AP World History Study Guide Notes

TOPIC 1.1 Developments in East Asia from c. 1200 to c. 1450

## CHINA

  • Significance of the Song Dynasty (960-1279):

    • Enjoyed great wealth.
    • Political stability.
    • Artistic and intellectual innovations.
    • Developed the greatest manufacturing capability in the world.
    • Became the world’s most commercialized society, shifting from local production to market production.
    • Buddhism and Confucianism began to spread.
    • China’s bureaucracy expanded through meritocracy, allowing for greater social mobility.

  • Economic Developments in Postclassical China

    • The Grand Canal: An efficient waterway transportation system that enabled China to become the most populous trading area in the world.
    • Gunpowder: Technology of gunpowder and guns spread from China to all parts of Eurasia via traders on the Silk Roads.
    • Agriculture: They built elaborate irrigation systems and used heavy plows pulled by water buffalo or oxen to increase productivity. Production of food increased and China’s population grew quickly.
    • Tributes: An arrangement to gain income in which other states had to pay money or provide goods to honor the Chinese emperor.

  • Social Structures in China: The Song government provided aid to the poor and established public hospitals where people could receive care.

    • Constraint of foot binding was expected of women to defer to men.

  • Religious Diversity in China

    • Buddhism had come to China from its birthplace in India via the Silk Roads.
      • Three forms of Buddhism from India came to shape Asia, each developing a different emphasis:
        • Theravada Buddhism,
        • Mahayana Buddhism,
        • Tibetan Buddhism
      • Followed the Four Noble Truth and the Eightfold Path
    • Neo-Confucianism evolved in China between 770 and 840. It was a syncretic system, combining rational thought with the more abstract ideas of Daoism and Buddhism.

    JAPAN

  • Feudalism:

    • For hundreds of years, Japan had been a feudal society without a centralized government.
    • Landowning aristocrats, the daimyo, battled for control of the land, while the majority of people worked as rice farmers.

  • Government:

    • In 1192, the Minamoto installed a shogun, or military ruler, to reign. For the following four centuries, Japan suffered from regional rivalries among aristocrats.
    • Not until the l7th century would shoguns create a strong central government that unified the country.

    KOREA

  • Connection to China: Emperor gentry, aristocrats, wealthy landowners, civil service peasants, farmers, and artisans merchants

    • Korea’s location gave it a very direct relationship with China and had a tributary relationship.
    • It centralized its government in the style of the Chinese.
    • Culturally, Koreans adopted both Confucian and Buddhist beliefs.

  • Aristocracy: Unlike with China, Koreans maintained a more powerful landed aristocracy that would not allow for the same amount of social mobility

    VIETNAM

  • Social Structures:

    • Vietnamese women enjoyed greater independence in their married lives than did Chinese women in the Confucian tradition.
    • Vietnamese preferred nuclear families, in which the father, mother and their children live in one household.
    • Vietnamese villages operated independently of a national government; political centralization was nonexistent.
    • They adopted a merit-based bureaucracy of educated men, but instead of pledging loyalty to the emperor, officials in Vietnam owed more allegiance to the village peasants.

    TOPIC 1.2 Developments in Dar al-Islam from c. 1200 to c. 1450

    Innovations

  • Advances in mathematics: Nasir al-Din al-Tusi laid the groundwork for making trigonometry a separate subject.

  • Advances in literature: ‘A’ishah al-Ba’uniyyah may be the most prolific female Muslim writer before the 20th century. Many of her works describe her journey toward mystical illumination.

  • Advances in medicine: Medical advances and hospital care improved in cities such as Cairo, while doctors and pharmacists studied for examinations for licenses that would allow them to practice.

    Social Structures

  • Islamic society viewed merchants as more prestigious than did other societies in Europe and Asia at the time.

    • With the revival of trade on Silk Roads, merchants could grow rich from their dealings across the Indian Ocean and Central Asia
    • Muslim women enjoyed a higher status than Christian or Jewish women.
      • Allowed to inherit property and retain ownership after marriage. They could remarry if widowed.
      • Could receive a cash settlement if divorced.
      • Women could practice birth control.

