Slavery and Capitalism

I. Slavery as a means of organizing labor

A. Slavery in the ancient world

1. Slaves as the spoils of war--slaves in ancient times were often captives from war, bound into slavery for the rest of their lives (perhaps), but their children, should they have any, were not made slaves because of a parent’s condition of servitude. Slavery was not an inherited condition, unlike peasantry and later serfdom.

2. No one race or ethnic group was pigeonholed as a sole source of slaves, even though Slavic peoples (slav=slave) were at one time the preferred source of slaves, they were not the sole source.

B. Trans-Saharan slave trade--Arab knowledge of African civilizations south of the Sahara Desert was facilitated by their long participation in the trans-Saharan slave trade.

1. Muslim slavery prohibitions--Sha’ria law prohibited Muslims from enslaving co-religionists as slaves; this acted as an incentive for some sub-Saharan African peoples to convert to Islam, although many more continued to practice in the traditional manner, to traditional, local gods.

2. Christian slavery prohibitions--Christians also developed a similar prohibition against enslaving co-religionists--with the important exception of those co-religionists who converted after being enslaved. This exception was then extended to children of slaves as the Atlantic system of slavery matured (and there were children of slaves who lived to adulthood)

3. Muslim slave traders--in aggregate, because Arab and Muslim slave traders were involved in the trade for hundreds of years before the development of the Atlantic system of slavery, the number of slaves they were responsible for removing from the continent of Africa may have exceeded the estimated 11 million taken during the European involvement in the slave trade; but because they took smaller numbers of slaves over an extended period of time, even if their aggregate number is larger, it caused less social disruption than did the 250 or so years of European involvement.


C. Plantation Slavery

1. Mediterranean model--sugar cane, imported from Asia, was successfully grown on several islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Sugar cane cultivation required a great deal of labor throughout its lengthy growth period, and when the cane was harvested it had to be processed immediately. Slave labor began to be used for the tasks related to growing and harvesting sugar cane because Arab traders were able to provide a ready supply of African slaves from across the Sahara.


2. The Atlantic Islands--when the Portuguese began sailing into the Atlantic on an organized basis in the 1400s, they “discovered” a number of islands that they settled Portuguese people on, or colonized. Besides providing ship stores for the exploration process to Asia, these colonists began growing industrial agricultural crops, like grapes for wine and also sugar cane. To provide a labor force to cultivate and harvest these crops. After finding some of these islands either uninhabited (Madeira Island), or with the natives quickly dying off after being introduced to European microbes (Canary Islands), the Portuguese began using slaves from the western coast of Africa as the labor force.

a) This slave trade was still relatively small scale at this early period, however; as we will see below, it did not occur to the Portuguese to use slaves on a large scale in their largest colony, Brazil, until the Dutch had wrested control of the Atlantic slave trade from them in the early 1600s.


II. The Atlantic Slave Trade--although we will identify various European nations being responsible for transporting millions of Africans across the Atlantic and selling them into bondage, the slave trade in Africa was controlled by Africans, not Europeans. Europeans established “factories” along the Atlantic coast of Africa that existed because Africans were interested in trading with them--the Europeans were interested in obtaining gold and slaves, and the Africans were interested in obtaining guns--and this exchange assisted both sides in fulfilling those wants.

A. Labor in the New World

1. Native Americans

a) Microbes--Europeans and their microbes decimated native populations, reducing those populations by as much as 95 percent in some areas.

b) Escapees--Europeans soon learned that natives had to be transported to new areas to hope to retain their labor, because they were able to use their knowledge of the local terrain to escape slavery.

c) Ill-treatment--inadequate diet and inhuman working conditions (the same conditions that also ended the lives of many African slaves imported to the New World) often killed off those natives who managed to survive European microbes.

2. Indentured servants--mainly English, although the British colonies of North America accepted indentured servants from numerous other European countries because of the severe labor shortage there.

a) Debtors’ prison--with the enclosure of land in England, more people bound it difficult to stay out of debt, and if they could not meet their debt obligations when payment in full was due (no such thing as revolving credit), they usually went off to debtors’ prison until they (or their family) could pay the debt.



b) Spirits--many indentured servants were “recruited” in much the same way that “volunteers” were “recruited” for the navy and army--they were gotten drunk and/or drugged, put on a ship, and sold to the highest bidder upon their arrival. This process was later known as being “barbadosed,” after the island of Barbados, the largest of the British sugar islands.

c) Sold by their families--many poor families, unable to feed all members or deeply in debt, sold older children into indentured servitude, While to our modern sensibilities this seems incredibly cruel, this was merely an extension of the practice of apprenticeship (a child sent somewhere as an apprentice owed his--or her--master (mistress) an extended period of service--usually seven years--during which time they were being trained).

d) Indentured servants, in contrast to slaves, served a defined period of time (usually 7 years), after which time they were suppose to be granted a plot of land, tools, a change of clothes, and a small stipend. Most servants did not live to realize this reward, because the work regimen in the tropical climate killed off most of them.

