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Book No. – 48 (History)
Book Name – Western Civilisation: Their History and Their Culture (Edward Mcnall)
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1. THE OVERSEAS DISCOVERIES AND CONQUESTS OF PORTUGAL AND SPAIN
2. THE LUTHERAN UPHEAVAL
3. THE SPREAD OF PROTESTANTISM
4. THE PROTESTANT HERITAGE
5. CATHOLIC REFORM
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Europe Expands and Divides: Overseas Discoveries and Protestant Reformation
Chapter – 14
Table of Contents
- The two most dramatic developments in the transition from the Middle Ages to the early-modern period of western European history were the overseas ventures of Spain and Portugal and the Protestant Reformation.
- These developments changed the course of European history forever, as Europeans took commanding positions in Southeast Asia and claimed the Western Hemisphere.
- From 1490 to about 1520, Europeans sailed over the open seas, marking the end of geographically self-containedEuropean Christian civilization, which had remained intact for about a thousand years (except for the Crusades).
- The expansion of Europe led to interactions between events on the European landmass and global engagements.
- Despite growing national differences, there remained a distinct European “Community of Christendom” until the early sixteenth century, under the pope’s leadership.
- Europeans shared the same Latin mass, religious rituals (baptisms, weddings), and papal authority, which unified them spiritually.
- The Protestant Reformation, initiated by Martin Luther in 1517, and the Catholic response led to the rapid division of Europe along religious lines, with frequent religious wars.
- The overseas discoveries and Protestant Reformation were roughly contemporaneous but had no direct connectionin their origins.
- Early explorers sailed before or in disregard of European religious dissensions, and early Protestants did not focus on new trade routes or discovery of continents.
- The effects of the discoveries, Protestant Reformation, and Catholic Counter-Reformation quickly became interrelated, with notable heroic figures.
- Examples of heroism include Columbus sailing into the unknown, Balboa viewing a new ocean, Luther struggling for a new understanding of “the justice of God,” and Ignatius Loyola finding spiritual inspiration through “spiritual exercises.”
THE OVERSEAS DISCOVERIES AND CONQUESTS OF PORTUGAL AND SPAIN
- The speed with which Europeans began to traverse the high seas around 1500 is initially bewildering, as Christian civilization seemed to be on the defensive.
- In 1453, Constantinople fell to the Turks under Sultan Muhammad II; Serbia fell in 1459 and Albania in 1470.
- Western Europeans were particularly alarmed by the Turkish landing on the Italian peninsula in 1480, where Otranto was occupied, and many inhabitants were slaughtered.
- Pope Pius II saw little hope for the future, observing that there was “nothing good on the horizon.”
- Despite the threat from the Turks, Portuguese and Spanish sailors soon made Europeans lords of much of the world, establishing trade routes and colonies in Africa, the West Indies, India, and the Mexican empire.
- Key events include the Portuguese building a fortress in Elmina (1482), Columbus sighting the West Indies (1492), the Portuguese establishing a trading base in India (1500), and Cortez conquering the Mexican empire (1519–1521).
- Two interpretations offer explanations for these discoveries:
- The Renaissance School, which links European overseas expansion to the Renaissance ideals of curiosity and self-reliance in practical matters.
- The medieval preparation view, suggesting that the knowledge, motives, and means for exploration were rooted in the medieval period.
- The Renaissance interpretation is weak because some Italian mariners came from cities like Genoa, which was not part of Renaissance civilization, and because major Renaissance states did not sponsor the voyages of discovery.
- The true explanation lies in medieval knowledge and motivations:
- Economic motives, especially the search for Asiatic spices like pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, which were highly valued for their preservative qualities and used widely in the Middle Ages.
- The high cost of spice trade via Islamic, Venetian, and Genoese middlemen motivated Europeans to find direct sea routes.
- Religious motives, including the desire to convert heathens and to find “lost Christians” in the East as potential allies against Islam.
- Knowledge and technology behind the discoveries were also medieval:
- Europeans knew the earth was a sphere by the twelfth century; it was not believed to be flat.
- As early as 1291, the Vivaldi brothers attempted to reach the East Indies by sailing westward across the Atlantic.
- By the mid-fourteenth century, Portuguese sailors were regularly navigating the Atlantic to the Azores Islands.
- By 1350, shipbuilding and navigational technology were sufficiently advanced to sail to the New World, as evidenced by Portuguese voyages to the Azores, which were one-third the distance between Europe and America.
