Maritime Empires: Transoceanic Interconnections

Unit 4: Maritime Empires (Transoceanic Interconnections)

• Unit 4, called "Maritime Empires" or "Transoceanic Interconnections," contrasts with the land-based empires of Unit 3.
• The unit spans 1450-1750, concurrent with land-based empires like the Ottoman, Mughal, Ming, and Songhai.
• Exploration is a major theme, exemplified by Columbus's 1492 voyage.
• It will explore causes and effects, using historical thinking skills like change and continuity.
• Contextualization involves understanding the period before the topic to grasp its origins.
• Contextualization also means zooming out to see broader historical developments.

Technological Diffusion as Context for Exploration

• Cross-cultural interactions predate Columbus due to technological developments.
• The Crusades exposed Europe to classical thinking and medical knowledge from the Islamic world.
• Gunpowder (from the Silk Road via Mongols) and Chinese inventions like paper and the compass reached Europeans.
• The Renaissance and Scientific Revolution arose from this knowledge.
• Copernicus developed the heliocentric theory, later supported by Galileo's telescope observations.
• The Catholic Church opposed these theories, trying Galileo for heresy.
• Galileo was forced to recant, and his writings were banned, highlighting technology and learning at the time.
• Technological advancements were key for exploration.

Key Technological Advancements

• The compass, from China (Han Dynasty), spread to the Arab world and then Europe.
• The Astrolabe allowed users to determine latitude by measuring the distance made to the horizon and Sun.
• Lateen sails enabled ships like the caravel and carrick to sail in any direction, regardless of wind.
• Volta do mar is the knowledge of wind currents, enabling longer voyages.
• Cartography improved mapmaking.
• Gunpowder, developed in China and used by the Ottomans, provided a military advantage to European explorers.

Major European States in Exploration

• The major European states involved in exploration were Portugal, Spain, France, Great Britain, and the Netherlands.
• Portugal initially sought a route to the Indian Ocean for spices.
• Bartholomew Diaz reached the Cape of Good Hope (tip of Africa) in 1497.
• Vasco da Gama sailed from the Cape of Good Hope to India.
• Spain unified under Ferdinand and Isabella, who backed Christopher Columbus in 1492.
• Columbus sought a westward route to the East but landed in the Americas (Cuba and the Caribbean).
• Other Spanish explorers included Vespucci, de Leon, and Vasco da Boa.
• France, England, and the Netherlands lagged initially.
• England sponsored John Cabot to explore North America.
• The Dutch sponsored Henry Hudson, who sought a Northwest Passage but explored the Hudson River in New York.

Causes of Exploration

• Explorers sought access to spices in the Indian Ocean.
• A shortcut to the Indian Ocean bypassed taxes imposed by Islamic empires (Mughals, Safavid, Ottomans).
• Ships could carry more goods than overland routes.
• Exploration motives are summarized as "God, Gold, Glory."
  • God: Spreading the Christian faith (especially Catholicism).
  • Gold: Seeking material wealth (spices, goods for trade).
  • Glory: Supporting the home country and rivalries between monarchies.

The Columbian Exchange

• Columbus's voyages initiated the Columbian Exchange, connecting the Old World (Europe, Asia, Africa) and the New World (Americas).
• Major exchanges included food and animals:
  • From the Americas to Europe: potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, avocados, corn, beans.
  • From Europe to the Americas: coffee, sugar, grapes, bananas, citrus.
  • Animals from Europe to the Americas: cows, pigs, horses, chickens.
  • Grains from Europe to the Americas: wheat, rice, barley, oats.
• Diets changed which led to an increased global population.

Disease Exchange

• The New World lacked immunity to Old World diseases.
• Diseases transmitted to the New World included smallpox, measles, malaria, chicken pox, and yellow fever.
• Smallpox caused the largest death tolls among indigenous Americans, surpassing wars and the Black Death.
• Diseases caused massive population loss in the short term for Americans, while increasing population in the Old World.

Economic Effects of the Columbian Exchange

• New cash crop industries arose in the New World (sugar, tobacco, cotton).
• Resulting in forced labor from indigenous Americans.
• As native populations declined due to disease, the Atlantic slave trade emerged.

