Chapter Summary
During the Late Middle Ages Europe's internal expansion was slowing down; Europe had clearly reached the geographical limits of growth. Although the population continued to grow, that growth was often checked by famine, plague, and war. By the fifteenth century, Europe had sufficiently recovered from those challenges. The next wave of European territorial expansion would result from maritime exploration beyond Europe, which initiated a period of conquest and colonization. This exploration resulted in the establishment of new trade routes; these trade routes integrated the economy of Europe with the economies of Africa and the Far East. Beginning in the fifteenth century, explorers sailed around the Cape of Good Hope on their way to India and the Spice Islands. The two most important commodities at the time were gold and spices. This early exploration also resulted in the export of African slaves to Europe. The conquest of the "Atlantic Mediterranean" was underway.
The Portuguese and the Spanish took the lead in this age of oceanic navigation. These early captains and their crews faced terrifying risks as they sailed into literally uncharted waters. While captains had maps, quadrants, and astrolabes at their disposal, much of their navigation was accomplished by "dead reckoning." As they made landfall, they eventually encountered local populations. Such contact wound up being cataclysmic. Between 1450 and 1600, somewhere between 50 and 90 percent of the native populations of the Americas were killed by disease, enslavement, or massacre. The sailors took these risks (and the local populations suffered terrible consequences) for the gold and silver bullion they discovered, which flooded European markets. The impact of European arrival on these indigenous peoples was horrific; many of these ancient cultures simply ceased to exist. The effect on Europeans was also profound. The flood of gold and silver produced massive inflation, which historians call the Price Revolution. Europeans also learned that there were other cultures whose language, tradition, and religious beliefs were quite at odds with those of Europe.
By the beginning of the seventeenth century, Europe had become the world's first global power in history. While it took another 200 years for Europe to tighten its imperial hold on the cultures of South America, Africa, the Pacific, and elsewhere, it is clear that the Europeans thought of the world as their possession.