- America was not discovered a century earlier due to economic depression and political turmoil in 14th and 15th century Western Europe.
- Major states like France, England, and Castile were weakened by wars and economic contraction, making expensive and risky expeditions to the west unlikely.
- Portugal, already engaged in seaward exploration, shifted its focus to the West African coast after establishing colonies on the Azores and Madeira in the 14th century.
- Portugal’s interest in sugar, wine, and later, gold and slaves in Africa led to the exploration of the coast.
- The Portuguese achievements were part of a progressive series of explorations that culminated in rounding the Cape of Good Hope in 1487, which opened the route to Asia.
- Prince Henry “the Navigator” commissioned Portuguese voyages from 1418 until his death in 1460, establishing trading posts and advancing southward along Africa’s coastline.
- The voyages involved great risks, as shown by an account of four galleys that endured extreme conditions and hardships, including heat, disease, and loss of life.
- Despite terrifying stories from the crews, further expeditions continued, with Portugal eventually controlling the African Gold Coast and slave trade.
- Under King John II (1481-1495), Portuguese efforts to reach Asia intensified, leading to the accidental rounding of the Cape of Good Hope by Bartholomew Dias in 1487.
- King John II renamed the Cape of Storms to Cape of Good Hope and planned a major expedition to reach India.
- Vasco da Gama completed this goal in 1497, sailing around Africa to Kenya and crossing the Indian Ocean to Western India, where he collected valuable spices.
- Da Gama’s journey, despite the loss of half his fleet and a third of his men, resulted in profitable spice trade, making the expedition worth the losses.
- After da Gama’s success, King Manuel I organized regular trading fleets to India, taking full control of the western Indian coastline by 1510.
- In 1511, Portuguese ships seized Malacca, a key center of the spice trade, ensuring European presence in the Far East.
- The decision to fund Columbus’s voyage was influenced by the progress of Portuguese exploration, especially after Dias’s return in 1488, making a westward route to Asia a viable alternative.
- Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) was not a visionary challenging the round earth theory, but rather underestimated the distance from Europe to Asia.
- Columbus’s voyage in 1492 led him to the Bahamas and Hispaniola, but he mistakenly believed he had reached Asia.
- Columbus did not “discover America” as Vikings had reached the Western Hemisphere around 1000 and Columbus never realized he had found a new continent.
- Columbus brought back gold samples and some natives, leading to further expeditions financed by Queen Isabellaand King Ferdinand.
- By 1500, it was clear Columbus had discovered a new world, a fact popularized by Amerigo Vespucci in his 1504writing “Mundus novus”.
- The discovery of the new world was initially disappointing for Spain since it stood between Europe and Asia, delaying their hopes of reaching spices.
- Vasco Nunez de Balboa confirmed the separation of Europe and East Asia by two oceans after seeing the Pacific Ocean in 1513.
- King Charles accepted Ferdinand Magellan’s offer in 1519, but Magellan’s voyage showed the dangers of sailing around South America to reach Asia.
- Magellan’s expedition ended in failure, with only one ship returning after three years and Magellan himself being killed.
- Despite the setback, Spain realized the New World had its own wealth, especially after Columbus’s initial gold samples sparked hope for more riches.
- In 1519-1521, Hernando Cortés conquered the Aztec Empire and in 1533, Francisco Pizarro plundered the Inca Empire.
- Cortés and Pizarro succeeded mainly through courage, treachery, and cruelty, defeating vastly superior forces with only a few hundred men.
- By the mid-16th century, Spain took control of all of Central and South America (except Brazil, which was Portuguese).
- Spain focused on mining silver, with Mexico and Bolivia being rich in silver deposits. Gold was less abundant after initial treasures were seized.
- Livestock farming and sugarcane production also became profitable, ensuring Spain’s wealth despite Columbus’s failure to reach Asia.
- The discovery of the New World in 1500 shifted economic power in Europe from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.
- Genoa became Spain’s banker, and Venice turned into a tourist destination while Atlantic ports flourished with wealth.
- The 16th century saw significant economic growth in Western Europe, driven by an increase in imported goods and bullion.
- The native population in the New World suffered drastically due to diseases like smallpox and measles, with some areas losing up to 90% of their population.
- Many natives also died from exploitation, working to exhaustion under the Spanish conquerors.
- The colonization of the New World brought immense profit for Europeans but was a disaster for the indigenous peoples of the Americas.