age of exploration: 1450-1750

How did land based empires develop and expand from 1450 - 1750?

Ottoman Empire: Mehmed II, expanded with gunpowder weapons to conquer Constantinople which led to the fall of Byzantine empire. “Istanbul not Constantinople” Also controlled Dardanelles as a strategic point to launch expansion campaigns.

Safavid Empire: Ismail, military used gunpowder weapons

Mughal Empire: Babur then Akbar, military used gunpowder weapons

Qing Dynasty: led by Manchu people, previous Ming expanded chinas borders with gunpowder but Qing took over

Why did land based empires develop and expand from 1450-1750?

Shi’a Safavid-Sunni Mughal Conflict: both had the goal to expand into Persian Gulf and religion conflicted them.

Songhai-Moroccan Conflict: participated and controlled trans-Saharan trade while Moroccan kingdom saw the weakening Songhai and decided they wanted more control over the trade route, did so using gunpowder.

How did Ottoman Empire rulers legitimize and consolidate power from 1450-1750?

Ottoman Empire: legitimized and consolidated by expanding military & used Devshirme system, which took enslaved christian boys to learn Turkish culture and later serve to work in military as Janissaries or work in the imperial bureaucracy.

How did Mughal Empire rulers legitimize and consolidate power from 1450-1750?

Mughal Empire: legitimized using architecture like Taj Mahal which displayed power, wealth & divine authority.

How did Qing rulers legitimize and consolidate power from 1450-1750?

Qing Dynasty: legitimized using art, portraits of Manchu emperor Kangxi depicted in traditional Chinese Confucian values. An attempt to convince population to accept his foreign rule.

How did Aztec & Inca rulers legitimize and consolidate power from 1450-1750?

Aztec Empire: legitimized using religion, human sacrifice for Sun God to show who’s in charge.

Inca: legitimized using architecture, Sun temple covered in gold b/c rulers were believed to be related to the Gods.

What did the Catholic Church’s corrupt practices (sale of indulgences & simony) lead to?

Led to confidence in the church declining

Martin Luther wrote the 95 Theses as complaints, his work (spread by the printing press)

His work caused the Protestant reformation which caused the Counter/Catholic reformation

What did the Protestant reformation lead to?

Led to the Council of Trent which completed the division between Catholics and Protestants

• Change: the church’s corrupt practices

• Continuity: reaffirmed doctrines

How did cross-cultural interactions result in the diffusion of technology and facilitate changes in patterns of trade and travel from 1450 to 1750?

Europe: adopted maritime tech from the Silk Road under protection of Pax Mongolica.

• Magnetic compass from China, helped sailors know direction accurately

• Astrolabe determined longitude and latitude by star measurement.

• Lateen sails from Arab merchants, helped use wind for precise sailing.

All used for maritime travel and helped facilitate trade with other regions.

What was the role of states in the expansion of maritime exploration from 1450-1750?

Spain & Portugal: imperial ventures funded by state and sponsored explorers.

French, British & Dutch: using joint-stock companies which were funded by investors.

What were the economic causes and effects of maritime exploration by the various European states?

Cause: Prince Henry the navigator of Portugal wanted gold and Asian spices

Effect: Vasco de Gama -establishment of Portugal’s trading posts (expansion) and domination in Indian Ocean trade gave them riches

What are the causes of the Columbian Exchange?

Cause: Europeans states sponsored exploration to find water routes to the East Indies for spices. Spain sent Christopher Columbus who ran into the Americas.

What are the effects of disease from the Columbian Exchange on the Eastern and Western Hemispheres?

Effects, Diseases: Malaria, Measles, Smallpox, which led to declining native populations who didn’t have built up immunities as the Europeans did. “Great Dying.” Which gave Europeans an advantage to taking over.

What are the effects of plants & food from the Columbian Exchange on the Eastern and Western Hemispheres?

Effects, Plants & Food: Europe brought wheat, grapes, olives also bananas and sugar from Africa & Asia. Gave natives diverse diets and increased their life spans. New World crops made Europe’s population grow b/c of increased life spans. Also used as cash crops to export. Europe got rich from agriculture in New World.

What are the effects of animals from the Columbian Exchange on the Eastern and Western Hemispheres?

Effects, Animals: Population growth in pigs, sheep, cattle b/c they had no natural predators in the New World. Increase in barren land and erosion b/c of sheep. Horses changed native societies for hunting buffalo more efficiently.

What was the process of state building and expansion with the Portuguese and the Dutch?

The Portuguese & Dutch: set up trading posts around Africa and throughout the Indian Ocean. Using caravels and carracks with giant guns to dominate. Dutch used fluyts and eventually took over the Indian Ocean Trade.

What are some continuities in economic systems and labor systems from 1450-1750?

Continuity: Spanish making use of the old Inca mit’a system to mine silver.

What are some changes in economic systems and labor systems from 1450-1750?

What are the continuities in systems of slavery in the period from 1450-1750?

Continuity: trade of enslaved Africans was regular in Mediterranean and Indian Ocean networks.

In the Islamic world, slaves became domestic servants in households, mostly women. Some slaves could even hold military/political positions.

What are the changes in systems of slavery in the period from 1450-1750?

How did rulers employ economic strategies to consolidate and maintain power throughout 1450-1750?

Mercantilism: favorable balance of trade - exports over imports.

Joint-stock companies: government approved businesses that granted trade monopolies & funded privately.

What are the changes in networks of exchange from 1450-1750?

Change: the rise of the Atlantic system of trade which moved sugar, silver, and laborers. Spain exploited silver mines in Potosi.

Lots of coerced labor or indentured servitude by the British. Relied on enslaved Africans to work.

How did political, economic, and cultural factors affect society from 1450-1750?

African slave trade created a gender imbalance in African societies leaving more women than men, b/c men were bought more. Also brought an increase in polygyny which changed family structures.

Enslaved Africans spoke different languages and created a cultural synthesis in the americas with creole/mixed languages.

Explain the similarities and differences in how various belief systems affected societies from 1450-1750.

Syncretism: Europe’s goal was widespread conversion which was a slow process that led to syncretic blending of Christianity and native belief systems or enslaved Africans religions like Islam.

What are the effects of the development of state power (or European efforts to expand power) in France from 1450-1750?

France: Louis the XIV became an absolute monarch, obsessed with wars of expansion increasing taxation causing French nobility to resist and lead peasant rebellions aka Fronde.

How did social categories, roles, and practices be maintained or changed over time?

Spain & Portugal: After reconquista, they believed Jews posed a threat to Christianity and expelled them from the land. (Antisemitic)

Ottoman Empire: Mehmed II opened empire to Jews but b/c they weren’t Muslim they needed to pay the Jizya tax.

Qing dynasty: Imperial bureaucracy’s highest spots reserved for Manchu people only. Han men were required to have their hair braided like Manchus - reminder of foreign domination.

Mughal Empire: Akbar the Great refused the Jizya, but later funded construction of Catholic Churches, Hindu Temples, and Muslim Mosques.