HIS 106 Chapter 18

1. HIS 106Chapter 18 Conquest and Exploitation

2. Age of Discovery • 15th Century – people’s ideas about the earth began to change because of: • Technological changes • Compass • Other navigational aids

3. Demands on Commerce • People wanted goods from the East and from the West • Spices for flavoring, for perfumes, and for preservatives • Drugs from the East were needed for health treatments

4. Problems • Those in the East did not want and could not use many of the goods westerners were offering them like iron pots and woolen cloth • Europeans then had to pay for eastern goods with gold or silver, knowing that they would eventually run out • This shortage became Europe’s incentive for its explorations; new sources of gold and silver were needed

5. Portuguese Explorers • Were the first to start exploring the African coast from which they took slaves and other goods • Bartholomew Dias – rounded the tip of Africa in 1487 and proceeded up the east coast • Vasco da Gama – went around the Cape of Good Hope and crossed into the Indian Ocean

7. One group of Portuguese explorers got blown off course and reached the South American coast and claimed Brazil for Portugal • By beginning of 16th century, the Portuguese held a vast empire • East and west coasts of Africa • West coast of India • Ceylon and Indonesia

8. The Spanish • Queen Isabella sponsored voyages to the west like the voyages of Columbus • To keep the competition in check, the pope brokered a treaty between Spain and Portugal • The Treaty of Tordesillas that basically divided the world into 2 parts; the west was for the Spanish and the east was for the Portuguese

9. The imaginary line that divided the world was placed west of the Cape Verde Islands • Portugal could keep Brazil • Spain’s voyages to the west proved to be profitable • Spain wanted any lands taken to help it become as self-sufficient as possible

10. This was the idea of Mercantilism: maximize imports and exports to protect its economy and the nation • Vasco Nunez de Balboa - crossed the land of Panama and was the 1st European to see the Pacific Ocean • Ferdinand Magellan – a Portuguese sailor employed by Spain

11. Crossed the Atlantic • Rounded the tip of South America through the straits named for him and entered the Pacific • Dealt with mutinies and lost many of his crew • Reached the Marianas in the Philippines where he died during a local uprising • His navigator, Sebastian Elcano completed the 3-year journey

12. Spanish Goals • In the New World the Spanish Crown wished to: • Convert the natives • Grow rich • Extend sovereignty over new lands • GOD – GOLD - GLORY

13. 1519 - Hernan Cortes • Sailed across the Gulf of Mexico and landed at Vera Cruz where he established a fort • Took 400 men and marched 250 miles through jungles to the Aztecs • Aztec Empire was a loosely tied group of tribes that had been conquered by Moctezuma and the Aztecs

14. Was given an audience with Moctezuma where he saw gold and silver • When Cortes left, he set out to conquer them • It took about a year • He was successful for 3 reasons • Tribes who had been conquered by Aztecs helped him

15. He had superior weapons like iron arms and the horse • An ancient Aztec myth said a god was displeased with Moctezuma and was coming back to get him Cortes subdued an area larger than Spain itself

16. When Cortes landed, it has been estimated that there were 25 million inhabitants • Thirty years later, there were only about 2 million • Why? • Diseases – smallpox, typhoid, measles • Overwork • Famine

17. Francisco Pizarro • Conquered the Peruvian empire of the Incas • Enlarged the land Spain controlled • Gave Spain more silver mines to exploit • Gold and silver poured into Spain from these newly conquered lands

18. Spain could send its surplus population to the New World • 16th Century – Spain sent 200,000 to the New World • One in every ten were women • Spain set up haciendas (plantations) worked by black African slaves after so many Native Americans had died

19. Black Legend – the argument that Spanish treatment of Native Americans was uniquely inhumane • Some clergy like Bartolome de Las Casas were especially concerned

20. Spanish Plan for Governing New World • Crown of Castile • Council of Indies • Viceroys (chief executives) Viceroyalties • Audiencias (lower judicial council) • Local Officials

21. Encomiendas - early on Spanish government gave formal grants for labor • Gave a colonist the labor of a specific number of Indians for a set period of time

22. Repartimiento • Replaced encomienda • Required adult male Native Americans to devote a set number of days a year to Spanish overlords • They were worked so hard that many died

23. Northern European Expansion • Late 16th century the lead in exploration and conquest went to the British, the French, and the Dutch • British and Dutch were rivals in shipbuilding industry • Competition led to lighter and faster ships • British used their new ships to defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588

24. In North America, the British, French, and Dutch set their sights on land north of Spanish claims with one exception: the West Indies where they seized Islands claimed by Spain • The French reached Canada in 1534 and voyages there increased in the 1600s

25. French explorers pressed down the St. Lawrence River Valley in Canada in the 17th century • Explorers were then followed by fur traders and missionaries • More effort was put into trade than settlement • The largest French settlement was Quebec founded in 1608

26. French settlers married Native Americans • French had no drive to claim more land • This reduced conflict between Native Americans and the French • It was primarily through the fur trade that French functioned as part of the early trans-Atlantic economy

27. Dutch and Swedes founded settlements in New York, but all were taken over by the English in the 17th century • Dutch also had settlements in Brazil, Indonesia, and the southern tip of Africa

