HIS 2326 Study Guide - Winter 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - British Empire, Ottawa, Sugar Plantations In The Caribbean
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
HIS 2326
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
HIS2326 The British Empire
University of Ottawa
Lecture I: Early Modern Britain
10 January 2018
Readings: The British Empire, Levine, Ch. 1
Themes:
1. Impediments to expansion in the English world
2. Emergence of the Tudor regime - help shape the way the English see expansion
3. Opportunities and challenges of expansion (1550s onwards)
4. Elizabethan Age (1550s - turn of the 17th C)
Impediments to English Expansion
Why were the English slow to expansion? Why did Spain and Portugal beat them to the punch?
• There was no necessity to do so
o Didn't need to look outside of their own borders for trade
o Self-sufficient in agriculture, etc. until 1500
• 1500: 2.5 million people in England and Wales
o What they couldn't get was supplied by English merchants
o Economy had remained stable since 1100
o Traditional trading partners: Icelandic fisherman; Scandinavia (sold wool in grain; received
lumber and naval stores); Flanders (received cloth, spices, and other exotic goods); France
(traded tin and cloth; received luxury items like wine, metals, etc.); fisheries in the West
o Spices were the most important import to English - purchased from other Europeans unlike
the Spanish and Portuguese who traded with Asian trade partners
• Therefore, there was no need for exploration to seek a new route to the Orient which
encouraged the Europeans to explore the West
• Presence of European merchants
o English trade was controlled by Europeans not the English
o Controlled by the Hanseatic League for three centuries
• Many were located in German cities
• Invested in extortion
▪ Protected interests with force as necessary
▪ Invested in militaries and navies, bought mercenaries
• Invested in the English Crown
• Insisted on a monopoly on trans-Atlantic trade
• Built and maintained the Steel Yard in London
▪ Extra-territorial - not treated under English law
• English monarchs went along with this because they received funds from the League
• The rulers saw no reason to expand
o Expensive and risky
o There was no tradition in the English state for taking risk; in contrast to the Portuguese and
Spanish
o Monarchy also relied on the League for its trade interests
• Rift b/w the monarch and English traders
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HIS2326 The British Empire
University of Ottawa
• Domestic instability and turmoil
o 1480s: Hindered by political instability
o Debilitating civil wars b/w dynastic powers about who had power to govern
o Late 15th C: War of the Roses
• Perhaps the most famous
o 1485: Tudor regime comes to power with Henry VII
1505: Merchant Adventurers
• Initially founded to trade in Flanders
• Consolidation of powers into one company
• Not only accumulate wealth but they do so to diversify risk and expand chances for profit
• European trade
• Principle that companies are need to conduct trade instead of individual interests
• Prototype of a joint stock company
o But they were NOT a JSC
• The League was resistant to the MA
o Did everything it did to restrict the trade of private companies like the MA
• The League funded the Tudors b/c they knew they were going to win the War of the Roses
o Used financial and naval strength to force Tudors into a new relationship with them
o Was’t util 1558, whe Elizaeth ae to power, was the League's power challenged
Emergence of the Tudor Regime
Henry VII (r.1485-1509)
Creates domestic peace
• No civil wars
Took a different view of the state and trade:
1. Encouraged a merchant marine
o Maritime trade by the merchants
o Unless they developed a navy for trade,
o English trade should be undertaken on English ships
2. Passed legislation to encourage this
o Navigation Acts
3. Negotiated with foreign powers to allow access to English ships in their ports and expansion of
their trade
4. Encourages exploration
o Convinced the Caboto family to explore Westward
o Private partnership b/w the King and the Cabots
o 1496: Left Bristol for a Northern passage to China
• For one clear and obvious reason: fearful of the Portuguese and Spanish to the South
• 3 years after the Columbian voyages
• Reveals the weakness of the English state
• Why Bristol? Local knowledge from fisherman who travelled to the North Atlantic
o Immediately unsuccessful
o Why was he willing to risk his $?
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Impediments to expansion in the english world: emergence of the tudor regime - help shape the way the english see expansion, opportunities and challenges of expansion (1550s onwards, elizabethan age (1550s - turn of the 17th c) Invested in extortion: protected interests with force as necessary. Spanish: monarchy also relied on the league for its trade interests, rift b/w the monarch and english traders. Local knowledge from fisherman who travelled to the north atlantic. Seeking personal fortune: expansion power and privilege of the tudors. Finding trade routes to china would be the prestige he was looking for: cabot voyages = failure or at least disappointing in comparison to the portuguese and. Spanish: no gold or silver, made four voyages, newfoundland and new england, produced limited success, four points: Descendants found it increasingly difficult to invest in the risk of exploration: results were not very good, exploration diminishes.
