How did the Europeans start to go out and explore and even dominate?
How they learned what would work?
Ptolemy's map
- from Roman times
- was seen as standard knowledge for a long time
- according to this map the Indian Ocean is landlocked
- you can't get there from the Atlantic ocean
- around 1200 or so, as the
Rennaissance starts, people begin to question the ancient authorities
- trade of luxury goods such
as silk and spices from the far east, which came by land to the middle
east, was very profitable, and the Muslims cut the Europeans out
- earlier theories had held that a sea route didn't exist--the Indian Ocean was thought to be landlocked
- map above is from about 150 AD--Claudius Ptolemy
- more history of maps
- what leads to exploration of the oceans in the 14th century
- looking for new trade
routes to asia--but this was far away
- running out of land and
resources so wanted to colonize--find fertile land where they could
live (but it took them a while to realize this was possible)
- looking for an adventure and to discover new things--Renaissance ideas encourage this
- new technology (but technology is more a result than a cause)
- looking for a lost
Christian civilization to help against the Muslims
The Portugese slowly explored southward along the coast of Africa
- Prince Henry the Navigator sponsored a series of expeditions and a "School of Navigators" where information was collected and compiled
- the problem of navigation was not solved in this period
- magnetic compass was introduced in 13th century, but knowing which way you are going doesn't help much if you don't know where you are
- more careful mapmaking was the main
improvement of the 14th and 15th centuries, particularly knowledge of
the winds
- minor improvements in methods for measuring latitude in 15th century
- the problem of measuring longitude was not solved until the mid to late 1700s ( story)
- they were also looking for
a rumored lost
Christian civilization to help them fight the Muslims
- found not only a way around Africa, but before they did that they also found something more useful--islands
- Getting across the Atlantic
ocean south of Iceland was a real problem
unless you had some place to stop
The Canary Islands, the Azores, and Madeira were the first successful European colonies
- they had fertile soil, temperate climate, usually enough rain, and the Azores and Madeiras had no inhabitants
- remote islands tend to have
vulnerable
ecosystems
- because there were no large predators sheep released on the Azores survived wild
- rabbits were released on Porto Santo, an island in the Madeiras, and with no predators spread so fast that agriculture became impossible
- sugar cane was brought to Madeira and became a huge money-maker, with the work done by slaves. This was the model that the first European colonies in the new world sought to copy
- this took complicated
terracing and irrigation--in Madeira the rain falls only at high
elevations
- in the Canaries the native people--Guanches--at first fought back successfully on the larger islands, but had no communication between islands and on the larger islands were not united
- what the Europeans brought with them was crucial--metal, Christianity, horses, and most significantly diseases
- the native people became
exinct. This became a model for the idea that Europeans could
take over.
- lesson learned: Europeans and their plants and animals could do quite well in places where they had never existed if the climate was relatively similar. The local people could be conquered.
- The Europeans had a biological advantage in
remote areas--this is the idea Crosby will be exploring
Europeans learned from these islands a method of successful colonization. They were beginning to get their confidence that they can:
- dominate another group of people
- successfully live in other parts of the world
- bring their own plants and animals
- get rich this way
- Rennaissance humanism--increasing emphasis on the idea that people can accomplish something for themselves
- realized ancient authorities like Aristotle were sometimes wrong
- people were excitied about finding new knowledge, led to the beginnings of science (Copernicus, Galileo)
- the scientific method is
invented in the early 1500s
- in the middle ages for staple goods you generally didn't have a free market, instead you had customary prices
- charging interest on a loan
was generally considered immoral (Bible bans usury)
- the market was more free for luxury goods and institutions like banks developed for that trade
- new economic idea in the
age of exploration--countries compete for wealth by trade (mercantile
capitalism)
- governments begin to support exploration
- then large trading companies invest in colonies
- only later in some areas
does the emphasis become individuals and families moving permanently