American History - Pacific

In 1520, Ferdinand Magellan and his Spanish expedition became the first Europeans to sail around South America to the Pacific, and then across it to Asia. Though of the original 270 men and five ships of the expedition, only 18 men and one ship returned to Spain, it proved that such a feat was possible. However, the route was less than perfect. For one thing, it was incredibly dangerous. While navigation in the Atlantic was fairly well understood, such as the prevailing currents and winds, nobody had a damn clue about such things with the Pacific. A follow up Spanish expedition in 1525, consisting of seven ships, was scattered by storms with only one vessel reaching Asia, where it promptly sank. Furthermore, though the Spanish had found winds and currents to carry them west, they were unable to find the same to take them east, meaning that the only way to return to Spain was via sailing through the Indian Ocean around the southern tip of Africa, a route jealously guarded by the Portuguese. In 1527, a Spanish expedition from Mexico crossed the Pacific, but then spent the next two years moving north and south to try and find a way back, before being captured and imprisoned by the Portuguese.

The failure of these several expeditions to return, greatly muted Spanish interest in crossing the Pacific, instead for a decade they turned their attention to the west coast of North America, hoping to discover new rich empires similar to those found in Mesoamerica and possibly the western end of the fabled Northwest Passage. Between 1533 and 1543, Spanish explorers made their way north along the Mexican and then Californian coasts, reaching as far north as the southern border of what is today Oregon. However, finding little no rich cities and no Northwest Passage, such expeditions were abandoned in favor of again searching for a reliable route across the Pacific. In 1542, a new expedition left Mexico and successfully crossed the Pacific, but again failed to find a return route, its members eventually imprisoned by the Portuguese.

The Spanish did not try again until 1564, sending a large expedition westward across the Pacific from Mexico under the command of Miguel de Legazpi. Unlike his predecessors, Legazpi was not the type to fuck around. Immediately upon arrival in Asia, he ordered one of his ships to start looking for a route back while he launched a war of conquest in what would become known as the Philippines. It was quite the gamble, and it paid off. The ship tasked with returning to New Spain managed to find easterly winds and currents to the north, which carried it to the California coast which was then followed south to Mexico. With a return route discovered, a second expedition was quickly sent to reinforce the first, which resulted in the Philippines, named after the King of Spain, being fully conquered by Spain in 1570. The conquest of the Philippines gave Spain a base of operations for trading throughout East Asia. Twice a year, a fleet of ships, know as Manila galleons, laden with silver and gold would sail from the port of Acapulco in New Spain to the Philippines, where they would be reloaded with silks and spices and then sent back to Mexico. These goods would then be carried across Mexico, loaded on different ships, and be taken across the Atlantic to Spain. It was the first true global trade network.

Following the establishment of the Pacific trade route, the Spanish had very little interest in further exploration of the Pacific. Aside from the discovery of a few islands in the South Pacific, most often by random chance after storms, they largely kept to their known routes. Other nations proved less than interested as well, largely due to the difficulty of navigating routes firmly controlled by the Spanish and Portuguese. The English privateer Francis Drake led the first non-Spanish expedition around the southern tip of South America in 1578, though his interest was more in pillaging. He attacked Spanish ships and colonies along the coasts of what is today Chile and Peru, then fled northward to the remote coasts of present day northern California and southern Oregon to make much needed repairs to his ship. Unable to return the way he had come, he then sailed across the Pacific and then around Africa, returning home to England in 1580 to a hero’s welcome. This feat was later repeated by the Dutch privateer Olivier van Noort in 1600.

The success of Drake’s attacks created a renewed interest by the Spanish in the west coast of the Americas, as ships were sent north to try and locate the privateer. This in turn led to several expeditions being sent to explore the west coast of the present day United States from 1585 to 1602, most with the goal of finding safe harbors for the returning Manila galleons. Most of these only explored the coast of California, but one, led by Juan de Fuca, made it as far north as the Puget Sound. However, much as before, the expeditions showed the region had little of interest to the Spanish, further exploration would not resume for some 150 years.