    Transfers

  • Preservation and commentaries on Greek moral and natural philosophy

  • House of Wisdom in Abbasid Baghdad

  • Scholarly and cultural transfers in Muslim and Christian Spain

    Islamic Rule in Spain

  • In 711, Muslim forces successfully invaded Spain from the south.

  • Most of the continent remained Christian, but Muslims ruled Spain for the next seven centuries.

  • Umayyad rulers in Córdoba created a climate of toleration, with Muslims, Christians, and Jews coexisting peacefully.

  • They also promoted trade, allowing Chinese and Southeast Asian products to enter.

    TOPIC 1.3 Developments in South and Southeast Asia from c. 1200 to c. 1450

    SOUTH ASIA

  • Political Structures in South Asia:

    • Southern India was more stable than northern India. The first kingdom, the Chola Dynasty, reigned over southern India for more than 400 years (850—1267).
    • Northern India experienced significantly more upheaval than did southern India. After the fall of the Gupta Empire, the Rajput kingdoms gradually formed in northern India and present-day Pakistan.
    • Bringing Islam into India, the Delhi Sultanate reigned for 300 years, from the l3th through the l6th centuries.

  • Religion in South Asia:

    • Before the arrival of Islam, most South Asians practiced Hinduism.
    • Differences between Hinduism and Islam:
      • Hindus pray to many gods, while Mulims are strictly monotheistic.
      • Hindu artwork and temples are filled with pictures of deities, while Muslims disapprove of any visual representation of Allah.
      • Hinduism was associated with a hierarchical caste system, while Islam has always called for the equality of all believers.
      • Hindus recognize several sacred texts, while Muslims look to only the Quran for spiritual guidance.

  • Social Structures in South Asia:

    • The arrival of Islam did little to alter the basic structure of society in South Asia.
    • Most of those who tried to escape the grip of the caste system failed.
    • India’s caste system is its strongest historical continuity.
    • The Bhakti Movement: Beginning in the 12th century, some Hindus began to draw upon traditional teachings about the importance of emotion in their spiritual life. Rather than emphasize performing rituals or studying texts, they concentrated on developing a strong attachment to a particular deity.

    SOUTHEAST ASIA

  • South Asia strongly influenced its neighbors, particularly the lands of Southeast Asia—today’s Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam.

  • Sea-Based Kingdoms: The Srivijaya Empire (67H-1025) was a Hindu kingdom based on Sumatra. It built up its navy and prospered by charging fees for ships that traveled between India and China. The Majapahit Kingdom (1293—1520) based on Java had 98 tributaries at its height. Like Srivijaya, Majapahit held onto its power by controlling sea routes. Unlike Srivijaya, Majapahit was Buddhist.

  • Land-Based Kingdoms:

    • The Sinhala dynasties in Sri Lanka had their roots in the arrival of early immigrants, most likely merchants, from northern India. Buddhists arrived in the 3rd century BCE and the island became a hub of Buddhist study.
    • The Khmer Empire (802—1431) was situated near the Mekong River and was not dependent on maritime prowess for its power. The kingdom’s complex irrigation and drainage systems led to economic prosperity, making it one of the most prosperous kingdoms in Southeast Asia.

    TOPIC 1.4 State Building in the Americas

  • The Mississippian Culture:

    • First large-scale civilization in North America
    • Started in Mississippi River Valley
    • The Mississippian society had a rigid class structure and a matrilineal society

  • The Maya City-States:

    • Mayan civilization reached its height between 250 and 900 CE
    • Mayans stretched over the southern part of Mexico and much of what is now Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala
    • The main source of Mayan government was the city-state, each ruled by a king and consisting of a city and its surrounding territory.
    • Each Mayan king claimed to be a descendant of a god (divine right)
    • Mayan science and religion were linked through astronomy

  • The Aztecs:

    • The Aztecs were originally hunter-gatherers who migrated to central Mexico from the north in the 1200s.
    • In 1325, they founded their capital Tenochtitlan on the site of what is now Mexico City.
    • They built a network of aqueducts and a pyramid that rose 150 feet into the air.
    • Aztecs developed a tributary system
    • Aztec government was a theocracy, in which religious leaders had the power
    • They worshipped hundreds of deities
    • Worship among the Aztecs involved a great many rituals and feast days as well as human sacrifices.
    • Women played an important role in the Aztec tribute system since they made the highly valued cloth that local rulers demanded as part of the regular tribute.

