Chapter 2The First Global Age:

Europe and Asia(1415–1796)

Section 1

The Search for Spices

Section 2

Turbulent Centuries in Africa

Section 4

Encounters in East Asia

Section 3

European Footholds in South and Southeast Asia

Chapter 2: The First Global Age: Europe and Asia

(1415–1796)

Section 1: The Search for Spices

Section 2: Diverse Traditions of                     Southeast AsiaSection 3: European Footholds in                     Southeast Asia and India

Section 4: Encounters in East Asia

A Portuguese painting from 1522 tells the story of the martyrdom of Ursula, a medieval Catholic saint.

The religious story and the sailing ships in the background express the themes of the age of exploration.

The Search for Spices

• Why did Europeans cross the seas?

• How did Portugal’s eastward explorations lead to the development of a trading empire?

• How did Columbus's voyages affect the search for a passage to the Indies?

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Why Did Europeans Cross the Seas?

• As Europe’s population recovered from the Black Death, the demand for trade goods grew.

• Europeans wanted spices. • Cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg, cloves . . . these and other spices were a vital part of

the world economy in the 1400s. Because the spice trade was controlled by Arab merchants and traders, Europeans didn’t know how to get the spices they desperately wanted. 

• European merchants wanted to gain direct access to the riches of Asia. (Avoid Venice monopoly).

• Some voyagers still wanted to crusade against the Muslims.

• Others were inspired by the Renaissance spirit to learn about distant lands.

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Early Voyages of European Exploration, 1487–1609

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Tools of Ocean Navigation1

Astrolabe This device was used to measure

the angles of the sun and stars above the horizon. It was difficult to

use accurately in rough seas.

Caravel This ship combined the square sails of

European vessels with the lateen (triangular) sails of their Arab

counterparts. The new rigging made it easier to sail across and into the wind.

Cartography

Probably as long as people have been around, they have been drawing maps of things. The appeal is maybe obvious: it gives us the ability to see a much bigger picture than we would otherwise. We can see where things are, how to get places, and where we are. 

As travels extended, mapmakers could increase their knowledge and fill in areas of coastline and continents previously undiscovered.

Martin Waldseemuller was a cartographer who lived from ~1475 to 1522.Waldseemuller is particularly famous for the map he created in 1507. This map was the first to label the American continent "America," a name the mapmaker used to honor Amerigo Vespucci. As you probably realize, this name persists even today.Martin Waldseemuller is also famous for his 1507 map because it shows an uncannily accurate Pacific coast of South America. At the time of its publication, no Westerner was known to have visited the Pacific side of this continent, and much speculation has centered on how Waldseemuller could have so accurately drawn the coast.

Portugal’s Voyages to the East

By the 1400s, Portugal had expanded into Muslim North Africa.

Henry the Navigator sent ships to explore the western coast of Africa.

In 1488, Bartholomeu Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa, later called the Cape of Good Hope.

In 1497, Vasco da Gama reached the spice port of Calicut in India.

In 1502, da Gama forced a treaty on Calicut.

The Portuguese seized key ports around the

Indian Ocean to create a vast trading empire.

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Over the next two centuries, some Portuguese explorers managed to reach parts of present-day Congo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, establishing limited trade. In general, however, the Portuguese did not venture far from the coasts. They knew little about Africa’s interior, and they lacked accurate maps or other resources to help them explore there. Furthermore, Africans in the interior, who wanted to control the gold trade, resisted such exploration. As a result of all these factors, when the Portuguese empire declined in the 1600s, the Portuguese did not leave a strong legacy in Africa.

From West Africa, the Portuguese sailed around the continent. They continued to establish forts and trading posts, but they also attacked existing East African coastal cities such as Mombasa and Malindi, which were hubs of international trade. With cannons blazing, they expelled the Arabs who controlled the East African trade network and took over this thriving commerce for themselves. Each conquest added to their growing trade empire.

