World History: The Inca

Machu Picchu, an Inkan Site

Last time on World History we looked at the Triple Alliance, or as they are more widely referred to as the Aztecs. Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 the Americas were home to a wide variety of civilizations and cultures, and today we'll look at another one. Originating in the Andes there was a short lived city-based empire which stretched from the Ecuadorian/Colombian border all the way down to Santiago in Chile. This empire was the Incan Empire. For the purposes of this post we shall refer to the empire and the people who made it as Tawantinsuyu, (the empire), and the Inka, (the ruling people). We will not be using Inca as this is the European spelling of the ruling people; Inka is the spelling in Quechua. The Inkas ruled a unique empire with the Spanish seeing it as a wealthy kingdom possibly home to El Dorado while in the twentieth-century some historians had started to portray them as the first socialists or even the first communists. Before we look the Tawantinsuyu and the Inka we must first look at the world they emerged in.

Pre-Inka Andes

Image of the Andes

Historians, such as Nigel Davies, have stressed the continuation of the Inka with earlier Andean civilizations. You may be wondering how so many civilizations emerged in a mountain range though. When we've looked at other emerging civilizations ranging from the Maya to China to the Mexica to the Greeks none have appeared in mountain ranges. Peru, the heart of the Inkan Empire, has a very complex topography containing 84 of the 117 different types of life zones that can be found. It also experiences two ocean currents: El Niño and the Humboldt. In a small area we have coasts, puna (high grasslands), wet grasslands, rainforests, deserts, fog meadows (lomas) and rivers. El Niño supplies torrential rain to Peru's northern coast while fifty rivers cross the Peruvian desert. This helped create fertile land rich in nutrients for the first agriculturalists over 4,000 years ago. Through terracing great areas of arable land emerged in the Andes themselves. From around 1800 BCE the first pottery was made in the Peruvian lands.

Tawantinsuyu was not the first empire to exist in the Andes. Craig Morris and Adriana von Hagen put emphasis on two societies which laid the groundwork for the Inka, (although there were many others): Wari and Tiwanaku. These were both city states which both inspired the Inka and allowed them to rise. Tiwanaku was founded by 200 CE on the southern shores of Lake Titicaca which prospered for almost a thousand years with buildings made of sun-dried mudbrick. Around 600 CE to the north of Tiwanaku in the Ayacucho basin Wari was founded. Wari founded an empire which helped spread its art style across the central Andes, although it shares some iconography with Tiwanaku indicating that Wari borrowed some elements from Tiwanaku or that they shared a common ancestral tradition. Tawantinsuyu emerged four centuries after the collapse of Wari and Tiwanaku in Cuzco where the city-states either held sway, (Wari), or bordered, (Tiwanaku). There was a void in the Cuzco region left by these empires which the Inka filled. However, they borrowed or were inspired by both, particularly the Wari. The Inka adopted administrative tools and models from the Wari, (such as the khipu which we shall later address), and possibly even Quechua as a lingua franca for the empire. Now we must deal with the origins of the Inka and Tawantinsuyu.

Origins

Colonial image of the first king, Manco Capac

Through archaeological evidence, Spanish sources, and what remains of Inkan sources we can piece together the origins of the Inka. Until around 1200 CE the people who would become the Inka were pastoralists until they settled and founded the Kingdom of Cuzco. Through oral and Spanish written sources we do have a story for how the Kingdom of Cuzco was formed. The Inkan people emerged from a cave, called Pacariqtambo, led by four brothers and four sisters, (the brothers and sisters were married as well). They were led by Ayar Manco and his sister/wife Mama Ocllo. Manco had a golden staff which when planted would offer his people a place to live. On the way the strongest brother, who could level mountains, Ayar Cachi was sent into a cave to retrieve some golden cups, (in some versions a llama), to stop his boasting. When inside his brothers sealed the cave and Cachi was turned to stone becoming a huaca, a sacred object. When they reached Huanacauri, a hill, a second brother, Ayar Uchu, was turned into a huaca as he wished to stay to watch over the people. The last brother, Ayar Auca, grew tired and then grew wings so he could travel alone. He flew to Cuzco and became the Cuzco Huaca becoming the first city guardian. With no one to challenge him Manco goes to Cuzco with his sisters where they encounter the Huallas and Alcavizas. Depending on the version either the small band defeats the two tribes, or one of the sisters (Mama Huaca) kills a soldier with a bola scaring the rest off. After the battle Ayar Manco builds the first Coricancha temple and founds Cuzco and he changes his name to Manco Capac. Compared to the origin stories of Rome, the Aztecs and Athens this is a rather humble story. In some versions Manco Capac becomes undisputed king basically by accident rather than his own efforts. 

