- What led to the voyages of discovery by Portugal and Spain? Analyze the economic basis of the Spanish and Portuguese empire.
The Age of discovery (early 15th century to late 17th century) was one of the most exciting periods in the history of humankind. We owe this age of discovery to the European nations of Spain and Portugal who with their seafaring knowledge and indomitable determination brought to the supposed ‘world’ a whole new world. The discovery of the New World or the massive continents of Americas was the greatest achievement of this period which radically affected the European world as well as the indigenous population. The sea route to South Asia particularly India was another major breakthrough made in this period resulting in vibrant trade between Europe and Asia.
There were a number of driving forces behind the extensive explorations undertaken by the Portuguese and the Spaniards. Different historians have put forward different motives but there is no avoiding the clichéd slogan -God, Glory and Gold. These are the three broad headings under which the reasons leading to the voyages have usually been categorised.
J.H.Parry proposes land acquisition as one of the stimulus leading to the explorations. According to him the quickest way of becoming rich was by seizing the land from a docile peasantry and holding it as a fief and collecting dues from them. But the method that was widely adopted by the Portuguese and the Spaniards was the seizure and exploitation of new land which was largely uninhabited or occupied by helpless people who could be easily driven away. In this way the islands of Madeira and Canaries were occupied by the Portuguese and Spaniards respectively. Parry also talks about Portugal and Spain trying to find an alternative to the Mediterranean trade which was monopolised by the Venetians who had an unrivalled knowledge of the East and a formidable naval force. Apart from these economic considerations the other powerful determinant that Parry talks about is religious zeal. This religious zeal manifested itself in two forms. One was the desire to convert unbelievers into believers through reasoning, preaching and persuasion. The other was the desire to ensure the safety and by extension the pre-dominance of one’s own community over others.
Some historians claim that the residents of the Iberian Peninsula undertook these explorations because of the political tensions in Europe created by the Turkish invasions and also because the technology to carry them out had ripened. Ralph Davis categorically refutes these claims, first saying that the Turkish invasions did create a definite tension in Europe but did not have such a great influence on the Iberian region. Secondly, on the contrary, technical innovation was called forth by the urgent needs of oceanic exploration after it had taken the decisive strides southwards past the Sahara and Cape Bojador (see illustration 1).
Charles Ralph Boxer very simply states that there were four main causes that spurred the Portuguese and Spaniards into engaging themselves in these voyages of discovery. These causes included crusading zeal against the Muslims, who at the time were rampaging through eastern Europe and spreading their religion. The next cause is exclusively stated by Boxer and that is the search for Prester John who was believed to be a mighty Christian ruler living in a land in the east and whose support, if mustered, would be enough to destroy the Moorish threat. The third cause given by Boxer was obviously the search for riches particularly gold from the famous West-African gold mines of Guinea. Fourth being the search for a route to tap the famed oriental spice and break the Venetian monopoly over its trade in Europe.
Geoffrey Scammell further elaborates by providing the explanation that there existed among the people a ‘spirit of curiosity’. The curiousness arose from a myriad of myths and fables about the East and the world beyond the Atlantic. There was an emphasis on finding the marvels of the unknown world. Some people believed that there existed utopian set ups were there was an abundance of opportunities and pleasures denied to mankind. Some others hoped to engage themselves in the voyages and escape poverty and misery. Scammell also notes the more private interests behind Spanish and Portuguese expeditions. The Spanish conquistadors he says, were undertaking such risks to acquire great riches for themselves and dazzle the world with their adventurous and courageous exploits. They were in search of Glory and some even succeeded.
There were certain rulers and kings who were pivotal to the commencement of these expeditions. Prince Henry ‘The Navigator’ was clearly the most famous of these. For over forty years he urged and gave financial support to the navigators. He was passionately devoted to the cause of finding the extent of the Moorish empire and to seek the alliance of any Christian rulers that may be encountered in the course of the expeditions. He was also motivated to discover what lay beyond the Canary Islands and the Cape of Bojador. There was also an element of religious zeal, to convert pagans to Christianity. Prince Henry firmly believed in astronomy and it was predicted in his horoscope that he would engage himself in great discoveries which were unknown to other men. Some historians believe that his passion for explorations arose from an attempt to fulfil the predictions in his horoscope.