African Kingdoms and Trading States, 1000 B.C.–A.D. 1600

• Vast migrations of people have contributed to the rich diversity of African cultures. One such series of migrations, called the Bantu migrations, probably occurred because of changes in the environment. Over a period of a thousand years, Bantu-speakers from West Africa moved south and east to populate most of southern Africa. Today, as many as one third of Africans speak a language in the Bantu family.

Kingdoms of West Africa

By A.D. 100, settled farming villages on

the western savannas of Africa were expanding.

Soon trade networks linked the savanna to forest

lands in the south and then sent goods across the Sahara.

By A.D. 200, camels, brought to North Africa from Asia,

had revolutionized trade across the Sahara. Camel caravans

created new, profitable trade networks. Gold and salt were

the major products. Gold was plentiful in present-day Ghana,

Nigeria, and Senegal. North Africans sought gold to trade in

exchange for European goods. West Africans traded gold to

North Africans in exchange for an equally valuable item, salt. People need salt in their diet to stay healthy, especially in hot, tropical areas.

The Kingdom of GhanaBy A.D. 800, the rulers of the Soninke people had united many farming villages to form the kingdom of Ghana. The king controlled gold-salt trade routes across West Africa. So great was the flow of gold that Arab writers called Ghana “land of gold.” Over time, Muslim merchants established Islam in Ghana. Muslim art, technology, and philosophy were influential as well. When the empire of Ghana declined in the late 1100s, it was swallowed up by a new rising power, the kingdom of Mali.

The World of West African Forest Kingdoms

• Include African slave factories and West African forest kingdoms-- wealth and trade.

• Caravans of trade. Islam, kinship network, education, trade—ideas as well as wares

• Benin

• Askia Muhammad of Songhai

• Mansa Musa of Mali

The Kingdom of MaliMali emerged by 1250. It controlled both the gold-mining regions to the south and the salt supplies of the Sahara. The greatest emperor of Mali was Mansa Musa who came to the throne in 1312. Musa expanded Mali’s borders. A convert to Islam, Musa journeyed to Mecca in 1324 to fulfill the hajj. Musa’s pilgrimage forged new ties with Muslim states and brought scholars and artists to Mali.

The Kingdom of SonghaiAs Mali weakened in the 1400s, a new West African kingdom, Songhai , arose. Songhai forged the largest state that had ever existed in West Africa. The kingdom controlled trade routes and wealthy cities like Timbuktu, a leading center of learning. Songhai prospered until about 1586. At that time, civil war and invasion weakened and splintered the empire.Askia Muhammad

Trade Routes of East AfricaBy the time the kingdom of Axum conquered Nubia about A.D. 350, Axum had long been an important trading center. Located southeast of Nubia, Axum linked trade routes between Africa, India, and the Mediterranean world. A powerful Axum king converted to Christianity in the 300s. At first, Christianity strengthened ties to the Mediterranean world. However, in the 600s, Islam came to dominate North Africa, leaving Axum an isolated island of Christianity. Over time the kingdom of Axum slowly declined.

As Axum declined, a string of trading cities gradually rose along the East African coast. Since ancient times, traders had visited this coast. In the 600s, Arab and Persian merchants set up Muslim communities under the protection of local African rulers. By 1000, port cities were thriving from trade across the Indian Ocean.

Societies in AfricaFactors such as Africa’s varied geography, diverse climates, and later migration and trade played major roles in how early societies developed throughout the continent. In some medieval African societies, the nuclear family was typical, with parents and children living and working together, while in other communities the family included several generations. Political patterns varied depending in part on the size and culture of the community.Across Africa, religious beliefs were varied and complex. Some Africans followed traditional beliefs and were polytheistic. By 100, both Christianity and Islam had spread to many regions of Africa. African societies preserved their values and history through both oral and written literature. Oral traditions date back many centuries. In West Africa, griots, or professional storytellers, recited ancient stories as they still do today.

Griots — masters of words and music, were historians, genealogists, advisers to nobility, entertainers, messengers, praise singers.

We would call them spoken word artists. 

