What is this about?
Causes and effects of state-sponsored maritime exploration
- Reasons for exploration: “Gold, god, glory”
- “Gold” = explorers hoped to find riches overseas (like gold, silver, cash crops, etc)
- “God” = while some genuinely wanted to convert more people to Christianity, some used it as an excuse to justify their more material ambitions
- “Glory” = explorers and conquistadors sought fame, honor, and recognition for themselves and their countries
- Christopher Columbus, who sailed for Spain, landed in the Americas in 1492
The Role of States in Maritime Exploration
- Important change and continuity thing
- People have been exploring the seas for centuries but what’s different this time is the large-scale state sponsorship of these expeditions
- States were centrally involved in maritime exploration
- Voyages like the one Columbus took were way too expensive and could only be afforded by a state (most explorers and merchants could not have afforded it)
Why Would States Sponsor Expeditions?
- Once again: gold, god, glory
- Conquests, according to mercantilism, brought wealth
- American conquests in addition brought silver
- Religion was tightly woven into the government of most European states
- So preserving and spreading a state’s religion became another reason for state involvement
Mercantilism
- Dominant economic theory in Europe from 1450-1750
- Measured wealth in how much gold and silver a country had accumulated
- Goal was to maximize exports and minimize imports
- If you are exporting more stuff, that means more gold and silver coming in
- Limited amount of wealth in the world: saw world’s wealth as giant pie
- Meaning as one country got richer (took a larger slice of the pie), it would be at the expense of another (other country would get smaller slice)
- Mercantilism highly encouraged expansion
- This is because in mercantilism, colonies exist to provide raw resources and provide new markets to export goods to
- Government played a significant role in shaping and implementing economic policies
- Govt regulated economic activity to promote national interests
- Ex: imposing tariffs to incentivize less people to import and more to manufacture at home and export
Expansion of European Maritime Exploration
Portugal
Portuguese in Africa and India
- In Portugal, the interests of the state and the interest of explorers were very tied together
- Why? Geography: Portugal, being completely surrounded by Spain, has only one way to expand: into the sea
Important Portuguese People
- Prince Henry the Navigator (1394–1460)
- Became the first European monarch to sponsor seafaring expeditions
- Didn’t actually go on these expeditions: he just funded them
- Bartholomew Diaz
- In 1488, he sailed all the way to the southern tip of Africa (then returned home)
- Vasco De Gama
- In 1498, he sailed around the southern tip of Africa and landed in India
- Claimed certain ports in India for Portugal
Portuguese in Southeast and East Asia
- In 1511, Portuguese also conquered Malacca
- Was a very strategic location in Southeast Asia and was a major spice trade hub
- In 1514, Portuguese arrived in China
- After the merchants came, the missionaries came
- Two sects of Catholic missionaries: Franciscans and Jesuits
- Franciscans worked to convert the mass of Chinese people
- Jesuits worked to convert the elites of China
- Minor impact: had some success but most Chinese people rejected Christianity
Trading Post Empire
- Normally, empires try to conquer as much land as possible
- Portugal, however, established a trading post empire
- This is an empire that claims small amounts of land at strategic locations around the world, such as in Africa and Asia
- Their goal was to have a complete monopoly over the spice trade and to charge all other ships passing through the ports they controlled
Portuguese Vulnerability
- Portugal was initially successful in global trade but as it was a small nation, it lacked the workers and ships necessary to maintain this
- Many Portuguese merchants ignored their government’s orders and did what they wanted to
- Corruption also spread among government officials
- Eventually Malacca was conquered by Dutch in 1620 and the British pushed out the Portuguese from India
Spanish in the Philippines and Americas
- Ferdinand Magellan of Spain became first person to circumnavigate the world
- Spanish annex Philippines in 1521
- Manila became major Spanish commercial center in the area
- Many Filipinos, due to Spanish occupation, converted to Catholicism
- Christopher Columbus sailed for Spain and landed in Americas in 1492
French Exploration
- In 1500s and 1600s, French government funded expeditions to find a northwest passage (a route through or around North America that would lead to East Asia)
- In 1535, in search of this northwest passage, Jacques Cartier found a part of Canada and established a French trading post called Quebec
- French realized Canada had valuable goods like fur and timber
- French took a different approach to expansion
- French rarely settled permanently
- Instead of demanding land, they traded for the furs trapped by Native Americans
English Exploration
- In 1607, English established colony called Virginia and established a settlement called Jamestown
- Was England’s first successful colony in the Americas
Dutch Exploration
- In 1609 Henry Hudson claimed the Hudson River Valley and established New Amsterdam (modern day New York)