Chapter 1 Assessment Prehistory 1800s

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Chapter 1 AssessmentPrehistory 1800s

• Jeff Weiler
• Period 2
• 11/00/05

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How To Use This Guide
(Almost anything that has to do with any of the
sections or any arrow will help you navigate this
guide.)
Section One

• Table of Contents

• Life in America

• The Changing Environment

• The Olmec

• The Maya

• The Toltec and the Aztec

• The Southwest

• The East and Southeast

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Table of Contents
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Section One

• Table of Contents

• Life in America

• The Changing Environment

• The Olmec

• The Maya

• The Toltec and the Aztec

• The Southwest

• The East and Southeast

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The First Americans

• Scientists believe that long after human
  populations were established in Europe, Africa,
  and Asia, the American continents were void of
  human life. From the arctic to the southernmost
  tip of South America no human had ever left their
  footprints in the soil or heard their voice echo
  through the woods. The first Americans are known
  as Paleo-Indians, they most likely followed the
  herds of animals that they depended on for food
  across Beringia to their new homeland. The
  Paleo-Indians knew skills that they carried on
  with them to their new home, some of these skills
  included fire making, and the ability to find
  food and shelter. The Paleo-Indians were hunter
  gatherers who hunted whatever game their
  primitive stone-tipped weapons could kill. These
  animals included mammoths, caribou, bison, and
  other mammals. They used the animals for food and
  clothing. In the spring and summer they gathered
  berries, roots and any other edible plants they
  could find. The Paleo-Indians were nomads,
  wandering around in search of food.

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Life in A New Land

• Archaeologists agree that the first people to
  visit the vast American wilderness were from
  Asia. Although the date is not clear, they
  estimate these humans came between 38,000 and
  10,000 B.C. It is believed that during this
  period glaciers covered northern Asia, North
  America, and Europe. These glaciers were so large
  and contained so much water that the sea level
  dropped by several hundred feet. This drop in sea
  level exposed a wide land bridge between Siberia
  and what is now Alaska. This land bridge allowed
  the Paleo-Indians to cross into what is now North
  America.

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The Changing Environment
Between 10,000 and 5,000 B.C. the climate of the
Americas grew warmer and drier. This change in
weather greatly transformed the landscape. The
land was left looking close to how the European
explorers would find it. Scientists believe that
during this change in climate Paleo-Indians
started moving south. Over length of a thousand
years they established varied cultures in regions
all through the Americans. Unfortunately none of
the Native American peoples of that era kept
written records, because of this, a lot of their
history is lost. Through modern science and the
profession of archeology we can still learn about
the early Native Americans. The archaeologists
study the ruins and artifacts of ancient races to
create a rough understanding of how they lived.
Other scientists study the myths and legends of
the Native Americans that have been passed down
by previous generations. By piecing these myths
together scientists can establish an
understanding of how certain events happened.

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The Agricultural Revolution

• One of the biggest changes the Paleo-Indians
  made was the shift from hunting and gathering to
  the raising and farming of plants. This shift is
  called the Agricultural Revolution. The reason
  for this change is because all of the big animals
  the Paleo-Indians relied on for food died out
  first in Africa, Asia, and Europe then finally in
  the Americas. By 5000 B.C. communities in Mexico
  were growing maize, and people in the Andes were
  growing potatoes by 2000 B.C. By 1500 B.C.
  farming was running well in much of the Andes,
  Central America, and Mexico. People living in
  what is now the southwestern United States began
  farming around 3500 B.C. It is believed that
  these desert cultures acquired their farming
  techniques from their southern neighbors. The
  transition to farming crops increased food
  supplies and made them more reliable. This
  allowed the populations to increase, small
  villages to form around farmers, and provided a
  new reason to invent machines such as animal
  pulled plows. These inventions increased
  productivity and allowed populations to grow and
  cities to emerge in southwestern Asia around 3500
  B.C. This urban revolution spread through other
  parts of Asia, northern Africa, and the Americas.
  As these cities grew a more detailed division of
  labor and Men and women specialized in certain
  jobs including farming, cooking, becoming
  merchants, raising children and being government
  officials.

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Native American Cultures

• Around 1400 A.D. more than 650 distinct cultures
  were living in the Americas. An area called
  Mesoamerica of Middle America was home to some of
  the earliest large civilizations. This region now
  known as southern Mexico and northern Central
  America boasted a population of 25 million at its
  height.