Kinship Network

Ethnocentricity

Xenophobia

Slavery

The Forest Kingdoms of West Africa

• The Europeans enslaved the Antilles Indians wherever they could. This caused their rapid disappearance and they were therefore not as available for slave labor. Thanks to initiative of a Spanish priest (Bartholomew de Las Casas), the solution to this dearth of manpower was found in the large scale importation of slaves from Africa. These slaves came from all parts of the West coast of that continent, from the mouth of the Senegal river to the Cape of Good Hope, but especially from the Eastern Guinea coast (today's Ghana, Togo, Dahomey, and Nigeria coast) and the Congo-Angola coastal region. Africa at this time was at a decisive turn of its history. Since the Portuguese navigators succeeded in diverting the flow of the gold trade, which made the richness and fame of the great Sudanese Empires, the economy of the interior states gradually fizzled out. The last blow being struck in 1591 with the destruction of the Songhai Empire by a Moroccan army. The coastal states the rose in importance , particularly in Eastern Guinea. While the Atlantic trade at first enriched the coastal states, it soon forced these newly formed Kingdoms to rapidly become esclavagist, because of the above mentioned needs in the developing American states. War being the best way to obtain slaves to be sold to Europeans, a permanent and general state of conflict, disunity and chaos resulted for the next centuries, and all hopes of progress for Africa was put to an end. On the coast of Eastern Guinea, the rise of Ashantee and Dahomey Kingdoms long preceded Columbus' time. Dahomey, whose great period was in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, was to give Haiti its main, though unofficial religion - the Voodoo and play an important part in the development of its Creole language. Even today, the language of Dahomey is still the ritual language of Voodoo priests.

• In that time, a very important center of civilization existed in the area of the Yoruba and Edo speaking countries. Corresponding approximately to the former southwestern state of Nigeria, they were divided in kingdoms among which were Oyo, Ife, and Benin. Their societies were basically agricultural but there was also a varied and important production in handicrafts. There were extensive cities and prosperous trade, which found a ready means of exchange in the cowry shell currency. Their culture originated from the city of Ife, whose art of terra-cotta and brass beads, is world famous as one of the summits of mondial art.

• The Angola-Congo coast in 1500 was on the verge of having the only experience of a mixed Afro-European culture: the kingdom of Congo, Christianized by the Portuguese. But the attempt was ephemeral. Facing the esclavagist enterprises of the Sao-Tome slave dealers, the Congolese expelled the Portuguese at the beginning of the 17th century.

• It must be noted that the places of origin of the Americas' Black slaves (North, Central, South and West Indies) far from being primitive, had an evolved civilization of their own. Black Africa, in the West African interior and the East coast, knew the written culture in Arabic and Swahili, as early as the 14th century. On the West coast, the culture was more oral even though a form of written literature can also be found. That last character, together with the religious importance of mask in the statuary, and of the cultural importance music and dance as a vehicle for cultural information, was perpetuated in the West Indies.

• Thus, in Columbus' time some of the main characters of the modern West Indies could be foreseen. In the tragedy that will follow Columbus arrival in the new world, the Europeans have the leading part. The technological superiority of European developing states coupled with their greed swiftly overcame local Indian societies. It even overtook African societies which at the onset worked in association with them. But the tragedy of slavery, in its forceful transfer of African was to give the "new world" its most durable specificity.

Portuguese traders quickly joined the profitable slave trade, followed by other European traders. Europeans bought large numbers of slaves to perform labor on their plantations—large estates run by an owner or an owner’s overseer—in the Americas and elsewhere. Europeans also bought slaves as exotic servants for rich households. By the 1500s, European participation had encouraged a much broader Atlantic slave trade.

An early voice raised against the slave trade was that of Affonso I, ruler of Kongo in west-central Africa. As a young man, Affonso had been tutored by Portuguese missionaries, who hoped to convert Africans to Christianity. After becoming king in 1505, he called on the Portuguese to help him develop Kongo as a modern Christian state, but he became alarmed as more and more Portuguese came to Kongo each year to buy slaves. Affonso wanted to maintain contact with Europe but end the slave trade. His appeal failed, and the slave trade continued. Africa’s great wealth was her people and millions were stolen from their homeland in the African Diaspora.

