1 00:00:01,247 --> 00:00:03,397 In this lecture we are going to look 2 00:00:03,428 --> 00:00:06,028 to the rise of the Portuguese seaborne empire. 3 00:00:06,982 --> 00:00:10,042 The map on this slide gives you an indication 4 00:00:10,090 --> 00:00:14,240 of territory controlled at one point in time or another by Portugal. 5 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:21,070 This is a map if you are looking to date this would be in the 16th century. 6 00:00:21,832 --> 00:00:27,132 So, parts of South America, some parts of Central Africa, 7 00:00:27,504 --> 00:00:29,194 a lot of coastal Africa, 8 00:00:29,854 --> 00:00:33,054 the coasts in the Indian subcontinent 9 00:00:33,106 --> 00:00:37,106 and as far away as southern Japan. 10 00:00:39,718 --> 00:00:42,828 The Portuguese had many motivations for seeking to expand 11 00:00:43,242 --> 00:00:47,242 certainly, land is always in high demand. 12 00:00:47,912 --> 00:00:50,792 There were excess of soldiers in Portugal at the time 13 00:00:50,816 --> 00:00:53,246 due to political consolidation that had ended 14 00:00:54,005 --> 00:00:57,215 so what better use for soldiers 15 00:00:57,255 --> 00:00:59,775 than to put them on ships and send them someplace else 16 00:00:59,816 --> 00:01:03,816 because if you keep them around they could turn on you. 17 00:01:04,742 --> 00:01:10,082 Some Portuguese citizens became interested in overseas territories 18 00:01:10,139 --> 00:01:13,769 for honorific titles and for glory 19 00:01:14,111 --> 00:01:16,831 others were interested in trade and profit 20 00:01:17,736 --> 00:01:23,676 many Portuguese had Christian missionary zeal 21 00:01:24,802 --> 00:01:27,982 others were curious and wanted to visit new places. 22 00:01:28,970 --> 00:01:31,080 In some way you could consider 23 00:01:31,652 --> 00:01:34,522 Portuguese expansion to be a continuation of the Crusades 24 00:01:35,317 --> 00:01:37,697 that we have talked about in previous weeks. 25 00:01:38,100 --> 00:01:41,830 Certainly, there was an element of many Portuguese believing 26 00:01:41,878 --> 00:01:45,608 that their version of Christianity was superior to others 27 00:01:45,637 --> 00:01:51,697 and that Islamic people was somehow inferior 28 00:01:52,553 --> 00:01:58,033 and so that was certainly a factor in traveling overseas. 29 00:02:00,527 --> 00:02:04,827 You might be surprised to hear the name Portugal 30 00:02:04,867 --> 00:02:08,467 when talking about the first truly global or world power 31 00:02:09,076 --> 00:02:10,976 because it is a fairly small nation 32 00:02:11,459 --> 00:02:14,749 even at the time we are talking here in the 16th century 33 00:02:14,786 --> 00:02:17,516 Portugal only had about a million and a half people. 34 00:02:18,190 --> 00:02:23,050 On the Reconquista the reconquering of the Iberian Peninsula 35 00:02:23,740 --> 00:02:26,920 had taken place much earlier in Portugal that it did in Spain. 36 00:02:26,952 --> 00:02:31,322 Spain did not really finish until 1492 when they conquered Granada 37 00:02:31,592 --> 00:02:33,692 in the southern portion of modern-day Spain. 38 00:02:34,087 --> 00:02:36,287 The Portuguese finished their Reconquista 39 00:02:36,311 --> 00:02:39,982 or the reclaiming of these lands from the Islamic rulers 40 00:02:40,022 --> 00:02:41,792 in the 12th century. 41 00:02:42,402 --> 00:02:44,702 Portugal had a much stable monarchy, 42 00:02:45,199 --> 00:02:48,129 much more stable than other European nations at this time. 43 00:02:48,205 --> 00:02:50,185 If you think of Britain, at the time, 44 00:02:50,581 --> 00:02:53,301 in the 15th century they were fighting the War of Roses. 45 00:02:53,967 --> 00:02:58,577 The French had not even unified what is modern-day France at this time. 46 00:02:59,202 --> 00:03:02,712 Places like Burgundy were still relatively independent. 47 00:03:03,689 --> 00:03:08,079 The Portuguese had an ideal location on the Atlantic seaboard 48 00:03:09,188 --> 00:03:13,268 which gave them several advantages 49 00:03:13,287 --> 00:03:15,367 certainly, that of being close to the sea 50 00:03:15,410 --> 00:03:19,410 where you want to be if you want to expand and create a seaborne Empire. 51 00:03:19,820 --> 00:03:23,900 They also had a long tradition of maritime activities 52 00:03:25,012 --> 00:03:28,302 and tens of thousands of sailors and ships at ready disposal 53 00:03:28,329 --> 00:03:29,889 so that benefited them. 54 00:03:30,103 --> 00:03:32,633 Finally there was this issue of the "fidalgos". 55 00:03:33,212 --> 00:03:37,552 So the word "fidalgo" is similar to the Spanish word "hidalgo" 56 00:03:37,591 --> 00:03:39,521 means "son of someone". 57 00:03:40,219 --> 00:03:43,739 In particular a "fidalgo" or a "hidalgo" in the Spanish tradition 58 00:03:43,791 --> 00:03:48,161 would be the son of a noble, the son of someone, maybe with a capital S 59 00:03:49,144 --> 00:03:53,984 so there were a generation of "fidalgos" who no longer had wars to fight, 60 00:03:55,483 --> 00:03:57,683 civil war was long over 61 00:03:57,809 --> 00:04:00,409 and you had to do something with these individuals. 62 00:04:00,445 --> 00:04:02,305 They were trained for warfare, 63 00:04:02,329 --> 00:04:05,729 they were seeking glory and making a name for themselves 64 00:04:06,078 --> 00:04:08,998 and there just was not much else to do in Portugal 65 00:04:09,036 --> 00:04:13,146 if you were, for example, the duke of a remote region 66 00:04:13,364 --> 00:04:17,074 where there was sheep herding or grain growing. 67 00:04:17,651 --> 00:04:21,651 It is not particularly lucrative nor is it particularly exciting 68 00:04:21,709 --> 00:04:25,709 so some of these "fidalgos", this generation of young nobles 69 00:04:25,881 --> 00:04:30,481 seeking adventure and glory helped to catapult Portugal 70 00:04:31,325 --> 00:04:33,345 to the top as a world power. 