Unit 2: European Exploration and SG’s Connections with the World, 16th- 18th Century

Question 1

What are the 5 key regional developments during the 16th-18th Century? (2 are background info)

Answer 1

1. Portuguese invasion of Malacca, 1511
2. Dutch arrival in Indonesia, 1596
3. Santa Catarina Incident, 1603
4. Aceh attack of Singapore, 1613 (for background info only)
5. Singapore offered as a Gift to Britain, 1703 (for background info only)

Question 2

What year was the Portuguese invasion of Malacca?

Answer 2

1511

Question 3

What year was the Dutch arrival in Indonesia?

Answer 3

1596

Question 4

What year was the Santa Catarina Incident?

Answer 4

1603

Question 5

What year was the Aceh attack of Singapore? (for bg info only)

Answer 5

1613

Question 6

What year was Singapore offered as a Gift to Britain? (for bg info only)

Answer 6

1703

Question 7

European interest to trade in the East could be attributed to the ______.
- Launched by ____________ in ____, the ______comprised a series of eight or nine major expeditions from western Europe to the Holy Land, continuing into the __th century.
• _______ increased European interest in trade by exposing them to more goods that they had not known about.
• Arab and other Muslim traders – traded further ____.

Answer 7

• European interest to trade in the East could be attributed to the Crusades.
- Launched by Pope Urban II in 1095, the Crusades comprised a series of eight or nine major expeditions from western Europe to the Holy Land, continuing into the 15th century.
• Crusades increased European interest in trade by exposing them to more goods that they had not known about.
• Arab and other Muslim traders – traded farther east.

Question 8

• In ___, the Muslim Ottoman Empire conquered the Byzantine Empire.

Answer 8

• In 1453, the Muslim Ottoman Empire conquered the Byzantine Empire.

Question 9

• In the 1450s, the Ottomans ______the overland route to Europeans.

Answer 9

• In the 1450s, the Ottomans closed the overland route to Europeans.

Question 10

Prince Henry the Navigator
• Portugal’s Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) launched the first great ____________ of ________.
• Aim - sought new _____ and sources of ______for his kingdom & searched for eastern Christian allies against Islam.

Answer 10

Prince Henry the Navigator
• Portugal’s Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) launched the first great European voyages of exploration.
• Aim - sought new lands and sources of revenue for his kingdom & searched for eastern Christian allies against Islam.

Question 11

Bartolomeu Dias
• Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to ___________.
- opening the way for a sea route from Europe to Asia.
- opened the door to ________ trade with India and other Asian powers.

Answer 11

Bartolomeu Dias
• Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to successfully sail around the southern tip of Africa (Cape of Good Hope).
- opening the way for a sea route from Europe to Asia.
- opened the door to increased trade with India and other Asian powers.

Question 12

Vasco da Gama
• Vasco da Gama was the first European to reach _____via the __________ when he arrives at _____ on the Malabar Coast.
• Da Gama sailed from ______, ______. In ________, he ______ the Cape of Good Hope, and anchored at Malindi on the east coast of Africa.

Answer 12

Vasco da Gama
• Vasco da Gama was the first European to reach India via the Atlantic Ocean when he arrives at Calicut on the Malabar Coast.
• Da Gama sailed from Lisbon, Portugal. In July 1497, he rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and anchored at Malindi on the east coast of Africa.

Question 13

Why would the Europeans embark on these voyages of discovery?

Answer 13

•	3G’s – Gold, God and Glory
•	Exchange of Goods & Services
-	Spice 
•	Exchange of Ideas
-	Religion
-	Culture
-	Technology

Question 14

Why do Europeans come to Southeast Asia for?

Answer 14

Europeans come to Southeast Asia mainly for spices, hornbill casques and unique things to Southeast Asia such as silk (China).

Question 15

The 3G Theory

Answer 15

Historians use the term, “Gold, God, and Glory,” to describe the motives generating the overseas exploration, expansion, and conquests that allowed various European countries to rise to world power between 1400 and 1750. (basically why the Europeans searched for a new route to the East).