  • The Inca:

    • The Incan Empire was split into four provinces, each with its own bureaucracy.
    • Instead of a tributary system, they were subject to the mit’a system, mandatory public service.
    • The name Inca means “people of the sun” and Inti, the sun god, was the most important of the Incan gods.
    • Priests diagnosed illnesses, solved crimes, predicted the outcome of battles, and determined what sacrifices should be made and to which god.
    • The Inca developed sophisticated terrace systems for the cultivation of crops such as potatoes and maize.
    • In 1533, the Spanish conquered the core of the empire

    TOPIC 1.5 State Building in Africa

  • Political Structures in Inland Africa: The development of Sub-Saharan Africa was heavily formed by the migrations of Bantu-speaking people outward from west-central Africa. Communities formed kin-based networks, where families governed themselves. Groups of villages became districts, and a group of chiefs decided among themselves how to solve the problems of the districts

  • Political Structures of West and East Africa: The exchange of goods brought them wealth, political power, and cultural diversity. The spread of Islam added to the religious diversity of the continent, where animism and Christianity were already practiced. Mali: By the 12th century, wars with neighboring societies had permanently weakened the Ghanaian state. In its place arose many new trading societies, the most powerful of which was Mali. Zimbabwe: Built its prosperity on a mixture of agriculture, grazing, trade, and, above all, gold. It had rich gold fields. Ethiopia: Christianity had spread from its origins along the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea south into Egypt and beyond. Ethiopia flourished by trading goods obtained from India, Arabia, the Roman Empire, and the interior of Africa

  • Social Structures of Sub-Saharan Africa: Sub-Saharan Africa’s small communities were organized around several structures: kinship, age, and gender. Men dominated most activities that require a specialized skill. Women generally engaged in agriculture and food gathering. Prisoners of war, debtors, and criminals were often enslaved. Owning a greater number of enslaved people increased one’s social status. A strong demand in the Middle East for enslaved workers resulted in an Indian Ocean slave trade between East Africa and the Middle East

  • Cultural Life in Sub-Saharan Africa: Because traditional African religions included ancestor veneration, song lyrics provided a means of communicating with the spirit world. African music usually had a distinguished rhythmic pattern, and vocals were interspersed with percussive elements, such as handclaps, pots, bells, or gourds. Visual arts also commonly served a religious purpose. Griots, or storytellers, were the conduits of history for a community.

    TOPIC 1.6 Developments in Europe from c. 1200 to c. 1450

  • Feudalism: Political and Social Systems: Feudalism provided some security for peasants, equipment for warriors, and land to those who worked for a lord. Since the entire system was agriculture-based, wealth was measured in land rather than in cash. The manorial system provided economic self-sufficiency and defense. The manor produced everything that people living on it required, limiting the need for trade and contact with outsiders

  • Political Trends in the Later Middle Ages: In the later Middle Ages, monarchies grew more powerful at the expense of feudal lords by employing their own bureaucracy and military. King Philip II of France was the first to develop a real bureaucracy. The Estates-General was a body that advised the king which included representatives from each of the three legal classes, or estates, in France: the clergy, nobility, and commoners. Between 1337 and 1453, the rival monarchies of England and France fought a series of battles known as the Hundred Years’ War. On each side, serving under a monarch stimulated a sense of unity among soldiers who often spoke distinct languages or dialects

  • Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages: In 1054, the Christian Church was broken into two branches, a split called the Great Schism: Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. The Church established the first universities in Europe. Most philosophers, writers, and other thinkers of the Middle Ages were religious leaders. The Church held great power in the feudal system. The Roman Catholic Church had an extensive hierarchy of regional leaders. The regional religious leaders, called bishops, owed allegiance to the pope, the supreme bishop. Wealth and political power led to corruption in the church in the 13th and 14th centuries

  • Christian Crusades: Europeans sought to reclaim control of the Holy Land, the region of Palestine in the Middle East containing sites of spiritual significance to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Economic and social trends of the 11th century added to the pressure among Europeans to invade the Middle East. The combination of these religious, social, and economic pressures resulted in the Crusades: a series of European military campaigns in the Middle East (1095 - l200s.)

