“Explorations”

• From 1400-1800• Global scope• Set up networks of commerce, communication

and transportation. The world got smaller.• Motives: God (convert to Christianity), Gold

(find new sources of wealth) and Glory (the thrill of discovery and exploration with your name attached to it.)

Technology Made it Possible

• Rudders on boats (from the Chinese)• Triangular Lateen Sails (from the Indians)• Compass (from the Chinese)• Latitude (from the Arabs)• Understanding current and prevailing winds.

European explorers and destinations

• Christopher Columbus—Caribbean Islands• Vasco DeGama and Bartolomeo Diaz—West

Africa• de Balboa “finds” the Pacific while exploring

Panama• Ferdinand Magellan sets out to

circumnavigate the globe– Only 35 of 250 sailors survive.– Magellan dies in Philippines.

Euro Conquest 1

• Portugal– By mid 16th Century, have more than 50 trading

posts in Indian Ocean region.– Can overpower other ships with their artillery– Alfonso d’Alboquerque commands Portuguese

fleet.– Takes Hormuz, Goa and Melaka by force.– Forces ships into port for search and seizure.– Executes natives and cuts off hands liberally

Euro Conquest 2

• English and Dutch– Portugal’s navy is too small to monopolize IOB– E and D set up parallel trading posts– Compete, but not too violently– Avoid Portuguese violence, and trade instead– Use Joint Stock companies well– Rake in big $ after a slow start

Euro Conquest 3

• SE Asia– Both Philippines and Indonesia ignored by both

China and India– Both are also weak militarily– Spain conquers Philippines by 1575—faces little

organized resistance• Focus of Spain is on trade and Christianity; trade with

China despite poor relations with Chinese in Manila

– Dutch take over Indonesia. Focus on trade, not religion• Establish alliances to maintain their monopoly over the

islands

Euro Fail

• China and India do not fall under European control– At first

• Populations are too big.• China’s government centralized and organized• BUT– Neither is ready to face a concerted European

conquest effort…

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Russian Expansion in Asia

• Russians take over Mongol khanates, 16th c.• Astrakhan becomes major trading city• Caucasus absorbed in 18th century• Siberian expansions in 16th-17th centuries• Trade with indigenous Siberian peoples– Little success with missionary efforts– Some local rebellions

Russia

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Russian Occupation of Siberia

• Criminals, prisoners of war exiled to Siberia• Disgruntled peasants migrate east• Trading posts develop• Russian population expands dramatically– 1763: 420,000 Russians in Siberia, outnumber

indigenous peoples 2:1

Conquest of the “New World”

• Suddenly flora and fauna and diseases that had been partitioned began to mix.

• Smallpox kills 15% of population in American hemisphere.

• Smallpox and influenza reduce Aztec population by 90% (from 17m to 1.3m) within a century.

• Around 100 million worldwide die from diseases between 1500 and 1800.

Effects

• 1500: world population was appr: 425 million• By 1800: world population is at 800 million• By 1750, all parts of the world (except for

Australia) participated in global networks of commercial relations led by European merchant mariners.