Question 16

Gold

Answer 16

• Wealth, Money, Spices, Silk, Porcelain, Tea, Cotton
• Economic motivations are often said to be the primary reason that led to European expansion.
• “Gold” refers to the search for material gain through acquiring and selling goods.
• In the 1400s, spices such as cinnamon, pepper, cloves, nutmeg were a vital part of the world economy. As spices were highly valued and rare in Europe, Europeans deemed these items as “Gold”.
• The main source of spices was the Moluccas, an island-chain in present-day Indonesia that Europeans at that time called the Spice Islands.
• However, the Europeans did not have direct access to Asia as during the 1400s, Arab and Italian merchants controlled most trade between Asia and Europe. Muslim traders brought prized goods such as spices to the eastern Mediterranean ports, and Italian traders brought them to European markets.
• As these goods moved between the jungles of South and Southeast Asia, to their final points of sale in Europe, their cost would also increase exponentially as Muslim middlemen collected taxes as the goods changed hands.
• Europeans outside of Italy knew that it would be more profitable to gain direct access to Asia.
• Besides having to face the stiff prices due to Muslim and Venetian control of trade along the Silk Road, the Silk Road was mostly over land and took merchants a great deal of time to ship goods.
• European countries were thus interested in speeding up trade by finding a quicker sea route. As merchants gained influence in late-medieval western Europe, they convinced their governments to establish a direct connection to the lucrative Asian trade.
• For example, in 1511 a Portuguese fleet arrived at Melaka under the command of Alfonso de Albuquerque. Melaka was a thriving spice trade port. With their successful defeat of the Melaka’s Sultanate, the Portuguese forces had destroyed the Arabs’ control of the spice trade for they had gained control of the regional gateways to the Moluccas / Spice Islands. Albuquerque also believed that Melaka would become an important port linking Portugal to the spice trade from China. During this time, other Portuguese officials were establishing outposts in such places as Macau, China and Goa, India in order to create a string of friendly ports for ships heading to China and returning home to Portugal.

Question 17

What was the main source of spices?

Answer 17

• The main source of spices was the Moluccas, an island-chain in present-day Indonesia that Europeans at that time called the Spice Islands.

Question 18

God

Answer 18

• Characterized in part by rivalry with Islam and hatred of non-Christian religions, many kingdoms of Western Europe were inspired by religious zeal to spread the Christian faith in pagan lands, particularly in the strongly Catholic nations of Spain and Portugal, rulers such as Philip II of Spain sought the legendary kingdom of Prester John, whom they thought could help defeat the Muslims. The Crusades provided the Europeans a religious ideology and Christianity was one justification that European powers used to colonize new lands and sanctify Christian global dominance. Through militant crusading (the sword) and the missionary traditions of Christianity (the cross), non-Christian lands were conquered.

• For example, the Portuguese stormed the Melaka Bridge with the war cry ‘St James!’ and demolished the Melaka Sultanate’s royal mosque stone by stone. The Portuguese also built a fortress on the site of Sultan Mahmud’s demolished palace using stones that once belonged to the Sultan’s mosque. The Portuguese conquest of Melaka hence revealed the religious motivations driving European exploration and colonialism.

Question 19

Glory

- To ______ their empire

Answer 19

• To expand their empire
• Building and outfitting ocean-going ships was expensive. Although Italian city-states such as Venice and Genoa organized some early voyages, individual city-states did not have the financial means to support these undertakings.

• Instead, it was the rulers of emerging nations who sponsored the great expeditions of the 1400s and the 1500s. Prince Henry the Navigator spearheaded Portugal’s exploration of Africa and the Atlantic in the 1400s. Portuguese sailors successfully navigated an eastward route to West Africa, where they established a trading foothold.

• Portugal then spread its empire down the western coast of Africa to the Congo, along the western coast of India, and eventually to Brazil and the Atlantic islands.
• Portuguese colonization in the 1400s inaugurated an era of aggressive European expansion across the Atlantic.

• Spain’s Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, were eager to share in the seemingly limitless riches of the “Far East” (known today as China). Threatened by the Portuguese monopoly on enslaved Africans and expansion in the Atlantic, Spain started their own colonization project with Christopher Columbus in 1492. The competition between the two nations continued and drew more and more Europeans to discover new lands.

Question 20

What is the meaning of Colonizsation?

Answer 20

Colonisation: the action or process of settling among and establishing control over the indigenous people of an area.

Question 21

• Throughout the Age of European Exploration, there was much competition between monarchies.
• Besides ________ and _____, other European nations, which included ______, ______and Holland, would soon begin exploring the world. Some rulers sought to establish their claims to newly contacted territories so as to strengthen their position in European politics and increase their power.
• Through exploration, monarchs aspired to increase trade and build profitable empires which would bring them ______and _____.

Answer 21

• Throughout the Age of European Exploration, there was much competition between monarchies.
• Besides Portugal and Spain, other European nations, which included France, England and Holland, would soon begin exploring the world. Some rulers sought to establish their claims to newly contacted territories so as to strengthen their position in European politics and increase their power.
• Through exploration, monarchs aspired to increase trade and build profitable empires which would bring them prestige and glory.

Question 22

Portuguese Attack on Malacca, ____ ____

• Afonso de Albuquerque captured the cities of Goa, Malacca, and Hormuz and founded the Portuguese empire in Asia.
• It was conquered from the Malacca Sultanate as part of Portuguese attempts to __________ of trade in the region.
• The Malacca Sultanate then went to __________.
• Although multiple attempts to conquer it were repulsed (fought back), the city was eventually lost to an alliance of Dutch and regional forces, thus entering a period of Dutch rule.

