5.4 Other European discoveries - TEXT -

• History
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 2

5. The Time of Discoverers and Reformers

Lesson 5.4. Other European discoveries

Word Duty

KEY WORDS

Trade posts: settlement that is built so merchants can trade with natives 

Fortresses: strongholds that were built to defend trade routes 

Nouvelle France: the name of the French colonies in North America 

Buccaneer: pirate that is hired by the government to attack enemies ships 

Compagnie van Verre: Dutch trade company founded for trading in Asia 

The Indies: the name Europeans gave to East Asia

Columbian Exchange: the mutual exchange of products between Europe and America during the Age of Discovery

Melting pot: when different cultures and races in a country mix into one common culture

people in this lesson

Jacques Cartier

Cornelis de Houtman

Sir Francis Drake

Willem Barentsz

Ferdinand Magellan

Important dates in this lesson:

1519 - 22: Ferdinand Magellan is the first to travel around the world

1534: Jacques Cartier establishes the French colony "New France" in Canada

1579: Sir Frances Drake establishes the British colony "Nova Albion" in California

1596: Willem Barentsz spends a winter on Nova Zembla

1597: Cornelis de Houtman returns from the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies

1606: The Dutch ship Duyfken discovers the north coast of Australia

Main Questions

1. How did the Portuguese defend their trade routes?
2. How and where did the French, British and Dutch try to establish their own colonies?
3. How did the Europeans change the lives of the Native Americans?

Defending the sea route

In order to keep their riches, it was necessary for the Portuguese to protect their trade posts, harbours and the ships on their way to Asia. 

For this reason they built fortresses. From Fort Elmina they controlled the Gold Coast (Ghana) from which they shipped ivory and gold to Portugal and slaves to their plantations in Brazil. 

At the same time, the Spaniards took riches from America. The wealth of the Portuguese and Spaniards made other European countries jealous. They started to send their own ships and explorers.

Above: Fort Elmina today. It was built by the Portuguese in 1482 to protect the gold trade. In 1637 it was conquered by the Dutch who used Elmina for the slave trade

         impression of Fort Elmina, 2 min.

Circumnavigating the world

At the Treaty of Tordesillas, Spain had promised that the southern route to Asia was only for Portugal. The Spaniards still wanted to be involved in the spice trade and thus started expeditions to sail west to get to Asia. The Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan was hired by Spain. He left in 1519 and passed Cape Horn, the southernmost point of South America in 1520. From there he crossed the Pacific Ocean. He believed that it would take him a few days, but the journey lasted months. Eventually he reached the Philippines, which he named after his King Philip II, but got in a fight with native warriors and was killed. His shipmaster Elcano continued the trip and he and the remaining crew reached Spain in 1522. They were more dead than alive and their ship was almost destroyed but they had been the first to sail around the world.

Ferdinand Magellan

Other Europeans discover the New World

The founding of Nouvelle France 

In 1534, the discoverer Jacques Cartier was sent by Frances I, the king of France, to explore the coast of North America. He was ordered to search for riches and a northwest passage to China. During his travels, he sailed past Newfoundland and onto the Saint Lawrence river, which he believed could be a passage to the west. It turned out it was not and Cartier returned home. On his second and third voyages he built fortresses to secure the colony of Nouvelle France ('New France'). It became a strategic location for the French to control the prosperous fur trade in North America. When Cartier asked the native Iroquois people what their country was called they told him their word for settlement: Kannata, which became Canada.

Jacques Cartier

Sir Francis Drake 

In 1577, the English queen Elizabeth I was in need of a skilled sailor to explore the seas and to disrupt the Spanish. She was so impressed by Francis Drake, a slave trader and buccaneer, that she sent him on a secret mission to harass the Spaniards at the coast of America. 

Drake was able to take over ships filled with silver and destroy Spanish ports. 

He also sailed up the western coast of America and became the first European to set foot in California. From there he crossed the Pacific towards the Portuguese spice island, where he filled his ship with spices and sailed back to England around Africa. 

Sir Francis Drake

The first Dutch voyage to the Indies 

Dutch merchants also became interested in the riches of the east, but for decades the Portuguese had been able to keep their route to the Indies a secret. The sailor Jan Huygen van Linschoten was able to copy the Portuguese maps secretly. He published them in the Netherlands, and because of this, nine Dutch merchants founded the Compagnie van Verre in 1594. This was a trade union in which multiple investors contributed money to pay for an expedition. 

