SOME EUROPEAN NATIONS
ESTABLISH OVERSEAS EMPIRES 

(Napisao: gosp. Marko Marelić -  S. Francisco - USA)
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The Treaty of Tordesillas divided the unexplored world between Spain and Portugal. Only Spain and Portugal, however, recognized the treaty. The Dutch, the French, and the English soon joined them in a race to exploit wealth from the lands and peoples of unexplored and newly explored areas.

Portugal and Spain Portugal's main interest lay in Africa and Asia, and in trade rather than colonization. Eager to monopolize the spice trade, the Portuguese reacted quickly to Vasco de Gama's voyage to India. In 1500, less than six months after de Gama's return, 13 ships were dispatched to Calicut. Led by Pedro Alvares Cabral, the Portuguese won a bloody trade war with Muslim merchants and defeated a large Arab fleet to establish Portuguese control of the Indian Ocean. The Portuguese then built naval bases along the Indian Ocean - in the Persian Gulf and in Southeast Asia. They soon controlled shipping in the Indian Ocean. Next, they expanded eastward toward the Moluccas or the "Spice Islands." From the Spice Islands, the Portuguese established trading ports in China and Japan.

Portugal also colonized the area that is now Brazil. Cabral claimed this territory as he swung west across the Atlantic to India in 1500. Because this area of South America juts east of the line of demarcation set by the Treaty of Tordesillas, it became Portuguese. The rest of South America had been claimed by Spain. Settlers in Brazil grew income-producing crops such as sugarcane, tobacco, coffee, and cotton. Because the local population did not supply enough labor, slaves were imported from Africa. By the late 1500s, Brazil was one of Portugal's three remaining colonies.

Spain Spanish "conquistadors," meaning conquerors, came to the Americas "to serve God and his Majesty, to give light to those who were in darkness and to grow rich as all men desire to do." One conquistador, Hernan Cortes, left Cuba for Mexico in 1519. Two earlier expeditions brought back enough gold and stories to convince Cortes that more gold would be found there than on any island. He sailed with 11 ships and more than 500 men. Cortes landed and marched toward Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital. Messengers described the approaching army to the Aztec ruler Montezuma II as "supernatural creatures riding on hornless deer, preceded by wild animals on leashes, dressed in iron." Believing that the Spaniards had come to fulfill a legendary prophecy, Montezuma offered gifts of gold. The city's riches were beyond anything the Spaniards had seen. Soon fighting broke out. With the advantage of horses and guns, the Spanish force ultimately slaughtered 50,000 Aztecs. European diseases killed hundreds of thousands more. Within three years Cortes ruled Mexico.

A decade after Mexico's conquest, another conquistador, Francisco Pizarro, invaded the Inca Empire in what is now Peru. He captured the Inca leader Atahualpa and slaughtered his 6,000 bodyguards. After accepting a ransom in silver and gold for Atahualpa's release, Pizarro executed him. With their leader gone, Inca resistance evaporated and the Spanish controlled an area covering 375,000 square miles with 32 million inhabitants. Spain also claimed territory in North America. In 1539 Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River. Later Francisco Vasquez de Coronado explored the Grand Canyon.

Building an Empire By the early 1600s, Spain's empire in the Americas included many islands in the West Indies, Central America, much of South America, and parts of the United States. Spain established colonies rather than trading settlements as the Portuguese had. Spanish viceroys ruled the colonies. The Spanish had two goals for its American empire - to exploit its wealth and to convert the native people to Christianity. There was conflict, however, over how to treat the inhabitants. In theory the Spanish considered the native people as their subjects. They were free and could retain their lands; however, they had to abide by Spanish law and accept Christianity. In reality Spanish plantation owners forced the people to work for them, took their lands, and abused them. Spanish priests destroyed temples and banned native religious rituals. One priest, Bartolome de Las Casas, tried to protect the natives from such abuses. Disease was an enemy worse than the Spanish state or church. Isolated for thousands of years, the natives lacked immunity to European diseases such as smallpox, measles, and influenza. In the first 50 years under Spanish control, the Inca population fell from 10 million to just over 1 million. This decline led the Spanish to import more and more African Slave laborers. Animal hides, sugar, and tobacco were the heart of the colonial economy. The most valuable exports, however, were silver and gold. The crown made efforts to retain its one-fifth share of the minerals. Official corruption and pirated shipments nevertheless cut into Spanish profits.

Colonies of the Netherlands The Netherlands was also interested in expansion. In the late 1500s, the Dutch won their independence from Spain. This small country on the North Sea had few natural resources and limited farmland. A large Dutch middle class saw commerce as the key to survival. The period of the 1600s was the golden age of the Netherlands. Dutch ships were efficient, carrying more cargo and smaller crews than other ships. Amsterdam became the world's largest commercial city, and the Dutch enjoyed the world's highest standard of living.

The first Dutch expedition to the Far East returned in 1599. Three years later the Dutch chartered the Dutch East India Company to expand trade and ensure close relations between the government and enterprises in Asia. In 1619 the company set up headquarters at Batavia on the island of Java in what is now Indonesia. Soon the Dutch controlled island trade in sugar, spices, coffee, and tea. Using Batavia as a base, the Dutch pushed the Portuguese and English out of Asian outposts. After taking Malacca from the Portuguese in 1641, the Netherlands controlled all trade with the Spice Islands.