(1) Indentured servants protested this treatment, arguing that it violated their rights as “free-born Englishmen.” The successes indentured servants had in promoting this idea made the shift to African slaves more attractive for plantation owners.


3. African slaves--slaves were not immediately introduced immediately after the European discovery of the New World, but were gradually introduced as plantation crops were found--tobacco (even the Caribbean islands initially grew tobacco) and eventually sugar cane.


(1) The Middle Passage--refers to the journey of African slaves to the New World. The slave ships that transported these people were tightly packed (as the illustration emphasizes). These ships also spent anywhere from several weeks to several months sailing down the African coast, making numerous stops along the way to buy slaves from the factories (which in turn had earlier bought slaves from sources in the interior of the country). Only after purchasing a full load of slaves would a ship set out on its trans-Atlantic journey, in order to maximize their profits.

(a) 1 in 10 Africans, on average, died on these journeys. The crews on slave ships suffered from about the same mortality rates; the ships were relatively small, people were generally packed into the ships, and diseases and microbes found a wealth of welcoming hosts. Dysentery (then known as flux or bloody flux) was among the most virulent of diseases, along with cholera and other water borne diseases caused by unsanitary conditions.

(b) Slave Markets--once delivered to ports in the New World, slaves were treated much like livestock

4. Slaves? or Indentured Servants?--initially this was a distinction without difference. For example, the first Africans sold as laborers at Jamestown were sold as indentured servants. On these early tobacco plantations there was little need to make such distinctions, because neither slaves nor indentured servants tended to live very long, so plantation owners usually favored indentured servants because of their lower upfront cost.

(a) Cross-cultural alliances--indentured servants and slaves saw little difference in their living and working conditions, and therefore has little hesitation in making cross-cultural alliances during most of the 17th century.


(b) Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)--small property owners, indentured servants, and slaves rebelled against the colonial government in Virginia, which was attempting to keep the peace between the colonials, their servants, and the Native Americans living in the colony. The uprising lasted for 8 months, until leader Nathaniel Bacon died. In the aftermath of this rebellion, real distinctions began to be made between between conditions of servitude of slaves and indentured servants

(c) Sugar Islands--the legal hassle caused by indentured servants over their conditions of work made, coupled with a drop in the price of slaves as a result of greater numbers of imports, made obtaining slaves more appealing to plantation owners.

III. Slavery and English Capitalism


A. Bank of England--many of the early directors of the bank--the men who financed the King’s government and lent the British government money for a healthy return, made their money from the labor of slaves in the Sugar Islands, which they then invested in this institution.

B. Lloyd’s of London--this famous insurance company got its start underwriting risk for owners of slave ships.

Science and the Enlightenment

I. Science and Superstition--exist together, even in the leading scientists of the Age of Enlightenment (and they still exist together in the minds of modern people people, as well)

A. Superstition--exists to explain phenomenon that cannot be readily explained



B. Scientific method--develop thesis, design experiment to test thesis, and make sure the results can be replicated.




C. Copernicus--published study that argued that the earth revolved around the sun; scientific orthodoxy at the time (1543) held just the opposite being true.

1. Heliocentric cosmology--Copernicus was the first European astronomer to argue for the sun being at the center of the universe. This previously had been argued by the Greek astronomer Heracliedes of Pontus and in the medieval period by Nicole Oresme and Nicolas Cusanus

2. Publication--Copernicus published De revolutionibus orbium colestium (On the Revolution of Celestial Spheres) the year that he died at the age of 70.

3. Effect--despite the turmoil in the Roman Catholic world, Copernicus’ work was initially well-received; its calculations regarding the revolution of the earth around the sun became the basis for the gregorian calendar (still in use today).

4. Dispute--Copernicus’ calculations were questioned, even by Galileo Galilei, because the did not work for a round orbit (only for the elliptical orbit, as demonstrated by the mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler)



D. Galileo Galilei

1. Invented the telescope in 1609, which enabled him to see the craters and mountains, and led him to conclude that the material that made up the moon was much like the material that composed the earth.

2. Advanced Copernican notions about the universe, although he claimed that Copernicus’ calculations were inaccurate because he rejected Kepler’s argument about the elliptical orbit of celestial objects



3. Inquistion—one of the most prominent victims of the Inquisition, Galileo was force to recant (take back) his belief in the Copernican system, and he was held under house arrest for the rest of his life.

II. Counter-Reformation

A. Adoption of the Aristotelian model—the belief that everything and everyone had its place in the scheme of things (“God’s plan”)—a fixed hierarchy of the celestial bodies, and a fixed hierarchy for all of the people on earth.



1. Giordono Bruno—burned at the stake for arguing that there were in infinite number of worlds (solar systems)


2. Rene Descartes—the repression suffered by Galileo and especially by Bruno made Descartes suppress his findings that foreshadowed later discoveries by Newton

B. Protestants and literacy—Protestantism appealed to the growing middle class—both merchants and ambitious craftsmen—who looked to use knowledge to better their own lives, even if it was just to read the Bible.

