which of the following passages from the text describe the effects of the Columbian exchange?

The Spanish settlers of the Americas adopted existing Inca labor-conscription practices but modified them in horrific ways that radically increased worker mortality.

Which of the following statements most accurately characterizes labor practices in early colonial Spanish America?

The Catholic Church teaches empty ritual instead of faith; it is important to be able to read (or hear) the Bible in your own language so that you have direct access to Christian truth; priests are not necessary or beneficial.

Which of the following statements would Martin Luther have considered true?