1492

This lecture was on 1492, the integration of the Atlantic world and its global ramifications. 1942 was the start of a relationship between Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, the start of an Atlantic World, a large interactive, dynamic, uneven system of interrelationship.

The Significance of 1492

This marked a fundamental rupture in world history becase it initiated sustained contact between Eurasia and the Americas. It punctured the isolation of the Americas and integrated the region into new long-distance networks. Maritime empires took over from land-based empires and global trade began. This underpins the construction of new communications networks, economic connections, imperial systems, institutional structures and cultural ties that make up the "Atlantic World". Communities were no longer shaped by local forces but were affected by events occuring all around the world, profoundly reshaping the cultures of Eurasia, especially Europe.

The Peopling of the Americas

The distant origins of pre-Columbian population of Americas was Mongloid hunter-gather bands from Siberia. By 18000 BCE, these peoples had pushed North-East to the vicinity of Kamchatka. While the Beringian "land-bridge" connected Eurasia and the Americas; it is unlikely that these people pushed south of Alaska before 13000 BCE. From there, southward settlement proceeded at pace: by 12,5000 BCE settlement near Pittsburgh and by 11,000 BCE at Monte Verde in southern Chile.

Domestication in the Americas

Mesoamerica was the 3rd region (behind South West Asia and China) where important food plants were domesticated. Their key crope was Maize (c. 3500 BCE); but production only increased slowly under domestication and slowed the transition to farming. Beans, in wide range of varieties, were also domesticated early: providing other key element of Mesoamerican diet. Gourds were also important domesticate (pumpkin, marrow, squash and courgette), and were initially used for storage and decoration, only subsequently for food. Tomatoes, avocados and chilli peppers were also domesticated. Slowly, these crops diffused to the north, moving from South-West to North-East (maize didn't reach North-East until 900 CE). The Andes was a key site of animal domestication: llamas, alpacas and guinea pigs were domesticated by 3000 BCE and potato was domesticated here by 2500 BCE. Eurasian communities has close contact with animals all the time whereas the people in the Americas were insulated from cross-species diseases.

Columbus

The Genoese Christopher Columbus was convinced by recent geographical by Italian geographers that the Atlantic was a relatively narrow strait that separated Asia from Europe. His expedition was financed by Spanish Crown, which in return would get land and a share of profits, and subsequently 3 ships left Europe in August 1492, reaching San Salvador (in the Bahamas) on the 12th of October, 1492. Columbus believed he had reached Asia. Initial contacts with the "Indians" (Carib and Arawak peoples) was strained but relatively peaceful. The first tribe he encountered was the Tainos, who expressed wonder at the steel they used, the horses they rode (horses were particularly frightening and shocking to the locals) and the hairiness of the Europeans. At Hispaniola (modern Haiti and Dominican Republic), Columbus discovered gold, which transformed the scale and aspirations of European activity in the Americas. This was because they valued gold because the asian merchants accepted it for goods.

Exploration and Conquest

A Map of the Americas was filled out by Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot), who sailed from Bristol in 1497 and discovered New Foundland, and Amerigo Vespucci, who charted the southern coasts of North America in that same year. Growing knowledge of Americas and news of gold led to rapid expansion in scale of Spanish expeditions aspirations and in 1494 first Spanish settlement Isabella, on Hispaniola was established. On Hispaniola, the Spaniards developed new system of colonialism, enslaving native population to work gold-mines, earning them harsh criticizism by Dominican friars. Hernan Cortes lead the conquest of the Aztec empire drawing on support of Aztec's Tlaxcalan enemies (there were plenty of minority groups unhappy with centralised politics and wanting to do what was best for the community, unaware of the worse long-term consequences) and by 1522 the Aztec empire was dismantled and Cortes was governor of 'New Spain'. Francisco Pizarro led the Spanish conquest of the Incas, effectively winning power by 1533.

"The Columbian Exchange"

The "Columbian Exchange" denotes the transfer of germs, flora, fauna, population, technologies and ideas between Americas and Afro-Eurasia. Although encounters had immediate impact in the Americas, their transformation of Europe and Asia and Africa was more gradual but extremely significant. This exchange was highly uneven, both in terms of power relations and commodities: where Americas received many new diseases and suffered terrible depopulation, Eurasian communities benefited from many new food plants. This moment was a crucial turning point in world history because it marked the long term integration of Americas and Afro-Eurasia and the emergence of the "Atlantic World".

Depopulation

The most fundamental aspect of the 'Columbian exchange' was the introduction of Eurasian diseases into the Americas, affecting communities of the Americas isolated from the common disease pool of Eurasia. Smallpox was perhaps the most devastating, but quickly followed by measles, pneumonic plague, and influenza.

Statistics:

Central Andes:

12 million - 1520

7.5 million - 1540

4 million - 1560

2 million - 1570

0.6 million - 1620