The Age of Exploration Inca and Aztecs
The Historical Setting for Exploration
•Europe wanted trade
•Learned about Asian goods from the Crusades
•Overland routes too expensive
•Ship building and navigation techniques brought back to Europe from the Crusades
Renaissance Ideas That Influenced Exploration
•Most educated men believed that the world was round
•There were stories of other lands (Atlantis), but there was little to no knowledge of a Western Hemisphere
•Little knowledge about the size of the earth.
Economic Developments
•Trade routes expanded to include the sea
•Europeans developed a taste for Asian goods
–Silk, porcelain, and spices
–Cinnamon, cloves, pepper, nutmeg
•The development of banking
–The Medici
New Technology
Ships
•Caravels
–Rounded hulls that could be armed
–Smaller, shallow-draft, able to handle the seas
•Ship technology
–Sails (China)
–Rudders (China)
•Armaments
–Gunpowder for cannons (China)
New Technology
Navigation
•Astrolabe
–Helped with latitude
–Used sun/stars and the horizon
–Unusable with clouds
•Compass
–From China
•Practical knowledge of winds and currents
–From experience
–Planned journeys based on winds
Cartography
Early Maps
•Late Medieval and Renaissance Cartography
•Late Medieval and Renaissance Cartography
Motives for Exploration
SEARCH FOR RESOURCES AND LAND
TRADE CONTACTS
MISSIONARY ACTIVITY
Early Endeavors:
The Portuguese
•The Portuguese began the era of European exploration
•The Portuguese were dependent on the seas
•Ocean access helped Portugal
•Prince Henry the Navigator
(1394–1460)
–Son of the king of Portugal
–Had been a crusader
–Began Portuguese exploration
–Investigated possible trade opportunities in Africa
–Began Portuguese dominance of Africa
–Led to the slave trade
•Early Portuguese Slave Trade
–Began around 1443
–Pope Nicholas V sanctioned the slave trade
–Local slave trade already existed in Africa
–Seen as way to work sugar plantations
•Vasco da Gama
–1498, First European to travel via the sea route to India
The Spanish Empire
•Did not focus on Asian markets, set out to colonize the Americas
•Americas “discovered” on accident
•Famous explorers:
–Columbus
–Cortez
–Pizarro
–Magellan
–Christopher Columbus
•Italian navigator
•Thought the world was small, one could sail west from Europe and reach Asia
•Sought support to sail, given patronage by Spain (Ferdinand and Isabella)
•Set out with Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria
•Columbus’s Journey
–Sailed west
–Found land in the Caribbean
–Believed he was in Asia
•Columbus’s Subsequent Journeys
–The Spanish were delighted
–Second journey:
•Discovered Puerto Rico and Jamaica
•Founded Europe’s first permanent settlement in the New World at Santo Domingo (The Dominican Republic)
–Third journey
–Fourth journey
•Returned sick and died, always believing he had found a sea route to the Indies
•Ferdinand Magellan
–1480-1521 First person to lead a voyage to sail around the globe
–Explored the coast of South America, found it possible to sail the tip of South America to the Pacific Ocean
–Set stage for further oppression of native tribes
–Difficult Pacific journey
–Involved in dispute in Philippines and killed
–Journey finished by one of his men
•Other Spanish Explorers
–Other explorers
•Motivations
–G-d
–Gold
–Glory
•Spanish conquistadors
–Spanish explorers looking for opportunities
•Hernando Cortes
–Conquered the Aztec Empire (1519–1521)
–Believed to be a god due to prophesy of “pale” man on horse
–Defeated Montezuma
–Took advantage of Aztec treatment of other tribes
–Governor of Mexico
•Francisco Pizarro
–Conquered the Incas
–Held Atahualpa, the Inca ruler, prisoner
–Once he controlled the area, he exploited the Incas, brutal treatment
Aztecs
The Aztec tribe lived in ancient Mexico for about 400 years.
For the first 200 years, the Aztecs were constantly on the move. No one wanted the Aztecs as neighbors. The Aztecs practiced human sacrifice. They believed that if their gods were not fed, they would not do their jobs. The sun god would not bring up the sun, and everyone would die.