  • Economic and Social Change: The middle class began to grow. Known as the bourgeoisie, it included shopkeepers, craftspeople, merchants, and small landholders. With renewed commerce came larger cities. Populations grew and promoted the growth of towns and of markets that could operate more frequently. Jews: Anti-Semitism was widespread among Christians. They viewed Jews as outsiders and untrustworthy. Jews were expelled from England in 1290, France in 1394, Spain in 1492, and Portugal in 1497. Muslims: They faced discrimination in Europe. In 1492, the Spanish king expelled the remaining Muslims in the kingdom who would not convert to Christianity. Many Muslims then moved to southeastern Europe. As urbanization continued, women lost many rights due to the growing wave of patriarchal thinking and writing

  • Renaissance: The Renaissance was a period characterized by a revival of interest in classical Greek and Roman literature, culture, art, and civic virtue. Johannes Gutenberg’s movable-type printing press permitted manuscripts to be mass-produced at relatively affordable costs. It led to a growth in literacy and the rapid spread of ideas. One characteristic of the Renaissance was the interest in humanism, the focus on individuals rather than God. Humanists sought education and reform.

    TOPIC 1.7 Comparisons in the Period from c. 1200 to c. 1450

  • State-Building and New Empires:

    • The Song Dynasty in China continued progressing
    • The Abbasid Caliphate in the Middle East was fragmented by invaders
    • In Africa, the rulers of Mali created a more centralized government
    • In the Americas, the Aztecs used a tributary system and the Incas used the mit’a system.
    • In Europe, feudal ties reduced in the Western European kingdoms of England and France, but not in Eastern Europe
    • Japan, unlike most states, became more decentralized and feudal.

  • Four Types of State-Building, c.1200-c.1450

    • Emergence of New States: States arise on land once controlled by another empire
      • Mamluk Empire (formerly Abbasid territory)
      • Seljuk Empire (formerly Abbasid territory)
      • Delhi Sultanate (formerly Gupta territory)
    • Revival of Former Empires: New leadership continues or rebuilds a previous empire with some innovations
      • Song Dynasty (based on the Han Dynasty)
      • Malt Empire (based on the Ghana Kingdom)
      • Holy Roman Empire (based on the Roman Empire)
    • Synthesis of Different Traditions: A state adapts foreign ideas to local conditions
      • Japan (Chinese and Japanese)
      • Delhi Sultanate (Islamic and Hindu)
      • Neo-Confucianism
    • Expansion in Scope: An existing state expands its influence through conquest, trade, or other means
      • Incas in South America
      • Aztecs in Mesoamerica
      • City-states in East Africa
      • City-states in Southeast Asia

  • State-Building through Trade: Powered by increased trade, cross-cultural exchanges of technology and innovation increased.

  • Paper manufacturing: invented in China in the 2nd century B.C.E., it spread across Eurasia, reaching Europe around the l3th century. The resulting printed material led to increased literacy rates across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Europe benefited from exchanges with the Middle East, and through it with all of Asia

  • Patriarchy and Religion: Social organization in most cultures remained patriarchal. However, cultures varied. Convent life for Christians in Europe and in Jainism and Buddhist religious communities in South Asia provided women with opportunities for learning and leadership. In China, women lost independence as the custom of foot binding became more common.

    Unit 2: Network of Exchange: 8%-10% of the AP test (c. 1200 to c. 1450)

    TOPIC 2.1 The Silk Roads

  • Causes of the Growth of Exchange Networks: The Crusades helped pave the way to expanding networks of exchange, as lords and their armies of knights brought back fabrics and spices from the East. Rise of the Mongol Empire:

    • Parts of the Silk Roads that were under the authority of different rulers were, for the first time, unified in a system under the control of an authority that respected merchants and enforced laws.
    • The Mongols improved roads and punished bandits, both of which increased the safety of travel on the Silk Roads.

  • Improvements in Transportation:

    • Saddles for camels
    • Centuries earlier, China had made advances in naval technology (rudder and magnetic compass)

  • Effects of the Growth of Exchange Networks: Cities along the routes that were watered by rivers became centers of trade. To manage the increasing trade, China developed new financial systems. The copper coins they used became too unwieldy to transport for everyday transactions, so the government developed a system of credit known as flying cash. The growing demand for luxury goods from Afro-Eurasia, China, Persia, and India led to a corresponding increase in the supply of those goods through expanded production. Increased demand also led to the expansion of iron and steel manufactured in China, motivating its proto-industrialization.