The Portuguese and Spanish economies were not so well developed and were almost backward when compared to the rest of Europe. The Iberian region had a pre-dominantly agrarian base which was self-sustaining with little trade of its own. But by the 15th century the Portuguese had acquired a name in the fisheries business and most of the Portuguese enterprises were directed towards sea and its resource and not the land. They had seafarers who caught fish out at the Atlantic waters and sold it to the rest of Europe. This was a major source of revenue for them. Spain on the other hand was involved in a trade of wool, wine and cheese with the Italians. Italy and Germany housed the most affluent bankers and largest financial houses in Europe. The loans were taken from them provided the initial financial backing that the voyages required.
Having looked at the antecedents to the explorations let’s see how the Portuguese and Spaniards went about discovering new lands and settling there.
As we have already seen the Portuguese were familiar with the Atlantic waters because of their fisheries and also traded in corn with the North-African country of Morocco. The Portuguese captured Ceuta (see illustration 1) in northern Morocco in 1415.The corn production at Ceuta formed an attraction for them and later Ceuta served as one of the terminal ports for the trans-Saharan gold trade. The capture of Ceuta enabled the Portuguese to obtain some information about the lands of the Upper Niger and Senegal rivers where the gold came from. In 1420 and 1425 the Atlantic islands of Madeira and Azores (see illustration 1) were discovered respectively, and settled upon by the Portuguese. The settlers cleared large areas and the initial trade of timber and dyewood from these islands was substituted by trade in corn.
The Sahara marked the limit of the Portuguese explorations and particularly the feared Cape Bojador. The small square-rigged vessels (see illustration 2) which were in use were regarded as not being efficient enough to cross the Cape of Bojador. At last in 1434, this obstacle was overcome and explorations beyond the Sahara picked up momentum. And also there came about an improvement in the technology of the vessels and in 1440 the ultimate vessel of the voyagers was developed, the new lateen-rigged caravel (see illustration 3).The explorations paid off at last, trade in slaves started to flourish in the newly discovered lands beyond Cape Bojador. There was a rush to join in this slave trade and numerous vessels from Portugal started to facilitate this trade in slaves and in 1448 the Portuguese found it necessary to build a fort on the island of Arguim to control the slave trade and this was the centre of their activities for a few years. In 1475-79 Portugal began a systematic organization of African resources signalized by the building of a fort at Elmina on the Gold Coast.
In 1487 Bartholomew Diaz rounded of the Cape of Good Hope and in 1498, Vasco Da Gama arrived at Calicut on the western coast of India. The elusive sea route to India was discovered at last and the Portuguese wasted no time in reaping its benefits. Through their superior naval force, military garrisoning of important trading ports such as Goa and Calicut and the Cartaz (naval trade licenses) system, the Portuguese firmly cemented their control over the trade passing through the west coast of India
The Spanish did not have as many possessions in the Atlantic waters as the Portuguese did. They just had the Canary Islands under their jurisdiction. The Spain made its greatest discovery in the form of the immense continents of Americas. Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, who was denied the support by the Portuguese ruler, discovered in 1492, the Bahamas near Florida and at the time he was working under the Spanish crown.
Subsequent Spanish explorations discovered the rest of the New World which was inhabited by three powerful civilizations-The Aztecs in northern Mexico, The Mayas in central Mexico and The Incas towards the western coast of South America or the Peruvian coast (see illustration 4). The period between 1520 to 1550 is seen as the Age of conquistadors. These conquistadors were adventurous men from Spain looking for private fortune and leading their own militia in the Americas. Conquistadors such as Hernan Cortes, Pedro de Alvarado and Francisco de Pizzaro captured and subjugated the American civilizations of Aztecs, Mayas and Incas respectively.
