Unit 4 - Transoceanic Connections c. 1450 - 1750

Question 1

Explain how cross-cultural interactions resulted in the diffusion of technology and facilitated changes in patterns of trade and travel from 1450 to 1750. (technological innovations)

Answer 1

• west eu wants to find another way to asia via atlantic bc muslims dominated trade
• used old maritime traditions like the classical Greek practice of using the stars to navigate (astronomical charts) alongside new sea-based knowledge from Muslim + Asian sailors/scholars such as records of wind patterns + astrolabe + magnetic compass + lateen sail + GUNPOWDER
• new ship designs:
  - port create caravel: much smaller = more navigable + fast (lateen + square sails)
  - later replaced by bigger carrack
  - Prince Henry the Navigator encouraged exploration by financing expeditions + making a school
  - dutch create fluyt: built exclusively for trade = larger cargo bays w/ smaller crews = cheaper to make

Question 2

Describe the motivations and role of states in the expansion of maritime exploration from 1450 to 1750. Who did they send?

Answer 2

• motivations = Gold, God, Glory
• CHANGE: Spurred in part by mercantilist ideology (measured wealth based on gold/silver + states plays a huge role to maximize exports & minimize imports) -> Portuguese, Spanish, England, French and Dutch states began to sponsor transoceanic exploration and invest enormous sums of money into the trading race to find faster routes to Asia since italians had a monopoly on trade routes bc of their advantageous position
  - also pop growth meaning that workers can’t find enough work/food, primogeniture laws, & persecuted religious minorities joined maritime exploration
• two main countries lead the way:
• PORTUGAL:
  - had to expand by sea bc geography
  - successful bc had better ships
  - Prince Henry the Navigator = fervent supporter of overseas expansion
  - financed expeditions + created a school
  - wanted to control spice trade so they established a trading post empire all throughout indian ocean
  - bartholomew diaz = sailed to southern tip of africa
  - vasco de gama = sailed around africa & landed in india + claimed it for portugal
  - tried to convert chinese:
  - franciscans + dominicans try to convert reg ppl
  - jesuits try to convert elite
  - minimal impact
• SPAIN:
  - voyages (columbus + cortes + pizarro) find gold + silver in aztec + inca -> ↑ interest in transoceanic travel
  - ferdinand magellan circumnavigates the world
  - enslaving natives to grow cash crops like sugar + tobacco -> $$$ -> others try their hand at maritime exploration:
  - england sends john cabot who claims newfoundland down to chesapeake bay
  - jamestown = 1st perm eng settlement
  - henry hudson finds 3 waterways named after him: the hudson river, the hudson bay, and hudson straight
  - france sends jacques cartier (montreal) + samuel de champlain (quebec) + robert lasalle (louisiana purchase) who claim a lot

Question 3

Explain the causes of the Columbian Exchange and its effects on the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. (and the effects of the arrival of EWropeans)

Answer 3

• eu colonization of americas -> Columbian Exchange = transfer of crops, animals, people, and disease among americas + west
• Old World -> New World:
  - pigs
  - cows
  - before, mesoamerican ppl did not eat a lot of meat but now they did (staple in american diet)
  - wheat
  - grapes
  - HORSES
  - allowed natives to hunt buffalo more efficiently & over a larger territory faster -> surplus of food
  - slaves from Africa (most sent to Latin America)
  - tried to enslave indigenous ppl but they escaped -> labor shortage -> looked to africa
  - Rice + Okra (from African slaves)
  - SMALLPOX, MEASLES, INFLUENZA, MALARIA
  - indigenous ppl lacked immunity -> great dying
  - Christianity
  - mixed w/ some native african religions:
  - vodun
  - candomble
  - santería
• New World -> Old World:
  - Maize
  - Potatoes
  - Tomatoes
  - Beans
  - Peppers
  - Cacao
  - all these foods led to massive population growth in Afro-Eurasia
  - tobacco + sugar = cash crops
  - brazil had a lot of sugar -> engenhos = sugar plantations that churned out a lotta sugar w/ coerced labor
  - had terrible conditions -> lot of death
• arrival of eu caused a lot of env degradation since they used it more intensively
  - colonists cut down forests for agricultural cultivation
  - lived in densely pop settlements -> put strain on land + water supply -> pollution

Question 4

Explain the effects of European influence on the Indian Ocean trade system and their new labor systems in the period 1450 - 1750.

Answer 4

• europeans’ entry onto the global stage had some influence on asia + africa:
  - ming china + tokugawa japan don’t like eu’s influence so they enact isolationist policies
  - at first, japan tolerated foreigners but when ppl began converting to christianity they BANNEd that so quick bc they wanted to preserve their culture + thought eu beneath them + would threaten their stability
  - after zheng he’s voyages, ming limited trade + outside influence bc it would threaten their stability
  - they limited size of ships + reconstructed great wall + erased mongol influence by reintroducing civil service exam
  - some african states (kingdom of Asante & kingdom of the Kongo) traded slaves (prisoners of war, criminals) w/ eu in exchange for guns -> became wealthy + military advantage over neighboring villages
  - transatlantic slave trade made it worse as slave raiders did not listen to their treaties + deals -> huge pop decline in africa + ↑ in polygyny + hostile atmosphere full of competition as states raided others for slaves -> hindered state-building + econ dev
• changes in indian ocean trade:
  - vasco da gama’s invasion of the swahili city-states led the region into a decline
  - port used military might to dictate flow of trade
  - british eic had a commercial relationship w/ mughal empire (built forts) but soon took advantage of hindu vs muslim tensions + signed treaties w/ local leaders to expand
  - port + france driven out of india bc of 7 Years’ War
  - european rivalries:
  - british vs french vs dutch (highly successful bc fluyts + were longtime middlemen btwn eu + asia)
  - spanish vs port
  - treaty of tordesillas by pope split old world btwn the two
• new labor systems:
  - hacienda system: land grants given to conquistadors to farm or get ppl to work on it
  - encomienda system: system of labor similar to feudalism
  - spanish noble gets laborers & gives them christian edu + protection in exchange for labor
  - mit’a system: adopted from incas and bended it to their own use
  - when silver discovered in potosí, spanish compelled incan families to mine it for no wages

Question 5

Explain how rulers employed economic strategies to
consolidate and maintain power throughout the period
from 1450 to 1750.

