Chapter 17 Outline the West and the World

Chapter 17 Outline – The West and the World

IV. The Postclassical Era

B.  The West and the World

1.  Overview

-  In classical era, interaction among civilizations were regional, during postclassical period interactions increased but were still not the main focus of society, but after 1450, interactions became global and of major importance

·  New areas of world brought into the international scene (ex: Americas)

2.  The West’s First Outreach: Maritime Power

-  Starting with the Crusades in the 1100s, and then later when Mongols powerful, Europeans became more aware of outside societies and desired their goods (especially Middle East, China, and India)

a.  New Technology: A Key to Power

-  Europeans entered the period (1450-1750) behind most of world technologically, but new advances in 1400s changed that

·  Deep-draft, round-hulled ships could travel the Atlantic and carry heavy weapons

·  Compass (copied from Arabs who copied from Chinese) made navigation easier

·  Mapmaking skills improved

·  Biggest advantage was ability to make guns (using gunpowder learned from Chinese)

b.  Portugal and Spain Lead the Pack

-  Portugal first Europeans to become a world power

·  Reasons for exploration = excitement of discovery, potential to attack Muslims, and wealth

·  Henry the Navigator = Portuguese explorer, organized series of expeditions on African coast

-  Vasco da Gama = Portuguese explorer who sailed around Cape of Good Hope (southern tip of Africa) and reached India in 1498

·  Portuguese continued voyages, and reached India, China, Japan, and even Brazil (accidentally)

-  Spain soon eclipsed Portugal in world power

·  Spain motivated by missionary desire (spread religion) and desire for gold

·  Christopher Columbus = sailing for Spain, believed he found western route to India, but instead accidentally discovered the Americas; eventually led to Spanish control of Latin America (except for Portuguese Brazil)

·  Ferdinand Magellan = Spaniard, first to circumnavigate the globe (1519-1521); led to Spanish control of many Pacific islands including Philippines

c.  Northern European Expeditions

-  Northern Europe (England, France, Holland) soon passed southern Europe (Spain, Portugal)

·  Initially northern Europeans explored northward in the Americas b/c they could not challenge Spanish and Portuguese power

·  Dutch and British built lighter and faster ships, and in 1588 the British defeated the Spanish Armada (navy) signaling the beginning of northern Europeans dominating exploration

-  Britain, France, and Netherlands sponsored trading companies to increase exploration (ex: Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company)

·  Trade companies given a monopoly by the government in the area they explored, and had right to coin own money and raise military, basically serving as government over their territory

3.  Toward a World Economy

a.  The “Colombian Exchange” of Disease and Food

-  Biggest impact of contact between Europe and the America was that millions of Native Americans died from diseases (50-80% of Native Americans died from disease during 1500s and 1600s)

-  There were positive aspects of the contact between Europeans and Americans

·  Crops from America (corn and sweet potato) made their way back to Europe and eventually around the world

·  In Europe, the American crops that became popular were tobacco, sugar, and coffee

·  Animals such as horses and cattle introduced to the Americas

b.  The West’s Commercial Outreach

-  While Europeans were increasingly more powerful in trade and exploration, they did not completely monopolize the Indian Ocean

·  Muslims remained the dominant traders along the east African coast

·  But western Europe able to dominate oceanic shipping increasing western Europe’s profits

·  Battle of Lepanto (1571) = Spanish navy beat Ottoman Empire in Mediterranean, ending any hopes Muslims could compete with western Europe for international sea power

-  Western European trade dominance grew as western European nations established ports on west coast of Africa, parts of India and southeast Asia, and Portugal even got a port in China (Macao)

-  In areas they could not set up ports, western European merchants able to set up colonies (such as in Constantinople, Moscow, and even some in Japan)

·  International trade was becoming more important, and western Europe ran this trade

c.  Inbalances in World Trade

-  Western Europe expanded manufacturing, giving them even more of a profit as they could export expensive manufactured goods (guns, cloth) in return for raw goods (silver, sugar)

-  Core nations = the western European nations that became dominant in the emerging world trade

-  Mercantilism = economic system in which countries export as many goods as possible to make profit

-  Outside western Europe, many areas were involved in world trade, but they were on losing end of it

·  These areas produced raw materials such as precious metals and cash crops like sugar, spice, tobacco, and later cotton and sent them to western Europe in exchange for manufactured goods

·  Sub –Saharan Africa entered the world network mainly as suppliers of slaves

d.  A System of International Inequality

-  The areas on the losing end of the world trade network (Latin America and Africa) had inequalities

·  Coercive (forced) labor systems emerged b/c needed cheap labor to produce cash crops to send to western Europe

·  When Native Americans died from disease, Africans brought to the Americas as slave laborers

e.  How Much World in the World Economy

-  Areas outside the world trade network (such as China) did not advance as rapidly as western Europe did during the Early Modern Era (1450-1750)

·  Without profit of international trade, China could not advance as much as western Europeans

·  China chose to remain isolated beginning in the 1400s and as result fell behind technologically