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The Olmec

• The Olmec was the first great Mesoamerican
  culture. The Olmec lived on the coast along the
  Gulf of Mexico. The Olmec is called the mother
  culture of Mesoamerica by historians because the
  culture had a strong influence on later
  societies. The Olmec culture develop somewhere
  between 1200 and 400 B.C. San Lorenzo, one of the
  first Olmec settlements could have emerged as
  early as 1200 B.C. Archaeologists studying San
  Lorenzo have discovered many small clusters of
  earthen mounds, pyramids, and a rectangular court
  yard believed to be the earliest ball court in
  Mesoamerica. This game was played by bouncing a
  rubber ball off their legs hips and elbows in
  attempt to put the ball into one of two stones
  with a hole in it just wide enough to fit the
  ball through, and win the game. The Olmec also
  placed huge carved stones that look like heads,
  these carved heads are believed to be sculptures
  of their rulers. The Olmec also developed the
  beginning of a calendar and a method of writing.
  

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The Maya

• The Maya inherited much from the Olmec culture
  and created a reputation about 300 A.D. Their
  civilization thrived for more than 500 years, in
  what is now southern Mexico and Guatemala. The
  Maya adjusted the Olmec calendar, creating a more
  accurate system than the calendar being used at
  that same time in Europe. Mayan mathematicians
  created a number system that included zero before
  Europeans adapted to the concept from the Arabs.
  Maya scholars also developed an intricate system
  of writing with glyphs, this was the only
  complete system of writing in early America. This
  system of writing allowed the Maya to communicate
  nonverbally. By studying the glyphs we have
  learned how three settlements emerged (Tikal in
  present day Guatemala, Palenque in what is now
  Mexico, and Copán in present day Honduras)
  emerged as the major cities in the Maya Empire.
  Most of the Maya population lived in cities. Many
  farmed and some traded with other cultures. The
  Maya civilization began to decline around A.D.
  900. Archaeologists are unsure why this decline
  occurred.

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The Toltec and the Aztec

• Before the Maya started to decline, invading
  groups from the north descended upon a region in
  central Mexico. The Toltec came to dominate the
  area some time around A.D. 900. The Toltec built
  a great city-state called Tula. The toltec empire
  became the center of a great trading network.
  Costa Rican pottery has been found at Toltec
  sites. During the 1100s, the Toltec society was
  weakened by internal conflicts. The empire fell
  to a new wave of invaders from the north. The
  conquerors of the Toltec fought among themselves
  until one group emerged victorious. This group,
  the Aztec, or Mexica, as they called themselves
  were a fierce society of warriors but they
  established their capital, Tenochtitlán (the site
  of present day Mexico City) on an island in Lake
  Texcoco, and adapted the ways of the Toltec.
  Eventually Tenochtitlán became an impressive city
  with hundreds of buildings, as many as 300,000
  residents, and an elaborate system of canals.
  After 200 years, the Aztec had created an empire
  of 5 million people. A class system developed
  separating the rich from the poor. Men and women
  from the noble class (highest class) served as
  priests and governmental officials, while
  ordinary citizens worked as laborers on farms,
  servants, and slaves. War was viewed as a sacred
  duty, they believed that the sun god,
  Huitzilopochtli had to battle the forces of
  darkness each night in order to arise again and
  begin a new day. The Aztec believed that human
  sacrifices gave Huitzilopochtli the strength to
  fight the darkness and rise again the next day.
  Thousands of war prisoners were sacrificed to
  satisfy their god.

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Early Cultures of North America

• The farming methods, pottery styles, and social
  practices of Mesoamerican civilizations reached
  far into North America. The cultures from
  Mesoamerica and what is now southwestern United
  States are very similar. However the north
  American population was to small and scattered
  to adapt to the traditions of the large
  Mesoamerican cultures so regional cultures were
  developed.

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The Southwest

• The Anasazi and other groups settled in the
  barren hills and deserts of the Southwest.
  Between A.D. 700 and 1300 the Anasazi built rock
  and adobe dwellings with multiple stories. These
  buildings were created in the hollows of cliffs
  right up against the back of the hollow. This is
  why these dwellings are referred to as cliff
  dwellings". Some cliff dwellings contained as
  many as 800 rooms. Anasazi families built their
  rooms around plazas. There was a kiva for each
  extended family where they could for ceremonial
  reasons. Although they are unsure, archaeologists
  believe that some event happened forcing them to
  abandon their communities around 1300, by the
  mid1400s their culture had been demolished. The
  most accepted reason for their downfall is a
  severe drought. It is also believed that the
  Anasazi were ancestors of the Pueblo Indians, who
  were encountered by Spanish explorers in the
  1500s.

