Sea-Based EMPIRES ESTABLISHED [AP World History Review—Unit 4 Topic 4]

Summary

The video provides an engaging overview of the establishment of maritime empires by European states during the Age of Exploration. The presenter outlines how the motivations of Gold, God, and Glory fueled their efforts to control trade, spread Christianity, and expand influence. The focus is on the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and British empires, each employing unique methods to dominate trade networks. Moreover, the video discusses the resistance from Asian states and the impact on existing trade routes. Also, it touches on the effects of European colonization in Africa and the Americas, highlighting established and new labor systems, including the Atlantic slave trade.

Highlights

• Maritime empires were driven by the pursuit of Gold, God, and Glory 🏴‍☠️.
• Portuguese trading post empire armed for domination and control 🔫.
• Spanish colonies used tribute systems and coerced labor 🚢.
• Dutch ships overtook Portuguese influence in Indian Ocean trade 🍞.
• Early British efforts were limited to trading posts, later expanded to colonization 🇬🇧.
• European impact on the Indian Ocean trade brought both change and continuity 🌊.
• Resistance by Japan and China emphasized preservation against European intrusion 🗾.
• African states like Asante and Congo enriched through trade, gained power 💸.
• Labor systems in the Americas involved harsh conditions and racial dynamics 📜.
• The transatlantic slave trade reshaped demographics with a harsh legacy ⚖️.

Key Takeaways

• European empires rose from a desire for Gold, God, and Glory 🌍💰🙏.
• Portuguese dominance began with trading posts, heavily armed for control ⚓️💣.
• Spanish established colonies using tribute and forced labor systems 🇪🇸🏝.
• The Dutch swept in with formidable ships, overtaking Portuguese influence 🇳🇱🚢.
• European entry increased profits for local merchants, despite intentions to dominate 📈🤝.
• Asian states, like Japan and China, actively resisted European encroachment 🚫🏯.
• African states, such as the Asante and Congo, grew wealthy through trade ties with Europe 💎🤝.
• In the Americas, Europeans revived and created labor systems including enslaved Africans 🏗.
• The Atlantic slave trade was larger and more racially driven than previous networks ⬛️🌊.

Overview

The era of Maritime Empires was marked by European states looking beyond their shores to expand their wealth and influence, driven by the three G's: Gold, God, and Glory. Motivated by profit and prospects of spreading Christianity, they began their sea-based quests. Notably, the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and British spearheaded these ventures, each empire with a unique approach in dominating the waters and trade routes.

The Portuguese began their empire by setting up trading posts armed for defense and control, while Spain chose to enforce more direct colonization methods, borrowing from their past conquests in the Americas. The Netherlands entered the scene with superior naval capabilities, quickly usurping the Portuguese's control of the Indian Ocean trade. Britain eyed India but initially only managed limited coastal trading posts before expanding their reach.

Asian states, like Japan and China, understood the threat and actively resisted European domination. Simultaneously, African states, such as the Asante and the Congo, profited from their European connections, supplying sought-after goods. In the Americas, Europeans implemented established and invented labor systems, with the transatlantic slave trade profoundly impacting societies and economies, largely driven by racial underpinnings not seen in previous global trades.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Maritime Empires This chapter, titled "Introduction to Maritime Empires," commences with a light-hearted introduction about the establishment of maritime empires, highlighting the significant endeavors of European states in sea-based trading networks. It traces the progression from mere participation in Indian Ocean trade to ambitious empire-building pursuits. The underlying motives driving these actions are simplified to 'Gold, God, and Glory.'
• 00:30 - 05:00: European Powers Establishing Trade Dominance In this chapter titled 'European Powers Establishing Trade Dominance,' the focus is on the motivations and methods used by European states to develop Maritime Empires. European countries sought economic enrichment, aimed to spread Christianity, and desired to become world-leading states. A key player in this trade dominance was Portugal, which established a trading post empire around Africa and the Indian Ocean. This was one of the initial steps towards European global influence and trade dominance.
• 05:00 - 07:00: Resistance to European Domination Merchant ships in the area had minimal armament, allowing the Portuguese to dominate by equipping their caravels and carriots with massive guns. Their intention was not to participate peacefully in the trading network but to control it forcefully. Following the Portuguese, the Spanish established a base in the Philippines, employing methods distinct from the Portuguese, who focused on setting up and controlling trading posts.
• 07:00 - 10:00: African States in Maritime Trade The chapter discusses the role of African states in maritime trade, focusing on the dynamics established by European powers, such as the Spanish and the Dutch, in the Indian Ocean. The Spanish utilized tribute systems, taxation, and coerced labor in their colonies, similar to their practices in the Americas. The Dutch, with their advanced ships known as flouts, quickly replaced the Portuguese as dominant traders in the Indian Ocean. They employed similar colonial tactics as their predecessors to maintain their commercial supremacy.
• 10:00 - 15:30: Development and Impact of Labor Systems in the Americas The chapter details the development and impact of labor systems in the Americas, focusing on the global dynamics of trade and power projection by European powers. It highlights the Portuguese's strategies to control trade networks and the initial challenges faced by the British in establishing their empire. Despite their aspirations in India, limited military power confined the British to setting up trading posts, which eventually evolved into colonial rule by the 18th century. Additionally, the chapter briefly mentions the Dutch following a similar path in Indonesia, establishing trading posts that would later translate into control.

