10/27/2011. Why we should stop celebrating Columbus day and start recognizing the true history of exploration

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1 A fundamental history of the European continent before, during, and after a prolonged era of exploration, discovery, and expansion that led them to the North American continent, which pit their want of land, markets, and glory against the indigenous people s want of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I. What was American society like on the eve of discovery? II. What were the goals of the European voyagers and why would they want to leave? III. What were the consequences of the contact between natives and newcomers? Why we should stop celebrating Columbus day and start recognizing the true history of exploration 1

2 The Yucatan Peninsula Chichen-Itza - Pyramid Mayan Cultivation of Maize 2

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4 1300 AD Taste 1). Reaction of the glands in the palate to food or any soluble substance, 2). Measure of aesthetic or artistic discernment After the Crusades, Europe experienced a revolution of both! Crusades awakened Europe to the riches of Eastern cultures and food. Spices, foods, condiments were all experienced by the Crusaders who returned to Europe desiring more. Cinnamon, sugarcane, nutmeg, ginger, safron With finer foods came finer tastes in fabrics, decorations, and furniture. But is was very expensive This created larger profits Which created. 4

5 Because of the rise of trade, a merchant class began to expand: Lawyers, bankers, and merchants They found their marketplace in the cities, which began to expand immensely Ex. London in ,000 people By , 000 people Profits were reinvested into the business This began the earliest form of Capitalism (private ownership, financial institutions, and reinvestment of profits) Holding companies and Corporations were developed, business schools created all for the businessmen to learn to earn more money Nobility began to ally themselves with merchants By the end of the middle ages and beginning of the renaissance: New View of Politics during the Renaissance -- Machiavelli, The Prince Emergence of Centralized, Competitive Monarchies Land enclosure by lords and kings for profit caused many former serfs off the land and into the cities What about jobs? Who migrates from a society? 5

6 Caravel (Lateen and square sails in combination) Compass Discovery of Trade Winds Stern-post rudder New Military Technology --Emergence of gunpowder weaponry --The Rise of the Standing Army --Royalized Warfare Lots of imperial warfare competition for Power Land pride Growing SECULARISM Protestant Reformation (1517-one of the most important dates you ll ever need to remember for Western Civ!) Martin Luther Germany, Netherlands, England Freedom from authority of Church Reading Bible in common language New thought and science were triggered Where the industrial revolution began. Intelligence leads to questioning??? Spain, Portugal, Italy Repression of new ideas Banning foreign books, education Heresies punished to preserve Church Inquisition: Protestants, Jews, Moslems Fell behind in technology 6

7 Accidental discovery. Desire to bypass Moslem world s monopoly on trade (luxury?) goods. Disruptions of overland routes (somewhat overrated). Intra-European rivalry. Curiosity. Rebirth of science and medicine due to contact with Muslim world (their Golden Age) led to vastly increased life span and population growth. End of Black Death 1350 (further Population Pressure what do people do during GOOD times?) End of Reconquista 7

8 3-G s Reconquista caused Spain to become: Catholic protectorate Most powerful monarchy Earliest Nation State Shifted attention westward b/c Italy controlled land access to riches Portugal controlled African route Reconquista ended in 1492 What to do with all those Conquistadores? They refuse to go to work or become merchants and bankers. First ranking world power in the 1400 s and 1500 s The Reconquista of Spain produces conquistadors The voyages of Columbus The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) Cortes conquest of the Aztecs Administration of New Spain -- encomienda Cycle of Conquest & Colonization Christófo Colón [ ] [1451- Explorers Official European Colony! Columbus Four Voyages The Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494 & The Pope s Line of Demarcation 8

9 The First Spanish Conquests: The Aztecs The Death of Montezuma II vs. Fernando Cortés Montezuma II Mexico Surrenders to Cortés The First Spanish Conquests: The Incas vs. Francisco Pizarro Atahualpa Where the Gold at?!? Brought Catholicism to the New World More fluid racial categories than with other European settlement No real settlement in New Mexico and California until later Importation of precious metals leads to rampant inflation in Spain and the rest of Europe also leads to piracy 9

10 The Spanish Colonial Class System European Empires in the Americas Peninsulares Creoles Mestizos Mulattos Native Indians Black Slaves New foodstuffs: coffee, tea, potatoes, tomatoes, chocolate, squash, maize (yet another increase in lifespan and population pressure. Improvements in shipbuilding, charting, navigation. General stimulus to math, chemistry, astronomy, optics, physics, medicine, etc. Further Nation building Growth of towns, Middle Class, AND Mercantilism Decline of Aristocracy Beginning of the end of feudalism QUESTIONING OF LONG HELD CONSERVATIVE BELIEFS Slaves captured or bought in Africa Shipped to Northern Africa and Caribbean to work on Sugar plantations Slaves traded for sugar Sugar turned into rum rum traded in Europe for manufactured goods European manufactured goods traded in Africa for slaves Slave Triangle 10

11 The Columbian Exchange Squash Avocado Peppers Sweet Potatoes Turkey Pumpkin Tobacco Quinine Cocoa Pineapple Cassava POTATO Peanut TOMATO Vanilla MAIZE Syphilis Trinkets Liquor GUNS Olive COFFEE BEAN Banana Rice Onion Turnip Honeybee Barley Grape Peach SUGAR CANE Oats Citrus Fruits Pear Wheat HORSE Cattle Sheep Pigs Smallpox Flu Typhus Measles Malaria Diptheria Whooping Cough Great Climate Great Soil Small population Religiously homogeneous Stable monarchy (oxymoron?) So why leave? Interest in New World developed more slowly Motivation for exploration = northwest passage No real success at first --Jacques Cartier Developed fur trade with Hurons and other Native American enemies of the Iroquois --Samuel Champlain Catholic desire to save the heathens Indifference of French monarchy to colonization While the French are important We will get back to them later Individualistic trappers carve out isolated existence 11

12 Some Dutch settlement along the Hudson River Valley in Henry Hudson Nurtured a fur trade with the Iroquois confederacy Peter Minuet bought Manhattan Island from the natives in 1626 creating New Amsterdam $25 in 1626 ($ ) Beyond New Netherlands, no real Dutch presence in the New World --No religious turmoil --Booming commerce = plenty of jobs --No surplus agricultural population British pirates: better ships, guns American Colonies: settled by dissidents to start a new life Britain ahead of Europe in Textiles (sheep) Iron Coal Agriculture Roads Freedoms English fishermen explored the Grand Banks in the 1480 s First official visit = John Cabot in 1497 English interest wanes for 75 years Elizabeth I merges English nationalism with Protestantism as she increasingly challenges the Spanish in Europe and in America Ireland = Dress Rehearsal for treatment of Native Americans 12

13 The glorious failures of Sir Humphrey Gilbert The colonial vision of Sir Walter Raleigh The Lost Colony of Roanoke ( ) -- Croatan Propagandist Richard Hakluyt keeps English fascination with the New World alive through his writings --Voyages, 1589 Indian village 13