Until about 1500, the Atlantic Ocean was seen as a barrier Breaking of this was good for Europe, but bad for native populations

Portuguese 1450, settle in Azores They wanted to find a route to Asia, where they could find silk, cotton, rugs, sugar, spices

1498 Navigator Vasco Da Gama found himself in a new world of Arabic Commerce Southwest coast of India Next trip he brought 21 other ships with him

In the following years, Portugal built stations in the area 1509 reached Singapore and went into China Portugal owned a commercial monopoly in spices for a short while

Discovery of America The same quest for a route to the East led to the discovery of America Thought he was in India Columbus was backed by Queen Isabella of Spain, Magellan: 1520 found southwest passages into pacific, discovered Phillipine islands

Motivations for European Contact 1. Wealth – explorers were motivated by personal wealth and increased wealth for their nation. They had to be ruthless because they had to repay any debt 2. Salvation – The Papal Bull declared that all people had to be ruled by a Christian King, and all natives must be Christain. Those who resisted should be killed.

Spanish Conquistadors fell upon new lands Cortez conquered the Aztecs in Mexico Pizarro conquered the Incas in Peru Natives were put to forced labour in Mines Many died Church was converting them All this led to the eventual use of African slaves

Effects of Euro Contact Most interactions were friendly at first, Euro influence on natives was disasterous Entire nations of people destroyed Most of the damage unintentional – new diseases

Brutality Columbus – created plantations based on slave labour, hunted natives for sport Pizzaro – his conquistadors attacked with 100 soldiers an Incan army that offered no resistance Incans were killed in one day. Took Incan king hostage and killed him anyway Cortez – tried to take Tenochititlan, but failed. Surrounded the city, starved natives

Consequences of exploration 1. obviously, the native issue – Silver discovered in Bolivia by Spanish At the same time, better methods of silver extraction developed Spanish develop a trade route between Mexico and Phillipines Carried silver to Asia for luxury goods Huge network develops – Europe becomes a trade center

The Atlantic Slave Trade Estimated that 15 million Africans were forced to leave Africa to cross the Atlantic to be sold into Slavery Millions were killed during slave raids and many more died while they were being forced to coastal towns

Why were Slaves needed? Large agricultural plantations developed in the Americas Vast majority went to Brazil, the Caribbean, and Spanish speaking regions of South America Plantations demanded a large amount of labour because of the crops – sugar cane, coffee, cocoa and rice

Labour on plantations was excessively strenuous Plantation owners used them inhumanely Portuguese started in Americas growing those crops Eventually spread to America were cotton and tobacco was grown

Why Africans? Africans – excellent workers, had experience in agriculture, used to tropical climates, and could be worked very hard on the plantations ‘New Slavery’ – race became an explicit basis of the new slavery. Africans’ blackness and alien religion dehumanized them in European eyes

How did it work? Slaves were obtained from along the west coast of Africa with full and active cooperation of African Kings and merchants In return, African Kings and merchants recieved various trade goods ie textiles, brandy, horses and guns These guns were used to acquire more land, more slaves and to expand empires

Triangular Trade 1. Trade Goods to Africa From Europe 2. Transport of slaves from Africa to American – Middle passage 3. Return to Europe of the plantation goods

Conditions on the Ship Terrible – middle passage – estimated mortality rate of 15%