Song Dynasty (960–1279)

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Scholar gentry

    • Men educated in Confucian philosophy

  • Patriarchy

    • Foot binding

      • Common practice used to ensure women remained obedient

      • Signified social status

• Politics and Governance

  • Imperial bureaucracy

    • Continuity (Since Qin Dynasty)

    • Appointed officials carry out the empire’s policies

  • Meritocracy

    • Officials are elected based on knowledge/merit

      • Performance on Civil Service Exam

  • Strong centralized government

    • Continuity throughout Chinese history

• Interactions with the Environment

  • Rapid population growth

• Cultural Developments

  • Chinese cultural traits and traditions continued, and influenced neighboring regions

  • Filial Piety

    • Family members must submit to the desires of men and any rulers with more power

  • Intellectual pursuits (literature, visual arts, etc.) thrived

  • Buddhism:

    • Mahayana: Strongest in China; emphasis on aiding others achieve Nirvana

    • Tibetan: Buddhism + Shintoism

    • Theravada: Personal spiritual growth → meditation + self-reflection

    • Syncretism w/ Chinese religions

      • +Daoism → Zen/Chan Buddhism

      • +Daoism + Confucianism → Neo-Confucianism

• Economic Systems

  • Grand Canal allowed for easier access to trade → most populous trading area

  • Inventions spread along the silk road

    • Artisans and peasants → Steel, silk, and porcelain

  • Commercialized society

    • Local consumption → Market consumption

  • Taxes paid for public projects

  • Collected tributes from neighboring states

    • China > other states ∴ pay tributes to honor the emperor

• Technology and Innovations

  • Invention of Gunpowder, spread along silk road

  • Champa Rice (+ other agricultural innovations)

    • Extremely resilient crop: could grow multiple yields a year and thrive in harsh conditions

    • Surplus of food allowed for rapid population growth

  • Compass aided maritime navigation

  • Woodblock printing and paper

• Sinification:

  • Chinese influence on neighboring states

  • Japan:

    • Emulation of Chinese traditions in politics, art, and literature

    • Woodblock printing from China

  • Korea:

    • Emulation of Chinese-style centralized government

    • Confucian + Buddhist beliefs

    • Adopted Chinese writing system

  • Vietnam:

    • Launched rebellions against Chinese influence

    • Merit-based bureaucracy

    • Rejected polygamy and foot binding

Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258)

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Merchants are more highly regarded than other societies

    • Muhammad was a merchant

  • Life for people in country/peasants remained unchanged as Abbasids took over

  • Slavery is allowed, but restrictions (Dhimmi ← No)

    • Enslaved Seljuks + Mamluks ← Both revolted and established empires

  • Women in Islam had more rights than Christian women and Jewish women at the time (ex. Divorce, birth control, etc.)

• Politics and Governance

  • Theocracy

  • Centralized government

  • External Conflict (Abbasids vs. Mamluks, Seljuks, Crusaders, Mongols)

    • 1055, Seljuks established empire

    • 1250, Mamluks seized control of the government

  • Common use of Sharia (Islamic Law) across Empires creates similar legal systems (Continuity)

• Cultural Developments

  • Islam originated in Mecca and diffused through:

    • Military expansion

    • Merchants

    • Missionaries

    • Sufis: Introspection reveals truths that can’t be found by learning

  • Dhimmi: People of the book (Christians, Jews)

    • Tolerated

• Economic Systems

  • Important link connecting trade between Asia, Europe, and North Africa

    • Baghdad: Trading hub

      • Trade slowly shifted north, and Baghdad lost importance

• Technology and Innovations

  • Innovations:

    • Advances in mathematics, literature, medicine

      • Trigonometry

      • Accurate astronomical charts

      • Healthcare, idea of bacteria/airborne particles transmitting infections

      • House of Wisdom in Baghdad

  • Transfers:

    • Translated important Greek texts to Arabic (ex. Aristotle)

    • Mathematical texts from India

    • Chinese paper-making strategies

South + Southeast Asia

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Caste System: Hindu social hierarchy, assigned at birth

    • Lower caste Hindus converted to Islam in hopes of a higher social status

• Politics and Governance

  • Delhi Sultanate (1200-1526)

    • Islamic forces conquered much of Northern India (and the region), including Delhi

    • Prevented Mongols → South Asia

  • Buddhist States: Srivijaya Empire, Sukhotai Kingdom, Sinhala Dynasties

  • Hindu States: Vijayanagara Empire, Rajput Kingdoms, Majapahit,

  • Khmer → Hindu and Buddhist

• Cultural Developments

  • Hinduism: Held the diverse region together

    • The Bakhti Movement

      • Importance of emotion in your spiritual life

      • People developed a strong attachment to a particular deity

      • No discrimination against women or lower social classes

  • Islam:

    • Delhi sultanate forced convert → Islam

    • Sufis: Introspection reveals truths that can’t be found by learning

    • Muslim merchants married Hindu women and converted them to Islam

  • Buddhism:

    • Monasticism: Community → Withdraw from society, devoted to religion

Chaco and Mesa Verde (800s - 1200s)

• Interactions with the Environment

  • Dry region

    • Caused the decline of both empires

  • Trees were small and scarce

• Technology and Innovations

  • Chaco

    • Built homes out of clay and stones

  • Mesa Verde

    • Built homes into the sides of cliffs using brick (sandstone)

The Maya City-States (250-900)

• Politics and Governance

  • City-states

    • Ruled → king, “descendants from god”

    • Wars fought between city-states for tribute (usually)

  • No military: citizens fought for their city states in the case of a war

• Cultural Developments

  • Human sacrifice during religious ceremonies

• Economic Systems

  • People paid taxes in crops + labor

• Technology and Innovations

  • Concept of “0”

  • Advanced calendar

The Aztecs/Mexicas (1200s - 1500)

