AP World Comprehensive Overview Units 1-9

Unit 1 (1200-1450)

Key religions overview:

• Islam: Monotheistic (Middle East, Southe

• ast Asia)

• Christianity: Monotheistic (after Great Schism)

  • Eastern Orthodox (Eastern Europe/Russia)

  • Roman Catholicism (Western Europe)

• Judaism: Monotheistic (Middle East)

• Confucianism: Ideals/values rather than Gods (China, some values in Japan and Korea)

• Buddhism: 4 Noble Truths, less God-based (China, Japan, Korea, India)

• Daoism: Polytheistic, nature-based (China, Japan)

• Hinduism: Polytheistic, caste system (India/South Asia)

  Empires:

  China:

  • Japan, Vietnam, and Korea are tributary states (China has much influence on these states → adoption of Chinese culture, religion, bureaucratic system in Korea…)

  • China is main global power and trading hub (Silk Road)

  • Commodities included: porcelain, silk, rice, tea

  • Confucianism is main religion; Buddhism and Daoism are still present

    • Confucian principles: Filial piety (juniors submit to elders, children submit to parents), citizens submit to the state, women are inferior and submit to men

    • Women had very limited rights and freedoms: Foot binding for women until 1949 (Rise of communism)

  • Confucianism was revived during the Song Dynasty (Neo-Confucianism → new confuciansim without Buddhist influence)

  • Dynasties (in order): Han Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, Sixteen Kingdoms, Sui Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, and lastly Qing Dynasty

  • Dynasties justified their rule through Mandate of Heaven and Confucian principles

  • Dynasties maintained their rule through a bureaucratic system (merit exams to join)

  • Inventions: Gunpowder, the compass, paper currency, and printing

  • Immense economic prosperity in Tang and Song Dynasties led to population explosion (ex. Champa rice)

  Middle East:

  • Dar al-Islam = all the places in the world where Islamic faith was the organizing principle of civilizations

  • Islam, Judaism, and Christianity all present in Middle East

  • Islam

    • Sunni Muslims: the larger branch of Islam, believes that the leader of the Muslim community should be chosen based on consensus or election, believes first 3 caliphs after Muhammad were legitimate, and emphasizes the teachings of the Quran and Hadith

    • Shia Muslims: the smaller branch of Islam, believes that the leadership should remain within the Prophet Muhammad's family, believes his cousin and son-in-law (Ali) were rightful successors, and places greater emphasis on the interpretations of religious leaders

  • Abbasid Caliphate (750 - 1258): Descended from Muhammad’s uncle, established Baghdad as capital, ruled during Islamic Golden Age, advancements in science, math, literature, and art, expansion of Islam, embraced ideas/tech of other cultures (Greek and Chinese), destroyed by Mongol invasion, eventually replaced by Turkik-led Muslims (Ottomans)

  • Expansive trade facilitated by Muslim merchants across North Africa (Trans-Saharan Trade Network) and Silk Road

  • Sufi missionaries spread Islam throughout trade

  South & Southeast Asia:

  • Hinduism is dominant religion (origin in India), Islam is present due to Delhi Sultanate’s rule (Muslim leaders), Buddhism is present in Sri Lanka and Thailand (started in India but lost traction and spread)

  • Khmer Empire (802 - 1431): Present-day Cambodia, Hindu-Buddhist state, Angkor Wat

  • Delhi Sultanate (1206 - 1525): A series of Muslim dynasties that ruled over large parts of the Indian subcontinent, notable for its cultural blending and significant influence on architecture and administration in the region, small ruling Muslim elite, large Hindu population

  The Americas:

  • Aztec Empire (1325 - 1521): founded by Mexica, located in Mesoamerica (central Mexico), Tenochtitlan is capital, tribute system w/ neighboring tribes, decentralized state structure, lots of human sacrifice as part of native religion, chanampas

  • Inca Empire (1438 - 1533): located in the Andean region of South America (Chile), capital in Cusco, known for advanced agricultural practices (terrace farming & complex road system), centralized state structure (bureaucratic control), Mita system for labor on state projects (building of roads, etc), very little human sacrifice

