Unit 7: Globalization in the Early Modern
Period
Notes here are good review, for more details, use the HW/CW organizer
To what extent did European exploration SIGNIFICANTLY change
the world in the years 1450-1750? (CHANGE VS CONTINUITY)
Evaluate role of Europe from global perspective? (Eurocentric is
incomplete)
7.2 The Early Modern Period
3 sprouts of modernity:
● Globalization - creation of an exchange network that connects the world and
impacts the world
○ Atlantic slave trade
○ Silver trade with Asia
○ Columbian exchange between continents
● Patterns of old behavior
● Growing impact of Europeans
Renaissance:
Eurocentrism is
● Focus on European actors (achievements) at expense of non european peoples
and cultures
● Credit Europeans with key global developments
● Neglect role of non-europeans, project other societies as unchanging
Causality Lenses - Why things happened
● Contingency (What if happened differently)
● Coincidence (Geography)
● Conjuncture (Paths intersect, combination leads to change)
7.3 Europeans in the Indian Ocean
Europeans don’t have valuable goods (weakness) that Asians want so pay in cash + no
direct access to goods →Goods become expensive
Zheng He shut down travels→Portuguese captured ports (opportunity)
=contingency (what if)
Portuguese voyage:
● Portuguese advantage: military - cannons, disadvantage: valuable goods
● Portuguese was not really “trading post empire” (change), but was mostly
“carrying trade”, just shipping goods around and not changing anything
(continuity, minor impact)
● Portuguese can control and capture small weak states in the Indian Ocean, but
HAD TO negotiate with Macao in China
● Portuguese used technologies from China and Middle East to go on voyage
(Global, Conjuncture)
○ Mix collective learning from Europe and Asia→Create technology
like Caravels
7.4 Europeans in the Americas
Europeans more likely to discover the Americas:
● Geographic advantage
○ closer to the Americas
○ Wind blows east to west bc of the earth, harder to travel for Zheng He
● Incentive bc lack of resources vs Asia - no need resources
Spanish/portuguese conquered the Americas with ease:
● 600 conquistadores vs 100000 locals from the Aztec Empire
○ Formed alliance with the Aztec warriors in civil war to conquer the empire
(Contingency - if there’s no civil war, no supporters to help Europeans)
● Guns weren’t as reliable for conquering (not superior technology)
○ Poor aim, must reload gunpowder
○ Prepare sword just in case
● Conquest is NOT colonization
Why did Europeans have the disease advantage:
● Americas
a. Megafaunal Extinction
b. No animal domestication
c. No disease
d. No immunity
● Eurasia
a. Wary animals stay alive
b. Animal domestication
c. Disease (lots of animal interaction with humans)
d. Immunity (ENDEMIC/regular in population)
● The americans didn’t have disease immunity→destroyed 90% population
● Encomienda system - spanish labor system that rewarded conquerors with labor of
non-Christian ppl
● Contingency/coincidence - if world zones connected→no megafaunal extinction
→domestication→disease spread→immunity→fight back Europeans
7.5 Transatlantic Slavery and the Plantation System
The Atlantic World
● Joint participation of Europeans, native americans, and west africans
(triangular trade)
Why Europe was considered “dominant” in the Atlantic trade
● European technological superiority→better ability to gain control
● Slave trade was directed from Europe to Africa, set in motion —>false because
exchange is always bidirectional
African control of the slave trade:
● African elites navigated the trade, wealth mostly came from slave trade
Cause of balance of Power between African elite and European trader:
● Diseases prevented Europeans from taking control
● Europeans and Africans had similar technology
● Strong african political/social systems that could resist attempts at external domination
● Africa had sophisticated trade networks - not dependent on European goods - the
African elite set the terms, not Europeans
Which Cs?
● Contingency - the Great Dying, discovery of sugar, atlantic slaves, etc
● Conjuncture - slave trade would not have happened without Europe and Africa crossing
paths
Manufacturing before the Industrial Revolution? VS Sugar production?
