Page 126 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

I

covery of the Canary Islands in the mid-1300s by Portuguese dominance of the Indian Ocean shipping
Genoese sailors in service to Portugal and the 1291 voy- lanes was never a foregone conclusion.
age of Ugolino and Vadino di Vivaldi, who disappeared Spain, though it maintained a distinct economic pres-
near Safi, Morocco, due to their attempt to circumnavi- ence in the Far East, focused its mercantile attentions
gate Africa. largely toward the Americas. Spain founded an empire
Beginning in the early fifteenth century, the Portuguese based on land rather than setting up a string of trading
extended their influence in the Atlantic Ocean through a ports as did the Portuguese.The 1545 discovery of enor-
series of journeys down the West African coast. In mous deposits of silver in Potosí, located in modern
exchange for Iberian agricultural products, the Por- Bolivia, was a watershed event for Spain’s imperial his-
tuguese received gold, fish, and slaves from North Africa. tory. Mining became a singularly important industry
Establishing colonies and sugar plantations in places within Spanish American territories, and the silver
such as the Azores and Madeira islands permitted the galleons that sailed the seas from Acapulco to Manila
Portuguese to obtain a geographic advantage in their fur- were crucial to Spain’s political and mercantile empire.
ther exploration of economic opportunities in Africa. Demand for silver, the principal currency of the Chinese
The foundation of fortified trading posts was signifi- economy, was very high within Asian markets. Between
cant for the development of Portugal’s economic empire. 1570 and 1780 CE anywhere from 4,000 to 5,000 tons
São Jorge de Mina, located in modern Ghana, was one of silver crossed the Pacific Ocean. Because the Spanish
such post, where the Portuguese traded European horses, crown received a fifth of the bullion, the trade in gold
leather, textiles, and metal products for luxury goods and silver across both oceans was quite lucrative.
such as gold, slaves, pepper, and Sudanese ivory. Profits
received from this trade helped the Portuguese to fund Trading Companies
further explorations down the coast.These posts, estab- Though Portuguese and Spanish trading companies are
lished soon after the first Portuguese incursions were not as well known as their English or Dutch counter-
made into new areas, were designed to control trading parts, such as the English East India Company or the
routes. Through the supposed military superiority of Dutch United East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-
their ships and cannons, the Portuguese sought to force Indische Compagnie), privileged Iberian trading compa-
other merchant vessels to dock at these posts and pay nies nonetheless played a substantial role in the early
duties. By the middle of the sixteenth century the Por- modern era. In 1685, the Portuguese founded a com-
tuguese had more than fifty such fortified entrepots, pany for the purchase of slaves, one of the more prof-
extending from West Africa to East Asia. However, itable aspects of their transatlantic trade. It was not until
thanks to the strength of Muslim, Indian, and Malay mer- the eighteenth century that the Spanish formally char-
chants, combined with the dearth of Portuguese vessels, tered several companies for their trade in the Indies.The

945