That story deals with the origins of Cuzco. There is a second myth which deals with the founding of Tawantinsuyu. Our sources are more reliable as we enter the fifteenth-century but then again Nigel Davies highlights how we can't take them at face value. The Inkas didn't really use their writing system to record chronology saving it instead for mainly recording things like censuses and tribute, and many which did record history were unfortunately burnt by the Spanish. Many of the chronicles that we do have are written post-Conquest and act more as histories, such as Comentaries Reales written in 1609 by Garcilasco de la Vega. We do have some good idea of what happened though. Bordering Cuzco was a loose confederation of the Chankas, (not a solidified threat as many chronicles made out), but it was enough to be a threat to the rising Inkas. During the reign of the eighth ruler Wiraqocha the Chankas sent a message to Cuzco demanding that the ruler surrender. He fled with his heir, Inka Urco, so his other son Inka Yupanki decided to defend Cuzco. He had a dream where the creator god Inti told him that he would be 'greater than any of his ancestors...because he would conquer the Chankas who were marching on Cuzco'. As the Chankas approached Cuzco the stones in the fields surrounding Cuzco turned into warriors, called pururaucas, who helped him defeat the Chankas. When he took the prisoners to his father, who was expected to tread on them as expected, his father got Inka Urco to do so disrespecting Yupanki. Apparently he staged a palace coup killing Urco, and then returning to Cuzco to fight the regrouping Chankas. The battle saw the slaughter of the Chankas and afterwards Yupanki became known as Pachakuti or 'transformer of the world'. It is quite possible though that this all never happened and that Inkan conquest of the Chankas was less sudden. Apparently Pachakuti had Machu Picchu constructed as a family retreat and he reorganized the empire around 1438. At the center was Cuzco surrounded by four provincial governments: Chinchasuyu, Antisuyu, Kuntisuyu and Qullasuyu. This formed Tawantisuyu, or the 'Four Regions'.

Khipu

Khipu

The khipu is so unique that I believe that it deserves to be talked about by itself. Charles Mann has described the khipu as being 'reminiscent of today's computer languages'. This was the Inkan writing system. Made of camelid fiber the khipu is a series of knots which recorded numbers in primarily a decimal system. For years it was believed that they only recorded numbers for purposes of tribute, censuses etc. but since 1981 when Robert and Marcia Ascher that it actually recorded writing. The material, spin, ply, and color of each string, and the direction of the knot referred to what we would call a letter. Gary Urton has described it as a 'seven-bit binary array' which had 1,536 'information units' compared to 1,500 cuneiform signs and the 600-800 Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphics by the time of the Conquest. The Inka likely did not pioneer the khipu. Evidence suggests that the Wari had a similar system as well. As the khipu was made of string and knots it was easy for the Spanish conquerors to burn them compared to the stone writing system of the Maya and Mexica. 

Administration

Someone using a khipu. Image by Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala in the later 16th/early 17th century

