Unit 1: Exploration and Expansion

Study Guide

Write the number of the paragraph where you found the answer in the space provided

Questions / Paragraph Number
  1. What were the five major European countries involved in expansion?

  1. Why was Portugal one of the earliest countries to expand?

  1. How did the Treaty of Tordesillas have an impact on the expansion of Portugal and Spain?

  1. Where did the Portuguese expand and what was life like where they went?

  1. Where did the Spanish expand and what was life like where they went?

  1. Where did the French expand and what was life like where they went?

  1. Where did the Netherlands expand and what was life like where they went?

  1. Where did the British expand and what was life like where they went?

  1. How did navigation technology help Europeans expand?

  1. How did military technology help Europeans expand?

  1. How did mercantilism create more wealth for the mother countries?

  1. What are the important parts of mercantilism?

  1. How did the growth of capitalism change societies around the world?

  1. What is a market economy?

  1. What goods did Europeans trade for in Asia?

  1. How was Asia changed by European expansion?

  1. Why did many Asian societies choose to return to isolation after having contact with Europeans?

  1. What was the main good Europeans got from Africa in the 1600s and 1700s?

  1. How did the slave trade hurt African societies?

  1. How were the Americas changed by European expansion?

  1. What were plantations in the Americas like?

  1. How were indentured servants different from slaves?

  1. How did conflicts like the French and Indian War have an impact on the Americas?

Unit 1 Vocabulary

  1. European Expansion
  1. Absolute Monarchy
  2. New World
  3. Treaty of Tordesillas
  4. Settlement Colonies
  5. Plantations
  6. Trade Companies
  7. Limited Government
  8. Politics
  9. Economies
  10. Navigation
  11. Merchants
  12. Mercantilism
  13. Mother Country
  14. Exports
  15. Imports
  16. Balance of Trade
  17. Colonies
  18. Tariffs
  19. Capitalism
  20. Market Economy
  21. Isolation
  22. Missionaries
  23. Revolt
  24. Indentured Servants
  25. French and Indian War

Unit 1: Exploration and Expansion

1.1: European Countries Expand

1 One of the major goals for European countries during the 1600s and 1700s was the desire to expand. Spain, Portugal, England, France, and the Netherlands (also called the Dutch) all spread out from Europe, hoping to find wealth and power in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. This process was called EUORPEAN EXPANSION.

2 Portugal was one of the earliest countries to expand. They sent explorers out to find new routes for travel and trade. The explorer Bartolemeu Dias left from Portugal and sailed south, eventually finding the southern tip of Africa. Vasco da Gama, another Portuguese explorer, continued past Africa and discovered a sea route to Asia.

3By controlling the early trade with Asia Portugal became very wealthy and powerful. Trade in silks, porcelain, and especially spices all added to Portugal’s wealth. Portugal’s government was a strong ABSOLUTE MONARCHY, a type of government where the King or Queen has all the power. They carried this style of government into the places they expanded.

4Most of Spain’s colonies were found in the NEW WORLD (North and South America). Portugal had wanted that land too, and before long a world-wide war was preparing to start. To prevent the war, the two sides agreed to the TREATY OF TORDESILLAS. The Treaty divided the world in two. Spain would control most of the New World, while Portugal would gain control of Africa and Asia.

5Spain’s colonies were used to make money, especially by mining gold and silver. They used slaves to gather their wealth. At first, they used Native Americans as slaves, but when they needed more workers they began shipping slaves from Africa. Like Portugal, Spain brought their absolute monarchy with them into the New World.

6Both Spain and Portugal were involved in spreading religion as well, although this was not their major goal. Christianity spread to the places Spain and Portugal went. Specifically, they spread Catholic Christianity to the New World, Africa, and Asia.

7As the years went by more European nations started to expand. They followed the paths made by Spain and Portugal and began finding their own trade routes and establishing their own colonies and trading posts.

8France would establish most of its colonies in the New World, especially in North America. Their territory spread through most of modern day Canada and followed the Mississippi River south to the city of New Orleans. The French became very wealthy in the fur trade. To help them trap more animals, the French worked alongside Native Americans to find the best hunting and trapping spots. While France had the same type of government as Portugal and Spain, its colonies were not as tightly controlled and their people had a little more freedom to govern themselves.

