The European World 1500 1700 European Overseas Expansion

The European World, 1500 -1700 European Overseas Expansion in the Age of the Renaissance Naomi Pullin naomi. wood@warwick. ac. uk

Ivory tankard, Ausburg, Germany, 1662 -1696 Tobacco pipe case, Holland, 1680 -1700 Porcelain coffee pot, London, 1760 -1765 Porcelain sugar bowl, France, 1761 Spice-stand Spain, 1540

Focus of this lecture 1. Origins and history of European empire from C 14 th in Asia and Africa 2. The discovery of America and rise of Spanish and British empires 3. Rival versions of empire and decline of Spain in C 17 th

1. Origins and history of European Empire

Origins of European empires • Empire not early modern innovation – part of long-term process beginning in C 14 th Major cause = commercial expansion • Driven by merchants searching for new markets in Middle East • Linked to rise of Italian city-states of Venice and Genoa in late-C 14 th and early-C 15 th and to Portugal

Challenge of Ottoman Empire • Threatens Mediterranean overseas expansion • Trade routes disrupted by Corsairs (Turkish pirates). Drives Portuguese to search for new markets: 1487 – Bartholomeu Dias sailed round Cape of Good Hope (opens sea route to African subcontinent) 1498 – Vasco da Gama reached Malabar Coast (centre of Indian spice markets) BUT not lone ventures - merchants claimed to represent their nations.

Trade and empire: Portugal • 1505: soldier Francisco de Almeida promised title of Viceroy of India by Manuel I of Portugal • 1510: Portuguese forge permanent settlement in Goa

C 16 th Joint stock companies • Formed by merchant shareholders • Granted monopoly powers to represent nation in certain parts of the world – exclusive right to trade 1600 – 215 merchants form East India Company in England; 1630 – 1, 318 members

John Evelyn, Navigation and Commerce (1674) ‘whosoever commands the ocean commands the trade of the world, whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and whosoever is master of that commands the world itself’

Commercial expansion in East fragile • Tend to occupy outposts and small pockets of land • Migration limited Rebellions against Europeans: 1602 – Portuguese driven out of Bahrain 1640 – Portuguese lose Mangalore, India 1684 – English driven out of Tangier by Moroccans 1686 – English lose Indian possessions following war with Moghul Empire

2. The discovery of America and rise of Spanish and British empires

The rise of Spain 1469 – Aragon and Castile united through marriage of Ferdinand Isabella 1492 - Fall of Granada leads to fulfilment of Reconquista (Reconquest of Spain) • Christianises Spain > expulsion of Jews and Muslims – creates ‘Crusader’ ideology 1493 – Bulls of Donation • Issued by Pope Alexander VI to Ferdinand Isabella • Ideology of a ‘Christian Empire’ - enables them to take foreign lands in the name of the Church. To bring gospel to native populations.

1521 – Fall of Aztec empire 1535 – Fall of Incan Empire • Spanish control 25 million new subjects by 1550 • 1559 - 802 priests in Spain and 160 religious houses

Mexican codex map (1571) From BBC Radio 4 ‘History of the World in 100 Objects’

Spanish bullion • Gold and silver bullion from South American mines sustains Spanish empire • Potosi (Bolivia) – becomes largest mining town in the world. By 1600 has population of 120, 000 (akin to London and Paris) • Spanish annual revenue increase: 1504 – 847, 000 ducats 1600 – 13 million ducats

Robert Johnson (1609) ‘How strange a thing it is that all the States of Europe have been asleep so long that for a hundred years and more, the. . . riches of the East and West should run. . . but into one coffer’

Walter Raleigh (1600): ‘It is his Indian Gold that endangereth and disturbeth all the Nations of Europe’.

English / British Empire Anti-Spanish ideology: • Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1583) – accused Spain of ‘scorching slavery’ and ‘contracting blood and guilt’ by taking natives’ lands and forcing them into mines. • Criticise Bulls of Donation – Pope does not have authority to give away kingdoms Protestant ideology: • English Protestants see America as part of God’s plan. Discovered on eve of Reformation. • Aimed to save Indians from horrors of Spanish conquest.

Seal of the Massachusetts Bay Company, 1629 ‘Come over and help us’.

English overseas expansion a • Begins with private initiative • English monarchs have little capital to invest in overseas expansion Royal Exchange founded 1568: hub of trade and ideas

English expansion in America 1580 s – voyages led by Humphrey Gilbert to settle on Newfoundland Coast (Roanoke) 1607 – Royal Charter granted to London Company (Virginia Company) > settlement at Jamestown, Virginia 1620 – Mayflower leaves Plymouth to found colony in New England. Led by Puritan preacher John Winthrop. 1624 – Barbados falls to English rule. • 400, 000 Englishmen settle in America in C 17 th • 1685 - commodities worth £ 900, 000 shipped from English colonies

3. Rival versions of empire and decline of Spain in C 17 th

Spanish model of empire Close political centralisation: • Divided into kingdoms (viceroyalties) governed by viceroys in name of king. Court of Madrid oversaw governance. • Council of Indies established at Spanish Court. Deep religious ideology • Bulls of Donation > strong ethos of voluntary conversion of Natives to Catholicism.

English model of empire Highly decentralised: • Proprietary grants – give rights to specific individuals and companies to run the colonies • E. g. 1632 - Cecil Calvert (Lord Baltimore) of Maryland – can grant titles and lands; oversee construction; raise revenue and license religious worship • John Elliott: British Empire = ‘a patchwork quilt of creeds and cults’. Cecil Calvert, 2 nd Lord Baltimore (1605 -1675)

English model of empire • Crown aims to control commerce, rather than governance of colonies • Navigation Acts (from 1651) – restrict use of foreign ships for trade between colonies and Britain. • English Empire governed by Board of Trade; Spanish by Council of the Indies.

Empire - ideological questions 1. Religion: • Spanish claim religious basis for imperial authority > 1493 ‘Bulls of Donation’ • English don’t use Protestantism as an official ideology – religion reflected in political and economic goals. • Protestantism a religion of the ‘word’ – to convert Indians = huge cultural and linguistic undertaking • Most colonies focus on claim to land, rather than peoples.

Empire – Ideological questions 2. Integration of the Natives Spanish empire: • rests on incorporation of native peoples in politics and religion > slavery and intermarriage. English empire: • focus within its own communities & exclude Native populations • John Winthrop: ‘if we leave them sufficient for their use we may lawfully take the rest, there being more than enough for them and us’.

The decline of Spain • Influx of bullion leads to inflation and debasement of Spanish coinage • Bullion = 80% of Spanish export from Americas. > no wider colonial infrastructure > no domestic industry within those colonies dedicated to mining silver and gold • Bullion used to buy imported goods. Not absorbed into domestic Spanish industry. William Paterson: ‘the Indies have rather conquered Spain than Spain had conquered the Indies’.

Conclusions? • Age of Empire part of long process beginning in C 15 th. • Often initiated by private commercial interest, not by kings. • No single homogenous idea of empire – e. g. Spain and England • Expansion of European power linked to expressions of national identity. > how were ‘ordinary Europeans’ affected by overseas expansion?