Sea-Based EMPIRES ESTABLISHED [AP World History Review—Unit 4 Topic 4] Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 oh my goodness y'all it's time to talk about the establishment of Maritime Empires and this is a beefy one so G thyself so if you're ready to get them braan cows milk let's get to it so in the last video we witnessed various European States dipping their toes in the pool of seab based trading networks throughout the Indian Ocean but it didn't take long for them to decide that the water was just fine and to cannonball in the middle of everybody's crap and get busy on a full-blown Empire building project and what were their motives for doing so says you well it's complicated says I but we can essentially reduce their motivations to Gold God and Glory which created no
• 00:30 - 01:00 small amount of rivalry between them in other words European states began developing Maritime Empires because they wanted to enrich themselves and because they wanted all the world's heathens to worship Jesus and because they wanted to be the greatest state in the world oh and if you want no guys to follow along with this video on all my videos check that link in the description anyway let's get familiar with these European powers and their efforts to take over the world first up was the Portuguese who became the first to establish what became known as a trading post Empire around Africa and throughout the Indian Ocean and they were largely able to do this if you'll recall from my 4.2 video by by noticing that many of the average
• 01:00 - 01:30 Merchant ships in the area were pretty lightly armed and so the Portuguese went ahead and loaded their caravels and their carriots with giant honking guns and established their dominance and the key thing to remember here is that once the Portuguese inserted themselves into this trading Network they weren't as interested in participating peacefully as they were in owning and controlling it by force next came the Spanish who early on set up their base of operations in the Philippines and their methods were a little different from the Portuguese what I mean is while the Portuguese were generally content to set up and run small trading posts in these various places the Spanish went ahead
• 01:30 - 02:00 and established full-blown colonies and if you remember again from 4.2 how the Spanish ran their colonies in the Americas namely through tribute systems and Taxation and coer labor then it shouldn't surprise you that they use those exact same tactics in their colonial Holdings throughout the Indian Ocean and then we get the Dutch entering the Indian Ocean trade and with their fancy schmancy flouts they took over as the kings of the Indian Ocean trade deposing the Portuguese quick fast and in a hurry kiss my grits look at them Dutch flouts well butter my backside and call me a biscuit I guess we're done y'all pack it up anyway the Dutch used many of the same methods as the
• 02:00 - 02:30 Portuguese to establish their dominance and control over this Trade Network and finally we have the British and while they would later end up controlling the largest seab based Empire in the world they had a little trouble getting started and they had their eyes on India but as it turned out they lacked sufficient military power to take it from the mugal Empire so they satisfi themselves by setting up a few trading posts along the coast but I should mention that later in the 18th century toward the end of our period the British would gradually transform those trading posts into full-blown colonial rule in India and just for poops and Giggles I should mention that the Dutch did the same in Indonesia now here's where I
• 02:30 - 03:00 tell you that although European domination of the Indian Ocean trade introduced a significant change there was also significant continuity as well for example the Middle Eastern South Asian East Asian and Southeast Asian Merchants who had been using the Trade Network for centuries before the arrival of the Europeans they continued to use it in fact European entrance into this Trade Network increased profits not only for Europeans but also for many of those Merchants who had always used this network for trade additionally long established Merchants like the gujaratis and the mugal Empire continued to make use of the Indian Ocean trade even while Europeans sought to dominate and in
• 03:00 - 03:30 doing so they increased their power and wealth okay now I hope you don't have the impression that all the Asian states that have participated in the Indian Ocean trade for centuries were happy about this European intrusion and their attempts to dominate long-standing trade Arrangements don't be crazy no there were significant attempts to resist and I'll mention two of those attempts first we saw resistance in Tokugawa Japan now the short story is that by the early 1600s Japan which had previously been weakened by Metric buttloads of internal fracturing was United under a Shogun from the Tokugawa Clan and while the shun was initially kind of open to
• 03:30 - 04:00 trading with Europeans he soon realized that they were in fact a threat to the hard one unification that they had just achieved as you may remember many European merchants and explorers weren't just content to buy and sell goods from these various places many also sought to convert those various peoples to Christianity and so by the second half of the 16th century lots of Japanese people had converted to Christianity and that seemed to the shun like a recipe for a renewed cultural fracturing and so he went ahead and expelled all Christian missionaries from Japan and suppressed the faith within Japan often with violence and then a second example of resistance came from Ming China and
• 04:00 - 04:30 remember that the Voyages of Jung ha took place during the Ming era and among the many motives for these voyages among the most important was essentially to create a situation in which most of the maritime trade in the Indian Ocean was processed through the Chinese State I mean ultimately it didn't work and the result was a series of isolationist trade policies that largely shut down seab based trade in China and when the Portuguese came to China in the early 1500s to trade they were only able to do so through bribery and various underhanded tactics but soon Ming officials found out and expelled them which further isolated China from the growing European dominance in the Indian