1. Translating the Bible—on of the earliest accomplishments of the Protestant movement was to translate the Bible from Latin to a variety of vernacular languages.

a. King James Bible


2. Gutenberg—is credited with “inventing” moveable type in 1439, but evidence now indicates that this “invention” was in reality an evolutionary process.



a. Gutenberg Bible

b. Using moveable type made printing cheaper, and dropped the cost of books. This coincided with more people becoming literate, and increased the demand for books of all types

3. Protestantism could only spread by challenging the censorship practiced by the Roman Catholic Church, but when this censorship ended it permitted a plethora of voices to be heard—and even voices who questioned whether God existed at all. And if one could question the existence of God, by what right could kings claim to rule?


III. The Enlightenment—the turmoil caused by the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation caused many intellectuals to feel that their societies were deficient, and should be reconstituted according to rational principles, borrowed from the scientific method.

A. Anti-clerical—most Enlightenment thinkers were anti-clerical, meaning that they saw priests and ministers as mis-leaders of the people, perpetrators of the belief in superstition.



1. Edward Gibbon—wrote The Fall of the Roman Empire, where he placed the blame for the decline of Rome on the government’s adoption of Christianity



B. Reformers, not Revolutionaries—these thinkers tended to come from the upper classes, and though of “the people” as little more than sheep to be led.



1. Voltaire—most famous as a satirist, but like most of the men (and they were almost entirely all men) of the Enlightenment he was proficient at a number of things. Perhaps the harshest critic of priests, yet



2. Denis Diderot—the main author of the Encyclopedie, an attempt to present all knowledge in a series of 14 volumes; although the work was highly influential, only 4,000 sets of the volumes was initially sold.



3. Jean-Jacques Rousseau—wrote The Social Contract, which argued that people should be governed by the general will of the populace




4. John Locke—wrote Two Treatise on Government which were important to the development of ideas about how a more representative government could be brought about (particularly influential on the Declaration of Independence)




5. Adam Smith—most famous for The Wealth of Nations, the much-cited if little read justification for the development of capitalism. Smith argued that the “Invisible hand” of the market would best guide political economy, and that it needed no interference from man; we are now living through one of the troughs that Smith did not realize was one of the costs of allowing the Invisible Hand guide the economy

Rise of Protestantism, Part 1

I. Rise of Protestant England

A. Henry VIII


1. Marriage to Catherine of Aragon

a) Related to Spanish monarchy

b) Catherine was married briefly to Henry’s older brother, Arthur, who died shortly after the marriage. Rather than return the considerable dowry, Henry VII proposed Catherine marry his younger son Henry, 5 years her junior--but had to wait until he came of age.

c) Issue of marriage to a close relative (sister-in-law) was raised, but Catherine swore the marriage was never consummated (and the Pope would have probably granted dispensation, anyway)



d) Only one child from this union, Mary (later known as “Bloody Mary,” for reasons that will become obvious) lived past infancy. Henry felt marriage was cursed, no male heir, and attracted to one of his wife’s “ladies in waiting,” asked Pope Clement to annul the marriage

e) Pope’s decision--upset the most powerful monarchy (Spain), displease his “host” (pope was a “guest” of Catherine’s nephew, the king of what was left of the Holy Roman Empire), or anger the monarch of a minor kingdom located on some godforsaken island?

f) In response, Henry declared himself the head of the Church of England (and got English bishops to go along with it), granted himself an annulment, and sold off most of the land the Catholic Church owned in England



2. Edward VI--Henry died when Edward was nine, and he died when he was 15 in 1553--so most of the decisions made by his Regency council.


3. Mary Tudor--despite Edward’s efforts as he was dying to place his cousin Lady Jane Grey on the throne, his older half-sister Mary had the most legitimate claim to the throne. She attempted to return England to the religion of her mother and herself--Roman Catholicism. To make an example, she had 300 people who refused to convert executed--which put something of a dint in her popularity. She had her half-sister Elizabeth thrown in prison, and then under house arrest, because Mary suspected her of aiding her Protestant foes

a) Religious resistance--there was a sizable whose opposition to this directive was a matter of conscience. Those people derisively known as “Puritans,” influenced by John Calvin, had been agitating since the takeover of the Church of England for doing away with most of the ceremonies of the church (beyond the celibate priesthood) and simplifying worship services

b) Economic resistance--Henry had sold off the land held by monastic orders, and purchasers were resistant to being forced to give up these properties.