The Inka had a very efficient administrative system recorded on the khipu. All this was done with Quechua as a uniting language as the empire covered many different cultures outside the Valley of Cuzco. Aymara and Uru were also widely used in the empire with Aymara being most popular after Quechua. As a result 'conquest' and 'annexation' of peripheral regions were never completed and what was conquered through force was done through other means. The Inkan roads were famous and linked the empire together. The roads were some of the greatest in history. Cuzco was the administrative center and the largest settlement which was described by Cristobal de Molina as being 'a town of more than forty thousand citizens in the city-center alone-with suburbs and outlying settlements around Cuzco to 10 or 12 leagues, I believe there must have been 200,000 Indians'. In Cuzco the emperor resided and was honored, Louis Baudin refers to him as a 'Man-God'. Incest happened as the emperor had to marry his eldest sister, as in keeping with their origin myth. The empress could hold immense power. Pachakuti's wife often ruled in his place when he was away conquering and personally organized relief for victims of an intense earthquake in Arequipa. Tupac Yupanqui's wife, (Pachakuti's daughter), even got the Yanayacu to join the empire. As mentioned earlier outside of Cuzco there were the four suyu ruled by what can be described as a governor. 

The empire also used a policy called mitmaq or mitma. This was a policy which combined colonization with ethnic cleansing at its worst. The mitmaq was a policy to encourage submission without wasting resources suppressing an unruly people. This policy of ethnic cleansing moved less cooperative communities to loyal communities breaking up the unruly peoples so they could not organize resistance against Cuzco. It was described by Spanish chronicler Juan de Betanzos: These Indians were young married men with their wives, their things, and seeds from their lands so they could be placed as mitimaes in the valleys and lands surrounding Cuzco...If the natives should rebel, and the [mitmaq] supported the [Inka] governor, the natives would be punished and reduced to service of the Incas. Likewise, if the [mitmaq] stirred up disorder, the natives put them down. In this way these rulers had their empire assured against revolt.'Thousands could be moved with this system. This was done via the roads.

An Inkan Road

The Inkas built over 20,000 km of road! They are now officially a UNESCO World Heritage Site. These systems were linked by way-stations offering shelter to official travelers. The roads aren't consistent throughout the empire. From Cuzco to Quito in modern Ecuador with large impressive roads whereas in the south, (Chile and Argentina), they are rather small. 

Religion

An image of Viracocha

Religion was extremely important for the Inka. Many different religions existed in the empire, and like the Romans knew that imposing their religion onto the conquered meant that they could not sustain an empire. To ensure their power sometimes the Inka would associate themselves with local deities and oracles, as well as honoring local shrines. However, the conquered had to acknowledge that the sun and moon were superior to local gods. A Spanish chronicler, Juan de Betanzos, who spoke Quechua and was married to Emperor Atawallpa's niece/consort has spoken in detail about Inkan religion. The Inkas were polytheistic and even have several creation stories, (with one concerning Lake Titicaca to possibly link themselves to the Wari). The creator god, Viracocha, had created a race of shadowy people but was displeased with them so turned them to stone. He then emerged from Lake Titicaca where he created the sun, moon and the first humans. It was also stated that he was the ancestor/father to Manco Capac. The sun god Inti, however, was most revered where in some stories he is the father of Manco Capac. It is believed that the worship of Inti above all was put forward by Pachakuti. 

Religion varied for the aristocracy and commoners. For one, commoners could not utter the name Viracocha. Rituals were vital for everyone and were recorded on a lunar calendar of 354 days although the elite used a precise solar calendar to link with Inti. Temples were important centers, especially the temple for Inti in Cuzco called Qorikancha, where thousands congregated to observe sunrises and sunsets. Sacrifice was done but this was largely a sacrifice of maize or a llama. Human sacrifice did occur but in many areas figurines made of silver, good or wood were used. Here we see a difference between the Mexica and the Inka. For the Mexica humanity was in debt so repaid the debt via blood sacrifice; for the Inka this was not present and veneration of ancestors was more prevalent. Mummification was common for the ruling elite, especially for emperors. For commoners religious worship was common with many praying daily to household gods. Pregnant women offered more in sacrifice to ensure that her baby would survive, (curious side note Inkan children weren't referred to as a human until age 2/3 due to high infant mortality rate and not given a gender specific name until age 7). 