    TOPIC 2.2 The Mongol Empire and the Making of the Modern World

  • Genghis Khan: In 1210, Genghis Khan and his troops headed east and attacked the powerful Jin Empire. In 1219, Khan conquered both the Central Asian Kara Khitai Empire and the Islamic Khwarazm Empire farther west. By 1227, Genghis Khan’s kingdom reached from the North China Sea to eastern Persia. Mongolian soldiers were strong riders and proficient with the short bow. He instituted a policy of religious tolerance throughout the empire, which was unusual in the l3th century. New trade channels were also established between Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

  • Mongolian Empire Expands: Three of Genghis Khan's grandsons set up their own kingdoms, further expanding the empire into Asia and Europe. ln 1236, Batu, the son of Khan’s oldest son, led a Mongolian army of 100,000 soldiers into Russia, which at the time was a loose network of city-states and principalities. Batu’s army, which came to be known as the Golden Horde, conquered Russian kingdoms and forced them to pay tributes. Resistance to the Mongols created the foundation for future modern Russian state

  • The Long-Term Impact of the Mongolian Invasions: Their empire was the largest continuous land empire in history. The Mongols built a system of roads and continued to maintain and guard the trade routes. The Mongols transferred Greco-Islamic medical knowledge and the Arabic numbering system to Western Europe. After the Mongols declined in power, the kingdoms and states of Europe, Asia, and Southeast Asia continued or copied the process of centralizing power. Mongol fighting techniques led to the end of Western Europe’s use of knights in armor.

    TOPIC 2.3 Exchange in the Indian Ocean

  • Causes of Expanded Exchange in the Indian Ocean: Spread of Islam: Although the Indian Ocean trade had existed as early as 200 BCE, the expansion of Islam connected more cities than ever before. Increased demand for specialized products. Trade of enslaved people also played a role in exchanges in the Indian Ocean. Advances in maritime technology. Growth of States: The trading networks in the Indian Ocean fostered the growth of states to help institutionalize the revenue from trade.

  • Effects of Expanded Exchange in the Indian Ocean: Some of the very factors that caused expansion of exchange networks in the Indian Ocean also, in time, became effects. Diasporic Communities: As a natural result of waiting for favorable winds for travel, these merchants interacted with the surrounding cultures and peoples of the region. Increased demand for products caused trade to expand. At the same time, however, it resulted in several effects with long-lasting impact. Swahili City-States: The Indian Ocean trade also created thriving city-states along the east coast of Africa, sometimes known as the Swahili city-states. Trade brought considerable wealth to the cities on the East African coast.

    TOPIC 2.4 Trans-Saharan Trade Routes

  • Trans-Saharan Trade: By the end of the 8th century C.E., the trans-Saharan trade had become famous throughout Europe and Asia. Gold was the most precious commodity traded. For more than 700 years, trans-Saharan trade brought considerable wealth to the societies of West Africa, particularly the kingdoms of Ghana and Mali. Merchants also brought Islam, which spread into Sub-Saharan Africa as a result.

  • West African Empire Expansion: The government of Mali profited from the gold trade, but it also taxed nearly all other trade entering West Africa. The great cities of Timbuktu and Gao accumulated the most wealth and developed into centers of Muslim life in the region. The growth in trade and wealth gave rise to the need to administer and maintain it (such as establishing currencies).

