HIS 102 Lecture 1: Why the Americas
Document Summary
Motivations: renaissance and discovery, bravura (bravado) and status, power and revenue, god, goods and markets. Motivations could be realized: mediterranean, especially italian trade with the east, portuguese explorations of africa and the east, 1415-60, a force on seas, congo, 1840, treaty of tordesillas, 1494, port = east, span = west, spanish reconquista. Navigation: compass, astrolabe and quadrant, stars/moon and daylight, all about latitude, cartography. Shipbuilding: sails: combining square and lateen, ship: caravels and carracks, steering: sternpost rudder. Cross and crown: crown backed revenue, conversos clergy, permanency if highly promising/profitable. Catholic church: the mission system, a syncretic catholic faith. Conquistadors: rewards, plunder, encomiendas , repartimento , highly stratified society, economically, racially, peninsulares and creoles vs. mestizo . Cross and crown: crown backed revenue, converts clergy, permanency if highly promising/profitable. Initially male participants seeking adventure, glory, and fortune. Business venture: royally established joint stock companies, the london company, virginia company, and the plymouth company, plymouth council for new england.
