Exploration
and Exploitation
I. The
greatest event in modern history?
A. Immense implications of Europe's ventures at sea
1. modern world impossible to
imagine without it
B. Inspirations for exploration
1. crusading tradition of
Europe
2. humanist enthusiasm for
knowledge of the world
3. commercial opportunities
II. Portuguese
Exploits
A. Portugal's quest for greatness
1. becomes a kingdom in 1385
2. King John launches crusade to Ceuta, Africa (1415)
3. Prince Henry the Navigator presses exploration
(1420-1460)
B. The African Coast
1. How far does it go?
a. Ptolemy's map
b. reasons to doubt Ptolemy's map--St. Isadore's map
c. might be easier to go west (thought Columbus)
2. Captain Eannes reaches
West Africa (1444)
a. gold and slave trade initiated
3. Bartholomew Dias goes south and finds the end of
Africa (1488)
a. Columbus asks the Spanish court for ships, and is rejected at first
C. Vasco
de Gama reaches India
1. First trip (1497-99)
[exploration]
2. Second trip (1502)
[exploitation]
III.
Columbus's Voyages of Folly
A.
Columbus's motives
1. His background and experience
2. A Genoese merchant through and through
B. False
assumptions reinforced by huge ego
1. underestimates
the size of the earth
2. underestimates
the distance to Japan
3. Never abandons the idea
that he is in the Indies, despite the evidence
4. concludes
that world is NOT round after the third voyage
C. Makes
plans to conquer Indians (Americans) and convert them to laborers
1. plans
fail mostly because of smallpox
2.
Columbus wanted to bring slavery, but brought death instead
IV. Conquest of
Mainland America
A.
Conquest of Aztecs and Incas
1.
Americans unprepared for European ways or diseases
V. New Economies
A.
Spanish and Portuguese ambivalence about slavery
1.
slavery deemed inappropriate for subjects of the
crown
2.
aspiration to Christianize the
Indians
B. Economics of
Production
1.
haciendas
2.
repartimiento
C.
Population Crisis
D.
The Columbian Exchange
1.
People
2.
disease
3.
plants and animals