  • Empires in Western Eurasia and Africa in the 13th Century

    • Mali
      • Location: West Africa
      • Major City: Timbuktu
      • Peak Years: 1200s to 1400s
      • Key Figures: Sundiata founder, Mansa Musa
      • Legacy: Connected West and North Africa, spread Islam
    • Al-Andalus
      • Location: Spain
      • Major City: Cordoba
      • Peak Years: 711 to 1492
      • Key Figures: Ibn Rushd, Maimonides
      • Legacy: Created a tolerant society, and preserved Greek learning.
    • Byzantine Empire
      • Location: Middle East
      • Major City: Constantinople
      • Peak Years: 330 to 1453
      • Key Figures: Justinian, Heraclius
      • Legacy: Roman Legacy, trade.
    • Kievan Rus
      • Location: Russia
      • Major City: Kiev
      • Peak Years: 900s to 1200s
      • Key Figures: Vladimir I, Yaroslav I
      • Legacy: Developed Russia, spread Christianity

TOPIC 2.5 Cultural Consequences of Connectivity

  • Influence of Buddhism on East Asian Culture: Buddhism came to China from its birthplace in India via the Silk Roads, and the 7th-century Buddhist monk Xuanzang helped make it popular. Japan and Korea, countries in China’s orbit, also adopted Buddhism, along with Confucianism. In Korea the educated elite studied Confucian classics, while Buddhist doctrine attracted the peasants.

  • Spread of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam: Through trade, the Indian religions of Hinduism and Buddhism made their way to Southeast Asia as well. The sea-based Srivijaya Empire on Sumatra was a Hindu kingdom, while the later Majapahit Kingdom on Java was Buddhist. Through merchants, missionaries, and conquests, Islam spread over a wide swath of Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia

  • Scientific and Technological Innovations: Along with religion, science and technology traveled the trade routes. Islamic scholars translated Greek literary classics into Arabic, saving the works of Aristotle and other Greek thinkers. Scholars also brought back mathematics texts from India and techniques for papermaking from China. They made advances in hospital care, including surgery.

    TOPIC 2.6 Environmental Consequences of Connectivity

  • Agricultural Effects of Exchange Networks: As the population of China grew, people tended to migrate southward to the original Champa rice growing region, contributing to the growth of cities. Environmental Degradation: Increases in population put pressure on resources. For example, overgrazing outside of Great Zimbabwe was so severe that people had to abandon the city in the late 1400s.

  • Spread of Epidemics through Exchange Networks: The Mongol conquests helped to transmit the fleas that carried the Bubonic Plague (AKA the Black Death) from southern China to Central Asia, and from there to Southeast Asia and Europe. The Black Death had a tremendous impact on Europe, killing one-third of the population there in a few years. About 25 million Chinese and other Asians died between 1332 and 1347

    TOPIC 2.7 Comparison of Economic Exchange

  • Similarities among Networks of Exchange: The Silk Roads through the Gobi Desert and mountain passes through China and Central Asia to Southwest Asia and Europe, on which merchants tended to specialize in luxury goods. The monsoon-dependent trade routes in the Indian Ocean linking East Asia with Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Southwest Asia allowed merchants to exchange goods that were too heavy to transport by land. The trans-Saharan trade routes from North Africa and the Mediterranean Basin across the desert to West and East Africa were where merchants traded salt from North Africa with gold from the kingdoms south of the desert

  • Exchange Effects: The trade routes all gave rise to trading cities, the “knots” that held the network together. The growth of trading cities gave rise to another effect of the trade networks: centralization. Trading cities along each of the trade routes underwent developments, using their wealth to keep the routes and the cities safe. Another aspect of trade in the cities that encouraged centralization was the desire for a standardized currency. Widely accepted currencies sped up transactions and enabled merchants to measure the value of products.

    Unit 3: Land-Based Empires: 12%-15% of the AP test (c. 1200 to c. 1450)

    TOPIC 3.1 Empires Expand

  • The Gunpowder Empires: The term Gunpowder Empires refers to large, multiethnic states in Southwest, Central, and South Asia that relied on firearms to conquer and control territories. Included the Russian, Ottoman, Safavid, and the Mughal Empires.

  • Europe: The mid-1400s saw the end of a wave of plagues, the conclusion of the Hundred Years’ War between France and England, and the invention of the Gutenberg printing press followed by an increase in literacy.

  • Russia: Russia remained tightly linked to Europe. Its capital—whether Kiev, St. Petersburg, or Moscow—was located in Europe. Although a product of Mongol influence from Central Asia to the east, Russia was also a product of Europe as a result of Viking invasions and trading. When Ivan IV (ruled 1547—1584), called Ivan the Terrible, was crowned tsar in 1547, he immediately set about to expand the Russian border eastward

  • East Asia: China’s Yuan Dynasty, founded by Mongol invader Kublai Khan in 1271, was overthrown by the Ming Dynasty in 1368 after less than a century in power. During the Ming era, the Portuguese and other Europeans arrived, aiming to encroach on the Asian trade network. In 1644, the powerful Manchu from neighboring Manchuria seized power and established the Qing Dynasty, which ruled until 1911. During both of these dynasties, Japan and Korea experienced parallel developments but with unique aspects.