4. Elizabeth I--child of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, ascended to the throne when her half-sister Mary died in 1558.

a) Re-established Protestantism

b) The “Virgin Queen” left no heirs, never married



B. House of Stuart

1. James IV--named heir on Elizabeth’s death; son of her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, became James I of England (while also retaining Scottish throne)




2. Charles I--his lack of political acumen led to a contentious relationship with Parliament, and his eventual downfall

a) Dismissal of Parliament--as was the king’s prerogative at the time; his decision to attempt to rule without the consent of Parliament was seen as high-handed, however. He raised money by levying new taxes and customs without consent, and by collecting customs on new imports.

b) Scottish rebellion--Calvinists threatened rebellion, which Charles assumed would be easily put down, but he had no money to spend on raising an army, and had to call Parliament back into session

c) House of Commons demands--

(1) Abolition of new taxes, and pardons for those who had resisted paying

(2) Dissolution of special courts

(3) End of king’s power to dissolve Parliament without that body’s consent

(4) Removal of bishops from House of Lords

(5) Amicable peace with Scottish Calvinists


d) King felt this was giving up too much, and attempted to quash dissent by force by raising a body of loyalists (known as the “Cavaliers”) to arrest leading members of Parliament. Those threatened caught wind of this plan, however, and were able to escape into the walled section of London, where the people there protected them.



III. The New Model Army


A. Harnessing popular discontent



1. Cavaliers--largely upper class bullies who gained a well-deserved reputation for despoiling every area they moved through

2. Resentment against the heavy-handed cavaliers led to street protests and the rise of street preachers who spoke against class privileges--as well as the need to work every day.

3. Rise of the Presbyterians--leading Puritans thought that there should be a uniform system of religious doctrine led by church elders--themselves--so that the “rabble” did not create chaos.


4. Oliver Cromwell--led a cavalry outfit he recruited from among his Puritan associates, made up of volunteers from the “middling classes” dedicated to their religious beliefs and bettering themselves by the dint of their hard work.

a) Cromwell realized that he could only motivate these kinds of people by allowing them to give expression to their values and views.



b) Permitted preachers who attached themselves to the New Model Army to proselytize-not only among the NMA, but among the people in the towns and cities they controlled as well.



5. Battle of Naseby 1645--king’s forces was routed, and he fled to Scotland. The Scots decided to turn him over to Parliament. While the debate went on about what to do with the King, he escaped to the Isle of Wight, where recruited a new army--which was defeated, and he was recaptured. Now realizing that he remained a threat to all their lives while alive, Parliament ordered him beheaded.



6. The Putney Debates and the Levelers--a radical democratic faction of the NMA, reacting against the Long Parliament’s seeming intention to deny them back-pay and send them off to Ireland to quell another disturbance, debated making demands on Parliament for the institution of more democratic measure--a wider granting of the franchise, etc.




a) The Levelers--position frightened the “moderates” of the Presbyterian party, who saw this movement as a dangerous development--as people see most developments that they think will undermine their influence.

b) While excluding the most radical elements, the Presbyterians formed a “council of the Army” half made up of rank and file members, and half officers; they relied upon the practice of deference to persuade the rank and file to go along with the officers’ proposals.

God and Gold

I. New Spain

A. The Caribbean--Spain quickly overcame natives on most of the islands of Caribbean, mostly through the microbes they introduced directly or through those that came with the livestock they introduced.


1. Pigs--the Spanish place male and female pigs on many of the islands in preparation for their exploration, ensuring they would have a ready food supply when they returned. The pigs, however, had no natural enemies on the islands, and in rooting for food destroyed much of the habitat that the natives had relied on for sustenance. In addition, these pigs carried a number of microbes that readily jumped to human hosts (like our present day concerns with the H1N1 virus), and promptly killed a number who had never been exposed to them.


B. Hernan Cortes and the Golden City--son of a lesser noble family; he studied for a time at the University of Salamanca in Spain to become a lawyer, but little evidence exists to confirm whether he finished his studies. Evidence does suggest, however, that he was a man of extraordinary ambition.

1. Government official on the island of Cuba, then the headquarters for Spanish government in New Spain (Cuba).

2. Led third expedition to the mainland, which he largely funded himself.

3. His hostile relationship with the appointed governor led to an attempt to stop his expedition. Cortes resisted this attempt, and began writing letters to the Spanish king, claiming he was merely working for the greater glory of his majesty, etc.


4. Dona Mariana (La Malinche)--native woman who acted as translator for Cortes; she spoke both Mayan and Nauhautal. Because of her language skills, the conquistadores were able to persuade a number of native peoples, resentful of the heavy-handed domination of the Triple Alliance (and particularly of the Mexica), to join with them to overthrow the then current power structure. Dona Mariana also became Cortes’ mistress, and had at least one child with him.

5. Veracruz--upon landing, Cortes ordered the ships beached, and then burned, so there was no returning for his crew.

C. Moctezuma--fatefully decided to allow the Spanish to enter Tenochtitlan with no resistance and lavished them with many gifts; the gold only made the Spanish want more. Eventually, the Spanish decided to hold Moctezuma hostage in order to get more gold, and finally murdered him when things began to go wrong.



1. Mexica forces expelled Spanish from city--Spanish only escaped because they were getting slaughtered so badly on the causeways that connected the island city of Tenochtitlan to the mainland that they were using the bodies of comrades to fill in the gaps the Aztecs had made.