  • Maya Civilization (2000 BCE - 1500 CE): Located in present-day Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, known for its significant achievements in mathematics, astronomy, and writing; built impressive city-states featuring pyramids, palaces, and plazas; developed a complex social structure and practiced ritualistic ball games; had a polytheistic religion with elaborate ceremonies

  • Did not interact/trade with each other much because of distance

  Africa:

  • East Africa: Swahili city-states - series of trade cities influenced by Islamic traders, led to emergence of Swahili language (combo of Arabic and native languages)

    • Kingdom of Ethiopia - Christian state amid Islamic territories, hierarchical monarchy structure

  • West Africa: Ghana, Mali (Mansa Musa), Songhai empires - trade-driven civilizations, elites adopted Islam while general population retained native religion, contributed to the trans-Saharan trade network, traded gold, salt, and cultural ideas across the region

    • Hausa Kingdoms: city-states facilitating the trans-Saharan trade network

  • South Africa: Great Zimbabwe - flourished through trade, maintained native religions

  • North Africa: a collection of Islamic kingdoms

  Europe:

  • Great Schism (1054): End of the Roman Empire, resulted in the split of the Christian church into Eastern Orthodoxy (Eastern Europe) and Roman Catholicism (Western Europe)

  • Byzantine Empire (330 AD - 1453): Eastern Orthodox is main religion, centered around Constantinople, led by empower (no separation of church in state, empower has absolute power), traded with other European nations, Asia, & North Africa, eventually fell to Ottoman Turks

  • Western Europe: Collection of feudal states post-Schism; feudalism structured around lords and vassals, decentralized political system, land ownership concentrated in nobility, serfs tied to land under manorialism, gradual centralization of power in monarchs post-Schism, insulated trade, tensions w/ Byzantine Empire

Unit 2 (1200-1450)

Networks of Exchange

• Merchants carried goods for sale, and also brought their religion, languages, and technologies (sharing/spreading of cultures)

• Each network (Silk Road, Trans-Saharan, Indian Ocean) increased in geographic scale → further connections among states

• Range of networks expanded due to innovation in commercial practices amid technological innovations

• Increased connectivity between places caused various states to grow wealthy and powerful due to their participation in the trade networks

• Increased connectivity caused the rise of powerful trading cities while also causing the collapse of other cities

Silk Road:

• Located across Eurasia

• Trade of luxury goods (Chinese silk and porcelain)

• Growing demand for luxury goods caused an increase in production of these goods by Chinese, Indian, and Persian artists

• Transportation technologies:

  • Caravanserai: series of inns and guest houses a days journey apart, provided safety along the routes, brought merchants of different cultures together (cultural and technological transfers)

• Commercial practices:

  • Money economies: Use paper money to facilitate exchange, unlike a barter economy, which uses goods as currency (first developed in China)

  • Credit: Chinese pioneered, banking houses, easier to trade, thus increase in trade

• Increase in trade led to the rise of powerful trading cities that grew because they were located on these routes

  • Ex. Kashgar

Indian Ocean Network:

• Growth - Facilitated by desire for more harder to reach goods, technology (Astrolabe, ships), spread of Islam

• Spread of Islam along the route

• Facilitated by technology such as lateen sails, compass

• Luxury goods, gold, silk, slaves

• Growth in cities along trade route

• Effects: Diasporic Communities (a community of people living away from their home country)- Helped to facilitate trade, cultural and technological transfer, because they had connections 

• Voyages of Zheng He in Indian Ocean, during Ming Dynasty, enrolling them in tribute system, increased China's trade power

• Portuguese eventually join and take control of Indian Ocean Route (they couldn’t trade with Asia on land bc they had beef with the Ottomans, so they had to find another way to Asia, which is why they joined the Indian Ocean Route)

• Spanish tried to sail Indian Ocean Route to Asia, went to the Americas by accident instead

• Idea of Cultural Diffusion - Religious blends, language blends (Swahili)

Trans-saharan Trade Network:

• Growth caused by transportation innovations (Arabian Camel, Saddle), strategic positions, etc.

