a world of empires 1450-1750 ce. six things to remember americas included in world trade for the...
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A WORLD OF
EMPIRES1450-1750 CE
Six Things to Remember• Americas included in world trade for the
first time• Improvements in shipping and gunpowder
technology continued• Populations in transition• New social structures based on race and
gender• Traditional beliefs threatened in Europe
but reinforced in China• Empires both land-based and cross
oceanic
The Bookends
• 1450—Beginning of European Atlantic empires
• 1450—Beginning of global trade• 1492—End of Islam in Western Europe• 1433—End of Chinese treasure ship
expeditions• 1750—Beginning of industrialization• 1750—Western Hemisphere
colonization peaks
Americas—1300-1800
•Rise of Incas•Continued rise of Aztecs•Conquest – arrival of Spanish
in Western Hemisphere•Population impacts: disease,
racial intermingling, war•Columbian Exchange•Colonial societies
Inca Empire—1438-1525
• Highly centralized government• Diverse ethnic groups• Extensive irrigation• State religion/ancestor cult• Rope suspension bridges• Metallurgy – copper and bronze• No use of wheel• Roads for tax, labor, and courier
system
Aztec Empire—1325-1520
• Tenochtitlan “Foundation of Heaven”
• By 1519, metropolis of 150,000•5 square miles
• Island location• Tribute empire based on agriculture• State control of market –
redistributes all goods
Changes in Trade, Technology and Global Interactions
•Exploration•God, Glory, and Gold?•Commodities•Cartography•Empire Building
Age of Exploration
•European explorationWhy then?Why?Who and where?
•End of Ming Treasure / Tribute Voyages
Zheng He
Commodities
Commodities
• African slave trade
Notice the primary destinations
Commodities
• Coffee beans used first in Yemen and then later in Europe and Americas
• European used chocolate technology from Aztecs in 17th Century
Cartographic Changes
Empire Building
•How do empires rise and expand?
•What factors at this time will help empires maintain themselves and expand their borders?
•Consider the impact and nature of interaction with others…
Africa• Characteristics:
•Stateless societies-organized around kinship, often larger than states
•Large centralized states•Increased unity came from linguistic base–Bantu, Christianity and Islam, as well as indigenous beliefs
•Trade–markets, international commerce, taxed trade of unprocessed goods
African Empires
• Oyo
• Benin
• Kongo
• Asante
Songhay—1340-1591
• Initially farmers, herders, and fishers
• Foreign merchant community in Gao (gold)
• Powerful cavalry forces, expansive empire (1492)
• Fusion of Islamic and indigenous traditions
Ming China—1368-1644
• Mongols are gone—similar to Russia•Became more traditional not like Russia
• Naval expeditions then isolationist•$ wasn’t worth it•Nomads were bigger threat
• Collected tribute• Cash crops, like cotton
Qing China—1644-1911• Pastoral nomads, Manchus, from north
•Manchus had highest positions•Kept civil-service exams for promotion
• Traded with Europeans at off mainland islands and closely supervised at Canton
• Missionaries expelled• Patriarchal• Expanded tribute colonies—Taiwan,
Mongolia, Tibet, Vietnam, Burma & Nepal
Tokugawa Japan—1600-1853
• Cultural borrowing from China• Emergence of warrior class and
increasing civil wars• Encounter with Portuguese-1543• “Isolation” from West; rise of
Tokugawas• Tokugawa elite followed
development in West
Rise of Gunpowder Empires
Political developments loom larger this period
Sea-based: Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, English
Land-based: Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal
These are major empires/political units/social system
Ottoman—1281-1914
• 1350’s – Initial Ottoman invasion of Europe
• 1453 – Ottoman capture of Constantinople
• 1683 – Ottoman siege of Vienna
Safavid Persia—1334-1722
•Founded by militant Sufis•Broke away from Ottoman
Empire, creating schism among Muslims
•Adopted Shi’a Islam •Theocracy
Mughal India—1556-1739
•Empire based on military strength•Akbar the Great–-combined beliefs
into new religion to unite Hindu and Muslim subjects: Din-I-Ilahi
• Indian textile trade–value to Europeans
•Patron of the arts— Shah Jahan
Empires: Russia• Mongol occupation stalled
Russian unification and development
• Increasing absolutist rule and territorial expansion by 16th Century – Ivan the Terrible
• Role of Russian Orthodox Church
• Peter the Great accelerated westernization process
Portugal
•Search for maritime route to Asia
•Naval school•Advanced naval
technology: caravels, astrolabe and compass
Portugal
•Established fortresses along the Gold Coast – sugar plantations and African slave labor
•Indian Ocean trade and Da Gama: Malindi, Sofala and Kilwa, Calicut and Goa, and later Macao
•Atlantic trade with conquest of Brazil – sugar plantation
Brazil: Plantation colony
•Portuguese due to Treaty of Tordesillas 1494
•African slave labor used to support plantation complex (sugar)
•Largest producer of sugar in world first half of 17th C.
