Unit 2 – The Age of Exploration

& The Scientific

Revolution

Three Ships, by N.C. Wyatt

The Age of ExplorationForces Behind European

Exploration– God (Religious Motivations)

• Missionaries: spread word of Christ

• Many other religions seen as “savage”

• Increase power of Catholic Church

– Glory (Personal Motivations)• Spirit of adventure, natural

curiosity• Individual claim to fame

(fortune?)• Power of Kings and Queens,

empire– Gold (Economic Motivations)

• European interests in Asia– Spices, silk, tea, porcelain = $$$– Rise of Ottomans restricted Silk

Road– Could eliminate “middle man”

by sea• Hope of discovering precious

metals• Economic theory of

Mercantilism– Emerging notion Euro.

supremacy• Effects of Renaissance on

Exploration?

The Age of ExplorationAdvancing Sailing Technologies

– Europeans gained much of their nautical knowledge from Arabs, like:

• Portolani– Nautical maps of coastlines,

distances– Drawn on flat scale, no help

overseas• Compass

– Showed bearing of ship’s course• Astrolabe

– Used the sun or a star to find latitude

• Lateen Sails– Triangular sails allow for

increased maneuverability• Caravels

– Maneuverable ships that could hold heavy cannon & large cargo

– All combined to allow for greater sailing accuracy over greater distances

The Age of ExplorationThe First Exploring Nations:

Portugal– Portuguese Trading Empire

• Expeditions along W. African coast find new source of gold trade

– Bartholmeu Dias (1487)

• Portuguese ships discover new route to India around southern tip of Africa

– Vasco Da Gama (1497)

– Bring home spices, make major bank

• Attack Muslim trading operation, gain control of spice trade

• Establish major port in Meleka, India

• Portugal never colonized India. WHY?

– Lack of manpower

– Resources

– interest

The Age of ExplorationThe First Exploring Nations:

Spain– Christopher Columbus

• Italian, convinced Queen Isabella of Spain to finance experimental journey

– Many at the time knew world was round, but not sure how large

– thought he’d found short-cut to India by sailing west from Europe

• 1492: Columbus discovers what he thought were islands off China coast

– Called islands “West Indies”– Actually in Caribbean Sea

(America)

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)– Agreement between Portugal &

Spain– Claimed unknown lands for

Church– Line of Demarcation splits globe

• Portugal: rights to “Old World” • Spain: rights to most of “New

World”

The Age of ExplorationA Spanish Empire in the New

World– The Conquistadors

(“conquerors”)• Hernan Cortes (1519)

– Overthrew powerful Aztec Empire in modern-day Mexico, in only 3 years

• Francisco Pizarro (1531-1532)– Took control of Incan civilization

in South America over 30 years• Why? God, Glory, mostly GOLD.

– The Spanish encomienda system• Queen declared “Indians” her

subjects– Could legally be used as

laborers– Spanish were supposed to

protect Native Americans; widely abused

• Forced labor in mines, on plantations

– Little resistance to European diseases

» Smallpox, measles, typhus» Massive losses in

populations– Missionary efforts to destroy

culture

The Age of ExplorationThe Columbian Exchange

– Term given to the extensive exchange of plants & animals between the Old World and the New World.

• Previously isolated for more than a thousand years.– Huge impact on both sides of Atlantic (see video)

The Age of ExplorationThe Theory of Mercantilism

– Economic principles of the 1600s focused around a nation’s prosperity

• Rise of centralized nation-states• Measured by supply of gold &

silver• Gained thru favorable balance of

trade– Export more than you import

– Policies of European Rulers• Discourage import of foreign

goods– high taxes on imports (tariffs)

• Encourage export of manufactures

– Protect favorable trading monopolies

• Accept pay in gold, never pay in gold

• Establish & Protect Colonies– Source of raw materials, gold, &

silver– Protected market to sell

manufactures– Effects of Mercantilism

• European abuses in Americas, Africa

• National rivalries based on trade, war

African Civilizations• Role of Geography

– Climate dictate where, how people live

– Variety of resources throughout Africa

• Empires Through Trade– North African Nile civilizations

grew powerful through trade alliances

• Kush (Nubia) (1000BC - 150AD)• Axum (150BC – 1550BC)

– West African Empires Rise and Fall

• Located on Niger River valley• All centered on trading, taxes

– Iron, gold, ivory, SALT?

