What is Columbian Exchange?
Answer:


It has some problems: 1/ Lack of cargo space because it has many sailors inside.
2/ Flat- bottomed.
This is a Caravel:
Pros of Caravel:
1/ Rounded Bottom
2/ Wind – powered
3/ Carry more cargo
4/ Half of Garley crews
5/ Travel Ocean and Sea
II/ Magnetic Compass: invented in China
III/ Astrolabe: invented by Indian.
Note: Portuguese used Magnetic Compass and Astrolabe to determine where they are in the sea.
Portugal (1400s)
- Bartholomew Diaz ( 1st expediture)
He is the first expediture and he sailed to the edge of Africa and then come back - Vasco da Gama (2nd)
He is the second expediture and he sailed across west Africa, through Indian Ocean and landed at Goa city of India.
This expediture took 2 years to sail to and back
Conclude:
1. Good news is European have a new route (sea route) to go to Asia
2. Bad new is the route is 4000 miles and it took 2 years
3. Portugal came to conclude Earth was sphere so if they can go east, then they can go west.
Spain:
- Christopher Columbus – took 8 years to prepare for expendition
- 1492, he sailed
- After 6 weeks, they go to seagoal
- Then he landed at Bahamas
- Anybody in this time reads “The travel of Marco Polo”
- He conducted 4 expenditures and go around gulf of Mexico for many times, but he could never find China, and he did not know.
Columbus: Reality Check
- Did not cover anything
- He “rediscover”the Western Hemisphere
- Not Italian
The development of Spanish Empire ( 1490s- 1560s)
Spanish is proactive
Other Spanish Explorers:
- Balboa
- Magellan (1519 – 1522)
– 5 ship
– 250 sailors
– 1 ship
– 17 sailors
The Treaty of Tordasillas (1494) (Spain + Portugal)
Pope Alexander VI
Two key industries:
- Plantations (slave labor)
Arabs, North Africa (1300s): encomienda: using the slave in Africa instead of Indians. - Mines ( Gold, Silver, Tin, Copper)
Other European Powers:
- English (1600s)
I. The South ( Geogra, North and South Carolina)
II. Chesapeake ( Maryland, New York, Peann, Delaware, New Jersey)
III. New England ( Mass, Plymouth, New Haven, Connecticut, Rhode Island) - French
New France ( 1608) : Quebec, Upper Midwest, Mississipi Valley, Great Lakes)
Key factors in The Spanish conquest of Mexico:
- Disease: Smallpox
- Military Technology:
– Cannon
– Muskets - Indian allies
Spanish conquest Mexico:
1. Hernan Cortes ( 1519)
- 600 soldiers
- 20,000 Indian allies
vs
Aztec:
- 5,000,000 people
- 30,000 troops
2. Pizarro
- less than 2o0 soldiers
- Took over Inca Empire (Peru now)
Other aspects of the Columbian Exchange:
Numbers:
- The (estimated) total population of indigineous people in the Western Hemisphere before Columbus: at a minimum 6-12m / maximum: 80-100m
- How many indigenous people died? at least 10% / at high 90%