Economy

An Inkan terrace for farming

At the start I mentioned that the Inkas have sometimes been described as being communist or socialist. The reason for this is that the Inkas didn't have markets or currency. While in Mexico the Spanish spoke often of the markets being blown away by them; in Peru they make no mention of them. Instead of a market economy the economy was ran through reciprocity. In exchange for corvee labor, military obligations and taxes in the form of crops or textiles people would be supplied with food during hard times, feasts, and projects terraces. Although bartering did occur most of the economy was ran via reciprocity. The Inkas were famous for their precious metals like gold and silver. How then did this fit into the Inkan world? The value of goods depended on their role in the system of social relationships and rituals. Gold and silver were needed for ceremony which formed the backbone of society. Hence these precious metals became important in society.

Conquest

Depiction of the Conquest

In less than a hundred years since the formation of Tawantinsuyu under Pachakuti the empire fell to invaders from another world. In 1492 Christopher Columbus brought the Americas to the attention of Europe. In the 1520s Wayna Qhapaq was consolidating his northernmost conquests in the far north, (modern Columbia and Ecuador). While there he heard stories of strangers being spotted. In 1521 Hernan Cortes had destroyed the Triple Alliance, (Aztec Empire), in Mexico. The Spanish Empire had been building an empire in the Americas bringing with it explorers and colonists but more importantly disease. Smallpox had devastated the people of Mesoamerica and the disease would spread across the Americas killing thousands if not millions in something called the Great Dying. Tawantinsuyu was no exception. Before they met the Spanish they encountered their diseases-measles, influenza and smallpox-and lacking resistance to the disease thousands died in the Inkan Empire. Wayna Qhapaq and his designated heir both succumbed to one of the diseases sometime between 1524 and 1528 causing a succession war. While this was happening a conquistador named Francisco Pizarro in 1524 had attempted to find a rich 'tribe', (and tried again in 1525), and in 1530/1 he made landfall at Tumbas in northern Peru. In 1532 with 150 men on foot and horse he set off to meet one of the brothers in the succession war, Atawallpa. Like Cortes in Mexico he recruited locals who had opposed Atawallpa. On November 15, 1532 they arrived at Atawallpa's temporary capital of Cajamarca where Pizarro's secretary commented that the city was 'larger than any city in Spain'. Atawallpa greeted them warmly but Pizarro feared that he would betray them so conspired to kidnap the emperor. They met with Atawallpa demanding that he accept Christianity and that he submit to the Spanish king. Due to translation errors the emperor threw a Bible which the Spanish used as a provocation to attack. It was a massacre leaving hundreds of Atawallpa's men dead. The emperor was captured but he had a chance to be released: he had to fill a room full of gold and twice that of silver. He did but Pizarro would not let him go. When the other brother was assassinated the Spanish used this as an excuse to blame Atawallpa and used it to execute him in 1533. Over the next thirty-five years the Spanish began a bloody genocide against the Inka. Atawallpa's nephew, Tupac Amaru, was leading the resistance against them until 1572 when he was captured and executed.

Although many died in fighting more were killed thanks to diseases including typhus, smallpox and influenza. Between 60 and 90% of the Inkan population died thanks to European diseases. Already broken thanks to disease and civil war the conquest was easy for the Spanish. With thousands dead through disease by the time of Tupac Amaru's death in 1572 nothing could bring back the Inkas.

Conclusion

The Inka remain a key point in South American history. Often overlooked their brief empire offered a way to unite a huge swath of land, (just 1000 km smaller than Alexander the Great's empire). With a unique writing system and an economic system which can be easily described as communistic the Inkas are a key point in history. Their legacy is also important. Their usage of Quechua spread the language so much that it is the official language of several countries, including Peru. Several sites including the roads and Machu Picchu are UNESCO World Heritage Sites showing their importance. Finally the leader of a Peruvian independence movement in the late eighteenth-century changed his name to be named after Tupac Amaru who resisted the Spanish years earlier. They may have been a short-lived society but they left a huge impact. Next time we will look closer at the Great Dying as well as other aspects of European colonialism.

