Atlantic World Textbook Chapters 1 and 2 PDF

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Summary

Notes on the textbook assignment and CLASS NOTES from lectures in the first 2 weeks, 2-4. Taught by Professor Rothman. ...

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1434: Gil Eanes left the port in Lisbon, Portugal setting out for the northwest African coast, while Zheng He headed a massive fleet in the South China Sea nearing Canton during a 7th voyage in the Indian Ocean. ○ Zheng He was sponsored by Yong Le, a new Ming emperor, and during these 7 voyages, he made it to Asia, India, the Persian Gulf and East Africa. ○ In 1440s, succession of Portuguese mariners guided vessels to the vicinity of Cape Verde (from the primary source), the western tip of Africa. Here, they discovered that if they stood far out to sea and headed northwesterly toward Azores, they would catch the winds to blow them towards Europe. ■ No discovery was more important than this one for opening the Atlantic and European trade route. Transformed the Atlantic from a barrier to a conduit for intercontinental contact. Atlantic Ocean has⅕ of the water that the mammoth Pacific has. The distance that Columbus traveled in 1492 was half the distance that Zheng He traveled into the South China Sea (7000 miles). Atlantic Ocean is also relatively shallow, overall making it less formidable. ○ However, the ships that were frequently used to travel the Mediterranean or the Indian ocean would not have been able to withstand the new troubles of the Atlantic. The geography of the continents bordering the AO each have large and small rivers, which extend far inland, allowing for more communication and trade from coast to interior. Also allowed for the inclusion of landlocked regions in the Atlantic in trade. The extensive water network also allows for the best drainage system: the North Atlantic drains almost half of the Earth’s land surface, four times more land than drained by the PO. The most important feature of the Atlantic is the way that it separates Africa and Europe from the Americas, creating the Old and New worlds. The barrier that the ocean created for thousands of years allowed for separate developments of diversity and culture to take place without interference from others until modern times. ○ In the long term, the different definitions of property, religion, political sovereignty and biological consequences became most important. People’s lifeways differed because of the varied environments and amounts of resources that were available to various groups of people. Traditional racism, based in Eurocentrism, allowed for diversity among Europeans, but denied the right to diversity to Africans and native Americans, who were tied together because of the belief that continental origins dictated cultural interests. Most grouped all non-Muslim Africans and Native Americans together, with Muslims as a separate group. ○ Racialist approaches to culture continued, despite some efforts to show differences in historic and cultural experiences. The pursuit of commodities largely shaped European commercial aggression in this period, which in turn encouraged maritime expansion and innovation. All of this started in the marketplace, many of which were in the middle east where people were first exposed to the luxuries and goods of other areas. The intersection of Southern Europeans’ quest for commodities and the labor to produce

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them brought the annexation of Atlantic islands and generated trade south along the African coast for slaves and other goods. Also noteworthy is the desire the European Christians had for conquering Muslims outside of Europe and spreading their religion to all populations. There was a slow and steady routing of the perceived “infidels” from the previously multireligious Iberian Peninsula. One of the most important spices that the Crusaders encountered in the eastern trade was cane sugar. They usually used honey as their primary sweetener but once sugar was imported, it became very popular amongst Europeans. ○ Quickly recognized that the most productive agricultural unit throughout much of Europe remained the feudal manor, where serfs grew what they needed to sustain themselves and owed labor for their lords. ■ An adaption of this product they believed would be good enough to sustain themselves with sugar and to make a profit off of it. Sugarcane required more strenuous labor than serfdom could provide. The society believed in the use of slavery: Mediterranean Christians still recognized the Roman legal status of chattel slavery and Muslims approved of enslaving nonbelievers while shippers maintained an active trade of people for labor. ○ Venetians on Cyprus were the first to recognize the efficacy of slave labor for sugar production and this is what was used to establish the colonial model for slave-based, market-oriented sugar production. ■ The plantation model was easily expandable, as it could grow or shrink as the need for sugar grew or fell. New fertile lands became available beyond the Mediterranean as well. Europeans may have ventured into the Atlantic earlier had it not been for demographic and economic setbacks like the Black Death (bubonic plague) between 1348-1400 which killed ⅓ to ½ of the population of Europe. ○ European economic woes because of their encounters with Black Death actually came about because of their participation in the trade with Mediterranean and Asia. ○ Agricultural productivity also declined after 1300, as a result of climate change, land exhaustion and technological stagnation. This also led them to look for another type of economic salvation, which they found in the Atlantic. There was also a quest for social salvation: Christians launched their first crusade in Spain in the eleventh century and the fight for the Iberian peninsula continued until 1490’s-ish. After the devastation of the 14th century, many on the Western side of Europe were wondering how they would find new lands and ways to bring about economic, social and spiritual recovery. Portugal became the leading country for this effort. Since the expulsion of Moors in 1249, Portuguese seamen had been ranging wide in their quest for goods and markets. The continuation of the quest was supported in 1385 with a new dynasty of rulers. ○ When it became clear by 1400 that Venice controlled the trade of the eastern Mediterranean and could prevent others from participating in it, Genoese and

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Florentines looked west and brought their sailing knowledge and mercantile instincts to cities of coastal Spain and Portugal. Portuguese were first drawn to the Canary Islands because its inhabitants: the people, the Guanche, had livestock, which could supply hides and wool, and lichens on the islands could produce a valued purple dye. ○ The people though made it hard to conquer since they were “tall and formidable” and willing to fight back. Ultimately, they were stolen for slave labor when the peasant population in Europe was cut in half by the Black Death and the market for slaves was booming. ■ The Guanche people were also driven out because of the European technique of fighting from all angles: they would burn off vegetation to make more cultivable land and brought new animals that introduced new disease. The Guanche had to limit child birth to avoid famine....