Exploration

Three words can describe the goals of the European explores and conquerors. The words are God, Glory, and Gold. God describes the process of spreading Christianity, particularly Catholicism, to the natives they came across with "pagan" practices. Glory defines the respect and admiration that comes with sailing for an empire and the expansion of that empire's boundaries for the king and queen. Gold captures all the riches from exploration east and west.

In the discussions of exploration, the emphasis was placed on encounters. With whom were these encounters? The Portuguese sailed around Africa first, establishing trading posts along the continent's coast. Vasco da Gama became the first European to complete the sea route to India for trading purposes. The Spanish, led by Columbus and Balboa, sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. Upon their arrival, what did they do? The primary sources are a great help to answering these questions. Columbus was intent on organizing in his new colonies such that it was easier to govern and then collect and ship gold back to Spain. For more information, you can check out a historian's dedicated page to Christopher Columbus, at this site.

The conquistadors of the Aztecs and the Incas must also be known for this course. There are two conquistadors that must be known -- Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizzarro. There is a PBS montage on various Spanish conquistadors, which you may find helpful to your studies -- More on the Aztecs. How does the interaction of Cortes compare to the interaction of the missionary, Francis Xavier, in Asia? What do the sources say about their interactions?

When looking at the encounters between Asia and Europe, we looked at Ming China, Tokugawa Japan, Mughal India, and Safavid Persia. What are the three Gunpowder Empires? We discussed the Ming having the ability to sail to Europe, but the expeditions of Cheng Ho (Zheng He) were stopped by the emperor because of funding, and he only made it as far as Mogadishu in present-day Somalia. We also emphasized the Japanese closing-up shop in the issuing of their Closed Country Edicts during the reign of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The shogun was the big power in the Japanese social structure. The Japanese knights in this daimyo system were samurai, armed with swords and bound by a code of conduct called bushido. With regards to India, we saw religious conflict between Muslims and Hindus. Additionally, there was gradual expansion southward; however, their power was still limited. Why was this the case? Their power was greatly reduced and threatened by the presence of Europeans in most of the coastal regions. The Europeans had arrived for trade; the Mughal Empire had no naval forces and were therefore vulnerable. Bad combination for the Mughal Empire!

Happy Studying!