Naomi Pullin - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Naomi Pullinnaomi.wood@warwick.ac.uk

The European World, 1500-1700

European Overseas Expansion in the Age of the RenaissanceSlide2

Porcelain coffee pot, London, 1760-1765

Porcelain sugar bowl, France, 1761Spice-standSpain, 1540

Ivory tankard,

Ausburg

, Germany, 1662-1696

Tobacco pipe case,

Holland, 1680-1700Slide3

Focus of this lecture1. Origins

and history of European empire - from C14th in Asia and Africa2. The discovery of America and rise of Spanish and British empires3. Rival versions of empire and decline of Spain in C17thSlide4

1. Origins and history of European EmpireSlide5

Origins of European empires

Empire not early modern innovation – part of long-term process beginning in C14thMajor cause = commercial expansionDriven by merchants searching for new markets in Middle EastLinked to rise of Italian city-states of Venice and Genoa in late-C14th and early-C15th and to PortugalSlide6

Challenge of Ottoman Empire

Threatens Mediterranean overseas expansionTrade routes disrupted by Corsairs (Turkish pirates).Drives Portuguese to search for new markets:1487 – Bartholomeu Dias sailed round Cape of Good Hope (opens sea route to African subcontinent)1498 – Vasco da Gama reached Malabar Coast (centre of Indian spice markets)BUT not lone ventures - merchants claimed to represent their nations. Slide7

Trade and empire: Portugal

1505: soldier Francisco de Almeida promised title of Viceroy of India by Manuel I of Portugal1510: Portuguese forge permanent settlement in GoaSlide8

C16th Joint stock companies

Formed by merchant shareholdersGranted monopoly powers to represent nation in certain parts of the world – exclusive right to trade1600 – 215 merchants form East India Company in England; 1630 – 1,318 membersSlide9

John Evelyn, Navigation and Commerce (1674)

‘whosoever commands the ocean commands the trade of the world, whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and whosoever is master of that commands the world itself’Slide10

Commercial expansion in East fragile

Tend to occupy outposts and small pockets of landMigration limitedRebellions against Europeans:1602 – Portuguese driven out of Bahrain1640 – Portuguese lose Mangalore, India1684 – English driven out of Tangier by Moroccans1686 – English lose Indian possessions following war with Moghul EmpireSlide11

2. The discovery of America and rise of Spanish and British empiresSlide12

The rise of Spain1469

– Aragon and Castile united through marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella1492 - Fall of Granada leads to fulfilment of Reconquista (Reconquest of Spain)Christianises Spain > expulsion of Jews and Muslims – creates ‘Crusader’ ideology1493 – Bulls of DonationIssued by Pope Alexander VI to Ferdinand and IsabellaIdeology of a ‘Christian Empire’ - enables them to take foreign lands in the name of the Church. To bring gospel to native populations. Slide13

Spanish control 25 million new subjects by 15501559 - 802 priests in Spain and 160 religious houses

1521 – Fall of Aztec empire1535 – Fall of Incan EmpireSlide14

Mexican codex map (1571)

From BBC Radio 4 ‘History of the World in 100 Objects’ Slide15

Spanish bullionGold and silver bullion from South American mines sustains Spanish empire

Potosi (Bolivia) – becomes largest mining town in the world. By 1600 has population of 120,000 (akin to London and Paris)Spanish annual revenue increase: 1504 – 847,000 ducats 1600 – 13 million ducatsSlide16

Robert Johnson (1609)

‘How strange a thing it is that all the States of Europe have been asleep so long that for a hundred years and more, the ... riches of the East and West should run ... but into one coffer’ Slide17

Walter Raleigh (1600): ‘It

is his Indian Gold that endangereth and disturbeth all the Nations of Europe’.Slide18

English / British Empire

Anti-Spanish ideology: Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1583) – accused Spain of ‘scorching slavery’ and ‘contracting blood and guilt’ by taking natives’ lands and forcing them into mines.

Criticise

Bulls of Donation –

Pope does not have authority to give away kingdoms

Protestant ideology:

English Protestants see America as part of God’s plan. Discovered on eve of Reformation.

Aimed to save Indians from horrors of Spanish conquest. Slide19

Seal of the Massachusetts Bay Company, 1629

‘Come over and help us’. Slide20

a

English overseas expansionBegins with private initiativeEnglish monarchs have little capital to invest in overseas expansion

Royal Exchange founded 1568: hub of trade and ideasSlide21

English expansion in America

1580s – voyages led by Humphrey Gilbert to settle on Newfoundland Coast (Roanoke)1607 – Royal Charter granted to London Company (Virginia Company) > settlement at Jamestown, Virginia

1620 –

Mayflower leaves Plymouth to found colony in New England. Led by Puritan preacher John Winthrop.

1624 –

Barbados falls to English rule.

400,000 Englishmen settle in America in C17th

1685 - commodities worth £900,000 shipped from English colonies Slide22

3. Rival versions of empire and decline of Spain in C17thSlide23

Spanish model of empire

Close political centralisation:Divided into kingdoms (viceroyalties) governed by viceroys in name of king. Court of Madrid oversaw governance. Council of Indies established at Spanish Court.

Deep religious ideology

Bulls of Donation >

strong ethos of voluntary conversion of Natives to Catholicism.Slide24

English model of empire

Highly decentralised:Proprietary grants – give rights to specific individuals and companies to run the colonies

E.g. 1632 - Cecil

Calvert

(Lord Baltimore) of Maryland – can grant titles and lands; oversee construction; raise revenue and license religious worship

John Elliott: British Empire = ‘

a patchwork quilt of creeds and cults’

.

Cecil Calvert, 2nd Lord Baltimore (1605-1675)Slide25

English model of empire

Crown aims to control commerce, rather than governance of coloniesNavigation Acts (from 1651) – restrict use of foreign ships for trade between colonies and Britain. English Empire governed by Board of Trade; Spanish by Council of the Indies. Slide26

Empire - ideological questions

1. Religion

:

Spanish claim religious basis for imperial authority > 1493 ‘Bulls of Donation’

English don’t use Protestantism as an official ideology – religion reflected in political and economic goals.

Protestantism

a religion of the ‘word’ – to convert Indians = huge cultural and linguistic undertaking

Most colonies focus on claim to land, rather than peoples. Slide27

Empire –

Ideological questions

2. Integration of the Natives

Spanish empire:

rests

on incorporation of native peoples in politics and religion > slavery and intermarriage.

English empire:

focus

within

its own communities

& exclude Native populations

John

Winthrop: ‘if we leave them sufficient for their use we may lawfully take the rest, there being more than enough for them and us’.Slide28

The decline of Spain

Influx of bullion leads to inflation and debasement of Spanish coinageBullion = 80% of Spanish export from Americas. > no wider colonial infrastructure > no domestic industry within those colonies dedicated to mining silver and goldBullion used to buy imported goods. Not absorbed into domestic Spanish industry. William Paterson: ‘the Indies have rather conquered Spain than Spain had conquered the Indies’. Slide29

Conclusions?Age of Empire part of long process beginning in C15th. Often initiated by private commercial interest, not by kings.

No single homogenous idea of empire – e.g. Spain and EnglandExpansion of European power linked to expressions of national identity. > how were ‘ordinary Europeans’ affected by overseas expansion?