Maritime Expansion DBQ - Weebly



Maritime Expansion DBQ

Directions: The following question is based on the accompanying Documents 1-12. (The documents have been edited for the purpose of this exercise.)

This question is designed to work with and test your ability to work with and understand historical documents. Write an essay that:

• Has a relevant thesis and supports that thesis with evidence from the documents.

• Uses all of the documents, explains how they fit in the group.

• Analyzes the documents by grouping them in as many ways as possible. Does not simply summarize the documents individually.

• Takes into account both the sources of the documents and the authors’ points of view.

• Asks for 2 specific extra documents (imaginary or real) that help to answer the question.

You may refer to the relevant historical information not mentioned in the documents.

Question: Using the documents 1-12, describe the motivations of the Europeans and the impact they had on their new territories during the Age of Expansion..

Document #1 Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776

“The vegetables of the Americas consisted in corn, yams, potatoes, bananas, tomatoes, etc., plants which were then unknown in Europe. The food produced by a field of potatoes is much superior to what is produced by a field of wheat. An acre of potatoes is cultivated with less expense than an acre of wheat; the fallow, which generally precedes the sowing of wheat, more than compensating the hoeing and other extraordinary culture which is always given to potatoes. Should this root ever become in any part of Europe the common and favorite vegetable food of the people, in the same proportion of the lands in tillage which wheat and other grain for human food do at present, the same quantity of cultivated land would maintain a much greater number of people, and the laborers being fed with potatoes, a greater surplus would remain after replacing all the stock and maintaining all the labor employed in cultivation. A greater share of this surplus, too, would belong to the landlord. Population would increase, and rents would rise much beyond what they are at present.

Document #2 Slavery and Sanctuary in Colonial Florida, by Jean M. West

“During the First Spanish Period (1565-1763), the Spanish used ladinos (slaves brought from Spain who had been trained in a craft or as domestics), Native American slaves as agricultural workers, and bozales, (Africans who performed heavy labor in field and mines). Ladinos could live and work away from their owners for pay under an arrangement called jornal. Spanish haciendas during this period used Native American slave or encomienda (tribute) labor rather than African slaves in large numbers. For example, the inventory of Governor Benito Vallecilla’s hacienda, where Native American workers raised corn, wheat and swine, reveals a single Angolan slave and a mulatto overseer. This is unusual since the Spanish preferred to keep Native American and African slaves apart and even more rarely allowed Africans to supervise Native American workers.”

Document #3 Silent Killers of the New World , by Elizabeth Orlow

“One effect was the accidental exposure of smallpox to the Aztecs. In 1519, Cortes landed on the coast of Mexico with 600 Spaniards to conquer the strong military force of the Aztec Empire. At this time, the population was in the millions. Cortes and his army marched into Tenochtitlan and arrested Montezuma. As Cortes later tried to escape with the treasures, the Aztecs attacked him. Many Aztecs and Spanish died. Unknown to the Aztecs the Spanish had an invisible advantage. Apparently, one Spaniard soldiers was infected with the smallpox virus. Within two weeks the disease infected the Aztec Empire and one forth of the population died. By 1618, Mexico's initial population of 20 million had plummeted to about 1.6 million (Cohen 8). Francisco Lopez de Gomana, Cortes’s secretary, states, "it spreads form one Indian to another, and they, being numerous and eating and sleeping together, quickly infected the whole country." Later, the Spaniards were able to conquer Mexico because of the weak military resistance of the Aztec Empire.”

Document #4 Treaty of Tordesillas, Papal Library, The Vatican

On May 4, 1493 Pope Alexander VI took action to clear up any confusion that may have arisen over territorial claims. He issued a decree which established an imaginary line running north and south through the mid-Atlantic, 100 leagues (480 km) from the Cape Verde islands. Spain would have possession of any unclaimed territories to the west of the line and Portugal would have possession of any unclaimed territory to the east of the line. In June of 1494 the line was re-negotiated and the agreement officially ratified during a meeting in the Spanish town of Tordesillas. The Treaty of Tordesillas re-established the line 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands.

Document #5 Charter to Sir Walter Raleigh : 1584

ELIZABETH by the Grace of God of England, France and Ireland, greeting.