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Emperor > Nobles > Scribes, Healers > Craftspeople, Traders > Peasants, Soldiers

  • Women highly valued bc they wove tribute cloth

    • Husbands sometimes got more than one wife to pay tributes

• Politics and Governance

  • City-states grouped into provinces

  • Theocracy

  • Human sacrifice → Legitimize rule

  • Sick of tribute and sacrifice revolted w/ Spain → overthrow empire

• Interactions with the Environment

  • Tenochtitlan on island in middle of lake to protect from attacks

    • Almost 200k ppl

  • Chinampas - Floating farms

• Cultural Developments

  • Temples made of stone

  • Slaves sacrificed in religious ceremonies

  • Worshiped hundreds of deities

• Economic Systems

  • Tribute system

    • Conquered ppl had to pay tribute, give land, fight in military

The Incas (1438 - 1533)

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Mit’a system

    • Mandatory public service

  • Priests were very important

    • Diagnosed illness

    • Predicted outcomes of battles

    • Solved crimes

    • Determined sacrifices

• Politics and Governance

  • Many small tribes were conquered and combined

• Interactions with the Environment

  • European disease → decline

• Cultural Developments

  • Inti, sun god

  • ONLY serious events call for human sacrifice

  • Some animism

• Technology and Innovations

  • Quipu

    • Knotted strings for math and messages

  • Waru Waru agriculture (Terraces)

Hausa Kingdom City-States

• Politics and Governance

  • Kin-based networks (ran by families)

    • No centralized governments

• Cultural Developments

  • Missionaries introduced Islam to the region in the 14th century (1300s)

• Economic Systems

  • Benefited from Trans-Saharan Trade

East + West Africa

• Interactions with the Environment

  • Coast → access to Indian Ocean

  • Overgrazing damaged environment and resulted in ppl abandoning city capital (Great Zimbabwe)

• Cultural Developments

  • Architecture of stone demonstrated wealth

  • Swahili - Eastern syncretic language used in Indian Ocean Trade

  • Ethiopia - Christian nation, Islam spread in 7th century (600s)

    • Constructed stone churches to express power

    • Separated from Christian Europe and developed independently

• Economic Systems

  • Mali - Muslim ruler established gold trade w rest of Islamic Africa and Arabic merchants

    • Hajj to Mecca → Legitimize rule

  • Built wealth on trade (gold, ivory), grazing, and agriculture

    • Indian Ocean trade

Sub-Saharan Africa

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Groups based on age, gender, and kinship (family)

  • Men dominated jobs w specific skills (ex. blacksmits), women had domestic and agriculture jobs

  • Griots - story tellers

• Politics and Governance

  • Zanj Rebellion - Slave revolts

• Cultural Developments

  • Music, art, and stories are valued

• Economic Systems

  • Demand for slaves in the Middle East resulted in Indian Ocean slave trade

Europe

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Women slowly gaining rights

    • Could be artisans and members of guilds

      • Guild: Medieval association of craftsmen or merchants

• Politics and Governance

  • Political Decentralization

    • Feudalism: A system of relationships between lords (land owner), vassals (person under lord), and fiefs (plot of land)

      • Nobles granted the use of land in exchange for loyalty + military service to the king

    • Hundred Years War: England vs France (Nationalism)

• Interactions with the Environment

  • Societies → early urbanization

  • Little Ice Age

    • Lower temperatures lowered agricultural production ∴ cities grew slower and had less to trade

    • Increase in disease

    • Higher crime rates and antisemitism

  • Agricultural Society: Economy based on producing and maintaining farmlands

• Cultural Developments

  • Church was the leader in education

  • Philosophers, writers, and other thinkers were religious

  • Renaissance era

    • Humanism: Focus on individuals rather than God

    • Monarchies + centralized governments

• Economic Systems

  • Manorial System: Manors (large plots of land) produced enough resources to be self-sufficient

  • Three-Field System: Crops were rotated through three different fields

    • Food, beans/legumes, and fallow (empty)

• Technology and Innovations

  • Windmills

  • New plows

The Silk Roads

💡Explain the causes and effects of growth of networks of exchange after 1200

• Improved commercial practices → ↑ trade, area of existing routes

  • New credit + money economies (Saqq, baking houses, paper money)

  • Caravanseria and oasis towns

  • Trading cities (Kashgar, Samarkand, Baghdad, Hangzhou)

• Innovations in transport and commercial technology → demand for luxury goods ↑

  • Merchants and artisans expanded production of goods like textiles and porcelains for export.

  • Manufacturing of steel and iron in China increased

Mongol Empire

• Empires collapsed, and some were taken over by the Mongols (Khanates)

• The expansion of empires facilitated trade and communication as new people were drawn into economies and trade networks when land was conquered

• Interregional contacts and conflicts btwn states and empires caused the exchange of tech and culture

  • Involuntary and voluntary

  • Transfer of Islamic medical knowledge to Western Europe

  • Numbering systems to Europe

  • Uyghur script

    • Mongolian script borrowed from Uighurs

Exchange in the Indian Ocean

💡Explain the causes and effects of growth of networks of exchange after 1200

💡Explain the role of environmental factors in the development of networks of exchange in 1200-1450

• Improved transport technology and commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes, promoting the growth of powerful trading cities.

  • Kashgar

  • Samarkand

  • Baghdad

  • Hangzhou

  • Malacca

  • Swahili city states

• Innovations in transport and commercial technology increased the demand for luxury goods

  • Compass

  • Astrolabe

  • Dhow ships

  • Junk ships

• Diasporic communities were established along popular trade routes, where foreign and indigenous cultures influenced each other

  • Chinese merchant communities south asia

• Zheng He - Fleet of many ships as a show of power

• Knowledge on the environment increased trade

  • Using monsoon winds

Trans-Saharan Trade Routes

💡Explain how the expansion of empires influenced trade and communication over time

• Improved transport technology and commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes

  • Camel saddles

  • Caravans

• The expansion of empires facilitated trade and communication as new people were drawn into economies and trade networks when land was conquered

  • Mali

Cultural Consequences of Connectivity

💡Explain the intellectual and cultural effects of the various networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia from 1200-1450

• Increased cross-cultural interactions resulted in the diffusion of literary, artistic, cultural, scientific, and technological innovations.

