September 11, 2023

What were the broad patterns of world trade after 1450? How were major features of world trade in Asia, the Americas, Africa, and Europe alike and different?

Ottoman expansion and Portuguese overseas ventures begin a complex process that changes the way peoples around the world interact with one another.

For the first time, major world empires are oceanic, overseas empires rather than continental empires.

Despite the long-term significance of European activity in the Americas, most Africans and Asians are barely aware of the Americas or the expansion of long-distance trade.

Within Europe, dynastic states concentrate attention and resources on their own internal rivalries. Religious revolts, especially the Protestant Reformation, intensify those rivalries.

Asian empires thrive in the sixteenth century, thanks to commercial expansion and political consolidation.

Global Storyline

What were the broad patterns of world trade after 1450? How were major features of world trade in Asia, the Americas, Africa, and Europe alike and different?

What factors that enabled Europeans to increase their trade relationships with Asian empires in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries? How significant was each factor?

In what ways did European colonization of the Americas affect African and Amerindian peoples? How did those groups respond?

How similar and different were the practices of European explorers in Asia and the Americas?

Within Afro-Eurasian polities, what types of social and political relationships developed during this period? What were the sources of conflict?

Focus Questions

By the mid-fifteenth century, the major rising world power was the Ottoman Empire.

Projected power by sea with the world’s largest armada and the latest advances in geography and cartography

Ottoman expansion prompted Europeans to seek alternative routes to access Asian luxury goods

Portuguese entered Indian Ocean

Accidental discovery of the Americas

Merging of two biomes

Significance of European exploration initially unclear

Contact, Commerce, and Colonization

Around the 1450s, the major rising power in the world was not Spain or Portugal, but the Ottoman Empire. During this time, the Ottomans were expanding rapidly in the Mediterranean and Indian Oceans, conquering Arab lands and even advancing into Europe.

Ottoman success in gaining control over land-based trade routes to Asia prompted Europeans to find a direct route to Asia by sea. After Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1498, Portuguese navigators entered the Indian Ocean and attempted to dominate its thriving trade networks. At first, the Ottomans did not see these newcomers as a significant threat to their influence in South Asia. However, a major Portuguese naval victory against the Ottomans allowed the Portuguese to further consolidate control. Still, European presence in the Indian Ocean at the time was minimal and limited to a few strategically situated port cities. No one could have predicted what later developments would bring.

European attempts to find new routes to Asia led to the accidental discovery of the Americas. Separated since the Ice Age, Afro-Eurasia and the Americas had formed two distinct biomes, or biological systems. When Europeans stumbled onto the Americas, they initiated momentously consequential exchange of people, animals, plants, commercial products, and deadly diseases that brought these biomes together.

Although the impact of these events was dramatic, most people at the time were barely aware of them or could not have appreciated their full significance. Most empires in Afro-Eurasia were focused on territorial expansion by land; Europe was embroiled in the religious conflicts surrounding the Protestant Reformation; and the majority of Africans, Asians, and Amerindians were barely aware of the events taking place on the other side of the globe. However, as time passed, these encounters would bring profound changes to economies and cultures worldwide.

Ottoman expansion on land and European expansion by sea occurred roughly at the same time and were interconnected.

The Ottomans established control over trade routes interrupted by the Mongols and the Black Death, which helped spur their political expansion.

Despite dominance of the Mediterranean, Ottomans did not rethink older forms of imperial expansion and long-distance trade

Europeans experimented with a new form of expansion by sea

Aided by a series of accidents

Both forms of expansion created a more connected world.

The Old Expansionism and the New

Ottoman expansion on land and European expansion by sea happened at the same time and were interconnected. Europeans began probing westward in response to growing Ottoman presence in the east. The Ottomans’ expansion was aided by their consolidation of control over land-based trade routes to Asia. This process reestablished connections that had been disrupted by Mongol invasions and the Black Death. To maintain their territorial gains, the Ottomans relied on a strategy of co-opting local elites and maintaining a tolerant attitude toward other religious beliefs. Such strategies were so effective that the Ottomans had conquered Egypt and pushed into Europe by 1529. However, they were halted in the east by the Safavid Empire.

The Ottomans had become the preeminent power in the Mediterranean and dominated the Afro-Eurasian caravan trades. However, they made few changes to their trading methods. Older forms of imperial expansion and long-distance trade continued to be effective.

Europeans, however, felt the need to find new strategies. Their relatively weak position encouraged a willingness to experiment. This new expansion benefited enormously from unexpected accidents. First, that Columbus failed in his attempt to find a new route to Asia but encountered a “New World” in the process. Second, that the peoples of this New World were devastated by European pathogens, opening the way for large-scale conquest and settlement.

While both forms of expansion—new and old—created a more connected world, most people continued to focus on problems closer to home.

By the early sixteenth century, the Ottomans controlled Constantinople and expansive territories in southeastern Europe, Anatolia, and the eastern Mediterranean.

The multiethnic Ottoman elite

Ottoman Empire became increasingly diverse as it spread

Subject peoples could rise to high positions in the empire

For many local elites, conversion was not required

Ottoman conquests in Egypt (1516–1517)

Allowed Ottomans to think of themselves as preeminent Muslim empire

Provided substantial revenues

Ottoman Expansion (1 of 2)

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Ottomans possessed the most powerful military in the world. They controlled Constantinople, much of southeastern Europe, Anatolia, and the eastern Mediterranean. By 1550, the Ottoman empire extended from Hungary and Crimea in the north, to the Arabian Peninsula in the south, from Morocco in the west to the border with Safavid Iran in the east.

As it expanded, the Ottoman empire became increasingly diverse. With effective institutions for creating a loyal imperial elite, the Ottomans proved successful at incorporating new peoples. A majority of the grand viziers that served between 1453–1515 were drawn from the devshirme system or from the Byzantine and Balkan elites. Only three were of Muslim Turkish descent. Other local elites were not required to convert and were allowed to govern their own communities with relative autonomy.

The conquests of Syria and Mamluk Egypt in the early sixteenth century brought new ideological and economic benefits to the empire. These conquests allowed the Ottomans to consider themselves the preeminent Muslim empire. At the same time, Egypt’s immense agricultural wealth provided the empire with its largest revenue source. However, these conquests were undertaken at an enormous cost, as the Mamluk rulers of Egypt mounted fierce resistance.