·  Throughout this era, Europeans had desire to trade with China, but China not much desire back

-  Japan also pulled out of the international trade network during the Early Modern Period (1450-1750)

·  Japanese worried about influence western Europeans would have on warring lords and the threat guns posed on samurai warrior dominance, so they mostly cut off world contact

·  Japanese forbidden from international travel and from 1600s-1800s Japan almost totally isolated

-  The Middle East also remained outside of the world economy during this period

f.  The Expansionist Trend

-  The world economy (trade network) kept expanding and by the late 1600s India joined (this happened as the Mughal Empire in India began falling apart, which we will study later in year)

·  Britain began dominating India, passing high tariffs on cotton cloth from India to protect its own textile manufacturers

·  India was brought into the world economy, but at a distinct disadvantage

-  Eastern Europe also began entering the world economy

·  The growth of cities in western Europe led to need for more grain to be imported, which was met by eastern Europe (especially Prussia, Poland and Russia)

4.  Colonial Expansion

a.  The Americas: Loosely Controlled Properties

-  Spain was the first to colonize the Americas

·  Spain began by colonizing Hispaniola and other islands, and in 1509 began settlement of the mainland (first part of mainland settled was by Vasco de Balboa in Panama)

-  Spain expanded control of Latin America through adventurers who were often violent and treacherous

·  Francisco Pizarro (1478-1541) = Conquered the Inca

-  Europeans acquired colonies in the Americas in search of gold and riches

·  Colonial rulers often established loose control over their colonies, often leaving existing rulers in place as long as they paid tribute

·  Eventually that changed as agricultural settlements were established and stricter control enforced

-  France, Britain, and Holland came later to the Americas, but also set up colonies

·  French explored and settled along St. Lawrence River to Quebec, and along the Mississippi River

·  Dutch and British settled along the Atlantic Coast of North America

·  In 1600s, France, Britain, and Holland got colonies in West Indies that they used for slave trade

b.  British and French North America: Backwater Colonies

-  North American colonies differed from those in Latin America and the Caribbean

·  English colonies made up of religious refugees (ex: Calvinists)

·  Governments gave grants of land to individuals (like William Penn) in effort to recruit settlers

-  The first settlements in Canada formed by the French under the rule of Louis XIV

·  New France = French territory in Canada, by 1755 had about 55,000 settlers

·  Treat of Paris (1763) = ended Seven Year’s War (1756-1763), resulted in France losing its North American colonies to Britain

-  North American not too important to western European nations in the 1600s and 1700s

·  Dutch more focused on Asian colonies, and British and French focused on West Indies colonies

·  Lacked importance b/c couldn’t make as much profit from North American products (timber, fur)

-  Despite the American Revolution, North America did not play major role in world affairs until 1800s

-  Despite the lack of importance, many European settlers came to North America in 1600s and 1700s

·  As Europeans arrived, Native Americans were wiped out through disease and war

·  The British colonies in North America resembled European society (had representative governments, art styles came from Europe, etc.)

·  In North American colonies a merchant class emerged as did some manufacturing

-  Colonists easily able to defeat Native Americans in North America

·  North America was less densely populated with Native Americans than Latin America was

·  While colonists learned from them, they did not combine with Native Americans to form new cultural groups (they did in Latin America) instead killing them or pushing them west

-  By 1700, slavery was huge in North America (23% of population of English colonies were slaves)

c.  North America and Western Civilization

-  Most settlers in North America planned on keeping society similar to how it was in western Europe

·  Family patterns similar – nuclear families with emphasis on raising children

d.  Africa and Asia: Coastal Trading Stations

-  In Africa, Europeans did not establish large territories, instead building forts along the coast and negotiating with African kings to acquire slaves

·  Europeans didn’t set up large colonies b/c of the climate, disease, and nonnavigable rivers

-  There were 2 exceptions, when Europeans did control large parts of Africa during Early Modern Era

·  Angola = Portugal controlled Angola in southwest Africa

·  Cape Colony = Dutch colony in South Africa (started 1652)

·  Boers = Dutch farmers who moved to South Africa (enslaved Africans, leading to centuries of racial problems)

-  In late 1600s, Mughal Empire (which controlled India) began to weaken, and France and Britain competed for control

·  France and Britain had already set up forts along the coasts, and Portugal had colony of Goa

-  British East India Company had 2 major advantages over the French in the competition over India

·  Calcutta = key city in India where the British East India Company had offices

·  British East India Company had lot of influence over the British government, and British navy helped the company

·  French more interested in missionary work, British more financial during the 1600s and 1700s

-  The French-British rivalry in India raged bitterly through the mid-1700s, and war erupted

·  The British able to win and France lost all territory in India

-  Late in the 1700s, the British government began to take an active role in running India

e.  Impact on Western Europe

-  Western Europe’s success adding colonies affected Europe diplomatically, not just economically

·  Colonial rivalries led to wars between European nation-states

·  British fought Dutch, and then major rivalry between Britain and France

-  The most important commodity acquired in Europe from the colonies was sugar

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