How Did Global Trade Change As A Result Of European Voyages During The Age Of Exploration?

The Expansion of Europe

From the 15th through 17th centuries, Europe sought to expand its power and riches through a rigorous exploration of the globe.

Learning Objectives

Explain the reasons for the first few European excursions to the New Earth

Primal Takeaways

Key Points

• The Vikings were the first Europeans to country in North America; in the 10th century, they formed settlements in what is presently Greenland and Newfoundland.
• While Western history often centers on Europeans as the primeval and most advanced explorers of the world, growing bear witness suggests extensive transoceanic travel had been well underway long earlier the European Historic period of Discovery.
• In the 15th century, Europe sought to aggrandize merchandise routes to observe new sources of wealth and bring Christianity to the East and any newly establish lands.
• This European Historic period of Discovery saw the ascension of colonial empires on a global scale, edifice a commercial network that connected Europe, Asia, Africa, and the New Earth.
• Christopher Columbus, supported by Espana, made 4 voyages to the Americas starting time in 1492. During his brutal reign, he exploited the riches and resource of the indigenous peoples in the Americas. The contact between Europe and the Americas produced what is known as the Columbian Exchange: the broad transfer of plants, animals, foods, human being populations (including slaves), communicable diseases, and culture betwixt the Eastern and Western hemispheres.

Primal Terms

• Blackness Death: A rat-borne and highly contagious disease known every bit the bubonic plague that swept through Europe in the 1340s, killing about one-third of the population.
• Columbian Exchange: The widespread trade of animals, plants, diseases, culture, people (including slaves), and ideas betwixt the Western and Eastern Hemispheres that followed Spain's 1492 voyage to the Americas.
• Age of Discovery: The catamenia starting in the early 15th century and standing into the early 17th century during which Europeans engaged in intensive exploration of the world.

Introduction

The Age of Discovery, also known as the Age of Exploration and the Dandy Navigations, was a period in European history from the early on 15th century to the early 17th century. During this period, Europeans engaged in intensive exploration and early colonization of many parts of the earth, establishing direct contact with Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania. Historians often refer to the Age of Discovery to mean the pioneering period of the Portuguese and Spanish long-distance maritime travels in search of alternative trade routes to the Indies. The contact between the "Onetime World" of Europe and the so-chosen "New Globe" of the Americas produced what is called the Columbian Exchange: the wide transfer of plants, animals, foods, communicable diseases, people (including slaves), and culture betwixt the Eastern and Western hemispheres.

European Expansion: This map illustrates the main travels of the Historic period of Discovery, from 1482-1524. The travel routes spanned betwixt Europe and the eastern coast of the Americas, down through the Atlantic Ocean and around the southern tip of South America toward Southeast Asia, and downwardly through the Atlantic and around the southern tip of Africa toward Bharat.

Early on Explorations

While Christopher Columbus has been hailed in Usa history for "discovering" America in 1492, there is growing archaeological prove of cross-continental travel and trade for centuries prior to Columbus' travels. In addition to the travel and settlement of the Vikings in N America over 500 years before Columbus, several theories have been proposed of extensive merchandise and travel to the Americas dating back thousands of years by Africa, the Heart E, South asia, Eastern asia, and Polynesia. While a not bad bargain of Western history centers on Europeans as the earliest and most advanced explorers of the world, growing bear witness suggests all-encompassing transoceanic travel had been well underway long before the European Age of Discovery.

The Vikings

The Vikings are idea to be the starting time European explorers to arrive in North America, having landed in what is now Newfoundland, a present province of Canada, over 500 years before Columbus. Historical and archaeological bear witness tells united states of america that a Norse colony in Greenland was established in the late 10th century and lasted until the mid-15th century. The remains of a Norse settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada, are dated to around the twelvemonth grand. Continental North American settlements were minor and did non develop into permanent colonies. While voyages, to collect timber for example, are probable to have occurred for some time, there is no show of enduring Norse settlements on mainland Northward America.

Leif Erikson was an Icelandic explorer considered by some as the first European other than the Vikings on Greenland, to land in Due north America. According to the Sagas of Icelanders, Leif was the son of Erik the Cherry-red, who was the founder of the showtime Norse settlement in Greenland. Leif established a Norse settlement at Vinland, tentatively identified with the Norse L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland in modern-mean solar day Canada. Later archaeological evidence suggests that Vinland may have been the area around the Gulf of St. Lawrence and that the 50'Anse aux Meadows site was a ship repair station.

The colony in Greenland began to decline in the 14th century, and it is probable that the settlements were defunct by the tardily 15th century. Several theories have been advanced to explain the decline, such every bit the Little Ice Age, disunity inside the Viking civilization due to the emergence of a unified Christian kingdom in Norway, and a series of devastating bouts of epidemic illness in Europe. Explorations of a new land to the westward would become a legendary tale of the feared Viking pirates, and nearly 500 years would pass earlier another European saw the American continent.

