 describe how trade and political centralization transformed West Africa before the advent of the Atlantic Slave Trade.  describe the role the Columbian Exchange played in the formation of the Atlantic world.  identify and explain the difference between the various colonial footholds in North America (Spanish, French, English, and Dutch)

 The confluence of African, Asian, and European people since ancient times  West African gold; European guns; Indian spices  Med. Commerce was closely intertwined with religion and politics  Christians felt hemmed in by Muslims who possessed superior wealth, power, and technology

 Crusaders had suffered bloody and humiliating loses in attempts to capture Jerusalem  Europe felt the Muslim power came from their control of lucrative trade routes  Europeans sought a way around the Muslim merchants and Turkish tax collectors  The development of the printing press expanded reading and also the stories of exploration (Marco Polo)

 And after Isabella and Ferdinand completed the reconquista by seizing Granada in 1492 they began to look westward  This also opened the western mouth of the Mediterranean

 The major arena of long-distant travel and trade was the trans- Saharan caravan trade  Gold became the standard for nearly all European currencies  New African states emerged to take advantage of exporting gold

 By 1500 accumulated wealth was able to pay for magnificent architecture, paintings, etc., all commissioned by government  Strong national monarchs in France, England, and Spain  However, most Europeans (75%) were peasants  Doubling of the population: From 55 mil. In 1450 to 100 mil. In 1600  Enclosure movement converted land to private property, created wonderers

 European towns were numerous yet small – around a few thousand  The joint-stock company was formed – the ancestor to the modern corporation – and a new economic outlook of profit and acquisition of wealth (unimpeded)  This replace the old form of reciprocity: a just price and a reasonable profit  This had been important in the business relationship

 The chief economic entity was the family  The nuclear family served as a “little commonwealth”  With specific ideas of sovereignty and roles  People not with their families were viewed with suspicion

 Europe was recovering from the Black Death which had killed 1/3 of the population

 Most of 16 th Century Europe adhered to Christianity  However, there were fears of witches and magic  The Catholic Church wielded awesome spiritual power and offered indulgences  This provoked challenges, especially Martin Luther and John Calvin  Luther stressed faith and Calvin insisted upon Predestination

 Luther’s “priesthood of all believers” insisted on the importance of the layperson and reading

 Henry VIII desire for a male heir  Creation of the Church of England, which then for the next 100 yrs. struggles between degrees of “Catholicism” and acceptance of Puritan views.  These Puritans (both Separatists and Non-Separatists) become influential in the settling of America

 The first out of the gate, the first to overcome impediments to long- distant trade  Adoption of the triangular Arab sail  Create the caravel – more maneuverable against the wind  Mastering the compass and astrolabe  Renaissance scholars search more accurate readings of ancient texts

 The goal was to circumvent the Moroccan control of the African gold trade topple Muslim power  Discovering the Canaries, Azores, and Madeiras was the first step  A place to test weapons, settlement and slavery  As well, the first example of pestilence  Assimilation and intermarriage enveloped the few survivors  The colonists cleared the forests (domesticated plants and animals) for profitable export

 By the time of Prince Henry the Navigator died in 1460 Portugal had established itself in Arguin and south of the Sahara (modern day Mauritania), established through treaties with African rulers  In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias had reached the Cape of Good Hope  A decade later da Gama had reached India  The profits keep rolling in and the expeditions continue

 The conquest and transformation of the Atlantic islands prepared for the discovery, invasion, and remaking of the Americas.  Both Portuguese and the Spanish learned how to organize and sustain prolonged oceanic voyages.  Weapons, mounted men, war dogs, exploitation of indigenous rivalries, disease, slave usage  It was their first profitable exploitation

 Institution took two basic forms  Ten to fifteen slaves given for a Berber horse  Guns traded to the Africans exacerbated conflict amongst Africans  Differences in this New Slavery  Magnitude  Dehumanization  Race as a factor

 Coupled with Columbus’s religious fervor and ambition for wealth and glory, Ferdinand and Isabella sought to break the Portuguese monopoly on direct trade with Asia  What had deterred Europeans was not “falling off the Earth,” it was the inability to carry supplies; however Columbus underestimated the voyage to Indian  Three ships, about 90 men and 33 days later Columbus hits the Bahamas

 Thanks to the new printing press, the word of Columbus’s discovery spread rapidly  Columbus was offered a tenth of the profits and a goal to convert the Indians  This success also brought about the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494  Upon his second voyage he found the Taino had killed the 39 men that were left  This was pretext for war, captives, and slaves

 Hispaniola  2/3 of the colonists died in the first decade  But the Taino suffered far worse  From 300,000 in 1492  To 33,000 in 1510  To 500 in 1548  Although not genocidal in intent- the Spanish actually wanted the Taino for slaves- the colonization was genocidal in effect

 Ignoring the Treaty, Henry VII sent John Cabot (Italian) to explore the north Atlantic in 1497  1500 – Portuguese claim Brazil  America is named  1513 – Balboa crosses the Isthmus to see the Pacific  1519 – Magellan makes it to the Philippines

 These hit every region from the American southwest, Pacific Northwest to eastern Canada and New England  In 1793 beaches of the PNW were littered with skulls and bones and saw the faces of survivors pocked with scars  Repeated and diverse epidemics provided little opportunity for natives to repopulate

 Between 2-10 million Native Americans in the future U.S. and Canada in 1492  It was an uneven exchange  Europeans got venereal syphilis  The Europeans died in far greater numbers when they tried to colonize sub-Saharan Africa  Yellow fever and malaria  Why did the Native Americans not have these types of diseases?  Subarctic trek  Scattered population

 All in a village got sick at the same time, and therefore no one could care for the sick  Smallpox  New diseases also sapped morale  Leaders were no match for the outsiders  It destroyed kinship  Many turned to the God of those that brought the disease

 Three factors helped develop powerful pathogens in the Old World  Long-distance trade and invasions  Larger pool of potential hosts and constant exchange and mutation  Urbanization  Crowded population kept diseases cycling  More garbage and excrement  More vermin  Living among domesticated animals  Cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses  Natives only domesticated the dog (which rarely shares diseases with humans)

 The colonizers did not necessarily champion the death; they needed the natives for labor  Beginning in 1518, slaves begin to be transported in larger numbers to Hispaniola  Prior to 1820, at least 2/3 of the 12 million emigrants (Old to the New World)were slaves

 From 1492 to 1800: proportion of the world’s population  European: 11% to 20%  Native America: 7% to 1%  Contrast this with Africa  African tropical diseases actually harmed the Europeans  European colonists took over, but only amidst conquered minorities

 By 1800 in America  Indians – 600,000  Euro-Americans – 5 million  African-Americans– 1 million

 European population surges due to an increased supply of nutrients  Comparison of the indigenous crops  Average yield in calories per hectare (2.5 acres)  New World: Cassava 9.9; maize 7.3; potatoes 7.5  Old World: wheat 4.2; barley 5.1; oats 5.5  In Europe it had taken five acres of grain to support one family; with potatoes five acres supported three families

 What the exchange meant for Europeans.  Expanded food supply permitted reproduction at a unprecedented rate  Acquisition of fertile and extensive new lands  Outlet for surplus population that flowed to the New World

 Determined to farm in a European manner, they introduced their domesticated livestock and plants  Livestock  Honeybees, pigs, horses, mules, sheep, cattle (rats)  Plants  Wheat, barley, rye, oats, grasses, grapevines (weeds)  Ranging cattle and pigs wreaked havoc on the America landscape  258 of the approximately 500 weeds species in the U.S. originated in the Old World