9The Netherlands, or the Dutch, had only one successful colony in the New World, the South American colony of Suriname. Most of the Netherlands’ wealth came from their control of the spice trade in Southern Asia, especially their trade with Indonesia. Although the Netherlands were smaller than the other expanding nations, they were very, very rich. Their government was most similar to France because they had an absolute monarchy but they gave their colonies from freedom to make their own choices.

10Great Britain established important colonies in the New World and in Asia. Unlike the other countries, who expanded as a way to make money, Great Britain expanded for a variety of reasons. Some people left Great Britain because they wanted to practice their religion freely, though they would not give the same rights to others. Some colonies, such as Jamestown in Virginia, became SETTLEMENT COLONIES, which were colonies created for people to go live. Some of the British territories were full of PLANTATIONS, large farms where slaves were used to grow valuable crops like rice, tobacco, sugar cane, and indigo. In places like India, the British established TRADE COMPANIES that acted and operated like a government.

11Britain was also different because of its government. Unlike the absolute monarchies of the other expanding countries, Britain had a LIMITED GOVERNMENT, meaning that the government could not do anything it wanted. Places where the British settled would develop limited governments of their own. Many of these limited governments allowed people to vote for their leaders, making them representative governments.

1.2: Expansion Technologies

12Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, and Britain all left their mark on the places they expanded. European POLITICS (the way the government is set up and conducts its business), militaries, and ECONOMIES (things dealing with money, business, and trade) took over just like their people took over the land. Native cultures, some of which had existed for thousands of years, were replaced with the ideas the Europeans brought with them.

13So, how were the Europeans able to spread their culture so effectively? They were not better people. They did not have some natural advantage over native people, such as being stronger or faster. They weren’t more intelligent or morally superior. What they did have on their side, and what allowed them to dominate other people around the world, was their technology.

14One way that technology helped Europeans was making NAVIGATION (finding the way to get from one place to another) easier. Mapmaking, also called cartography, improved during the 1600s and 1700s, making maps more accurate and easier to use. Compasses, which point direction using the Earth’s magnetic field, helped people identify the direction they were going. The astrolabe was used to determine your longitude and latitude on a map. The ships Europeans used also changed. The caravel is a type of ship with triangular sails. This meant that the caravel could use the wind blowing from any direction, unlike the old square-sailed ships that could only move when the wind was blowing from behind.

15Military technology also helped Europeans expand. The biggest advantage that Europeans had when dealing with native people was gunpowder. Weapons such as rifles and cannons allowed Europeans to conquer native people despite having fewer people to fight with.

16This technology allowed Europeans to fundamentally change the places they took over. They didn’t just trade goods. They also spread their government systems, religions, cultural beliefs, and even language. Most of the places conquered by Spain still use Spanish as a major language. The United States, which was originally a collection of 13 British colonies, has English as its main language.

1.3: Mercantilism

17As Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, and Great Britain expanded, they traded more and more with people far away from their home countries. This international trade caused many economic changes in Europe during the 1600s and 1700s. This growth of trade led to new the creation of new technologies, the “discovery” of the New World (because let’s be honest, you can’t discover something that already has people living there), and a growing class of MERCHANTS (people who buy and sell goods) caused the economy to become much more complicated than it had been under the old feudal system. Because of these changes, European nations developed the system of MERCANTILISM.

18Under mercantilism, theMOTHER COUTNRY (the country that owns and controls a colony) controlled trade. Countries wanted their EXPORTS (goods being sold and leaving the country) to be higher than their IMPORTS (goods being bought and brought into the country). If your exports were higher than your imports, you had a favorable BALANCE OF TRADE, and your country’s wealth of gold and silver would increase.

19COLONIES (land separated from the mother country but owned and controlled by it) were a major part of mercantilism. The colonies provided cheap resources and raw materials, such as wood, oil, and iron ore. These resources were taken by the mother country and used to make new products. Those products would then be sold back to the colonies, keeping all the profit within one country’s control. To prevent outside traders from coming in, mercantilist countries put heavy TARIFFS (taxes on imports) on goods from outside the mother country. This way, colonies were discouraged from trading with anyone but their own mother country.