  • Buddhism → East Asia

  • Hinduism + Buddhism → Southeast Asia

  • Islam → Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Gunpowder + Paper → West from China

• All cities go through periods of urbanization and decline

  • Controlled by trade and productivity

• Travelers wrote abt travels

  • Marco Polo

  • Ibn Buttata

  • Margery Kempe

Environmental Consequences of Connectivity

💡Explain the environmental effects of the various networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia from 1200-1450

• Trade also resulted in diffusion of communicable diseases, along with crops, innovations, culture, etc

  • Black death/Bubonic plague

  • Bananas → Africa

  • Champa Rice → East Asia

  • Citrus → Meditteranean

Comparison of Economic Exchange

💡Compare and contrast the trade routes

European, East Asian, and Gunpowder Empires Expand

Gunpowder Empire: Large, multiethnic states in Asia that relied on the use of firearms to conquer and control territories

Europe

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Monarchies: A single person, the monarch, rules as the head of state, often for life and through hereditary succession

    • Tudors → England

    • Valois → France

    • Queen Isabella + King Ferdinand → Spain

  • Absolutism: Unlimited centralized authority and absolute sovereignty, as vested especially in a monarch or dictator.

  • Increase in the power of the middle class at the cost of priests and lords

• Politics and Governance

  • Conclusion of the 100 year’s war between France and England

  • Overseas exploration and colonization were beginning

• Interactions with the Environment

  • End of plagues

• Cultural Developments

  • Increases in literature

• Economic Systems

  • Many European states were becoming wealthy

• Technology and Innovations

  • Gunpowder

  • Invention of Gutenberg printing press

    • Led to increases in literature

Russia

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Stroganovs: Major Russian landowners (kinda like lords in Europe)

  • Cossacks: Fierce peasant warriors

• Politics and Governance

  • Capital was located in Europe

  • Viking invasions

  • Ivan IV - Ivan the Terrible

    • Took control of khanates of the Golden Horde

    • Expansion relied on gunpowder

    • Allowed Stroganovs to hire Cossacks to fight local tribes and khans (Mongols)

    • Took control of Volga River

  • Continued expansion after Ivan IV

    • Fur traders + militias defeated Indigenous groups

    • Spread all the way to Alaska by 1741

• Interactions with the Environment

  • Efficient location for trade with Europe and other cultures farther East and West

• Cultural Developments

  • Culture influenced by Mongols, Vikings, trade with Europe and other regions

  • East Orthodox (Christianity)

    • People in conquered land converted

    • However, local religious leaders continued to have influence

• Economic Systems

  • Maritime trade w Persia + Ottoman Empire after control of Volga

East Asia

💡Compare the Ming and Yuan Dynasties

• Politics and Governance

  • Song Dynasty → Ming Dynasty in 1368

    • Ming rulers stabilized East Asia for nearly 300 years (~1650)

  • Ming Dynasty → Qing Dynasty in 1644

    • Manchu: The Manchus are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia (~Northeast modern-day China)

    • Emperor Kangxi: Ruled Qing Dynasty (1661-1722)

      • Took control of parts of Taiwan, Mongolia, and Central Asia

    • Protectorate: A state that is under protection by another state for defense against aggression and other violations of law

      • China imposed a protectorate over Tibet (~North India)

    • Emperor Qianlong: Ruled Qing Dynasty (1736-1796)

      • Poet

      • Military campaigns → West China, causing mass killing of local population

      • Caused instability in the region that remains today

  • White Lotus Rebellion: Failed peasant uprising during Qing Dynasty

• Cultural Developments

  • Japan and Korea experienced developments similar to those in China

  • Ming Dynasty renewed the Great Wall of China

    • Mongols didn’t maintain it

  • Uighurs: Muslim population in China

• Economic Systems

  • Portuguese and other Europeans arrived in China during the Ming Dynasty to try to join the Asian trade network

  • Qianlong launched failed campaigns against Vietnam and Burma, draining the Empire’s treasury

    • Limited trade w Europe to recover

    • British asked for more trading rights, unsatisfied

    • China sent letter to British saying they have no need for British goods

  • Corruption at end of Qing → High taxes on population

Islamic Empires

Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Christian boys were often forced to serve

  • Women in the Safavid empire were allowed to mostly participate in society

  • Hindu castes in the Mughal empire

• Politics and Governance

  • Took advantage of power left by collapse of Mongol Empire/Khanates

  • Europeans fought internally, leaving no competition for these Empires

  • Tamerlane violently took over areas in central Asia

    • Empire collapsed due to the lack of an effective government/political structure

  • Mongols vs Islamic forces across the region

  • Ottoman empire collapsed during WWI

    • Had a strong navy

  • Decline of the Mamluks

  • Safavids → Lack a good navy, but on sea

  • Conflict btwn Ottomans and Safavids

    • Religious (Branches of Islam)

    • Economic (Trade route disputes)

• Interactions with the Environment

  • Most gunpowder empires had access to the sea, but stuck to land-based trade routes

• Cultural Developments

  • Spoke a Turkic language

  • Ghazi Ideal: A model for warrior life that blended cooperative values of nomadic cultures with the willingness to serve as a holy fighter for Islam

  • Encouraged learning and art

  • Istanbul became a center for Islam

  • Safavids → Sufis + Shi’a Islam

  • Ottomans → Sunni Islam

• Economic Systems

  • Mughals (Modern day India) traded textiles, tropical goods, spices, and stones for gold and silver