• Mali, Mansa Musa helped to increase trade by traveling across the route and trading with other African kingdoms/communities

• West Africa had crops and North Africa had manufactured goods

• Commodities included gold, salt, salves, textiles

Black Plague (aka Black Death, Pestilence, Plague):

• Bubonic plague that spread across Eurasia in 1300s

• Spread by trade routes such as Silk Road

• Started and spread by Mongols

• Caused significant population decline, killing 30% of Europe

• Harmed Ming Dynasty population 

• Led to not enough peasants and serfs to work the land, leading to labor shortages and economic instability in Europe

• Weakened the feudal labor system because labor became more valuable and workers wanted better conditions 

Ibn Battuta - travels made possible because of existing trade routes

• Traveled all across Dar-al Islam & more (Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the Iberian Peninsula), wrote travel logs and explored the other societies

Mongol Empire (1200s-1300s):

• Genghis/Chinggis Khan united nomadic people in central asia, powerful leader

• Mongols used violent tactics to conquer other peoples

• Able to facilitate trade because they controlled basically the entire Silk Road

• Increase in communication and cooperation across Eurasia, skilled people being sent all over the Empire, technology improvements

• Diplomatic relations in trade

• Enhanced Silk Road (added post system, housing, etc), increased trade greatly 

• Enhanced communication across Mongol Empire (diplomacy, etc)

• Spread Black Plague

• Spread from eastern europe to eastern China

• Pax Mongolica: period of peace and stability throughout Mongol Empire

• Mongols sacked Baghdad, which greatly harmed the city 

• Spread other ppl’s tech and culture

• Religiously tolerant

• Mongols didn’t live in Russia when they conquered them, but they chose russian leaders

• Mongol empire broke into 4 khanates after Ghengis khan died

• Mongol rule over China was called Yuan Dynasty (ruled over ethnically Han population), put ethnically chinese people at the bottom of the hierarchical structure

• Han Chinese were “pure” Chinese

• Ming dynasty (ethnically chinese) formation and take over was reaction to Yuan dynasty

Crusades (Europe):

• 6 crusades

• Started in 1000s but happened over centuries

• Christians had beef with Muslims and tried to get rid of them

• Christians wanted to take back the Holy Land (Jerusalem/Israel)

• Pope Urban II called up the Byzantine Empire to unite as Christians to fight against Muslims

• Impact of Crusades: it spread more trade, Increases hostility between East and West, Christians and Muslims, and Orthodox and Catholic, also led to the Reconquista

Reconquista / Spanish Inquisition (712-1492):

• Previously, in the 700s

• Muslim Moors controlled the Iberiian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). This was called Al-Andalus

• Spaniards pushed back against the Muslims

• Spanish Catholic rulers Isabella and Ferdinand

• Spanish Inquisition was hunting down “heretics” so Muslims and Jews

• Official Reconquista started in 1492 (same year as Columbus!)

Incas (in Andes, South America):

• 1400s-1532

• Rose to power in the 1400s, uniting 4 smaller regional empires by coercion and and force

• Practiced forms of diplomacy and intermarriage of powerful families

• Familial transfer of power, sons fight for power

• Central capital managed 4 regional societies in the large empire

• Polytheistic religion (3 main gods)

• Priests practiced divination and sacrifice

• Elaborate temples of worship, complex ceremonies

• Strict social hierarchy of the Emperor/emperor’s family, a class of nobles, and then commoners

• Large, forced population shifts

• Vast road systems

• Not as much human sacrifice

• Centralized empire

• Did NOT interact with Aztecs

• Quipus were cord counting system

• Mit’a system of unified labor

• Had irrigation and step agriculture since they lived in mountains

• Chasquis were runners

• Did not have written language

• Spoke Quechua

• Machu Picchu

• Were conquered by Francisco Pizarro

Aztecs:

• Decentralized: ruled by central king but city states and tributary states

• Autonomy granted to local leaders as long as they fulfilled their tribute obligations