71 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:37,800 One of the most important reasons of the rise of the Portuguese 72 00:04:37,833 --> 00:04:41,703 as a world power was a man named Dom Henrique, or Prince Henry, 73 00:04:41,726 --> 00:04:43,716 of the royal house of Aviz. 74 00:04:45,964 --> 00:04:48,104 He lived from 1394 to 1460. 75 00:04:48,121 --> 00:04:51,481 He was the third son of King John of Portugal, 76 00:04:52,518 --> 00:04:54,368 the founder of the Aviz dynasty 77 00:04:54,934 --> 00:04:58,694 and he was related to King Edward III of England 78 00:04:58,745 --> 00:05:00,275 through his mother's side. 79 00:05:00,738 --> 00:05:06,068 In 1420 he was named the governor of the wealthy Order of Christ. 80 00:05:06,214 --> 00:05:09,244 the Portuguese successor to the Knights Templar. 81 00:05:09,481 --> 00:05:14,001 As the third son of the Portuguese king, chances were pretty slim 82 00:05:14,095 --> 00:05:17,285 even for those days that he would live long enough to be king, 83 00:05:17,305 --> 00:05:23,245 so he was always going to be a claimant to the throne 84 00:05:23,296 --> 00:05:25,366 but a sort of distant claimant 85 00:05:25,417 --> 00:05:28,687 so he kind of carved a new niche out for himself. 86 00:05:29,016 --> 00:05:31,136 As governor of the Order of Christ 87 00:05:31,166 --> 00:05:34,506 he had a very wealthy and steady income stream 88 00:05:34,676 --> 00:05:38,506 which allowed him to sponsor many voyages of discovery. 89 00:05:39,555 --> 00:05:41,275 We should note, I should add, 90 00:05:41,307 --> 00:05:44,487 that Prince Henry the Navigator went on very few voyages himself 91 00:05:44,544 --> 00:05:46,504 and one we will talk about in particular 92 00:05:46,534 --> 00:05:51,874 but mostly stayed in his court at Sagres which is on the screen here. 93 00:05:52,697 --> 00:05:58,277 He attracted scientists, sailors, and merchants to his court. 94 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,110 Unlike — and your book may say this too, I don't recall exactly what it said then 95 00:06:03,177 --> 00:06:06,977 many textbooks have this mistaken impression that at Sagres 96 00:06:07,302 --> 00:06:11,552 there was a research school for maritime studies or something 97 00:06:11,702 --> 00:06:13,392 they came with these crazy terms. 98 00:06:13,418 --> 00:06:16,518 It really was not a school, it was just a medieval prince 99 00:06:16,544 --> 00:06:20,624 that people came to see and they were after his money 100 00:06:20,687 --> 00:06:24,317 or his sponsorship for these voyages which he did 101 00:06:24,345 --> 00:06:26,675 but he was very integral, even though again 102 00:06:26,713 --> 00:06:30,473 he almost never left his court at Sagres. 103 00:06:32,590 --> 00:06:37,990 Here is Sagres, a very southern tip, extreme southwestern tip of Portugal. 104 00:06:38,534 --> 00:06:40,024 on the Atlantic Ocean. 105 00:06:40,929 --> 00:06:44,969 If you were looking out from the court of Prince Henry, the Navigator 106 00:06:45,006 --> 00:06:47,686 — which you can't anymore because it's no longer there, 107 00:06:47,735 --> 00:06:50,385 there is a memorial there for it — 108 00:06:50,432 --> 00:06:54,112 but this is the view that Prince Henry ostensibly would have seen 109 00:06:54,173 --> 00:06:55,913 looking out from his court. 110 00:06:56,890 --> 00:07:02,670 And this is your intrepid instructor in the beach near Sagres 111 00:07:03,081 --> 00:07:06,881 thinking that in August it would be great whether for swimming. 112 00:07:07,853 --> 00:07:11,853 In fact, the water was probably about 4º or 5º C. 113 00:07:12,093 --> 00:07:15,813 The North Atlantic current comes right down the coast of Portugal 114 00:07:15,850 --> 00:07:17,010 at that time of year. 115 00:07:17,066 --> 00:07:20,286 It was very icy, so I was there only long enough to get a photo. 116 00:07:21,017 --> 00:07:23,367 Prince Henry had a number of motivations. 117 00:07:23,427 --> 00:07:25,347 He was a deeply religious individual 118 00:07:25,374 --> 00:07:28,634 and there are some questions to how to rank this. 119 00:07:28,809 --> 00:07:32,809 I would probably say God and gold would be 1 & 2, 120 00:07:32,882 --> 00:07:35,012 depending on the day of the week. 121 00:07:35,437 --> 00:07:39,897 He certainly wanted to spread the Christian Gospel, 122 00:07:40,403 --> 00:07:45,903 to tale back lands that were in the hands of pagans or Muslims 123 00:07:47,215 --> 00:07:53,065 but he was a man of his times and a man who sought prophet 124 00:07:53,096 --> 00:07:54,456 where he could find it 125 00:07:54,475 --> 00:07:57,785 so, he had these dual competing first motivations. 126 00:07:59,226 --> 00:08:01,286 Certainly. he was interested in glory. 127 00:08:01,517 --> 00:08:03,867 He was born into a royal house 128 00:08:03,906 --> 00:08:07,126 and this is sort of expected to make a name for oneself. 129 00:08:07,735 --> 00:08:10,515 One of the main interests though for Prince Henry 130 00:08:10,550 --> 00:08:14,550 was to find a route to what he called the Indies, 131 00:08:15,112 --> 00:08:18,322 places where valuable spices were grown. 132 00:08:18,657 --> 00:08:22,657 Things like pepper, nutmeg, cloves, and maize 133 00:08:22,769 --> 00:08:27,139 could only be at this time purchased through a very fortuitous route. 134 00:08:27,189 --> 00:08:30,209 If you think back to our earliest discussions of the Silk Road, 135 00:08:30,249 --> 00:08:33,082 you get an idea of how far things have to travel across land 136 00:08:33,758 --> 00:08:34,918 to get to Europe. 