ch 13 15th cent world
TRANSCRIPT
Chapter 13The Worlds of the
Fifteenth Century 500 – 1500
Australia Yoruba (Africa)
Iroquois (North America) Turkic Nomads
Paleolithic Persistence
ExplorationComparing China and Europe
1368Mongols
Overthrown
Red Turban Rebellion
Ming Dynasty 1368-1644 Erase Mongols, promote Confucianism
Emperor Yongle
(1360-1424)----------------------------------------------
Promoted Education
(Encyclopedia) and Chinese greatness
1420 Constructed the Imperial City
980 Surviving Buildings, 8,707 Rooms, 7,800,000 sq ft
Power centralized to the Emperor and his loyal eunuchs
Hall of Supreme Harmony
Tiananmen
Admiral Zheng Hepronounced “Jeng Huh”
(1371-1433)Muslim eunuch
7 Voyages with 300+ ships 1405-1433
Chinese Junk
Voyages reinforced Chinese superiority and expanded Tribute System
“We have traversed more than 100,000 li (~500 meters) of immense water
spaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising in
the sky, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away hidden in a
blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails, loftily unfurled like
clouds day and night, continued their course [as rapidly] as a star, traversing
those savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare.”
Abruptly the 4th Ming Emperor cancelled any
future sea exploration
(seen as wasteful)
What if they had continued?
Ancient World4000s BCE-476 CE
Middle Ages500s-1300s
Renaissance1300s-1500s
Modern Era1500s-1900s
Ancient World4000s BCE-380 CE
Christendom380-1555
Era of the State1555-present
No European
Unity
Monarchs consolidated
power to keep order
European Renaissance1300s-1500s
Why did it “begin” in Italy?
Secular Intellectual Change
Humanismcelebration of human achievements
and revival of the classics
Johan Gutenberg
(1398-1468)Mid 1450s
Metal movable type printing
press
1456 Guttenberg Bible
Indiana University Lilly LibraryBloomington, IN
Effects of the printing
press?
European Exploration
What was the Afro-Eurasian trading world like before Columbus?
Political stability and new technology allowed for explorations•Navigation•Cartography•Shipbuilding Styles•Cannon and Weapons
Portuguese Caravelsteered with a stern-post rudder and
lateen sails (Asia)
Portugal and Spain 1st due to their connections to Muslim cultures
Theory of Southernization
Prince Henry The Navigator
(1394-1460) 1420s Started a
Navigation SchoolSponsored
Exploration of Africa’s West Coast
1489
The AmericasA “New World”
Spain = Reach the east by going west
Knew the world was round, but not so big
Catholic MonarchsFerdinand and Isabella r. 1474-1516
united Spain and completed the Reconquista
Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)
Sailed for Spain to the Caribbean
Islands and South American
Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria
Thought he was headed to Asia to gain wealth and spread Catholicism
Columbus wrote about “Mermaids”
Comparing Columbus and Zheng He
• Motives• Size of fleet • Preparation– Zheng He was not exploring, he went to places China
had traded with for centuries– Zheng He had lime trees growing in pots to prevent
scurvy and pens of animals– Europeans ate leather straps when food ran out
•Lasting Effects?
Treaty of Tordesillas1494 Portugal and Spain
divided the worldSpheres of influence approved by
Pope Alexander VI
PortugalSpain
Vasco da Gama (1460-1524)
1497 Sailed for Portugal around Africa to India
1507 World Map (Waldseemuler)
The Islamic World – 1500 ce
Southeast Asian spice trade dominated by Muslim traders until the arrival of Europeans
Europeans took Muslim, Indian, and Asian trade centers
Ottoman Empire 1299-1923Multiethnic empire led by SunniBattled with Europeans and Shia
The Persian SafavidsForced conversions to Shia Islam
Conflict with Sunni Ottomans
Mughal Empire1526-1707
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Muslim minority ruling
a Hindu majority
Babur (1483-1530)Founded Mughal Empire and conquered Deli in 1526
Descended from Genghis
Khan and Timur
Aztec (c. 1300s CE)Mexica Tenochca
1325 Tenochtitlan on Lake Texcoco (Mexico City)
Largest city in the world at that time
Dominate Mexicoby 1500
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~5,000,000 People
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Conquered tribes forced to Pay Tribute
A cyclical view of
the world----------------------------
religious views
centered around
maintaining cosmic order
Warfare favored capture over killing
Blood made the sun rise and crops
grow
A human sacrifice
scene from the codex
Magliabechiano
“All the walls of that shrine were so splashed and caked with blood that they and the floor too were black. Indeed, the whole place stank abominably”
-Spaniard Bernal Diaz del Castillo, 1568
Aztec With Cacao Bean
Aztec Taking Rubber Ball to Temple
Sacrifice After Ball Game
Aztec Riddles• Q. What are they? Ten flat stones that we carry with us.– A. Our fingernails.
• Q. What is it? A little mirror in a house made of fir branches.– A. The eye with its lashes.
• Q. What is it? A blue bowl filled with popcorn.– A. The sky with its stars.
• Q. What is it that we enter in three places and leave by only one?– A. Our shirt.
• Q. What is it that makes colorful tortillas while flying in the air?– A. A butterfly.
• Q. What stays in caves until you blow them away?– A. Boogies in your nose.
Inca: 1438-1533
~10 million subjects
Pachacuti(1438-1471)
Most Powerful Incan Ruler
Expanded Empire
Made official language and
religion
Census and regional bureaucracy
mitalabor
service required of
every household
Aztec and Inca both patriarchal but had “gender parallelism”
separate, important, and autonomous spheres
~2,500 mile empire
connected by roads
QuipuKnot
system of record
keeping
Skilled at weavingDifferent patters for different classes
Machu PicchuPeru
The Rich lived in stone houses