• Technology and Innovations

  • Gunpowder Weapons

    • Canons

      • Ottomans used canons to establish the empire’s capital

    • Artillery

• Decline:

  • European forces defeated the Ottomans in the Battle of Lepanto

  • Safavids spent a lot of money without a way to regain it, draining their economy

  • Corrupt Mughal leader couldn’t keep up w external military innovations while also wanting to rid the state of Hinduism, creating rebellions. The British took control

Empire Administrations

Centralizing Control in Europe

💡Compare Louis XIV and Emperor Kangxi (Qing Dynasty)

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Gentry Officials: Upper class, nobles

    • The use of officials to establish and enforce laws helps legitimize the rule of a monarch

      • Justices of the Peace → England

      • Intendants/Tax Farmers → France

• Politics and Governance

  • Divine Right of Kings: The right to rule is given by god

  • English Bill of Rights: Granted and assured individual civil liberties

  • Absolutism: One monarch has complete control of the state

    • Louis XIV → France

    • Louis wanted to keep an eye on nobility and distract them from their loss of power, so he forced them to move to Versailles

Reigning in Control of the Russian Empire

💡Compare Ivan IV and Sundiata

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Nobles/Landowners (Boyars) at the top of social hierarchy

  • Serfdom → Serfs at the bottom of hierarchy

• Politics and Governance

  • Ivan IV wanted to keep an eye on nobility → Confiscated their land and forced them to move to Moscow

    • Modern Russian “secret police”

  • Internal conflict

    • Church → Preserve traditional values and beliefs

    • Boyars → Regain power

    • Tsar Royal Family → Keep power

• Cultural Developments

  • Peter the Great (I) defended Orthodoxy

Centralizing Control in the Ottoman Empire

• Politics and Governance

  • Devshirme: Christian boys were forced to serve in the Ottoman Government

    • They were educated and formed elite forces in the army

    • Some forced to control and administrate new/conquered territories

    • Forced to be extremely loyal to Sultan

Centralizing Control in East and South Asia

💡Compare Shogun rule to the rule of the Daimyo

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Daimyo: Japanese land-owning aristocrats

    • Samurai: Armies belonging to Daimyo

• Politics and Governance

  • Chinese Ming Dynasty attempted to erase all traces of the Mongols

    • Reinstated Civil Service Exam

    • Revitalized the Bureaucracy

  • Daimyos began to unite Japan

    • Nobunaga → Portuguese firearms used to unite ~1/3 of Japan

    • Hideyoshi → United almost all of modern-day Japan

    • Ieyasu → Power shifted to him in Tokyo, and he was declared Shogun

      • Period of Great Peace: His successors continued to rule

    • Tokugawa Shogunate (~1600-1870)

      • Centralized Japan (it was feudal)

      • Reduced power of Daimyos to essentially landlords

  • Akbar established fair rights for all in the Mughal Empire

    • Autonomy to govern with your own cultural laws

    • Zamindars: Paid government officials

      • Given money/land

      • Built their own personal armies with soldiers loyal to them with their salaries

• Cultural Developments

  • Ming Dynasty enacted a national education program focusing on art

  • Emergence of Sikhism in the Mughal Empire

• Economic Systems

  • Qing Dynasty raised taxes as bureaucracy became corrupt, and ended peasant rebellions

  • Japanese samurai paid w salaries, giving them economic power

  • Zamindars in charge of collecting taxes, construction, and water supply

    • Some grew wealthy and corrupt

• Technology and Innovations

  • Guns and gunpowder in Japan gave Daimyo the ability to defeat one another and unify Japan

Legitimizing Power through Religion and Art

European rulers (in general) used divine right to justify their rule (Monarchs derive their authority from God, therefore going against/opposing the monarch is going against God)

• Peter the Great (Russian Empire)

  • Seized the land near the Baltic Sea from Sweden, gaining St. Petersburg, a warm water port

  • Made St. Petersburg the capital to keep an eye on the Boyars

    • Boyars: A member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility

  • Architects organized the city, forcing slaves and prisoners of war to drain marshes and build government structures

  • Winter Palace: Palace designed by a European to demonstrate Peter’s admiration of the West and its rulers

• Askia the Great (Songhai)

  • Promoted Islam (mad official religion) to unite empire

  • Made a lavish pilgrimage to Mecca

  • Utilized bureaucracy to bring the empire together

• Shah Jahan (Mughal Empire)

  • Taj Mahal: Built as a tomb for his favorite wife, also functions as a mosque

  • Combined arts of Islam with local arts to create beautiful structures that demonstrated the power of the Empire

• Ottoman Empire

  • Renamed Constantinople → Istanbul

    • Continuity: Remained key in Silk Road trade

    • Continuity: Coffeehouses continued to thrive, despite being frowned upon by Islamic law

  • Suleymaniye Mosque: Demonstrated power

  • Restoration of Cathedral of Saint Sophia, turned into a mosque

• Louis XIV (French)

  • Versailles: Large palace built by Louis XIV in order to watch nobility and distract them from their lack of power due to his absolute monarchy

    • Show of power due to extreme cost and size of building + furniture

    • Made nobles compete for his attention, to do things like watch him wake up

Financing Empires

💡Compare Ottoman tax farming to Songhai’s zamindars

• Russia

  • Industrialization - attempt to increase revenue

    • New industries owned by the state (ex. shipyard, mines, etc)

    • Private industries also encouraged (ex. metallurgy, gunpowder, paper, etc)

    • Western naval engineers brought in to build Western styled ships

  • Industrialization failed → Raised taxes, now per capita (per person) instead of per land unit

  • Peasants became more oppressed than ever

• Ottomans

  • Tax Farming: Management of taxation is assigned to a third party (local officials and private tax collectors), and they receive a percent of the collected money from the contractor (emperor)