137 00:08:34,954 --> 00:08:40,424 So, he wanted to sort of a bypass Venetian middlemen merchants 138 00:08:40,484 --> 00:08:42,774 who did business with the Arabs 139 00:08:42,792 --> 00:08:44,502 who did business with the Persians 140 00:08:44,514 --> 00:08:48,214 who did business with people in India and the Indian Ocean basin 141 00:08:48,234 --> 00:08:50,864 and bring those spices to Europe at a cheaper price 142 00:08:50,899 --> 00:08:53,049 and thus, keep the profits for himself. 143 00:08:54,498 --> 00:08:58,238 Finally, Prince Henry was interested in an individual 144 00:08:58,591 --> 00:09:01,481 that we refer to today as Prester John. 145 00:09:02,903 --> 00:09:05,653 Prester John was a mythical figure, he did not exist. 146 00:09:06,289 --> 00:09:07,979 There is a number of theories 147 00:09:08,011 --> 00:09:11,601 as to who might have inspired this legendary figure 148 00:09:12,044 --> 00:09:16,904 but he was believed by the Portuguese and many Europeans at this time 149 00:09:17,116 --> 00:09:19,136 to live somewhere in the east. 150 00:09:19,443 --> 00:09:21,863 So, they had a term they referred to as the Indies 151 00:09:21,906 --> 00:09:24,456 which could have been the Arabian Peninsula. 152 00:09:24,521 --> 00:09:26,491 could have been the Horn of Africa, 153 00:09:26,519 --> 00:09:28,859 could have been India itself. 154 00:09:29,131 --> 00:09:31,571 Europeans at this time had a very fuzzy notion 155 00:09:31,593 --> 00:09:33,363 of what the world looked like. 156 00:09:34,474 --> 00:09:38,064 They did not believe it was flat unlike the common misconception 157 00:09:38,095 --> 00:09:39,415 about Columbus, 158 00:09:39,756 --> 00:09:42,766 but they believed the Indian Ocean was a closed ocean 159 00:09:43,038 --> 00:09:46,768 and the Portuguese were among the first to contest that, 160 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:51,440 but Prester John was believed to be a very powerful Christian king 161 00:09:51,730 --> 00:09:53,210 somewhere in the east 162 00:09:53,372 --> 00:09:55,802 and Europeans believed fervently 163 00:09:55,869 --> 00:09:58,729 that all they needed to do was to contact with Prester John 164 00:09:59,572 --> 00:10:03,042 and they would have a valuable ally against the Muslim world. 165 00:10:05,459 --> 00:10:08,559 We should not overlook the role of technology 166 00:10:08,603 --> 00:10:10,483 in Portuguese expansion. 167 00:10:11,226 --> 00:10:14,816 The Portuguese proved themselves to be very innovative 168 00:10:14,830 --> 00:10:17,030 both in their use of new technology, 169 00:10:17,462 --> 00:10:21,362 their invention of new technology in their overseas voyages 170 00:10:21,382 --> 00:10:24,872 pictured here as a monument in Lisbon. 171 00:10:24,909 --> 00:10:31,169 Actually it is in Belém, just to the west of Lisbon 172 00:10:31,698 --> 00:10:38,568 It is the "padrão dos descobrimentos", or the pillar of discovery. 173 00:10:40,087 --> 00:10:43,427 Henry the Navigator is first and foremost on the far right. 174 00:10:43,451 --> 00:10:45,401 You can see he is holding a ship 175 00:10:46,197 --> 00:10:49,107 and a number of other famous explorers are in this sculpture, 176 00:10:49,147 --> 00:10:51,981 including Vasco da Gama we'll talk about a bit later 177 00:10:52,004 --> 00:10:54,154 in this presentation. 178 00:10:55,833 --> 00:10:58,733 The astrolabe was used for measuring angles 179 00:10:58,761 --> 00:11:02,221 between observers and the stars, the moon or the sun. 180 00:11:02,583 --> 00:11:07,603 It has Greek and Arabic origins as a land-based navigation tool 181 00:11:08,453 --> 00:11:12,623 but the Portuguese and the Spanish began using this at sea 182 00:11:12,678 --> 00:11:14,368 which was an innovation. 183 00:11:14,535 --> 00:11:17,415 With an astrolabe you can determine latitude 184 00:11:17,444 --> 00:11:20,154 which allows you to sail out of sight from land. 185 00:11:21,872 --> 00:11:26,892 Portulani or portolan charts are maps that show coastal features and ports. 186 00:11:27,567 --> 00:11:31,147 They provide the user a very realistic depiction of the shore 187 00:11:31,190 --> 00:11:34,090 but they do not take into account the curvature of the Earth. 188 00:11:34,663 --> 00:11:38,733 They are very unhelpful in crossing open ocean 189 00:11:38,802 --> 00:11:40,432 where you can't see the land. 190 00:11:40,882 --> 00:11:43,422 They are better used for smaller bodies of water 191 00:11:43,489 --> 00:11:48,939 like the Mediterranean or any place that you could stay in reach of the coast. 192 00:11:49,467 --> 00:11:52,207 But the Portuguese were among the innovators 193 00:11:52,225 --> 00:11:54,175 who began using these portulani. 194 00:11:56,137 --> 00:11:57,257 "Roteiros" 195 00:11:57,389 --> 00:11:59,759 We would translate this in English as rudders. 196 00:12:01,531 --> 00:12:06,811 They are more like diaries that may be like a diary plus a map. 197 00:12:07,068 --> 00:12:12,478 They were highly accurate and secret sailing instructions 198 00:12:13,317 --> 00:12:16,187 that describe harbours and routes to get to various places. 199 00:12:16,574 --> 00:12:18,884 They would provide information about landmarks 200 00:12:18,959 --> 00:12:21,599 and other navigational information 201 00:12:21,622 --> 00:12:23,582 and drawings of notable features. 202 00:12:23,761 --> 00:12:27,111 The Portuguese did their very best for several centuries 203 00:12:27,140 --> 00:12:30,330 to keep these from falling into the hands of would-be competitors. 204 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:38,440 The Portuguese did not invent the cannon and this use of gunpowder based firearms 205 00:12:38,909 --> 00:12:42,789 as we know from earlier discussions first occurred in China. 