In 1490, the Portuguese converted the son of a Kongo king to Christianity and then helped him take his father’s throne.

The new king, born Nzinga Mbemba, was renamed Affonso. King Affonso soon realized that his relationship with Portugal had extremely negative consequences, as can be seen from his letter to King John III of Portugal in 1526. In his letter, the king of Kongo appeals to the king of Portugal to end the slave trade.

Europeans still refuse to take responsibility for the crimes that led to their great wealth and power.

The Asante KingdomThe Asante kingdom  emerged in the area occupied by present-day Ghana. In the late 1600s, an able military leader, Osei Tutu, won control of the trading city of Kumasi. From there, he conquered neighboring peoples and unified the Asante kingdom. The Asante faced a great challenge in the Denkyera, a powerful neighboring enemy kingdom. Osei Tutu realized that in order to withstand the Denkyera, the people of his kingdom needed to be firmly united. To do this, he claimed that his right to rule came from heaven, and that people in the kingdom were linked by spiritual bonds. This strategy paid off when the Asante defeated the Denkyera in the late 1600s.

Under Osei Tutu, government officials, chosen by merit rather than by birth, supervised an efficient bureaucracy. They managed the royal monopolies on gold mining and the slave trade. A monopoly is the exclusive control of a business or industry. The Asante traded with Europeans on the coast, exchanging gold and slaves for firearms. They also played rival Europeans against one another to protect themselves. In this way, they built a wealthy, powerful state.

The Oyo empire arose from successive waves of settlement by the Yoruba people of present-day Nigeria. It began as a relatively small forest kingdom. Beginning in the late 1600s, however, its leaders used wealth from the slave trade to build up an impressive army. The Oyo empire used the army to conquer the neighboring kingdom of Dahomey. At the same time, it continued to gain wealth by trading with European merchants at the port city of Porto-Novo.

Elmina Castle European traders called the places where they held and traded slaves “castles.” Built by the Portuguese in 1482, Elmina Castle in present-day Ghana was used as a base for trading slaves, gold, and imported European products

In the late 1700s, another African ruler tried to halt the slave trade in his lands. He was the almany (from the Arabic words meaning “religious leader”) of Futa Toro, in present-day Senegal. Since the 1500s, French sea captains had bought slaves from African traders in Futa Toro. In 1788, the almany forbade anyone to transport slaves through Futa Toro for sale abroad.

However, the inland slave traders simply worked out a new route to the coast. Sailing to this new market, the French captains easily purchased the slaves that the almany had prevented them from buying in Futa Toro.

Approximately 40 million people were harvested from Africa --stolen into slavery for over 500 years

France

Following the Portuguese example, by the 1600s several European powers had established forts along the western coast of Africa. As Portuguese power declined in the region, British, Dutch, and French traders took over their forts. Unlike the Portuguese, they established permanent footholds throughout the continent.In 1652, Dutch immigrants arrived at the southern tip of the continent. They built Cape Town, the first permanent European settlement, to supply ships sailing to or from the East Indies. Dutch farmers, called Boers, settled around Cape Town. Over time, they ousted, enslaved, or killed the people who lived there. The Boers held a Calvinist belief that they were the elect, or chosen, of God. They looked on Africans as inferiors and did not respect their claims to their own land. In the 1700s, Boer herders and ivory hunters began to push north from the Cape Colony. Their migrations would eventually lead to battle with several African groups.

Columbus’s Voyages to the West• Backed by Spain, Christopher Columbus tried to reach the Indies,

in Southeast Asia, by sailing west across the Atlantic. • On August 3, 1492, Columbus sailed west with three small ships,

the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María. Although the expedition encountered good weather and a favorable wind, no land came into sight for many weeks. Provisions ran low, and the crew became anxious. Finally, on October 12, land was spotted.