Spain• Inquisition• Reconquista ended with
fall of Granada (1492)• Columbus’ voyage• Cortez in Mexico and Pizarro in Peru• Took over existing tributary empires:
labor, silver, gold, and foodstuffs• Demographic impact: disease, death,
and mestizos
England
• Limited/constitutional monarchy• Tudors• Stuarts• Civil War• Commonwealth• Glorious Revolution
Bill of Rights• Enlightenment ideas• Colonies in Americas
France• Absolute Monarchy
King Louis XIV“ I am the State”Versailles
• Mercantilism• Territorial expansion in
Europe and colonies in Saint Domingue (Haiti) and New France (Quebec)
Dutch• Dutch East India Company
•1660—employed 12,000 people with 257 ships
•Sought monopolies and large profits• North America (fur trade-Hudson
River, New Amsterdam)• Caribbean islands for plantations• Capetown, South Africa – way station• Southeast Asia – spice trade
(nutmeg, cloves and pepper)
Changing Beliefs
•Reformation•Neo-Confucianism•Missionaries:
Christianity, Islam, Buddhism
Cultural and Intellectual Development
•Renaissance•Scientific Revolution•Enlightenment
Comparisons
Be able to compare the following:•Imperial systems: European
monarchy vs. a land-based Asian empire
•Coercive labor systems•Empire building in Asia, Africa
and Europe•Russia’s interaction with the
West compared to others
Conclusions
•What are the major themes that seem apparent?
•What global processes are in action?
Trade
• Trade extended through all parts of the world
• Europe finally gains access to Asian trade routes and attempts to control them through choke points- fail
• Europe uses American raw materials- especially silver-to trade with Asia
• Columbian Exchange
Technology
• Spread of shipping technology to Europe as a result of the Crusades and experiments by Prince Henry the Navigator
• Improvements in gunpowder technology- muskets and cannons
Demography
• Disease killed millions of native Americans• Africans were forcibly transported to New
World for work in plantation agriculture• Populations grew as new calorie-rich foods
were brought from New World• Populations migrated to harsher climates
as food crops became available• Populations migrated from the Old World
to the New World
Social and Gender Structures
• Americas- Castas system• Muslim areas (Ottomans, Mughals)
Women in the harems wielded considerable power behind the scenes
• China- power struggle between the Eunuchs and the Scholar Gentry
Cultural and Intellectual Expressions
• Europe- Renaissance and Reformation reduces the power of the Catholic Church and challenges old beliefs
• China ends contact with the outside world as neo-Confucianism dominates
Structure and Function of State
• Empire remains predominant political structure •Coercive tribute system
• European states, such as Spain and Portugal but also France, England and the Dutch, perfect overseas empires by claiming territory in Western Hemisphere
• Qing, Russia, Mughals, Ottomans, and Safavids are powerful land-based empires
Trade- Can’t live without it!
• Global trade is THE thing this time period!• Core-periphery theory:
•Core states are manufacturing states•Periphery states provide raw materials•Semi-periphery supply both
• Three core zones: •China• India•West
Changes and Continuities
• Change: The Americas are added to world trade network
• Change: Europe becomes a Maritime area• Continuity: Trade is really important• Continuity: Religions continue to adapt to
new times, but very important• Continuity: Diffusion of ideas and
diseases as people come into contact with each other
A WORLD OF
EMPIRES1450-1750 CE