206 00:12:43,252 --> 00:12:46,412 But the Portuguese innovation was to stick cannons on ships 207 00:12:46,482 --> 00:12:49,822 and make them sort of floating fortresses. 208 00:12:51,785 --> 00:12:56,355 The "caravela", that the English called the carrack 209 00:12:56,908 --> 00:12:59,918 was a very innovative ship that the Portuguese developed. 210 00:12:59,961 --> 00:13:02,281 It was very agile and easier to navigate. 211 00:13:03,833 --> 00:13:06,973 It had a tonnage of between 50 and 160 tons. 212 00:13:07,018 --> 00:13:11,358 Usually it was a three-masted ship and it mixed a variety of sails 213 00:13:11,394 --> 00:13:13,374 so it had a square mast sail 214 00:13:13,390 --> 00:13:15,610 which is kind of a northern European tradition 215 00:13:15,645 --> 00:13:17,755 — you can see it in the centre of the ship — 216 00:13:17,785 --> 00:13:19,276 which provided power. 217 00:13:19,566 --> 00:13:23,906 And then they mixed in these triangular-shaped or lateen sails 218 00:13:24,162 --> 00:13:29,442 and they get this idea from the Arabs in the Red Sea in the Indian Ocean. 219 00:13:30,416 --> 00:13:35,816 So lateen sails allow you to tack or take 90 degrees angle back and forth 220 00:13:35,855 --> 00:13:37,775 so you can sail against the wind. 221 00:13:38,903 --> 00:13:45,313 The caravel had a very shallow keel instead of a very deeper keel 222 00:13:45,642 --> 00:13:48,942 so shallow keeled ships can go up deeper rivers 223 00:13:49,290 --> 00:13:51,640 as opposed to more ocean-going vessels. 224 00:13:51,699 --> 00:13:54,889 This is a very fast and manoeuvrable ship although somewhat limited 225 00:13:54,924 --> 00:13:58,594 in its cargo capacity, very little in the way of cabin accomnodations. 226 00:13:58,660 --> 00:14:00,570 People generally slept on deck. 227 00:14:00,932 --> 00:14:04,662 Interestingly too, you can see the forecastle and aftcastle. 228 00:14:05,243 --> 00:14:07,673 These are structures built on the ship 229 00:14:08,105 --> 00:14:10,585 but through which armaments could be fired 230 00:14:10,765 --> 00:14:14,065 but they were very powerful ships for the time period, very innovative 231 00:14:14,115 --> 00:14:16,455 and one of the reasons Portuguese took off 232 00:14:16,495 --> 00:14:19,315 as a major seaborne imperial power. 233 00:14:20,839 --> 00:14:24,329 A much larger ship they developed a little bit later into the 16th century 234 00:14:24,334 --> 00:14:25,364 was the "nau". 235 00:14:25,504 --> 00:14:27,754 These would be over 100 tons. 236 00:14:27,818 --> 00:14:32,088 They were more like, if the character of caravel was the floating fortress, 237 00:14:32,158 --> 00:14:35,088 this would be like a floating warehouse with cannons. 238 00:14:35,187 --> 00:14:37,437 They were designed to carry large cargoes 239 00:14:37,477 --> 00:14:39,527 and to protect them as best as possible. 240 00:14:40,628 --> 00:14:43,578 They were able to old sufficient stores for much longer voyages 241 00:14:43,619 --> 00:14:48,319 than the "caravelas" which had to pull into port relatively frequently, 242 00:14:48,345 --> 00:14:50,395 after a few weeks for fresh water and food. 243 00:14:51,442 --> 00:14:55,752 The Portuguese were innovative in developing systems of maritime insurance 244 00:14:55,773 --> 00:14:59,293 to protect against hazards when ships were sent out to sea. 245 00:14:59,354 --> 00:15:03,434 Of course, it was very expensive to outfit a ship and send it to sea 246 00:15:03,522 --> 00:15:08,272 so, this was just another modernization or innovation 247 00:15:08,313 --> 00:15:10,953 the Portuguese were forerunners up. 248 00:15:12,334 --> 00:15:15,594 The beginnings of the Portuguese Empire is the next section 249 00:15:15,622 --> 00:15:17,122 that we'll take a look at 250 00:15:17,161 --> 00:15:19,991 so we have to see how Portugal goes from being a tiny nation 251 00:15:20,041 --> 00:15:23,291 of a million and a half people at the beginning of the 15th century 252 00:15:23,340 --> 00:15:25,230 into becoming a world power. 253 00:15:26,314 --> 00:15:29,804 This process begins with the capture of a place called Ceuta 254 00:15:29,854 --> 00:15:32,544 on the northern African coast in 1415. 255 00:15:32,942 --> 00:15:36,432 This was an expedition and it's one of the few times 256 00:15:36,486 --> 00:15:39,416 Prince Henry actually left Portugal. 257 00:15:40,017 --> 00:15:44,667 He was on this initial military expedition against Ceuta. 258 00:15:44,784 --> 00:15:48,452 45 000 soldiers and support personnel 259 00:15:48,502 --> 00:15:52,012 and 200 Portuguese ships left Lisbon in 1415. 260 00:15:52,722 --> 00:15:56,062 European observers knew something was going on 261 00:15:56,112 --> 00:15:59,032 but they didn't know exactly where the Portuguese were going. 262 00:15:59,444 --> 00:16:01,944 They did catch the defenders of Ceuta off guard 263 00:16:01,983 --> 00:16:04,573 and it was a relatively quick victory. 264 00:16:04,671 --> 00:16:07,571 Unfortunately for the Portuguese, they had originally thought 265 00:16:07,611 --> 00:16:11,045 that if they captured Ceuta, they would have this stranglehold 266 00:16:11,054 --> 00:16:14,114 on trans-Saharan trade, especially gold, 267 00:16:14,924 --> 00:16:18,114 but the caravans just found other ports to go to 268 00:16:18,176 --> 00:16:21,286 and they sort of bypassed Ceuta since it was in Portuguese hands. 269 00:16:22,227 --> 00:16:28,837 So, it was a military victory and they captured some land and territory 270 00:16:28,887 --> 00:16:31,887 but it did not provide the Portuguese the wealth they thought. 271 00:16:33,842 --> 00:16:38,952 The next series of expeditions were down the West Africa coast 272 00:16:39,522 --> 00:16:42,292 and Prince Henry was sponsoring these voyages again. 