-How Islamic expansion motivated European exploration
-Early Nordic outposts in North America
-How the emergence in Western Europe of strong monarchs and distinct nations prompted outward conquest
-The origins of the European slave trade in Africa
-How Portuguese dominance of the routes to the south and east brought other countries to sail west

[SLIDE 1]

Meanwhile, people in the Eastern Hemisphere were also on the move. Islamic conquests in the South and East of Europe, as well as in North Africa and Western Asia, brought Europeans into contact with the wider Islamic world. 

[SLIDE 2]

At much the same time, Northern Europeans conquered southward, where they were eventually absorbed into the existing populations. Vikings colonized Greenland and from there were able to reach Newfoundland and even mainland North America. They were not able to establish good relations with the natives, and for unknown reasons these settlements were eventually abandoned.

[SLIDE 3]

Although conquest could bring terrible death and destruction, interactions with the various Viking and Muslim populations was far from all negative.

[SLIDE 4]

Consolidation of power in the Iberian Peninsula forms the backdrop to the new voyages of discovery and the seagoing conquests of Spain and Portugal.

[SLIDE 5]

Consolidation of royal power was also taking place in France and England as Western Europe moved out of its feudal stage. The Hundred "Years" War was a series of conflicts between two royal houses, one of which ruled England, over the right to rule France. It resulted in separate identities for both England and France. France and England then continued their development from feudal monarchies to centralized states. Feudal armies came to be replaced by professional, standing armies.

[SLIDE 6]

Islamic merchants had created and long dominated trade routes throughout Asia and Africa. The first of the European countries to attempt inroads on that control was Portugal, which was also the first European country to unify. One important driver in the European quest for gold was the silver shortage in Europe, which was necessary for coinage but was being depleted by flow of coins to the East for the spice trade.

[SLIDE 7]

John I's long rule of 48 years begins the period of overseas Portuguese expansion. His efforts were designed to seize control of navigation off the African coast, as well as trade routes from the African interior.

[SLIDE 8]

Slavery was no longer common in northwestern Europe, although small-scale slavery survived in the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, and the Mediterranean. Most of the slaves to be found in Europe were European Christians. African slaves begin slowly to appear in Europe by the 14th century but are a rarity. 

[SLIDE 9]


[SLIDE 10]

In the 15th century, however, slavery became racialized. Racial difference was used to justify the enslavement of Africans, but it was the plantation model of agriculture that gave real impetus to mass enslavement to meet labor needs. Initially, Europeans worked in the sugar mills in Madeira and the Canaries, but Cape Verde was inhospitable and previously uninhabited, and slaves were introduced there as agricultural labor.

[SLIDE 11]

The desire to reach Asia directly without relying on Muslim merchants fed further exploration. To reach Asia it was necessary to circumnavigate Africa. The Islamic monopoly was broken by Vasco de Gama. Once a ship had made it around the southern tip of Africa, Portugal set its sights on India. Over the course of a few decades, Portuguese traders came to monopolize the spice trade, much of which was based in the Indonesian and Philippine archipelagos.

[SLIDE 12]

European sea exploration was advanced by adopting technologies already in use elsewhere. The magnetic compass was being used in China, and astrolabes were used by Muslim mariners. Quadrants and astrolabes were used to establish latitude, but a reliable means for establishing longitude wasn't found until the 18th century. Some of this seafaring technology was used to assure dominance in battle.

[SLIDE 13]

With the last of the Moors defeated in 1492, Spain sets its eyes on claiming its own share of trade by avoiding the Portuguese monopoly along the coast of Africa. Columbus knew the earth was round. What wasn't known was the circumference of the earth, or what lay between Asia and the Atlantic islands colonized by Portugal.

[SLIDE 14]

It was soon realized that Columbus had found, not the East Indies, but a new territory altogether. Although at first the chief interest may have been in trying to find a way around this intrusion and continue on to the East Indies, the new territories were soon viewed as new opportunities for exploitation in their own right. England, France, and Spain were all eager to try their hand in the New World. It will be noted that many of these explorers sailing on behalf of the various European countries were, in fact, Italian, since a number of Italian cities had long traditions of maritime trade.