● Products are handcrafted - short in supply - expensive
● Sugar production became first modern industry
○ complex, technological, sophisticated agricultural industry - requires factory and
structured, specialized, and rigid human labor
○ Capitalism - spend money on capital/assets like machines, slaves
7.6 Global Exchanges
2 forms of exchange that transformed the world - Columbian exchange & Global economic
exchange
● Columbian exchange
○ All living things in one circulatory system
Europe Africa America
People Positive Negative - Negative - diseases
taking away
people
Animals neutral neutral Positive - transformed Native
Americans’ life
Plants Positive - positive neutral
made $ from
stimulants,
potatoes
helped feed
many
Microbes Positive - neutral negative
disease
helped
colonize
Americas
● Global economic exchange
○ Big network→collective learning→innovation=progress
○ Silver - first global currency
■ The Americas provided most of the silver→Europe control mines that
supply global economy
■ Spanish controlled Philippines to reach and trade with China
■ Desperate demand for silver in China went up b/c
● Need common currency for exchange
● Demand to pay taxes in silver
● Europe can buy chinese goods and sell back to the Americas and
Europe - get super wealthy
● If China had not demanded for silver → no global exchange,
Europe is only carrying trade (contingency)
7.7 European States and State Formation
Military Revolution
● Fear of being attacked —>individual countries try to improve military →improved
technology
Why did similar conflicts in Europe explode but not in Eastern empires?
● Europe not unified but empire was unified by the emperor
● Europe countries had similar amount resources and power so they had to keep fighting
Factors that stopped the Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor, spanish king) from reforming empire
● Drained resources to stop protestant rebellions
Fragmented European states fighting each other - Thirty Years War → Peace of Westphalia
(respect all states and balance of power so no one will overpower others)
How to fund the military?
● King - merchant partnership
a. Taxation
■ Provide goods and services to tax
b. Government bonds
■ Issues bonds to merchants to loan $ to kings
c. Joint stock companies
■ Put $ with others
■ Small risk big reward - beginning of insurance, stocks
d. Centralized banks
■ Provide loans to gov
■ Manage funds and resources
Fragmented states fighting → need to military innovate →need to fund innovation to pay military
What if Charles V had been successful with conquering the empire?
● Less wars → Less military innovation → less financial innovation
Quiz prep
Key terms/ideas:
● Portuguese voyage in Indian Ocean and Asia
■ Lack of valuables and direct path to trade with Asia→ use caravels to find
new routes along Swahili to indian ocean
■ Use cannons to conquer trading posts but failed and became carrying trade
(minor impact)
■ Portuguese learned tech from China and middle East to create
caravels (conjuncture)
● Europeans in the Americas
■ Reached Americas faster and easier bc of geography
■ Conquered Aztec empire with help of local alliances, disease
■ If no civil war or if locals developed immunity for disease, they could
fight and resist europeans colonization (contingency)
● 2 world zones connect → less megafaunal die → domesticated
animals → lots of human animal interaction → diseases →
immunity → no advantage for europeans
■ Major impact on the americans being wiped out 90% and Europe
gaining wealth
● Atlantic slave trade and plantation
■ Europeans traded slaves with African elites to the Americas in order to
work on sugar productions and send it back to Europe - Transatlantic trade
■ If native americans resisted colonization → no slave trade → no
triangular trade (contingency)
■ If Europe not discovered sugar technique from Arabia, no sugar
production in the Americas and no slave trade (contingency)
■ Plantation increased profits for Europeans, worsened conditions for
african slaves and americans, and gained wealth for african elites.
Plantation became first modern industry - complex, structured,
technological facilities
● Columbian exchange vs global exchange
■ Columbian exchange traded people, animals, plants(potatoes for
population growth), and diseases (colonize americas)
■ Global exchange involved americas and philippines mining silver and
europe and spanish distributing and selling it to China, who demanded it
for common currency and tax
■ If China not used silver as common currency, no global exchange,
Europe is only carrying resources for China (contingency)
● European states and economy
■ Fragmented, unstable European states fighting for power and out of
fear→improve military (revolution) →require funds from the
ppl→financial innovation with king-merchant partnership like joint stocks,
taxation, gov bonds, and centralized banks
■ If Charles V was successful in conquering the empire, less wars, less
military innovation, less financial knowledge
● Philippines and Manila
■ Manila Galleon trade - Spanish used this silver mining city in the
Philippines to interact with China. Trade silver with their luxury goods
● Piece of eight - silver spanish coin that ruled in the trading world as the
universal currency
● Potosí, Bolivia, full of silver mines in South America where slaves died mining
● Roles of China, India, Europeans in global economy
■ China had all luxury goods like silk, technology, and controlled many
spice islands
■ India had spices
■ Europeans controlled the americas and the sugar production and silver
mining
Map:
● Ottoman Empire - blocked trade
● England - controlled India’s spice islands
● France - monarch sth
● Germany
● Dutch
● Philippines
● Potosí - south america
● Aztec Empire - gulf of mexico
● China
● India
● Indian Ocean