Traditions and Encounters, 4th Edition (Bentley)

Chapter 23: TRANSOCEANIC ENCOUNTERS AND GLOBAL CONNECTIONS

Chapter Outline

1. The European reconnaissance of the world's oceans
   1. Motives for exploration
      1. Resource-poor Portugal searched for fresh resources
         1. From the thirteenth to the fifteenth century they ventured out onto Atlantic
         2. Established sugar plantations in the Atlantic islands
      2. The lure of direct trade without Muslim intermediaries
         1. Asian spice trade
         2. African gold, ivory, and slaves
      3. Missionary efforts of European Christians
         1. New Testament urged Christians to spread the faith throughout the world
         2. Crusades and holy wars against Muslims in early centuries
         3. Reconquista of Spain inspired Iberian crusaders
      4. Various motives combined and reinforced each other
   2. The technology of exploration enabled European mariners to travel offshore
      1. Sternpost rudder and two types of sails enabled ships to advance against wind
      2. Navigational instruments
         1. Magnetic compass
         2. Astrolabe (and cross and back staffs)
      3. Knowledge of winds and currents enabled Europeans to travel reliably
         1. Trade winds north and south of the equator
         2. Regular monsoons in Indian Ocean basin
         3. The volta do mar
   3. Voyages of exploration: From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic
      1. Dom Henrique, king of Portugal, encouraged exploration of west Africa
         1. Portuguese conquered Ceuta in north Africa in 1415
         2. Soon after, established trading posts at Sao Jorge da Mina, west Africa
         3. Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope and entered the Indian Ocean, 1488
      2. Vasco da Gama of Portugal
         1. Crossed Indian Ocean; reached India, 1497; brought back huge profit
         2. Portuguese merchants built a trading post at Calicut, 1500
      3. Christopher Columbus, Genoese mariner
         1. Proposed sailing to Asian markets by a western route
         2. Sponsored by Catholic kings of Spain; sailed to Bahamas in 1492
      4. Columbus's voyage enabled other mariners to link east and west hemispheres.
   4. Voyages of exploration: from the Atlantic to the Pacific
      1. Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese navigator, in service of Spain
         1. Crossed both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans 1519-1522
         2. One ship out of five completed the circumnavigation of the world
         3. Magellan died in conflict in a Philippine island on the way home
      2. Exploration of the Pacific took three centuries to complete
         1. Trade route between the Philippines and Mexico, by Spanish merchants
         2. English mariners searched for a northwest passage from Europe to Asia
      3. Captain James Cook (1728-1779), British explorer
         1. Led three expeditions to the Pacific, the Arctic, Australia; died in Hawaii
         2. By late eighteenth century, Europeans had reasonably accurate geographical knowledge of the world
   
   
2. Trade and conflict in early modern Asia
   1. Trading-post empires
      1. Portuguese built more than fifty trading posts between west Africa and east Asia
      2. Alfonso d'Alboquerque, sixteenth-century Portuguese commander in Indian Ocean
         1. Seized Hormuz in 1508, Goa in 1510, and Melaka in 1511
         2. Forced all merchant ships to purchase safe-conduct passes
         3. Portuguese hegemony grew weak by the late sixteenth century
      3. English and Dutch established parallel trading posts in Asian coasts
         1. English in India, the Dutch at Cape Town and Indonesia
         2. Sailed faster, cheaper, and more powerful ships than Portuguese
         3. Created an efficient commercial organization--the joint-stock company
      4. Formation of powerful, profitable joint-stock companies
         1. The English East India Company, founded in 1600
         2. The United East India Company (VOC), Dutch company founded in 1602
         3. Both were private enterprises, enjoyed government support, little oversight
   2. European conquests in southeast Asia
      1. Spanish conquest of the Philippines led by Legazpi, 1565
      2. Manila, the bustling port city, became the Spanish capital
         1. Spanish and Filipino residents massacred Chinese merchants by thousands
         2. Christianity throughout the archipelago
         3. Muslim resistance on southern island of Mindanao
      3. Conquest of Java by the Dutch
         1. Began with VOC trading city of Batavia in 1619
         2. Policy: secure VOC monopoly over spice production and trade
         3. Enormous monopoly profit led to prosperity of Netherlands, seventeenth century
   3. Commercial rivalries and the Seven Years' War
      1. Global competition and conflict
         1. Dutch forces expelled most Portuguese merchants from southeast Asia
         2. Conflict between English and French merchants over control of Indian cotton and tea from Ceylon, early eighteenth century
         3. Competition in the Americas among English, French, and Spanish forces
      2. The Seven Years' War (1756-1763)
         1. In Europe: British and Prussia against France, Austria, and Russia
         2. In India: fighting between British and French forces, each with local allies
         3. In the Caribbean: Spanish and French united to limit British expansion
         4. In North America: fights between British and French forces
      3. Outcome: British hegemony
         1. British gained control of India, Canada, Florida
         2. In Europe, Prussian armies held off massive armies of the enemies
         3. War paved the way for the British empire in the nineteenth century
   
   
3. Global exchanges
   1. The Columbian Exchange
      1. Biological exchanges between Old and New Worlds
         1. Columbian Exchange--global diffusion of plants, food crops, animals, human populations, and disease pathogens after Columbus's voyages
         2. Permanently altered the earth's environment
      2. Epidemic diseases--smallpox, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, and influenza--led to staggering population losses
         1. Smallpox reduced Aztec population by 95 percent in one century after 1519
         2. Contagious diseases had same horrifying effects in the Pacific islands
         3. Between 1500 and 1800, one hundred million people died of imported diseases
      3. New foods and domestic animals
         1. Wheat, horses, cattle, sheep, goats, and chickens went to Americas
         2. American crops included maize, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, peppers, peanuts
         3. Growth of world population: from 425 million in 1500 to 900 million in 1800
      4. Migration of human populations
         1. Enslaved Africans were largest group of migrants from 1500 to 1800
         2. Sizable migration from Europe to the Americas
         3. Nineteenth century, European migration to South Africa, Australia, and Pacific Islands
   2. The origins of global trade
      1. Transoceanic trade: European merchants created a genuinely global trading system of supply and demand, linking the ports of the world
      2. The Manila galleons
         1. Sleek, fast, heavily armed ships that sailed between Manila and Mexico
         2. Asian luxury goods to Mexico, silver from Mexico to China