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The East and Southeast

• The Adena and Hopewell cultures of the Eastern
  Woodlands combined farming with hunting and
  gathering to be able to provide large populations
  with food. These cultures are often referred to
  as the Mound Builders ruled the eastern region
  for approximately 1,700. Both cultures created
  distinct earthworks that served as elaborate
  burial mounds. The Adena originated in the Ohio
  River valley around 1000 B.C. and eventually
  extended their rule from present-day New York to
  Kentucky, however the Adena were pushed out of
  the region by the Hopewell about 300 B.C.
  Hopewell extended their cultural influence into
  present-day Louisiana, New York, and Wisconsin.
  A more advanced Mississippian culture of the
  Southeast later replaced the Hopewell culture,
  which fell around A.D. 400. The Mississippian
  culture grew and occupied the Southeast and
  Midwest, this growth started around A.D. 700 in
  the lower Mississippi River valley. Massive
  Temple mounds resembling Mesoamerican pyramids
  dominated their villages. The largest
  Mississippian settlement was found at Cahokia,
  near present-day St. Louis. This settlement
  extended six miles and contained 85 burial and
  temple mounds. At its peak, Cahokia may have had
  a population of approximately 40,000. The chiefs
  of Cahokia controlled a network of trade routes
  stretching from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of
  Mexico and into Mesoamerica. Cahokia was
  abandoned during the 1200s because of climate
  changes or crop failures. Even though Cahokia was
  abandoned the Mississipian culture still grew
  elsewhere for several centuries.

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Section Two

• East African City-States

• West African Kingdoms

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China

• Vast areas of ancient Asia were controlled by
  the Chinese Empire. When China began to trade
  extensively with other kingdoms the Empire had
  many technological and cultural developments to
  share. The Chinese made significant advances in
  science and technologies while under the rule of
  the Qin and Han dynasties (between 221 B.C. and
  A.D. 220). Chinese astronomers calculated the
  length of the year very accurately and observed
  sunspots. The Chinese also invented a simple yet
  highly sensitive seismograph to register
  earthquakes. Another important Chinese invention
  was paper, paper was invented in A.D. 105. The
  use of paper spread to other Asian areas and
  eventually reached Europe. The Chinese invented a
  system of printing using carved blocks of wood.
  This invention allowed them to create the worlds
  first printed book, the Diamond Sutra, in 868.
  Chinese society changed in the 1200s when Mongol
  invaders from Central Asia conquered the country.
  The Mongol Leader, Kublai Kahn, was the grandson
  of Genghis Kahn who had established a powerful
  empire. In What is now Beijing Kublai Khan set up
  his capital in 1264. Under Kublai Khans rule,
  China became the largest empire in the world. The
  empire became more open to trade with the Western
  world. After Kublai Kahn died in 1294, the
  Mongol's power declined and the Chinese
  eventually gained control. The new leaders tried
  to protect their culture by isolating it from
  anyone who lived outside of the Asian world. They
  also limited the amount of foreigners they
  allowed to inter their empire. The Chinese trade
  continued and merchants traveled to and from
  other countries following an intricate network of
  paths and carrying many goods. In 1405 the
  Chinese became more open to the world and sent
  seven sailing expeditions to explore new lands
  and trade with their people. These Expeditions
  sailed to present day Indonesia, Sri Lanka, The
  Arabian Peninsula, Vietnam, and East Africa.
  After China explored these areas the empire
  returned to relative isolation.

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The Islamic World

• Trade played an important part in Africas early
  history. The trade routes established between
  Asia and Africa connected the two countries.
  Asian traders exchanged goods such as cloth and
  horses for African goods including gold ivory,
  and slaves. After 900, Muslim merchants
  controlled much of this trade. The Muslims follow
  the Islam religion. Islam was founded by an Arab
  merchant named Muhammad after he experienced a
  vision in the year 610. Muhammads teachings
  emphasized devotion to one God, Allah. Muhammad
  and other Muslim leaders also commanded his
  followers to convert nonbelievers. Muslim armies
  helped spread the faith by conquering new lands,
  but many people were converted by Islamic traders
  who carried the Quran (the holy book of
  Muhammads teachings) and constantly preached
  their religious beliefs wherever they went. Vast
  areas of Asia, Africa, and Europe had become part
  of the Muslim Empire by the year 750. The Islamic
  world also had a very intelligent population.
  Muslim scholars improved algebra and excelled at
  mathematics. The Muslims also refined the Arabic
  number system and the concept of zero by adopting
  knowledge from Indian mathematicians. Muslim
  geographers improved the art of cartography, or
  map making. Many of these advances were spread
  outside the Islamic world through trade.

