European Expansion
What were the three primary motivators of European exploration of foreign lands beginning in the 1400s?
"God, Glory, and Gold"
Describe the rise of the Dutch Republic.
The Spanish Netherlands were ruled by the Spanish King Philip II but had little in common with their rulers. The Netherlands had a strong Calvinist influence and was religiously and socially tolerant. Following several flashpoints during 1566-1568, the Dutch began to fight for independence and in 1579 the Protestant northern provinces of the Netherlands declared independence and established a republic. They would soon have a large and influential trading empire, and founded New Amsterdam (now New York) in North America before being overtaken by British power in North America.
Where does the name "America" come from? Where did this term for the American continent first appear?
The American continent is named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, who traveled on behalf of Portugal along the eastern coast of South America and concluded the Americas were not in fact part of Asia, but a new land. In 1507, the German mapmaker Martin Waldseemuller produced a world map naming the continent America, which we studied in class.
What term refers to the Russian landowning noble class?
Boyars
How did the Columbian Exchange make your Thanksgiving dinner possible?
It depends what you ate! Many of the traditional Thanksgiving dishes are in fact native to the Americas (turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, pumpkin) but the Columbian exchange introduced a huge diversity of food and other products (and, tragically, many diseases) to the Americas. In turn, Europe, Africa, and Asia came to enjoy and even rely on many products native to the Americas.
How were Spanish "conquistadors" (and later Europeans) able to conquer the Aztecs and other native American populations so quickly and decisively?
The most decisive factor was the lack of Native American immunity to European diseases including measles, mumps, smallpox, and typhus. In some cases up to 90% of native societies (and armies) were killed by disease before fighting even began. The Spanish also had superior military technology, namely firearms, and shrewdly established alliances with certain native groups against others. The native population of Central Mexico declined from over 25 million in 1519 to approximately one million in 1605.
Which European nation is broadly considered to have been the most powerful in terms of population and military might as of the mid-1600s, before an alliance of smaller nations formed against it?
France
Which monarch declared "l'etat, c'est moi" (I am the state) and built the vast palace of Versailles to house himself alongside hundreds of nobles.
French king Louis XIV
What is indentured servitude? Who were most of these servants?
Indentured servitude is a labor system through which a person could work to pay off the cost of coming to the Americas. These were typically middle- or lower-class Europeans who wanted to immigrate to the Americas but could not afford the trip on their own. They would typically agree to work for a certain timespan in order to pay back the cost of the journey.
Why were Italy and Muslim kingdoms in the Middle East so satisfied with the status quo of international trade as of the 1300s?
Italian city-states and Muslim traders served as "middle men" connecting European and Asian nations through overland and Mediterranean trade routes. They were able to gain large profits through their geographical positions and roles in the trade system. With the rise of European maritime exploration of Africa, Asia, and the Americas, the influence (and profits) of these "middle men" declined over time as new sea-based trade routes were established.
Jamestown was founded in 1607 by a company of London investors who received an official charter from King James to establish an American colony. It's primary motivations were to find gold and build wealth, and to strengthen Britain's geopolitical interests in America by claiming territory.
The Massachusetts Bay colony was established in 1620 by the Pilgrims, a Puritan group which wanted to separate from the Anglican Church and seek religious freedom in America. While the colony ended up prospering, it was not intended as an economic or geopolitical venture.
What was the motivation for France (a Catholic nation) to support the Protestant alliance against the Catholic Hapsburgs in the Thirty Years' War? How did the war end?
The war ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 which abandoned the idea of a Hapsburg-led Catholic empire across most of Europe and dramatically weakened the Hapsburgs. Moving forward, European nation-states would be independent and (in theory) equal on the international stage, with less influence from powerful cross-border dynastic families. As most of the fighting had taken place on German territory, Germany was devastated.
What is Ferdinand Magellan known for?
In 1519, this Portuguese explorer led the first European expedition to traverse the southern tip of South America, sail west across the Pacific Ocean, and eventually (after his death), circumnavigate the whole world.
Which term refers to the conflict between over land claims in the Ohio River Valley between Britain and France during 1754-1763?
The French and Indian War (named from the British perspective, as the French had many native allies) was the American portion of the Seven Years' War between Britain and France which involved American, European, and Indian theaters and is sometimes considered the first "world war". The British won.
What does Hobbes think about the "state of nature" and how we can escape from it?
Hobbes' "state of nature" is anarchic chaos or "a war of all against all" which results in lives which are distrustful, unproductive, dangerous, and ultimately "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short". With no way to establish and enforce laws, there can be no justice, no right and wrong, and no durable peace. Hobbes believes the only way to escape this lowly condition is to establish a "social contract" to give up some individual freedom to a strong government with a monarch to enforce the law and protect society from itself. This is related to many of the ideas of absolute monarchy.
