Topic 4.2 Flashcards
Exploration: Causes and Events (33 cards)
How did improved navigational techniques effect Italy?
- Italian cities with ports on the Mediterranean had a monopoly on European trade with Asia.
Who controlled the European trade with Asia and how did it effect other European countries?
- The Italians controlled prices of Asian imports to Europe, driving Spain and Portugal, and later France, England, and the Netherlands, into the search for new routes over seas
What other motivations did explorers have to explore?
- Hoped to find riches over seas (gold and silver)
- Wanted to convert others to Christianity
What did Christopher Columbus discover and what impact did he leave?
Discovered the new world (The Americas)
- Was originally looking for a sea route to India
- His voyages helped increase the interest in discovery, and the English, French, and Dutch supported later exploration.
Who sponsored Columbus’ voyages?
The Spanish Monarchs Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand
- Without funding from the state it would have been too expensive
Why was it important for states to get involved in exploration and discovery?
- Seeking ways to expand their authority and control of resources
- Brought new wealth to states through the collection of taxes and through new trading opportunities
- Brought great material wealth, especially in silver, to European states
- Their duty to spread their religion
How as wealth measured in the 17th century?
How much gold and silver you had
What was Mercantilism?
Countries set policies designed to to sell as many products as they could to other countries - in order to maximize the amount of gold and silver coming into the country - and to buy as few as possible from other countries - to minimize the flow of precious metals out of the country.
What nation led the way in European exploration?
Portugal led the way, as it had maritime innovations
- They then creates a trading post empire
How did Prince Henry the Navigator lead the way?
- He became the first European monarch to sponsor seafaring expeditions, to search for an all-water route to the east as well as for African gold.
- Under him, Portugal began importing enslaved Africans by sea, replacing the overland slave trade
How did Bartholomew Diaz lead the way?
- Sailed around the southern tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope in 1488
How did Vasco de Gama lead the way?
- Sailed farther east than Diaz, landing in India in 1498
- The Portuguese ports in India were a key step in expanding Portugal’s trade in the Indian Ocean and with points farther east.
Who came to China after Zheng He’s final voyage?
- Portuguese traders arrived in China
- At the time, their weapons were unmatched to China’s
- Followed by Roman Catholic missionaries
- Mostly Franciscans and Dominicans who worked to gain converts among the Chinese people.
- Followed by the Jesuits
- They were considered Barbaric
How was Portugal’s trading post empire started? What did it restrict?
Their goal was to establish a monopoly over the spice trade in the area and license all vessels between Malacca and Hormus.
- These forts gave them a global trading post empire, one based on small outputs, rather than control of large territories
- Restricted Indian Ocean Trade to those who were willing to buy permits.
Who began to challenge Portugal in East Asia?
- The Dutch and English rivals were challenging the Portuguese in East Asia, including islands part of modern Malaysia and Indonesia
- This was after Portugal experienced corruption, they lacked the workers and the ships necessary for the enforcement of a large trade empire
What did the Dutch capture from Portugal?
- Captured Malacca at a built a fort at Batavia in Java
- They attempted to monopolize the spice trade
What did the English focus on?
- Focused on India pushing Portugal out of South Asia
Who was Ferdinand Magellan?
- He was the first to circumnavigate (his ship was)
- Sponsored by the government
- He died on the voyage in the Philippine Islands
- Spain then annexed the Philippines when Magellan’s fleet arrived
What was Manila?
A Spanish commercial center in the Philippines, attracted Chinese merchants and others.
- Because of Portuguese and Spanish occupations, many Filipinos became Christians
What did European explorers seek to find?
Gold, Silver, and other valuable resources
What rekindled European contact with exploration?
When the Spanish found the Americas
- When they found the Aztecs and the Incas in South America
- They had the gold and silver that made exploration, conquest, and settlement profitable.
- They could grow wealthy by raising sugar, tobacco, and other valuable crops
What country was a major consumer of silver?
China
What were galleons?
Large ships that were heavily armed that shipped silver across the Pacific to East Asia
What were the French, English, and Dutch explorers looking for along the coast of North America?
- A northwest passage- a route through or around North America that would lead to East Asia and the trade in spices and luxury goods