– Stateless societies in Southern Africa

• Local rulers, mixed economies• Rise of Zimbabwe through gold

trade– Ancient custom of slavery in

Africa

The Age of ExplorationThe African Slave Trade

– “Discovery” of Americas, sugarcane created huge demand for African slave

• Sugar plantations in Caribbean, Brazil

• Native workforce destroyed by disease

• Tradition of trade and slavery in Africa

– Triangular Trade Routes• AFRICA: import rum,

manufactured goods, export slaves, gold, ivory

• AMERICA: import slaves, export raw materials, rum, gunpowder

• EUROPE: Import raw materials, export manufactured goods

– Effects of Slave Trade on Africa• Tore families, communities apart• Constant internal warfare in

Africa– Practice of “self-enslavement”

(why?)• Dramatic costs on African

population

The Age of ExplorationEuropean Influence in the Far

East– India

• Expanding foreign presence (British)

– Spice Islands (Moluccas)• Dutch traders and military

eventually corner spice trade, local government

– Ex.: monopolize regional clove trade

– Est. military outpost to protect trade

– Mainland States of SE Asia• Resisted Euro. influence for

most part– Stronger political identity, unity

– China• Portuguese traders bring

missionaries– Noted for their new

technologies– Successful in spreading

Christianity• Highly restricted trade under

Qing– Refusal of expansion of British

trade– Japan

• Unified Japan initially pro Dutch trade

• Move toward isolationism after Jesuit missionaries destroy ancient shrines

– Many Japanese converts persecuted

How do we know something to be true?

What separates the truth from fiction, opinion, or speculation?

The Scientific Age• Traditional Sources of

Knowledge– The Bible, The works of Aristotle– During the Renaissance…

• New problems called for new solutions

• accurate measurements & calculations needed for business

• Humanists master Latin, discover new theories like…

– The Ptolemaic System• Ptolemy: Greek astronomer, c.

200AD– Calculated past, present pos. of

planets• Geocentric model of the

Universe– Centered on stationary Earth– Larger & larger revolving

spheres» Solid & transparent, with

heavenly bodies embedded within

– Outer sphere: Prime Mover (Heaven)

– Supported by Catholic Church

The Scientific Age• Challenges to Traditional

Thought– Nicholas Copernicus (Polish)

• Church administrator, astronomer

• Said Ptolemaic system too complicated

• Heliocentric System (1543)– Sun in the center of universe,

planets orbit the sun, moon orbits the Earth

– Earth rotates on axis• Not published until Copernicus

was on his deathbed (why?)– Johannes Kelper (German)

• Math that proved planetary motion

– Galileo Galilei (Italian)• First to use telescope for

astronomy• The Starry Messenger (1610)

– “Heavenly bodies” made of matter

– Spread heliocentric idea to the masses

• Catholic Church puts Galileo on Trial

The Scientific Age• Dawn of Modern Science

– Isaac Newton (English)• Tied together theories of

Copernicus, Kepler, & Galileo in Principia (1687):

– Universal law of gravitation (gravity) used math to explain forces of nature

– World-Machine concept dominant view until Einstein’s relativity

– The Scientific Method• Systematic procedure for

collecting & analyzing evidence– Developed by Sir Francis Bacon– Relies on scientific observations

of carefully organized experiments

– Instead of ideas of ancient authorities

• Freedom of Inquiry– Are we free to discover new

truths?» Limited by authorities?» Any room for morality in

science?