273 00:16:42,343 --> 00:16:44,943 He would send out ships sometimes several per year. 274 00:16:45,644 --> 00:16:49,644 The expedition led by Gil Eanes to keep Bojador 275 00:16:49,667 --> 00:16:51,417 was particularly significant 276 00:16:51,491 --> 00:16:54,291 because Europeans believed this is a point of no return 277 00:16:54,393 --> 00:16:57,833 where if you went too far sea monsters will devour you. 278 00:16:58,860 --> 00:17:01,120 It's in modern-day Western Sahara. 279 00:17:01,614 --> 00:17:04,194 In my crudely drawn map here you can see 280 00:17:04,244 --> 00:17:09,144 one of the reasons why this had been a source of difficulty for Europeans 281 00:17:09,213 --> 00:17:13,209 is the way that the waves and current systems 282 00:17:13,259 --> 00:17:15,159 travel at Cape Bojador. 283 00:17:15,269 --> 00:17:17,579 They split, they either go north or south. 284 00:17:17,664 --> 00:17:20,454 The difficulty in the past before the development of ships 285 00:17:20,494 --> 00:17:24,306 like the "caravela", was that ships would go past Cape Bojador 286 00:17:24,349 --> 00:17:25,697 and never came back. 287 00:17:25,717 --> 00:17:29,187 They didn't get eaten by sea monsters but they just couldn't make it back 288 00:17:29,287 --> 00:17:31,997 because of the winds and the currents at that point. 289 00:17:34,005 --> 00:17:36,435 Continuing down African coast, 1441 290 00:17:36,499 --> 00:17:38,819 you can see, if you look closely 291 00:17:38,862 --> 00:17:42,352 António Gonçalves and Nuno Tristão. 292 00:17:43,236 --> 00:17:46,416 Nuno Tristão was a knight and an employer of Henry the Navigator. 293 00:17:47,116 --> 00:17:53,226 The success of this expedition led Portuguese merchants and adventurers 294 00:17:53,455 --> 00:17:56,645 to apply to Henry for slave trading licences 295 00:17:56,763 --> 00:17:59,793 between 1444 and 1446. 296 00:17:59,931 --> 00:18:03,931 Several dozens of Portuguese ships set out for slave raids 297 00:18:03,979 --> 00:18:05,789 around our Guinea Bay 298 00:18:05,836 --> 00:18:10,416 which you can see is near the centre of this particular map. 299 00:18:11,808 --> 00:18:16,428 They started initially hunting seals but they brought back slaves to Price Henry 300 00:18:16,467 --> 00:18:18,977 because they couldn't catch seals on one expedition 301 00:18:19,378 --> 00:18:21,758 and this proved to be a very lucrative trade. 302 00:18:21,777 --> 00:18:27,977 Lisbon almost overnight became a major slave selling market 303 00:18:28,681 --> 00:18:31,871 and this really was the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade. 304 00:18:31,901 --> 00:18:36,361 So, if I sound enthusiastic about Prince Henry the Navigator, 305 00:18:36,438 --> 00:18:40,018 keep in mind he was also the world's first merchant 306 00:18:40,059 --> 00:18:43,649 in human trafficking in the transatlantic slave trade. 307 00:18:43,697 --> 00:18:47,637 So, rather mixed history for our friend, Prince Henry. 308 00:18:49,155 --> 00:18:53,585 Alvise Cadamosto was a Venetian ship captain 309 00:18:53,629 --> 00:18:55,529 so, he wasn't ethnically Portuguese 310 00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:58,910 but was in the employ of Prince Henry the Navigator 311 00:18:59,332 --> 00:19:03,712 In 1455 he discovered at least for the Europeans 312 00:19:03,796 --> 00:19:05,916 the Madeira and the Canary Islands. 313 00:19:07,289 --> 00:19:10,619 In 1456 he discovered the Cape Verde Islands. 314 00:19:11,031 --> 00:19:14,121 He sailed about 60 miles up the Gambia River. 315 00:19:14,833 --> 00:19:16,483 Most those accounts of journeys 316 00:19:16,485 --> 00:19:19,075 especially the detailed observations of West Africa 317 00:19:19,107 --> 00:19:22,057 are invaluable to modern-day historians. 318 00:19:22,772 --> 00:19:25,092 The Canary Islands eventually go to the Spanish 319 00:19:25,276 --> 00:19:30,336 but both of those major island chains were major sources of sugar cultivation 320 00:19:31,775 --> 00:19:37,055 and this was sort of a way in which the Spanish and the Portuguese 321 00:19:37,122 --> 00:19:41,322 learned how to make very healthy profits 322 00:19:41,370 --> 00:19:44,340 from exploiting human labour in the form of slaves 323 00:19:44,806 --> 00:19:48,006 to produce a particularly lucrative cash crop which is sugar. 324 00:19:50,112 --> 00:19:51,632 There was an interesting... 325 00:19:51,650 --> 00:19:55,170 Prince Henry the Navigator died in 1456, by the way, 326 00:19:55,260 --> 00:19:58,410 and there was a little bit of a lull in the Portuguese expansion 327 00:19:58,458 --> 00:20:04,198 in part due to an attempted coup d'état on the crown 328 00:20:06,167 --> 00:20:07,877 or civil discontent in the country 329 00:20:07,896 --> 00:20:11,726 but there was an interesting discovery 330 00:20:11,776 --> 00:20:17,046 that was made by João Vaz Corte-Real, the Explorer. 331 00:20:17,126 --> 00:20:21,276 He called it Terra Nova do Bacalhau, in 1472. 332 00:20:21,371 --> 00:20:24,541 Now the Portuguese, remember, are very secret about where they go 333 00:20:25,892 --> 00:20:28,522 but he called it the New Land of the Codfish. 334 00:20:29,197 --> 00:20:32,257 The Portuguese had been traveling into the North Atlantic 335 00:20:32,647 --> 00:20:37,437 to fish for cod which are very big, at this time. 336 00:20:37,635 --> 00:20:40,115 Some of them were up to about eight feet in length 337 00:20:40,284 --> 00:20:43,874 although the North Atlantic has been kind of overfished on cod 338 00:20:44,298 --> 00:20:50,338 but there are very important commodity for the Portuguese. 339 00:20:51,056 --> 00:20:55,566 Prior to traveling to India was codfish 340 00:20:55,590 --> 00:20:59,750 because you can dry it very easily you can sell it, it keeps for a long time. 341 00:20:59,815 --> 00:21:02,255 All you have to do is reconstitute it with water. 