Unit 4: Transoceanic Interconnections

Question 1

What was a reason (in part) why the Europeans began exploring in the first place despite having their demand for goods met?

Answer 1

They were eager to eliminate the Muslim middlemen (and the Venetians, who had monopoly over Eastern Mediterranean trade) and discover more efficient trade routes to Asia;
They didn’t want to rely on such monopolies

Question 2

Who were Bartholomew Dias and Vasco de Gama?

Answer 2

Both are Portuguese explorers who went around the Cape of Good Hope

Question 3

By 1494, Portugal and Spain were fighting over land in the Americas. How did they resolve this conflict?

Answer 3

So, the Treaty of Tordesillas was established, in which a line was made running through the western Atlantic Ocean; to the east of this line would be Portuguese property and to the west Spain

Question 4

What did colonialism and the expansion of trade routes contribute to?

Answer 4

The rise of nationalism and the development of strong monarchies

Question 5

Why did the Age of Exploration occur in this time period and not in previous ones?

Answer 5

So, the reason as to why exploration was so adamant in this period and not prior to it is because multiple advancements were being made that allowed exploration to prosper.

Question 6

What was the sternpost rudder?

Answer 6

allowed for better navigation and control of ships of increasing size

Question 7

What was the lateen sail?

Answer 7

invented during the early Roman Empire, allowed ships to sail in any direction, regardless of the wind

Question 8

What was the astrolabe?

Answer 8

Helped determine latitude

Question 9

What was the magnetic compass?

Answer 9

determine direction without staying in sight of land

Question 10

What was the three-masked caravels?

Answer 10

provisions for longer journeys in their large cargo rooms

Question 11

Who was Hernan Cortes?

Answer 11

Invaded the Aztec Empire in search of riches and was able to ally with neighboring peoples who did not like being under Aztec rule; was offered a gift of gold by the then-current Aztec emperor to appease him, but Spanich avarice made him want more

As a side note, he used horses to attack Tenochititlan, and horses were not familar to the Americas at the time

Question 12

How were the Spaniards able to sieze the Aztec Empire in 1521?

Answer 12

Because of the introduction of European diseases, like smallpox, which the Aztecs had no immunity to, superior weapons, and help from enemies

Question 13

Who gained control of the Inca Empire in 1533?

Answer 13

Pizarro

Question 14

How did empire-building in the Americas differ from elsewhere?

Answer 14

Unlike empire-building elsewhere, the conquering empire was not tolerant nor did it enforce its values and culture; instead, in the Americas, the native populations were largely wiped out and Spainards were coming in to replace them

Question 15

Did the Spanish establish a hierarchical system based around the nationality of an individual and where they were born?

Answer 15

Yes

Question 16

In what way did the encomienda system bring enslaved Africans into the New World via Spain?

Answer 16

Enslaved Africans were brought into the New World as a way to relieve the burden of work on the natives, but this endeavor didn’t fix anything;
A form of slavery in which a prisoner of war would have to serve his/her captor for a brief period of time until their honor was restored was practiced in Africa, but the Europeans trades guns to access these people and ignored the cultural value slavery had

Question 17

How did leaders in Africa react to slaves being taken and abused in the Americas?

Answer 17

Leaders in Africa were faced with a difficult choice of either cooperating with the Europeans or having their people be slaughtered by money-hungry European powers, a choice that allowed slavery to thrive

Question 18

What was the Middle Passage?

Answer 18

The brutal trip to the Americas from Africa

Question 19

Why were mortality rates through the Middle Passage only 14-20%?

Answer 19

Merely surviving the conditions on the ship was a hassle in and of itself, but even after managing to survive that, these enslaved peoples had to work til death

Question 20

Explain the demographic shift that occured under the Age of Exploration.

Answer 20

Essentially, what was happening was that people were being migrated or moving to multiple places; this was so prevalent at the time that it changed the global demographic

Question 21

What was the Columbian Exchange?