• Spoke Nahuatal

• Chinampas were island agriculture

• Tenochitlan was capital, built on a lake

• Had written language

• La Malinche was a translator

• Were conquered by Hernan Cortez

• 1325 - Immigrated from northwestern Mesoamerica and founded Tenochtitlan

• Triple alliance with other regional city-states to overthrow the ruling empire (Tepanec)

• Through conquest and trade agreements, they rule over 500 more tribute states

• Use tribute system on conquered city-states (They have to pay tribute to the Mexica)

• City-State led by an absolute ruler

• Led by ‘chief speaker’ which participated in military, religious, and political aspects of society

• Rulers and nobles inherited power from familial lines

• Extensive bureaucracy

• Polytheistic

• Practices bloodletting & human sacrifice

• Significant military influences in society

• Prisoners of war used for sacrifice & labor

• Advanced agricultural practices

• Became unpopular among their tribute states and had conflicts regularly

• Participated extensively in regional trade

• Conquered in 1521 by Spanish conquistadors

• Florentine Codex

Mississippian Culture:

• In North America

• Had mounds

• Had trade

• Political: Was a formation of many tribes come together with one head chiefdom

*Note: Incas, Aztecs, Mississippians, and Mayas NEVER interacted with each other because of the large distance between them

Unit 3 (1450-1750)

Gunpowder Empires: Ottoman Empire, Mughal Empire, Safavid Empire

• Expanded and consolidated power through gunpowder technology (enhanced military

• This allowed them to conquer a lot of land

• Acquired gunpowder through trade with China (China invented gunpowder)

Ottoman Empire:

• Middle East, Southeastern Europe (Greece, Turkey), some of North Africa

• Sunni Muslim

• Sacked Constantinople (defeated Byzantine Empire) and renamed it Istanbul because of Gunpowder, fierce military

• Christians, Jews

• Controlled Mediterranean chokepoint, blocked Europeans from the Eastern trade

• Allied with Venice for trade

• Suleiman the Magnificent was leader, pretty tolerant of religions 

• Capital was Constantinople  

• Devshirme system: Ottomans took Christian kids from across the Empire and converted them to Islam. Some would become soldiers, others bureaucrats. 

• Jizya was the tax for non-Muslims

• Janissaries: The soldiers produced from the Devshirme system

• Created large and incredible mosques

Safavid Empire (16th century):

• Shia Muslim

• In Persia/Iran

• Had beef with Sunni states, in the middle of the Ottoman Empire and Mughal Empire (both Sunni)

• Were not religiously tolerant

• Absolute monarchy with a Shah

• Rose out of the decline of the Timurid Empire

• Origins in Sufi Islam

• Silk, textiles, Silk Road

• Enslaved prisoners of war

Mughal Empire: 

• India

• Sunni Muslim minority ruling over Hindu majority

• Babur established Mughal Empire, got rid of Delhi Sultanate because of gunpowder, expanded Mughal Empire with gunpowder

• Leader was related to Genghis khan/mongols

• Abkhar was religiously tolerant, made empire very prosperous, got rid of religious tax

• Aurangzeb was not religiously tolerant 

• Large standing army, cannons

• Bureaucracy, oligarchy

• Lots of trade

• Major distributor of spices

• Tax collecting system to consolidate power (tax collectors called Zamindars)

• Taj Mahal was a tomb built for a wife, and is an example of using architecture to show wealth and power 

*There were many conflicts such as Morocco-Songhai, and Mughal-Safavid conflict. These were over territory and/or religion 

*Land-based empires (Gunpowder Empires, China, Tokugawa Shogunate, etc.) consolidated power through religion, art, bureaucracies, military, and tax collection

Kievan Rus and Russia Tribute State: (Russia controlled by Mongols)

• Pre 1600s

• Princes called ‘Grand Dukes’ pay tribute to Mongols in resources, minerals, and “soft gold” (fur)

• Agrarian, outskirts of all trade routes

• Caesaropapism (Head of state is head of church)