• Columbus believed that the land that he reached was the Indies. In fact, he had found a route to continents previously unknown to Europeans. These lands later became known as the West Indies.

• When Columbus returned, Spain and Portugal both rushed to claim the lands Columbus had explored.

• Pope Alexander VI set a Line of Demarcation, giving to Spain rights to any land west of the line and to Portugal, rights to any land east of the line. The terms were in the Treaty of Tordesillas.

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Later the two powers got together and agreed to the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) which moved the line to the West. This allowed Portugal to have part of Brazil. An additional boundary was drawn on the other side of the world through the Pacific. Although they did not cooperate, the Spanish and Portuguese stayed out of each other's way.

Early Spanish and Portuguese explorations were so successful that the Pope divided up the unexplored world between the two Catholic nations. The boundary between them was called the Line of Demarcation.

Exploring the Americas

Europeans continued to seek new routes around or through the Americas.

Vasco Nuñez de Balboa discovered a passage through Panama to an ocean which he called the South Sea.

Ferdinand Magellan charted a passage around the southern tip of South America and gave the Pacific Ocean its name. His crew became the first people to circumnavigate, or sail around, the world.

John Cabot discovered Newfoundland in his unsuccessful quest to find a northwest passage to Asia.

Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence River.

Henry Hudson explored what would become known as the Hudson River.

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Section 1 AssessmentWho was the first European explorer to sail around the southern tip of Africa? a) Ferdinand Magellan b) Bartholomeu Dias c) Vasco da Gama d) Jacques Cartier

Christopher Columbus set out to a) reach the Indies by sailing west across the Atlantic. b) reach the Americas by sailing west across the Atlantic. c) reach the Indies by sailing east around the southern tip of Africa. d) reach the Americas by sailing east around the southern tip of

Africa.

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Section 1 AssessmentWho was the first European explorer to sail around the southern tip of Africa? a) Ferdinand Magellan b) Bartholomeu Dias c) Vasco da Gama d) Jacques Cartier

Christopher Columbus set out to a) reach the Indies by sailing west across the Atlantic. b) reach the Americas by sailing west across the Atlantic. c) reach the Indies by sailing east around the southern tip of

Africa. d) reach the Americas by sailing east around the southern tip of

Africa.

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Diverse Traditions of Southeast Asia

• What are the key geographic features of Southeast Asia?

• What impact did Indian civilization have on new kingdoms and empires?

• What factors contributed to the growth of Vietnamese culture?

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New Kingdoms and Empires

This trading empire controlled the Strait of Malacca, vital to shipping.

Local people blended Indian beliefs into their own forms of worship.

The Khmer people adapted Indian writing, mathematics, architecture, and art.

Khmer rulers became Hindus, while most ordinary people preferred Buddhism. King Suryavarman II built a great temple complex at Angkor Wat.

King Anawrata made Pagan a major Buddhist center.

The capital city had many magnificent stupas, or dome-shaped shrines.

SRIVIJAYAKHMER EMPIREPAGAN

The blend of Indian influences with local cultures produced a series of kingdoms and empires in Southeast Asia.

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Empires and Kingdoms

of Southeast Asia

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VietnamThe Vietnamese developed their own distinct culture. In 111 B.C., China invaded the region and remained in control for 1,000 years.

During the Chinese occupation, the Vietnamese absorbed Confucian ideas, modeled their government on that of China, and adopted many aspects of Chinese culture.

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Despite the powerful Chinese influences, the Vietnamese preserved a strong sense of their separate identity. Two noble sisters, Trung Trac and Trung Nhi, briefly drove out the Chinese and tried to restore a simpler form of government based on Vietnamese traditions.

My niece and her husband

My new niece, Anna

Section 2 Assessment

Which Southeast Asian kingdom became a major Buddhist center? a) The Khmer empire b) Pagan c) Srivijaya d) Sumatra

During the Chinese occupation, the Vietnamese a) resisted all Chinese cultural influences. b) were unable to maintain their own culture. c) rebelled against Confucianism. d) were able to preserve their own sense of identity.