Answer 22

Portuguese Attack on Malacca, July 1511

• Afonso de Albuquerque captured the cities of Goa, Malacca, and Hormuz and founded the Portuguese empire in Asia.
• It was conquered from the Malacca Sultanate as part of Portuguese attempts to gain control of trade in the region.
• The Malacca Sultanate then went to Johor-Riau.
• Although multiple attempts to conquer it were repulsed (fought back), the city was eventually lost to an alliance of Dutch and regional forces, thus entering a period of Dutch rule.

Question 23

• __________ took over Malacca in ____.

* _____ defeated the __________ forces and took over Malacca in ____.

Answer 23

• Portuguese took over Malacca in 1511.

* Dutch defeated the Portuguese forces and took over Malacca in 1641.

Question 24

What is the order in which Europeans came to Singapore?

Answer 24

• Order in which Europeans came to Singapore:

Portuguese → Dutch → British (PDB)

Question 25

• __________ & ______ were British ports (before they came to Singapore) but were __________ because the British were _____ and _______was too far ____, while ______was too far _____.
• The Dutch took the good ports which were _______ and _______ first.

Answer 25

• Bencoolen & Penang were British ports (before they came to Singapore) but were ineffective because the British were too slow and Bencoolen was too far west, while Penang was too far north.
• The Dutch took the good ports which were Batavia and Malacca first.

Question 26

• The Dutch had 2 main trading routes, which were __________ and the _______________.
• The Dutch had a monopoly (needed to pay to trade), which made the British pissed.

Answer 26

• The Dutch had 2 main trading routes, which were Sunda Straits and the Straits of Melaka.
• The Dutch had a monopoly (needed to pay to trade), which made the British pissed.

Question 27

Cornelis de Houtman
• Cornelis de Houtman was a _____explorer who discovered a new sea route from Europe to the _____, and who thus begun the _____spice trade.

• At the time, the Portuguese Empire held a ________on the spice trade, and the voyage was a symbolic victory for the Dutch.
• Houtman was also a ___, by bringing back to the Netherlands privileged nautical information obtained during his stay in Portugal.

Answer 27

Cornelis de Houtman
• Cornelis de Houtman was a Dutch explorer who discovered a new sea route from Europe to the East Indies, and who thus begun the Dutch spice trade.

• At the time, the Portuguese Empire held a monopoly on the spice trade, and the voyage was a symbolic victory for the Dutch.
• Houtman was also a spy, by bringing back to the Netherlands privileged nautical information obtained during his stay in Portugal.

Question 28

East Indies refers to ?

Answer 28

• East Indies refers to Southeast Asia.

Question 29

Dutch Trading Company, the Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC)
• Established in ____to regulate the trade with Asia
• served an extensive ______ empire
• stretched from the Americas to South Africa and the East Indies
• The headquarters was at _______.

Answer 29

Dutch Trading Company, the Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC)
• Established in 1602 to regulate the trade with Asia
• served an extensive maritime empire
• stretched from the Americas to South Africa and the East Indies
• The headquarters was at Batavia.

Question 30

• The fall of Melaka in ____ was a turning point in the history of Southeast Asia as it signalled Europe’s entrance into a new age of expansion and conquest.
• For the Malay Sultans, Melaka’s fall ended centuries of independent rule and signalled the end of Melaka’s golden age as a maritime empire.
• For Singapore, it can be said that the fall of Melaka would lead indirectly to the destruction of its own river settlement.
• However, accounts by Portuguese official Jacques de Coutre suggested that during the 16th C, Singapore continued as a trading port and was said to be “one of the best ports in the East Indies”. It was highly probable that once the Portuguese established their influence in Malacca, Singapore might have had contact with traders or officials from Portugal as it continued as a trading outpost and experienced an era of growth under a “Shabandar”, the title of a lord of the harbour appointed by the Johor-Riau Sultanate.
• These interactions would have been somewhat disrupted with the arrival of a new European power in Southeast Asia.
• In 1596, Dutch traders arrived in Java. They were attracted to the region due to the valuable spices grown there.
• In 1602, the Dutch established a company: the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC) to regulate the trade with Asia.
• Over time, the Dutch gained control of shipping in the area and this control was crucial to the formation of the Dutch East Indies, as the new colony came to be called.
• They also controlled the clove and nutmeg plantations to restrict production and raise world prices of these valuable spices.