Thank you for reading and the sources I have used are as follows:

-The Incas by Craig Morris and Adriana von Hagen

-The Discovery and Conquest of Peru by Pedro de Cieza de Leon, (translated by Alexandra Parma Cook and Noble David Cook)

-The Ancient Kingdoms of Peru by Nigel Davies

-Daily Life in Peru Under the Last Incas by Louis Baudin, (translated by Winifred Bradford)

-'Andean Societies before 1532' by John Murra, in The Cambridge History of Latin America, Volume 1: Colonial Latin America edited by Leslie Bethell

-1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus by Charles C. Mann

-'South America on the eve of European Conquest' in The Times Complete History of the World edited by Richard Overy

For other World History posts please see here. Please like our Facebook page and follow me on Twitter @LewisTwiby. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave any comments and I'll see you at the next World History post when we discuss colonialism.

World History: Age of Exploration

The Waldseemüller Map, made 1507

The above photo is of the famous Waldseemüller Map made in 1513. It is important because in the year 1513 it is possibly the first map to not only show America but also have the name 'America', (named after Amerigo Vespucci), on it. Just twenty years earlier the first Europeans since the Vikings had landed on the American continent. Today we'll be looking at a period of time generally referred to as 'The Age of Exploration' or 'The Age of Discovery' which precipitated Europe's bloody conquest of the world. Today we shall be looking at the voyages of people to see exactly what they discovered if they discovered anything at all. Before we look at the voyages, however, we have to know what areas of the world knew about the rest.

What the World Knew

Marco Polo in China

When we looked at the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean we saw an interconnected world years before the likes of Vasco da Gama, Magellan and Christopher Columbus came onto the scene. The ones who easily knew the most were those in the Islamic world. Spanning both the Mediterranean and Indian Oceans this gave Muslim merchants the ability to trade across both bodies of water. By the 1300s Muslims had even established trading posts in China and mosques were even used as lighthouses for coastal cities occasionally. Perhaps the most well known Muslim traveler was Ibn Battuta who in the first half of the fourteenth-century traveled across all areas where Muslims lived. Over his life he left his home of Morocco traveling to the Arabian peninsula to India to Java to China and to Mali. India too was connected to this trade route. For centuries India had a faint knowledge of Europe with them sending a Buddhist mission to the Roman Empire, although it never reached Rome and only reached Egypt. India was well aware of China and would trade ivory with the Celestial Empire. China had a good knowledge of the world east of the Mediterranean through the Indian Ocean trade. By the time Columbus set off China had visited and reported Africa, Arabia and Anatolia. Europe lagged behind in this respect. Following the Crusades Europe's connection to the world beyond was via the Mediterranean trade controlled by either the Byzantines or Ottomans. In the 1330s, however, Spain and Portugal had already started heading west conquering and colonizing the Azores and Canary Islands. More famously was the travels of Marco Polo. Although there is a chance that Marco Polo never actually visited the court of the Mongols in China regardless it shows Europe's knowledge of China. Whether by visiting or by collating/embellishing records from other travelers Polo managed to somewhat accurately describe the Yuan court. Above is a painting of his visit to China; it also shows how Europeans viewed China before the onset of Orientalism and racism. The Chinese and Chinese cities are depicted in a European style.

One last group we shall look at is those who themselves were colonized. The Mesoamericans had either mapped in detail or had good knowledge of central America. They knew all of this region from the Isthmus of Panama up to northern Mexico, (although not as far as the current Mexican border along the Rio Grande). The Aztec system of government relied on exacting tribute from local kingdoms so naturally they knew Mesoamerica well. In the south the Incas had mapped and recorded the Andes in intimate detail. Incan roads were extremely good so communication along the Andes allowed the mountains to be mapped in detail. However, being in the Andes the Incas knew little of the lands east of the Andes but it is hard to be certain. In the Pacific the Polynesians knew a lot of the Pacific. The Polynesians had some of the best navigators in human history and from the Marshall Islands they had at least some knowledge of huge areas of the Pacific including Hawaii, the Solomon Islands and Fiji. Before we look at the famous explorers we shall first look at China which we briefly spoke of when we talked about the Ming.

