TJ Watt, Ramona Bledea, Frank, Alina Migirov, Chris Micek, and Johann Lau

Global Politics (1450-1750)

European kings and queens consolidated nation-states with increased power and tax revenue to fund voyages.

Trends of religion and secular power struggles occur

Monarchs are gaining more powerEuropean people played a far more prominent

role in worldly affairs than any of their ancestors had.

European efforts fostered the development of an increasingly interdependent world.

Political Aspects of Europe: 1450-1750

Change Strong absolute monarchs begin to consolidate power over larger territories

(nation-states) Russian czars begin to expand territory over Eastern Europe after regaining

control of the empire from the Mongols. Continuity Monarchs still regained absolute power. Capitalism- strong regional states, competitive in nature.

Compare Western and Eastern Europe Both began to consolidate power of nation states -West: regional kingdoms -East: recovering power from Mongols Both entered periods of expansion -West: exploration and colonization -East: consolidation and expansion within Eastern Hemisphere.

Changes and Continuities

SPANISH COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION:Viceroys - representatives of the King who ruled over cities and centers of authority in the colonies. Each city had one viceroy. Audiencias - A group of people who reviewed the leadership quality of the viceroys, and reported their actions back to the King.

Goal was to prevent viceroys from gaining too much power.

Latin America

PORTUGUESE COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION:Rule was more imperial than that of Spain.Conquered based on the Treaty of Tordesillas:

An agreement between Spain and Portugal that divided Latin America with an imaginary line 370 leagues West of the Cape Verde Islands.Spain could conquer West of the line. Portugal could conquer East of the line.

Latin America

The slave trade began as a means to efficiently exploit the land conquered. Slaves from Africa and Latin America were sold and traded for American goods and money.The force of human labor allowed for Kings and noblemen to produce and sell huge amounts of American cash crops.Brought wealth and power to Europe and the American colonies.

Slave Trade

Africa - Political• Started as villages and clans that changed into kingdoms and empires as a

result of interaction with the Muslim.• In the east, the Swahili regions underwent a decline when their trade was

disrupted by the Portuguese attacks on ports and administrative centers that kept watch.

• In the west , the Ghana to Mali to Songhay, the Songhay fell into regional kingdoms.

• In central Africa, the Portuguese established relations with the Kongo, but eventually went onto war and also takes Angola as a colony.

• In south Africa , the Portuguese and Dutch took part of the African affairs. The Dutch built trading posts and established settlements, this eventually resulted in the Butch and British colonies in sub-Saharan Africa. Change and Continuity! • Change – The civilizations and regions underwent many

changes in political systems. From a Chiefdom to city-states to regional kingdoms then to empires then to colonies under foreign rule.

• Continuity – Africa’s political system constantly change upon interaction with the Europeans whom influenced their type of ruling throughout history.

East AsiaMing (1368-1644)

Strong rule restored Restoration of civil service exams Repair of infrastructure- Great

Wall, Grand Canal, irrigation systems, etc.

Zheng He’s voyages increased Chinese presence in India, Arabian peninsula, and East Africa

Decline Emperors lost interest in

governing and retreated to luxurious living

Famines and peasant rebellions during the 1630s and 1640s

Manchu invaders from the north with peasant support led to final Ming collapse, 1644

East Asia (cont.)Qing (1644-1911))Manchus proclaimed

the Qing dynasty and organized a powerful military force

Expansion of bordersChina cuts off most

contact with Europe

The Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1868) Feudalism

Provincial rule- Shoguns- main rulers, emperor- served as political figure, daimyo- local lords/ owners of large estates

Shoguns kept daimyo under control to prevent overthrow Control of foreign relations

The shoguns adopted policy of isolation from outside world- Closed Country Edict of 1635 placed restrictions on trading ports, such as Nagasaki.

East Asia (cont.)

Change Increase restriction of foreign influence in both

regionsContinuityChina:

Use of civil service exams as a means of selecting government officials

Japan:Feudal government in attempt to maintain order and

control;Never fully centralized due to geographic limitations

(mountainous terrain, divided into many islands)

East Asia (cont.)

The Empires of the Middle East

Ottoman Empire (1289-1923) Founded by Osman Bey in 1289 and

extended territory through holy wars for Islam. Captured Bursa in Anatolia and made it the Ottoman capital, and later Edirne in the Balkans as well.

Military machine: heavily armored cavalry troops and elite forces of slaves, the Janissaries. Effectively used gunpowder tech to overwhelm opposition.

Mehmed II (1451-1481) claimed Constantinople and renamed it Istanbul, extended territory to the Mediterranean Basin.

Suleyman the Magnificent (1520- 1566) conquered the Euphrates River Valley and took control of Egyptian pirate forces to create powerful navy.

Mehmed II conquers Constantinople.

Safavid Empire

Battle of Chaldiran

Founded by Shah Ismail (1501-1524), who conquered Turkish city of Tabriz at the age of twelve and proclaimed himself king. Seized the Iranian plateau and campaigned in the Caucasus, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and central Asia. Used forces of elite Twelver Shiites (qizilbash). Suffered miserable defeat at Battle of Chaldiran against Ottomans and their gunpowder.

Shah Abbas the Great (1588-1629) moved capital to Isfahan, made numerous government and military reforms, increased use of gunpowder, and sought European assistance in defeating the Ottomans and the Potuguese in the Persian Gulf War. Expelled Portuguese from Hormuz and conquered Uzbeks.

Changes:Byzantine Empire conquered by Ottomans, no

longer in control of Eastern Mediterranean.Ottomans and Safavids gain control of gunpowder

weaponry, Ottomans obtain naval power base.Continuities:

Governmental control was closely tied with religious control; sultans and shahs had both absolute administrative and religious authority.

Rulers borrowed traditions from the steppes – imposed religious rule (Islam), succession struggles.

Nomadic groups assimilated into settled lifestyles.

Changes and Continuities

South Asia (India) Political Mughal DynastyBabur took India in 1526Founded the Mughal Dynasty Grandson Akbar (1556-1605)Centralized government and consolidated empire and

expanded South.Aurangzeb (1659-1707)Extended empire to greatest extent.Stopped Akbar religious freedom in the empire by

putting taxes on Hindus and destroying some major Hindu temple prompting rebellion.

Overall the Mughal Empire similar to the East Asian Empires because they limited contacts with foreigners and they preferred political and social stability.