3/11/25

Rachel Cassese
EMERGENCE OF A GLOBAL SOC (HON) (HIS-1000H-120)
Spring 2025
St. John’s University
Prof. Alejandro Quintana
SYNOPSIS No. 9
TITLE OF THE MODULE: Incentives for European Imperialism (asynchronous online)

TITLE OF THE CHAPTER OR SECTION: Asia Suspended

Central question of this section: How did gold from Africa, particularly from the Elmina region in the
Gold Coast, transform Portugal's economy and redirect its imperial ambitions in the late 15th century?

Your answer to that question: African gold dramatically transformed Portugal's economy, doubled
royal revenues, strengthened its currency, and led Portugal to prioritize protecting its African gold trade
rather than pursuing Asian expeditions. This led to the creation of what the author calls a "suspension"
of Portugal's Asian ambitions + redirected the traditional narrative of European expansion during the
Age of Discovery.

LIST OF IMPORTANT EVIDENCE:

 Quantifiable gold trade: "From the completion of the fort at Elmina until the mid-
sixteenth century, Portugal's caravel runs back and forth to the Gold Coast averaged
between 46 and 57 kilograms of the precious metal per month for deposit in royal
coffers." (pg.61)
 Economic impact: "By itself, trade with Elmina caused royal revenues to nearly double in
Portugal during the last twenty years of the fifteenth century." (pg.61)
 Sustained importance: "By 1506, with the tentacles of Portuguese empire already
enveloping Brazil and reaching deep into Asia, gold from the Elmina region still
constituted fully a quarter of crown revenue." (pg.61)
 Scale relative to global supply: "The Gold Coast was generating about 680 kilograms of
gold per year for Portugal or, it has been estimated, about a tenth of the entire known
total world supply around that time." (pg.61)
 Prioritization of Africa over Asia: "Africa generated as much as twice the amount in real
returns for Lisbon than even the long coveted trade in spices and early textiles with the
East did." (pg.63)
 Institutional recognition: "The kingdom's treasury—previously known as the Casa da
Guiné, reflecting what was already considered the primary importance of trade with
 Black Africa—was renamed Casa da Mina and moved into the very edifice of the royal
palace in Lisbon." (pg.61)

Personal reflection: I enjoy the way the chapter challenges the standard Eurocentric narrative that
European exploration was primarily driven by the desire to find routes to Asia. It reveals how African
gold became the economic engine of Portugal's early imperial adventures. I found the wat the story
shows how economic pragmatism (following the higher returns in Africa) trumped the ideological desire
to reach Asia, was particularly interesting. What strikes me the most was how Portuguese royal revenue
doubled from Elmina trade alone, yet this chapter in history is typically overshadowed by narratives
focused on the spice trade and Asian exploration.

QUESTIONS:

1. How might our understanding of European colonization change if we center African gold
rather than Asian spices in our narratives of early exploration?
2. The text mentions that Indian textiles were purchased with African gold to trade for
more African gold. How did the complex trade network shape cross-cultural exchanges
and power dynamics?
3. What role did technology, particularly naval technology, play in Portugal's ability to
exploit African gold resources compared to previous historical periods?
4. How did the Portuguese relationship with African kingdoms differ from relationships
with Asian powers, and what impact did these differences have on colonial strategies?
5. The text mentions "propelled complex economic integration" - how did the gold trade
from Africa contribute to early forms of globalization?

Title Analysis:

 directly challenges traditional narratives about European expansion

 suggests that Portugal's pursuit of Asian trade routes was temporarily halted or
"suspended" because the African gold trade was so lucrative.
 reframes understanding of Portugal's priorities during the Age of Discovery
 Quote: "Once it had finally been found in quantity in the 1480s, African
gold gave such a significant boost to Lisbon that the vaunted search for
a route to Asia, long preferred as the standard explanation of Europe's
expansionary motivations during the Age of Discovery, was all but
suspended." (pg.62)

Summary and Analysis:

  Begins by emphasizing the urgency with which Portugal established its gold trade
immediately after completing the fort at Elmina in 1482.
 monthly shipments from Elmina transformed Portugal's economy + fulfilled the
dreams that had motivated Prince Henry's earlier voyages.
 The gold trade's impact on Portugal's institutions is evident in the renaming of the royal
treasury from Casa da Guiné to Casa da Mina, and its relocation to the royal palace itself
 symbolically centered African trade at the heart of Portuguese governance
 Economically, the text provides precise figures: between 46-57 kilograms of gold
monthly, amounting to about 680 kilograms annually or approximately one-tenth of the
world's known gold supply at that time.
 By 1506, even as Portugal expanded into Brazil and Asia, Elmina gold still
constituted a quarter of crown revenue.
 Describes how this gold strengthened Portugal's currency + shifted its economy toward
more sophisticated trade goods.
 echoed earlier historical experiences with African gold in other empires (Arab,
Carthaginian, Roman).
 Argues that gold from Elmina "propelled complex economic integration" involving long-
distance trade in high-value goods like brass, copper, iron bars, cloth, and Indian
textiles, which were exchanged for African gold.
 facilitated the slave trade and warfare between African kingdoms
 Trade wasn't one-directional; African kings became "discriminating consumers" who
preferred Indian cottons over European woolens, leading Portugal to establish a
"growing cabotage trade" where they bought African cloth from places like Benin to sell
elsewhere for gold.
 Explains how Portugal's priority shifted from finding routes to Asia to protecting its
African gold trade.
 Even when Dias found a route around Africa in 1488, Portugal didn't
immediately follow up for nearly nine years, being "too busy in Africa, where
the returns remained extraordinarily high.
 Challenges conventional Eurocentric history by noting that historian Felipe Fernández-
Armesto described late-15th-century Portugal as economically similar to present-day
countries "still in deep waters" searching for breakthrough discoveries that could
alleviate poverty.
 Touches on how African gold enabled Portugal's later colonization efforts, including the
sugar production in Brazil that would later depend on African slave labor.

Insights:
1. Portugal was experimenting with a proto-colonial project in the Kingdom of Kongo
before its more famous Asian expeditions, sending "priests and artisans" to establish
economic ties.
2. Reference to a note in Christopher Columbus's personal library that suggests Columbus
was in Lisbon when Dias returned from rounding the Cape of Good Hope, yet this
momentous event "transpired without great celebration."
i. When Columbus returned from America, he was met in Lisbon harbor by Dias
himself, creating a remarkable historical coincidence where these two explorers
briefly intersected.
3. Vasco da Gama by name only once, referring to him as "a minor court figure named
Vasco da Gama," suggesting he wasn't initially as important as later histories would
make him.
4. The passage includes a dramatic scene of King João II's reaction to learning of
Columbus's discoveries, showing him beating his fist upon his chest in regret at having
let "such an enterprise of such importance get out of your hands."
5. Portuguese were already engaged in a complex "cabotage trade" where they bought
cloth from one African region (especially Benin) to sell in another region for gold,
showing sophisticated understanding of local market preferences.
6. Refers to Portuguese exploitation of rivalries between African kingdoms to facilitate the
slave trade, specifically mentioning how goods like firearms were used to "stoke warfare
between small kingdoms that made it easier to purchase slaves."
7. Despite the common narrative about European-Asian trade, the text claims Africa
generated "twice the amount in real returns" for Lisbon compared to the spice and
textile trade with Asia.