  • Rise of the Islamic Gunpowder Empires: The warrior leaders of the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires shared many traits besides being Muslims:

    • They descended from Turkic nomads who once lived in Central Asia.
    • They spoke a Turkic language.
    • They took advantage of power vacuums left by the breakup of Mongol khanates.
    • They relied on gunpowder weapons, such as artillery and cannons.

    TOPIC 3.2 Empires: Administration

  • Centralizing Control in Europe: England’s King James believed in the divine right of kings, a common claim from the Middle Ages that the right to rule was given to a king by God. In England, the Tudors (ruled 1485—1603) relied on the “justices of the peace”, which were officials selected by the landed gentry to maintain peace in the counties of England. In contrast to developments in England, the French government became more absolute—directed by one source of power, the king, with complete authority—in the 17th and 18th centuries. (EX: Henry IV, Louis VIII, Louis XIV)

  • Reigning in Control of the Russian Empire: The noble landowning class, the boyars, stood at the top of the social pyramid. Below them were the merchants. Last and most numerous were the peasants, who would gradually sink more and more deeply into debt and, as a result, into serfdom. Peter the Great: The Romanov Dynasty took control of Russia in 1613 after a period of turmoil following Ivan’s death in 1584. Peter would eventually lose the support of the Russian clergy over his reforms. Later in his reign, Peter reorganized the Russian government by creating provinces (first 8 and later 50 administrative divisions). Provincial officials received a salary, replacing the old system of local officials “feeding off the land”

  • Legitimizing Power through Religion and Art: St. Petersburg: In the mid-18th century, workers built the famous Winter Palace designed in a European rather than Byzantine style to show Peter’s admiration of western Europe and its rulers. Askia the Great of Songhai: Askia made Islam Songhai’s official religion in an attempt to unite his empire. In addition to legitimizing his rule through promoting Islam, he also supported an efficient bureaucracy to bring the empire together. Ottoman Architectural and Artistic Achievements: Istanbul remained a center of arts and learning. Poets and scholars from across Asia met in coffeehouses and gardens. They discussed works by Aristotle and other Greek writers, as well as the works of many Arabic scholars. Cultural contributions of the Ottomans included the restoration of some of the glorious buildings of Constantinople, most notably the cathedral of Saint Sophia.

    TOPIC 3.3 Empires: Belief Systems

  • Protestant Reformation: Lutheranism: A German monk named Martin Luther concluded that several traditional Church practices violated biblical teachings.

    • He objected to the sale of indulgences, which granted a person absolution from the punishments for sin, and to simony, the selling of church offices.
    • Luther challenged the Church by nailing his 95 Theses, to a church door.
    • Luther advocated for the theological stance of “sola fide,” faith alone, for the basis of salvation for the Christian believer.

  • Calvinism: In 1536, John Calvin authored The Institutes of the Christian Religion and helped reform the religious community in Geneva, Switzerland.

    • The elect, those predestined to go to heaven, ran the community, which was based on plain living, simple church buildings, and governance by the elders of the church.
    • Calvin’s followers in France were called Huguenots.

  • Anglicanism: The last of the three major figures of the Reformation was England’s King Henry VIII (ruled 1509-1547).

    • Henry asked the pope to annul his marriage so he could marry another woman, Anne Boleyn, but the pope refused.
    • Henry, with the approval of the English Parliament, set himself up as head of the new Church of England, or Anglican Church—one that would be free of control by the pope in Rome.

  • Counter-Reformation or Catholic Reformation: A three part strategy to maintain Catholicism as the largest Christian denomination in the world:

    • The Church increased the use of the Inquisition to root out and punish nonbelievers.
    • The Jesuits, or Society of Jesus, a religious order founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola, also opposed the spread of Protestantism. The Jesuits undertook missionary activity throughout the Spanish Empire as well as in