• Patriarchy

• Eastern Orthodox

• Isolated

• Both European and Asian influences

• No technology

• Eventually they defeat the Mongols and kick them out

Ming Dynasty (1300s-1600s):

• Reaction to Mongol rule

• Last ethnically Chinese (Han) Dynasty

• East Asia

• Zhu Yuanzhang (Hongwu) led an army to conquer the Mongol occupiers

• Claimed mandate of Heaven

• Centralized government based on Confucian principles

• Civil Service, Bureaucracy

• Dynastical transfer of power

• Social hierarchy

• Unequal gender roles

• Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism

• Silk, ceramics, tea, gunpowder, shipbuilding, navigation, porcelain

• Silk road

• Maritime expiration and treasure voyages led by Zheng He

• Weakened because of internal divisions and external wars

Qing Dynasty (1644-1912):

• Ruled by people from Manchuria (Ethnic minority) because of conquest, causes tension due to ethnic differences 

• A lot of the same bureaucratic and government systems as Ming Dynasty

• Taiping Rebellion: Internal challenge to power

• No foot binding, men still privileged

• While Manchuria had distinct cultural traditions (Shamanism), the leaders of the Qing Empire allowed the practices of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism to continue

• Cultural identification

• Silk, ceramics (But lose monopolies, loss of dominance)

• Canton System - limit European presence, only access goods through Canton Port

• Wanted Silver

• Opium wars

• Overthrown by nationalist revolution

Feudal Japan (1100s-1600s):

• Japan was fragmented into small kingdoms, decentralized

• With serfs and lords

• Daimyo were the feudal lords

Tokugawa Shogunate (1600s-1800s):

• Japan united under a Shogun

• Abolished feudalism

• Daimyo still existed 

• Shogun was military leader

• Emperor was religious figurehead, no real power

• Daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified the island through conquest

• Toyotomi’s grandson lost power to the Tokugawa Family in 1600, which then ruled until 1868

• Shinto and Zen Buddhism

• Art such as Haiku poetry, wood block prints, and Ukiyo-e

• Strict social hierarchy

• Japan closed to Europeans, isolated, except Dutch because they were chill with religion

• For about 250 years, Japan only allowed Dutch, Korean, and Chinese merchants to trade for Japanese luxury goods at the single port of Nagasaki, practicing international isolation

Europe (Unit 3)

Protestant Reformation (1500s):

• People don’t like power solely in the hands of kings

• The black plague made people lose faith in the church because they couldn’t stop it

• Split of Protestantism from Catholicism

• Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglican

• Led by Martin Luther was a Catholic monk

• He used the printing press to challenge the power of the Catholic Church

• Ninety-five Theses: Pamphlet of 95 things that are wrong with the Catholic church that aren’t aligned with the Bible. Includes selling sin pardons (called indulgences), many things. Also Pope have power, Catholic corrupt

• Wanted everyone to have access to Bible, not just priests, used printing press

• Martin Luther refused to take back what he said

• John Calvin argued that God could save those corrupted by sin

• King Henry VIII created the Anglican Church of England because he wanted to divorce his wife

• Result: Various rulers remained Catholic or imposed Protestantism, more religious division, religious wars, counter reformation

• This religious division often led to more political division between nations and groups 

Counter-Reformation (aka Catholic Reformation):

• Catholic Church’s response

• Growing competition between Protestant and Catholics, over spreading religion and converting more people

• Catholics losing people in Europe, so went to Americas

• The Council of Trent - [1545] A meeting of Catholic leadership to discuss the criticisms made by the Protestant Reformation, Addressed criticisms of Catholic doctrine, Established the Catechism, Established the Jesuits. Reestablished their Catholicism, made split permanent

* Louis XIV (Sun King) built palace of Versailles to show his power and wealth 

Russian Empire (starts in 1700s):

• Russia adopted Eastern Orthodoxy as state religion

• Ivan the Terrible was first Tsar 

• Tsar is Russian adaptation of caesar/russian ruler

• Boyars were Russian nobles, power pushed down by Peter the Great

• Peter the Great wanted to become more Western

• Russia expanded greatly, from Eastern Europe to the Pacific. Taking over Indigenous people. A lot of land is unusable however