Answer 5

• mercantilism meant that nations sold as much as they could while buying little so that they could balance trade in their favor
• creation of joint-stock companies: ppl investing in companies - shared both profits + losses
  - limited liability = investor not responsible for company’s debts beyond the amount they invested
  - allowed explorations to colonize w/ barely any risk for investors
  - grant gov’t monopolies on certain objects
  - ex: spain had monopoly on tobacco -> a lot of wealth
• better shipping methods -> ↑ output of artisanal + peasant labor like wool from w. eu, cloth from india + these products exchanged in port cities so it widened the range of these products’ diffusion
  - CONTINUITY: regional markets still flourished
• Commercial Revolution: trade-based econ to one that uses gold + silver (from spanish colonies)
  - caused by dev of eu overseas colonies, opening of new maritime trade routes, pop growth, and inflation
  - china WANTED silver bc of their shift from paper money econ to coins again -> gave a lot of silk
• econ rivalries:
  - Muslim–European rivalry in the Indian Ocean
  - Moroccan conflict with the Songhai Empire
  - after morocco defeated port, their wealth was depleted so they looked towards the songhai + won
• Triangular Trade:
  - EU gives weapons + manufactured items to Africa -> takes slaves to Americas -> raw materials like sugar + rum to EU

Question 6

Explain the effects of the development of state power
from 1450 to 1750. (challenges to power i.e. rebellions)

Answer 6

• local revolts:
  - ana nzinga’s revolt: became ruler of ndongo (modern-day angola) but faced slave raids from port + attacks from neighbors -> became allies w/ port + became catholic
  - once the alliance broke down, nzinga + her ppl escaped west, taking over the state of matamba -> from there, incited rebellion in ndongo, allied w/ dutch
  - she also offered runaway slaves freedom in matamba + grew it into an econ strong state
  - cossack (skilled peasant fighters) revolts 1774: catherine the great gave nobility more power over serfs -> cossacks start a peasant rebellion but catherine increased her oppression of the serfs in response
  - pueblo revolts 1680: pueblo + apache fought spanish who forced religious conversions -> drove them out but they returned 12 yrs later + reconquered the area
  - maratha conflict: maratha, a hindu warrior group, defeated the mughals in a series of battles, ending mughal rule + starting maratha empire
  - Metacom’s War - Final major effort of Native Americans to drive the British from New England; also called King Philip’s war
  - Glorious Revolution (1685): james ii, a catholic + anti-puritan, became king of protestant eng -> scared ppl bc they thought he was gonna go back to catholic church -> called protestant william + mary of orange to replace james -> bloodless bc james fled + eng became constitutional monarchy
• slave resistance:
  - maroon (descendants of runaway african slaves in jamaica) wars: queen nanny, also an escaped slave, united all the maroons in Jamaica, against the English
  - gloucester county rebellion: first recorded slave revolt in the US
  - enslaved Africans and white indentured servants planned to demand their freedom from the Virginian governor but their plans were found out -> ambushed

Question 7

Explain how social categories, roles, and practices have been maintained or have changed in the period 1450 - 1750.

Answer 7

• state’s reactions to diversity:
  - accommodation:
  - akbar of the mughals was vry religiously tolerant as to keep his multiethnic empire together
  - ended the jizya tax, gave land grants + $to Hindus and Muslims, funded a catholic church, & supported Sikhism
  - since jews expelled from eu, they fled to ottoman where they had some equality:
  - some became court physicians + diplomats + authors but were forced to live in specific areas of cities + paid jizya + couldn’t hold elite positions
  - began to get larger roles in eu countries bc of 1600’s scientific rev
  - women had some social mobility in ottoman i.e. roxelana who was a slave but then entered suleiman’s harem -> married + became queen
  - harem politics
  - suppression:
  - expulsion of jews from eu
  - manchus in qing china had the elite positions + enforced han men to wear queues (braided pigtail style of the Manchu) if they did not -> EXECUTED
• formation of new elites:
  - arrival of eu in americas -> new social hierarchy based on race = casta system
  - peninsulares (eu born)
  - creoles (eu born in americas)
  - mestizos (mixed eu + native)
  - mulattoes (mixed eu + african)
  - zambos (mixed native + african)
  - natives
  - enslaved africans
  - china transitioned to qing dynasty, manchus got all the best positions
• power of existing elites waned:
  - in ottoman empire, janissaries had a lot of power -> tried to overthrow sultan multiple times -> introduction of timar system: sultan gives land or $ to reward soldiers for loyalty
  - in eu, nobles vs royalty big since royals thought they believed absolute power (louis xiv)
  - in russia, boyars opposed tsar ivan iv’s expansionist policies so they fought -> ivan won + forced them to live in moscow so he could watch them