Chapter 4: Crisis and Recovery in Afro-Eurasia, 1300–1500

How did the Black Death spread?

Lower temperatures caused rats to travel from Central Asia, carrying fleas

Plague in China

-Rebellions and movements
-Large population became vulnerable to disease
-Loss of Mongol power

Plague in Islamic World

-Many structures and cities abandoned
-Weakened political power

Plague in Europe

-Cities were most infectious
-Religious turmoil
-Famine killed many survivors
-Rising prices, inflation, labor shortage

How did rulers claim their right to power?

-"Higher power": mandate of heaven, divine right, banner of Islam
-Clear rules for succession
-Bloodline continued through conquest or marriage

How did the Ottoman Empire consolidate their power?

Military/political power, cultural infusion, religious tolerance

Mehmed the Conqueror

-Captured Constantinople in 1453, renamed Istanbul
-Promised soldiers wealth and glory

Janissaries

-Limited authority of potentates
-Conscripted from villages in Europe
-Learned Turkish and converted to Islam

How did rulers maintain their power?

-Backed by the church or religion
(Habsburgs with Catholicism)
-Political bodies made up of wealthy aristocrats

Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) England vs. France

-French resistance to English control
-Joan of Arc supported the French monarch and was executed by the English

Portuguese Christians fought Moors (Muslims)

-Captured fortresses in Morocco, freedom to travel between the Atlantic and Mediterranean
-Gained trading opportunities in the North Atlantic and West Africa
-Land was given to nobles, encouraged colonization and support of monarchy

Spanish control and exploration

-Wanted all non-Catholics out of Spain
-Forced thousands of Jews and Muslims to migrate
-Christopher Columbus set sail for new land

The Renaissance

-Looked to past Greek and Roman ideas
-Encouraged secular learning
-Challenged power and authority

Zhu Yuanzhang, Hongwu emperor

-Participant in the Red Turban movement
-Founded the Ming dynasty
-Sought to reunite China

Bureaucracy

-Officials chosen by civil service exam, not hereditary like princes before
-Oversaw manufacturing and tax collection
-10,000 to 15,000 officials governing over 200 million people

-Local leaders oversaw rural communities
-Encouraged social hierarchies

Religion under the Ming

-Used traditional Chinese beliefs and traditions to reinforce power and social hierarchies
-Mandate of heaven

Trade and Exploration Under the Ming

-Goods such as porcelain, silk, and cotton were highly coveted
-Tensions between government officials and maritime merchants
-Expeditions led by Zheng He presented China's power and wealth

Conclusion

-Black Death was detrimental to many empires
-Shifting of political power
-Ottoman Empire, Sunni Islam
-Monarchies arose throughout Europe (France, England, Spain, Portugal)
-Rulers sought to consolidate, strengthen, and maintain power