• Russia had serfs

• Russia behind Europe in terms of innovation

• Romanov Dynasty is last dynasty of Russian empire (1613 until 1917)

• Catherine the Great brought enlightenment to russia

• Cossack Revolts were revolts in Poland due to struggle over power 

Idea Revolutions:

• Renaissance (a cultural rev), scientific rev, and enlightenment are all at the same time (1500-1700s)

• Enlightenment is about equality, fundamental human rights, Against absolutism and religious leadership

• Counter-enlightenment was a response to the enlightenment in which religious ppl argued that faith is still important (opposite of enlightenment values)

• Scientific Revolution was about skepticism and questioning the status quo, proving things with facts

• Geocentrism Gailieo challenged the Catholic heliocentrism 

• Challenge current paradigms, power structures 

• Humanism is focus on individual people 

• Darwin was in 1800s

Influential and Lasting ideas from Enlightenment:

• Opposition to absolute monarchy

• Separation of Powers

• Liberty and Individual Rights

• Equality (for men)

• Free-market capitalism (government should allow market, minimal regulations)

• Political concerns regarding the power of absolute monarchs (kings/queens) led to frequent discussions of ways to limit the power

• Would lead to future revolutions (Haitian, French, etc.)

• Limits: Many European, white male participants of the Enlightenment did not expand their revolutionary beliefs to include women, poorer classes, or non-white members of society

Enlightenment Figures:

• Machiavelli - A ruler with absolute power will best serve a nation

• Hobbes - Government is an antidote to anarchy

• Locke - Natural rights

• Voltaire - Argued against power of church/monarchy, freedom of speech

• Montesquieu - Separation of powers, limited government

• Rousseau - Social contract, popular sovereignty

• Mary Wollstonecraft - Gender equality

• Abigail Adams - Women’s rights, abolition of slavery

• Olympe de Gouges - Declaration of Rights of Women

Unit 4 (1450 - 1750)

• Maritime empire = sea based empires (include Dutch, Portuguese, Venetians, Spanish, British…)

• Naval Technology (lateen sail, compass, astrolabe, new ships such as the Portuguese with the Caravel ship) enabled travel and colonial conquest 

• Gold, glory, God were the 3 reasons to explore 

• Europeans were blocked by the Ottomans and Venetians, so they went in the ocean to trade

• Portuguese had some influence on South and Southeast Asia

Vasco de Gama: a Portuguese explorer who traveled around Africa in the 1490s. He traveled around the Cape of Good Hope around South Africa to get to India. 

Mercantilism:

• Colonies provide a market to sell products to and they provide raw materials

• Mother country exports finished goods and sells to the colonies

• Countries trying to get the largest portion of wealth

• Saw wealth as limited and only in terms of silver and gold, so needed to enrich the homeland. “Get the biggest piece of pie”

Joint Stock Companies:

• Started in 1600s with British and Dutch

• British East India Company

• Spread the risk of investment to more people so they could invest more, less risk for investors 

• Companies, not government, were controlling land

• Dutch got nutmeg in Southeast Asia, lots of exploitation

Catholicism spread through Jesuit missionaries 

Competition between European nations led to colonial exploration West

British Empire:

• In today US and Canada

• Some came for religious freedom, some came for economic purposes, some wanted land

• Wanted to get rid of indigenous people

• Indentured servants were new source of labor, worked for a period of time

• British East India Company - gains control of Indian subcontinent

French Empire:

• Fur trading 

• In Canada

• Competing with British 

Spanish Empire:

• In Latin America

• Encomienda system was the Spanish would offer “protection” in exchange for resources such as gold 

• Imposed a Strong racial and social hierarchy in the Americas - Casta System: (Peninsulares -> Creoles -> Mestizos -> Mulattoes -> Indigenous people -> Africans) showed by the Casta paintings

• Repartamiento was a forced labor system 

• Columbus was sponsored by Spanish Government (King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella)

