1450-1750 (Gunpowder Empires and Mercantilism)

The world stage is starting to become more even as Europe is exploring the New World and gains greater access to Indian Ocean trade. However, Asian Empires such as the Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal, Ming and Qing are still stronger but not by much. Asia is still the superpower, everybody wants Asian luxury goods such as silk and textiles. Europe is doing anything their power to gain a position in this market. European states are colonizing Americas and creating mercantilist policies to extract resource to trade. Gunpowder empires are still expand due to their location on the silk road and their ability to rto use guns to take over other regions. China an India are still the destination for the world because of their goods. This is the time of Absolute rulers where one man holds all the power in a government. These rulers use art, architecture and religion to legitimize and consolidate their power.

Ottoman Empire

* Came to power out of the Ashes of the Ilkhanate
* Sunni state, but was religiously tolerate within their empire. Non-Muslims had to pay a **Jizyah** tax.
* Jannisarries- Enslaved, Christian boys who were captured or were taken as tribute who then become educated in the Muslim world and would become an elite and loyal force in support of the sultan. These janissaries could be both government officials and soldiers.
* Devshirme System-The recruiting system in which janissaries would be the product.
* Hagia Sophia- A mosque that was a cathedral before ottoman control. The ottomans built minarets after taking the city of Constantinople from the Christians to exemplify their power over the region.
* Used **gunpowder and artillery**
* Tax farming- Ottomans gave taxing rights to the highest bidder. This bidder would then have to pay the ottomans a fixed amount, however, the incentive would be that the bidder could charge any amount to the citizens and keep the profits. Sometimes farmers were making upwards of 5 times their initial money.

Safavid Empire

* Came to power out of the Ashes of the Ilkhanate
* Shia state
* Shah Abbas 1st- Expelled Ottoman and Uzbek troops and created the first standing army.
* Gunpowder and artillery to come to rise to power

Mughal Empire

* Came to power out of the Ashes of the Delhi Sultanate
* Sunni State
* Mughal War Elephants- Army technology used to trample over opponents with elephants
* Focused on trade
* Expanded empire by Gunpowder
* Hindus were allowed to rule locally
* Loyalty of Hindus by allowing them to observe their own religion
* Gave rise to Sikhism, a combo of Islam and Hinduism.
* Hindu Rajas collected local taxes
* Primarily traded luxury goods such as Tea, Cotton and Textiles.
* British took advantage of conflicts between Muslim leaders and hinduism majority
* Zamindar System- A tax farming system in which Zamindars in the Mughal empire were given the rights to collect local taxes.

Ming Empire

* Overthrew Yuan Empire
* Funded Zheng He
* Reestablished Confucian Civil Service Exam
* Primarily provided luxury goods such as textiles and porcelain in the global trade network.

Russian Empire

* Claimed emperor if from god
* Orthodox Christian
* Gunpowder and Armed Trade
* Ivan the Great killed anyone he suspected of being a traitor
* Tribute System to collect taxes from conquered states
* Was a mix of Slavic tribes and Vikings

Spanish Empire

* King with regional governors in the colonies
* Phillipines and Latin America
* Used magnetic compass, astrolab , cartography, lateen sail
* Conquistadores spread smallpox

Early British Empire and British East India Company

British East India Company was Established in 1600

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British Empire was 13 colonies and some possessions in Asia mainly India. The declining Mughals and British East India Company made an agreement to have small possessions and control to become a player in the Asian market.

Dutch East India and Dutch Empire

Portugese Empire

Trading Post Empire. Meaning that they setup trading posts on the borders of East and South Africa, India, and Indonesia. They were not able to take over yet but just simply had small ports or towns in which they could strictly trade from.

Aztec

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Inca

Christopher Columbus (Spanish)

In 1492, sailed across the Atlantic ocean and discovered the Americas.

Vasco De Gama (Portugese)

First European to sail around Africa and reach India.

Columbian Exchange

Exchange of goods across the atlantic.

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__To the Americas__

Horses, Cattle, Pigs, Wheat, Rice

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__To Europe__

Corn, Potatoes

How did rulers legitimize and consolidate their power?

Through religion, art and architecture

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Divine Right to Rule- A proclamation from the ruler in which they state that they were given the right to rule from god himself, so they are superior.

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King Louis (14th)- Ruled late 17th century. He was a self-proclaimed sun king who built the palace of Versailles and had magnificent art of himself created. In addition, he consolidated his power by forcing his nobles to live with him in the Palace of Versailles which makes put him in control.

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Suleiman the Magnificent (Early 16th Century)- The leader at the peak of the Ottoman Empire. He is known for his portraits of himself wearing a very large turban.

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Shah Jahan- The leader of the Mughal Empire who constructed the Taj Mahal

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Encomienda, Hacienda and Mita Slavery Systems

These were all systems to force indigenious people throughout Central and South America to extract goods from the Americas to be given to the Spanish crown. For example, Mita was used to force the Incan people into extracting silver for the Spanish.

Protestant Reformation (16th Century)

* Started by Martin Luther and his 95 theses
* Europe divided between Protestants and Catholics
* 30 years war (1618-48): A religious war fought between Catholics and Protestants throughout Europe

Tokugawa Shogunate

* Policies to weaken the power of daimyos
* Gunpowder, cannons and armed trade
* Enforced neo-Confucian ideals to help control
* Increased agriculture
* Opened Japan to external trade

Explain some political and economic changes in the global balance of power in the 18th century.

Power was slowly shifting away from these traditional Asian Empires and more toward Europeans. Europeans used both joint-stock companies and resources from the New World to gain power in the Indian Ocean Trade Network. For example, the British East India Company and Dutch East India Company began to gain the power to collect taxes, institute their own political leaders, and make decisions for the native population. Although they did not have complete control over these empires they were given a decent amount of power.

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The joint stock companies began to gain a monopoly over luxury goods. The British East India Company monopolized tea and the Dutch East India Company monopolized spices from the spice islands. Under mercantilism laws, Europeans were only allowed to buy goods from their respective joint-stock companies. This allowed joint-stock companies to control the market buy acting as a middle man. The joint-stock would pay and produce luxury goods and mark up prices and make a large profit. This cut into the share of Asian economies leading them to lose potential profits.

What are some ways societies interacted with their environment?

In the Americas the rise of monocrop plantations due to the need for cash crops caused large scale deforestation and decreased biodiversity.

Silver Trade

The influx of silver on the market brought Spain into the global market for a little while, but not long after it caused inflation within both China and Spain.

New Technology

* Gunpowder
* Caravel- New Portugese Ships which were smaller, faster and more navigable than previous.
* Fluyt- Exclusive Dutch Trading ships which focused on trade.