Global Study 1 Midterm Essay
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Lecture_5Spring1.pptxWhy Speak of an “Age of Exploration” in the 1490s?
Was there anything new about the “Age of Exploration,” dated from Christopher Columbus’s voyage in 1492 CE?
Peter Frankopan (2015) thinks so:
1) Previously unknown lands were “discovered” by the inhabitants of Eurasia and Africa
2) New sea routes from Europe to Asia via Africa were charted and developed
3) Europe became a major player in world affairs after occupying a marginal position on the world stage
But there was a lot that remained the same as well
According to Giles Gunn (2018), motivations were unchanged:
Acquisition of trade routes to Asia that were not controlled by Muslims
The growing power of the Turkish Ottoman Empire turned the European gaze westwards in the 1400s CE
15th-century Europe was no match for the land-based empires of Central Asia, so it made sense to try and circumvent them
The Driving Forces Behind European Exploration?
Three driving forces for Columbus – riches, religion, and personal glory
Find his way to Japan / China and find the source of the gold adorning the natives’ bodies
Turn the natives into Christians and / or slaves if the search for gold failed
Use the profits of his enterprise to found a noble dynasty
It took some time before European explorers even accepted that these landmasses were not part of Asia
When the idea started to sink in, Europeans persisted in their desire to find an alternative route to Asia, seeing the Americas as a huge intervening landmass
Europeans were trying to discover whether it was possible to sail around the southern tip of Africa, thereby removing the need for a long westerly route
Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1497 CE
Realization of the West Indian Promise…
It would not take long, though, for Europeans to reconsider their priorities, and soon the American landmass would come to be appreciated for its own sake
As early as Christopher Columbus’s second voyage (1493 CE), it was clear that European monarchs were interested in exploiting these territories
It was this second voyage, complete with its cargo of horses, pigs, goats, sugarcane, oranges, and lemons, that would initiate “the Columbian Exchange”
Transoceanic transfer of plants, animals, peoples, and microbes that ended the environmental isolation of the Americas
According to Giles Gunn (2018), European colonization followed a fairly straightforward pattern:
Colonies of Trade
Colonies of Occupation
Plantation Colonies
Colonies of Settlement
Europeans Possessed a Major Advantage
It is not what you might expect – it is not technological / military advantage
It is a stronger immune system!
In Eurasia / Africa, higher population density and social interaction over greater distances facilitated the spread of infectious diseases
Produced “Old World” populations with relatively robust immune systems and a wide array of antibodies
Virgin Soil Epidemics – populations have had no previous contact with the diseases that strike them and are almost defenseless (immunologically speaking)
Virgin soil epidemics are different in:
1) the quantity of their victims
2) the age incidence of those they kill
Men and women in the prime years of life who are responsible for the functions of food procurement, defense, and procreation
The Ravages of Disease Were Reinforced by Brute Force
As explorers turned into conquistadors, the damage caused by virgin soil epidemics was enhanced by targeted violence
Reduced the native populations by warfare, dispossession, and interbreeding
Conquistadors were essentially private invaders / armed entrepreneurs:
Undertook the exploration and occupation of a given region at their own / a backer’s expense
Hoped to be named governor of a province of New Spain
In terms of early European exploitation of the Americas, two men / two routes proved most fateful:
Hernan Cortes (1510s CE - 1530s CE) pushed into modern day Mexico, bringing about the collapse of the Aztec Empire
Francisco Pizarro (1520s CE - 1530s CE) pushed into modern day Peru, in the process capturing and killing an Incan emperor
Here there really were gold-rich kingdoms to conquer
The Birth of a Truly Global Trade
As Dennis Flynn and Arturo Giraldez (1995) show, it was silver that proved to be of world historical significance, creating the first truly global trade network
Mexico and Peru – 80% of world silver production (1500 CE - 1800 CE)
Sold directly / indirectly to China
Europeans played the role of middlemen
Global trade’s birthday?
The year the city of Manila was founded (1571 CE)
Ming China (1368 CE – 1644 CE)
Paper money had been used since the 11th century CE, but overissue caused inflation / reduced its value
Merchants chose silver as an alternative currency
Conversion of the economy increased demand for / the price of silver relative to other precious metals
Opportunity for arbitrage (currency speculation) that was exploited by Europeans who controlled American silver mines
American silver could be exchanged in China for a larger quantity of gold / luxury goods than could be gotten elsewhere
Another Sinister Side to Early Global Capitalism…
“New World” economic enterprises came at a heavy cost in human lives
Wars and virgin soil epidemics killed up to 90% of indigenous peoples (a figure that justifies using the term “genocide”)
As for the African slave trade, a horrific institution, it turned people into commodities and forcibly brought more than 14 million of them to the Americas
According to David Brion Davis (1998), the African slave trade, at its height, also assumed global dimensions
Long before, sub-Saharan Africans were already being sold into slavery in the Silk Roads region
The Portuguese had already colonized islands off the west coast of Africa and begun to produce cash crops with the help of slave labor
Madeira (1420s), Cape Verde Islands (1460s), Sao Tome (1480s)
The African Slave Trade and the Economic Development of Europe…
Despite these precedents, the African slave trade represented something new in terms of scale and intent
Designed to replace a decimated indigenous population with human property
Most African slaves were transported to the Caribbean, Spanish America, and Portuguese Brazil
Worked millions of uncompensated hours to produce wealth that flowed into European industrial investment
The “Great Divergence,” which saw Europe emerge as a global economic power, was in many ways built on the backs of slaves
1) The production of cash crops (in particular, sugar) gave rise to factory-like operations
A fifth of the slaves worked as specialists who processed the sugarcane, as artisans making barrels to transport it, or as domestics serving masters
Plantation regions of the Caribbean were some of the most industrialized in the world
The African Slave Trade and the Economic Development of Europe…
2) The surplus value created by uncompensated slave labor was converted into investment capital that could be used to fund industrial enterprises
Difference in cost between a processed product and the raw materials needed to produce it
3) Industrial enterprises were commonly dedicated to further refinement of colonial products, creating further surplus value and capital accumulation
4) Add to this the investment capital created by the initial sale of African captives to “New World” slave owners in places like the Caribbean sugar islands
A Case Study in “New World” Slave Societies: French Saint-Domingue/Modern Day Haiti
Columbus visited this island – which the natives called “Ayiti” – on his first voyage in 1492
Sugarcane had been brought to the colony as early as 1493, and African slaves appeared shortly thereafter
Following a series of armed conflicts, the French seized the western portion of the colony in 1697 CE
In French Saint-Domingue, by the 1750s CE, there were nearly 150,000 slaves and fewer than 14,000 whites
By the 1780s CE, Saint-Domingue was the world’s leading producer of both sugar and coffee
As much sugar as Jamaica, Cuba, and Brazil combined
Half of the world’s coffee
As many as 1 million of the 25 million inhabitants of France depended directly on the colonial trade