    • Some grew wealthy and corrupt

  • Agricultural villages struggled to pay taxes and fund the military

• Mughals

  • Zamindars began to keep some tax money, eventually growing wealthy and corrupt

• Ming Dynasty

  • Wealthy families were responsible for collecting the taxes in their region

    • Mainly land taxes

    • Paid in grain and silver

  • Collected tributes from other states

• Aztecs/Mexica

  • Collected tribute from other states

  • Citizens paid taxes, collected by an official at each capital

• Songhai

  • Collected tribute from other states

Belief Systems

Protestant Reformation

• Feudalism → Centralized Government caused many issues for the Roman Catholic Church

  • Corruption sparked multiple reform attempts; all unsuccessful

• Theological Disagreements: Arguments based on different opinions/interpretations

  • John Wycliffe: Priests are unnecessary for salvation. Translated bible to English for masses who couldn’t read Latin

  • Jan Hus + Hussites (Followers): Agreed with Wycliffe; labeled “heretics” and burned

  • Babylonian Captivity: Papacy (office held by pope) in France instead of Rome, giving the French influence over the church

  • Church failed to stop the Black Death → Suspicious

• Martin Luther: Church practices/traditions violated the bible - Made 95 Theses (list)

  • Indulgences: Paid escape of repercussions of sin

  • Simony: Selling church offices

  • Many German leaders saw this as an opportunity to free themselves of the power of the pope

  • Became major divide within the Church

• Calvinism: John Calvin helped reform religious community.

  • Elect: People predestined to go to heaven

    • They ran the community

    • Encouraged people to work hard and reinvest their profits

• Anglicanism: King Henry VIII wanted a son, and his wife “wouldn’t give him one” (bro didn’t know his genes were the issue), but the pope refused to annul his marriage. He started his own church, free of the Roman pope; Anglican Church

Orthodox Church and Russia

• The Church united Russians, so Peter the Great got rid of the patriarch (head of the church) to incorporate it into the government

• Tsars ruled with divine right

• Raised age to become a monk, so men would first join the military

Counter/Catholic Reformation

• Roman Catholic Church fought back against reformation

  • Inquisition: A judicial procedure and institution used to combat heresy, apostasy, blasphemy, and witchcraft

    • Use increased

  • Jesuits: Roman Catholic order of priests and brothers, also known as the Society of Jesus, that are committed to serving the faith and promoting justice

    • Began missionary activity throughout the Spanish empire, Japan, and India

  • Council of Trent: Corrected abuses and reaffirmed marriage, along w increasing education of priests

• Successful, and spread further w Spanish, French, + Portugese colonies

Wars of Religion

• Peace of Augsburg: (1555) Allowed each German state to choose whether its ruler would be Catholic or Lutheran

• Edict of Nantes: (1598) King Henry IV tried to unify France by becoming Catholic. He issued Edict of Nantes, which allowed religious toleration

  • In 1685, Louis XIV revoked it, causing negative social and economic effects

• Thirty Years War: (1618-1648) Catholic vs Protestant conflict

  • Peace of Westphalia: Allowed each area in the Holy Roman Empire to choose:

    • Roman Catholicism

    • Lutheranism

    • Calvinism

    • Gave the states more autonomy

Islamic Religious Schisms

• Ottomans

  • Justinian law code replaced → Shariah

• Mughals

  • Tolerated all religions

    • Sikhism: New syncretic religion that developed as a mix of Hinduism and Sufism (Islam)

• Safavids

  • Shi’a Islam caused conflict w/ Ottomans

Scientific Revolution

• Scientific thinking became popular in Northern Europe → Renaissance

  • Thinking based on reason instead of faith

• Empiricism: Collection of data to back up a hypothesis

Comparison in Land-Based Empires

💡Compare the decline of the Mongol Empire to the decline of Mughal India

• Politics and Governance

  • Soldiers

    • Ottomans: Slave soldiers with more loyalty to sultan (Janissaries)

    • Safavids: Slave soldiers with more loyalty to sultan (Ghulams)

    • Aztecs/Mexica: Slave soldiers taken from tributary states

  • Warfare

    • Ottomans vs Safavids

      • Religious divide (Shi’a vs Sunni)

      • Territorial claims at border

    • Safavids vs Mughals

      • Control over resources

  • Centralized Bureaucracy

    • Chinese Dynasties (Ming + Qing): Civil service exam selected the best educated men to be part of the bureaucracy

    • Ottoman Empire: Devshirme provided the sultan with educated, loyal soldiers who were also trained in economics, politics, etc. and served in the bureaucracy

    • Safavid Empire: Persian bureaucrats enlisted by shah (sultan)

    • Songhai Empie: Educated bureaucrats employed by sultan

• Cultural Developments

  • Religious conflict weakened the Gunpowder Empires

• Economic Systems

  • Unable to compete with European trade → Decline

  • Taxation

    • Mughal: Zamindars collected taxes from peasants in their regions

    • Ottoman: Tax farmers paid a fixed sum of money to the government, and got it back by taxing the peasants, collecting goods and money

    • Aztec: Collected tribute, sometimes in goods but often human sacrifice

    • Ming: Taxes had to be paid in paper → rice → silver

• Technology and Innovations

  • Failure to keep up with military tech (ex. naval)

Technological Innovations

💡Compare the technological advances of the Mongols and Chinese of those of naval tech in the 12/13th centuries

Developments of Transoceanic Travel and Trade

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • European men were typically traders, while Asian women mainly handled economics like trade and markets

• Interactions with the Environment

  • Many European empires became maritime empires, relying on the sea

    • Spain, Portugal, Great Britan, France, Holland, etc.

