Lesson 17 Early Colonial Plunder

Early colonial powers: Portugal and Spain

In the late Middle Ages, Western Europe had an unprecedented prosperity in the commodity economy and needed to expand markets, market their products, and find raw materials. After the opening of new routes, Europeans began the early colonial plunder.

The earliest countries to colonize were Portugal and Spain. The Portuguese established a number of colonial strongholds and trading posts in Asia, Africa and Latin America, such as Brazil, Goa in India, Malacca and Macau in China, thus controlling the sea route from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, and using the colonial strongholds as a base for plundering trade in the region. They traded Portuguese handicrafts for ivory, pearls, gems and spices from black hands, and even robbed blacks of their gold.

In the 16th century, Spain had a powerful naval fleet that roamed the Mediterranean and Atlantic, calling itself the "Invincible Armada". With this fleet, Spain built a large colonial empire in the central and southern regions of the Americas. The Spanish colonists used force to force the Indians to work the gold and silver mines without compensation, and developed plantations where Indians and blacks were forced to work as slaves.

British colonial expansion

In the 16th century, England's activities were largely confined to the British Isles, but the establishment of the capitalist mode of production led to the rapid development of handicrafts, especially woolen textiles, and prompted it to explore overseas markets. In 1588, the English navy fought a naval battle against the Invincible Armada in the English Channel, and the Invincible Armada was almost completely destroyed. The "Invincible Armada" was almost completely wiped out. Britain gradually became the dominant power at sea and began to expand its colonies overseas.

The British colonists established large plantations in North America to produce cotton, tobacco, indigo, sugar and other raw materials needed for British industry. In order to gain greater profits, British colonists also engaged in the African slave trade.

In the 18th century, British merchant ships sailed from British ports to Africa laden with firearms, machinery, and wine; captured black slaves in Africa and shipped them to the West Indies and American colonies to be sold to local plantation owners; and then purchased the sugar, hata grass, and other products that the colonies produced and returned to Britain. The route of this voyage was triangular, hence the name "Triangular Trade". The plantation and slave trade brought huge profits to Britain.

Dutch, French and British colonial rivalry

The Dutch once controlled all the trade in the Baltic Sea, India and America, and thus were known as the "maritime coachmen". In the 17th century, the Netherlands joined the colonial hegemony by invading Java in Indonesia, capturing Malacca and Ceylon from the Portuguese, occupying Taiwan in China, establishing a colony in the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, and establishing a colony in New Netherland in North America. The French colonies were established in North America, Africa and Asia.

In order to compete for colonies and world markets in America, Africa, and Asia, a series of wars took place between the Netherlands, France, and Britain from the second half of the 17th century. The British eventually defeated the Dutch and the French by virtue of their strength, seizing large colonies around the world and claiming to be the "Empire of the Sun".

The European colonial powers plundered the wealth of the colonies and brought to Europe potatoes, corn, tomatoes, tobacco, cocoa, tea and other crops from America, Africa and Asia; they also sold European industrial products such as wine, beer and woolen products, and brought European culture to the colonies, which had a profound impact on the social development of the colonies. This process objectively contributed to the original accumulation of capital in the colonial countries and the gradual formation of the world market, but it also brought profound disasters to the colonized people.

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