Why did Europe discovered America?

In thin this class we have seen the main factors that made possible and conditioned the discovery of America.  First of all, we have to speak about the different factors that enabled the Europeans discover America.

First of all, is necessary to be noted that European expansion was the result of the technical possibilities and the dynamism of the European economy of the 15^th century.

1)    Geographical knowledge:

a)   The sphericity of Earth

b)   Greek and Latin maps

c)    Mythical geographies: During the Middle Ages maps, as we will see later, some pieces of land started appearing in the Atlantic, they were several different islands. When Columbus arrives to the real America, he thought he was in this islands, and that they were in the way to Asia. These islands are Antilia, Brasilia, San Brandan and Atlantis.

d)   Irish monks: they are supposed to be the first Europeans who came to America, but as we know, Irish monks are only men, so they could not have children, and finally they disappeared.

e) Travelers of the late middle ages: There were 3 main regions that started making explorations. The common characteristic of all of them was that they all had economic motivations. They were looking for the sources for some products that were smalls but very profiteers; they could sell them for a high price. These explorations were no made by the motivation of knowledge.

          1) Italians: they were private merchants.

        2) Portuguese: they receive the support of the king, public support. They  got in to the sources of all the  products (gold, wheat, slaves, and spices), that were produces in Africa, in the equatorial zone, (the first one to be discovered was Ceuta,  in 1415), and in 1498 they have discovered, under the command of Bartolome Dias, the south part of Africa which was  unknown  by Europeans. They started having relationship with Africans and they created a commercial and trading network. That is why they had so much information about the maritime currents and topography. Once they found the way to Africa, the other market they wanted to get was Asia.

         3) Castilians: when they finished the Reconquista, they took a very small number of islands, the Canary Islands. The first were the smallest, and they destroyed the indigenous population. Those islands were, more or less, the gate of entering to America, so they decided to create a treaty to divide the lands or the dominium’s of Africa and America.

2)    At that century, there was a series of advances in technology, and we have to remark the following ones:

a)   Astrolabe: It permits to travel on boat and to know exactly in which position of the earth you are, because you have exact references. The astrolabe starts being widely used in the Islamic world from the 8^th century.

b)   Magnetic compass: this tool was invented by Chinese people, by they did not use them for sailing, and they use them for enjoying it. Then, Europeans used the same tool in their boats. With the astrolabe you cannot navigate when is cloudy or at night, but with this new tool, it is possible, so it supposed a big advance.

c)    New techniques in ship buildings:  before of those inventions, the ships must be moved by using human force, so it was enough to cross the Mediterranean, but not for the Atlantic sea. Then, the Latin sail, stern post, and the timón a la navarresa were invented, so it was a very relevant advance, because now Europeans were able to cross the Atlantic. To end this paragraph, we have to say that in 14^th century Nao and Galera were introduced, and in 15^th century, the carabela.

3)    Economic reasons: There were few economic reasons, because as we know, in this period, Europe was starring the development of the capitalism and mercantilism, so they need some new economic relationships to open the market for their products, and they tried to find a new trade-route for the Asian products that they wanted to take.  At this time, Turks were progressing, and it has restrictive effects on the traditional trade through the Middle East, so we can say that this was a very important factor, but not the only one, and that it was the trigger for the conquest.

4)    At last, we have to speak about a different kind of factor, which it is not usually taken into account, but we have to say that it was very important: The spirit of the Renaissance man. After the Medieval Ages, in which the states and the lands were closed to themselves, the Renaissance opened the doors to a new period which was characterized by the spirit of action and curiosity of men. So we can say that now, a new kind of man will be the protagonist of these historical doings, and they will feel capable enough to perform feats and adventures.

  So after analyzing these factors, we have to answer the following question; why did not Chinese or Muslims star the age of the discoveries?

  We have to realize that at the beginning the differences between those places were not very important, because, for example, the Chinese people were best sailors, they build better ships, with which they were able to make a lot of travels around the Indic.

  As we have seen before, Muslims used the astrolabe from the 8^th century, and Chinese did the same with the Magnetic Cross, so we can say that their technological knowledge was higher.

  Therefore, we have to look for other reasons to understand the previous question.

  In the case of Muslims, there is a simple reason, they did not need to leave their usual routes, because they obtain everything they need through them. They had a great knowledge about ocean currents and navigation techniques, so the cause was the lack of necessity.

   In the case of China, first of all, we have to repeat that they had all the technical means to arrive to America, and they also had done, between 1405 and 1433, a series of long travels around Insulindia, Ceilan, Sumatra, India and Arabia, under the command of the eunuch Tscheng Hwo, so they began to sail long before Europeans. But after Tscheng Hwo the expeditions were interrupted, and with them, the Chinese expansion thought the sea.

    There are also natural or climatic reasons to answer this question. The first one is that they were used to sail taking advantage of the monsoons, so they could have finish their trips when the influence of the monsoons finished.

    Another natural factor is the following one: China is a place with a high seismic activity and prone to suffer natural disasters, so when they happen the Chinese Empire had to spend many resources on reconstruction works and that slowed the capacity of investment.

  Some author, like Pierre Chaunu, speaks about another relevant cause, the beginning of the conquest of the interior of China, which is very extended land, so it absorbed all the energies of the empire. In this context we have to speak about the war, because since 1435 the Chinese expansion over Mongolia was stopped, and the Mongols attacked the North China.

   But we have not speak yet about which is identified as the most important cause, namely, the lack of reasons and groups to start the explorations. The maritime exploration in China was an affair of the state, and China was a very large and old state, in which the institutions were very settled, so take any decision was very complicated, due to the extended bureaucracy. It is also an impediment in the case of Japanese Wako pirates, who operated in Chinese coast. The problem we see here, is that, in the case of Europe (who was being attacked by Turks), not being a homogenized empire supposed that when a state was attacked by the Turks, the rest had no obligation to help, so they could continue his maritime enterprises. We can say that China was paralyzed by its large extension.  We also have to realize that China did not need access to some product like spices, silk… because they were producers, and they also did not have such need of money that Europeans had.

   Europe was a full world, they could not expand internally,because Europe was formed by a lot of little states, which were limited( and helped) by natural boundaries. But they needed more and more resources, so this energy had to be channeled to another place. This energy was aided by the competition between those little states, which made possible for Columbus to be financed by the Catholic Kings.

    Finally, we can end this post with the following conclusion: the merit of Europe, was actually to have needed more world? 



BIBLIOGRAPHY:

RIBOT GARCÍA,J.A.; "La Europa de los descubrimientos", in NAVARRO GARCÍA, L.; Historia de las Américas I, Universidad de Sevilla, Madrid, 1991. (292-296)