unit 2 – the age of exploration
TRANSCRIPT
Unit 2 – The Age of Exploration
& The Scientific
Revolution
Three Ships, by N.C. Wyatt
The Age of ExplorationForces Behind European
Exploration– God (Religious Motivations)
• Missionaries: spread word of Christ
• Many other religions seen as “savage”
• Increase power of Catholic Church
– Glory (Personal Motivations)• Spirit of adventure, natural
curiosity• Individual claim to fame
(fortune?)• Power of Kings and Queens,
empire– Gold (Economic Motivations)
• European interests in Asia– Spices, silk, tea, porcelain = $$$– Rise of Ottomans restricted Silk
Road– Could eliminate “middle man”
by sea• Hope of discovering precious
metals• Economic theory of
Mercantilism– Emerging notion Euro.
supremacy• Effects of Renaissance on
Exploration?
The Age of ExplorationAdvancing Sailing Technologies
– Europeans gained much of their nautical knowledge from Arabs, like:
• Portolani– Nautical maps of coastlines,
distances– Drawn on flat scale, no help
overseas• Compass
– Showed bearing of ship’s course• Astrolabe
– Used the sun or a star to find latitude
• Lateen Sails– Triangular sails allow for
increased maneuverability• Caravels
– Maneuverable ships that could hold heavy cannon & large cargo
– All combined to allow for greater sailing accuracy over greater distances
The Age of ExplorationThe First Exploring Nations:
Portugal– Portuguese Trading Empire
• Expeditions along W. African coast find new source of gold trade
– Bartholmeu Dias (1487)
• Portuguese ships discover new route to India around southern tip of Africa
– Vasco Da Gama (1497)
– Bring home spices, make major bank
• Attack Muslim trading operation, gain control of spice trade
• Establish major port in Meleka, India
• Portugal never colonized India. WHY?
– Lack of manpower
– Resources
– interest
The Age of ExplorationThe First Exploring Nations:
Spain– Christopher Columbus
• Italian, convinced Queen Isabella of Spain to finance experimental journey
– Many at the time knew world was round, but not sure how large
– thought he’d found short-cut to India by sailing west from Europe
• 1492: Columbus discovers what he thought were islands off China coast
– Called islands “West Indies”– Actually in Caribbean Sea
(America)
Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)– Agreement between Portugal &
Spain– Claimed unknown lands for
Church– Line of Demarcation splits globe
• Portugal: rights to “Old World” • Spain: rights to most of “New
World”
The Age of ExplorationA Spanish Empire in the New
World– The Conquistadors
(“conquerors”)• Hernan Cortes (1519)
– Overthrew powerful Aztec Empire in modern-day Mexico, in only 3 years
• Francisco Pizarro (1531-1532)– Took control of Incan civilization
in South America over 30 years• Why? God, Glory, mostly GOLD.
– The Spanish encomienda system• Queen declared “Indians” her
subjects– Could legally be used as
laborers– Spanish were supposed to
protect Native Americans; widely abused
• Forced labor in mines, on plantations
– Little resistance to European diseases
» Smallpox, measles, typhus» Massive losses in
populations– Missionary efforts to destroy
culture
The Age of ExplorationThe Columbian Exchange
– Term given to the extensive exchange of plants & animals between the Old World and the New World.
• Previously isolated for more than a thousand years.– Huge impact on both sides of Atlantic (see video)
The Age of ExplorationThe Theory of Mercantilism
– Economic principles of the 1600s focused around a nation’s prosperity
• Rise of centralized nation-states• Measured by supply of gold &
silver• Gained thru favorable balance of
trade– Export more than you import
– Policies of European Rulers• Discourage import of foreign
goods– high taxes on imports (tariffs)
• Encourage export of manufactures
– Protect favorable trading monopolies
• Accept pay in gold, never pay in gold
• Establish & Protect Colonies– Source of raw materials, gold, &
silver– Protected market to sell
manufactures– Effects of Mercantilism
• European abuses in Americas, Africa
• National rivalries based on trade, war
African Civilizations• Role of Geography
– Climate dictate where, how people live
– Variety of resources throughout Africa
• Empires Through Trade– North African Nile civilizations
grew powerful through trade alliances
• Kush (Nubia) (1000BC - 150AD)• Axum (150BC – 1550BC)
– West African Empires Rise and Fall
• Located on Niger River valley• All centered on trading, taxes
– Iron, gold, ivory, SALT?
