Major Questions: Why did Europeans with their history of
fragmentation and internal problems, begin to look towards expansion abroad?
What were European motives? Who were the major European colonial powers? How did they accomplish overseas expansion? What effects did expansion have on European
societies? What effects did expansion have on colonized
or enslaved peoples?
Question: What were European motives for expansion? Economic – search for profits: silks, spices and
other goods that could benefit the Crown and merchant classes
Religious – Spanish Reconquista – take colonial possessions before Muslims could gain influence
Racial – through contact with other peoples, Europeans formulated ideas of racial superiority – combined ideas of cultural, scientific, religious, economic, and physical superiority
How did Europeans expand beyond Europe? Creation of stable governments/monarchies
Spanish example – unification of different small kingdoms into one
Battle against Muslims (Reconquista) helped unify Spanish Crown (Ferdinand & Isabella)
Monarchs gained wealth, wanted to spend it on new things: new trade routes, exploration, expansion
New technologies or used borrowed technologies – Portolini (navigation maps), compass, astrolabe, knowledge of wind patterns
Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) Wanted to find a mythical Christian Kingdom in
Africa to ally against Muslims Acquire new trade opportunities Extend the influence of Christianity
India and Vasco da Gama original goal of da Gama’s mission was to
destroy the Muslim monopoly over the Spice Trade (economic)
1497 sails around Cape of Good Hope in Africa Success = military superiority & seamanship
Global Exploration 1415 – 1522 C.E.
Flow of Commerce in Portuguese World 1600
Spain’s Success = naval superiority, military strength & religious zeal
Spanish Model: crown maintained control over colonies most colonists were male (intermarried) wealth based on exploitation of native population and
slaves (not African) system of encomienda (labor system of service to the local
Spanish governors) – brutal exploitation 1592 Slave Laws – Catholic Church convinced Crown to
outlaw the use of the Native population as slaves
http://www.history.com/search.do?searchText=columbus Link for History Channel information on Christopher
Columbus
Competition with Spain
France (1534-1635) North America – 1534 Cartier (fur trade) Caribbean – Haiti – SUGAR (became most
important)
English Attempts Roanoke, NC (Sir Walter Raleigh), 1585: Link to
PBS, Time Team America episode on Roanoke Island
East India Company, 1591 (India)
French Exploration in Americas
English in North America
Dutch East India Company, 1602 designed to breakup Portuguese monopoly
1621 Dutch West India Company (WIC) – Caribbean & North America
New Amsterdam (New York) – Fur Trade Curacao (Caribbean – slave trade, pirating,
cacao trade) Trade with Native Americans in North
America:Creates problems for French & English and a mini arms race among Native Americans in the Northeast for furs. In exchange for beaver pelts – guns, gun powder, steel headed tomahawks & alcohol
Dutch Atlantic Empire
Colonization & Empires based on exploitation of native and African populations Spanish system = encomienda labor system =
mining and agriculture by natives (slaves/serfs) Portuguese, French, and English = enslavement of
Africans Creation of plantations in Caribbean, No. and So.
Americas to grow staple crops: sugar, coffee, tobacco, cotton
Racial system of slavery eventually developed – Europeans rationalized only blacks could be slaves
Related Links for European Exploration: http://www.nps.gov/seac/outline/07-
exploration/index.htm PBS Link for Guns Germs & Steel
The Columbian Exchange: exchange of crops and germs between Europe and the Americas – primarily benefited Europe, while harming native American societies
Link to National Geographic Columbian Exchange
This link will take you to Guns Germs Steel on YouTube.
Link to Guns Germs Steel
Episodes 1 and 2 summarize much of what you’ve learned about pre-history and early civilization in this semester.
Diamond presents an interesting theory about the roots of inequality and power in human history and is debated very much in history.
Episode 7 delves into the European colonial conquest of North and South America.