342 00:21:02,673 --> 00:21:07,703 So, João Vaz Corte-Real landed someplace in the North Atlantic 343 00:21:08,125 --> 00:21:10,345 that he called it the New Land of the Codfish. 344 00:21:10,370 --> 00:21:11,850 This might have a new feeling. 345 00:21:11,885 --> 00:21:18,435 He might have beat Christopher Columbus to North America by 20 years. 346 00:21:18,477 --> 00:21:21,847 There have been other Europeans not the least of which were the Vikings 347 00:21:21,887 --> 00:21:24,747 who we know today wound up in Newfoundland Labrador 348 00:21:24,802 --> 00:21:26,502 and parts of Canada. 349 00:21:27,841 --> 00:21:31,841 But we are pretty sure he was somewhere in the Grand Banks off the coast 350 00:21:31,867 --> 00:21:34,507 of Newfoundland and may have set foot on North America. 351 00:21:37,042 --> 00:21:42,802 The next major figure that leads Portuguese expansion again 352 00:21:42,832 --> 00:21:45,882 after this period of a civil war and ??? discourse 353 00:21:46,538 --> 00:21:51,378 is João II, who was the grand-nephew of Henry the Navigator. 354 00:21:51,900 --> 00:21:54,240 As a prince, John II accompanied his father 355 00:21:54,281 --> 00:21:57,271 in campaigns in northern Africa, as a young man. 356 00:21:58,144 --> 00:22:03,324 He was made a knight after victory the conquest of Arzila 357 00:22:03,442 --> 00:22:05,512 in northern Africa, in 1471. 358 00:22:06,766 --> 00:22:13,236 In 1473 he married Leonor of Viseu, the Infanta of Portugal, his first cousin. 359 00:22:13,511 --> 00:22:15,481 It was crazy times back then 360 00:22:16,496 --> 00:22:20,096 and that kind of things was pretty normal among the royal houses of Europe. 361 00:22:20,173 --> 00:22:25,153 Significance is he kind of kickstarts and jumpstarts Portuguese expansion. 362 00:22:25,221 --> 00:22:32,141 He is very much interested in the unexplored lands 363 00:22:32,223 --> 00:22:36,223 and the potential for profits that existed overseas. 364 00:22:37,009 --> 00:22:38,669 After Henry the Navigator, 365 00:22:38,702 --> 00:22:41,142 he is probably the second most important figure 366 00:22:41,181 --> 00:22:43,691 in leading Portugal's expansion 367 00:22:45,681 --> 00:22:48,941 and he begins to sponsor new voyages. 368 00:22:49,016 --> 00:22:52,796 Diogo Cão, the first European known to cross the Equator 369 00:22:52,830 --> 00:22:56,630 — I'm sure there were plenty of others who did, we just do not have records of. 370 00:22:57,074 --> 00:23:01,524 In this image you can see a "padrão" or a pillar, a marker, 371 00:23:01,683 --> 00:23:03,903 erected by Cão at the river Congo. 372 00:23:04,754 --> 00:23:08,344 He was the first European known to sight and enter the Congo River 373 00:23:08,645 --> 00:23:12,085 and he explored the territory of Central Africa 374 00:23:12,144 --> 00:23:15,494 from the Equator all the way down to Walvis Bay and Namibia. 375 00:23:18,676 --> 00:23:21,086 The marker he left reads something like this, 376 00:23:21,958 --> 00:23:25,148 "Here arrived the ships of king John II of Portugal" 377 00:23:25,180 --> 00:23:27,180 and the names of the explorers. 378 00:23:29,590 --> 00:23:37,460 On July 2nd also, he sent forth explorers to go to what is modern-day Ethiopia. 379 00:23:37,517 --> 00:23:42,867 This is one of the places that Europeans thought Prester John might be located 380 00:23:42,886 --> 00:23:46,886 because the Ethiopians — as we have talked about in previous weeks — 381 00:23:46,929 --> 00:23:48,959 were a Christian kingdom 382 00:23:49,265 --> 00:23:51,285 but they were not really well known 383 00:23:51,547 --> 00:23:55,117 at least by first-hand experience to the Europeans. 384 00:23:55,288 --> 00:23:58,158 Of course, it's very difficult to get to Ethiopia 385 00:23:58,378 --> 00:24:00,658 — except for the modern world, we can fly there. 386 00:24:00,688 --> 00:24:04,832 It is a highland region so it is 10 -15 thousand feet in the air 387 00:24:05,288 --> 00:24:08,638 and difficult to arrive at 388 00:24:09,478 --> 00:24:14,398 but this is one of several efforts by the Portuguese 389 00:24:14,551 --> 00:24:18,121 to locate this legendary priest, king Prester John. 390 00:24:21,505 --> 00:24:24,215 The Cabo da Boa Esperança, 391 00:24:24,604 --> 00:24:28,184 — which we would translate as the Cape of Good Hope — 392 00:24:28,777 --> 00:24:35,907 was passed by Bartolomeu Dias in 1488. 393 00:24:36,712 --> 00:24:41,302 He made it around and this is the point at which the Portuguese knew 394 00:24:41,340 --> 00:24:45,580 there was another route by which they could get to India. 395 00:24:45,822 --> 00:24:50,322 By this time the Portuguese had figured out the Indian Ocean was not a closed ocean 396 00:24:50,373 --> 00:24:52,303 and there was a route to get there. 397 00:24:52,591 --> 00:24:55,081 The Portuguese are in a very enviable position. 398 00:24:55,543 --> 00:24:57,353 Unfortunately, at this time too 399 00:24:57,379 --> 00:25:00,509 you have Christopher Columbus getting ready to make his voyage 400 00:25:00,532 --> 00:25:02,122 across the Atlantic, 401 00:25:02,140 --> 00:25:04,510 so, the Portuguese are going to wait-and-see mode 402 00:25:04,580 --> 00:25:07,325 after a few years to figure out what has Columbus done 403 00:25:07,516 --> 00:25:09,076 and how this affect us 404 00:25:09,118 --> 00:25:11,598 because they knew at this point that they had a route 405 00:25:11,648 --> 00:25:13,138 they could get to India. 406 00:25:14,317 --> 00:25:20,177 The Indian Ocean basin, at this time, is really the centre of the world commerce. 