– Stateless societies in Southern Africa
• Local rulers, mixed economies• Rise of Zimbabwe through gold
trade– Ancient custom of slavery in
Africa
The Age of ExplorationThe African Slave Trade
– “Discovery” of Americas, sugarcane created huge demand for African slave
• Sugar plantations in Caribbean, Brazil
• Native workforce destroyed by disease
• Tradition of trade and slavery in Africa
– Triangular Trade Routes• AFRICA: import rum,
manufactured goods, export slaves, gold, ivory
• AMERICA: import slaves, export raw materials, rum, gunpowder
• EUROPE: Import raw materials, export manufactured goods
– Effects of Slave Trade on Africa• Tore families, communities apart• Constant internal warfare in
Africa– Practice of “self-enslavement”
(why?)• Dramatic costs on African
population
The Age of ExplorationEuropean Influence in the Far
East– India
• Expanding foreign presence (British)
– Spice Islands (Moluccas)• Dutch traders and military
eventually corner spice trade, local government
– Ex.: monopolize regional clove trade
– Est. military outpost to protect trade
– Mainland States of SE Asia• Resisted Euro. influence for
most part– Stronger political identity, unity
– China• Portuguese traders bring
missionaries– Noted for their new
technologies– Successful in spreading
Christianity• Highly restricted trade under
Qing– Refusal of expansion of British
trade– Japan
• Unified Japan initially pro Dutch trade
• Move toward isolationism after Jesuit missionaries destroy ancient shrines
– Many Japanese converts persecuted
How do we know something to be true?
What separates the truth from fiction, opinion, or speculation?
The Scientific Age• Traditional Sources of
Knowledge– The Bible, The works of Aristotle– During the Renaissance…
• New problems called for new solutions
• accurate measurements & calculations needed for business
• Humanists master Latin, discover new theories like…
– The Ptolemaic System• Ptolemy: Greek astronomer, c.
200AD– Calculated past, present pos. of
planets• Geocentric model of the
Universe– Centered on stationary Earth– Larger & larger revolving
spheres» Solid & transparent, with
heavenly bodies embedded within
– Outer sphere: Prime Mover (Heaven)
– Supported by Catholic Church
The Scientific Age• Challenges to Traditional
Thought– Nicholas Copernicus (Polish)
• Church administrator, astronomer
• Said Ptolemaic system too complicated
• Heliocentric System (1543)– Sun in the center of universe,
planets orbit the sun, moon orbits the Earth
– Earth rotates on axis• Not published until Copernicus
was on his deathbed (why?)– Johannes Kelper (German)
• Math that proved planetary motion
– Galileo Galilei (Italian)• First to use telescope for
astronomy• The Starry Messenger (1610)
– “Heavenly bodies” made of matter
– Spread heliocentric idea to the masses
• Catholic Church puts Galileo on Trial
The Scientific Age• Dawn of Modern Science
– Isaac Newton (English)• Tied together theories of
Copernicus, Kepler, & Galileo in Principia (1687):
– Universal law of gravitation (gravity) used math to explain forces of nature
– World-Machine concept dominant view until Einstein’s relativity
– The Scientific Method• Systematic procedure for
collecting & analyzing evidence– Developed by Sir Francis Bacon– Relies on scientific observations
of carefully organized experiments
– Instead of ideas of ancient authorities
• Freedom of Inquiry– Are we free to discover new
truths?» Limited by authorities?» Any room for morality in
science?