The West and the World: The Significance of Global Encounters, 1450-1650

1
The West and the World The Significance of
Global Encounters, 1450-1650

• The West
• CHAPTER 12

2
Sub-Saharan Africa Before Europeans Arrived

• Several centralized kingdoms, with strong
  bureaucratic systems modeled on Egypt
• Wealth from trade in gold, ivory and slaves
• Muslim kingdoms in west Africa Mali, forest
  kingdoms of Guinea
• Christian empire of Ethiopia
• By fifteenth century, many African states were in
  decline and weakened by wars

3
European Voyages Along the African Coast

• Long-established trade contacts with North
  Africa, especially for gold
• Desire to outflank Islamic caliphates and reach
  India drove exploration along west coast -
  development of trading posts
• New maritime technologies enabled successful
  ocean voyages
• New patterns of colonization settler colonies
  and plantation colonies

4
The Americas Before the Conquistadores

• Great cultural diversity nomadic hunters,
  settled farmers, great empires
• Aztec Empire in Mexico (1325-1522) - loose
  political structure, based on tribute payments
• Incan Empire in Peru (1438-1533) - centralized
  political control and imposition of uniform
  culture

5
The Mission of European Voyagers

• Voyage of Columbus defined by religion - desire
  to reach Asia, outflank Islam and recapture
  Jerusalem
• Amerigo Vespucci - first to state that the
  Americas constituted a New World
• Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494 - divided the world
  into Spanish (west) and Portuguese (east)
  hemispheres
• Exploration driven by the quest for Asia

6
The Conquest of the Americas

• Conquistadores - often impoverished nobles
  seeking wealth and opportunity
• Claimed territory for Spain in return for a
  portion of the land and four-fifths of items of
  value
• Requerimento - a document requiring indigenous
  Americans to submit to Spain and convert to
  Christianity provided justification for conquest
  by force

7
The Fall of the Aztec and Incan Empires

• Hernán Cortés (1485-1547)
• Policy of divide and conquer, to break up Aztec
  Empire
• Aztec prophecies about the return of the white
  god, Quetzalcoatl, delayed response
• Francisco Pizzaro (ca. 1478-1541)
• Held Incan emperor for ransom, paralyzing and
  demoralizing the empire
• Conquest of Mexico and Peru provided Spain with
  an immense empire and great wealth in gold and
  silver

8
Spanish America

• Encomienda system provided basis for social and
  economic system
• Shortage of female Spanish colonists led to
  growth of mestizo population
• Continual African presence in process of conquest
  and colonization
• Size and cultural diversity of territory
  inhibited any strong centralized control
• Catholic Church provided a more effective vehicle
  for acculturation than did the state

9
Portuguese Brazil The Tenuous Colony

• Remained a plantation colony, with very few white
  settlers
• Conflict between Jesuits and colonists over
  enslavement of indigenous population
• Demand for labor in sugar industry fueled growth
  in slave trade and intensified African presence
  in Brazil, creating a vibrant, hybrid culture

10
North America The Land of Lesser Interest

• Little attraction to Europeans beyond cod
  fisheries and the search for a northwest passage
  to Asia
• During most of the sixteenth century, English
  interest was restricted to preying upon Spanish
  and Portuguese Atlantic convoys
• Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603) developed a strong
  navy and encouraged investment in American
  colonies
• North America remained sparsely settled by 1650

11
Asia Before the European Empires

• Ming China (1368-1644) - highly developed
  civilization, with technological capacities
  superior to those of Europe
• 1405-1433 - Chinese established contacts in India
  and Africa evolution of maritime trading
  networks across East Asia
• Ming emperors did not pursue colonial expansion,
  but sought knowledge of the world

12
The Trading Post Empires

• Distance from Europe to Asia prohibited
  development of colonies
• Establishment of trading posts (factories) that
  utilized existing economic and political systems
• Absence of European conquest undermined efforts
  at conversion to Christianity
• Influence of Asia on Europe was more significant
  than European effect on Asia

13
The Columbian Exchange

• Slave trade transplanted African cultures and
  institutions to the Americas
• Introduction of European diseases and disruption
  of traditional systems led to unintentional
  genocide of indigenous Americans
• Exchange of flora and fauna between Europe and
  Americas
• Impact of the potato on European population
  growth fueled migration to Americas

14
The Problem of Cultural Diversity

• Neither Christian nor classical learning allowed
  for the presence of the Americas
• Conceptual challenge to European intellectual
  system
• Development of the idea of cultural relativism
  and tolerance - Peter Martyr DAnghiera
  (1457-1526), Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)

15
The Capitalist Global Economy

• Agrarian capitalism - production of commercial
  crops by slave labor
• Competition between states, for colonies, fueled
  economic competition
• Western Europe became the core of a global
  economy, integrated with a colonial periphery
• Foundation of economic inequality between the
  West and the rest of the world

16
The Significance of Global Encounters

• Establishment of permanent economic and cultural
  contacts between Europe, Africa, Asia and the
  Americas
• Export of Western culture across the globe
• Destruction of indigenous American cultures and
  systems
• Challenge of cultural diversity to European
  self-conception