2. Siege of Tenochtitlan--Cortes had previously returned to the coast to seek more reserves, where he defeated--and converted--yet another force sent to stop him. He returned with these reinforcements and lay siege to Tenochtitlan. The siege, in conjunction with the microbes already at work in Tenochtitlan, finally defeated the Aztec forces.

D. Spanish Rule

1. Encomiendo System—Spaniards with political connections were granted control of huge tracts of land, and the native workers to work the land. In return, they had to ensure that these workers were taught Spanish and instructed in the Catholic faith. There were few checks on how these workers were used, however, and many economiendos simply worked their laborers to death.


2. Bartolome de la Casas—a former economiendo, he became a Catholic priest, and eventually a severe critic of the economiendo system, because of the systematic abuse of natives that the system encouraged.

II. Francisco Pizzaro and the Inka

A. The Conquistadore--cousin of Cortes, of an even lesser noble family (Pizzaro was himself illiterate), but fired by even more ambition than Cortes

1. Early recognizance--Pizzaro made several earlier trips, and caught wind of a supposed fabulously wealthy kingdom.

2. Third expedition--Pizzaro heard of an ongoing civil war, and moved south with 106 foot soldiers and 62 horsemen

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4



3. Cajamarca--this Inka town was largely abandoned because of the civil war. Pizzaro’s men hid themselves about the town, and Pizzaro sent word for the winner of the civil war, Atahualpa, to meet him there. Atahualpa agrees to the meeting; to impress the Spanish, he paraded into town accompanied by 5,000 to 6,000 of his largely unarmed people, leaving his army behind.

4. Spanish massacre--began with firing guns, cannon, attacking the crowd with men on horseback; the huge crowd panics, and most are crushed to death by falling over each other trying to escape.

5. Atahualpa held hostage. He notices Spanish “lust for gold,” agrees to fill two rooms with gold and silver in return for his release. While the valuables are being gathered, Atahualpa arranges for this remaining rivals to be murdered; he himself is garroted by the Spanish.

6. Inka resistance--continued until the Spanish were able to capture and execute the final Inka emperor, Tupac Amura, in 1572.

VI. Conclusion--the “Black Legend”

A. The Black Legend—The abuse that the Spanish subjected the native populations to became widely publicized, particularly after Casas’ book was translated and published by Richard Hakluyt, condemning the Spanish for this ill-treatment, and justifying attempts to wrest this land from their control—so they could ill-treat the native population.

God, Gold, and Spices

I. Portuguese Exploration


A. Henry the Navigator--younger son of ruling Aviz family. Became head of the religious military organization Order of Christ in 1420. Portuguese nobility, fired by the long, successful struggle against Islam in the Iberian peninsula, and were looking for allies to extend this struggle to retake Jerusalem from Islamic control--preferably with a partner east of the Holy City.




1. Legend of “Prester John”--a supposed long-lost Christian king, located somewhere in Africa (or maybe Asia--nobody is really sure). Henry’s plan seems to have been to seek out the kingdom of Prester John, and ally with it to “free” the Holy Land.

a) Basis in reality?--there were, of course, Christians in eastern Africa (the Coptic Church in both Egypt and Ethiopia), as well as Christians in the Arabian Peninsula, Persia, and India--none of them called Prester John, of course.

2. Systematic exploration--the Portuguese began a systematic exploration of the African Coast to look for the “western Nile” (apparently the Senegal River) that would take them to the kingdom of Prester John.

B. Benefits of Arab Contact



1. Navigational tools--from their Muslim contact, Portuguese sailors had learned to use an astrolab and a compass, and to build a modified ship they called the caravel, which had a lateran sail that allowed the ship to tack better--necessary to navigate on the open ocean (particularly against the wind)

2. Navigational maps--as the exploration process progressed, Portuguese mapmakers grew more skilled, and gathered more information, to draw more accurate maps. These new maps included not only more accurate depictions of land masses, but also indications of the direction and strength of trade winds and sea currents

3. Knowledge of Arab trade routes--Portuguese were also hoping to tap into some of the wealth the Arabs generated from their trade with Africa and Asia.


II. The Expeditions

A. To the “Western Nile”

1. Cape Bojador--the southernmost point known to Europeans to this time. It was a fairly unattractive place, port along the Atlantic coast with Sahara Desert as its hinterland. It eventually was discovered that sailing well into the Atlantic--out of the sight of land--was a better route.

a) Porto Santo (1419)-- “Discovered” by an expedition that got caught in a storm and blown off course; became an important launching point for future expeditions.


b) Madeira Islands (1420)--became an important source for wood to construct ships (madeira is portuguese for wood); it was colonized, and becomes an important source for industrial agricultural products.

2. Tangiers--Portuguese disasterous attack one this city, held by Berbers. Portuguese army surrounded and forced to surrender; only way to save the army was to send youngest Aviz brother, Prince Fernando, into captivity. He died in captivity four years later. This tragedy seemed to spur Prince Henry on, however.