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The African Trading Kingdoms

• Muslim merchants relied on an intricate network
  of trading kingdoms in Africa to help them spread
  their faith. These kingdoms had existed on the
  continent for centuries. A pattern of trading
  methods created by Early African kingdoms was
  adapted by most later African empires.

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East African City-States

• During the 700s many African people moved to the
  eastern coast and became involved in trade with
  Asia. Some traders shipped goods to the Arabian
  Peninsula. These shipped goods were then traded
  to Asian merchants. Many of these traders were
  Arabs who had traveled to East Africa to escape
  mayhem in their homelands. Eventually the
  combination of newcomers and locals allowed the
  development of a culture Unique to the East
  African Coast. Overtime, many East African
  trading villages grew into powerful and wealthy
  city-states. The most successful city-states were
  the northern city-states. An example of a
  northern city-state is Mogadishu. Eventually
  commercial activity moved southward.

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West African Kingdoms

• Ghana the earliest of the West African Trading
  kingdoms, developed from a trading post that was
  founded around A.D. 300 at the southern end of a
  caravan route from Morocco. Ghana has been
  described as the land of gold. Ghanas leader
  around 1065 (Tenkaminen) was described as the
  master of a large empire and a formidable power.
  Ghanas empire began to fall when it was overrun
  by Muslims in 1076 and was eventually conquered
  by its neighbors, the Malinke people, who
  established a new kingdom called Mali. The best
  known leader of Mali was Mansa Musa, who ruled
  from 1307 to sometime around 1332. As a devoted
  Muslim, he undertook a hajj, or a pilgrimage, to
  the Islamic holy city of Mecca in 1324. Mansa
  Musa saw this journey as an opportunity to inform
  other regions of Malis tremendous wealth. After
  Mansa Musa died in the 1330s, Mali slowly lost
  its position of power. A chain of leaders from
  various West African kingdoms controlled the
  major north-south trade routes. In the mid-1300s
  the relatively defenseless and weak state of
  Songhay which was once under Malis rule won its
  independence and eventually became the dominate
  power in West Africa. Songhay thrived as a center
  of Islamic learning. One of its cities Timbuktu
  was home to three universities and 180 Islamic
  schools.

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Europe During the Rise of Nation-States

• The European's involvement in trade over the
  centuries had varied levels of activity. European
  trade with Africa and Asia during the era of
  large trading kingdoms was limited, but the
  Europeans had been involved in trade centuries as
  part of the Roman Empire. In 509 B.C. the
  city-state of Rome established a republic. By 27
  B.C. the Roman Republic had grown into an empire.
  This empire went on to rule most of Europe and
  some of what is now the Islamic world. Science
  and Art were two strong points of the Roman
  Empire. Because of this, the Romans invented many
  inventions and created many ideas that are useful
  in our everyday lives such as the basis for
  plumbing systems, modern buildings and highways.
  Unfortunately, the Empire grew too large to
  contain under one government, was attacked by
  tribes migrating from northern Europe and
  eventually fell in the late A.D. 400s. By A.D.
  500 the western part of the Roman Empire was
  reduced to ruins. From the ruined empire many
  small warring kingdoms rose, this marked the
  beginning of Europes Middle Ages which lasted
  from approximately A.D. 5001500. One of the most
  feared of the tribes that migrated from Europe
  were the Vikings of northern Europe. The Vikings
  were a group of highly skilled Scandinavian
  seafarers who sailed thousands of miles to raid,
  trade with, and inhabit new territory. They began
  to move into Ireland and England around 800. By
  the early 900s many Vikings had settled into
  northern France and others had sailed west to
  Iceland and Greenland. Around the year 1000,
  Viking leader Leif Eriksson established a
  settlement in North America. This is believed to
  be the first European settlement in North
  America. This settlement was called Vinland where
  he and his followers encountered many Native
  Americans. However the settlement did not last.
  Because of Europes isolation, few non-Vikings
  even knew that this event had taken place.

