European Expansion and Imperialism 1450-1750

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• European expansion during the period 1450-1750 was driven by three main causes: technological, political, and economic.

• Technological advancements included the adoption of maritime technologies from the classical Greek, Islamic, and Asian world, such as the magnetic compass, astrolabe, and lateen sail.

• European innovations in shipbuilding, such as the Portuguese caravel, enabled faster and more maneuverable ships that could navigate inland and shallow coastal areas.

• Improvements in understanding regional wind patterns in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans also facilitated European exploration.

• The growth of state power led to monarchs playing a more significant role in economic decisions, leading to the centralization of power and the rise of mercantilism.

• Mercantilism was a state-driven economic system that saw the world's wealth as a fixed pie, aiming to get the largest piece possible through exports and avoiding imports.

• Joint-stock companies, such as the Dutch East India Company, were chartered by states to fund exploration and trade, with investors limited to losing only their initial investment.

• The Portuguese established the first European trading post empire around the coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean, using fast ships with cannons to control trade.

• The Spanish, led by Christopher Columbus, sponsored voyages across the Atlantic to find a western route to Asia, leading to the establishment of colonies in the Americas.

• The transatlantic trade became more prosperous than the Indian Ocean trade, and other European states, such as France, England, and the Netherlands, followed suit in establishing their own empires.

• The Colombian Exchange, or the transfer of diseases, food, plants, and animals between the eastern and western hemispheres, had significant effects on populations and environments.

• Diseases introduced from Europe, such as smallpox, measles, and malaria, devastated indigenous populations in the Americas.

• Food and plants introduced from the Americas, such as maize and potatoes, contributed to healthier populations and population growth in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

• The introduction of animals, such as horses, pigs, and sheep, had significant impacts on agriculture and hunting practices in the Americas.

• Resistance to European imperialism came from various sources, including Asian states, such as Tokugawa Japan, which isolated itself from European influence.

• Local resistance in European states, such as the Fronde in France, also occurred, with rebellions against absolutism and increased taxation.

• Maroon societies in the Caribbean and Brazil, formed by runaway slaves, resisted colonial authorities and fought for their freedom.

• African states also participated in maritime trading networks, connecting them to global economic linkages and fostering their growth.• The Assante Empire in West Africa prospered due to its strategic location, providing highly desired goods like gold, ivory, and enslaved people to European traders, which enabled them to expand their military and consolidate political power.

• The kingdom of the Congo in southern Africa made strong diplomatic ties with the Portuguese, providing goods like gold and copper, and enslaved people, and the king converted to Christianity to facilitate trade with Christian states, leading to the expansion of the Congo's power and wealth.

• The Indian Ocean Network saw significant continuity despite the entrance of European states, with Middle Eastern, South Asian, East Asian, and Southeast Asian merchants continuing to use the network, and European entrance increasing profits for both Europeans and these merchants.

• Gujarati merchants significantly increased the power and wealth of the Mugal Empire through their ongoing participation in the Indian Ocean trade, and the Portuguese never achieved full domination in the Indian Ocean.

• Overland routes like the Silk Roads were still almost entirely controlled by various Asian land-based powers, such as Ming China and the Ottoman Empire.

• Peasant and artisan labor continued and intensified in many regions as demand for food and consumer goods increased, with peasant farmers in South Asia increasing their production of cotton for export and improving their standard of living.

• The opening of the Atlantic system of trade was a new development, with Europeans growing wealthy and powerful through the movement of goods, wealth, and laborers between the eastern and western hemispheres.

• Sugar was a key commodity in the Atlantic system, with colonial plantations in the Caribbean specializing in sugar cane production, and silver was king in terms of wealth, with the Spanish mining silver in the Americas and transferring it back to the Royal coffers.

• The Atlantic system was maintained by the global flow of silver and trade monopolies granted by states to joint-stock companies.

• Labor systems in the Americas were based on agriculture and mining, with Europeans using existing labor systems like the mita system, and introducing new ones like chattel slavery, indentured servitude, and the encomienda system.

• Chattel slavery was a race-based and hereditary system, with Europeans purchasing male slaves 2 to 1, which significantly impacted the demographics of various African states.

• The transatlantic slave trade was massive, with over 12.5 million Africans sold to plantation owners in the Americas over 350 years, and it had a profound social impact, including a gender imbalance, changing family structures, and cultural synthesis.

• Indentured servitude was an arrangement where laborers would sign a contract binding them to a particular work for a period of time, usually seven years, after which they could go free.

• The encomienda system was used by the Spanish to divide indigenous Americans among Spanish settlers, who were then forced to provide labor for the Spanish in exchange for food and protection.

• The Hacienda system was technically not a labor system but was similar to the encomienda system, with indigenous laborers forced to work on large plantations known as haciendas.

• Christianity played a significant role in the conquest of the Americas, with Catholic missionaries sent to convert indigenous people, resulting in a blending of Christian and indigenous beliefs and practices.

• The treatment of Jews varied during this period, with Spain and Portugal expelling them, while the Ottoman Empire welcomed them and allowed them to rise to prominence in the Ottoman Court.

• The rise of new political elites occurred in the Americas, with the Spanish imposing the casta system, which organized colonial society into a series of ranks based on race and ancestry.

• The transition from the Ming to the Ching dynasty in China saw the rise of new political elites, with the Ching reserving bureaucratic positions for ethnically Manu people.

• Existing elites struggled in various states, with monarchs seeking to increase their power at the expense of aristocratic classes, such as the Russian boyars.