Cornelis de Houtman was appointed as the leading merchant on the first Dutch trade mission to the east. It would become a terrible experience and the Dutch were not able to trade successfully. In 1597, de Houtman returned with a few spices, but he had lost 190 crew members and a ship. The profit was too small to pay for the trip, but it did not prevent the Dutch from sailing to the Indies again. More and more trade missions were sent; gradually they were able to defeat the Portuguese and to become the new dominant power in Asia.

a very young Mr. Sanders joining the crew of the replica of Duyfken, Australia 2000

de Houtman's 4 ships including "Duyfken" (left)

Take a good look at this picture about the battle of the trade post bantam in 1596.

1. ship with spices set on fire by the Portuguese

2. Javanese ship that flees the battle scene

3. Dutch ships firing at the city Bantam

4. Three Javanese ships captured by the Dutch explorers

5. The trading post at Bantam

6. Dutch ships in trouble after attacks by local inhabitants

In the next slide you must link the numbers (1-6) to the letters (B-H) in the picture.

Spending the winter on Nova Zembla 

The Dutch were at war with Spain and Portugal at the end of the 16th century, so it was not safe to send ships south. For this reason they started exploring a Northeast passage, around Russia, to China. Captain Willem Barentsz thought this was shorter and he led three attempts to the North. On his third voyage in 1596, his ship got stuck in the ice at Nova Zembla. He and his crew had to stay there for the winter. 

They used wood of the ship to build a house to survive the cold and polar bears. After a long and hard winter the crew used two of the small boats to start on a seven week trip back to safety. Barentsz died along the way and only 12 crew members survived. 

After this, the Dutch stopped looking for a northern route. The sea around Nova Zembla is now called the Barents Sea. 

The death of Willem Barentsz, painted in 1836)

How did the Spaniards change 

South and Central America? 

After the conquistadores had defeated the Aztecs and the Incas, they brought many changes to the lives of the Native Americans. They forced the survivors to work on plantations and in silver mines. It was hard work, especially for the already weakened Indians, but they were threatened with severe punishment. 

The Indians were forced to become Catholics, their old temples were destroyed and churches were built. Their offerings were seen as worshipping the devil. The Spaniards also brought the Latin alphabet, their language and their governing institutions, to control their vast empire.

The Spanish committed numerous atrocities against the indigenous people of the Americas at first contact

The Aztec writing system consisted of pictures.

The Columbian exchange

 

After the voyage of Columbus, the contact between Europeans and the Native Americans grew and led to an exchange of goods, animals and plants, but also the outbreak of diseases. This mutual exchange of products between Europe and America is called the Columbian exchange. Horses were especially in demand by the Native Americans, once they got accustomed to them. Cows, goats, pigs and sheep were also brought by the Spaniards and supplemented the American livestock. The indigenous inhabitants of America did not have many domesticated animals. They used llamas, alpacas, dogs, turkeys and guinea pigs.

the llama is a typical indigenous animal to South America

The Spaniards also brought horses to America. Can you imagine Indians without horses?

The Europeans also discovered that the Native Americans grew crops such as tomatoes, peanuts, pumpkins, maize and potatoes. Products such as cacao and tobacco also became very popular in Europe. 

At the same time, Europeans brought crops to America, such as wheat and barley. They even transported crops from Asia to America, such as oranges, bananas, rice and sugar. They successfully planted these crops in order to make them flourish. The profit went directly to the colonists. The products were grown on huge plantations where slaves had to do the hard labour. In 1542, Bartolomé de Las Casas wrote a letter to the Spanish King Charles V, in which he asked for the protection of Native Americans. After this, slaves were instead taken from Africa. 

Europeans, Africans and native Americans had children together and because of this a melting pot of people developed in America.

Just some of the products that we would never know of, if America had not been discovered.

If you want to practise making summaries, you can make your own summary using the main questions:

1. How did the Portuguese defend their trade routes?
   
2. How and where did the French, British and Dutch try to establish their own colonies?
   
3. How did the Europeans change the lives of the Native Americans?
   

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