3. Cabo Branco (Cape Blanco)--an expedition to “make peace” with Africans ended up capturing a number of them, including a chief named Adahu, who provided the Portuguese with much information.


B. The Atlantic Islands and the Development of Slavery--the Portuguese colonized the islands they “discovered” in the Atlantic, probably because they used these as stations during expeditions. Using the model of the islands of the Mediterranean, plantation agriculture using slave labor was quickly developed--particularly the cultivation of sugar cane, which used slave labor; many slaves from Africa were used to cultivate sugar cane in the Mediterranean, and the importation of African slaves to work the plantations on these Atlantic islands seemed a natural progression.
1. Madeira Islands--sugar cane, and grapes (Madeira wine)

2. Azores Island (1427)

3. Cape Verde Islands (1460)

4. Sao Tome (1470)--all these islands were colonized, in contrast to the “factories” that were established on the African coast as trading outposts.


C. Guineas and Gold--Guinea was the name applied to the land south of the Sahara Desert, and to the people living there. It later became applied to a several countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It also became a slang term for the gold coin minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1813, made with gold mined in Guinea--and those coins were often traded for slaves (Guinea slaves)


1. Caravel--in 1441, the first expedition to use the caravel was made, and at a village along the Rio do Ouro several people were kidnapped, taken back to Portugal, and sold as slaves--the beginning of the slave trade in Europe (Arabs had dealt in the African slave trade for hundreds of years to this point).



2. Bay of Arguin (1448)--first Portuguese fort constructed on African coast from which trade was conducted with Africans. The few Portuguese agents in these forts were called “factors,” which is how these establishments became known as “factories.”

3. Cape Verde (1444)--Dinis Dia, inspired by the earlier discovery that the Sahara Desert ended, found the westernmost part of Africa. From this point on, Portuguese merchants became more involved in the exploration process, because of the potential wealth to be gained from establishing trade networks; the Portuguese monarchy was happy to take a cut of the trade proceeds without having to risk anything.

a) Fenao Gomes--one of the merchants who financed their own expeditions. Gomes and his crew “discovered” the Gold Coast (modern Ghana).

D. King Joao II--succeeded his father Afonso V to the throne, he actively supported his own expeditions, and signalled a renewed drive on the part of the Portuguese crown to seek a sea route to Asia; within four years of his gaining the crown, Portuguese expeditions round the Cape of Good Hope.


1. Voyage of Diogo Cao (1482)--Cao discovered that the western coast of the African continent turned south and ran for over a thousand miles before turning again. Cao also became the first European to come into contact with the Kingdom of the Kongo, which became an important trading partner and the first successful effort to convert sub-Saharan Africans to Christianity.

2. Christopher Columbus--was turned down by King Joa in 1484 (and again in 1488).

3. Bartolomeu Dias (1487)--sent on expedition to find the southern cape of Africa. He was successful, but did not at first recognize his feat because his small fleet had been caught in a serious storm as they approached the cape, and passed in the midst of that. He reported back that his fleet had rounded the “Cape of Storms,” but king changed the name to “Cape of Good Hope” because investors would be scared off from an expedition that had to pass by the Cape of Storms.

II. Spanish Exploration


A. Christopher Columbus--son of a Genoese shopkeeper. Columbus aspired to greatness on the seas; from his early teen years on he gained sailing experience. He developed a theory that one could reach Asia by sailing west from Europe, largely because of a miscalculation.

1. Columbus in Lisbon--Portugal is the westernmost country in Europe, and had sailors sailing the Atlantic long before the rise of Prince Enrique (Henry) the Navigator. With the fall of Constantinople, Lisbon had become the place for seafaring adventurers.

a) Columbus’ proposal (1485)--to Joao (or John) II, that he be outfitted with three ships and a year’s time to make the voyage to Asia and back. King Joao turned this request over to his councilors, who concluded that Columbus had badly miscalculated the circumference of the earth, and that the trip was impractical.

b) Columbus’ proposal (1488)--same sales pitch, same result. Decision was also probably influenced by knowledge that a Portuguese expedition had yet to return from an attempt to round the continent of Africa.

2. Columbus in Cadiz--Columbus had already utilized his Genoese connections to find half the money for the expedition; he had to rely upon a European monarch for the other half of the funding, however.

a) Proposal to Henry VIII of England, who did not decide in favor before Columbus was finally able to persuade the dual monarchs of Spain to take the chance.

b) Ferdinand and Isabella--although the Kingdom of Spain was mostly broke from fighting the final battles to unite their kingdom, they were able to find some money in the treasury (and force contributions from some of their subjects) to fund the expedition

c) Departure--from Palos de la Fronterra on August 3, 1492. The three ships made a stop in the Canary Islands for final repairs, then departed on September 6.

d) Arrival--land was spotted on October 12 (Columbus Day in much of the Spanish-speaking world)


3. Columbus in the New World

a) Caribbean Islands--Columbus’ first encountered a gentle, friendly people the Spanish called the Tainos, who seemed to welcome the strangers

b) Columbus was attracted to their gold jewelry, and attempted to ascertain where they obtained it--but they had great difficulty communicating with each other, since neither party spoke the others’ language.

c) Kidnapped 12 “Indios” to take back to Spain (kind of like specimens); tellingly, all 12 died shortly after their arrival in Spain

d) Columbus made three other voyages, and served for a time as governor of “New Spain” (when he was accused of misusing his power and theft, and briefly thrown in jail), but it is not clear that he ever understood the importance of his “discovery.”


