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AP World Unit 4 Topic 2 NoteGuide Answer Key

From 1450 to 1750, European states, driven by the desire for wealth and power, sponsored maritime exploration to establish sea-based empires. Portugal led the way with Prince Henry the Navigator's initiatives, while Spain followed with Columbus's voyages that opened the Americas. Other nations like France, England, and the Dutch Republic later joined the competition for trade routes and colonies, significantly impacting global trade dynamics.

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9 views7 pages

AP World Unit 4 Topic 2 NoteGuide Answer Key

From 1450 to 1750, European states, driven by the desire for wealth and power, sponsored maritime exploration to establish sea-based empires. Portugal led the way with Prince Henry the Navigator's initiatives, while Spain followed with Columbus's voyages that opened the Americas. Other nations like France, England, and the Dutch Republic later joined the competition for trade routes and colonies, significantly impacting global trade dynamics.

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Ai linh Do
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© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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UNIT 4 TOPIC 2

Exploration: Causes and Events 1450 to 1750


THEME : Governance, Economic Systems
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 1 : Describe the role of states in the expansion of maritime exploration from 1450 to 1750.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 2 : Explain the economic causes and effects of maritime exploration by the various European states.

It’s time to talk about how European states became sea-based empires during the period 1450-1750. And this was a
massive turning point in World History, so don’t sleep on this one.

STATE SPONSORED EXPLORATION


The first and most important thing you have to understand here is that this new era of sea-based empire building
was state-sponsored , or state-driven. And the reason why this is such a big deal is because it’s the
result of significant changes in the distribution of power in European states. Now that Europeans had
begun recovering from the devastating effects of the Black Death , the population was beginning to
grow again, and monarchs began by consolidating power under themselves and away from the nobility.

And taking a clue from those land-based empires we met in the last unit, European monarchs built up their
militaries , learned how to use gunpowder weapons against their enemies, and implemented more
efficient ways to tax their people.

A huge motivator for states-sponsoring maritime exploration was the increasing desire for Asian and
Southeast Asian spices , most notably, pepper . And why were they so interested in pepper? Well, to
quote an Englishman from the 15th century, “Pepper is black and has a good smack .” That’s an
actual quote.

But as much as they wanted those spices, Europeans faced a problem . All those land based empires we talked
about in Unit 3 controlled the land routes through which those highly desirable spices passed, and that
meant by the time they showed up to Europe they were exceedingly expensive . And so as European states
began growing in power, they were highly motivated to find alternative routes to trade with states on the
other side of the world, and that means they began looking to the sea .

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UNIT 4 TOPIC 2

Exploration: Causes and Events 1450 to 1750

SUMMARIZE the previous section in your own words. (2-4 sentences)

PORTUGAL’S TRADING POST EMPIRE


Let’s turn the corner and meet some of these rising sea-based empires, and the first mover was
Portugal . And because Portugal was so unceremoniously landlocked by the Spanish kingdoms of Castile
and Aragon, they had no way to expand except by the sea.

So a member of the royal family named Prince Henry the Navigator sponsored the first European attempts
to find an all-water route into the Indian Ocean Trade Network. And I think we ought to talk about his
motivations , and I’ll mention three.

First, Portugal had adopted and developed the right technology . Recall from the last video that tools like
the compass and astrolabe were adopted by European powers, but also Portugal developed new kinds of
ships like the caravel and the carrack which were built for this kind of exploration.

Second, there were economic motivations. Prince Henry had become aware of the riches available
in the Trans-Saharan trade, mainly in the form of gold , but later he decided that the Asian spices were even
more enticing.

And third, there were religious motivations. Not only was there a growing desire to spread Christianity
throughout the world after Portugal and Spain had reconquered the Iberian Peninsula from Muslims , but
Prince Henry also desired to find a fabled eastern Christian monarch named Prester John . And we
know now that the story of Prester John was only a legend , but Henry believed it to be true and thought

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UNIT 4 TOPIC 2

Exploration: Causes and Events 1450 to 1750

PORTUGAL’S TRADING POST EMPIRE cont’d.

it would be a huge political and economic advantage to connect Christian states in the west to this
Christian state in the east .