To keep their gods happy, the Aztecs believed that human sacrifice was necessary. They used people to feed their hungry gods.
Some of the people they sacrificed were Aztecs. However, most of the people they sacrificed were captured from neighboring tribes. This did not make them popular with their neighbors. Sooner or later, their neighbors would band together to chase the Aztecs away.
Settlement
When the Aztecs first arrived in the Valley of Mexico, other tribes were already living on the best land in the area.
This time, rather than fight for the best land or for captives to feed their hungry gods,
the Aztecs quietly settled along the swampy shores of Lake Texcoco. They built canoes so they could fish, hunt waterfowl, and trade with other tribes for the building materials they needed.
Free schools
To build the city they wanted, they knew that they would need many engineers, builders, and traders. This required an educated population. To solve this problem, the Aztecs set up a system of public schools. Attendance was mandatory for all Aztec children, even girls and slaves.
The Aztecs were the only people up to that time in history to have free schools that every child had to attend.
Sons of the upper class went to the nobles’ school. Sons of wealthy traders and merchants also went to this school. They studied law, writing (hieroglyphics), medicine, engineering and building, interpretation of dreams and omens, and self-expression. They also learned about their history and religious beliefs.
Floating Gardens
As the Aztec population grew, more food was needed. To solve this problem, Aztec engineers created “floating” gardens. They built a series of rafts, which they anchored to the lake bed. They piled on dirt and grew crops. They made walkways out of mud and reeds to connect the floating rafts.
The gardens were quite successful. The Aztecs grew chili peppers, squash, corn, tomatoes, and beans
Inca
The Incas were a small tribe of South American Indians who lived in the city of Cuzco, high in the Andes Mountains of Peru. Around 1400 CE, a neighboring tribe attacked the Incas, but the Incas won. This was the beginning of the Inca Empire.
In only 100 years, the Inca Empire grew so big that it expanded into what are now the modern countries of Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina.
Inca Government
One thing that helped the Incas grow so rapidly was their system of a strong central government. Everybody worked for the state, and in turn the state looked after everybody
Sapa Inca:
The head of government was the Inca, sometimes called the “Sapa Inca” (“the Only Inca”). The Sapa Inca was all-powerful. Everything belonged to the Sapa Inca. He ruled his people by putting his relatives in positions of power. Since punishment was harsh and swift, almost no one broke the law
Class
The Incas were very class conscious and were divided into nobles and common people. The nobles pretty much did what they wanted, while the common people were tightly controlled by the government.
Commoners could not own or run businesses. They could only do their assigned jobs. The law did not allow them to be idle. Even the amount of time they had to sleep and bathe was controlled by a government official.
Service Tax
Local officials kept an detailed census. A census is an official count of all the people in an area and how they each make a living.
Each common person was listed in the census. Each person listed had to pay a tax. The Incas loved gold and silver, but they had no use for money. The people paid their tax each year in physical labor—serving in the army, working in the mines, or building roads, temples, and palaces.
Harsh Government controls
Laws dictated who should work where, and when.
Local officials had the power to make all decisions about the lives of the people they ruled. Inspectors visited frequently to check on things. Breaking the law usually meant the death penalty. Few people broke the law. Tight government controls kept the common people fed, clothed, and enslaved.
Geography
Another thing that helped the Inca Empire grow so rapidly was its geography. The empire had three main geographical regions
1. The Andes Mountains
2. The Amazon jungle
3. The coastal desert
Each was a natural barrier. The Incas made their home between the jungle and the desert, high in the Andes Mountains of South America
Andes Mountains
The snow-capped Andes Mountains run north to south. They have sharp ragged peaks and deep gorges.
The Incas built bridges across the gorges so they could reach all parts of their empire quickly and easily. If an enemy approached, the Incas could burn the bridges. They made suspension bridges from rope, pontoon bridges from reed boats, and pulley baskets from vines.
Inca Roads
High in the Andes Mountains, the Incas connected their empire with 14,000 miles of well-built roads. Some sections of road were over 24 feet wide. Some were even paved. Some roads were so steep that the Incas built stone walls along the edge to prevent people from falling off the cliff.
The roads belonged to the government. No one could travel the roads without special permission.