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Section Three

• The Unification of Spain

• La Católica

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The Early Middle Ages

• Charlemagne's nobility system played an
  important part in Europe during the Middle Ages.
  Kings relied on the nobles to protect their
  territory and to conduct the business of
  government. To combat invaders such as Vikings,
  many European rulers enlisted the aid of nobles
  under a system known as feudalism. In return for
  land and protection from invasion, the nobles
  pledged their loyalty and military assistance to
  the rulers. Feudal society operated under a
  strict class system. The highest was the noble
  class. Nobles managed estates called manors.
  Manors are large houses with fields, and a
  village. The manors were kept in working order by
  peasants known as serfs, who provided most of the
  labor required to keep the manor functioning.
  Noblemen spent their days managing their estates,
  hunting, or engaging in battle. Most noblewomen
  spent their days leading servants in many duties
  including caring for livestock, cleaning,
  weaving, spinning, cooking, and working in the
  fields. While the noblemen were away fighting,
  the women were usually left in charge of running
  the estates. Most serfs spent their days in
  physical labor. Men and women alike worked in the
  fields, and women performed household tasks as
  well. A large portion of the crops grown by the
  serfs was given to the lords. Many workers were
  required to pay fees to their nobles, such as
  taxes on marriage or inheritances. Few people in
  feudal Europe ever traveled more than 25 miles
  from their homes. Life centered around the manor
  and the Roman Catholic Church. Virtually all the
  important events in people's lives took place at
  their village church. Baptisms, weddings, and
  funerals were conducted and performed by parish
  priests along with mass and many acts of
  charity. In monasteries and convents, monks and
  nuns worshiped, studied the scriptures, and
  preserved the writings of ancient Greeks and
  Romans. A rich heritage of religious music,
  tapestries, illuminated manuscripts, and grand
  cathedrals a were left behind by the medieval
  church which promoted art and culture. Most
  important, the Roman Catholic Church, led by the
  pope, played a leading role in guiding European
  politics. It often settled disputes between
  warring Christian kingdoms. Political alliances
  and suggested various courses of action to
  political leaders were sometimes negotiated by
  church leaders. About 1100, a series of changes
  including new farm equipment such as heavy plows
  that increased the amount of land that could be
  farmed this new equipment brought about a gradual
  end to feudal society. Laborers could produce
  enough food to sustain large armies and a growing
  number of townspeople. As the military strength
  of the kingdoms grew, invaders were less likely
  to attempt to take by force what they could get
  by trade. Manors were replaced by trading towns
  and cities as the center of economic activity. As
  a result, many serfs moved from manors to towns,
  where they could either work for wages or farm
  rented plots of land surrounding the town.

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The Crusades And Trade

• Another reason for the shift from feudalism was
  as series of military and religious expeditions
  known as the Crusades. Between 1096 and the late
  1200s, waves of Christian crusaders fought
  Muslims for control of Palestine. This area of
  the Middle East (eastern Mediterranean) was
  sacred to Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Since
  the 600s various groups of Muslims had controlled
  the Holy Land. In 1071 the sacred city of
  Jerusalem fell to Muslims from Central Asia. This
  development made it increasingly difficult for
  Christians to visit the holy city. The First
  Crusade began in 1096 as an effort to retake
  Jerusalem. Christian invaders from Europe
  captured the city and established several
  kingdoms in the area. Muslims retook Jerusalem in
  the late 1100s, however, this resulted in
  additional Crusades. The Crusades had important
  consequences for trade. Merchants in the Italian
  city-states of Genoa, Venice, and Pisa funded the
  Crusades in return for trading privileges. Rare
  spices, fine silks, and other exotic Asian goods
  were brought back by Italian traders from the
  Muslim lands. Trade changed Europe's political
  and social order. The merchants who organized
  trading voyages began to form a new social
  classthe bourgeoisie or urban middle class. The
  bourgeoisie supported monarchs, who could provide
  better political stability and allow trade to
  grow freely. In return, the bourgeoisie demanded
  a more economic and political freedom for
  themselves and their cities. Kings and lords
  reluctantly granted self-government to towns.
  Some towns even organized meetings to help the
  monarchs decide on taxes and government policies.
  In 1215, English nobles who were angered by new
  taxes forced King John to sign the Magna Carta, a
  agreement limiting the powers of the monarchy. In
  addition to guaranteeing basic liberties for
  nobles, the charter protected their trading
  rights

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The Renaissance

• In addition to driving trade and political
  reform, the Crusades contributed to a creation of
  European learning and artistic creativity later
  known as the Renaissance. During the early Middle
  Ages, much of Europe had been intellectually
  isolated from the rest of the world. Crusaders
  and traders returned classical Greek and Roman
  literature and new ideas in science, technology,
  art, and philosophy to Europe. The works of
  classical and Muslim thinkers inspired European
  scholars to learn more about science. Roger
  Bacon, an English monk and scientist, thought
  about the future. The renaissance started in
  Italy during the 1300s and had soon spread to the
  rest of Europe. A major factor in this cultural
  transition was the work of a German printer,
  Johannes Gutenberg. Around 1450 he invented a
  printing press that used movable type. His
  printing press made it possible to print a large
  number of books quickly, this allowed information
  to be dispersed rapidly.

