The First Global Age: Europe, Asia, the

Americas, and Africa

1492-1700s

The Age of Discovery & Expansion

• Began a period of growing global interdependence that continues today.

• Marked the beginning of European domination of the globe.

1.What motivated the Europeans to cross the seas and what technologies allowed them to do it?

Why did it happen?• Fall of Constantinople in 1453

cut of Christian trade routes

Muslim Turks controlled overland trade routes to the

Orient (The Silk Road)

-Italian city-states had a monopoly on all trade within

the Mediterranean Sea

3 G’s

Gold Glory God

• It’s the economy stupid! (Gold) $$$–Luxury goods from Asia such as

spices are desired• New Renaissance spirit (Glory)

–Pursuit of individual fame and power, adventure, curiosity, & a desire to learn

–Nationalism-pride or love for ones country

• Desire to spread Christianity and crusade against the Muslims. (God)

• New technology made it happen–Better maps and sea charts,

astrolabe, caravel, ship rudder, cannons mounted on ships, the compass, and movable type.

2. How did Portugal’s explorations lead of the development of a trading empire in the east?

Portugal-lead the way.

Portugal’s Empire

The 1500s are referred to as the “Golden Centuryof Portuguese Prosperity.” In less than 50 yearsthey built a trading empire in Asia that controlled spice trade and the flow of gold to Europe.

Prince Henry the Navigator1394-1460

• 1415 he conquered Ceuta in North Africa.

• Opened a school for navigation and cartography (map making) in Portugal c. 1420

• Trading post were established on Africa’s west coast

• Started the African slave trade

• Helped develop the caravel, a new ship–Deep hull

could ride out ocean storms

–Triangular sails

–Cannons on the sides

reached the Cape of Good Hope-Africa’s southern most point in 1488

Bartholomeu Dias

Vasco Da Gama

First to sail around the Cape of Good Hope to India-1497

• 1497 he left Portugal with 4 ships and 170 men– Returned in 1499 with

only 54 of his men, many died of scurvy.

– The Arab rulers if India were unfriendly and unwilling to trade

• Returned with warships in 1502, he seized key ports and forced a treaty of friendship on the ruler of Calcut.

Afonso de Albuquerque • Moved to end Muslim

power and turn the Indian Ocean into a “Portuguese lake.”– 1510 seized the island of

Goa of the coast of India– 1511 took Malacca, killed

its people, took their wealth, and built a fort

• Most of the 1500s, Portugal controlled the spice trade between Europe and Asia with military and merchant outposts.

In less than 50 years, the Portuguese had built a trading empire with military outposts, or distant areas under their control, rimming

the southern seas. They seized cities on the east coast of Africa so they could resupply and repair their ships.

Major changes occurred in Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Africa as a result of the first

global age from 1492 through the 1700s.

THE FIRST GLOBAL AGE

1500-1700s

ASIA

AMERICAS

AFRICA

EUROPE

The Columbian Exchange

brought corn and the potato

Colonial empiresest. in the Americas: Settled the fringes

of Asia and Africa

Commercial Rev.Inflation

CapitalismJoint Stock Co.

“Putting-Out” systemMercantilism

Growth of the Middle-class

Globaldomination

begins

Colonial Wars like The Seven Years War

between Britain and France

Changes in EuropeCh 16 Section 5

•What was the Columbian Exchange and how did it impact

on the world?

A Global Exchange *• New Foods/Animals

– New World to Old World: Corn, potatoes, tomatoes, chocolate, tobacco, and peppers.

– Old World to New World: wheat, grapes, bananas, and sugar cane. Cattle, pigs, goats, chickens, & horses. Smallpox, flu, & common cold.

• Impact on Populations

– World populations increased.

– Migration of millions:• European settlers to

the Americas. • Native American

populations declined.

• Millions of Africans were forced to cross

the Atlantic. *– A transfer of ideas

and technologies

Changes in Europe•What were the economic

consequences for Europeans that resulted

from the opening of direct links with Asia,

Africa, and the Americas?

A Commercial Revolution1. The Price Revolution

– Prices began to rise (inflation) in Europe because of increased money in circulation and a larger population causing greater demand.

2. Growth of Capitalism - an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned by entrepreneurs and operated for profit.

3. New Business Methods like banking and joint stock companies.

4. Traditional guilds were replaced with the “putting-out” system.

Mercantilism• An economic policy implemented by European monarchs aimed at

strengthening national economies by increasing national wealth• Overseas colonies were central to the policy and they existed for the

benefit of the parent country– A nation’s real wealth is measured in its gold and silver treasure– A nation must export more than it imports– Colonies provide resources and raw materials and serve as a

market for manufactured• Government control

– Exploited mineral and timber resources– Built roads– Backed new industries– Imposed a single national currency– Established standard weights and measures– Sold monopolies to big overseas trading companies– Imposed tariffs, or taxes on imported goods to protect local

industries from foreign competition

How were Europeans affected socially?• Impact depended on one’s social class

–Merchants (entrepreneurs and capitalists) got rich• New middle-class families in growing cities enjoyed life with servants

–Peasants were affected very little–Nobles were hurt due to higher prices–Workers wages didn’t keep up with

prices so they faced poverty and discontent

“The Travels of Marco Polo”

• Reached China in 1275

• His book, “The Travels of Marco Polo” became a best seller

Spain PortugalWest of Line East of Line

•Treaty of Tordesillas• The Pope drew the Line of

Demarcation

Spanish Explorers•Columbus•Magellan•Vespucci•Balboa

•De Leon•Cortes•Pizarro•Coronado

1451-1506Born in Genoa, Italy

• Worked on ships his whole life

• Was always poor• Trained in

Portugal but was rejected there

• Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain funded his trip

Landed in San Salvador Island in 1492

•4 trips to the New World

• Was made a governor in the New World, he ruled poorly and was arrested and brought back to Spain in chains

• Always believed that he had discovered India

Ferdinand Magellan• Leader of the

first expedition to circumnavigate the globe

• 3 yr. journey from 1519-1522

• Killed in the Philippines

• Sebastian del Cano brought the expedition back to Spain

• Only 18 of 260 men made it back on 1 ship (The Victoria) of 5 that undertook the expedition

• Strait of Magellan

Spain• Conquistadores

-Private adventurers

-Brought N and S America under Spanish dominion

-Cortes defeated the Aztecs in Mexico

-Pizarro defeated the Incas in Peru