Answer 30

• The fall of Melaka in 1511 was a turning point in the history of Southeast Asia as it signalled Europe’s entrance into a new age of expansion and conquest.
• For the Malay Sultans, Melaka’s fall ended centuries of independent rule and signalled the end of Melaka’s golden age as a maritime empire.
• For Singapore, it can be said that the fall of Melaka would lead indirectly to the destruction of its own river settlement.
• However, accounts by Portuguese official Jacques de Coutre suggested that during the 16th C, Singapore continued as a trading port and was said to be “one of the best ports in the East Indies”. It was highly probable that once the Portuguese established their influence in Malacca, Singapore might have had contact with traders or officials from Portugal as it continued as a trading outpost and experienced an era of growth under a “Shabandar”, the title of a lord of the harbour appointed by the Johor-Riau Sultanate.
• These interactions would have been somewhat disrupted with the arrival of a new European power in Southeast Asia.
• In 1596, Dutch traders arrived in Java. They were attracted to the region due to the valuable spices grown there.
• In 1602, the Dutch established a company: the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC) to regulate the trade with Asia.
• Over time, the Dutch gained control of shipping in the area and this control was crucial to the formation of the Dutch East Indies, as the new colony came to be called.
• They also controlled the clove and nutmeg plantations to restrict production and raise world prices of these valuable spices.

Question 31

Trade = ____
Economic = _____
Political = _____
_____ location

Answer 31

Trade = Profit
Economic = Wealth
Political = Power
Strategic location

Question 32

• The arrival of the Dutch challenged the Portuguese influence in the region.

• In order to compete and gain monopoly of the Spice Trade, many naval conflicts broke out between the Portuguese and the Dutch.

→ For example, on 25 February 1603, the Dutch seized a Portuguese merchant vessel, the Santa Catarina, that was fully laden with goods from the ports of Macau and China, and was en route to Malacca. The seizure of the Santa Catarina off the coast of Singapore is historically important as it involved close cooperation between the Dutch and the Johor-Riau leaders.

• With the loss of the Santa Catarina and its rich cargo, the Portuguese authorities in Melaka wanted to punish Johor for its role in the Santa Catarina incident and they retaliated by imposing a blockade on the Johor River between August and October 1603.

Answer 32

• The arrival of the Dutch challenged the Portuguese influence in the region.

• In order to compete and gain monopoly of the Spice Trade, many naval conflicts broke out between the Portuguese and the Dutch.

→ For example, on 25 February 1603, the Dutch seized a Portuguese merchant vessel, the Santa Catarina, that was fully laden with goods from the ports of Macau and China, and was en route to Malacca. The seizure of the Santa Catarina off the coast of Singapore is historically important as it involved close cooperation between the Dutch and the Johor-Riau leaders.

• With the loss of the Santa Catarina and its rich cargo, the Portuguese authorities in Melaka wanted to punish Johor for its role in the Santa Catarina incident and they retaliated by imposing a blockade on the Johor River between August and October 1603.

Question 33

• The events that began to unfold from this point onward resulted in a naval confrontation between both powers taking place in the Johor River and Singapore Straits, with the actual battle off Changi occurring on 10 October 1603.
• Throughout the 1600s, it could be said that Singapore’s security was affected by the intense Portuguese-Dutch rivalry as there were frequent naval battles in the waters near Singapore. Such battles showed both the Dutch and the Portuguese of Singapore’s significance to their maritime presence in Asia.
• This led them to consider building a fortress in Singapore so as to provide security for their respective merchants transporting goods along the Straits of Singapore.

Answer 33

• The events that began to unfold from this point onward resulted in a naval confrontation between both powers taking place in the Johor River and Singapore Straits, with the actual battle off Changi occurring on 10 October 1603.
• Throughout the 1600s, it could be said that Singapore’s security was affected by the intense Portuguese-Dutch rivalry as there were frequent naval battles in the waters near Singapore. Such battles showed both the Dutch and the Portuguese of Singapore’s significance to their maritime presence in Asia.
• This led them to consider building a fortress in Singapore so as to provide security for their respective merchants transporting goods along the Straits of Singapore.

Question 34

• But by ____, it was clear that the _____ were the stronger European power, having captured Malacca from the __________.
- The _____ took over Malacca due to its strategic location in the __________ as the traders travelling by sea must pass by Malacca when going to Southeast Asia to trade.

• Over time, the Dutch became the main European power in the Malay Archipelago.
• The decline of Malacca in the __th Century led to the rise of __________.
• Singapore would later develop as part of the Johor-Riau Sultanate amidst the generally cordial relations between the Dutch East India Company and the kingdom of Johor that would endure well into the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Answer 34

• But by 1641, it was clear that the Dutch were the stronger European power, having captured Malacca from the Portuguese.
- The Dutch took over Malacca due to its strategic location in the Straits of Melaka as the traders travelling by sea must pass by Malacca when going to Southeast Asia to trade.

• Over time, the Dutch became the main European power in the Malay Archipelago.
• The decline of Malacca in the 16th Century led to the rise of Johor-Riau.
• Singapore would later develop as part of the Johor-Riau Sultanate amidst the generally cordial relations between the Dutch East India Company and the kingdom of Johor that would endure well into the late 18th and early 19th centuries.