And so the Portuguese began their sea-based exploration in earnest, and the result was what became known
as a trading post empire around Africa and eventually around the Indian Ocean. Here’s where I tell you that
establishing full-blown colonies was expensive, and so the Portuguese strategy for empire building was to
establish self-sufficient trading posts in all these places whose main purpose was to facilitate trade.

And they established their first major trading post in West Africa , and to tell the truth, the people
there were very eager to trade with these Europeans in their fancy caravels, and mainly it was gold that the
Portuguese were after in this region. But then Vasco de Gama went ahead and sailed around the southern tip
of Africa and established trading posts all down the western and eastern coasts as well.

But then something momentous happened. De Gama traveled all the way to Calicut , and discovered that
the riches to be made by participating in the Indian Ocean Trade were far greater than their operations
around Africa. And so in subsequent voyages , the Portuguese established trading posts throughout the
region all the way to Southeast Asia . And the thing is, the Indian Ocean Network had incorporated
all kinds of different merchants for many centuries, but when the Portuguese showed up, they were determined
to own that network. And they had a relatively easy time doing that because, as it turned out, those
caravels and carracks had plenty of room for big guns which gave them a huge advantage over the
lightly armed ships that were regulars in that network.

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UNIT 4 TOPIC 2

Exploration: Causes and Events 1450 to 1750

SUMMARIZE the previous section in your own words. (2-4 sentences)

SPAIN’S SEA-BASED EMPIRE


The next major European state to get involved in sea-based exploration was Spain . Now while Portugal
was busy asserting their dominance all over the Indian Ocean, the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and
Isabella were eager to participate in it.

And right about then is when we meet Christopher Columbus . Now he was a mariner from
Genoa but got himself some experience sailing fleets for the Portuguese down the African coast. And he had this
kooky idea that it would be way quicker to access the Spice Islands of the east by sailing west across the
Atlantic . And he tried to get the Portuguese crown to sponsor a westward voyage, but they declined. So
he presented his idea to Ferdinand and Isabella and they agreed to pay for it.

And so, you probably already know the story. In October of 1492, Columbus and his fleet reached the
Caribbean Islands, which he assumed were the Spice Islands of the East Indies .

And even after three more voyages, Columbus was convinced that he had landed in the East Indies.
But it soon became apparent to other explorers that Columbus had in fact bumped into a couple giant
continents that nobody in Europe had previously known. And so Spain sponsored other explorers like
Ferdinand Magellan who sailed around the tip of South America and across the Pacific to the actual
East Indies. And so the Spanish began sending fleets to the Americas and conquering and colonizing every
place they could. And that venture opened the Trans-Atlantic Trade which would ultimately prove more
prosperous than the Indian Ocean Trade.

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UNIT 4 TOPIC 2

Exploration: Causes and Events 1450 to 1750

SUMMARIZE the previous section in your own words. (2-4 sentences)

OTHER STATES’ EMPIRES

So Portugal and Spain got first dibs on the massive grab for sea-based empires, but as their power and
wealth began to increase like mad, other European states began sponsoring maritime exploration. And
why ? Well, all the normal reasons: political rivalry , envy, the desire for wealth, and, most of all, the
need to find alternative sailing routes to Asia. And I’ll just introduce you briefly to three of these states.

First was France who sponsored expeditions seeking a westward passage to the Indian Ocean.
Now, they didn’t find that passage, mainly because it doesn’t exist, but as the French explored portions of North
America , they established themselves there and gained access to the incredibly lucrative fur trade in
these regions. Eventually, by 1608, Samuel de Champlain established the French colony of Quebec .
However, they had a habit of dying in large numbers from diseases and their battles with the native
iroquois peoples, and so, like the Portuguese, mainly established their presence in the form of trading
posts .

And then second, England got into the sea-based exploration game as well. Now England was kind of late
to the game mainly because their booming textile industry was making investors loads of money, and
they were therefore less willing to invest in risky overseas ventures. However, after Queen Elizabeth I
rose to power and defeated Spain’s attempts to invade England, which weakened Spain significantly, she
went ahead and threw her support behind westward exploration. To that end Elizabeth commissioned
Sir Walter Raleigh to lead the expedition and he went ahead and established England’s first

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UNIT 4 TOPIC 2

Exploration: Causes and Events 1450 to 1750

OTHER STATES’ EMPIRES cont’d

colony in the Americas known as Virginia . It was kind of a disaster, but ultimately turned around with
the establishment of Jamestown in 1607.

