Europeans in the Atlantic before Columbus

Europe in the world at 1400

In 1400, Europe remained marginal in Eurasia. It was overshadowed by asian economic strength, in particular the ability of Asia to produce valuable commodities and finished goods, and threatened by Islamic world. It underwent depopulation, disease and social change, a result of a tumultuous history. War, famine and the plague had ravaged the land and devastated the population: in 1300 the population of Europe was 70 million, in 1400 it was 45 million. There were large economic constraints, forcing a search for resources. Europe was resource poor and the decline in population was to bring it to a level where it could be sustained by the resources they had. The Renaissance signalled a catching up with the rest of the world, not a massive revolution. It was profoundly stimulated by cross-cultural engagements and the philosphical rediscovery of the Greeks and the Romans, found through engagement with the Arab world, in arabic texts. Also they obtained new technology developed earlier in Asia, such as the lanteen sail. Gutenberg inventing moveable type was incredibly important as well as it started an eruption of knowledge in Europe.

Portuguese Exploration

The 'Age of Navigation', the result of political stability under Joao I (1395-1419), Henrique (Henry the Navigator) (1419-1460), was, while Renaissance zeal for knowledge a factor, motivated primarily by commercial advantage. From 1420, Portuguese expeditions begin to push down west coast of Africa trading salt, wine and fish for African ivory and gold, outflanking the Moroccan traders that originally blocked direct contact with this area. The Atlantic islands, Canaries, Azores, Cape Verde Islands and Tenerife, however, were the initial focus of Portuguese imperial activity.

Sugar in the near Atlantic

Initially these Atlantic islands were exploited for timber, but once this was depleted, sugar became the prime crop. Previously, honey had been the dominant sweetener in Europe (only small amounts of sugar had been produced in Sicily and Cyprus) and Europeans had limited access to sugar produced within Islamic world. Sugar was transplanted to Madeira in 1455, with cultivation initially overseen by experts from Sicily.

Sugar and African Slavery

Portuguese sugar production faced the problem of labour: few Europeans willing to perform the heavy labour of sugar production and Madeira was uninhabited, while the Guanches of the Canaries were exterminated by Europeans by 1540. The indigenous communities were exterminated or wiped out by disease, something that the Potuguese did not understand, nor could they control. They decided to use African slaves on the islands, something that was supported by the Pope (1442) (because of the bible story of Ham), and justified by European ideas about the inferiority of dark-complexioned peoples and increased profits. In the 1480s, the Portuguese government established Casa dos Escravos to control the slave trade to Atlantic islands: 1/3 of profit went to the Portuguese state itself. There were also growing numbers of slaves also used domestically in Portugal: by 1520 there were 35,000 black Africans in Portugal, 3% of total population.

The lure of Asia

Despite the establishment of lucrative sugar plantations in the Atlantic, European commerce was still primarily focused on Asia. The rise of the Ottomans increasingly threatened European trade with Asia, however: following the loss of Constantinople to Ottomans in 1453 the direct overland route to Asia was blocked. Bartholomew Dias, a Portuguese navigator, opened a new eastward route around Cape of Good Hope in 1487, providing a direct, if long, sea route to the eastern markets.