Portugese And Spanish Slave Trade

How did European nations of Spain and Portugal transform themselves from relatively poor nations to wealthy nations between 1400 and 1600? Be sure to give specific historical information to support your thesis.

The Europeans nations of Spain and Portugal transformed themselves from relatively poor nations to wealthy nations between 1400 and 1600 was mainly through their various expeditions. The first documented source was the voyages in which Prince Henry would oversee and brought him the nickname of Henry the Navigator. Henry had more maps created and had his people receive navigation training. At first his people were too afraid to travel too far out because the water was said to be shallow. After his patience ran out Prince Henry forced a squire by the name of Gil Eannes to make the attempt and he succeeded opening up the way for many more voyages which started to bring Portugal more riches after time. In 1444 Eannes captured 200 slaves and began thus began the slave trade. In 1494 to avoid further confusion among the slave trade the treaty of Tordesillas came into affect. The treaty basically divided the lands of was known as the New World then between Portugal and Spain and this allowed for the Portugal and Spain to slowly conquer and divide the many lands without opposition from the occupants of the new lands especially those who weren't of the same religion of the treaty. The many factors that lead to the expansion and riches of the European nations of Portugal and Spain were only because of the extreme growth in exploration, the treaty of Tordesillas and the growing popularity of the slave trade.

The Treaty of Tordesillas in the beginning was created to decrease problems but slowly made its way to being the sole reason for many problems and unrest between the different nations. During the time the treaty was signed and also revised there obviously weren't knowledge of any other land outside the territories that theses two nations inhibited or visited. Portugal was only given possession of brazil at the time of the revision of the treaty and seeing that the line of the division was not clearly divided Portugal slowly started to push further and further westward without Spain opposition. The treaty allowed so much uncertainty of correct land distributions that the nations were focused more and more on wealth and expansion they didn't seem to realize who had more land until it became a serious problem in the future.

The growth and expansion called for more and more work and demand for more explorations between to two nations to see what land they could acquire. As seen in Hans Mayr's account of in the voyage of Admiral d'Almeida