• Economic Systems

  • Silk Road trade

  • Indian Ocean Trade

  • Europeans faced conflict w Middle Eastern traders

    • Omani-European Rivalry: Caused Christopher Columbus’ search for new route to India

      • Americas → Sugar, tobacco, rum

      • Africa → Slaves

      • Asia → Silk, spices, rhubarb

Classical, Islamic, and Asian Technology

• Politics and Governance

  • Prince Henry the Navigator: Portuguese ruler who strongly supported exploration, financing expeditions across African coasts

  • Gunpowder aided Europeans in their conquests

  • Sea Beggars: Dutch rebel sailors/pirates

    • Also began to utilize gunpowder

• Interactions with the Environment

  • Maritime trade continues to increase with the use of new/improved naval technology

• Cultural Developments

  • Europeans combined previous Greek knowledge with theirs, along w Islamic and Asian sailors (got knowledge from trade)

  • Islam continued to spread through trade

  • Interactions between Africa and other regions brought many different cultures to Africa

• Technology and Innovations

  • Western European countries developed their naval technology

  • Technology resulted in the expansion and increased efficiency of trade routes

    • Newton’s understanding of gravity changed understanding of tides

      • Sailors could predict when the tides would recede, exposing dangerous rocks

    • Astronomical Charts: Maps of the stars and galaxies, used mainly before the compass in order to calculate direction and location

      • Continuity across many empires, including Chinese, Greek, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia

    • Astrolabe (Improved by Muslims): Used to determine how far north/south you are from the equator

    • Magnetic Compass: Used to steer in the right direction

    • Lateen Sails: Triangular sails used by Arabic traders on the Indian Ocean; capable of catching wind on both faces, allowing for steering in multiple directions

    • Three new types of European ships were created by altering the ratio of length:width, and adjusting the number of other features (ex. masts, sails, etc.)

      • Carrack

        • Used for trade

        • Portuguese

      • Caravel

        • Used for long voyages at great speed

        • Portuguese and Spanish

      • Fluyt

        • Used for trade

        • Dutch

      • Galleons

        • Spanish

        • Heavily armed ships used for trading silver

Exploration: Causes and Effects

💡Explain how one European explorer compares to Marco Polo

The Role of States in Maritime Exploration

• Politics and Governance

  • States funded conquests to:

    • Increase their power and influence

    • Acquire new trading opportunities

    • Preserve/spread their religions

• Cultural Developments

  • Christians believed it was their duty to seek out people in foreign lands and convert them to Christianity, which was motivation for conquest

• Economic Systems

  • Conquests brought wealth in the form of taxes and new trading opportunities

    • Material Wealth: The accumulation of goods and resources that people can own

      • Commonly silver in Europe

  • Conquests were expensive and had to be funded by the state to be affordable

  • Mercantilism: Maximize exports (the amount of gold and silver coming into the country) while buying as little as possible (decreasing imports) from foreign states in order to minimize the number of precious metals exiting the country

Expansion of European Maritime Exploration

• Politics and Governance

  • Portugal

    • Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460): First European monarch to sponsor naval expeditions, going east and to Africa

      • Portugal began importing slaves from Africa

    • Bartholomew Diaz (1488): Sailed around southern tip of Africa

    • Vasco Da Gama (1498): Made it to India and claimed some territory

    • Won control of African and Indian coasts

    • Corruption among government officials

  • Dutch

    • Captured Malacca + built a fort (1620)

    • Attempted to take over spice trade

  • England

    • Focused on taking over India from Portuguese

  • Spanish

    • Ferdinand Magellan: One of the ships in his fleet successfully made it across the globe (circumnavigated)

    • Conquered the Philippines in 1521, turning many Filipinos Christian

• Interactions with the Environment

  • Portugal could only expand overseas

• Cultural Developments

  • China

    • Portuguese visits, followed by Roman Catholic missionaries, led to the conversion of some Chinese people to Christianity

    • Jesuits tried to impress Chinese elites with their learning, failed to win converts bc Christians seen as “barbaric”

  • Japan

    • Portuguese, followed by Christian missionaries, traveled to Japan to establish trade cities

      • Christianity outlawed - 1600s

• Economic Systems

  • Trading Post Empires: Maritime empires established primarily for commercial purposes, where European powers built fortified trading posts to control trade

    • Portuguese constructed series of trading forts → complete control over spice trade and license all vessels used in trade

• Technology and Innovations

  • Portuguese ships and weapons were superior to the rest of Europe

The Lure of Riches

• Politics and Governance

  • French

    • Jaques Cartier: Atlantic Ocean → St Lawrence River

      • Claimed Quebec for the French

    • Samuel de Champlain → Realized there were valuable goods in the Americas

    • Traded with First Nations people, establishing better relationships than the Spanish + British

    • New France: American French population

  • English

    • John Cabot: Sent to look for the “Northwest Passage”

    • Jamestown established

  • Dutch

    • Henry Hudson: Sailed up Hudson’s River to see if it led to Asia (it didn’t). Also established New Amsterdam (Modern-day New York City)

    • Sent Canadian goods back to the Netherlands

• Interactions with the Environment

  • Northwest Passage: Route through/around North America that would lead to East Asia

• Economic Systems

  • Many explorers were motivated by the opportunity of finding new riches

    • Found very little → Considered stopping expeditions

  • Spanish came into contact w Aztecs and Incas

    • Had a lot of gold and silver, in addition to more people to enslave

      • American Silver → China

Columbian Exchange

💡Compare the economic practices of Spain in the Americas and Portugal in South, Southwest, and Southeast Asia

Disease and Population Catastrophe

• Interactions with the Environment

  • The Indigenous people in the Americas had never had contact with European diseases before, as they’ve never had contact w Europeans

    • Spanish → Smallpox

    • Rodents/Organisms → Measles, Malaria, Influenza

Animas and Food

• Cultural Developments

  • Europe → America

    • Meat (beef, pork, etc.) hadn’t been eaten in the Americas until introduced by the Europeans

