AGE OF EXPLORATION

I. Exploration Outside of Europe

a. China – Zheng He

b. Arab Traders – Middle East and Sub-Saharan Trade

c. Pacific Islanders

d. Vikings

II. Why, then, the Europeans?

a. Technological Advances

i. Ship-building and Seamanship

ii. Navigation

b. New Incentives

i. Commercial Gain – Gold and the Spice Trade

ii. Failure of the Crusades and Rise of Islam

iii. Christian Missionary Zeal

iv. Simple Curiosity

c. The Iberian Connection

i. Reconquista

ii. Conquistador Mentality – All for God and King

iii. Portugal – Prince Henry “the Navigator”

iv. Spain – Catholic Kings

III. The Discoverers

a. Portugal

i. Gold and Pepper

ii. Rounding Africa – Bartolomeu Dias

iii. Vasco da Gama and Calicut (India)

b. Christopher Columbus and Spain

i. Sail West to Reach the East

ii. Miscalculations and Inevitability

iii. The Pinta, Niña, and Santa Maria

iv. East or West Indies?

v. Gold and Silver / Cotton and Tobacco

IV. A New World – Foundations of the New Global Economy

COLLIDING WORLDS:

EXPLORATION AND CONQUEST OF AMERICA

I. The Americas Before the European Arrival

a. First Peoples:

i. Olmecs – Pyramids and Hieroglyphics

ii. Mayas – Astronomical Calendar and Mathematics

b. Incan Empire

i. Miners and Surgeons

ii. Conquest and Despotism

c. Aztecs

i. Tenochtitlan: Aqueducts and Pyramids

ii. Tributary Empire and Sacrifices

d. Legacy of early American Civilizations

II. Spanish Conquest

a. Conquistadores

b. For God and … El Dorado

c. Hernán Cortes and Mexico

i. Motecuzoma II

ii. Siege of Tenochtitlan

d. Francisco Pizarro and Peru

i. Atahualpa and Incan Gold

e. Reasons for Spanish Success

i. Technology

ii. Internal Divisions

iii. Epidemic Disease – Smallpox

III. Occupation

a. The Encomienda System (Civilizing the Barbarian)

b. Population Depletion and Slave Trade

c. Bartolomé de las Casas – “Defender and Apostle of the Indians”