And third, let’s consider the first efforts of Dutch exploration. Now by 1579, the Dutch had gained
independence from Spain and in the course of that struggle, emerged as the wealthiest state in all of
Europe . And soon they began competing for control of trading posts around Africa and would
eventually dethrone the Portuguese as the kings of the Indian Ocean trade. By 1608, the Dutch sponsored
Henry Hudson to sail west in order to establish a Dutch presence in the New World, which he did by
founding the colony of New Amsterdam .

SUMMARIZE the previous section in your own words. (2-4 sentences)

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UNIT 4 TOPIC 2

Exploration: Causes and Events 1450 to 1750

RESPOND to the learning objective with an evidence-based, argumentative thesis.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE 1 : Describe the role of states in the expansion of maritime exploration from 1450 to 1750.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE 2 : Explain the economic causes and effects of maritime exploration by the various
European states.

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TM

*Advanced Placement® and AP® are trademarks registered and/or owned by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product. page 7 of 7

Common questions

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Vasco da Gama's voyage to India opened up direct maritime trade routes from Europe around Africa, allowing Europeans to circumvent Middle Eastern intermediaries. Ferdinand Magellan's expedition demonstrated the feasibility of global circumnavigation, establishing a Spanish presence across the Pacific. These achievements extended European influence by establishing new trade networks and facilitating global commerce .

Both Portugal and Spain were driven by economic motivations for exploration, including the desire to access wealth from the Asian spice trade and gold from African trade networks. Portuguese strategies focused on establishing trading posts to control and facilitate trade, while Spanish efforts initially centered on finding a westward route to Asia. Over time, Spain realized greater economic potential through colonization in the Americas, leading to the lucrative Trans-Atlantic trade .

National sponsorship was crucial as monarchs sought to expand influence and economic power, investing resources in exploration. This led to new sea routes, circumventing traditional land routes and altering global trade dynamics. The geopolitical outcomes included the establishment of European colonies worldwide, increased global interactions, and the spread of European cultures and economic systems .

Spain initially aimed to find westward routes to Asia, as demonstrated by Columbus's voyages. However, upon discovering the Americas, Spain shifted its focus to colonization and resource extraction. This led to the establishment of the Trans-Atlantic trade and the extensive Spanish colonization that had profound cultural and economic impacts on indigenous populations and European economies .

European exploration and the formation of trading post empires disrupted existing commercial networks such as the Indian Ocean trade. Portuguese control over key ports allowed them to dominate trade routes with their superior naval technology. This reshaped traditional trade patterns and integrated local economies into a global trading system dominated by European powers .

Unlike traditional empire building, which often involved the establishment of extensive colonial territories, the Portuguese favored a strategy of setting up trading posts rather than colonies. This approach was less costly and allowed them to control and facilitate trade efficiently across vast distances. The trading post strategy enabled Portugal to dominate trading routes with minimal military presence, providing substantial economic returns .

Portugal adopted technologies such as the compass and astrolabe, and developed new types of ships like caravels and carracks, which were crucial for long-distance sea voyages. These innovations enabled Portugal to establish a trading post empire, transforming global trade networks by establishing direct sea routes to the Indian Ocean and bypassing overland routes controlled by powerful land empires .

Prince Henry the Navigator was pivotal in the early stages of Portuguese exploration. He sponsored expeditions that sought a maritime route into the Indian Ocean Trade Network. His initiatives spurred the development of advanced sailing technologies and fueled ambitions to explore Africa and the Atlantic, ultimately leading to Portugal's establishment of a vast trading post empire .

European monarchs, recovering from the Black Death, began consolidating power by centralizing governance and building up militaries, including utilizing gunpowder technologies. This increase in power allowed them to sponsor maritime exploration, motivated by the desire to bypass land-based trade routes controlled by other empires and access Asian and Southeast Asian goods like spices directly .

Other European states were driven by political rivalry, economic envy, and the desire for wealth. France sought new revenue through the fur trade in North America, England was motivated by Queen Elizabeth I's support after weakening Spanish power, and the Dutch sought independence from Spain and consequently dominated the Indian Ocean trade by overtaking Portuguese control .

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