American History - The Portuguese Slave Trade

In 1440, the Portuguese began sending ships south along the coast of Africa in hopes of finding an alternative route to the spices and luxuries of East Asia. Unsure of themselves, it was slow going for these early explorers. Present day Gambia was not reached until 1455, Ghana not until 1471, Congo in 1485, and the the southern tip of the continent in 1488. To help finance these voyages, the monarchy of Portugal encouraged explorers to trade with the local kingdoms they came across. Such trade included various luxuries, but perhaps one of the more lucrative was the trade in African slaves. So much so, that expeditions began to be created not to carry out further exploration, but specifically to bring slaves back to Portugal.

Slavery was not a new concept in Europe, though it was one in various states of transformation. While slavery had been common in Roman times, during the Medieval period it had largely been replaced by feudal serfdom, though the use of household slaves persisted. Slavery was most common in the various kingdoms along the shores of the Mediterranean, where conflict between Christian and Muslim nations provided a ready supply of slaves to sell and trade. Though nobody really associated race or ethnicity with slavery at the time, it was generally frowned upon to force people of your own group into slavery, though it was perfectly acceptable for them to fall into poverty and sell themselves into slavery if needed. Important as well, slavery was something that just affected an individual, meaning the children of slaves weren’t automatically slaves themselves. As well, slaves were not considered just property, having rights similar to indentured servants.

The early Portuguese sailing down the coast of Africa at first tended to carry out raids to capture slaves, but this proved problematic in that the African kingdoms, not being big fans of this, tended to send out their own ships to defend their shores in response. This changed in 1494, when the Portuguese made treaties with many of these kingdoms, opening up the peaceful trading of slaves. Now slavery was not a new concept in Africa either, with most of the kingdoms of western Africa practicing forms of slavery similar to Europe, some on fairly large scale. Given that most of these slaves were captured in wars or people who broke laws, the various kingdoms were more than happy to trade them in return for European weapons and other goods. Some of the larger kingdoms selling slaves to the Portuguese included the Kingdom of Kongo, the Mali Empire, and the Songhai Empire, the latter two having long traded slaves across the Sahara to the Islamic kingdoms of North Africa.

At first the Portuguese only shipped slaves back to Europe, where they were traded into Spain and into the European slave markets, mostly in the Mediterranean. Some of these slaves were then taken across the Atlantic to the New World as personal servants, the first mention of them in the New World being in 1501 on the island of Hispaniola. The first shipment of slaves directly from Africa to the New World occurred in the 1520, with the Portuguese taking them to their small colonies in Brazil to help grow sugar and harvest brazilwood, which was prized for its use in making red dye. Similar to other areas, the natives of Brazil were quickly dying of disease, necessitating the importation of a new work force given the few Portuguese settlers had no interest in doing the work themselves. However, regular shipments did not begin until 1560, as the colonies grew in size.

As the Spanish increasingly began to face similar issues in the Caribbean, they also began buying slaves from the Portuguese, the first direct shipment from Africa occurring in 1525. However, such shipments were limited, with the colonists in the Caribbean getting most of their slaves by raiding Native American villages along the Gulf Cost and lower Atlantic Seaboard. This began to change drastically after 1550, when major outbreaks of Old World diseases killed off most of the Native Americans living in what is today the southeastern United States. The importation of slaves into the Caribbean increased, but was still relatively low compared to the number of slaves moving into European markets. Despite similar apocalyptic pandemics in Mexico and other parts of New Spain, the importation of slaves into these areas remained relatively low, the surviving populations of Native Americans, though decimated, still high enough to meet Spanish needs which were largely focused on mining.

The Portuguese continued to dominate the African slave trade throughout the sixteenth century, though in the latter half English, French, and Dutch smugglers increasingly carried out their own raids and trading with various smaller African kingdoms, shipping the slaves mostly to Europe, but also to the New World from time to time. Though a relatively small number of slaves were shipped to the New World during this period, and their treatment was relatively benign, at least according to the fucked up standards of the day, the Portuguese slave trade was the first step towards the creation of one of the most horrific systems of servitude in human history. One that would result in millions of people being shipped across the Atlantic, and generations of people being reduced to a status similar to livestock.