The Spanish followed the subjugation of the people with the capturing of their lands and establishing themselves there. They introduced institutions such as the Encomeinda system, the system of Corregitors, the vice royalties and the Audiencia. The Encomeindors ensured the safety of the natives in return for tributes and they emerged as parallels to the Spanish nobles. The Corregitors were royal nominees placed in the Americas who acted as the intermediaries between the Encomeindors and the natives but they gradually undermined the authority of the Encomeindors. Under the institution of vice royalties, civil and military power was bequeathed to honest Encomeindors over a demarcated area. The New world had its own courts of appeal referred to as the Audiencia which were a means by which the Spanish crown exerted its authority over the vice royalties. So what comes through is an extensive framework of checks and balances under which these institutions were placed in the Americas. These institutions reflect the constant efforts made by the Spanish crown to express its suzerainty.
The Spanish brought about a drastic change in the native populations. The conquistadors had been ruthless in their campaigns and had killed hundreds of natives. Also Alfred W. Crosby talks about biological warfare of Europeans. He says that the Spaniards acted as carriers of deadly diseases which the natives were not immune to such as small pox, pleurisy, pneumonia etc. The susceptibility of the natives to these diseases resulted in a catastrophic decline in the indigenous population which went down from being 20 million in 1520 to less than 5 million in 1550. Also Crosby mentions how the Europeans introduced the indigenous population to new crops such as rye and millets and to new animals such as cattle, sheep, goats and horses which were earlier completely unknown to them.
The Portuguese and the Spanish had hugely benefitted from these explorations economically. By the 16th century the balance of economy had shifted from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Gold was one commodity which was found and traded in, by both Portugal and Spain. The Portuguese acquired it from the West African coast and the Spanish from the Americas.
The trade in slaves is an unavoidable feature of the period. The Portuguese initially captured slaves from Africa. The Spanish put in place the Asiento system. Under this system permission was granted by the Spanish crown to other nations to sell slaves in the Spanish colonies. The Portuguese acquired the contract and supplied the Spanish colonies with slaves from Africa.
The Spanish employed the slaves in large plantations in Central America. The plantation holders became wealthy through the slave trade since the slaves were employed by them without any payment or wages but just food for their work. The savings were immense and costs minimal.
Also the Spanish were involved in mining activities in the Americas. Silver mines of the new world yielded large amounts of the metal and all this silver was taken to Spain to make silver bullions.
The Portuguese as we have already seen had set up plantations in the Atlantic islands of Azores and Madeira which were worked upon by the slaves from Africa. They also had large sugar plantations in the South American nation of Brazil.
The Spanish colonial empire eventually broke down due to some inherent weaknesses. The Spanish economy was backward from the beginning and the bullion that came through with the conquest of Americas was not used by them to build further industries or undertake trading expeditions. Ninety six percent of exports from Central America to Spain comprised of gold and silver. From the start of the 17th century we notice a decline in mining activities and exports of gold and silver. This consequently led to a decline in Spanish hegemony giving way to new European powers such as the Germans and the Dutch. The imperialistic tendencies of Charles V and Philip II are also blamed for the collapse of the Spanish empire. Charles V and Philip II became involved on various intra-continental wars in the 16th century which made Spain susceptible to various threats. Also the Spanish crown had taken huge amounts of loans from the Venetian merchants to finance their voyages and also their wars. Whatever gold they acquired from the new world thus flowed into the hands of the Venetians merchants creating a debt trap like situation.
Therefore we have seen how Spain and Portugal from being the most economically backward nations of Europe emerged as the most affluent ones in the 16th-17th century. They owed this quantum jump in their status to the explorers and voyagers who undertook arduous and highly risky journeys into the unknown waters. These two Iberian nations gave birth to an extensive slave trade network and radically transformed whole new regions with their activities.
“Riches don’t make a man rich, they only make him busier”
————————- X ——————————– X ——————————– X ———————–
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Alfred W.Crosby, The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492, Greenwood Publishing Group ,2003
- Charles Ralph Boxer, The Portuguese Seaborne Empire 1415-1825 (Pelican)
- Geoffrey Scammell, The First Imperial Age: European Overseas Expansion c.1400-1715, Routledge
- John Horace Parry, Age of Reconnaissance ,Orion, 2010
- Michael Adas, Islamic and European Expansion: The Forging of a Global Order, Temple University Press, 1993
- Ralph Davis, The Rise of Atlantic Economies, Cornell University Press