Roger Bacon
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The Rise of Nation-States

• The other great transformation of the Middle
  Ages was the rise of nation-states. Feudal
  kingdoms, independent city-states, and
  church-controlled lands slowly gave way to
  national monarchies in a lot of western Europe.
  England, France, Portugal, and Spain were among
  the first to achieve national unity during this
  period . Most often these changes came as a
  result of warfare, but occasionally they were
  the result of marriage between royal families.
  Portugal won its independence from the kingdom of
  Castile in the 1100s and was united under King
  John I in the early 1400s. Louis XI united the
  various French provinces by the time his reign
  ended in 1483. After 30 years of bloody fighting,
  Henry VII united England in 1485.

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The Unification of Spain

• Four Christian kingdomsAragon, Castile,
  Navarre, and Portugalcontrolled most of the
  Iberian Peninsula. Muslims controlled the
  southernmost kingdom of Granada. The first step
  toward the unification of Spain occurred when
  Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon
  married in 1469. They did not unite their
  kingdoms until 1479. However, they did quickly
  join their forces in the Reconquista, the ongoing
  battle to recapture Spanish lands from the
  Muslims. The Reconquista ended in 1492, when
  Spain defeated the Muslims in Granada. Isabella
  and Ferdinand believed that the best way to unify
  their kingdom was to make Spain a completely
  Catholic nation. Having already expelled the
  Muslims, in March 1492 they ordered all Jews to
  convert to Catholicism or leave Spain.

Isabella of Castile
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La Católica

• Isabella's efforts to promote Catholicism in
  Spain earned her the title la Católica (the
  Catholic) granted by Pope Alexander VI. Being the
  daughter of John II, Isabella lived from 1451 to
  1504. While her older half-brother, King Enrique
  IV, ruled Castile, Isabella lived with her
  grandmother. From an early age Isabella developed
  strong beliefs about the purpose of the monarchy.
  In 1474, five years after marrying Ferdinand, she
  became queen of Castile following the death of
  her brother. In a speech designed to motivate her
  subjects for battle in 1475, Isabella made a
  passionate announcement.
• "What greater honor, what greater benefit, what
  greater service to God, could there be than
  joining battle? . . . If you say to me that
  women, since they do not face such dangers, ought
  not to speak of them . . . to this I say that I
  do not know who risks more than I do, for I
  risked my King and Lord Ferdinand, whom I love
  above all else in the world."
• Isabella, quoted in Isabel the Queen, by Peggy
  K. Liss
• Isabella's followers considered her a powerful
  monarch. Ambassador Pedro Mártir, on his return
  from Egypt in 1502, described her as "stronger
  than a strong man, more constant than any human
  soul, a marvelous example of honesty and virtue
  Nature has made no other woman like her."
• Isabella and Ferdinand's aggressive rule did
  much to achieve their goal of an all-Catholic
  Spain. However, their religious intolerance
  carried a price. In expelling nearly 150,000 Jews
  they expelled some of the nation's leading
  bankers, government officials, merchants, and
  scholars who were all jews.

30
Section Four

• Trade Monopolies

• New Technology

• Prince Henrys School

• African Explorations

31
Sailing In Search Of Trade

• Wealthy Europeans wanted products from African,
  China, and Persia. Some of these items included
  gold, grain, silk, glass, and rugs. Other
  products included cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg
  from the Spice Islands of the East Indies, and
  pepper from India to flavor and preserve their
  foods. Demand for these costly goods motivated
  Europeans to seek the most economical trade route
  possible.

32
Trade Monopolies

• Muslim trading empires and Italian city-states
  controlled the trade from Asia and Africa. Prices
  for goods were often high because these were
  usually in high demand and were traded a number
  of times. Each time an item reached a trader they
  raised the price. Very little of the profit went
  to the Muslim traders who kept the Asian trade
  routes safe. However, much more of their profit
  was used to pay the Italian merchants from Genoa
  and Venice. They purchased the goods from Muslim
  traders in North Africa or in Black Sea ports and
  then shipped them across the Mediterranean Sea to
  be sold to European customers.
• The newly emerging nation-states of Europe were
  annoyed with Genoa and Venice's near-monopoly of
  East-West trade and wanted a share of the profit.
  Other European merchants began looking for less
  expensive ways to get Asian goods. An all-sea
  route to the East seemed the most promising
  answer.