American History - Armada

By the end of the sixteenth century, the volume of silver and gold coming out of the New World was causing rampant inflation not just in Spain, but also across western and central Europe, and even as far off as China. This inflation caused a great deal of economic instability, which in turn helped add fuel to the fire that was the increasingly violent schism between the Catholic church and the new Protestant sects. In other words, it was a crazy ass time to be alive. For their part, the ruling Hapsburg monarchs of Spain largely tried to use their new wealth to assert their power across Europe, ostensibly to support the Catholic church, but more just because that’s the kind of shit rich monarchs did. This often put Spain in conflict with the other nations of western Europe, who in turn cast a jealous eye westward towards the source of Spain’s wealth.

As early as 1540, the French began sending ships out into the Atlantic, even as far as the Caribbean, to attack Spanish ship carrying gold and silver back to Spain. With the Spanish unable to stop these attacks, the raiders grew more bold, looting and burning the city of Havana on the island of Cuba in 1555. Seeing the early success of the French, the Protestant nation of England began sending out their own raiders by 1560, disguising them as pirates in order to avoid open warfare. The most successful of these were the Sea Dogs, a group of English captains who conducted raids as far west as Panama, with one of their number, Francis Drake, even making the first non-Spanish circumnavigation of the globe in 1577 in order to raid Spanish shipping in the Pacific. The raids became so bad that the Spanish began adopting a convoy system to protect the flow of precious metals. These treasure fleets often included 50 or more vessels, moving an entire year’s worth of collected riches across the Atlantic in a single sailing.

Beyond the damage done by the raiders, Spain also faced increasing problems with smugglers from its three rivals. In order to better profit from the New World, Spain required that all trade between the Old World and the New World go through Spanish ports, which of course taxed the shit out of everything. The resulting high prices created a lucrative black market trade in even mundane goods, providing further incentive for French and English ships to make the dangerous voyage into the Atlantic. The French even went as far as trying to create their own colony in what is today South Carolina in 1562 to act as a base of operations, but it was quickly destroyed by the Spanish only a year later.

Despite these setbacks, the sheer volume of gold and silver allowed Spain to prosper. In 1556 the Spanish crown came into possession of what is today called the Netherlands and in 1580 they forcefully laid claim to the vacant Portuguese throne, giving Spain control over both sea routes to East Asia. However, this penultimate position was not to last for long. Both France and England did everything in their power to check the rise of Spanish power, with the English burning multiple towns in the Caribbean, sinking most of the Spanish fishing fleet operating in the area of Newfoundland, and establishing the colony of Roanoke in what is today North Carolina, though the colony was short lived. Both nations also supported a Protestant revolt in the Spanish Netherlands, leading to the creation of the first Dutch Republic in 1581, which in turn resulted in eighty years of warfare to control the region. This was all too much for the king of Spain, who decided to respond by building a massive naval fleet and invading England.

In 1588, the Spanish assembled an armada of 130 ships and 26,000 men to invade England. They were met by a ragtag force of English and Dutch ships which not only managed to scatter the armada, but also forced it to sail north around Britain rather than returning directly home. Severe storms along the west coast of Ireland sunk many vessels, and more than a third of the armada never made it back to Spain. It was a disaster for Spain, but one that the English were not able to capitalize on. The following year the English sent their own armada to attack Spain and invade Portugal, but they met with a similar disaster as the Spanish version. As a result, the war dragged on for more than a decade, largely focused on raiding shipping in the Atlantic, activity largely paid for by private investors. Though little to no territory traded hands, the war did create a much greater sense of the New World outside of Spain and weakened the sense of Spanish supremacy, two factors that led to many other nations looking to establish a foothold in the New World in the coming century.