Unit 3 | Land-Based Empires

💡 Big Ideas:

• Empires continued to expand by conquering territory

• Gunpowder weapons play increasing role in warfare

• Governments focus on centralized rule with a monarch and bureaucracy

3.1 | European, East Asian, and Gunpowder Empires

• Empires: Russia, Ottomans, Safavid, Mughal, and Qing Dynasty

• Europe

  • Monarchs centralize power (very unchecked, absolutism)

  • Beginning of the Age of Exploration

  • Printing Press → Higher Literacy Rates

  • Religious Conflicts

• Russia

  • Ivan the Great kicks out the Mongols

  • Begins to expand to the Pacific

  • Begin to consider Westernizing

• Qing China

  • Defeated the Ming Dynasty → Manchu invaders

  • Expands Territory

  • Dynastic Patterns

• Muslim Gunpowder Empires

  • Ottomans → Ruled from Istanbul/Constantinople

    • Sunni

    • Ruled by Suleiman

  • Safavids → Ruled from Isfahan

    • Shi’a

    • Ruled by Shah Abbas I

  • Mughals → Ruled India

    • A Sunni minority among Hindus

      • Tolerant

    • Ruled by Akbar

3.2 | Empires: Administration

• Similarities among Empires

  • Centralized Powers

  • Bureaucracy

  • Taxes

  • Armies

  • Supported by Religious Beliefs

• Europe

  • Monarchy based on the Divine Rights of Kings

  • England develops Constitutional Monarchy

  • Absolute Monarchy in France (Divine Right)

    • Louis XIV (14) → Built Versailles

• Russia

  • Tsar (King) ran an absolutist empire

  • Boyars (Nobles) → Serfs worked for them

• Ottomans

  • Absolutism

  • Devshirme System → Young boys taken from the Balkans and Educated to remain loyal to the Sultan

    • Created Janissaries → Elite “core” of military; projection of power

• Japan

  • Feudalism

    • Controlled fiefdoms → Served by Samurai

    • Emperor was a figurehead, real power held by Shogunate

• Mughals

  • Very Tolerant

  • Zamindars (Tax Collectors)

• Art used to represent power

  • St. Petersburg

  • Taj Mahal

  • Suleymaniye Mosque

3.3 | Belief Systems

• Europe

  • Protestant Reformation → Christian reform movement led by Martin Luther’s 95 Thesis (Criticized Church)

    • Opposed Indulgences

  • Catholic vs. Protestant (Decision of what to make territories)

    • 30 Years War

• Russia

  • Absolutist Tsar → Head of Church and Government

• Gunpowder Empires

  • Ottomans → Sunni

    • Mostly Tolerant

  • Safavids → Shi’a

    • No Tolerance

  • Mughal → Sunni

    • Very Tolerant

    • Sikhism → Creation of Din-i Ilahi (Hindu + Islam)

3.4 | Comparisons in Empires

• Military

  • All empires had well-trained, organized, and ready armies

    • European wars over Reformation

    • Safavids went to war with Ottomans and Mughals to spread Shi’a Islam

• Centralized Bureaucracies

  • China → Civil Service Exam

  • Ottomans → Devshirme System

  • Songhai → Officials educated in Madrasas (schools) — Started by Mansa Musa

• Taxation

  • Mughal Zamindars → Tax Collectors from Peasant Farmers

  • Ottoman Tax Farming → Collector paid sum for whole areas

  • Aztec Tribute System → Set up taxes in conquered regions

Unit 4 | Transoceanic Interconnections

💡 Big Ideas:

• Various empires expanded using gunpowder weapons and centralized governments

• Age of Exploration begins due to new tech and economic motivations

• Entire world is connected — Columbian Exchange + 1st Global Trade Network

4.1 | Technological Innovations

• New Technology helps Europeans begin the Age of Exploration in the 1400s

• Technologies

  • Magnetic Compass (China) — Helped sailors follow routes

  • Astrolabe (Muslims) — Used to plot positions on a map

  • Lateen Sails (Arab Sailors) — Triangular sails better sailing into the wind

  • Cartography → Map Making

  • New Ships — Sturdier, Multi-mast Ships to survive harsher conditions

4.2 | Exploration: Causes and Events

• Spain and Portugal begin to explore the Atlantic to find an oceanic route to Asia for economic reasons (Trade)