Empire Building and Maintenance (Spain)

• Spain led in American conquest via conquistadors exploring Central and South America.
• Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztec Empire (Mexico); Francisco Pizarro, the Incan Empire (Peru).
• Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" explains this: Europeans had domesticated animals and advanced agriculture, enabling specialization, technology (metallurgy, gunpowder), and stronger weapons.
• Europe was in the bronze and iron ages while the Americas we're still primite ages.
• Spain used the Viceroyalty system, dividing colonies into viceroyalties led by viceroys reporting to the Spanish monarch.
• The most famous were the Viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico, established in 1521) and the Viceroyalty of Peru (established in 1534).
• The Viceroyalty of New Spain also governed colonies in the Caribbean and the Philippines (established in 1565).
• Audiencias oversaw administration, with judges and lawyers, providing a means for people to voice concerns.
• Missionaries converted native populations to Roman Catholicism.
• The economy was based on mining and ranching, relying on coercion of the natives.

Forced Labor Systems (Encomienda and Repartimiento)

• The Encomienda system granted Spanish landowners native laborers who paid tribute for protection.
• Bartholomew de las Casas, a Catholic missionary, documented mistreatment in the encomienda system, leading to the repartimiento system.
• The Repartimiento system replaced the encomienda, allotting natives to work for a few weeks while retaining some freedom.
• The goal was to reduce abuses, but the native population had already declined significantly.
• The Atlantic slave trade arose from population shortages and the demand for labor.
• Enslaved Africans were captured and sold in West and Central Africa, enduring horrific treatment during the Middle Passage.
• Silver mines such as Potosi, in Mexico and Peru, drove Spanish exploration.
• Silver was used to buy Chinese goods such as porcelain and Silk.

The Treaty of Tordesillas

• Portugal and Spain signed the Treaty of Tordesillas to resolve land disputes.
• It divided the world along a north-south line, granting Spain the west and Portugal the east.
• This allowed Portugal to settle eastern South America (modern-day Brazil).
• Brazil speaks Portuguese due to this treaty.

Portuguese Colonization

• Unlike others, they prioritized trade over colonization.
• Their focus was on setting up coastal African trading posts, forming relationships with Congo, Ndongo, and Queen Nzinga.

Other European Empires

• Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands sought an alternative route to Asia, establishing colonies: exploring North America and the Spice Islands.
• The British established the 13 American colonies and the British East India Company.
• The French established forts and trading posts from New France and Canada, such as Quebec and Montreal and down the Mississippi and into Louisiana .
• The French had a better relationship with Native Americans, respecting their beliefs, not taking large parts of their land, and working alongside them in a mutually beneficial relationship.
• Netherlands, established New Amsterdam in North America (modern-day New York.
• The Dutch established colonies in the Caribbean, near the Cape Colony in South Africa, and in the Indian Ocean.
• The Dutch East India Company was a joint-stock company where merchants pooled resources and shared risks and rewards controlling routes through the Spice Islands
• Major competitor was the Portuguese.

Mercantilism

• The big five countries aimed to accumulate capital under mercantilism.
• Resulted in Commercial Revolution, with the idea that there was a set amount of wealth that had to be obtained as much as possible.
• Mother country would want a favorable balance of trade with more exports than imports
• Colonization was the best way to gain gold or silver
• Colonies would give mother countries raw resource and they would turn these into goods and sell as product back to the colonies.

Continuities in Trade

• The biggest change was the rise of transatlantic trade routes.
• Overland routes declined in merchant activity.
• There was a persistent desire for Indian Ocean trade goods.
• Muslim Merchants traveled these trade routes and were present in North Africa and the Indian Ocean.

Social Structures and Religious Beliefs

• Spain established viceroyalties, leading more Spaniards to move to the colonies.
• Resulting in a very distinct social hierarchy
  • Peninsulares: People that come from Spain.
  • Creoles: People of Spanish descent born is America.
  • Mestizos: People with Spanish and Indigenous descent.
  • Mulattos: People of Spanish and African descent.
  • Ranked Indigenous and Enslaved people with less rights.

Caste System

• Social classes were divided based on the race of the person.
• System determined access to taxation and legal rights.
• Helped the Spanish maintain their power in the Empire.

Religions

• Legitimacy of rule was often established through use of religious beliefs.
• Roman Catholicism expanded in the regions.
• Syncretic beliefs emerged, blending Old and New World traditions, such as Santeria and Vodun.