Ottoman expansionism stalls in Iran

Unable to sustain conquest of Safavid Empire

Rivalry deepened religious commitments

The Ottomans in Europe

1450s: Constantinople and Athens

1520s: Balkans

1529: Siege of Vienna

1541: Budapest

Despite naval loss at Lepanto, retained control over Eastern Mediterranean

Became key players in European politics

Ottoman Expansion (2 of 2)

By conquering Arab lands, the Ottomans had become a majority Muslim empire. However, their expansion to the east was checked by the Safavid empire in Iran. As a Shiite state, the Safavids added a religious dimension to this geopolitical rivalry. Although Selim II had successfully defeated the Safavids in battle, the Ottomans failed to subdue the Safavids for good.

This rivalry intensified religious commitments on both sides. While the Ottomans began as a relatively tolerant state comprising mostly conquered Christian populations, it began to see itself as a champion of Sunni Islam. At the same time, the Shiite identity of the Safavid rulers became all the more significant.

Blocked to the east by the Safavids, the Ottomans expanded westward into Europe. Beginning the 1450s with the conquests of Constantinople and Athens, the Ottomans added large parts of the Balkans in the 1520s and reached the gates of Vienna in 1529. Although the siege of Vienna was unsuccessful, the Ottomans took Budapest in 1541.

These Ottoman advances, which threatened the Venetian and Habsburg Empires, alarmed many Europeans. But efforts to unite Europe on religious grounds were hampered by the deep divisions caused by the Protestant Reformation.

A major European naval victory at Lepanto helped check Ottoman naval power, but the empire retained control over much of the Eastern Mediterranean and became a key player in European politics.

Emergence of Ottoman Empire and its control of overland trade routes from Europe to Asia prompted exploration of new sea routes

Portuguese took the lead, entered Indian Ocean

The Portuguese in Africa and Asia

Sought precious metals

Navigation and military advances

New maritime technologies and information from other mariners helped Portuguese navigate along the treacherous African coast.

New vessels, the carrack and caravel, increased mobility.

The compass and the astrolabe helped determine latitude.

New artillery

European Exploration and Expansion (1 of 2)

The consolidation of Ottoman power in western Eurasia caused Europeans to seek alternative routes into Asia. The Portuguese led the way, exploring the African coast in search of precious metals. Ultimately, the Portuguese made their way around Africa and into the Indian Ocean. There, they established themselves as pirates or middlemen in a trade dominated by Arab, Persian, Indian, and Chinese merchants.

Europeans believed that Africa contained a vast supply of precious metals. Increases in the price of gold and silver led some Europeans to seek out new sources of these commodities in Africa. At the time, Europeans had little knowledge of African societies.

New advances in maritime technology increased the mobility of the Portuguese. Three- or four-masted carracks were built to withstand rough waters in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Caravels, with special triangular sails, were highly maneuverable and could manage more delicate navigation. Finally, instruments such as the compass and the astrolabe helped sailors determine latitude, allowing them to navigate more precisely. At the same time, they adapted new artillery technologies to suit their ships.

Map 12.1 | European Exploration, 1420–1580

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, sailors from Portugal, Spain, England, and France explored and mapped the

coastline of most of the world. Their activities took place in the shadow of the leading empires of the day, with the

Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals, and Ming largely unconcerned and unthreatened by them. They established contacts and

made connections that, over time, became increasingly important.

• Explain why Europeans would have chosen sea routes to reach Asia rather than land routes.

• Trace the voyages that started from Portugal, and then the voyages that started from Spain. Explain why Portuguese

explorers concentrated on Africa and the Indian Ocean, whereas their Spanish counterparts focused on the Americas.

• Contrast the different patterns of exploration in the New World with those in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.

Sugar and slavery

Experimented with sugar plantations on African islands

Used labor of enslaved people from the African mainland

Plantation model would be exported across the Atlantic

Commerce and conquest in the Indian Ocean

Goal was access to commercial networks and trading systems.

Vasco da Gama: first Portuguese mariner to reach Cape of Good Hope

Encountered skilled Muslim sailors with valuable knowledge of currents, winds, and geography

Used violence to assert supremacy in the Indian Ocean

Established at Aden, Hormuz, Melaka

No ability or desire to establish full colonies

European Exploration and Expansion (2 of 2)

For the Portuguese, the coast of Africa quickly became a valuable trading area. After seizing islands of the African coast, the Portuguese experimented with large-scale sugar plantations worked by enslaved people from the African mainland. This model proved enormously profitable and would soon be exported across the Atlantic.

Once the Portuguese had found their way into the Indian Ocean, their goal was not to establish direct rule. Instead, they wanted to take advantage of the booming sea trade that already existed. Vasco da Gama was the first Portuguese captain to round the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. Once in the Indian Ocean, he found skilled Muslim sea traders with knowledge of the currents, winds, and ports.

The Portuguese used violence to assert their supremacy in the Indian ocean. They established themselves at the key ports of Aden, Hormuz, and Melaka. In those places, they attempted to control the trade or tax local merchants. They also introduced a pass system that required ships to pay for documents that identified the ship’s captain, its crew, and its cargo.

The Portuguese did not have the capacity to impose their control over major rulers or powerful merchants. Nor were they interested in establishing full-scale colonies. Rather, they sought to insert themselves as middlemen in the flourishing trade and take a share of its profits.

Crossing the Atlantic changed the course of world history

Discovery of the Americas happened by accident

Opened new trade routes

Biological consequences

Amerindians lacked immunity to Afro-Eurasian diseases

Catastrophic population decline

Lack of labor force from Amerindians led to large-scale introduction of African enslaved laborers

The Atlantic World

Although the “discovery” of the Americas was of monumental importance, it happened by accident. Columbus did not set out to discover new lands. Instead, he was looking for new ways to reach lands already well-known to Europeans: Japan and China. No one expected he would encounter a “New World.”

But he did. And soon after more ambitious Europeans began arriving. This sharpened rivalries as European powers began competing for dominance in both the Indian Ocean and in the Americas.

Although this competition shaped world history, the biological consequences of the convergence of the American and Afro-Eurasian biomes were far more important. Amerindians lacked immunity to Afro-Eurasian diseases. When they encountered pathogens brought by the newcomers, their populations were decimated.

The enormous losses of Amerindian populations meant that Europeans needed to look elsewhere for the enslaved labor force they wanted. This led them to import enslaved laborers from Africa. These large-scale populations shifts and exchanges of plants and animals led to an epochal transformation.

