Nyelvtanulás | Angol » The economic effects of the discoveries

THE ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF THE DISCOVERIES Explorer’s motives  Turkish expansion - subdued most of Asia Minor and begun to settle down on the western side of the Bosporus. The Muslim Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mohammed II even occupied Constatntinople, pressed northwest into the Balkans, and by the early sixteenth century controlled the eastern Mediterranean. By cooperating only with Venice, who took advantage of this monopol state, made trade harder and more expensive for other countries – especially for those in Western Europe; so they had to find other trade roots towards Asia and Africa.  The preacious metals of Europe – mainly in Hungary and Check teritories – that could be brought up easily were already mined, and since they did not have better equipment, the need for gold and silver increased  Development of shipbuilding encouraged the explorers very much: the caravel was inrtoduced replacing the open boats called galleys. The new ship invented by the Portugese was

a small, light, three-masted sailing ship. Though a little bit slower than the galley, the caravel held more cargo since did not have to carry so many people, because did not need manpower, just for manowering which became even easier.  Other new inventions contributed to the explorations as well with helping navigation. One was the compass – to determine direction and position at sea, and the other one was the astrolable, developed by the Muslim navigators in the twelfth century, used to determine the altitude of the sun and other celestial bodies permitting sailors to plot their latitude or position north or south of the equator.  Prince Henry the Navigtor offered financial support and founded a school in Sagres to teach technical devices and a company for shipbuilding was set up by him too.  Renaissance made people more extroverted and curious, so the ideas of Ptolemy – about the spherical shape of the Earth - were becoming more and more popular  Toscanelli, in 1474

came up with a world map, and even sent itt to the Portugal king  Just as science fiction today, speculations about life in Africa, Asia and later America grabbed the attention of people – and even the idea of emigration evolved since the central power (mainly in Spain) was very strong, aristochracy was not powerful, and they were even burdened with laws that forbade them to work, even if they had talent or ambition. So the idea of escaping was very common Important explorers and navigators  1415: portugal navigators leaving Gibraltar reach even the westernmost part of Africa  1486: Bartolomeo Diaz arrived to the southern coastal area of Africa, to the Cape of Good Hope  1492: Christopher Columbus with the help of Queen Isabella of Spain, by means of three sailing boats started his voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. His plan was to get to India from the other dirction – believing that the Earth has spherical shape. On 12th of October 1492. he reached the isleands of

Guanahan, then Haiti and Dominica Later he discovered the regions of Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Venesuela, Panama. But actually he thought that he reached India, it was Amerigo Vespucci who described America as a continent separate from Asia in 1501.  1498: Vasco da Gama circumnavigated Africa and got to India and Malay land.  1500: Cabral, a portugal navigator who discovered Brazil  1519-22: The expedition of Ferdinand Magellan to find a direct route to the Moluccan Islands off the southeast coast of Asia. He sailed southwest across the Atlantic to Brazil and proceeded south around Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean. He crossed the Pacific, sailing west, to the Malay Archipelago, which he called the „Western Isles”. Though Magllan was killed, the expedition continued, and one of his ships returned to Spain in 1522 fom the east bay of the Indian Ocean, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Atlantic. This way Magellan proved that the earth was much larger than Columbus had estimated.

Peoples living in America  In Mexico: Mayan states and the Aztecs  In South America, in Equador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile the Incas  Quite developed despotic states who were agricultural, did not know metal weapons, were good in astronomy and maths The conquistadors  Fernando Cortez – destroyed the Aztec Empire with six hundred men, taken captive emperor Montezuma, and founded Mexico city; then gained control of the northern region as well, which was rich in silver (Zacatecas, Guanajato) (1519-50)  Francisco Pizarro repeated Cortez’s feat in Peru. Between 1531 and 1536 with even fewer resources Piarro crushed the Inca Empire and established the Spanish viceroyalty of Peru, with its centre at Lima. In 1545 the Spanish started minin at Potosí in the Peruvian highlands, which became the richest silver mine in the New World.  African slaves were brought to work in the mines and plantations after that the native poulation was found to be too weak. They were forced to work

hard, and many of them died of illnesses brought by Europeans,  At first the central and southern parts were conquered, because this time the only aim was to gain silver and gold.  Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494: the pope, Alexander VI divided the occupied and not occupied territories between Spain and Portugal: western part of the territory 2000 km westwards from the Green Cape Islands was to be controlled by the Spanish and the eastern part was Portugese territory. The economic effects of the explorations  The sixteenth century has often been called the „Golden Century” of Spain. The influence of Spanish armies, Spanish Catholicism, and Spanish wealth was felt all over Europe. This greatness largely rested on the influx of precious metals from the New World. The mines at Zacatecas and Guanajato in Mexico and Potosí in Peru poured out huge quantities of precious metals. To protect the treasure from French and English pirates, armed convoys transported it each year to