• 04:30 - 05:00 Ocean okay now as we've seen throughout this course trade networks have a way of promoting the growth of certain States who participate in and that was definitely the case for two African states that you need to know first meet the Assante Empire in West Africa now they were a key trading partner with the Portuguese and later the British by providing highly desired Goods like gold and ivory and enslaved laborers as it turned out this economic partnership made the Assante stupid rich and enabled them to expand their military and further expand and consolidate their power throughout the region and kind of like a bonus the Assante used that power in military might later to repel the
• 05:00 - 05:30 British from colonizing the region for a long time and then second meet the kingdom of the Congo down here in the South they made strong diplomatic ties to Portuguese traders who were highly desirous to obtain gold and copper and again enslaved people from this state in order to further facilitate this growing economic relationship the king converted to Christianity as did most of the Nobles and although it probably won't surprise you to know that this relationship later deteriorated still that economic connection between Portugal and the kingdom of the Congo massively enriched the African States okay now we've seen how things are going in this part of the world but let's not
• 05:30 - 06:00 forget that Europeans were equally busy building their Empires over here in the Americas too and over in the Americas Colonial economies were largely structured around Agriculture and in case you didn't know crops don't plant and harvest themselves so in order to keep this agricultural economy purring Europeans made use of both existing labor systems and they introduce new ones and I reckon some examples are in order in terms of existing labor systems the Spanish made use of the old Inca Mida system and in case you forgot the Inca developed this system in which subjects of the empire were required to provide labor for State projects a certain certain number of days per year
• 06:00 - 06:30 and then when the Spanish showed up to these areas they pooped their pantaloons when they discovered the amount of silver buried in the hills and so they needed to figure out how to get enough laborers to dig all that sweet bling out of the mountains and when they learned about the Midas system they were like well if it ain't broke don't fix it that's a rough translation from the Spanish anyway they went ahead and implemented the Midas system largely for their massive silver mining operations but now in terms of introducing new labor systems to the Americas they went Hog Wild and there are four of them you need to know first was race-based chatt slavery as you already know by now enslaved African an were transported by
• 06:30 - 07:00 the millions throughout the Americas mainly in order to work on sprawling plantations now chatt is a word that means property and it meant that these laborers were owned as any other piece of property was owned and could be used at the will of the owner and what was new about all this Arrangement was first of all the race-based part and second of all slavery became hereditary so that the children of enslaved people would become enslaved themselves now the second new labor system introduced was indentured servitude an indenture was a contract and a laborer would sign that contract which bound them to a particular work for a period of time usually 7 years and many poorer
• 07:00 - 07:30 Europeans entered this kind of agreement in order to pay for their passage to the colonies and then after their indenture was up they could go free and live their lives and then the third system you need to know was the encomenda system now it was the Spanish who cook this form of Labor up and it was used to coers indigenous Americans into working for Colonial authorities essentially indigenous people were forced to provide labor for the Spanish in exchange for food and protection which was similar in a lot of ways to the old system of feudalism in Europe but call it what you want it wasn't that materially different from slavery and fourth we have another gem from the Spanish namely the asenda system and basically hendes were large
• 07:30 - 08:00 agricultural Estates owned by Elite Spaniards and on which indigenous laborers were forced to work the fields whose crops were then exported and sold on a global market if you just screw a question mark over your head because that sounds pretty similar to the encom indis system let me try to clear up the difference encomenda was more focused on controlling the population while Henda was more focused on the economics of food export and finally we need to talk about the development of slavery in this period and let's talk about how it demonstrated both continuity and change on the continuity side you need to realize that the African slave trade was
• 08:00 - 08:30 not a new development that came with the rise of these Maritime Empires no way before our period the trade of enslaved African people was a regular feature in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean networks and so enslaved people and those networks were often assimilated into the cultures into which they were sold in the Islamic world the majority of enslaved Africans became domestic servants in households and for those roles the demand was very high for enslaved women and girls additionally in some cases in the Islamic world and slave people could hold significant military or political positions and so it's important to remember that all these realities continued during the
• 08:30 - 09:00 rise and establishment of Maritime Empires but let's talk change now and mostly the change occurred in the Americas first because the main economic engine of Imperial empires in the Americas was difficult agricultural work Europeans purchased male slaves 2 to one which significantly impacted the demographics of various African States second the size of the transatlantic slave trade was far more massive than its Indian Ocean and Mediterranean counterparts over the course of about 350 years over 12.5 million Africans were sold to plantation owners in the Americas and then third and most distinctive was the racial component of
• 09:00 - 09:30 the Atlantic slave trade in the America slavery became identified with Blackness and that provided the justification for the brutality of slavy to be identified as black was to be less than human and to be less than human meant that plantation owners could treat their workers with violence and keep a clear conscience Okay click here to keep reviewing for unit four and click here if you want to grab my video not gu they're really helpful for students who hate reading their textbook but still need to get all the content of their course firmly crammed into their brain folds anyway thanks for hanging out and I'll catch on the flipflop I'm L out