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Section 2 Assessment

Which Southeast Asian kingdom became a major Buddhist center? a) The Khmer empire b) Pagan c) Srivijaya d) Sumatra

During the Chinese occupation, the Vietnamese a) resisted all Chinese cultural influences. b) were unable to maintain their own culture. c) rebelled against Confucianism. d) were able to preserve their own sense of identity.

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European Footholds in Southeast Asia and India

• How did the Portuguese and the Dutch build empires in the East?

• How did Spain control the Philippines?

• How did the decline of Mughal India affect European traders?

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Commander Afonso de Albuquerque

a Portuguese rifle

In 1511, a Portuguese fleet commanded by Afonso de Albuquerque dropped anchor off Malacca, a rich Islamic trading port that controlled the sea route linking India, Southeast Asia, and China. The fleet remained at anchor for several weeks before opening fire. According to a Malaysian account:“The cannon balls came like rain. And the noise of the cannon was as the noise of thunder in the heavens and the flashes of fire of their guns were like flashes of lightning in the sky: and the noise of their matchlocks [guns] was like that of groundnuts [peanuts] popping in the frying pan.”—From the Malay Annals

Portuguese and Dutch Trading EmpiresPortugal used firepower to win control of the rich Indian Ocean spice trade.

In less than 50 years, the Portuguese had built a trading empire with military and merchant outposts rimming the southern seas.

Despite their sea power, the Portuguese were not strong enough to conquer much territory on land.

The Dutch were the first Europeans to challenge Portuguese domination is Asia.

They used their sea power to set up colonies and trading posts around the world.

The Dutch East India Company seized Malacca from the Portuguese. Soon after, they were able to enforce a monopoly in the Spice Islands, controlling shipments to Europe as well as much of the trade within Southeast Asia.

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Spain and the Philippines

In 1521, Magellan had claimed the Philippines for Spain.

Within fifty years, Spain had conquered and colonized the islands.

Unlike other people in Southeast Asia, the Filipinos were not united. As a result, they were easily conquered.

The Philippines became a key link to Spain’s overseas trading empire. The Spanish shipped silver mined in Mexico and Peru across the Pacific to the Philippines. From there, they used the silver to buy goods in China.

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Before the 1700s, the Mughal empire was larger, richer, and more powerful than any kingdom in Europe.• While European merchants were dazzled by India, the sophisticated

Mughal civilization was unimpressed by the Europeans. • When Europeans sought trading rights, the Mughal emperors saw no

threat in granting them.

In the early 1700s, the Mughal central government collapsed. • French and English traders battled

each other for control of India, while war erupted in Europe between England and France.

• The British East India Company used an army of British troops and sepoys to drive the French out, take over Bengal, and spread its power.

Mughal India and European Traders 3

An Indian Sepoy An Indian officer in the British army poses with his wife in this Indian painting dating from the 1700s. influence into other parts of India.

Section 3 Assessment

Who successfully challenged Portuguese domination in Asia? a) the English b) the Spanish c) the Dutch d) the French

What happened when the Mughal central government collapsed? a) The Portuguese and the Dutch fought to control trade in India. b) The British and the French fought to control trade in India. c) The Portuguese and the Dutch fought to control trade in India. d) The Dutch and the French fought to control trade in India.

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Section 3 Assessment

Who successfully challenged Portuguese domination in Asia? a) the English b) the Spanish c) the Dutch d) the French

What happened when the Mughal central government collapsed? a) The Portuguese and the Dutch fought to control trade in India. b) The British and the French fought to control trade in India. c) The Portuguese and the Dutch fought to control trade in India. d) The Dutch and the French fought to control trade in India.

Symbols of the Dutch EmpireThe Dutch painting Jacob Mathieusen and His Wife (c. 1650) shows a senior official in the Dutch East India Company overlooking the Dutch fleet in Batavia, Indonesia. A slave holds a parasol, an Asian symbol of power. How can you tell that the artist was European?