28. English Colonies • The eastern seaboard of present-day United States became populated by a series of English colonies beginning with Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 and ending with Georgia in 1733

29. Reasons for Settlement • Religion • The pursuit of religious freedom by Puritans and Pilgrims in what became Massachusetts • Roger Williams in Rhode Island • William Penn in Pennsylvania • Lord Baltimore, a Catholic, in Maryland All but Maryland were Protestant

30. Enrichment • Agriculture was the largest economic activity in the English-speaking colonies • From New England to Mid-Atlantic, farms were small and tilled by free white labor • From Virginia southward, it was the plantation economy dependent on slaves

31. Chief products of plantations in early 18th century: tobacco, indigo, rice, and sugar • Slavery was dominant in the South, but all colonies had some slaves • Port cities: Boston, Newport, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Charleston • The commercial economies of these cities were all linked to the trans-Atlantic slave trade

32. Europeans dominated international trade at this time • Asian and Muslim traders remained active but felt the pressure of the Europeans • Europeans wanted to import raw materials so they could them to manufacture other products for sale at home and abroad

33. To protect their industries they would tax other imported goods • The areas that supplied raw materials were not encouraged to get into manufacturing • They were placed in a dependent status • Sub-Saharan Africa got into world trade by supplying slaves in exchange for manufactured goods

34. Background on Slavery • Has been around for as long as we can trace history • Linked to warfare and the taking of captives • Nearly every pre-modern society around the globe has depended on slavery to some extent • Slaves taken from areas around the Mediterranean, Africa, eastern Europe, and central Asia

35. All slavery involved the forceful exploitation and degradation of some humans for the profit of others, the denial of basic freedoms, and the break-up of families • As a result, Africa suffered immense devastation when it was the chief supplier of slaves to the world

36. Slavery and Slaving in Africa • Initially, African slaves were sent to the Islamic lands of the Mediterranean and to S.W. and southern Asia • This was known as the “Oriental” slave trade • Two of the major sources of slaves for the oriental trade were the Horn of Africa and the Sudan

37. “Occidental” slave trade was conducted by Europeans • Can be traced to the 13th century when Europeans first established sugar plantations on Cyprus • In Cyprus and later in Brazil and the Caribbean islands, slaves proved vital for the labor intensive sugar plantations

38. This industry and slaves spread to Crete, Sicily, and in the 15th century to the Portuguese islands of Madeira and Sao Tome – sponsored by Prince Henry the Navigator • The Portuguese, in particular, developed the plantation system of slave labor

39. Voyages to the west coast of Africa began in the 15th century by the Portuguese and later, other European nations joined in • The initial voyages opened the west coast of Africa as far south as Angola • This was prime slaving area • By 1650, Occidental slave trade was as big as the Oriental slave trade

40. In the 18th and 19th centuries, European slave trade surpassed all others • This slave trade especially disrupted life in western and central Africa • More males taken • Increased warfare • Male-female balance destroyed • Population decline

41. As European nations and nationa in the Americas began to outlaw slavery in the 19th century, the demand for slaves slowed and the prices dropped • The result was that the Oriental and internal trade in slaves increased • Slave exports from East Africa and the Sudan increased after 1780

42. Trade in African slaves began a real decline only at the end of 19th century because of the dominance of European colonies in Africa and other internal changes • The formal end to slavery occurred over a long period beginning in 1874 in the Gold Coast and ending only in 1928 in Sierra Leone

43. African Side of the Trans-Atlantic Trade • Africans were active participants in the slave trade • Except for the Portuguese in central Africa, Europeans got their slaves from African middlemen at coastal forts or at anchorages along the coast • Between 1640 and 1750, these forts dominated the Gold Coast • Why?

44. Europeans didn’t want to get African diseases • A new European arrival had less than a 50% chance of surviving a year on the tropical African coast • It was African middlemen who either captured or acquired slaves and marched them to the coast

45. In return for the slaves, they would receive gold dust, firearms, beads, or alcohol • Later, they received money • If slavers couldn’t find enough slaves in one area, they’d move on to another

46. Extent of Slave Trade • Varied from one time period to another • 3% of the total European trade occurred before 1600 • About 14% occurred from 1600 to 1700 • Period of greatest activity was 1701-1810 with 60% of the trade • 1811-1870: 20% took place

47. Despite moves by European nations to abolish slaving in the early 1800s, the Portuguese still transported more than a million slaves to Brazil from 1811 to 1870 • More slaves landed in the Americas in these final years than during the entire 17th century

48. Overall number of slaves exported during the Occidental trade from 1451 to 1870 is still debated • It is thought by some to be 11 -13 million • Another 5 million or more were lost to the Oriental trade • About 15 million were enslaved within Africa in an internal trade

49. Impact • Huge • It took away many of the strongest young men in many areas • In the Oriental trade mostly young women were taken • Slaves accounted for ½ of African trade

50. Middle Passage • Capture of slaves from warfare or village raids • Slaves chained and taken to slave pens; 1/3 might die along the way • Loaded into cargo ships, p. 403 • Piled onto shelves in cargo hold • Overcrowding, new foods, sickness, vomiting, a bucket to relieve oneself in, smells, female exploitation