Dutch Empire:

• Had small presence in North America

• Strong presence in Southeast Asia

• Dutch East India Company

• Fluyt were ships used for trade

Euuropeans had a coastal presence in Africa but that was mainly it 

Columbian exchange:

• It brought many diseases such as smallpox and measles, which Indigenous people were not immune to. This decimated their population

• Brought farm animals such as horses, pigs, cows

• Brought foods to Europe such as the potato, tomato, corn which are high nutritional foods which boosted the population, Brought wheat & rice into the Americas

• Potato famine in Ireland due to over dependence 

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade:

• Once many indigenous people died due to disease, Europeans needed new labor source

• Part of the triangular trade

• Slavery in the Americas transferred through the Columbian exchange

• System based on race

• This disrupted African economies and societies 

Triangle Trade, enriching the mother colony

Manufacture goods left Europe

Slaves left Africa

Raw materials left the Americas

Columbus was Italian but traveled under Spanish government 

Note: West Indies are the Caribbean, East Indies are Indonesia and Southeast Asia

Treaty of Tordesillas

• Pope split up the world into spheres of Portuguese and Spanish influence

• Tensions being resolved by diplomacy instead of war

Inter Caetera

• The Pope authorized Spain and Portugal to colonize the Americas and its Native peoples as subjects. The decree asserts the rights of Spain and Portugal to colonize, convert, and enslave. It also justifies the enslavement of Africans.

Labor systems:

Mita / Repartimiento System:

• Inkan labor system

• Mita used by Inka and Repartamiento used by Spanish

• Mandated public service under the rule of the Inka

• Required citizens to contribute labor to state projects for a specific period each year

• Built a lot of roads

• The Spanish abused this system and only used it to force indigenous people to do labor for the Repartamiento system

Encomienda System:

• Took place in Spain’s American and Philippine Colonies

• Spanish crown attempting to define the status of indigenous population

• An encomienda consisted of a grant by the crown to a conquistador, a soldier, an official, or others of a specified number of indigenous people living in a particular area

• The encomendero could extract tribute from the indigenous people in gold or in labor and were also required to protect them and instruct them in the Christian faith

• Designed to meet the needs for the mining economy

• The system was often abused

Hacienda System:

• Supposed reform on encomienda system

• Became just another means of coerced labor

Serfdom:

• Condition in medieval Europe in which a tenant farmer was bound to a hereditary plot of land and to the will of his landlord

• The tenant farmer or serf could not leave the land

Revolts:

• Pueblo Revolt when Spanish fought back against Spanish rule

• Maroon communities were runaway slaves who hid in nature 

• Maratha rebellion were Hindu and they rebelled against the Mughal Empire (shows religious conflict conflict)

Rivalries? Moroccan Conflict with Songhai Empire (Heimler told me this)

Religious syncretism - blending of indigenous religions in the Americas with Christianity brought over by Spanish, Portuguese, led to both new beliefs and conflicts

Example: Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) was blended of Christian All Saints Day and traditional indigenous practices

Unit 6 (1750 - 1900)

Consequences of industrialization:

• New wave of empire building (mainly by Europeans):

  • cultural ideologies drove imperialism: social Darwinism, white man’s burden, desire to spread Christianity

  • nationalist motives for imperialism: growing desire for powerful states to declare themselves as the greatest on the world stage and that is done by building huge empires (Ex. Britain taking over India) (Japan modernized military then colonized Korea)

  • Economic motives: industrialized nations wanted more colonies for new markets and for more raw materials

• Ways to consolidate and expand:

  • Non-state (leopold) to state (Belgian state gov) control: the Congo, began as a private Belgian colony (Leopold the second), because of brututal policies he enacted, there was international pressure to give authority to eh belgian state

  • new imperial powers replace old imperial powers: Spanish and protuguese lose power in Asia and Southeast Asia, are replaced by the U.S (expanded into philipines which used to be a Spanish colony), Britain, Japan (Expanded into Korea), Russia (Expanded into Poland)