    • Horses were also introduced for travel/hunting

      • Caused food surplus bc hunting became so efficient

  • America → Europe

    • Crops

      • Maize, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, pepper, cacao

    • Caused pop. growth in Europe

Cash Crops and Forced Labor

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Portuguese imported African slaves to cultivate sugar

• Interactions with the Environment

  • Pop. growth in Africa due to introduction of nutritious Amercian crops

    • ex. Yams from Brazil

• Cultural Developments

  • Okra + rice from African Slaves

• Economic Systems

  • Tobacco + cacao grown in Americas → Sold to Europe

  • Money Europeans earned from slaves caused an increase in the transatlantic slave trade

    • >90% of slaves were shipped to the Americas instead of Europe

  • Cash Crops: Agricultural crops which are grown to sell for profit

African Presence in the Americas

African Diaspora: Dispersion of Africans outside of Africa

• Cultural Developments

  • Language

    • Combined European + African languages to create a creole

    • Creole: A language that develops from the process of different languages simplifying and mixing into a new form (often a pidgin), and then that form expanding and elaborating into a full-fledged language with native speakers

  • Music

    • Gospel

    • Blues

    • Jazz

    • Rock and Roll

    • Hip Hop

    • Rap

    • Country Music

    • Music was used as a form of communication

  • Food

    • Knowledge of how to prepare foods

      • ex. Gumbo

Maritime Empires Link Religions

💡Compare slavery during Sub-Saharan Africa’s early colonial period with slavery from 600-1450

💡Explain the extent to which the slave trade impacted Africa

• Economic Systems

  • American plantations relied on labor systems

    • Indentured Servitude: Form of labor in which an individual is under contract to work without a salary to repay a loan.

    • Chattel Slavery: Individuals were considered property to be bought and sold

State-Building and Empire Expansion

Trading Posts in Africa and Asia

• Politics and Governance

  • Japan → isolated from the rest of the world for two centuries

    • No travelling outside

    • No foreigners entering

  • Voyages of Zheng He as a show of power

• Cultural Developments

  • Thousands of Japanese converted to Christianity

    • Some became intolerant of other religions and destroyed Buddhist shrines

    • Government banned Christianity → was a “threat to Buddhism”

  • Ming Dynasty wanted to limit foreign influence on the empire

    • Prohibited trade

    • Destroyed dockyards

    • Reconstructed the great wall

• Economic Systems

  • Trading posts in Africa grew wealthy by selling slaves to Europeans

    • Some villages raided others to capture and sell their people as slaves

  • Expansion of maritime trade allowed for many African empires to flourish

    • Asante Empire

    • Kingdom of the Kongo

  • Despite isolation, Japan continued trade w/ China

European Rivalries on Five Continents

• Politics and Governance

  • British East India Company → Commercial relationship w Mughal Empire

    • Took advantage of tensions between Muslims + Hindus → Increased power through treaties

  • Portugal established → costal trading post (Goa)

  • France controlled city → Pondicherry

  • France + Britain → 7 year’s war

    • Britain won, kicked France out of India

    • Portuguese remained

• Economic Systems

  • Britain established other trading cities in West Africa

  • Set the stage for globalization

Europeans in the Americas

• Politics and Governance

  • Bc of significant decline in pop + power (European disease), empires fell easily to Spanish forces

  • New Spain → New Aztec Spanish colony

  • Destroyed Tenochtitlan and built Mexico city

  • Spanish captured Incan ruler, promised to return him for ransom

    • Took ransom and killed him anyways

  • Treaty of Tordesillas (1494): Spain and Portugal divided the Americas between them

  • Great Peace of Montreal (1701): France and Iroquois peace treaty

• Interactions with the Environment

  • European disease devastated Aztec/Mexica and Inca populations

• Economic Systems

  • Spanish melted down Aztec treasures and sent gold back → Europe

Continuity and Change in Economic Systems

• Economic Systems

  • Increase in European activity in the Indian Ocean

    • Porcelain + Silk → China

    • Cloth from weavers → Western India

    • Agricultural goods → Java

    • Spices → Many places

  • Portuguese took over much of Indian Ocean trade bc strong naval forces

  • Encomienda: Landowners convinced Indigenous ppl to work for them in exchange for food and shelter

    • Goal was to obtain gold to send back to Europe

  • Hacienda: Landowners grew agriculture with the help of slaves

  • Silver discovered

    • Spanish forced certain amount of men to mine from each village

      • Transformed the old Mit’a system

        • Mit’a System: A form of public service that required citizens to contribute their labor to the state for a set number of days each year.

    • Made Europeans wealthy

    • Mercantilism increased w silver

      • Mercantilism: A form of economic nationalism that sought to increase the prosperity and power of a nation through restrictive trade practices

Continuity and Change in Labor Systems

• Slaves

  • Considered property

  • Little to no rights

• Serfs

  • Attached to the land; not free to leave

  • Little to no legal protection

• Indentured Servants

  • Worked w/ no pay to pay off a loan

• Free Peasants

  • Worked on their own land

  • Paid taxes → lord, church

• Nomads

  • Didn’t own land

  • Moved frequently

• Guilds

  • Apprentices → Individual workers

Why Africa?

• Labor for plantations

  • Europeans only worked for 7 years → free

  • African slaves → forever

• African leaders benefited from sale

  • Sometimes handed over people from their own societies

Affects of Slavery on Africa

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Set up social classes

  • Disrupted family structures → more men than women were taken

    • Rise in polygyny

      • Polygyny: One man marrying multiple wives

• Interactions with the Environment

  • Decline in African populations

    • Slower population growth

  • Introduced new crops

    • Pop growth again

• Economic Systems

  • Growth of plantation economies

    • Plantation Economy: Economy based on agricultural mass production, usually of a few commodity crops, grown on large farms worked by laborers or slaves

  • Slaves sold across globe, not just Europe

    • Asia, Middle East, etc.