October 12, 1492, on behalf of Spain, Columbus reached Caribbean lands

Columbus’s goals were shaped by his historical context

Break into long-established trade routes

Finance conquests of Muslim lands

First encountered a people called the Tainos

Columbus mislabeled Tainos as “Indians,” as he believed he had reached India

Described the Tainos as a childlike people with no religion, ready for conversion

Tainos possessed gold

Tainos told them of “savage” Caribs, a neighboring tribe

Contrasting images of innocents and savages structured European (mis)understanding of Amerindian peoples for centuries

First Encounters (1 of 2)

In 1492, Columbus landed on an island he called San Salvador, in what is now the Bahamas. This moment marked the beginning of a new era in world history. But Columbus did not intend to find new lands or trade routes. Instead, he wanted to break into old, long-established routes in order to finance wars against Muslim rulers in Granada and the Holy Land.

The first peoples that Columbus encountered were called the Tainos. Columbus perceived these people as naïve and childlike. He thought that they had no religion, and could easily be converted to Christianity. Other explorers shared this perception. At the same time, the Europeans developed a contradictory image of the natives as wild, savage, and even cannibalistic. These contrasting images structured European perceptions of the Amerindian peoples for centuries.

Historians know less about Amerindian perceptions of Europeans.

European metal goods and military prowess impressed them.

European hair, beards, breath, and bad manners often repulsed them.

Europeans were unable to live off the land.

First Encounters (2 of 2)

Historians know less about what the Amerindians thought of the Europeans. They were certainly impressed by European metal goods and military prowess. At the same time, they were repulsed by the Europeans’ physical appearance and behavior. They did not especially notice the Europeans’ different skin color. Only the Europeans were in the habit of making such a distinction. Instead, Amerindians took note of the newcomers’ hairiness, breath, and bad manners. They also noticed how hopeless Europeans were at living off the land.

Columbus claimed there was gold on Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic).

Spain therefore invested in further expeditions with Columbus.

The Spanish experimented with institutions of colonial rule, ultimately creating a model for the rest of the New World colonies.

Encomiendas and encomenderos: favored settlers granted the “right” to coerce Indian labor

Amerindian resistance

Spaniards responded by enslaving Indians to work in gold mines.

Encomenderos paid special taxes on extracted precious metals.

Resistance from within

Dominican friars protested abuses

First Conquests

After his first expedition, Columbus claimed that he had found gold on Hispaniola. This led the Spanish crown to give financial support for Columbus to carry out further expeditions. The expeditions grew larger. In 1492, Columbus made the voyage with 87 men in three small ships. However, ten years later 2,500 men crossed the Atlantic.

During the first few decades of conquest, the Spanish experimented with institutions of colonial rule. These institutions would ultimately become a model for the rest of the New World colonies. But in the beginning there were setbacks.

One major obstacle was Amerindian resistance. Just two years after Columbus’s first contact, starving Spaniards raided Amerindian villages. When the native peoples fought back, the Spaniards responded by enslaving them for work in the gold mines.

Conquistadors and their royal patrons soon established a system called encomiendas. In this system, the crown granted certain men, called encomenderos, the right to coerce Amerindian labor in exchange for special taxes on precious metals. This practice led to the rise of a new social class of rich encomenderos.

Some Spaniards protested the abuse of Amerindians. Dominican Friars saw the exploitation of Amerindians as contradictory to the goal of conversion.

As resources depleted, Spaniards sought new territories.

Encountered some larger, more complex and more militarized societies on the mainland

Such societies were unprepared for European assaults.

The Aztec Empire and the Spanish Conquest

The extraction of precious metals in the Caribbean was not sustainable. As resources depleted, the Spanish sought out new territories to conquer. When they began to explore the mainland of Central America, they encountered larger, more complex, and more militarized societies.

Powerful empires had existed amongst these societies for centuries. Yet, they were unprepared for European assaults. One particular disadvantage was that warfare among these peoples was more ceremonial. It was not intended to totally destroy enemies. Rather, it was meant to subdue them and force them to pay tribute. As a result, the wealthy Mesoamerican peoples were vulnerable to European attacks.

The Mexica gradually united numerous independent states under a single monarch along with counselors, military leaders, and priests.

Empire—known as “Aztec”—of up to 25 million

Based around Tenochtitlán on Lake Texcoco

Religious and political buildings in the center

Well-irrigated and prosperous agriculture

The Aztec state was based on extensive kinship networks, with marriages solidifying alliances.

Lineage of “natural” rulers

Priests legitimized new emperors.

The Aztec Empire spread through conquest and the creation of tributary states, bringing with it great wealth but also military instability.

Conquests provided a steady stream of humans for sacrifice.

From 1440 onward, the Aztec Empire faced constant turmoil as elites and subject populations rebelled.

Aztec Society

In Mesoamerica, a group of people called the Mexica had created an empire known as “Aztec.” This empire was built first through the confederation of Mexica city-states, then through unification with other formerly independent states. It is estimated that the total population of the empire was up to 25 million.

The capital of the Aztec Empire was Tenochtitlán, on the site of present-day Mexico City. In the fifteenth century, this city was built on an immense island at the center of Lake Texcoco. At its height, it was one of the largest cities in the world. The city was built in concentric circles. Canals tied the city together, serving as transportation thoroughfares, supporting floating gardens, and irrigating fields.

The Aztec state was built on kinship networks. Marriages between people of different villages produced clan-like social units. Ultimately, one of these lineages rose to become the ruling family. These “natural” rulers benefited from rituals of legitimization performed by priests, who helped present an image of rulers in touch with the divine.

Aztec expansion proceeded through the conquest of neighboring tribes. Once defeated, these tribes were forced to pay tribute in the form of crops, precious metals, textiles, and other goods. Conquered states also provided the Aztecs with a steady stream of humans for sacrifice. The Aztecs believed that human sacrifice was necessary to keep the sun burning and to replenish the blood given by the gods in the form of rain.

Aztec empire building caused resentment among conquered peoples. From 1440 onward, the Aztecs faced constant rebellions against their rule.

Debate over extent to which Aztecs believed Cortés and his men were the god Quetzalcoatl

Emperor Moctezuma III sent emissaries with gifts, but the Aztecs didn’t prepare for military engagement.

Hernán Cortés arrived with eleven ships, 500 men, sixteen horses, and arms: became model conquistador

Doña Marina, from a local Amerindian noble family, became Cortés’s interpreter.

Cortés and soldiers were impressed with Tenochtitlán.

Cortés and Conquest (1 of 3)

In the early sixteenth century, a ruler named Moctezuma III took the Aztec throne. Soon after, a conquistador named Hernán Cortés arrived. What the Aztecs thought about these newcomers is difficult to tell. According to some accounts, some thought that Cortés and his men were the god Quetzalcoatl and his entourage. However, some historians argue that these omens were the efforts of factions trying to undermine the throne.

