Factors Leading to European Expansion and Colonialism in the 16th and 17th Centuries

 

Discussion essay for HIS-4150: History and Historians

Dr. Amanda Snyder

University of Central Florida

Factors Leading to European Expansion and Colonialism in the 16^th and 17^th Centuries

The road which led to the encounter between Europeans and native peoples of the “New World” and subsequent colonial expansion into these areas is a complex history of social and economic factors.  We cannot say simply that the need for expansion or military power was the primary factor that led to these events.  Instead, we can argue that series of changes in the agricultural, economic, and political climate of Europe were driving factors that fueled expansionism, which in turn provided the necessary mechanisms for subsequent colonial activity.  To begin with, we also must include the concurrent expansion of European power into African continent and following slave industry that resulted.  According to John K. Thornton, the early history of the Atlantic basin was a coming together of three cultures:  European, African, and “American.”[1]  This encounter was an enormous shock to all three cultures.[2]  Not only had these cultures not previously encountered others like them before, but the entire nature of each culture was substantially different; in appearance, language, religion, values, etc…  What led to European expansion, slavery, and colonialism? 

            To answer this question, we have to start in Europe and look at medieval economic systems.  According to traditional Marxist theory, there are three historical epochs of economic development:  ancient society (Greece and Rome), feudal society, and capitalist society (modern bourgeoisie).[3]  The medieval period in Europe is best described as a feudal society with local nobles owning land and “renting” the land to sharecroppers to develop agriculturally.  In 1500, the French historian Fernand Braudel published a work on the history of capitalism.  According to Thornton, Braudel describes three levels of inequality from poorest to richest:  hunter-gatherers, farmers that use the hoe, to farmers that use the plow.[4]  While this paradigm does well to describe different levels of agriculture, Thornton disagrees with Braudel that this is a universal paradigm of development.  He points out the research of Pierre Goubert that showed that some of the richest agricultural regions had the lowest vitality rates (life expectancy, infant mortality).[5] Thornton argues that Braudel’s model did not exist before the 19^th century.[6]  What occurred in Europe during the 15^th and 16^th centuries then, must be found elsewhere.  According to Thornton, a changing agricultural and political landscape, from pure feudalism to the introduction of a monarchy, led to an imbalance of power, wealth, and wealth production.  A growing merchant class helped to further fuel this development.  This is evidenced in the work of Christopher Hill in “Economic Background of the English Revolution.”  Hill argues that because of changing agricultural roles, the middle/merchant class grew richer, while the nobility and peasant class grew poorer.  Changes in land ownership precipitated the need to expand beyond the geographical area of England.[7]  The growth of the merchant class led to an incipient capitalist economy beginning to grow.  It is important to note, according to Hill, that before 1640, what changed in England was not of agricultural technique, the method of farming remained the same, but instead there was a change in land ownership and in the volume of production.[8]  Thus, the need for more land led to expansionism. 

            Sailing to Africa and the Americas, European powers discovered peoples completely unlike themselves.  It is safe to say they were at the hunter-gatherer stage of production.  However, differences in culture would prove to be life-changing for everyone.  As described previously, European culture was driven by the need to produce more, thereby fueling a materialist culture that required more and more goods and wealth to sustain it.  Conversely, hunter-gatherer societies are able to easily produce all that they require.  As Thornton describes, these societies did not have to share their good with an upper class and were able to meet their needs much more easily than their European counterparts.[9]  According to Richard Grassby, the value of objects reflect the culture which produces it.[10]  We can see that in the initial contacts between Europeans and the native populations of the Caribbean Islands, they were content with receiving “low value” beads and trinkets from the Europeans.[11]  They valued these items, it would seem, for their intrinsic beauty and did not seem concerned about gold, silver, or other precious metals and gems.  The indigenous populations did not “need” anything from the Europeans as they were completely self-sufficient.  This represents a power imbalance whereby the Europeans could more easily obtain from the native peoples those precious metals, gems, production of goods, and most importantly, land that they could produce these on.  European governments were more than eager to join in on the exploration and development of these new lands and resources, providing charters to private companies giving them broad powers in the Americas.  These colonies acted as de facto economic representatives of their home nation.  In the charter given from the government of the Netherlands to the Dutch West India Company in 1621, we see the rights of the charter company that had been established.  Article II of the Charter states that they had the right to “make contracts” and “appoint and discharge Governors.”[12]  In addition, for security purposes, the Charter company is authorized to “take any troops with them (Article V)” who “shall obey the command of the said Company (Article VI).”[13]