Zheng He and the Ming

The giraffe taken by Zheng He

The first person who we shall look at is Zheng He. Starting in 1405 and ending in 1433 Zheng He went on a series of seven voyages during the reign of the Yongle emperor. These voyages went all across the Indian Ocean to Indonesia to Arabia to India to even East Africa using the largest fleet in human history until the First World War. Chinese sources have a habit of embellishing figures but in the 1960s the Ming shipyards were discovered outside of Nanjing confirming the immense size of the Ming ships. The first voyage even had a crew of 27,000. Why though did the Ming go on these voyages? Julia Lovell has put forward several theories of which two seem to be the real reason: power projection and to confirm the Yongle emperor's power domestically. Although the voyages sometimes had 30,000 soldiers on them and often intervened in local affairs like in a Sumatran civil war, but they never set out to conquer other lands. Similarly although they carried Chinese goods and goods from other lands trade was never their main goal. A long trend in Chinese history was for China to view itself as the main power in the world, (which for much of its history was accurate), and expected other states to deliver tribute to China. These voyages were part of this. Lovell, Rana Mitter and Craig Clunas have suggested that the Ming may have been aware of the growing power of the Timurid Empire in the west. These voyages were clearly done to project Chinese power. The massive fleets carrying thousands of Chinese soldiers and goods were to show this power. On one voyage they even kidnapped a Sri Lankan king who refused to acknowledge Chinese supremacy. The voyages were also done to project the power of the Yongle emperor. He had come to power by ousting his nephew so naturally he wanted to legitimize his rule. By bullying smaller states and bringing back luxury goods to give to the elite this was a good way to become legitimate. The voyages brought back animals and the one from Africa brought back a giraffe. This is important as giraffes resemble the qilin, a mythical unicorn like animal from Chinese mythology, which was said to only appear during the rule of righteous emperors. Naturally this was a huge propaganda boost for the Yongle emperor. It is important to note that after Yongle died the voyages barely lasted ten years after his death.

Who led these voyages? A eunuch called Zheng He led these voyages and his story reflects how these voyages worked. His father was a Muslim in the service of the Mongol court and Zheng was captured aged ten by the new rising Ming dynasty who made him a eunuch. Yongle was close to the eunuchs and came to power through them so he got his friend to lead the voyages. Zheng being a Muslim had connections to the Arabian peninsula so as a result the first voyage was to Arabia. As we have already seen the Islamic world had mapped out many areas which Zheng had followed. The Chinese fleets kept to the coast, just like other merchants, and never visited any areas which had not previously been recorded. Despite some recent claims Zheng never reached America as China had no records of the Americas. He never went east from Nanjing, only west. Can we call this period of time the Age of Discovery or Exploration if one of the greatest explorers never explored somewhere new or undiscovered?

Iberian Voyages

A statue of Bartolomeu Dias

The Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) was in perfect position to start exploring and conquering the areas outside of Europe. We shall save the actual conquest of Asia, Africa and America for a future post as it deserves a post for itself. Long before the conquistadors set out to conquer and enslave in Mesoamerica and the Andes, before the mass enslavement of Africans to be sent to the Americas, and before the genocide of Native Americans Iberia had started to explore and colonize in the Atlantic. In 1415 Prince Henry of Portugal would capture the city of Ceuta in Morocco and he would become known as Henry the Navigator. Inspired by the legend of a Christian king called Prester John whose kingdom was supposedly somewhere in Africa he was seen as the patron of Portuguese navigation. He believed that the best way to tap into the Saharan gold and slave trade, (as well as finding Prester John's kingdom), was for sea exploration. With the new compass, possibly imported from China which Zheng He was using to navigate the Indian Ocean at the same time, he organised over fifty voyages supported by map-makers, astronomers, and mathematicians. The Azores, Madeira, and São Tomé were soon colonized by Portugal. Spain was late compared to Portugal in exploration. For many years what is now Spain was divided between three main kingdoms: Castile, Aragon and Grenada. Grenada was a Muslim state and in 1469 the two Christian kingdoms formed a dynastic union when Isabella of Castile married Ferdinand of Aragon. In 1492 their combined forces conquered Grenada and with a continued crusading zeal decided to channel this into navigation.