The Historic period of Discovery

Europe After the Centre Ages

The autumn of the Roman Empire (476 CE) and the kickoff of the European Renaissance in the late 14th century roughly bookend the menses known every bit the Heart Ages. Without a dominant centralized ability or overarching cultural hub, Europe experienced political, social, and military discord during this time. This included the Crusades against the Muslims of the late 11th through late 13th centuries and the Blackness Death of the 1340s.

The Christian church remained intact, however, and emerged from the period as a unified and powerful institution. A high nascence rate afterwards the Black Death, coupled with bountiful harvests, meant that the population grew during the next century. By 1450, a newly rejuvenated European society was on the brink of tremendous modify. Larger portions of western Europe had go familiar with the goods of the East as a result of the Crusades. A lively trade later developed along a multifariousness of routes known collectively as the Silk Road, to supply the demand for these products. Brigands and greedy middlemen made the trip along this route expensive and dangerous, and by 1492, Europe—recovered from the Black Decease and in search of new products and new wealth—was anxious to meliorate trade and communications with the rest of the earth. The lure of profit pushed explorers to seek new trade routes to the Spice Islands and eliminate Muslim middlemen.

The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 was a pivotal reason for European exploration, every bit trade throughout the Ottoman Empire was difficult and unreliable. Trade for luxuries such as spices and silk inspired European explorers to seek new routes to Asia. Portugal, under the leadership of Prince Henry the Navigator, attempted to send ships effectually the continent of Africa, and King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Kingdom of spain hired Christopher Columbus to find a route to the East by going west. Equally strong supporters of the Cosmic church building, they sought to bring Christianity to the East and any newly institute lands, and hoped to detect sources of wealth.

Christopher Columbus

It was confronting this backdrop that Christopher Columbus, a Castilian navigator and admiral, submitted his plans for sailing around the world to Asia. After several approaches to the Italian, English language, and Portuguese monarchies, Ferdinand and Isabella of Kingdom of spain finally decided to give Columbus a take chances, despite the counsel of their advisers. King Ferdinand thought Columbus might find something that could give the Castilian an opportunity to compete with their neighbor and rival Portugal.

Columbus ready out on his get-go of iv voyages on August three, 1492. Riding the trade winds westward beyond the Atlantic Ocean with the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, Columbus landed on an island he called San Salvador, in the present-twenty-four hour period Bahamas, five weeks after embarking from Spain. During this voyage, Columbus also explored the northeast declension of Cuba and the northern declension of Hispaniola, where he established the settlement of La Navidad.

Upon his return to Kingdom of spain, news of the discovered lands spread throughout Europe. Columbus fabricated 3 more voyages to the New World between 1493 and 1504. Columbus' second voyage landed in the Caribbean area, on an isle he named Dominica, and connected due north through the Lesser and Greater Antilles. On his tertiary voyage, Columbus landed on the Portuguese Porto Santo Isle before continuing on to Madeira; the Canary Islands and Cape Verde, off the coast of West Africa; Trinidad, off the coast of nowadays-day Venezuela; and mainland Due south America. Columbus's fourth and final voyage across the Atlantic took him throughout Central America, including Honduras, Nicaragua, Republic of costa rica, and Panama.

These three subsequent voyages were made to explore and exploit the riches and resource of the indigenous peoples in the Americas. Columbus had been granted authority by the Spanish monarchy to claim land for Kingdom of spain, begin a settlement, trade for valuable goods or gold, and explore. He was also made governor of all the lands which he plant and he proved to be a cruel and cruel governor. Columbus enslaved and stole from the ethnic people, at one point threatening to cutting off the hands of whatsoever person who failed to give him gold. His brutal reign would foreshadow the arrival of the Conquistadors—Castilian warriors who would plunder and destroy the big and wealthy Aztec, Incan, and Mayan civilizations.

The Rise of the African Slave Trade

Driven by the desire for raw materials, new trading outlets, and inexpensive labor, Europeans initiated an extensive slave trade out of West Africa.

Learning Objectives

Examine how economic desires gave birth to and perpetuated the Atlantic slave trade

Key Takeaways

Central Points

• Europeans invaded and colonized the Canary Islands during the 15th century, converting much of the land to the production of wine and sugar.
• Using the Canary Islands as a naval base of operations, Portuguese traders began to move their activities downward the western coast of Africa, performing raids in which slaves would be captured to exist sold in the Mediterranean.
• The Spanish were the first Europeans to utilise enslaved Africans in the New World on islands such every bit Cuba and Hispaniola.
• The increased demand for slaves due to the expansion of European colonial powers to the New World made the slave trade much more lucrative to many Due west African powers.