When Cortés arrived, he set about finding locals who could be interpreters and allies. One of his translators was the daughter of a local noble family who later became known as Doña Marina, also known as La Malinche. Gathering allies and supporters, Cortés marched to Tenochtitlán. Once they arrived, the conquistadors were stunned by the size and magnificence of the city.

Spaniards able to conquer Aztecs because:

Spanish formed alliances with Aztec enemies, the Tlaxcalans

Aztec warfare involved capturing enemies, whereas the Spanish fought to kill.

Aztecs weren’t familiar with Spanish technology, such as gunpowder, steel swords, horses, or war dogs.

Aztecs allowed Cortés to enter their city of Tenochtitlán.

In 1519, Cortés captured Tenochtitlán and Moctezuma, who then ruled as a Spanish puppet.

Cortés and Conquest (2 of 3)

How were the Spaniards able to conquer the Aztecs? First, they relied on alliances with local tribes who had built up resentment against Aztec rule. One of these tribes, the Tlaxcalans, were instrumental to Cortés’s success. Second, the Spaniards’ method of warfare gave them an advantage over the Aztecs. Aztec warfare was more focused on capturing enemies. The Spanish, however, used their superior weaponry for complete destruction. Third, the Aztecs were still unsure of what to make of Cortés when he arrived in Tenochtitlán, and they allowed him to enter the city.

With the support of the Tlaxcalans, Cortés conquered Tenochtitlán in 1519 and established Moctezuma as a puppet emperor.

Within two years, Aztecs revolted

Forced Spanish to withdraw

Spanish and Tlaxcalan eventually defeated the Aztecs.

Starvation, disease (smallpox), lack of artillery, and Cortés’s ability to force Amerindian alliances led to Aztec defeat.

More Aztecs died from disease than fighting.

Cortés became governor of the colony “New Spain.”

Spanish learned how to be effective at conquest.

Swift

Removed symbols of legitimate authority

Disease was the real advantage.

Cortés and Conquest (3 of 3)

The Aztecs learned quickly from their initial defeats from the Spanish. Within two years, they revolted and forced the Spanish to withdraw.

But the Spanish regrouped, and returned with the Tlaxcalans to sack Tenochtitlán. After bombarding the capital with artillery and fighting from house to house, the Spanish retook the city. Superior weaponry certainly played a role in this victory, but in fact disease hit the Aztec forces the hardest. More people died from disease than from fighting.

Once the city had been conquered, Cortés installed himself as governor of a new Spanish colony. He disbursed encomiendas to his followers and used his new territory as a base for further conquests.

The experience with the Mexica taught the Spanish important lessons about effective conquest. First, it needed to be swift. Second, it needed to completely remove indigenous symbols of authority. But although the Spanish refined their methods of conquest, their most important advantage was their unintentional spreading of disease.

Quechua-speaking people in the Andes near present-day Cuzco, Peru

South America’s greatest empire

Domain from present day Chile to southern Colombia

Political power relied on tribute and commercial exchange to finance communication and military network

Wealthy agrarian base

Up to 6 million people at its peak

In 1532, Francisco Pizarro found a divided empire.

Laid a trap and defeated Incan ruler Atahualpa and the Incas in 1533

The European defeat of the New World’s two great empires, the Aztecs and Incas, introduced a new scale of imperial expansion and provided Europe with great wealth and a market for its products.

The Incas

The next major Spanish conquest was South America’s greatest empire: the Incas. Around the beginning of the thirteenth century, a group of Quechua-speaking people settled in the valleys around present-day Cuzco, Peru. Over the next few centuries, they rose in power through a combination of local conquest and intermarriage between elites. Eventually, the Incas established an empire that spanned from Chile to Colombia. The total population is estimated to have been as high as 6 million people.

When Francisco Pizarro arrived in 1532, he found a divided empire. Similar to Cortés’s conquest of the Aztecs, Pizarro was able to exploit the fissures in the Incan Empire in order to bring down the ruling elites. He soon laid a trap for the Incan emperor, Atahualpa, and conquered Cuzco in 1533.

The European conquest of the New World’s two great empires, the Aztecs and the Incas, was a consequential moment in world history. It gave Europeans an opportunity to acquire immense wealth from exploiting the resources of the Americas. At the same time, it gave Europeans a market for their own goods, which were not in high demand in Afro-Eurasia. Lastly, it introduced an unprecedented scale of imperial expansion.

Spanish conquests brought together two separate biomes

The Columbian exchange

Transfer of previously unknown plants, animals, diseases, people and products called the “Columbian exchange”

Transformed the environments, economies, and diets of both the New and Old Worlds

European diseases of smallpox, measles, pneumonic plague, and influenza decimated up to 90 percent of the Amerindian population.

New forms of agricultural exchanges

From the New World spread corn, tomatoes, beans, cacao, peanuts, tobacco, and squash

From the Old World came cattle, pigs, and horses

Undermined habitats of indigenous mammals and birds

Chopped down forests for sugar plantations

Plants and animals took on increasingly European appearance

From Conquest to Colonization in the Atlantic World

Spanish conquests brought together two separate biomes.

The transfer of people, animals, diseases between these two worlds is called the “Columbian exchange.” This exchange caused major ecological and economic transformations. It also caused death on a catastrophic scale.

Because the Americas and Afro-Eurasia had effectively been isolated from each other for millennia, populations on these continents had developed different immunities. Sickness proved far more destructive than any weapon the Europeans could invent. It is estimated that up to 90 percent of the Amerindian population was wiped out by imported pathogens. Those who were left alive were in no position to resist European colonization and settlement. Europeans therefore benefited from an enormous demographic catastrophe.

The Columbian exchange also involved the transfer of crops and livestock between the newly connected worlds. This exchange was not limited to Europe and the Americas. Chinese farmers soon realized that American corn grew well in places their native staples—wheat and rice—did not. African farmers also gradually replaced sorghum, millet, and rice with American corn. Other crops that came to Afro-Eurasia during this time were tomatoes, beans, cacao, peanuts, tobacco, and squash.

From the Old World came cattle, pigs, and horses. The importing of livestock drastically altered the New World environment. Cattle, for instance, multiplied rapidly without any natural predators. The animals grazed and trampled over entire landscapes, irrevocably transforming the ecosystems of the Americas. Over centuries, the plants and animals of the New World took on an increasingly European appearance.

Unlike in the Indian Ocean, Europeans laid claim to large amounts of territory

They established encomiendas, which built on previous Aztec and Incan labor conscription systems.

Also elements of traditional tribute-taking

Very few Spanish women

Most Spaniards and their children lived in towns, and the former empire’s cities of Mexico City and Cuzco flourished.

