Mixed social hierarchy: peasants (serfs) with limited rights working for the noble class.
Decentralized system: small empires, kingdoms, fiefdoms.
Catholic Church: unifying political force; promotes education, medicine, and welfare.
Bubonic Plague
Spread via Silk Road trade from Asia.
Killed 30-40% of Europe's population.
Remade economic and political realities.
Undermined the funeral system.
Increased demand for workers, leading to better pay and working conditions which eventually leads to the decline of feudalism (especially in Western Europe).
Islamic World (Dar al-Islam)
Rapid expansion from Middle East to North Africa, parts of Western Asia, and Southern Europe (Spain).
Massive caliphate, later under Turkic Muslim groups like the Seljuk Turks.
India under Muslim rule: Delhi Sultanate, later Mughal rule.
Trade and Diasporic Communities
Islamic merchants central to Afro-Eurasian trade, dominant in Indian Ocean.
Arabic as common language and Islam as common religion fostered trade.
Connected Southeast Asia, Africa, India, and the Middle East.
More productive in science and intellectual endeavors compared to Europe during bubonic plague era (sometimes labeled as the Dark Ages).
West African Empires
Mali and Songhai Empires controlled Sub-Saharan West Africa.
Fostered trade, especially in gold and salt.
Trans-Saharan trade enabled by technologies like camel saddles.
Mansa Musa
Mali Kingdom's Mansa Musa took long pilgrimages (Hajj) to Mecca.
Spread wealth (gold) and information about the Mali empire.
Swahili Coast
Associated with trade in Africa.
Units 3 and 4: Land Empires and Maritime Empires (1450-1750)
China: Ming Dynasty took over from Mongols, emphasized neo-Confucianism.
Expansionist era: impressive navy and voyages of Zheng He.
Europe: decentralized; Holy Roman Empire was a loose confederation united by Catholic faith.
Africa: Songhai Kingdom continued.
Gunpowder Empires
Unified by expansion using gunpowder weapons (cannons, guns).
Islamic-led kingdoms in Asia.
Ottoman Empire: long-lasting, dominant in Mediterranean, Middle East, and parts of Southern Europe, weakening towards the end of this time frame.
Safavid Empire: Primarily present-day Iran.
Mughals: relatively more religiously tolerant.
Established states and centralized control; legitimized power through religion and art.
Maritime Empires
Early colonial empires in the Americas: Spain and Portugal initially expanded into Africa and Asia.
Later: British, French, and Dutch got involved.
Portuguese and Dutch: leading exploring powers making journeys around the Cape of Africa, establishing coastal fortresses.
Impacts of Maritime Empires
Conquest of the Americas and spread of diseases.
New social hierarchies: co-opting existing systems (e.g., Mita system for Inca), establishing systems based on race and colonial control.
Transatlantic slave trade: forced labor from Africa to plantations in the Americas.
Economic Philosophy
Mercantilism: accumulating raw materials and wealth, maintaining a favorable balance of trade.
Europe profited from colonies: raw mineral wealth (gold, silver) and plantation agriculture (sugar, coffee).
Distinguishing Land and Maritime Empires
Maritime empires: mainly European monarchies that expanded.
Land empires: mainly Asian and Middle Eastern.
Political Revolutions
Enlightenment philosophers (Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu) wrote about natural rights and democratic government.
Ideas inspired revolutions: American, French, Haitian, and Latin American Revolutions.
Revolutions: people wanting more rights, decolonization efforts.
Industrial Revolution
Started in Britain, expanded to Western Europe and the Americas.
Shift in power dynamics: Europe gained advantage over the Eastern world.
Impacts of Industrialization
Positive: greater production of goods, wealth, and productivity.
Negative: poor working conditions, child labor, pollution, disease.
Communism
Marx's Communist Manifesto (1848): called for a proletariat revolution to overthrow the bourgeoisie and establish worker control of the means of production.
Non-Western Industrialization
More state-directed/controlled and later in response to falling behind Europe.
Modeled on Western versions but controlled by state government.
Examples: Ottoman Empire (Tanzimat reforms) and Japan (Meiji Restoration).
Aimed to adopt Western government, culture, and economies to remain competitive and avoid colonization.
Imperialism (Units 6)
British and French were leading imperial powers, carving up Africa after the Berlin Conference.
British controlled India; French controlled French Indochina.
Justifications: civilizing mission, social Darwinism, economic exploitation (taking resources).
China
Not fully colonized but forced into exploitative economic relationship after the Opium Wars.
Forced to open ports to Western trade by the British.