Exploration period 1400-1600

• Europeans went out all over the world establishing colonies and building empires from 1450 to 1648
• Reasons for European exploration and empire building


  • Gold
  • God
  • Glory
• Mercantilism


  The dominant economic system in Europe during this time period, which saw the world's wealth as a fixed pie that needed to be captured
• The goal of mercantilism was to get as much gold and silver into the national coffers as possible
• Favorable balance of trade

  A state needs to have more exports than imports to accumulate gold and silver
• Establishing colonies was a way for European states to get more gold, both from the colonies' own deposits and by selling goods back to the colonies
• The European demand for luxury goods from Asia, like porcelain, spice, and tea, was another motivation for exploration to find sea routes to Asia
• The Catholic and Protestant churches had a strong influence over European states, motivating the spread of Christianity through exploration and colonization
• Many Jesuits viewed indigenous people as lesser humans suitable for forced labor, though some like Bartolome de las Casas defended them
• European states were in competition for power and glory, with the establishment of empires becoming a way to demonstrate state power
• Maritime empires


  • Sea-based, not land-based, requiring new technologies like improved cartography, ships, and navigational instruments
• Advancements in cartography, ship design, and navigational instruments enabled the establishment of European maritime empires
• Colombian Exchange


  The global transfer of goods, flora, fauna, cultural practices, and disease between the Old World and the New World as a result of European imperialism
• The Colombian Exchange transformed the lives and societies of everyone involved
• Things exchanged in the Colombian Exchange


  • Diseases
  • Food
  • Minerals
  • People
• Diseases exchanged


  Smallpox and other diseases from Europe devastated indigenous populations in the Americas, leading to the "Great Dying"
• Food exchanged


  • Maize, tomatoes, potatoes, cacao from the Americas to Europe
  • Rice, wheat from Europe and Africa to the Americas
• Minerals exchanged


  Gold and silver plundered from the Inca and Aztec empires by the Spanish, which made Spain wealthy
• The influx of New World wealth


  Hastened the end of feudalism and the rise of early capitalism in Europe
• The subjugation of people in the Americas


  The Spanish imposed the caste system and the encomienda system, which amounted to a form of slavery
• The economic power in Europe shifted from Mediterranean states to Atlantic states building empires across the sea
• Trading ports like Antwerp, Amsterdam, London, and Bristol prospered due to their central location to trade routes
• A hemorrhoid is a swollen vein usually around the area of your butt that is extremely painful
• The African slave trade rose up in response to European empire building in the 16th and 17th centuries
• The main cause for the rise and acceleration of the African slave trade was the establishment of a plantation economy and the colonies of the New World
• Plantation economy


  • Focused on growing cash crops for export
  • Ordered around one or two crops
• Major cash crops


  • Sugarcane
  • Coffee
• The indigenous populations were initially forced to do the farming work, but they kept dying from European diseases and were able to escape
• European imperial states turned to Africa to solve the problem of their dwindling indigenous labour force
• Africans had already had a decent amount of immunity to European diseases and were less likely to escape the plantation
• Capturing and transporting enslaved Africans


  1. Captured and taken from their homes

  2. Sold to Europeans on the West Coast of Africa

  3. Endured the brutal Middle Passage across the Atlantic
• The conditions on the slave ships were inhumane, with each person having to lay on their side due to overcrowding, and diseases running rampant
• The plantation economy became more and more profitable over the next two centuries, and the demand for enslaved people from Africa only continued to spike