ORIGINS OF THE ATLANTIC WORLD This essay examin

Preconditions for Atlantic Expansion

Medieval Mindset. Europeans at the beginning of the 15th century had a very limited and highly distorted view of regions beyond the Continent itself and the Near East from which the major Western religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam sprang.

According to Phillips, the Atlantic Ocean was regarded as a "sea of darkness;" and the known world, as depicted by geographers from the time of Ptolemaic Egypt, lay north of the Equator and was surrounded by one world ocean of uncertain dimensions (p. 32). Classical conquerors such as Alexander the Great had come into contact with India. Europe learned of China from the 1300 century accounts of Marco Polo. Europeans saw themselves as at the center of the universe, but they regarded the East as a place of fabulous riches, "tales of marvels," and "wondrous races of men" (Phillips, p. 35). Christian Europe was disdainful toward non-Europeans. The massacres and looting of the Crusades were justified as the inevitable consequences of holy and just wars to recover the Promis

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d enslavement not only of Amerindians but also of African slaves who were brought to the Americas in large numbers to provide needed labor to exploit those resources. Proud and defiant local elites such as the Mexica and the Incas in Peru as well as most of the native populations of the Caribbean were decimated and in some cases wiped out. Trade boomed and had important consequences for the European colonial powers. Much of Spain's treasure from the New World ended up in the coffers of Dutch and English bankers as the shipments of bullion produced hyperinflation in Spain which grew indebted to its commercial rivals during the course of many colonial and continental wars. The English and Dutch learned from and improved upon Iberian nautical science and shipbuilding techniques. In the early 15th century, Spain replaced Portugal as the preeminent colonial power in Mesoamerica. Eventually, the British used their financial power and naval might to chase the Dutch and French out of most of North America and after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, British power in the Atlantic region increased while Spain's gradually declined. Relations between indigenous peoples and their European overlords varied, but although the methods o
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Approximate Word count = 2345
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)