Spain.  World trade evolved • „division of labour” among the territories of Europe: the centraleastern parts (east from river Elba) became agricultural producers; the western part of Europe got industrialized (which means that it was more developed, wealthier) • European trade widened into world trade with the participation of America (import: grain, meat, products of industry; export: coffee, sugar, gold, silver, tobacco), Asia (import: industrial products, gold, silver, weapons; export: spices, silk, cotton, wood), Africa (import: unvalueble decorative things, alcohol; export: slaves to America) • Important trade routes were present rather in the Atlantic region, the Baltic region and the Mediterranean region was not so important anymore. One of the most important ports was Anthwerp, not the Italian towns.  By the 17th century the Dutch became the „sea farers”. The English pirates, with royal consent, were allowed to attack and rob the ships of the Spanish

fleet, and they even paid a certain percentage of the booty to the royal house. The Dutch and the Engish merchant companies established their own armed fleets. The English East Indian Company, for example, which was established in 1600, was allwed to carry out the activities of colonisation on its own. As a result, tremendous wealth was accumulated both in England and in Holland.  In England a new process started to evolve: the so called enclosure system. With the increasing need for wool, landholders were encouraged to prouce more, and „close” their land with fence – sometimes increasing the landholding with the neighbouring land as well, making it impossible for others to gain land rom the former common property. The historical process, which deprives the smallholders and artisans of their means of production that is vital for their livelihood and concentrates the ownersip of the means of production in the hands of a class, consisting of only a minor section of society, is

the process of original accumulation.The peasants and artisans, who lost their means of production became wage labourers, members of the emerging propertyless class, for whom the sale of their labour-power was the only source of livelihood.  Two systms were used for making goods and trading: • The putting out system (very common in Itay) was used espcially in the textile industry. This meant that the products were made – by a family, village population – in large quantity, the quality was not as important. Then the products were forwarded by the enterpreneurs to the markets. The textile industry flourished very much, since the demand was great, buti t did not need huge amount of capital to be invested. (Capital is the amount of money gained by trade or other income.) • The more expensive and refined goods, such as metal ad luxury goods were produced differently.The enterpreeurs established workhops, manufactures, where hired workers produced few products.The enterpreneur’s

task was to provide raw material and tools. The tools were specialized, but still manul tools. (Manu facere = made by hand) The establishment of manufactures was necessary, because of the increasing demand within the rigid framework of guild system. Clever enterpreneurs bypassed the guilds and unsettled the existing system by investments. • This way capitalism started to evolve, giving the chace of ownership and wealth to one class, and making others to work for them, or even worse: beggars appeared in England.  Meanwhile, after the diseases and wars of the 14th century, by the 16th century mainly Spain and other countries next to the Atlantic Ocean experienced population increase, creating a sharp demand for food and goods. But the economies could not meet the new demands. There are several posibilities for the causes: • The great amount of precious metals caused inflation – mainly the price of grain doubled, and in some cases quadrupled, and wages did not keep pace with

prices ( and even the price of silver decreased with a new technique, with using amalgam to detect silver more easily) • Urbanisation meant less people working in agriculture, less people to cultivate the lands • The bigger the army was, the more food it needed After inflation, Spanish products could not compete in the international market with cheaper products made elswhere. The textile industry was badly hurt Prices spiraled upward faster than the government could levy taxes to dampen the economy. (Higher taxes would have cut the public’s buying power; with fewer goods sold, prices would have come down.) By the seventeenth century, the economy was a shambles, and Spanish predominance was over.  As Philip II payed his armies and foreign depts with silver bullion, the Spanish inflation was transmitted to the rest of Europe. Between 1560 and 1600, much of Europe experienced large price increases