Encounters in East Asia

• How was European trade with China affected by the Manchu conquest?

• What factors led Korea to isolate itself from other nations?

• What attitude did the Tokugawa shoguns have toward foreign traders?

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European Trade With ChinaThe Europeans who reached Asia in the 1500s were very impressed by what they saw . The Chinese, however, saw the Europeans as “southern barbarians,” lacking civilized ways.

The Ming dynasty had ended overseas exploration in the mid-1400s.

Portuguese traders reached China by sea in 1514. The Ming eventually allowed them a trading post at Macao. Because they were uninterested in European trading products, the Ming demanded payment for Chinese goods in gold or silver.

After the Manchus conquered China, the Manchu Qing dynasty maintained the Ming policy of restricting foreign trade.

The Europeans continued to press to expand trade to other areas of China.

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Emperor Qianlong

A Chinese watercolor portrays Matteo Ricci with European objects, including a model of the universe.

A geography book that Ricci translated into Chinese is shown

Korea and Isolation: The Hermit Kingdom

Several events led Korea to turn inward for a period of about 250 years.

As in China, the low status of merchants in Confucianism led Koreans to look down on foreign trade.

In the 1590s, a Japanese invasion devastated the land of Korea.

In 1636, the Manchus conquered Korea before overrunning China. Korea was forced to become a tributary state to the Manchu’s Qing dynasty.

By 1638, the Tokugawas had turned against European traders as well. Japan barred all European merchants and forbade Japanese to travel abroad. To further their isolation, they outlawed the building of large ships, thereby ending foreign trade. In order to keep informed about world events, they permitted just one or two Dutch ships each year to trade at a small island in Nagasaki harbor.Japan remained isolated for more than 200 years. Art and literature flourished, and internal trade boomed. Cities grew in size and importance, and some merchant families gained wealth and status. By the early 1700s, Edo (present-day Tokyo) had a million inhabitants, more than either London or Paris.

Bringing Trade and Christianity This 1600s decorative screen shows Japanese people meeting a Portuguese ship carrying European goods and missionaries. Did the presence of missionaries help or hurt European-Japanese trade relations?

Japan and Foreign Traders

The Japanese at first welcomed western traders.They acquired western firearms and built castles modeled on the European design.

The Tokugawa shoguns grew increasingly hostile toward foreigners. They saw the foreigners as agents of an invading force.They suspected that the many Japanese Christians were loyal to the pope, rather than to Japanese leaders. They disliked the competition among Christian missionaries.

By 1638, the Tokugawas had barred all western merchants and forbidden Japanese to travel abroad. They also ended foreign trade.

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Section 4 Assessment

What policy did the Qing adopt regarding foreign trade? a) They gave unlimited trading rights to the Portuguese. b) They maintained the Ming policy of restricting foreign

trade. c) They maintained the Ming policy of allowing unlimited

trade with Europe. d) They limited foreign trade even more than the Ming had.

Which of the following was not an action taken by the Tokugawas in 1638? a) They banned all western merchants. b) They forbid Japanese to travel abroad. c) They ended foreign trade. d) They agreed to continue limited trading with the Spanish.

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Section 4 Assessment

What policy did the Qing adopt regarding foreign trade? a) They gave unlimited trading rights to the Portuguese. b) They maintained the Ming policy of restricting foreign

trade. c) They maintained the Ming policy of allowing unlimited

trade with Europe. d) They limited foreign trade even more than the Ming had.

Which of the following was not an action taken by the Tokugawas in 1638? a) They banned all western merchants. b) They forbid Japanese to travel abroad. c) They ended foreign trade. d) They agreed to continue limited trading with the Spanish.

• Desire for Asian luxury goods such as spices, gold, and silks

• Motivation to spread Christianity

• Strategic need to gain more direct access to trade

• Desire to gain glory for country

• Renaissance curiosity to explore new lands

• Competition with other European countries

Causes of European Exploration

Important European Explorers

European Footholds in the Eastern Hemisphere

Major Asian Dynasties and Empires