Answer 21

The transatlantic transfer of goods, ideas, technology, services, people and whatnot

Question 22

What disease did the New World bring to the Old?

Answer 22

Syphilis

Question 23

What did American food crops allow for?

Answer 23

Allowed for population booms in the Western world, despite “the little ice age”/long cooling period

Question 24

What were the two key products of the Columbian Exchange?

Answer 24

Sugar and silver

Question 25

What did sugarcane production in the Americas lead to?

Answer 25

This actually led to the need for land and slaves to toil on such land and transformed the natural landscape

Question 26

How did Spanish monopoly over the world’s silver market in mines in the Andes Mountains allow for trade with East Asia?

Answer 26

Please do note that these mines were located in the Andes Mountains; Spanish control of this and islands in the Pacific Ocean allowed for trade with the Ming dynasty, which used silver as currency for this single whip system

Question 27

What allowed, other than the vast innovations produced in this period, for a global commercial economy to arise? Name the one reason

Answer 27

The church lifted its strict ban on what is now modern-day business practices, such as lending money and charging interests; this allowed for a joint-stock company to emerge, where investors could gain profit from New World riches and goods, thereby attracting more investors

Question 28

What did the aforementioned joint-stock companies have?

Answer 28

Had power; were sometimes given royal charters to establish colonies like the Jamestown colony; other got access to trade routes, like the Muscovy Company in Russia and the Dutch East India Company

Question 29

What is merchantilism?

Answer 29

The notion of heavy trade, in which a country tried to have less imports than exports so that weakness would not be implied, hence why colonies were establishes elsewhere for more resources and exports; this was further fueled by tariffs

Question 30

Why did European colonies in the Americas revolt?

Answer 30

They didn’t like how colonial resources were going to Europe and that they had to pay for products from Europe

Question 31

Although the Europeans managed to establish trade with Asian empires…

Answer 31

From the 16th to 18th centuries, that is; it was very limited (remember the National Seclusion Policy that the Tokugawa Shogunate employed)

Question 32

In the 17th century, what became the biggest power in spice trades?

Answer 32

The Dutch (from the Netherlands)

Question 33

Is it true that the major movements in Europe impacted it at different times?

Answer 33

Understandably so, especially among the peasant class and the elite class, who saw this more as jealously and not really a big threat to their power because the peasant class didnt care either

Question 34

By 1750, what nations emerged as great powers?

Answer 34

England and France

Question 35

What did monarchies contribute to?

Answer 35

The development of nationalism

Question 36

What were the three general innovations that helped Europe become a powerful force in this time period?

Answer 36

• gunpowder weapons
• navigation and ship-builing technology
• the printing press

Question 37

Cause and effect related to the Protestant Reformation.

Answer 37

The rise of Protestants led to less authority of the Church; and the rise of conflicts between Protestants and Catholics led to migrations from Europe to the New World

Question 38

In this time period, some women arose as national leaders, particularly Queen Elizabeth I and Isabella. But, what was the biggest change in women during this time period?

Answer 38

Interracial relationships

Question 39

What did the forced migration of males lead to in Africa?

Answer 39

This led to more women being left behind and a rise in unmarried women

Question 40

In Europe, to whom was education available to?

Answer 40

Education was available for all but education for women lagged far behind that for boys; even the less hierarchical religion of Protestants could only offer women the role of wife and mother

Question 41

Contrast the differences between empires’ reaction to the growth of European powers.

Answer 41

China and Japan- wanted to preserve their own culture and had the power and sophistication to do so, so they did
Africa- very fragmented societies, very easy to go into and get what you wanted, which is what the Europeans did
America- were quickly overwhelmed by the power of the Europeans
Muslim Powers- Europe didn’t want to have to trade with them because they found other routes and also because the Crusades ended badly for them

Question 42

How did the global economy change in this time period?

Answer 42

Capitalism essentially arose with the rise of joint-stock companies as governments lost control of their economies