Spanish adopted local aspects of architecture, economy, and family life

Spain’s Tributary Empire

Europeans colonizing the Americas sought to exploit Amerindian wealth while leaving some social and economic structures intact. However, unlike in the Indian Ocean, Europeans laid claim to large amounts of territory.

In these new colonies, the Europeans fused the encomienda system with traditional methods of tribute-taking and labor conscription.

Most Spanish migrants were men. The few women that did cross the Atlantic helped supply food, tend the wounded, and establish settlements. In exceptional cases, like that of Inés Suárez, women could rise to positions of political influence.

Most Spaniards and their families lived in towns. With the exception of growing port cities, the major urban centers of the new colonies were the old centers of Amerindian empires. As these cities recovered from the destruction brought by conquest, Spanish colonists took on elements of local architecture, economy, and family life. The Europeans adopted as much as they transformed.

Map 12.2 | The Spanish and Portuguese Empires in the Americas, 1492–1750

This map examines the growth of the Spanish and Portuguese empires in the Americas over two and a half centuries.

• Identify the natural resources that led the Spaniards and Portuguese to focus their empire building where they did. What were the major export commodities from these colonized areas?

• Looking back to Map 12.1, explain why Spanish settlement covered so much more area than Portuguese settlement.

• According to your reading, describe how the production and export of silver and sugar shaped the labor systems that evolved in both empires.

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

Carved up “New World” into Spanish and Portuguese spheres

Unenforceable

Portuguese found no tributary populations or precious metals

Abundant, fertile land

Created more dispersed settlements in Brazil.

Labor shortage

Attempts to coerce Indians for labor led to Amerindian retreat inland

Portuguese extracted brazilwood and sugar from coastal enclaves.

Portugal’s New World Colony

The prospect of new sources of wealth across the Atlantic sharpened competition between Spain and Portugal. In 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas sought to contain this competition by dividing the New World into Spanish and Portuguese spheres. But the treaty proved unenforceable.

Portugal did not find tributary populations or precious metals in its allotted areas. But it did find abundant land, which the crown doled in huge grants.

The expanding Portuguese colony in Brazil developed differently. In Brazil, there were no major empires with densely populated urban centers with wealthy agrarian bases. Without the benefit of established cities to build on, the Portuguese kept mainly to enclaves along the coast. Attempts at coercing Amerindian labor often led indigenous peoples to flee further inland. The Portuguese kept to their coastal enclaves, producing brazilwood and sugar.

To make up for the lack of indigenous labor to work their plantations, the Portuguese imported enslaved Africans, transplanting the slave plantation model they had developed earlier along the African coast.

Sugar was the most valuable export from the Americas (along with silver)

Spurred reordering of populations

Plantations initially small

60–100 enslaved people

Created a new model of empire

Terrible conditions on slave plantations

High death rate

Sugar Plantations

Along with silver, sugar was the most valuable export from the Americas. The expansion of sugar cultivation, with its dependence on enslaved labor, helped spur the reordering of populations across the Atlantic.

Initial plantations were fairly small, with 60–100 enslaved people. But their profitability encouraged expansion and eventually the creation of a new model of empire that resulted in full colonization and large-scale displacement of indigenous populations.

Enslaved people worked under horrific conditions, with insufficient food to keep them alive. The extremely high death rate led the Portuguese to rely on a continuous flow of enslaved people across the Atlantic.

Slave trade expanded along with demand for sugar

1492–1820: 12 million Africans involuntarily crossed the Atlantic

2 million Europeans (voluntarily)

All European powers participated

Slavery in Africa

More enslaved Africans sold in Muslim world than in transatlantic trade

African institutions of slavery

Often not permanent

Social and political consequences in Africa

Limitation of population

Three-cornered Atlantic system

Beginnings of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

The expansion of the slave trade was directly tied to the increasing demand for sugar. For the sake of producing this commodity, 12 million Africans were forcibly taken across the Atlantic. By comparison, far fewer Europeans came to the Americas.

All European powers participated in the slave trade initially. Over time, merchants established in the New World colonies also established direct links to Africa.

Although the transatlantic slave trade was transformative, the long-distance slave trade in itself was not new to Africa. In fact, more Africans were sold into slavery in the Muslim world than in the transatlantic slave trade.

African societies also had their own institutions of slavery. However, in contrast to the system developed in European colonies, slavery in Africa was often not permanent. Enslaved people could lose their servile status over time, and were often integrated into family networks.

When Europeans added to the overall demand for enslaved people from Africa, pressures on the supply of enslaved Africans increased. At first, the social and political consequences of these shifts were not apparent. But over time, effects like population limitation became clear.

By the late sixteenth century, the Atlantic world had developed a three-cornered economic system. Africa supplied labor, the Americas land and minerals, and Europe the technology and military power to hold the system together. The wealth generated by this system would help shift the world balance of power in Europe’s favor.

European conquerors took more precious metals from Mexico and the Andes in twenty years than all the gold accumulated in Europe over centuries.

Created colonial mines

Bolivian Andean Potosí and Mexican Zacatecas mines

Depended heavily on enslaved and coerced Indian labor

Mita

The wealth from these mines created local aristocracies.

Appalling mortality rates

Access to precious metals gave Europeans a way to enter the global market.

New wealth helped fuel religious and political conflicts in Europe.

Silver

The first European colonists in the Americas were interested in accumulating gold and silver for themselves and their royal patrons. But this process also introduced more precious metals into the world’s commercial systems. In just twenty years after the fall of the Aztecs, Europeans took more gold and silver from Mexico and the Andes than all the gold accumulated in Europe up to that time.

Enormous colonial mines were central to the expanding silver trade. Two especially large mines were in Potosí in Bolivia and Zacatecas in northern Mexico. These mines depended on Amerindian labor. At first, Amerindians were forced to work in the mines. But this system eventually gave way to coercive labor draft systems, built on earlier Aztec and Inca models. In the Andes, the labor system was built on the Incan mita system. Under the Incas, village elders selected a stipulated number of men for service. Under the Spanish, labor was taxed to the limits of human capacity, resulting in huge mortality rates.

Wealth from these mines enriched not only the Iberian monarchs, but also families in the colonies who grew to become a local aristocracy. Access to precious metals also gave Europeans something to sell on the global market, where European products had previously enjoyed little favor.

Finally, new wealth helped fuel intensifying religious and political conflicts in Europe.

In the sixteenth century, Europeans were focused on Europe.

Frequent warfare centered on European concerns.

The Protestant Reformation intensified religious and political rivalries.