E. Treaty of Tordesilla (1494)--divided the world outside of Europe into two spheres of influence--Portuguese and Spanish. These spheres were divided by the Pope in a line running north/south from 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands.


1. Spanish proposal--after Columbus’ “discovery,” Spain insisted upon dividing world into two different areas for making claims of surzenity, or control. Spain’s proposal was to demarcate the line 100 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands.

2. Portuguese response--King Jao insisted that the line be drawn at 370 leagues--why? Why not 200, or 300? Did the Portuguese have information about the existence of a large land mass on the other side of the Atlantic?


III. Voyage of Vasco da Gama

A. Arming the caravel--in preparation for sailing into the Indian Ocean--known to be dominated by Islamic traders, a method was devised to put cannons below deck, behind doors built into the bulkhead. This provided da Gama and his successors an immense advantage, because they were the most heavily armed ships in the Indian Ocean.

B. The Voyage

I. Portuguese Age of Exploration 1415-1530
1. da Gama left in 1497. Hoping to avoid the difficulties faces by Dias, Gama used the trade winds of the Atlantic to his advantage--but still almost missed the Cape of Good Hope.

2. After rounding the Cape, the expedition made slow progress up the east coast of Africa, before finding a local pilot knowledgeable of the Indian Ocean, who guided the fleet across to India.

3. Returned to Portugal in 1499.

IV. The Aftermath

A. Spice trade--after reaching India, Portuguese explorers continued to press eastward, eventually reaching the Spice Islands, China, and Japan.
1. As on the coast of Africa, the Portuguese established factories to carry out trade, which allowed them to dominate the spice trade to Europe

2. Asciento system--in the early years of Portuguese dominance, they were able to insist that ships that traded in the Indian Ocean by a license to trade there; as more ships followed the Portuguese example of heavily arming their ships, this became less effective; Portuguese also found it difficult to maintain such a huge empire with fewer than 300 ships and less than 10,000 Portuguese to run it.

3. Succession problems--the fall of the House of Aviz, and the ascension of Philip II of Spain to the throne of Portugal, made the lucrative spice trade a ready target for Philip’s growing list of enemies--particularly the Dutch, who take over much of the Portuguese empire in Asia by 1620.

Europe--The Cultural Backwater

II. Europe--The Cultural Backwater

A. Producing the surplus--through the Dark Ages, it became apparent to Europeans, despite their lack of education and knowledge of the wider world, that the adoption of any technique that would make it easier to fill their bellies would make their lives easier.


1. Wheeled, iron-tipped plow--first appeared in Eastern Europe, and within 300 years was in wide use across the rest of Europe.

2. New grazing methods--allowing cattle to graze on fields after the harvest was completed permitted their dung to be used as fertilizer.

3. Raised productivity--the introduction of this new piece of technology and the new grazing technique permitted the average peasant family to raise their crop yield by 50%, while also increasing the supply of meat, dairy produce, hides, and wool.


B. Resident landlords

1. Feudal lords--the lack of urban development in most of Europe meant that most “lords of the manor,” although lacking in culture and education in comparison to their counterparts elsewhere (many were, in fact, illiterate), were close to the land from which they gained a living, and were more cognizant that they had to pay some attention to the well-being of the peasants on their estates.

2. Exploitation--lords still exploited the labor of peasants, but their closeness to them on estates led them to readily adopt and develop--and, perhaps most importantly, pay for--the technology that boosted productivity



C. Abandonment of Slavery

1. Shift to serfdom--serf were still “bound” to the land that they worked on (and required by law to live and work there), but they were only required to turn over a portion of what they produced to the lord of the manner--rather than the chattel property of the lord.

a. Slavery was not completely abandoned, of course. It continued in existence, but was limited to the enslavement of “outsiders”; it was limited to personal service for the rich, and to plantation cultivation after the rise of serfdom, however.

2. Production of the surplus--doubling of the production for each peasant family transformed European life. This surplus meant that the manorial lord (who received a portion of the surplus from each peasant family living on the estate) had a surplus that he could turn into a variety of goods--weapons, armor, furniture, wine, and especially spices.


a. Spice trade was extremely lucrative. In Europe, the spice trade was controlled by Italian merchant families, especially Venetians--like the Polos. Muslim merchants controlled the trade from Asia to the Middle East, however (which was part of the reason Marco Polo undertook his expedition).

b. The attractiveness of the spice trade is ultimately what drove European Exploration--attempting to find a sea route to the Spice Islands to cut out the Muslim traders.