At the same time, the Dutch set out for North America. An English navigator, Henry Hudson, claimed territory for the Dutch along the Atlantic coast of North America, and in 1621 the government chartered the Dutch West India Company to establish colonies in the New World. The company founded New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island at the north of the Hudson River. This settlement was soon a major center for European and colonial trade. The Dutch established a colony in Africa, too. In 1652 Dutch farmers known as Boers settled at the Cape of Good Hope to provide fresh food and water for sailing ships. By the 1700s, however, Dutch power was declining.

French and English Colonies The French and English played only a small part in the early voyages of explorations. Religious conflicts and civil wars kept their interests focused at home. During the 1500s, however, France and England searched for overseas trading colonies. Thwarted by the Portuguese and later by the Dutch control of Asian markets, England and France turned toward North America and the Caribbean. In general, the French companies sought quick profits from trade rather than the long-term investment of farming. For the English, colonies could provide the raw materials - lumber, fish, sugarcane, rice, and wheat - they would otherwise have to purchase from other countries.

France In 1524 the French hired an Italian captain, Giovanni da Verrazano, to find a Northwest Passage through America to Asia. Da Verrazano explored the North American coast from North Carolina to Maine without success. Ten years later the French navigator Jacques Cartier continued the search and sailed up the St. Lawrence River to the present-day city of Montreal. He claimed much of eastern Canada for France. In 1608 Samuel de Champlain, a French mapmaker, founded Quebec, the first permanent settlement in the New World. In 1673 missionaries Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet explored the Mississippi Valley. Later, Robert Cavelier, also known as Sieur de la Salle, claimed the entire inland region surrounding the Mississippi River for France.

Like the Spanish, the French sent Jesuit missionaries to convert the native people to Christianity. French explorers traded the people blankets, guns, and wine for animal skins. Trapping, fishing, and lumbering were also profitable. Some French settlers went to the West Indies, where they claimed the islands of St. Kitts, Martinique, and Guadeloupe. The French brought African slaves to work on sugar and tobacco plantations on the islands. Although most of their interests were in North America, the French also established colonial ports in India.

England As early as 1497, England began to show an interest in overseas trade. In that year, Henry VII commissioned the Italian navigator John Cabot to find a northern route to the area discovered by Columbus. Cabot explored the coasts of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New England, giving England a claim in the New World. Because of internal conflict, however, it was 100 years before England established colonies there. During the 1500s the English harassed their Spanish and Portuguese competitors. Sea captains - turned pirates - raided Spanish ships for gold and silver. In 1580 the most daring of these captains, Francis Drake, became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. Six years later he sacked Spanish seaports in the Caribbean.

The English first settled in the West Indies, claiming Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Barbados. In 1640 English planters introduced sugarcane. Sugar plantations worked by slave labor made three times as much profit as tobacco plantations did. In the 1600s sugar from sugar plantations made Barbados the most profitable English colony. English merchants also began sending expeditions to North America. In 1606 the Virginia Company of London sent an expedition to America to search for gold and silver. The following year, the company founded the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown in what is now Virginia. Later a group of religious dissenters calling themselves Pilgrims founded a second colony, Plymouth, in present-day Massachusetts.

Slave Trade In the 1600s the colonies in the Americas based their economies on agricultural products that required intensive labor. Slaves planted and harvested sugar, tobacco, and coffee crops. They also worked in silver mines.

Triangular Trade The slave trade was part of what was called the "triangular trade." Ships sailed the legs of a triangle formed by Europe, Africa, and the New World. Typically, European ships left their home ports carrying manufactured goods. In West Africa the ship captains traded their goods for slaves. During the second leg of the journey, the ships brought the slaves across the Atlantic to Caribbean islands or to the North American mainland. The slaves were sold, and the money was used to buy sugar or tobacco. Finally, the ships returned to Europe to sell the goods purchased in the New World.

Middle Passage A slave's journey from Africa to the New World was a ghastly ordeal called the "middle passage." This second or middle leg of the triangular trade originated from ports along a 3,000 mile stretch on the west coast of Africa. Often captured by other Africans, slaves were sold to European slave traders at outposts along the coast for transport to New World plantations. Because large cargoes brought large profits, the slave traders packed the captives as tightly as possible. Below deck, each slave occupied a space only four or five feet long and two or three feet high. Chained together, they could neither stand nor lie at full length. In the darkness and stifling heat, many slaves suffocated or died of disease. Estimates of the number of African slaves brought to America range from 10 to 24 million. One in five who began the trip did not survive it. Because of the enormous value of their "cargo," however, slave traders made some effort to keep the slaves alive. Psychological torment may have been worse than physical conditions. Some Africans committed suicide by jumping overboard. Others simply lost the will to live and refused to eat. Slaves on hunger strikes were fed forcibly.

A Slave's Life Slaves who survived the long middle passage faced another terror when they arrived in New World ports: the slave auction. Examined and prodded by plantation owners, most slaves were sold to work as laborers - clearing land, hoeing, planting, weeding, and harvesting. The work was hard, the hours long, and life expectancy was short. Because many Europeans believed that Africans were physically suited to hard labor, especially in hot, humid climates, slaves were viewed as nothing more than a unit of labor to exploit for profit.

> Excerpted from "WORLD HISTORY-The Human Experience", by Mounir Farah, Andrea Berens Karls, copyright 1992, pg 400-405

Compiled by Marko Marelich, Retired Mechanical Engineer
San Francisco, California USA
March, 2008