33
New Technology

• Europeans could never have followed their
  dreams of reaching the East without new
  technological advances. Inaccurate navigational
  tools and the Catholic Church's control over
  scientific inquiry limited cartographers' ability
  to accurately chart Europe and its surrounding
  areas.
• By the Middle Ages, most educated Europeans
  believed that God had created Earth as a sphere.
  Unfortunately the church required geographers to
  follow its biblical scholars' interpretations
  that Earth was flat. Until the 1400s, mapmakers
  were told to draw Earth as a flat disk surrounded
  by water. In addition, medieval scholars
  mistakenly believed Earth to be at the center of
  the universe, with the Moon, Sun, and heavens
  rotating around it. Most Renaissance Europeans
  overcame these false beliefs.
• European navigators finally developed the
  skills necessary to travel the world's oceans.
  They learned from Muslims how to use astrolabes
  to calculate. Astrolabes measured the distance of
  the Sun and stars above the horizon. This device
  allowed Europeans to determine the latitudes for
  important ports and islands. They recorded the
  information in tables that could be used by other
  seafarers. By the 1200s Europeans had started to
  use a Chinese invention called a compass. The
  compass allowed them to determine their direction
  even when the stars were hidden by clouds.
• Shipbuilding advanced as Europeans designed
  larger ships that could better withstand the
  rough Atlantic Ocean., Europeans had been using
  the lateen sail since the 800s. These sails
  created large triangles that could be trimmed or
  adjusted to utilize wind coming from any
  direction. Ships with these sails required wider
  and deeper hulls, which increased the cargo
  space. In addition, oars were replaced by rudders
  attached to the stern of the ship.
• Portuguese shipbuilders introduced significant
  improvements during the 1400s. The improvements
  made their ships highly specialized for seafaring
  explorations. The ships, called caravels, used
  lateen sails and rudders. These ships were
  smaller, and more maneuverable, than cargo ships.

34
A Sailors Life

• Even though there were advances in technology,
  sea travel during the late Middle Ages was still
  extremely dangerous. Many sailors never returned
  from their voyage and those that survived were in
  horrible condition. The ships became such a haven
  for rats that most ships' charters required that
  at least one cat be carried on board to control
  the rat population.
• A sailor's diet at sea usually consisted of
  pickled beef and pork, known as salt horse. Their
  only fresh drinking water was collected in
  barrels from rainstorms. Hardtack, a saltless
  hard biscuit, was another staple in the sailors'
  diet. It typically became soggy, moldy, and
  infested with bugs on long journeys. One sailor
  said that "with the heat and dampness, our ship
  biscuit had become so wormy that . . . I saw many
  who waited for darkness to eat the porridge made
  of it, so that they might not see the maggots."
• In exchange for their hazardous labor and
  difficult living conditions, sailors earned
  wages, clothing, and were granted occasional
  bonuses. Some sailors also belonged to Shipmen's
  Guilds to help protect them from abuse by
  ship-owners.
• Young boys were known as gromets during their
  first year at sea, they also experienced the
  rigors of the sailor's life. Despite its
  hardships, a sailor's life offered unequaled
  opportunity for excitement and adventure. Sailors
  encountered new lands and cultures of which those
  who stayed upon land could only dream.

35
Portugal Leads the Way

• Portugal led the way in exploration. A strong
  desire to control a piece of the East-West trade
  drove the Portuguese to seek a new all-water
  route to Asia. Portugal's location on the west
  coast of the Iberian Peninsula determined the
  route these sailors took. Because Iberia was so
  far south, the sailors traveled southward into
  the Atlantic Ocean and around Africa. The
  Portuguese government regularly encouraged and
  sponsored several overseas explorations.

36
Prince Henry's School

• Portugals Prince Henry led the Crown's
  efforts to promote the study of geography and
  exploration. Born in 1394, he was the third son
  of King John I and Philippa of Lancaster. Prince
  Henry's strong commitment to exploration
  originated from his belief in God. He believed
  that through exploration, Christianity could
  expand its reach and triumph over Islam and that
  this would lead to the recovery of Jerusalem. He
  had a strong desire to find the wealthy African
  "gold kingdoms" he had heard described while
  fighting in Morocco. He also yearned to find an
  all-sea route to Asia.
• Prince Henry established a center for the study
  of navigation in about 1420. The center brought
  together the country's best navigators,
  cartographers, and ship designers. The prince
  oversaw all their work. He encouraged them to
  experiment with new and different navigation
  methods, to create more accurate maps, and to
  design ships capable of withstanding the stormy
  Atlantic. Prince Henry put the results to
  practical use by sponsoring a number of
  exploratory voyages down the African coast.
  Although he never sailed on any of these voyages,
  Prince Henry's immense contribution to Portugal's
  seafaring efforts earned him the nickname the
  Navigator.