The Reformation

Began as a return to scripture

Fourteenth and fifteenth centuries: church threatened by attempts to reinterpret scriptures

Reformation split the Christian world for good

Religious Turmoil in Europe

Developments in the Americas were highly consequential. But in the sixteenth century, most Europeans were focused on Europe. This period was marked by frequent warfare, which centered on purely European concerns. One of the most important causes of conflict was the Protestant Reformation. This religious split within the Roman Catholic Church intensified religious and political rivalries in Europe and divided the continent.

Similar to the Renaissance, the Reformation began as an attempt to return to ancient sources—in this case, the Bible. Church authorities were threatened by attempts to reinterpret the scriptures without the approval of the church, escalating the conflict. The Protestant Reformation caused a permanent divide in the Christian world.

Opening challenge occurred in the Holy Roman Empire

Martin Luther, a German monk and theologian, criticized papal authority and the Catholic Church with his knowledge of the Bible.

Argued that salvation came through faith and God’s forgiveness, not sacraments and good works

Priests as mediators between people and God are unnecessary

Criticized corrupt church practices, such as sex scandals and the selling of indulgences.

Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses of 1517 furthered the debate.

Habsburg Emperor Charles V and Pope Leo X declared Luther a heretic.

Translated the Bible from Latin into German, promoting public literacy

Martin Luther Challenges the Church

The first major challenge to the authority of the Catholic Church occurred in the Holy Roman Empire, a vast, loosely integrated empire that included Spain, its colonies, and much of central and eastern Europe.

Critiques came from Martin Luther, a German monk and theologian. Luther argued that salvation came through God’s grace or forgiveness. Forgiveness was granted to those who were faithful. According to Luther, that faith would be acquired from reading the Bible.

Luther also argued that people did not require special mediators to speak to God for them. Instead, all individuals could have access to God and could minister to each other’s needs. Luther criticized what he saw as rampant corruption in the Catholic Church. He railed against the clergy who kept mistresses and condemned the practice of selling indulgences, or forgiveness of sins, in exchange for payment.

One of Luther’s most significant contributions was his translation of the Bible from Latin into German. This gave many people direct access to the word of God for the first time, without relying on a priest trained in Latin. Soon, translations into vernacular languages spread around Europe, spurred on by the printing press.

Luther’s ideas were especially popular in communities that resented the rule of Catholic “outsiders.”

Jean Calvin was another major Protestant reformer.

Gained following in France and Switzerland

Added focus on preaching, moral discipline, and autonomous religious communities

Followers of Luther and Calvin, calling themselves “Protestants,” gained a wide following in the German states, France, Switzerland, the Low Countries, England, and Scotland.

Henry VIII (r. 1507–1547) and Elizabeth (r. 1558–1603)

Moderate reformed religion: Anglicanism

Retained many Catholic practices and hierarchy

In Ireland, most remained Catholic

Scotland remained Presbyterian

Other “Protestant” Reformers

Support for Luther’s ideas took shape along preexisting political fault lines. They appealed to many communities who resented rule by “outsiders,” such as the Dutch, who were ruled by Phillip II, an Austrian Catholic who lived in Spain.

Another major Protestant reformer was Jean Calvin, who gained a following in France and Switzerland. Calvin emphasized preaching and moral discipline, which was best achieved through self-governing religious communities.

In England, Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth created a more moderate reformed church that retained many Catholic practices. However, the British Isles remained religiously diverse: most people in Ireland continued to practice Catholicism, while the Scots remained loyal to Presbyterianism.

At the Council of Trent from 1545–1563, the Catholic Church reaffirmed papal authority, church hierarchy and doctrine, but also attempted corruption reforms.

Ignatius Loyola formed the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) to revive the Catholic Church and spread its message around the world.

The Protestant Reformation caused a major split in European society.

Vatican used persecution to combat “heresy”

Prohibited books

Inquisition

Both Catholics and Protestants persecuted “witches”

Counter-Reformation and Persecution

The Protestant Reformation prompted the Catholic Church to initiate its own revival. At the Council of Trent, church leaders reaffirmed important church teachings, such as the authority of the Pope and the official church hierarchy. At the same time, the Catholic Church made an effort to deal with corruption within its own ranks, which was a key criticism from the Protestants.

Catholics also carried their message overseas. Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish monk, was especially important in the church’s missionary efforts. Loyola founded the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, who worked to revive the church. Jesuits spread their teachings from their missions in the Americas, India, Japan, and China.

The Vatican continued to use repression and persecution to combat what it perceived as threats to the church. It banned books, performed public exorcisms of Protestants possessed by demons, and continued the medieval Inquisition to root out heretics. In some places, like Lima in the 1630s, the Inquisition resulted in mass arrests and torture.

Both Catholics and Protestants persecuted witches. Older women, widows, and nurses were especially vulnerable to charges of witchcraft. People believed that such women were especially susceptible the devil’s temptations. Accusations included: poisoning babies, killing livestock, causing hailstorms, and tampering with marriage arrangements.

With increasing strife both between and within Catholic and Protestant communities, the Reformation led to deep fractures in European societies.

Map 12.3 | Religious Divisions in Europe after the Reformation, 1590

The Protestant Reformation divided Europe religiously and politically.

• Within the formerly all-Catholic Holy Roman Empire, list the Protestant groups that took hold.

• Looking at the map, what geographic patterns can you identify in the distribution of Protestant communities?

• List the regions in which you would expect Protestant-Catholic tensions to be the most intense, and explain why.

The religious revival was accompanied by ferocious wars that weakened the Holy Roman Empire and strengthened the French, English, and Dutch.

The wars weakened European dynasties, particularly the Holy Roman Empire

Religious rivalries sparked peasant revolts.

Protestant Netherlands achieved independence from Catholic Spain.

The Spanish Empire faced decline because of its war expenditures; it faced bankruptcy three times in the late 1550s.

Religious Warfare in Europe

The Protestant Reformation led to intense wars that weakened the Holy Roman Empire and strengthened the French, English, and Dutch. These countries would eventually come to rival Spain and Portugal as imperial powers.

The circulation of Protestant ideas led to peasant revolts across Europe. In contrast to previous European wars, in which groups of nobles fought each other, these religious wars involved masses of commoners. The constant conflict weakened European dynasties as the Holy Roman Empire sought to contain the threat of Protestantism.

In the late sixteenth century, Spain was bankrupted by its war efforts and had lost the Netherlands. This opened the way for the Dutch and English to extend their trading networks into Asia and the New World.

Although the Spanish and Portuguese empires expanded dramatically, the wealth that they created ultimately brought intensified European conflicts and weakened its state system. For the time being, European powers remained outstripped by the cohesive states of Asia.

