Exploration

1
Exploration

• Transition to the Modern Era

2
The Chinese and the Muslims were not the only
peoples to explore the maritime world before the
Europeans. What was the maritime progress of
Malayo-Polynesians, Africans, and Amerindians
before 1450

• Malayo-Polynesians traveled the Pacific basin for
  thousands of years, covering several thousand
  miles in relatively small craft.
• Linguistic and biological evidence supports the
  intentional nature of Malayo-Polynesian
  expansion.
• West Africans explored the Atlantic in large
  ocean-going canoes.
• South American Arawaks and Caribs colonized the
  islands and territories of the Caribbean basin
  and also undertook voyages to the North American
  mainland.

3
Europeans were not the first to explore the world
and come in contact with far-off peoples and
lands. What were the maritime patterns of global
exploration of the Chinese and Muslims before
1450?

• Chinese exploration, particularly that of the
  Ming, who sponsored several imperial fleets.
  These fleets were meant to extend not only trade,
  but also Ming dominion and power.
• Some indication of the size and power of the Ming
  fleets in relation to European fleets is
  important.
• These fleet were more grand and more impressive
  than the later European fleets.
• The Chinese, however, quickly abandoned maritime
  expansion in favor of their land-based empire.
• The rise of Medieval Islam led to a network of
  traders in the Indian Ocean.

4
What was the impact of the Spanish in the
Americas, as compared with the Portuguese in
Africa and the East? What enabled the Spanish to
conquer such enormous territory with so few men?

• The Spanish were more likely to seek territory
  and conquest, whereas the Portuguese preferred
  trading partners.
• Besides, Amerindians had been completely isolated
  from the rest of the worldin contrast to the
  peoples that the Portuguese encountered, who were
  not strangers to world commerce.
• Epidemic disease reduced the Amerindian
  population dramatically, allowing the Spanish to
  gain a foothold. Spanish steel swords, armor,
  horses, firearms, and deceit, along with allies
  among the Amerindians, finished the conquest that
  disease had begun.
• Spanish imposition of forced labor and religious
  conversion helped control Spains new empire.

5
European overseas expansion before 1550 was the
product of two related phenomena. What were these
phenomena, and how did they encourage European
expansion?

• First, European economic, religious, and
  political incentives should be explored.
• Europes commercial revival, and in particular
  trade with the East, was a motivating factor in
  exploration.
• Political unification and the era of the new
  monarchies played a major role, as did the desire
  to expand Christianity.
• Second, maritime and military technologies
  allowed the full expression of those incentives,
  resulting in overseas expansion.
• The development of the caravel, new mapping and
  navigation skills, and firearms all contributed
  to the ability of Europeans to explore and
  conquer.

6
Describe the maritime history of the Vikings?

• They were the greatest sailors of the Atlantic in
  the early Middle Ages.
• They sailed small open boats to raid European
  villages for centuries.
• They discovered and settled many north Atlantic
  islands.
• Vikings discovered Iceland in 1770 and Greenland
  in 982.
• It is believed one group came in sight of North
  America in 986.
• Fifteen years later, Leif Erikson created a
  settlement on Newfoundland.

7
In what ways were interactions between East
Africans and the Portuguese similar or different
than those interactions of the Portuguese and
West Africans?

• Early Portuguese visitors sometimes failed to
  make a favorable impression on African rulers,
  but Portuguese officials were not above using
  displays of pomp and pageantry to try to impress
  Africans.
• The permanent outposts Europeans established
  along the coast were primarily for commerce.
• The existence and continued operations of the
  Portuguese could be halted if Africans so
  desired.
• Trade for slaves was not unequal the Portuguese
  did not offer valueless trinkets in exchange.
• Some African kingdoms rejected missionaries and
  Christianity, while others embraced them. In East
  Africa, the situation was quite different, partly
  because of Muslim suspicion of Portuguese
  motives.
• Except for their allies Malindi and Ethiopia, the
  Portuguese bombarded and assaulted rival trading
  centers.
• For instance, a fleet of eighty-one Portuguese
  ships and seven thousand men devastated Swahili
  coastal cities.
• Portuguese power was ocean-based and exerted very
  little control on land.
• Thus, the maritime trading cities and empires of
  the Indian Ocean were much more vulnerable than
  the land-based empires of West Africa.