Before we look at the main actors we'll look at a Portuguese navigator named Bartolomeu Dias. The above photo is a statue of Dias in South Africa. Some of you may be wondering why a Portuguese navigator is being honored with a statue in South Africa. The reason is in 1488 Dias rounded the tip of South Africa. In 1453 the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople so now Christian Europe's connection to the eastern markets were controlled by Muslims instead of Christians. Zealous Portugal and Spain were outraged at having to trade with Muslims but they still wanted access to the lucrative spice market. Portugal wanting access to the Indian markets so sent Dias to get access to India via southern Africa. Although Henry the Navigator had died by this time his life goal was continued by Dias; one of his mission goals was to find Prester John's kingdom. Dias originally named where he traversed the 'Cape of Storms' but a later king renamed it Cape of Good Hope as it was Portugal's access to the Indian Ocean.

Columbus

Christopher Columbus

Of all the people in history Christopher Columbus is one of the most controversial. We shall discuss his post-exploration career (and his legacy) in a future post and why there should not be a Christopher Columbus Day. Columbus represented everything that Europe was at the time. Born in Genoa he had been a merchant trading along the west coast of Africa and all across the Mediterranean. He had access to the compass which the Portuguese had used to colonize the Atlantic islands and across the Cape. Thanks to the letterpress made by Gutenberg in 1436 detailed maps and records became readily available for him to pour over. Despite what the media often says Columbus was fully aware that the planet was round, (since the time of the Greeks humanity had known that the Earth wasn't flat). Based on Ptolemy and the Imago Mundi, taken from Muslim scholars, he overestimated Asia's size so he thought he could find an alternate route to the Indies by sailing west instead of going around the Cape. Originally Columbus tried to get Portugal to invest his expedition, not Spain, and despite the media portrayal Isabella did not believe in him. Isabella of Spain is often portrayed in a sexist light where Columbus woes her into believing his plan and then convincing Ferdinand. In reality she turned him down and when Columbus was leaving Cordoba Ferdinand had the navigator summoned back where he offered to fund his expedition in 1492. Filled with crusading zeal Spain wished to find an alternate route to the Indian Ocean and find Christians so they could continue crusading in northern Africa. On October 12, 1492 Columbus landed in the New World. He landed on an island in the Bahamas which he called San Salvador. 

On San Salvador he was greeted by the local Arawak people who were peaceful. The Arawaks had lots of gold and Columbus took some captive to demand where their gold jewelry came from. He even boasted in his writings that he could have conquered them with fifty men and govern them as he pleased. This would start a precedent for the subjugation of the Americas by Europeans leading to genocide, slavery, and ethnic cleansing. He left the Caribbean with enslaved people and gold arriving in Lisbon in March 1493. He wrote:

Thirty-three days after my departure from Cadiz I reached the Indian sea, where I discovered many islands, thickly peopled. Of which I took possession without resistance in the name of our most illustrious Monarchs, by public proclamation and with unfurled banners. To the first of these islands, which is called by the Indians Guanahani, I gave the name of the blessed Savior, relying upon whose protection I had reached this as well as the other islands.

His words spread rapidly through Europe via the printing press so copies soon emerged in Barcelona, Paris, Antwerp, Rome and Basel. Edmundo O'Gorman has described the 'invention of America' coming from Columbus' journey. Columbus never learnt the local language and imposed his own ideas on the islands which he encountered. He expected to find cannibals, Amazons, and mountains of gold, found none and then said that the locals always told him of another island which had them. He never once thought that he had discovered a new continent but instead had landed in the Indies. Today we still refer to it as the West Indies and his name for the locals, indios (Indians), is still used occasionally. Columbus' description of the local peoples reflects how Europeans would later describe Native Americans on the mainland, Indians, Africans, and other colonized peoples. He highly praised them at times but then would heavily disparage their culture. The best way to show this is by using an excerpt from his letter which he wrote upon his return:

They are naturally timid and fearful. As soon as they see they are safe, however, they are very simple and honest, and exceedingly liberal with all they have...the women seem to work more than the men. I could not clearly understand whether the people possess any private property...I did not find, as some of us had expected, any cannibals among them, but on the contrary men of great deference and kindness.

