An Age of Discovery and Conquest

The Early Modern World was an age of discovery not only in the sciences but also in geography. The discovery, exploration, and exploitation of the ‘New World’ (the western hemisphere) led to a western European hegemony that would guide global politics for centuries. The Portuguese blazed the way, and this isn’t surprising: its people lived in an inhospitable land, and they relied upon waterborne trade to survive. The harsh environments of their homeland drove them to colonize Atlantic islands, such as the Canaries, that were better suited for farming. Their reliance upon naval trade put an impetus in naval advances, and they became renown navigators. In the early 15th century, Henry the Navigator, a royal prince, heard rumors of gold mines in the heart of Africa, so he cobbled together an assortment of mapmakers, shipbuilders, instrument-makers, astronomers, and sailors to promote the discovery of these gold mines. Henry’s ambitions, however, went beyond African gold mines; the Ottomans were beginning to dominate the Mediterranean ship-lanes, and he hoped to find an alternative route to India. Though Henry’s gurus didn’t succeed in finding a route to India, they did open up a thriving African trade in gold, ivory, and slaves. In the mid-1400s, the Portuguese received word that a sailor named Christopher Columbus, employed by the Spaniards, had found a route to India by sailing west; it wasn’t long before Portugal and Spain signed the Treaty of Tordesillas that divided the ‘New World’ in two between the competing powers (France and England, who believed that the Americas should be open to all and sundry, disregarded the Treaty). Just before the beginning of the 16th century, Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama ventured into the Indian Ocean; as the ocean was dominated by the Arabs, he found it difficult to commence trade. The Portuguese were un-swayed, however, and within a decade and a half they’d established trade routes through the Indian Ocean.

Portuguese naval vessels

Their ability to counter the Arab influence came on several accounts: first, they improved their sails to increase speed and maneuverability; second, they were the first to note that cannon rather than soldiers won battles at sea, and stocked their naval vessels with firepower; and third, they put an end to individual ships plowing the waves in favor of squadrons packed with firepower. These innovations paved the way to Portuguese dominance over the Arabs; by 1513, after a string of naval victories over Arab ships (and numerous Arab towns being bombarded into submission), Portugal’s trade routes went beyond India to the Spice Islands. In this manner Portugal established the first true western European overseas empire, though this empire was based on trade rather than colonies across the Atlantic. Portugal’s bounty came primarily from trade with India, the Spice Islands, and a chain of small trading bases that stretched from West Africa to China. The Portuguese Though Portugal claimed modern-day Brazil, it was sparsely populated, except by vast estates worked by slave labor. Portugal dominated trade with the east, but this dominance lasted less than a century: other European powers, jealous of Portugal’s newfound wealth, thrust themselves into the Game of Empire. The European nations, competing one another to be on top in the balance of power, would use the New World—and its peoples—as pawns for empire.

A painting of Christopher Columbus. The eyes tell you he's not
the sort of man you'd like to know.

The first European nation to take Portugal’s laurels to the next level was Spain, and her send-off happened with none other than the infamous Christopher Columbus. The Genoese Columbus was an expert sailor in the Atlantic, and he was convinced Asia lay only 3500 miles west of the Canary Islands. He believed that one could sail west across the Atlantic to reach the spice-rich lands of the Far East, and he took his theory to the Portuguese, hoping for their financial support. When they refused, he turned to Ferdinand and Isabella in Spain. They took the bait, dubbed him a Spanish admiral, funded his expedition, and granted him three ships: the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. He set sail in 1492; thirty-three days later he reached the Bahamas, but was unsettled to find no Chinese or Japanese peoples. His men explored Cuba and the west coast of modern Haiti. Columbus made four transatlantic trips, during all of which he was convinced he’d found a route to the Far East; but by the time of his death in 1506, it was becoming apparent that he hadn’t found a new trade route to lands rich in spice but a new continent all its own! All hope of a new trade route to India was dashed in 1522 when the ragtag remnants of Ferdinand Magellan’s fleet returned to Spain after circling the globe; recognizing that Portugal owned the route to the Spice Islands, Spain instead focused on the lands Columbus had discovered. Though many Spaniards feared the newfound continent would be a barrier to trade with India, it turned out that it was filled with precious minerals, not least of all gold.

But the New World wasn’t just home to gold—it was also home to people. The Spaniards would focus on Mesoamerica, and in doing so they would come across a number of native people groups. Centered in the Yucatan Peninsula and in northern Central America were the Mayans; they had numerous towns, splendid palaces, and were expert architects. They had a written language and had developed a modern calendar and mathematics. The Aztecs had their capital city at Tenochtitlan (modern-day Mexico City), and the Incas were on bad footing to face the Spaniards, and they had just come out of a bloody dynastic civil war. Against these peoples Spain sent her conquistadores, ex-soldiers who had been put out of work when the last Muslim kingdom in southern Spain was conquered in 1492. The promise of land and adventure across the Atlantic appealed to these men who had no other expertise, and they crossed the ocean in droves to pursue their fortunes. Hernando Cortes landed on the Mexican coast in 1519 with six hundred troops; within two years he’d conquered the fierce Aztecs (not least because of the introduction of European germs, to which the Aztecs had no immunity). Cortes next turned his attention on the Mayans, and the Incas suffered a similar fate under the boot of Francisco Pizzaro. By the mid-16th century, the conquistadores had conquered Mesoamerica. But that wasn’t enough: Spain also began conquering (and settling) the Caribbean islands and portions of North America. The Catholic Church sponsored Spain’s colonization efforts, and missions were built in Florida, Texas, and California. Spaniards intent on ranching and farming emigrated to these areas in droves, but their migrations would look like a trickle compared to the colonization efforts of England.

Conquistadors versus Aztec warriors

L2R: Aztec jaguar warrior and eagle warrior

The Aztecs were pretty great at building ziggurats. 

It's unfortunate that they used the ziggurats as platforms for
tearing the hearts out of victims sacrificed to their gods.

The Portuguese and Spanish were the first off the mark with exploring (and exploiting) the New World, but the English and French weren’t far behind. It’s interesting that each European power took a different approach to the New World: the Portuguese focused on transatlantic trade, the Spanish on precious metals (which would lead to them supplanting the Portuguese as the premier European empire), the French on trade with natives (particularly with the so-called ‘fur trade’), and the English with creating colonies crammed with people. Frenchman Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec in 1609, and in the early 17th century English settlements began popping up along the North American coast. The Dutch settled New Amsterdam, but it would be seized by the English and changed to New York. The French and English, embroiled as always in a tug-of-war for dominance, fought for dominance in North America, and they tried to use the natives as pawns in their centuries-long drama. These two powers would fight a number of wars in North America, in which the natives would play large parts, until the French were eventually ousted in the mid-18th century after the end of the French & Indian War. France’s loss of Canada meant that Great Britain owned North America (except for Spanish claims in Florida and on the west coast). The threat of a French invasion from Canada had helped keep the British colonists reliant upon the crown, and the loss of such a threat helped spur the British colonists toward an independence that would be claimed, and won, in the mid-late 18th century.