            The long road from initial mutual discovery to the establishment of colonies that produced gold, silver, and other valuable goods such as tobacco and sugar, all profitable back in the European continent was a long and winding one.  A “perfect storm” of economic and political factors in Europe along with differences in culture and economy in the “new world” created the opportunity for the wealth and land that England, France, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands needed to fuel a rising capitalist economy to be accessible, while simultaneously creating colonial subjects and an African slave trade to fuel it.  Unlike in other parts of the globe, an equitable trade system would not be established here, instead, the Europeans would dominate both continents and the islands within their navigable waters.

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

Charter of the Dutch West India Company – 1621, Yale Law School, The Avalon Project

collection, accessed September 2, 2021. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/westind.asp, Art. II.

Columbus, Christopher, “Document 2-2. Columbus Describes His First Encounter with

‘Indians’,” in Reading the American Past: Selected Historical Documents, edited by Michael P. Johnson (Boston/New York, Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012)

Grassby, Richard, “Material Culture and Cultural History,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History,

XXXV:4, Spring, 2005

Hill, Christopher, “Economic Background of the English Revolution,” in Amanda Snyder,

“Material Culture,” UCF Webcourses.  Accessed September 2, 2021. https://webcourses.ucf.edu/courses/1387655/pages/week-2-material-culture?module_item_id=15070614

“Marxist Historians”, in Amanda Snyder, “Material Culture,” UCF Webcourses. Accessed

September 2, 2021.  https://webcourses.ucf.edu/courses/1387655/pages/week-2-material-culture?module_item_id=15070614

Thornton, John K, A Cultural History of the Atlantic World, 1250-1820, New York: Cambridge

University Press, 2012

---

[1] For ease of reference, the generic term “American” is used in this work to denote the areas and indigenous peoples encountered in the lands currently named North, Central, and South America, as well as the islands of the Caribbean unless an otherwise more specific nomenclature is warranted.

[2] Thornton, John K, A Cultural History of the Atlantic World, 1250-1820, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012, 29.

[3] “Marxist Historians”, in Amanda Snyder, “Material Culture,” UCF Webcourses. Accessed September 2, 2021.  https://webcourses.ucf.edu/courses/1387655/pages/week-2-material-culture?module_item_id=15070614

[4] Thornton, John K, A Cultural History of the Atlantic World, 1250-1820, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012., 29

[5] Ibid, 32

[6] Ibid, 32

[7] Hill, Christopher, “Economic Background of the English Revolution,” in Amanda Snyder, “Material Culture,” UCF Webcourses.  Accessed September 2, 2021. https://webcourses.ucf.edu/courses/1387655/pages/week-2-material-culture?module_item_id=15070614, 2

[8] Ibid, 5.

[9] Thornton, John K, A Cultural History of the Atlantic World, 1250-1820, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012, 32.

[10] Grassby, Richard, “Material Culture and Cultural History,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XXXV:4, Spring, 2005, 597

[11] Columbus, Christopher, “Document 2-2. Columbus Describes His First Encounter with ‘Indians’,” in Reading the American Past: Selected Historical Documents, edited by Michael P. Johnson (Boston/New York, Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012), 20.

[12] Charter of the Dutch West India Company – 1621, Yale Law School, The Avalon Project collection, accessed September 2, 2021.  https://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/westind.asp, Art. II.

[13] Ibid, Art. V and Art. VI