3. Towns and cities--began to develop as a result of the increased trade spurred by the production of the surplus. This development also attracted artisans to begin manufacturing technology and luxury goods, as well as merchants--and both groups gave shelter to labor (like serfs who managed to escape from manors), building walls and developing an armed militia to defend themselves.

D. Development of European Civilization

1. Urbanization--kings used the developing towns and cities as a counterweight against the lords by granting the cities internal self-government and restricting the lords’ influence upon the cities system of laws and justice.

2. Intellectual life--was transformed completely. Accounting needs spurred the study of mathematics. Written laws developed so the legal decisions were not left to the whims of the lords. The importance of literacy grew; many people learned to read and write in the local vernacular language, which freed scholarship from the restraints of the monestary. Scholars quickly developed an interest in the ancient Greek and Roman world, and traveled to those places containing that scholorship.

a. The development of the European universities began at this time.

b. Advances occurred not only in abstract knowledge, but in technological innovations, as well. Europeans regained technological knowledge from Greece and Rome via Muslim centers of learning that had been lost to them previously, as well as knowledge the Muslims had gained from Asia.

c. Development of literature (Dante)

E. Crisis of the 14th Century

1. End of Economic Growth--and technological advancement, as the lords built ever-more opulent castles, chateaus, etc., sucking up more and more of the surplus, climatic changes (the beginning of the “Little Ice Age”) coupled with the lack of investment in infrastructure and technology decreasing the amount of the surplus eventually meant that the surplus disappeared--and that the ruling class was therefore appropriating the subsistence.



2. Black Death--epidemic disease that was introduced from Asia via trade (fleas on rats), combined with population densities in towns and cities (which provided lots of hosts) created hothouse conditions for the bublonic plague, which wiped out perhaps one-third of Europe’s population.

3. Religious fanaticism--these societal crises led to a growing religious fanaticism in Europe throughout this period.

a. Christian crusades--reforming popes attempted to intervene between feuding lords, and make the Church the final arbiter of disputes--and begins to demand greater religious orthodoxy, and limit local practices that had continued (the development of semi-deities like saints).

b. Christian crusaders--much of the energy that local ruling elites had formerly spent on fighting each other directed toward “liberating” Jersalem from the Muslim “infidels” (who to that point had not interred with Christian pilgrims); the riches available in Jerusalem was also attractive.



c. The Pillage of Constantinople--by the time of the 4th Crusade, the focus was upon punishing non-Roman Catholics, rather than on “liberating” Jersalem. Catholic forces sacked Constantinople, even though the city was a Christian island in an increasingly Muslim sea. Jews were also targeted for much abuse.



F. Growth of Religious Intolerance

1. Growing Stratification of Society--Lords and other ruling elites attempted to create a greater differentiation between themselves and other members of society.

2. Economic Malaise--created great stress on the lower orders of society; the powerlessness of the lower orders led them to seek scapegoats (usually outsiders like Jews, the occassional priest)

3. Church officials become more vigorous in enforcing religious orthodoxy (to Joan’s demise); eventually this leads to the establishment of the Inquisition to root out “heresy.”

4. Christianity and European Identity--Christianity became, for Europeans, a means of developing an identity beyond one's kin or village; eventually, this develops into a national identity (first in Portugal and Spain), that spreads around Europe.



G. Class Struggles and Millenarial Movements

1. Growing pressure on peasants--lords, to maintain their lifestyles, began extracting more surplus from peasants, but the aforementioned climatic changes meant that there was no surplus to extract.

2. Hundred Year’s War--fought between two families claiming the French throne, but involving England as well (as well as Joan of Arc); but who financed this battle? (See immediately above).


3. Peasant revolts

a. Flanders 1325
b. Seine Valley in northern France 1358
c. The “Peasants’ Revolt” in England 1381
d. These peasant revolts were often aided and abetted by the urban poor, but the target for discontent were often priests and Jews; Jews especially lacked the ability to protect themselves, and therefore made easy targets.



H. Market Feudalism

1. Crisis of European Feudalism--recovery was quicker, in large part because of the precipitous decline in population (through famine, Black Death, war)

2. Food output declined--but not as much as the population did, so productivity did not experience as steep a decline as it could have, and enough surplus could be created to keep the ruling elite left in the luxury goods the desired.

3. To fill the demand for goods--urban merchants began to encourage less prosperous peasants to take up the production of goods in the countryside, away from the control of urban crafts guilds, developing the “putting out” system of production.

4. The Land Rent system--lords, on the other hand, begin granting long-term leases to prosperous peasants, and allowing them to hire less prosperous, land-less peasants to work the land--and relying upon the rent they charged to keep them in the lifestyle to which they had grown accustomed.

a. The development of this land rent system acted differently in different areas, loosening the system of serfdom in much of Western Europe, while strengthening its hold in much of Eastern Europe.