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Period: 1490 to
Period 1490 - 1650
(All images are cited in the parent class presentation.) -
1494
Treaty of Tordesillas
The Treaty of Tordesillas demarked a line of influence between Portugal and Spain running north and south through the Atlantic. Portugal went east of the line, and Spain west. (Revised in 1506 westward, which gave control of Brazil to Portugal). The two Catholic countries largely adhered to the different areas peacefully as their explorations of the “new world” progressed. -
1538
De Soto Expedition
Hernando De Soto left with 700 men in 1538 in search of gold in what is now the Southeastern United States. He laid eyes on the Mississippi River near present day Memphis in 1541, calling it the Father of the Water. He would die on his expedition in 1542. -
1540
Coronado Expedition
Francisco de Coronado launched an expedition of roughly 300 men in 1540 in what is now Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. He went in search of the seven legendary Cities of Cibola, the cities of gold. Members of his expedition would be the first Europeans to see the Grand Canyon. -
1556
Phillip II (r. 1556 - 1598)
Phillip II was King of Spain and husband to Mary I of England. After Mary’s untimely demise, he continued his efforts to return England to the Catholic faith – to include backing the ascension of Mary, Queen of Scots (eventually killed by Elizabeth I) and later send the Spanish Armada in an effort to take England by force. Phillip II was named King of Portugal (as well as Spain) in 1580. -
1558
Elizabeth I (r. 1558 - 1603)
Elizabeth I was the second daughter of Henry VIII, and third in line for the throne. When she became queen, she continued the English Protestant Reformation and supported Dutch protestants against Spain. Accordingly, she found herself at odds with Spain, defeating the Spanish Armada in 1588. -
Spanish Armada
The (first) Spanish Armada sought to return England to the Catholic fold, and remove its support of Dutch protestants, via naval and ground assault. Their fleet was extremely powerful, but not designed to fight the smaller, more agile, and better armed English ships. The defeat of the Armada opened the door for England to rise as a great world power in the 1600s. -
British East India Company
The British East India Company was a private company chartered by Elizabeth I to open the trade doors into the Indian Ocean, particularly India. Not having the military power to overtake the powerful Mughal Empire in India, the East India Company concentrated on trade rather than conquest. Their efforts started to bring back luxury/semi-luxury items back to England in relative bulk. -
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a private company chartered to open trade doors in the Indian Ocean, particularly the “Spice Islands” (now Maluku Islands). Unlike in India, local ability to resist Dutch power was relatively low. Although military conquest was not the goal of the Dutch East India Company, they were able to monopolize access to the region and coerce trade in their interest. -
Period: to
Transatlantic Slave System
The Transatlantic Slave System was part of a bigger slave system that had been pulling Africans out of the continent for centuries. With labor-intensive colonial interests in the North, Central, and South America, slaves provided relatively cheap (and less likely to escape) labor for the Europeans. Influx was especially heavy into modern Brazil and the Caribbean. Most of these slaves were from Western Africa, at about a 2:1 male advantage.