• Portugal

  • Henry the Navigator starts school to train explorers and sponsor voyages

  • Bartholomeu Diaz sails to South Africa (1488)

  • Vasco de Gama sails to India (1498)

    • Sets up trading posts on African Coasts, India, and Brazil

• Spain

  • Christopher Columbus → Sails across the Atlantic to the Americas (1492)

  • Ferdinand Magellan sails around the world (1522)

    • Sets up colonies in the new world

• England, France, and the Dutch (Netherlands) join in

• Motivations for Oceanic Exploration

  • Trade Routes → Direct access to Asian goods/spices

  • Land and Resources (Gold and Silver)

  • Spread Christianity (Missionaries)

4.3 | Columbian Exchange

• Biological exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and people between the Old and new world

  • Environmental and Demographic impacts

• New World impacted by new diseases (50% Died)

  • Smallpox, Measles, etc.

• Plants → Crops planted in new locations, alter diets of people

  • Corn, Potatoes, and Beans into the Old World

  • Wheat, Sugarcane, and Bananas into the New World

• Animals → Introduced to Old and New World

  • Horses used for military, farm work, and transportation

• Cash Crops led to the migration of African Slaves into the New World

  • Sugar and Cotton slave labor

4.4 | Maritime Empires are Established

• European nations create empires using weapons, germs, and coerced labor to compete for wealth and prestige

• Conquistadors conquered the Aztecs (Cortes; 1521) and Incas (Pizarro; 1533)

• England and France compete for North American colonies (7 Years’ War; 1756)

• Changes in Labor Systems

  • Old Systems

    • Serfdom (tied to land)

  • New Systems

    • Indentured Servants (work for passage to the new world)

    • Mit’a/Encomiendas (Amerindians worked for Europeans)

    • Chattel Slavery (forced movement of Africans)

      • Middle Passage (Journey of African Slaves across the Atlantic)

4.5 | Maritime Empires Maintained and Developed

• Commercial Revolution

  • Gold and Silver Economies

  • Joint-Stock Companies (ie. BEIC)

  • Triangular Slave System → Atlantic Trade Network

    • Goods to Africa from Europe for Slaves to America for Goods to Europe

• Politics

  • Colonial Governments

    • Viceroys in New Spain → Established control over indigenous people, laws, languages, etc.

    • Regional Governors → Had to be kept loyal to the home-crown

• Religions

  • Religious syncretism develops in colonies

    • Vodun and Santeria — Blending of African and Christian Beliefs

4.6 | Internal and External Challenges to State Power

• Empires ran into resistance in different areas

• Africa → Rebelled against slave raids and European interference

  • Some Empires are more armed than others → Led to Violence

• Russia → Resistance to serfdom

• New World

  • Rebellions against foreign conquerors/settlers

  • Slave Revolts

4.7 | Changing Social Hierarchies

• Religious Minorities

  • Spain expels Jews

  • Ottomans became very Tolerant

• Qing China

  • Discrimination against Han Chinese

• Las Castas in Latin America

  • Established by Europeans

  • Ethnicity-based, sorted by bloodline/race

  • Peninsulares, Creoles, mestizos/mulattoes, Amerindians, slaves

4.8 | Continuities and Changes from 1450 to 1750

• Continuities

  • Presence of Empires

  • Agricultural-based Economies

  • Patriarchy

• Changes

  • The world is truly connected

  • Transoceanic Travel/Trade

  • Atlantic Trade Network (Slave Trade)

  • Mercantilism policies (gain colonies, limit imports, and maximize exports)

  • Rise of Western Europe (overtakes Asia in power and wealth)

  • New social structures in the Americas (las Casas)

  • Christianity in the new world