UNIT 4 - Transoceanic Interconnections Flashcards
(39 cards)
What was exchanged during the Columbian exchange?
From America: sugar, tobacco, rum
From Africa: enslaved people, okra, rice
From Asia: silk, spices
Who was Prince Henry the Navigator?
- Portuguese ruler who strongly supported exploration
- financed expeditions along Africa’s Atlantic Coast and around the Cape of Good Hope (India)
What improved navigation?
- improvements in cartography
- astronomical charts
- new types of ships (junks, dhows, caravels)
What caused European exploration?
Desire to find an alternative route to Asia (spice islands) because land-based empires still controlled major trading routes
Who was the main explorer sponsored by China and what was the purpose?
- Zheng He –> India, Middle East, and Africa
- Purpose: open up trade networks with India, Arabia, and Africa to spread Chinese culture
Who was the main explorer sponsored by England and what was their purpose and impact?
- John Cabot –> North America
- Purpose: find a sea route to the East by going west from Europe
- Impact: claimed land in Canada for Britain and established a shorter route across the Atlantic
Who was the main explorer sponsored by Portugal and what was their purpose and impact?
- Vasco da Gama –> West coast of Africa, India
- Purpose: To open a sea route from Europe to India and China
- Impact: Portugal expanded trade and cultural exchange between India and Europe
What was one of Spain’s main explorers and what was their purpose and impact?
- Christopher Columbus –> Caribbean islands, Central America
- Purpose: To find a sea route to India and China going west from Europe
- Impact: Spain led the European exploration and colonization of the Americas
What was another one of Spain’s main explorers and what was their purpose and impact?
- Ferdinand Magellan –> South America, Phillipines
- Purpose: To prove that Europeans could reach Asia by sailing west
- Impact: Spain established links between the Americas and Asia across the Pacific Ocean
Why were the diseases transferred to the Americas so catastrophic?
- indigenous people had no prior exposure (no immunity) to the germs and diseases brought by Europeans
- responsible for majority of deaths
- brought smallpox, measles
What animal was an important transfer to the Americas from Europe?
The horse –> transformed culture of American Indians
What increased the number of African slavery through the transatlantic slave trade?
Sugar profitability in European markets
Where were enslaved people mainly imported from?
The Kongo Kingdom and cities on the Swahili coast
What is some common cash crops cultivated by slaves in plantation agriculture?
sugar and tobacco
How did Japan respond the European states expanding influence and trade networks?
- persecuted Christians
- limited foreign influences
- restricted trade
What happened after the voyages of Zheng He?
The Ming Dynasty tried to limit outside influence on China by restricting trade.
What is the encomienda system?
A system established by the Spanish to gain access to gold or other resources of the Americas. Landowners compelled indigenous people to work for them in exchange for food and shelter.
What is the hacienda system?
A hierarchical economic and social system in Spanish America, particularly in Mexico, that involved people bound to land to work.
What were the effects of the silver trade?
- made individual Spanish prospectors wealthy
- strengthened the Spanish economy
- Chinese economy benefited as it was desirable to them too
What is mercantilism?
an economic system that increased government control of the economy through high tariffs and the establishment of colonies (increased exports lower imports)
Slave labor
Slaves considered property and were put into domestic and agricultural work (Americas and Africa)
Serfdom
Serfs were attached to the land and worked for their landlord in subsistence farming (Europe and Asia)
Indentured Servitude
Worked without pay for up to 7 years in domestic work and field work in exchange for free passage to somewhere else
Free peasants
Worked on their own land in farming or craft labor, making payments to the lord and church