The early stages of colonialism and imperialism that would characterize later world history can be seen here. As described by Antonio Gramsci we see a cross-cultural encounter that starts to clash. Columbus regards the Arawaks as being 'men of great deference' but seems perplexed by the lack of private property as what happened in Europe. As we shall see in later posts this begrudging respect would soon be supplemented by scorn. Columbus himself would become known for his appalling treatment of the indigenous peoples.

Vasco da Gama and early Portuguese conquest

Da Gama in India

Portugal wanted to dominate the spice trade. Portugal lacked resources so was heavily reliant on trade and the proto-capitalist world was heavily reliant on trade. In 1497 Manuel I sponsored a fleet of four ships armed with cannons under Vasco da Gama to find two things: gold and Christians. Around ninety years after Henry the Navigator first captured Ceuta the Portuguese were still hunting for Prester John hoping to recruit him in a crusade in north Africa. Using technology and astronomical charts made by Henry the Navigator da Gama sailed around the Cape (Europe soon realized that they hadn't found a new route to the Indian Ocean). While in the Indian Ocean da Gama found mariners who knew the seas well. On his initial voyage he bombarded Calicut but was still heavily rewarded by Manuel I who gave him the title 'Admiral of the Indian Ocean'. The king sent da Gama back to enforce Portuguese interests where he destroyed an Indian fleet and captured Calicut where they used their cannons to break in. He returned to Portugal carrying huge amounts of spices, gold and jewels. With Portugal's gains in West Africa early colonialism greatly expanded Portuguese wealth. Portugal then founded a 'trading post empire'. It would take until the 1700s and 1800s for Europe to properly to establish itself in Asia and Africa so at this early stage they would instead take coastal cities which could easily be held using their cannons. Most famously in 1515 they captured Goa. This allowed Portugal to directly tap into the Indian markets with 40,300 tonnes of shipping going to Asia in return for 26,300 tonnes between 1497 and 1510. We soon see a clash of cultures. Indian states had always been land powers being disinterested in the sea. Their sovereignty ended at the coast in their mind. This differed to the Mediterranean where states battled for supremacy. When Portugal established themselves in India they engaged in basically piracy attacking any Indian ship not carrying a licence called a cartaz. Few could afford a cartaz however so this was used by the Portuguese, (and by later Europeans including the Dutch, French and British), to exercise power. Here we see the origins of European world hegemony.

Conclusion

Can we really call this an Age of Exploration? Zheng He and Vasco da Gama used already established routes to travel along, and even then they were interested in breaking into (or breaking) markets which they already knew. Columbus, despite 'discovering' America, had wanted to also break into this market and only failed thanks to him overestimating Asia's size and underestimating the size of the oceans. Even then we cannot say that he explored or discovered anything. Millions of people lived in the Americas. Below we have a map of the areas which was actually discovered (i.e. where no humans had actually been):

Places actually Discovered

In this period we also see the trends which will go on to characterize European imperialism. Portugal in India managed to create an edge for itself by using brief technological advantages to then impose European ideas. This clash of ideas would give Europeans an excuse to dominate the local peoples. Meanwhile, in the Americas Columbus showed an Orientalist view on the indigenous peoples. Centuries later Thomas Jefferson would lament the fate of Native Americans but would blame them for not accepting European culture and religion. We see the same in the Indies. In a future post we shall explore this further. For the next two posts, however, we will focus on the Aztecs and Incas. We shall look at these two unique cultures before they were broken by European greed and power. Thank you for reading and I have used these sources:

-Early Modern Europe, 1450-1789 by Merry Wiesner-Hanks

-The Portuguese Empire in Asia, 1500-1700 by Sanjay Subrahmanyam

-The Relentless Revolution: A History of Capitalism by Joyce Appleby

-The Times Complete History of the World edited by Richard Overy

-Atlantic History: A Critical Appraisal edited by Jack P. Greene and Philip D. Morgan

-'The Ming Voyages', BBC In Our Time

-Laura Benton, 'Legal Spaces of Empire: Piracy and the Origins of Ocean Regionalism', Comparative Studies in Society and History, 2005

-Crash Course World History

For other World History posts please see here