  • Scramble for Africa: Africa was highly desibre for European imperial powers (lots of raw materials), led to tensions and bickering, thus they had the Berlin Conference to divide Africa up peacefully

• Methods of resistance from colonial people:

  • Direct resistance: Peru - Tupac Amarou led a rebellion against Spanish authorities (failed), Sepoy/Indian Rebellion/Mutany → may result in the creation of new states (Balkans: wave of nationalism swept across ethnicities and inspired them to fight for independence from Ottomans and we get Greece, Bulgaria)

  • Religiously inspired rebellions: The Ghost Dance from Native Americans in the U.S

• Transofrmation of global economy:

  • Change from subsistence farming to cash-crop farming (rubber, sugar, cotton, cattle ranching) → economy is now serving the imperial powers

• Economic imperialism in Asia and Latin America:

  • One country weilds significant economic power over another country, more indirect control

  • Britain and China relationship: Opium Wars due to trade deficit w/ China and Britain (Britain was mad), so Britain smuggled opium into China, getting Chinese population hooked on the drug solved the trade deficit, British win opium wars because of their superior industrial capacity (better military and tech), result of opium wars is British force China to open trading ports and forced a free trade agreement among them (Britain took over China economically but not really politically) → china is carved up into spheres of influence by European/imperial powers (Japan, France, Germany, Russia, U.S)

• Migration:

  • As a result of globalization and industrialization, there was massive migrations:

  • For work/economic opportunity (ex. Britain bringing in Chinese and Indian laborers to do work in other colonies, Australia)

  • Bad home conditions (Lots of poverty in India led to mass migration out of India, Irish potato famine led to mass migration out fo Ireland to America)

  • Migration contributed to urbanization → made ethnic enclaves → cultural diffusion

  • Many migrants faced discrimination in new places/not received well → some led to racist legislation aimed to press them (Chinese Exclusion Act in U.S

Unit 7 (1900 - Present)

Decline of Ottoman Empire:

• Defensive industrialization

  • Tanzimat reforms aimed to welcome europeans to speed up industrialization, backfired as nationalist movements gained momentum, leading to increased tensions and ultimately contributing to the empire's fragmentation.

• Emergence of the Young Ottomans: Western education, liberal political reforms, sultan agreed with them and made a parliament in constitution but later turned back to an authoritarian rule

• Emergence of the Young Turks: Arose due to the sultain regaining an authoritarian way of ruling, wanted complete modernization of ottoman empire, wanted to exclude ethnic minority, overthrew sultan

• Ottoman Reforms: (led to fragmentation and eventually end of empire)

  • secularization of schools and law codes

  • establishment of political elections

  • imposition of Turkish language as official language of Empire

Russian Empire:

• Russian Revolution (1917): overthrew Romanov Dynasty, rise of Bolsheviks and Communism

China:

• Decline of Qing Dynasty

  • Taiping Rebellion: cost a lot of money and Qing was dependent on foreign support to regain stability, ultimately contributing to its fall.

Internal and external factors contribute to change in various states:

• Russian Rev: Russia is lagginging behind W. Europe (internal) led to loss of Crimean War, Bolshviks seize power and make a communist gov

• China: Encroaching industrialization and external pressure, rebellions (internal)

• Mexican Rev: internally there is a huge wealth gap w/ regard to land, result is a rev that sought to correct internal and external problems (some success)

WWI Causes:

• Long-term causes:

  • MILITARISM: Advanced weaponry due to industrialization
    ALLIANCES:
    INDUSTRIALIZATION:
    IMPERIALISM: More land and bigger empires = more power on world stage
    NATIONALISM: Pride towards one’s own country, can lead to hate/spite towards other countries

• Short-term causes:

  • Assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

• Strategies to fight WWI

  • Total war = each country fighting leveraged all domestic assets to fight

  • Govs used propaganda to keep morale up for both soldiers and citizens; demonized other countries they were fighting and encouraged intense nationalism of their own countries

  • WWI was the most deadly war up to this point due to new and advanced tech: trench warfare