Approximately how many African slaves were bought and sold through the Atlantic slave trade? What regions received the largest number of slaves?
Between 1500 and the end of the Atlantic slave trade in the 1870s, approximately 9.5 million Africans had been sold to the Americas. Approximately 40% of these were destined for the Caribbean Islands, and 38% for Portuguese Brazil, with relatively smaller quantities in Spanish America, British North America, and Europe.
In which century did most Russian territorial expansion occur?
The 1600s, prior to Peter the Great's rise to become Czar. However, Peter's reforms dramatically strengthened Russia by westernizing many of its institutions including the military, education system, role of the Russian Orthodox Church, and women's status in society.
Which dynastic family rose to power in Russia in the early 1600s and established a dynasty that led Russia until the Bolshevik Revolution in 1918?
The Romanovs
Which form of government maintains a royal leader but establishes firm legal limits on the power of the ruler? In which country was this first established?
Constitutional monarchy, England
Which five European nations are primarily associated with foreign exploration and colonization during the late 1400s through the 1700s? Which two major nations, arguably the most powerful European states of the past 100 years, were absent from this "age of discovery" and why?
England, France, Spain, Portugal, Dutch Republic
Germany was politically divided throughout this period, with great influence held in different regions by local princes rather than a consolidated "nation-state" under a single ruler or government. This was in part due to the legacy of Luther's Reformation and religious conflict in Germany. The Thirty-Years War (1618-1648) was the culmination of this strife, and resulted in enormous carnage across the region. Germany did not consolidate into a unified nation-state until the late 1800s.
Russia did not emerge from Mongol rule until the 15th century, and its social and economic structure (serfdom) remained more similar to the dark ages in Europe until relatively modern times. Russia also lacked naval access to the Atlantic and Mediterranean at this time, and so focused on territorial expansion eastward, where it made enormous gains during the same period that Western European nations were exploring and colonizing Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
What is the economic policy of mercantilism? How did the nations of Europe execute this policy during the 16th-18th centuries?
Mercantilism is an economic policy based on the idea that a country's power depended on its total wealth, which allowed the country to fund a strong military and purchase the products necessary to improve its quality of life.
Major European nations attempted to build wealth by stockpiling as much gold and silver as possible, and by maintaining a favorable balance of trade, in which they exported more goods than they imported. Theoretically, these nations hoped to be self-sufficient, or to "trade" only with their own colonies, so the acquisition and expansion of colonies as a form of wealth was inevitable.
Describe English politics following Oliver Cromwell's death in 1658.
Cromwell's Protectorate could not survive without his leadership, and the following year Parliament voted to restore the monarchy under Charles II, son of the executed Charles I. Charles II had no heir and his brother James II, a Catholic, inherited the throne. Many English would not accept a Catholic king, and James II was overthrown in a bloodless coup (the "Glorious Revolution") and replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband, William of Orange, in 1689.
Who were the intended recipients of the English Bill of Rights, and what was the purpose of this document?
William of Orange and Mary, who were coronated following the Glorious Revolution that removed James II from the English throne in 1688.
The English Bill of Rights was delivered by Parliament to lay out a list of grievances against James II, and establishes limits of royal power within a constitutional monarchy, notably: the monarch will not suspend laws of Parliament; the monarch will not levy taxes without Parliament's approval; the monarch will not limit freedom of speech in Parliament.
Describe the triangular trade, including key imports/exports between each major participant.
Europe imported raw materials such as cotton, tobacco, sugar, and molasses from the Americas, and raw materials and (in relatively small numbers) slaves from Africa. Europe exported manufactured goods to the Americas and Africa, including introducing guns to Africa for the first time.
Africa imported manufactured goods from Europe, and certain raw materials unavailable in Africa, such as tobacco, from the Americas. Africa exported enormous quantities of slaves to the Americas, as well as small amount of slaves and raw materials to Europe.
The Americas imported manufactured goods from Europe, and large quantities of slaves from Africa. The Americas exported raw materials to Europe and Africa.
Describe the Treaty of Tordesillas, which was signed in 1494. What societal trends of the 16th and 17th centuries make it unlikely that a similar agreement could have been reached in 1594, or 1694?
The Treaty of Tordesillas was facilitated by Pope Alexander VI to establish a Line of Demarcation to divide lands open for Spanish and Portuguese exploration and colonization. The line gave the majority of the Americas to Spain (with the exception of Portuguese Brazil), and Africa and most of Asia to Portugal.
As of 1494, the Pope maintained enormous geopolitical authority across Europe, which was leveraged to establish the Treaty of Tordesillas and maintain relative peace between Spain and Portugal. Following the Reformation and accompanying reordering of religious life in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, it is unlikely that the Pope would be able to have such influence in geopolitical affairs, and these centuries reflect the shift towards a relatively "anarchic" international system with no supreme ruler to settle disputes between nations.