1.4: Capitalism

20CAPITALISM is an economic system where resources and factories are owned by private individuals so they can make a profit. During the 1600s and 1700s, changes in Europe’s economy allowed capitalism to become popular. Private property was used to both control trade and help the country’s wealth grow. Merchants and ship owners took the risks associated with exploration and expansion, but if they were successful they could become wealthy from their trade.

21These merchants and businessmen become the heart of growing middle class, a group of people living in European towns and cities who had extra money to spend. As the middle class grew, so did the MARKET ECONOMY, where individual buyers and sellers exchange goods and services. Capitalism continued to grow in Europe as the middle class and market economies expanded.

1.5: Changes in Africa, Asia, and the Americas

22As we’ve discussed before, European nations changed the places where they expanded. Asia, Africa, and the Americas are fundamentally different because of the Europeans that came onto their land and changed their governments, their economies, and their societies. While Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, and Great Britain all changed their new territories in different ways, there were also some similarities in the places they expanded into.

ASIA

23Europeans got involved in Asia during the very early years of their expansion. Unlike the New World and Africa, Asian countries had technology and militaries that were roughly equal to the Europeans. Instead of being conquered, Asian societies traded as equals with their European visitors, and the trade of spices, silks, and porcelain benefitted both regions.

24One of these benefits was an increase in development. Europeans built trading posts in the port cities sitting on the Pacific Ocean and other places along the coasts of Asian countries. This made Asian economies more dependent on trade, especially a growing class of wealthy merchants that made their fortunes trading goods with Europeans. Because the two regions were relatively equal, Europeans did not establish colonies in Asia, but the continual presence of Europeans did have major impacts on Asian society and culture.

25Asian societies had developed in ISOLATION (no contact with outsiders). European trade ended this isolation and caused European ideas to spread. One of the biggest examples of this was the spread of Christianity. Christian MISSIONARIES (people who spread Christianity to other countries) began travelling with European merchants, converting as many people as they could to Christianity along the way. However, spreading Christianity hurt the relationship between European and Asian traders. Many Asian nations restricted or closed off trade with Europeans because they wanted to protect their traditional cultures. By returning to isolation, they hoped to prevent any more European influence from impacting their people.

AFRICA

26During the 1600s and 1700s, Africa was dominated by the slave trade. Nations that established trading posts in Africa were seeking out slaves for the New World. As plantations grew and spread in the Americas, more and more slaves were needed to keep the plantations operating. European slavers bought captured prisoners from African tribes, trading goods like iron, cloth, and horses for the slaves they would then ship to the Americas. Because their focus was entirely on the buying and selling of human beings there were no colonies established in the 1600s and 1700s, though that would change in later centuries.

27This slave trade severely hurt African nations. While some groups became very powerful and wealthy from the slave trade, most people in Africa suffered from it. Families and communities were torn apart. African economies were destroyed because the slave trade stole many workers away from their homelands. The population of Africa dropped because of the slave trade. Not only did it drop because of the people being enslaved, but also because of the wars fought among African nations in the hope of capturing more prisoners to be sold to the Europeans.

28Some people did try to resist the slave trade. In some places, Africans attacked slave traders to prevent them from taking any more people. On the slave ships, some captured people tried to REVOLT, or fight back against the crew and take control of the ship. However, these attempts to fight back often failed.

THE AMERICAS (THE NEW WORLD)

29Expansion in the Americas was mostly driven by the desire to get rich. Most of the colonies that were created during the 1600s and 1700s were created in either North or South America. Unlike the trading posts established in Asia and Africa, these colonies were the property of their mother country.

30Plantations were common throughout the Americas, including the islands in the Caribbean. Slaves were used to grow and harvest cash crop such as sugar cane, rice, indigo, and tobacco. Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, France, and Great Britain all had plantations in the Americas. Spain started their plantations using Native American slaves, but later began importing Africans instead. African slaves were also used by the other European countries. The slave system created by these plantations caused Native Americans and African to be treated badly in the North and South American colonies.