While Europe was facing religious wars, Asian empires were expanding and consolidating power, and experiencing flourishing trade.

Mughal and Ottoman Empires had effective and esteemed rulers.

Ming China gained worldwide recognition for its elegant manufactures and its ability to govern an enormous, diverse population.

Both Ming and Mughal regimes confined Europeans to port cities

The Revival of Asian Economies

While Europeans were fighting among themselves over religious questions, Asian empires were growing strong and prosperous. Both the Mughal and Ottoman Empires enjoyed long periods of rule by effective and esteemed rulers.

During the Ming dynasty, China’s manufactured goods achieved worldwide appraisal. At the same time, the Ming government’s ability to govern an enormous, diverse population led many to think of China as the model state.

Although Europeans began arriving in greater numbers in this period, both the Mughal and Ming regimes confined their activities to port cities.

Overland commerce also experienced a revival.

Routes spanned from the Baltic Sea to China.

Ottoman authorities gained significant tax revenue from the caravan trade.

Maintained infrastructure and security along trade routes

The Revival of the Ottoman Caravan Trade

Overland commerce also thrived during this time. Land routes stretched from the Baltic Sea and through central Asia to China. Other routes linked Inner Asia to the coastal ports of China and the Indian Ocean, where goods made their way to the Ottoman Empire and on into Europe.

Ottoman authorities paid careful attention to the caravan trade as it was a key source of tax revenue. The Ottoman government maintained way-stations along important routes. They also paid off tribal chieftains whose raids threatened to disrupt trade.

Ming China’s economy also soared in the sixteenth century.

Increasing external trade

Internal commercialization

Ban on maritime trade rescinded in 1567

European silver from the Americas contributed to China’s growing economy, allowing money rather than goods to circulate.

One of the measures of the Ming’s great economic prosperity was the surge in Chinese population.

China made up one-third of the world’s population in the mid-seventeenth century, with spectacular growth in cities.

Urban prosperity enabled women to work in a wide variety of positions.

Politically, sixteenth-century Ming faced internal discord and problems, but thrived economically, resulting in population growth and territorial expansion.

Prosperity in Ming China

In the late sixteenth century, Ming China also experienced soaring economic growth. Ming China’s booming economy helped fuel a revival of trade in the Indian Ocean and across Eurasia. After the Ming rulers moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, they reconstructed the Grand Canal. This waterway linked the prosperous lower Yangzi area and the new capital area in the north. Although officially there were restrictions on trade, commerce flourished, especially in coastal cities.

Silver was a vital factor in this economic growth. After the Ming government made silver the official medium of tax payment, it was used for most large transactions. But China did not produce much silver domestically. Until the sixteenth century, it relied on silver imports from Japan. However, once the Spanish established a colony in the Philippines in the 1570s, those islands became an important gateway for importing New World silver into China. In fact, one-third of all silver mined in the New World during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ultimately found its way to China.

One of the measures of the Ming’s economic prosperity was its rising population. By the seventeenth century, China made up a full third of the entire world’s population. Urbanization accelerated during this period, with Beijing and Nanjing reaching around 1 million people each. Urban life offered numerous forms of entertainment, theatre, urban associations, markets, and manufactures.

Women also benefited from urban prosperity. In cities, women had access to a greater diversity of occupations as entertainers, courtesans, midwives, healers, poets, sorcerers, matchmakers, artists, and book traders. Whereas urban life offered much to ordinary women, the wealthiest and most privileged Chinese women lived inside the Forbidden City. Palace women were not simply consorts, but important power brokers in themselves.

Although in the sixteenth century the Ming faced political discord, economically it was a time of spectacular growth and territorial expansion.

Map 12.4 | Trade and Production in Ming China

Map 12.5 | Trade and Production in Ming China

The Ming Empire in the early seventeenth century was the world’s most populous state and arguably its wealthiest.

• According to this map, list the main items involved in China’s export-import trade, and identify some of the

regions that purchased its exports.

• Evaluate the relative importance of China’s internal and overland trade, and contrast it with overseas commerce.

• Evaluate the balance between raw materials, agricultural products, and manufactured goods.

China’s economic expansion occurred within the revival of the Indian Ocean trade.

Muslims dominated trade.

Port of Melaka an important entrepôt

India: geographic and economic center of numerous trade routes

Revival of the Indian Ocean Trade

China’s economic expansion encouraged the growth of Indian Ocean trade. Muslim merchants largely dominated this trade. With their help, trading networks between East Africa, South Asia, and the Malay Peninsula strengthened. In particular, the port of Melaka, situated in a strategic location between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, thrived as an entrepôt.

India also developed as an important trading center, boasting huge cities and exporting silk, cotton textiles, and rice throughout South and Southeast Asia.

The Mughal dynasty (established 1526) was one of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful empires, which rested on its great military strength.

Founder Babur built the military with central Asian horsemanship, artillery, field cannons, and gunpowder.

Babur’s grandson Akbar was also skilled in alliance building, using favors and marriages to build the empire.

Mughal tolerance for the beliefs of its diverse subjects contrasted with Europe, where religion was the source of major political conflicts.

Mughal India and Commerce (1 of 2)

After its establishment in 1526, the Mughal Empire soon became one of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful empires.

The foundation of Mughal power was its military strength. Babur, the Mughal founder, introduced several military innovations from central Asia. Horsemanship, artillery, field cannons, and gunpowder enabled Babur to quickly conquer most of northern India.

The Mughal Empire expanded under Babur’s grandson, Akbar. Akbar combined military conquest with strategic alliance building, using favors and intermarriage to project his influence. During his reign, the empire expanded to cover almost all of India.

Beyond military conquest, the Mughal Empire maintained legitimacy and stability through the practice of religious tolerance. Although the rulers were committed to Islam, they also patronized other beliefs. European monarchs, by contrast, mostly attempted to establish a single faith within their realms, often to the violent exclusion of other believers. But Akbar studied multiple religions and regularly hosted debates at his court between Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Parsi, and Christian scholars. This practice of tolerance was an effective means of governing a highly diverse group of subjects.

Map 12.5 | Expansion of the Mughal Empire, 1556–1707

Map 12.4 | Expansion of the Mughal Empire, 1556–1707

Under Akbar and Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire expanded and dominated much of South Asia. Yet, by looking at the trading ports along the Indian coast, one can see the growing influence of Portuguese, Dutch, French, and English interests.

• Look at the dates for each port, and identify which traders came first and which came last.

• Compare this map with Map 12.2 (showing a period that begins earlier, 1492–1750). To what extent do the trading posts shown here reflect increased European influence in the region?

• According to your reading, explain how these European outposts affected Mughal policies.