407 00:25:21,089 --> 00:25:29,569 You can see just a few of the items that are being traded in this region 408 00:25:29,783 --> 00:25:36,643 with this region being sort of the centre for goods going back and forth 409 00:25:36,679 --> 00:25:39,339 between Europe and East Asia 410 00:25:39,391 --> 00:25:41,061 or many products themselves. 411 00:25:41,101 --> 00:25:45,411 A great number of spices, textile products. 412 00:25:45,463 --> 00:25:51,723 Left off of this map here, interestingly, is the East African merchants. 413 00:25:51,745 --> 00:25:53,385 I'm going to have to make a point 414 00:25:53,406 --> 00:25:55,456 to update this map as I'm looking at it 415 00:25:55,487 --> 00:25:59,787 because slaves. ivory and gold were traded from East Africa 416 00:25:59,833 --> 00:26:01,433 to some of these other regions. 417 00:26:01,653 --> 00:26:05,013 But the important point is that the Portuguese knew 418 00:26:05,462 --> 00:26:09,052 this was a place where there was a lot of valuable commodities 419 00:26:09,118 --> 00:26:10,658 and they had to get there. 420 00:26:12,509 --> 00:26:16,049 The Spanish too knew of the existence of this region. 421 00:26:16,070 --> 00:26:18,420 I mean they have been receiving these products 422 00:26:18,466 --> 00:26:22,066 through Venetian and Arabic traders for hundreds of years. 423 00:26:23,136 --> 00:26:27,416 In 1494 we have already had Columbus travel back, 424 00:26:27,866 --> 00:26:29,596 travel to the New World back. 425 00:26:29,768 --> 00:26:35,198 The Portuguese, at this time, know that they have a road to the Indies 426 00:26:35,376 --> 00:26:39,106 so they agree to develop a treaty with the Spanish. 427 00:26:39,266 --> 00:26:42,136 It has to involve the Pope 428 00:26:42,178 --> 00:26:45,688 and it doesn't really go so well for the Portuguese 429 00:26:45,763 --> 00:26:48,593 because there is a Spanish Pope on this time 430 00:26:48,593 --> 00:26:54,563 and so the Spanish kind of have one of their own on the papal throne. 431 00:26:55,676 --> 00:27:00,046 The Treaty of Tordesillas essentially divided the world into two spheres. 432 00:27:01,991 --> 00:27:06,501 This map shows you the boundaries of the Treaty of Tordesillas. 433 00:27:06,603 --> 00:27:09,153 You can see, interestingly, there is this dotted line. 434 00:27:10,540 --> 00:27:12,030 We'll get to that in a second. 435 00:27:12,033 --> 00:27:15,653 Everything to the west was supposed to be Spanish territory. 436 00:27:15,931 --> 00:27:19,411 Everything to the east was supposed to be Portuguese territory. 437 00:27:19,757 --> 00:27:23,897 Of course, the English, the French, the Germans, the Russians, 438 00:27:23,959 --> 00:27:27,039 anybody else who might have an interest in some of these areas, 439 00:27:27,098 --> 00:27:30,588 the Italians, they were not happy about this treaty 440 00:27:30,629 --> 00:27:32,949 and of course, many of them have denounced it 441 00:27:33,141 --> 00:27:36,121 but again, we had a Spanish Pope on the throne. 442 00:27:38,029 --> 00:27:43,229 The dotted line represents the original line of demarcation, 443 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,600 at the 38th longitude. 444 00:27:48,976 --> 00:27:53,526 Interestingly, the Portuguese insisted on getting this pushed further west. 445 00:27:53,908 --> 00:27:56,728 To the Spanish this seemed like a no-brainer be there, like, 446 00:27:56,791 --> 00:27:59,791 "Ok, if you want some open ocean, you can have more open ocean" 447 00:27:59,793 --> 00:28:01,713 because, as far as they knew, 448 00:28:02,797 --> 00:28:05,037 Columbus had landed in the West Indies 449 00:28:05,074 --> 00:28:07,194 — what we today call the West Indies — 450 00:28:07,225 --> 00:28:13,025 and there was nothing else there between the 38th and 46th marker. 451 00:28:14,969 --> 00:28:18,139 Some conspiracy theorists or even educated historians 452 00:28:18,163 --> 00:28:23,333 suggest that maybe the Portuguese knew of the existence of Brazil 453 00:28:23,615 --> 00:28:26,795 and that is why they insisted on moving this line for the west. 454 00:28:27,395 --> 00:28:31,825 The other explanation is the Portuguese were just negotiating 455 00:28:31,866 --> 00:28:35,226 and they had no clue as to the location of Brazil. 456 00:28:35,319 --> 00:28:37,839 But it wouldn't surprise me that the Portuguese again 457 00:28:37,879 --> 00:28:44,099 who were so very secretive and kept all their information tightly close to them 458 00:28:44,150 --> 00:28:46,960 would have known about this. 459 00:28:48,551 --> 00:28:53,381 At any rate, after this treaty is signed there is a new king. 460 00:28:53,979 --> 00:28:56,029 We have got Manuel I. 461 00:28:56,572 --> 00:28:58,822 Vasco da Gama and his famous voyage. 462 00:28:58,854 --> 00:29:03,754 He is the first European to go around the southern coast of Africa 463 00:29:03,822 --> 00:29:05,502 and get to India. 464 00:29:06,484 --> 00:29:12,284 The first voyage in 1497-1499, a very significant expedition 465 00:29:12,374 --> 00:29:14,154 with four ships, 500 men. 466 00:29:14,647 --> 00:29:19,207 When he arrived in Calicut his first words allegedly were, 467 00:29:19,577 --> 00:29:21,607 "We seek Christians and spices". 468 00:29:21,635 --> 00:29:24,785 So, this reinforces this idea that they were still looking 469 00:29:24,836 --> 00:29:29,306 very dedicated fashioned for Prester John. 470 00:29:30,482 --> 00:29:35,722 The second voyage, a much bigger fleet, 20 ships, over 2000 men. 471 00:29:37,392 --> 00:29:43,422 This was a voyage built heavily on the use of what we would today called 472 00:29:43,472 --> 00:29:45,032 gunboat diplomacy. 