Primal Terms

• Hispaniola: An island in the Caribbean, comprising the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Democracy.
• Canary Islands: An archipelago off the coast of northwestern Africa, near Morocco and belonging to Spain.

Introduction

The major European slave trade began with Portugal'due south exploration of the westward coast of Africa in search of a trade route to the Eastward. Past 1444, slaves were being brought from Africa to piece of work on the sugar plantations of the Madeira Islands, off the coast of modern day Morocco. The slave merchandise and so expanded greatly every bit European colonies in the New World demanded an always-increasing number of workers for the extensive plantations growing tobacco, saccharide, and somewhen rice and cotton fiber.

European Colonization and Slavery in W Africa

Upon discovering new lands through their naval explorations, Europeans presently began to migrate to and settle in lands outside their native continent. In the 15th century, the Castilian invaded and colonized the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa nether the direction of the Kingdom of Castille. They also captured indigenous Canary Islanders to use as slaves both on the Islands and across the Christian Mediterranean.

In the 16th century, the Portuguese settlers institute that the Canary Islands were ideal for growing carbohydrate, and they forcefully converted much of the country to the production of wine and carbohydrate. Carbohydrate growing is a labor-intensive undertaking, and Portuguese settlers were difficult to attract due to the estrus, lack of infrastructure, and hard life. To cultivate the sugar, the Portuguese turned to large numbers of enslaved Africans. Elmina Castle on the Gold Declension, originally built by African labor for the Portuguese in 1482 to command the gold trade, became an important depot for slaves that were to exist transported to the New World.

As historian John Thornton remarked, "the actual motivation for European expansion and for navigational breakthroughs was little more than than to exploit the opportunity for immediate profits made by raiding and the seizure or purchase of trade commodities." European traders, generally the Portuguese, began to move their activities downwards the western coast of Africa. Using the Canary Islands equally a naval base, they performed raids to capture slaves and sell them in the Mediterranean.

Although initially successful in this venture, Portuguese raiding ships soon met with resistance from African naval forces. The crews of several European ships were killed by African sailors whose boats were better equipped at traversing the W African coasts and river systems. Many African peoples already practiced various forms of slavery (all of which differed significantly from the racial slavery that would ultimately develop in the New World), and eventually, deals were struck with some peoples of Africa to participate in the enslavement and subsequent trade for profit.

Slavery in the New World

The Castilian were the first Europeans to use enslaved Africans in the New World on islands such every bit Cuba and Hispaniola. The alarming expiry rate experienced by the indigenous population had spurred the offset royal Spanish laws protecting them, and consequently, the start enslaved Africans arrived in Hispaniola in 1501.

Increasing penetration into the Americas by the Portuguese created more demand for labor in Brazil—primarily for farming and mining. Slave-based economies quickly spread to the Caribbean and the southern portion of what is today the The states. At that place, Dutch traders brought the outset enslaved Africans in 1619. These areas all developed an clamorous demand for slaves.

Growth of the Atlantic Slave Trade

As European nations grew more powerful—especially Portugal, Spain, France, Dandy Britain, and the Netherlands—they began vying for control of the African slave trade, with petty upshot on local African and Arab trading. Nifty United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland'southward existing colonies in the Lesser Antilles and its effective naval control of the Mid-Atlantic forced other countries to carelessness their enterprises due to inefficiency in cost. The English crown provided a lease giving the Imperial African Company monopoly over the African slave routes until 1712.

The Atlantic slave trade peaked in the late 18th century, when the largest number of slaves was captured on raiding expeditions into the interior of West Africa. The expansion of European colonial powers to the New World increased the demand for slaves and made the slave trade much more lucrative to many W African powers, leading to the establishment of a number of West African empires that thrived on the slave trade.

Historians accept widely debated the nature of the relationship between the African kingdoms and the European traders. Some researchers debate that it was an unequal relationship in which Africans were forced into a colonial trade with the more economically developed Europeans, exchanging raw materials and slaves for manufactured goods, and one that led to Africa being underdeveloped. Other researchers claim the Atlantic slave trade was not as detrimental to various African economies as some historians purport, and that African nations at the fourth dimension were well-positioned to compete with pre-industrial Europe.

The African Slave Trade: This map shows the routes that were used in the course of the slave trade and the number of enslaved people who traveled each route. Every bit the figures indicate, most African slaves were bound for Brazil and the Caribbean. While West Africans made upward the vast majority of the enslaved, the east coast of Africa, too, supplied slaves for the merchandise.

Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-ushistory/chapter/the-expansion-of-europe/

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