HIST 1011 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Dutch East India Company, Joint-Stock Company, Portuguese Empire
Document Summary
2 main actors early modern era: portuguese and dutch. Small outposts of coastal settlements: european empires in the east. Nobody cared about portugal--they can do whatever since nobody cares. Not a center of wealth or sophistication. No interest in being a european power--player rely on italian financing to pay for exploration. Ship (1) lanteme sails better able to capture the winds. Seafaring people because of their location have technological advantage based on experience. Prestor jon--somewhere in africa, super rich and catholic (legend) Religious convictions play important role in contac and exploration. Convert the queen of congo to christianity. Getting a basic view of what indian ocean looks like. Vasco de gama ends up in callicut, india. Local raja is welcoming of de gama. Local merchants fear him interfering long standing trade connections. Vasco de gama only has dried cod to trade with india--not successful at all. He finds a community of christains in callicut--believes they are from doubting thomas.