Mughal trade brought increasing wealth, and their power limited European intrusions into their empire.

Mughal rulers allowed the Portuguese, then other European merchants, access to a handful of their ports, on the outskirts of their empire.

Mughal rulers used newfound wealth to sponsor monumental feats of architecture and art, but the wealth also caused friction among Indian rulers, merchants, and poorer regions.

Mughal India and Commerce (2 of 2)

Trade with Europeans increased Mughal wealth, which was already considerable. The Portuguese had occupied Bombay and Goa, but were unwilling and unable to force any territorial concessions further inland. Mughal power at this time was sufficient to keep the Europeans at the margins. Relations between the Mughals and the Portuguese strengthened after Akbar recognized a Portuguese ambassador and allowed a Jesuit representative to enter his court in 1578.

However, by the 1580s and 1590s, the Mughals began to open their ports to other Europeans, such as the Dutch and English. This ended the Portuguese monopoly on trade with India.

Mughal rulers used their immense wealth to sponsor monumental art and architecture that glorified the court and reaffirmed its legitimacy. However, increasing wealth also brought frictions between richer and poorer regions. Tensions began to build between the Mughal rulers and the merchants, who had to rely on the rulers for commerce.

New World products, especially silver, gave Europeans a way to access Asian markets.

In this period, Europeans did not conquer Asian states.

They grafted themselves onto commercial networks.

The Portuguese took the lead among Europeans in joining Indian Ocean trading networks.

Portuguese arrived in the Chinese port city of Macao in 1557, already an established link in the Indian Ocean system.

Seeing Portuguese successes in Asia, other Europeans arrived.

Asian Relations with Europe (1 of 2)

In the fifteenth century, Europeans had set their sights on trade with Asia. However, until the conquest of the New World, Europeans did not have much to trade with. New World products changed that. Even after they successfully gained a foothold in the Eurasian luxury trade, Europeans were neither willing nor able to conquer Asian states. Rather, they wished to graft themselves onto the flourishing trade networks that existed between major port cities.

The Portuguese were the first to make significant connections in the Indian Ocean trading system. A few decades after Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, Portuguese sailors arrived at the port city of Macao in southern China. This city was already a center of China’s expanding import-export trade, which the Portuguese soon joined.

Portuguese success in inserting themselves into the Indian Ocean trading system attracted other European traders, such as the Spanish, Dutch, and English.

Silver from the New World gave Spain a competitive advantage

The Spanish captured and colonized Manila in 1571, allowing them to establish brisk trade with China.

Cultural exchanges between Mexico and the Philippines

Spanish ships also circled the world in 1571.

First world market

The English and the Dutch also joined in by creating joint-stock companies and using royal charters to increase trade with Asia.

The English East India Company eventually acquired control of Indian ports—Madras, 1739; Bombay, 1661; and Calcutta, 1690.

Europeans in Asia were generally confined to the coasts.

Some harbored ambitions to conquer Asian territories.

Asian Relations with Europe (2 of 2)

New World silver gave Spain a competitive advantage. Spanish settlers in Mexico financed an expedition to conquer the thriving port town of Manila in 1571, which became the capital of a new colony called the Philippines.

From their new base in Manila, the Spanish began exporting huge amounts of silver to China. Each year, Spanish ships crossed the Pacific with silver from New World mines. They then returned with luxury goods for the colonial elites and the wealthy classes back in Europe. In addition to these commercial links, Mexico and the Philippines developed cultural connections as well. Theater troupes from Mexico performed on stages in Manila. People from the Philippines and China migrated to Mexico, where they shared culinary and medical traditions.

Also in 1571, Spanish ships made the first trip around the world—from the New World to China and back to Europe. This forged connections between New World silver and Asian commodities that created the first truly global market.

The English and the Dutch wanted in on the Indian Ocean trade. In the late sixteenth century, they reached South China Sea. Just a few years later, English investors pooled their resources to form a joint-stock company. In this new venture, called the English East India Company, multiple investors owned shares of the company’s capital. With a royal charter, the East India Company displaced the Portuguese and acquired territory on the coast of India.

Although the Europeans made some territorial gains, they remained limited to coastal enclaves. Although some wished to extend their gains through conquest, they had limited ability to do so. The relations Europeans forged with Asian elites were very weak. Because of this, Asian rulers did not have much cause for concern. If anything, European arrivals only served to increase the wealth and power of Asian empires.

In the mid-fifteenth century, Europe was poor compared to the rest of the world.

In the process of searching for Asian goods, Europeans started sailing to Africa, across the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, accidentally encountering the “New World,” an event of monumental significance.

Gold, silver, and new Atlantic systems afforded them greater influence in Asia, and opportunities for exchange, conquest, and colonization.

The Islamic conquest of Constantinople (because it drove Europeans to find new links to Asia) and the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs and Incas characterize this age of world interconnections.

Europeans exploited Native Americans for their land and labor, and enslaved African laborers.

The new Atlantic system created an imperial and colonial link transforming Africa, the Americas, and Europe.

Conclusion

In the middle of the fifteenth century, the world was multi-centered. In comparison with the rest of the world, Europe was poor, marginal, and cut off from lucrative trade networks by its powerful neighbor, the Ottoman Empire. Desiring Asian luxury goods, Europeans embarked on voyages of exploration. First sailing down the coast of Africa, and then across the Atlantic, the Europeans accidentally encountered the Americas.

This accident was an event of monumental significance. Precious metals mined in the New World changed the world economy and bolstered Europe’s place within it. Gold, silver, and new trade routes gave the Europeans a way into the Indian Ocean trade. At the same time, Europeans saw the Americas as an opportunity for conquest, colonization, and enrichment.

Two conquests characterize this age. First, the Islamic conquest of Constantinople forced the Europeans to find new links to Asia. Second, the conquest of the Aztecs and Incas gave Europeans unfettered access to New World resources, especially silver.

But Europeans were not the only actors in these events. Amerindians also played an important role, as Europeans exploited them for their land and labor. Enslaved Africans brought by the Europeans also played an essential part.

The interactions between these actors transformed Africa, the Americas, and Europe, forming a new global economic order. In contrast to the Indian Ocean system, the new Atlantic system was based on formal imperial control and the creation of overseas colonies. In the following centuries, these colonial links and institutions would shape how worlds came together.

https://digital.wwnorton.com/worldstogether6

This concludes the Lecture Slide Set for Chapter 12 WORLDS TOGETHER, WORLDS APART SIXTH EDITION

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What were the broad patterns of world trade after 1450? How were major features of world trade in Asia, the Americas, Africa, and Europe alike and different?

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