Maritime Empires Develop

💡Compare the impacts of the Spanish vs the Portuguese on native populations

Commercial Revolution

Commercial Revolution: Transformation to a trade-based economy using gold and silver

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Developing European “middle class”

• Economic Systems

  • Wealth grew as Europeans gained access to more long-distance trade

  • Price Revolution: High rates of inflation/general rises in prices in the early 15-16th centuries

  • Joint-Stock Companies: Companies owned by investors who bought stocks/shares

  • Limited Liability: Investors are not responsible for a company’s debt

    • Made investing safer

  • Exploration funded by state and joint-stock companies

  • Triangular trade: Trade between the Americas, Europe, and Africa

• Technology and Innovations

  • Dutch had the most innovations → highest standard of living in Europe

Change and Continuities in Trade Networks

• Economic Systems

  • New Monopolies: Merchants or governments given exclusive right to trade

    • Maintained older patterns of trade (continuity)

    • Monopoly: Economic structure where one entity has almost complete control on the production/distribution of a specific good

  • Ongoing Regional Markets: Traditional markets in Afro-Eurasia continued to grow + flourish

    • Improved shipping

Political and Cultural Changes for Indigenous People

• Politics and Governance

  • Indigenous political structures were replaced by those of the Spanish and Portuguese

    • Viceroys: Administrators/representatives of the Spanish crown

    • Audiencias: Royal courts to keep the viceroys under control

• Cultural Developments

  • Conquistadors ordered burning of native books

    • Most accounts of the Aztecs come from Spanish; biased

  • Replaced language and religions

    • English, Portuguese, Christianity

Effects of Belief Systems

• Cultural Developments

  • Syncretic: Composed of traits of multiple things (ex. religion, language, etc.)

    • Developed in the Americas, and Afro-Eurasia

      • Religions (American): Santeria, Voudou, Candomble

      • Religions (Afro-Eurasia): Sikhism

  • Islam brought to Americas through African slaves

  • Catholics in Europe sent missionaries to the Americas

  • Religious divide caused conflict (ex. Ottoman (Sunni) vs Safavid (Shi’a))

Internal and External Challenges to State Power

Resistance to Portugal in Africa

• Politics and Governance

  • Nzinga temporarily allied with Portugal to end slave raids + protect her kingdom from other African attacks/conflicts

  • Fled west with her people, rebelled against Portuguese with help of Dutch

Local Resistance in Russia

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Serfs had decreased rights/quality of life

  • Nobles gained power and wealth

• Politics and Governance

  • Russian conflict came from internal threats, not external

  • Serfdom kept peasants under control of nobles, landowners got free slaves (essentially)

  • Peasant rebellion against Catherine the Great

    • Managed to amass a decently sized group + seize some land

    • Executed

    • Catherine imposed stricter laws against Serfs w/ support of Nobles

Rebellions in South Asia

• Politics and Governance

  • Hindu warrior group rebelled against Islamic Mughal Empire

  • Started Hindu Maratha Empire

Revolts in the Spanish Empire

• Politics and Governance

  • Pueblo Revolt: Indigenous groups fought Spanish colonizers who tried to impose Christianity over their populations

Struggles for Power in England and Its Colonies

• Politics and Governance

  • Maroon Wars: Slaves fought to gain freedom in the Carribean and across the Americas

    • Runaway slaves formed their own settlements, united by Queen Nanny

  • Gloucester County Rebellion: Enslaved Africans and white indentured servants demanded freedom from governor

    • Gov. found out, arrested them

  • Metacom’s War: Final effort of Indigenous people to drive British out

  • Glorious Revolution: Strengthened parliament by forbidding Catholics to rule England

    • Only Protestants are allowed to rule

Changing Social Hierarchies

Social Classes and Minorities in Gunpowder Empires

Ottomans

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Warrior aristocracy competed for positions in the bureaucracy

    • Aristocracy: Privileged ruling class

  • Janissaries gained power and influence

  • Viziers: The sultan’s advisor

    • Spoke for the sultan

  • Timar: Sultan granted land and/or tax revenues to those he favors

    • Kept soldiers loyal

  • Women (harem) held roles in court

    • Harem: A powerful man’s wives and concubines

      • Concubine: Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want to, or cannot, enter into a full marriage.

  • Merchants formed a middle class, above peasants and slaves

• Cultural Developments

  • Tolerance towards Christians and Jews, despite being an Islamic empire

    • Invited Jews after being exiled from Spain

    • Paid Jizya

    • Could not hold positions of power

Mughal

• Cultural Developments

  • Tolerance towards all religions in order to keep large, diverse empire united

    • Ended Jizya tax on non-Muslims

    • Supported Sikhism

    • Granted Christians money to build churches

Manchu Power and Conflicts in the Qing Dynasty

• Cultural Developments

  • Manchu leaders were not tolerant of other cultures

    • Han (ethnic Chinese) required to wear hair in queues (shaved front half of head while back half grew long)

    • Humiliating while showing submission

  • Refusal to assimilate could result in execution

European Hierarchies

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Social Hierarchy: Royalty/Priests > Nobles > Middle Class > Slaves/Serfs

• Politics and Governance

  • Nobility held positions of power in government, faced criticism

  • Failed uprising in France → King Louis XIV took even more power from the French peasants and nobility

• Cultural Developments

  • (Slow) Growing acceptance of Jews after the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment

Russian Social Classes

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • Boyars (nobility) were on top of the social hierarchy

    • Ivan (IV) the Terrible forced them to move to Moscow to keep an eye on them

  • Peasants → Became Serfs

Political and Economic Elites in the Americas

• Social Organizations and Interactions

  • The Casta System: Social hierarchy, ranked ppl based on ethnicity

    • Peninsulares: European, born in Europe

    • Creoles: European, born in Americas

    • Mulattos/Mestizos: European + African/Indigenous

    • Zambos: Indigenous + African

    • Slaves + “pure” Indigenous/African at bottom