473 00:29:46,249 --> 00:29:50,829 Vasco da Gama showed up in places like Calicut in the Indian coast, 474 00:29:52,702 --> 00:29:54,432 the Malabar coast of India, 475 00:29:54,688 --> 00:29:58,278 and places like Quiloa, on Swahili coast of East Africa 476 00:29:59,110 --> 00:30:01,580 and essentially gave an ultimatum, 477 00:30:01,929 --> 00:30:05,789 "either sign a trade treaty with us or we will bomb you into oblivion. 478 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:09,670 Of course, they didn't quite have enough firepower to destroy entire cities 479 00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:11,188 but it was fairly effective 480 00:30:11,235 --> 00:30:14,445 in getting some of these local leaders 481 00:30:15,025 --> 00:30:19,275 to come on board with the Portuguese. 482 00:30:19,849 --> 00:30:21,939 The Mîrî was a pilgrim ship. 483 00:30:22,099 --> 00:30:23,719 You can see it is spelled here. 484 00:30:25,140 --> 00:30:29,140 As a way to try to enforce Portuguese rule 485 00:30:29,927 --> 00:30:31,957 — this was actually in the Arabian Sea 486 00:30:31,999 --> 00:30:34,889 which us kind of the northern part of the Indian Ocean — 487 00:30:35,533 --> 00:30:38,713 this pilgrim ship was traveling back from Mecca 488 00:30:39,334 --> 00:30:42,754 and had mostly women, children and old people on it. 489 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:46,540 In order to make his point 490 00:30:46,608 --> 00:30:50,178 Vasco da Gama ordered the burning and sinking of the ship 491 00:30:50,192 --> 00:30:52,182 with all the occupants on it. 492 00:30:52,754 --> 00:30:56,064 So, very harsh realities that the Portuguese were seeking 493 00:30:56,255 --> 00:30:59,235 to impose on the Indian Ocean basin. 494 00:31:00,976 --> 00:31:05,596 In terms of a legacy, Vasco da Gama made almost overnight 495 00:31:05,696 --> 00:31:07,666 Portugal a dominant world power. 496 00:31:08,350 --> 00:31:10,380 He provided a new route to the east 497 00:31:10,649 --> 00:31:13,439 something known as the "estado da India" comes out of this. 498 00:31:13,511 --> 00:31:15,961 So, they translated it directly a "state of India" 499 00:31:15,992 --> 00:31:20,312 but it's like the Portuguese Seaborne Empire in India. 500 00:31:20,978 --> 00:31:24,828 This opened a new period of European expansion 501 00:31:25,655 --> 00:31:30,225 and the Portuguese reputation became one of 502 00:31:30,356 --> 00:31:32,196 — I don't know how else to put it — 503 00:31:32,256 --> 00:31:34,076 they become known as rather ruthless 504 00:31:34,102 --> 00:31:36,252 thugs who would do whatever they needed to do 505 00:31:36,283 --> 00:31:38,383 in order to protect their new empire. 506 00:31:40,075 --> 00:31:42,325 Here is a quick image of the "estado da India". 507 00:31:44,195 --> 00:31:47,385 The method by which the Portuguese set shops 508 00:31:47,404 --> 00:31:52,514 in the east was mostly to get these small regions, 509 00:31:52,584 --> 00:31:55,764 little port cities hold on to those tenaciously 510 00:31:56,313 --> 00:32:01,583 and try to control all the choke points on the main trade points 511 00:32:02,081 --> 00:32:03,321 in these networks. 512 00:32:03,339 --> 00:32:05,969 For the better part of a hundred years 513 00:32:06,429 --> 00:32:11,769 the Portuguese had an almost exclusive lock on spices 514 00:32:11,839 --> 00:32:16,109 and other Asian and South Asian products traveling to Europe. 515 00:32:16,198 --> 00:32:19,158 They became extremely wealthy in a very short period of time. 516 00:32:21,453 --> 00:32:25,453 In terms of early effects Portugal again became a major world power. 517 00:32:25,476 --> 00:32:29,596 This really changed the political and commercial structure 518 00:32:29,635 --> 00:32:31,525 of the Indian Ocean basin. 519 00:32:32,775 --> 00:32:35,485 The Portuguese established themselves as a dominant power 520 00:32:35,535 --> 00:32:37,955 not the only power in the Indian Ocean basin 521 00:32:38,085 --> 00:32:39,705 throughout the 16th century. 522 00:32:39,936 --> 00:32:43,736 They were the most powerful maritime force 523 00:32:43,756 --> 00:32:45,726 in the Indian Ocean basin 524 00:32:45,774 --> 00:32:49,264 and had a stranglehold kind of on much of the trade coming out of there. 525 00:32:49,486 --> 00:32:53,106 This was a very significant blow for the Venetians 526 00:32:53,144 --> 00:32:56,734 who again had had that middle person or middleman trading 527 00:32:58,169 --> 00:33:01,419 with Arabs and Persians going through the Middle East. 528 00:33:01,825 --> 00:33:04,085 They used to control the spice trade 529 00:33:04,147 --> 00:33:07,387 and some of the important east-west trades 530 00:33:07,447 --> 00:33:11,197 and they were almost overnight sort of booted out of these trades. 531 00:33:11,352 --> 00:33:13,702 They never really recovered from that. 532 00:33:13,734 --> 00:33:16,424 Prior to the arrival of the Portuguese as a world power, 533 00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:18,810 the Venetians had been on the rise. 534 00:33:18,844 --> 00:33:20,694 They were a major commercial power 535 00:33:20,740 --> 00:33:23,720 and something of a military power in the Mediterranean basin. 536 00:33:23,740 --> 00:33:27,069 That loss almost overnight of revenue doomed them. 537 00:33:27,534 --> 00:33:31,974 Portugal dominated the spice trade to Europe in much of the 16th century 538 00:33:32,015 --> 00:33:34,195 became very wealthy 539 00:33:34,224 --> 00:33:36,694 but good news for Venice bad news for the Portuguese 540 00:33:36,744 --> 00:33:39,956 because other European powers became very interested 541 00:33:39,975 --> 00:33:45,425 in tapping into profits that Portuguese seemed to have monopolized. 542 00:33:46,292 --> 00:33:48,878 This brings to a close or a brief look at 543 00:33:49,438 --> 00:33:51,708 the Portuguese Seaborne Empire.