“Know ye that we have given and granted to our trusted and well-beloved servant Walter Raleigh, Esquire free liberty and licence to discover, search, find out, and view such remote, heathen and barbarous lands, countries, and territories, not actually possessed of any Christian Prince, nor inhabited by Christian People.”

Document # 6 Encounters with Europe, The Earth and Its Peoples, Bulliet, et al, 2004

“Pizzaro arranged to meet the new Inca emperor, Atahualpa, near the Andean city of Cajamarca. With supreme boldness and brutality, Pizarro’s small band of armed men seized Atahualpa off a litter borne by eighty nobles as it passed through an enclosed courtyard. Though surrounded by an Inca army of at least 40 thousand, the Spaniards were able to use their cannon to create confusion while their swords sliced thousands of the emperor’s lightly armed retainers and servants to pieces. Noting the glee with which the Spaniards seized gold, silver, and emeralds, Atahualpa offered them what he thought would satisfy even the greediest among them: a roomful of gold and silver. But when the ransom was paid, the Spaniards gave Atahualpa a choice: he could be burned at the stake as a heathen or baptized as a Christian and then strangled. He chose the latter.”

Document #7 Columbian Exchange Inventory, Center for Biological Studies, University of Arizona

|Forms of Biological Life Going From: |

| |Old World to New World: |New World to Old World: |

|Diseases: |Smallpox , Measles |Syphilis |

| |Chicken Pox, Malaria | |

| |Yellow Fever, Influenza | |

|Animals: |Horses, Cattle |Turkeys, Llamas |

| |Pigs, Sheep |Alpacas, Guinea Pigs |

| |Goats, Chickens | |

|Plants: |Rice, Wheat, Barley, Oats |Corn, Potatoes ,Tobacco |

| |Coffee |Peanuts, Squash, Peppers, Tomatoes |

| |Sugarcane |Pumpkins, Pineapples |

| |Bananas, Melons |Cacao (Source of Chocolate) |

| |Dandelions, Daisies, Clover |Chicle (Source of Chewing Gum) |

|

Document #8. Diary of Bernard Dias, Conquistadore, 1587

. . . an epidemic broke out, a sickness of pustules. It began in Tepeilhuitl. Large bumps spread on people; some were entirely covered. . . .[The victims] could no longer walk about, but lay in their dwellings and sleeping places, . . . And when they made a motion, they called out loudly. The pustules that covered people caused great desolation; very many people died of them, and many just starved to death; starvation reigned, and no one took care of others any longer.

Document #9

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Document #10 Choosing to Labour: Coercion and Choice in the Potosi Mita by Matthew Smith

“The Spanish colonial labour regime in Latin America was known as the mita, and provided the Indian workers needed for numerous Spanish enterprises. The best known of the mita institutions was the Potosi mita, which lasted from 1573 to 1825. It drafted male Indians from the Viceroyalty of Peru to work in the huge Spanish silver mines at Potosi. The mita placed a heavy burden on the backs of Indian peasants, and adversely affected village life, since many Indians migrated to escape the harsh conditions of the mines. ”

Document #11 A converted Native American kneels in prayer under the guidance of a monk in front of the El Carmelo mission.

Document #12 Privileges and Prerogatives Granted by Their Catholic Majesties to Christopher Columbus : 1492

FERDINAND and ELIZABETH, by the Grace of God, King and Queen of Castile, of Leon, of Arragon, of Sicily, of Granada, of Toledo,

You, Christopher Columbus, are going by our command, with some of our vessels and men, to discover and subdue some Islands and Continent in the ocean, and it is hoped that by God's assistance, some of the said Islands and Continent in the ocean will be discovered and conquered by your means and conduct, therefore it is but just and reasonable, that since you expose yourself to such danger to serve us, you should be rewarded for it. And we being willing to honour and favour You. Our will is, That you, Christopher Columbus, after discovering and conquering the Islands and Continent in the ocean, or any of them, shall be our Admiral of the Islands and Continent you shall discover and conquer; and that you be our Admiral, Vice-Roy, and Governor in them, and that for the future, you may call and stile yourself, Don Christopher Columbus. … and that you enjoy the perquisites and salaries belonging to the said employments.

GIVEN at Granada, on the 30th of April, in the year of our Lord, 1492.

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