37
African Explorations

• By the 1430s, many Portuguese adventurers had
  explored and colonized the Island groups Madeira
  and Azores. The islands became important
  resupplying ports for ships heading to
  settlements on the North African coast. The
  Azores also served as a port of refuge for
  Atlantic navigators. In the 1450s the Portuguese
  reached another island grouping, the Cape Verde
  Islands off the coast of Senegal.
• Scientific knowledge drove the exploration of
  Africa's west coast. The exploration was viewed
  primarily as a quest for that knowledge. It
  eventually gave rise to a profitable trade system
  for the Portuguese. One of Prince Henry's
  navigators, Gil Eanes, led the first expedition,
  bravely sailing beyond Cape. Although Prince
  Henry died in 1460, the work he had begun
  continued. Many expeditions followed attempting
  to sail further south down the coast. Exploration
  increased even more in 1474, when King Alfonso V
  of Portugal allowed a trading monopoly with
  Africa to his heir. Eight years later the Crown
  built the fort of São João da Mina. This was a
  trading base for an extensive area that included
  most of West Africa. By the late 1400s, trade
  with Africa brought Portuguese monarchs more than
  1,500 pounds of gold per year, surpassing the
  value of all the rest of their income combined.

Gil Eanes
38
The African Slave Trade

• When the Portuguese first arrived on Africa's
  Atlantic coast, trading consisted mostly of
  African spices and gold. Eventually, another
  business came to dominate their dealings with
  Africa. Slavery was not unknown to Africans, but
  its form differed from what it would become under
  European control. Traditionally, most slaves in
  West African society were either criminals or
  captives taken in war. Their rights were
  restricted, but they did have some legal
  protections. Most could marry, and their children
  did not necessarily become slaves. Moreover,
  slavery was usually temporary, and individuals
  could obtain their freedom. In time, Europeans
  took most of these rights away from slaves and
  created a system of permanent bondage from birth.
• In the late 1400s Portugal's role in the slave
  trade was relatively small. By the end of the
  following century, the slave trade had become a
  major source of income, the trading of slaves
  replaced gold in economic value. The Portuguese
  sent many enslaved Africans to other Portuguese
  colonies. Where the slaves endured terrible
  living conditions. Eventually, the trading of
  slaves led to the African Diaspora. Millions of
  African people were forced to resettle on other
  continents. Estimates suggest that during the
  approximately 400 years that the slave trade
  existed, more than 10 million Africans were
  removed from their homeland as slaves. Countless
  more died as a result of capture or on the
  horrible voyage to the Americas.
• The slave trade devastated the African society.
  Villages began targeting their enemies for
  capture because of the enormous profits that
  could be made. The result was an increase in
  warfare among the various West African nations.
• With the strong emphasis placed on family ties
  in African cultures, the experience of having a
  family member or friend captured was extremely
  devastating. In 1444 Gomes Eanes de Zurara, the
  official chronicler for the Portuguese king,
  described the horrors brought about by the
  traffic in slaves
• "Mothers would clasp their infants in their
  arms, and throw themselves on the ground to cover
  them with their bodies, disregarding any injury
  to their own persons, so that they could prevent
  their children from being separated from them."
• Gomes Eanes de Zurara, The Chronicles of the
  Discovery and Conquest of Guinea
• Portugal ignored the slave trade's human costs
  because of the enormous profits to be gained.

39
A Route to the Indies

• The Europeans' quest for profits from trading
  Asian goods encouraged further searches for
  routes around Africa to Asia. During the
  mid-1480s, Portuguese sailors came upon the mouth
  of the Congo River and charted the southwest
  coast of Africa. In 1488 Bartolomeu Dias rounded
  the Cape of Good Hope, Africa's southernmost tip,
  and established a route to the Indian Ocean. Dias
  went no farther, however. Fearing the great
  expanse of unknown ocean that lay ahead of them,
  his crew panicked and forced him to turn the ship
  back.
• In 1497, a fleet of four ships outfitted by
  Dias and commanded by Vasco da Gama set sail from
  Portugal to complete the African voyage. By early
  1498 da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope. In
  1498 he made landfall on the west coast of India,
  finally completing a sea route to the East. Over
  the next 50 years, the Portuguese established
  trading forts in West and East Africa, India, the
  Spice Islands, and southern China, thereby
  gaining control of East-West sea trade. Envious
  of Portugal's success, other powerful European
  nation-states soon began to sponsor voyages of
  their own.

Bartolomeu Dias