AP World History - Unit 3: Land-Based Empires

Major European Developments

  • After 300 years of development, Europe become the dominant world power

  • Revolutions in European Thought and Expression:

    • 1300s: Europe had been Christian for over a thousand years

    • As countries began to unify and connect more, especially with countries who had preserved their history, Europe expanded its worldview and explored its past and 4 cultural movements happened

The Renaissance

  • As trade increased, people moved to the cities and an influx of money was experienced - a lot of money went to studying the past

  • Humanism: focus on personal accomplishment, happiness, and life on earth instead of living for the goal of salvation

    • Afterlife remained dominant in the Catholic Church

  • Arts have a comeback

    • People could afford art again - Medici family patrons of Michelangelo and Brunelleschi

    • Artists focused on realism - Leonardo da Vinci and Donatello

  • Western writers have an audience

    • mid-1400s: Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press - made books easy to produce and affordable, and accessible to everyone

    • led to more literate people

The Protestant Reformation

  • Catholic Church was one of the most powerful organizations in the Middle Ages - power in politics and society - undisputed authority

  • Church capitalized off its many followers with indulgences: paper faithful could purchase to reduce time in purgatory

  • Nobles and peasants began getting increasingly frustrated by the church’s exploitation and noticed its corrupt nature

  • Martin Luther: German monk who published his list of complaints against the church - most significantly proposed salvation was given directly through God, not through the church, which significantly reduced the church’s influence

    • Pope Leo X: excommunicated Luther when he refused to recount his idea

  • Christianity split - Luther’s ideas led to many others to come forward

    • Lutherans: Luther’s followers - separated from Catholic Church

    • Calvinism - John Calvin: predestination - only a few people would be saved by God, great influence in Scotland and France

    • When the pope refused to annul King Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon because a heir wasn’t produced, he declared himself the head of religious affairs - presided over Church of England/Anglican Church

    • Jesuits - Ignatius Loyola: prayer and good works leads to salvation

  • Catholic Reformation (16th century)

    • Catholic church attempts to remedy some of their controversies and regains some of its credibility - still wanted authority and control

    • Council of Trent: reinstated pope authority, punished heretics, reestablished Latin as only language in worship

    • Caused wars

Scientific Revolution

  • Expanded education led to world discoveries

  • Copernican Revolution: Nicolaus Copernicus - discovered earth and other celestial bodies revolved around the sun and the earth rotated on its axis

  • Galileo: built off Copernicus’s theories and proved them - forced to recant by the Catholic Church and put under house arrest

  • Scientific Method: shift from reasoning being most reliable means of scientific meaning to scientific method (theory, documentation, repetition, others experimenting)

  • Tycho Brahe, Francis Bacon, Johannes Kepler, Sir Isaac Newton

  • Led to Industrial Revolution, and many rejecting the church - atheists (believe no god exists), deists (believe God exists, but is passive)

  • Deism: became popular in 1700s - God created the earth but doesn’t interfere in its workings

German Areas (Holy Roman

Russia

  • Russian leaders were overthrowing reigning Mongols in late 15th century

  • Moscow became centre of Orthodox Christianity

  • Ivan III refused to pay tribute to Mongols and declared them free from their rule - lead Russians, later Ivan IV did too

    • Recruited peasants freedom from boyars (their feudal lords) if they conquered their own land themselves

  • Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible): strong leader feared by many - executing people who were threats to his power

  • Battle for throne after Ivan IV died without an heir - Time of Troubles (1604 to 1613): killing those who tried to rise to the throne

  • Michael Romanov was elected by feudal lords until 1917 - Romanovs consolidated power and ruled ruthlessly

  • Peter the Great: ruled from 1682-1725 - redesigned and adapted Russia in to westernized fashion

  • Catherine the Great: ruled from 1762-1796 - education and Western culture - serf conditions were of no importance to her

Islamic Gunpowder Empires

  • Ottoman Empire precedes 1450 - founded by Osman Bey as the Mongol Empire fell

    • Eventually invaded Constantinople in 1453 and ended Byzantine Empire (Constantinople now named Istanbul)

    • Ottomans were Islamic and solidified rule over territory from Greece to Persia to around Mediterranean into Egypt and northern Africa by giving land (timars) to Ottoman aristocrats to control

    • Employed practice called devshirme: enslaved Christian children and turned them into warriors called Janissaries

    • Selim I: came into power in 1512, led much of the empire growth, made Istanbul centre of Islamic civilization

    • Suleiman I: succeeded Selim I in 1520, build Ottoman military and arts - golden age from 1520-1566

      • Took over parts of Hungary, but could not successfully take over Vienna

  • Babur: Mongol leader who invaded northern India in 1526 - Mughal Empire (dominated for next 300 years)

    • United entire subcontinent

    • Akbar: succeeded Babur from 1556 to 1605 - united India further with religious toleration, did give Muslim landowners (zamindars) power to tax

    • Hindus and Muslims lived side by side in a golden age of art and thought - under Shah Jahan, the Taj Mahal was built

    • Aurangzeb: emperor who ended religious toleration and waged wars to conquer rest of India - Hindus were persecuted

    • Europeans arrived in early 17th century to trade and spread ideas - after 1750 is when Britain turned into an imperial superpower

Africa

  • Starting in 10th century, wealth accumulated from trade - Songhai, Kongo, and Angola became powerful kingdoms

  • Songhai:

    • Islamic state

    • Sunni Ali: ruler 1464-1493 - navy, central administration, financed Timbuktu - fell to Moroccans

  • Asanti Empire: arose in 1670 - avoided invasion and expanded its territory

  • Kongo:

    • King Alfonso I: Catholic, and converted his people

    • Mostly destroyed by previous allies Portugal

  • Angola:

    • Established by Portuguese around 1575 for the slave trade

    • Queen Nzinga resisted Portuguese attempts to further their control for 40 years

Isolated Asia

China

  • Ming Dynasty was restored until 1644 after kicking out Mongols in 1368

  • Built huge fleets in early 15th century to explore Asia and Indian ocean - Zheng He: famous Chinese navigator

  • Economy started failing due to silver currency inflation, famines in 17th century, peasant revolts

  • Qing warriors were invited to help Ming emperor but instead ousted him in 1644

  • Qing/Manchus ruled China until 1911

    • Not ethnically Chinese so had to affirm legitimacy - displayed imperial portraits with Chinese historical items

    • Kangxi: ruled from 1661 to 1722 and conquered Taiwan, Mongolia, central Asia, Tibet

    • Qianlong: ruled from 1735 to 1796 and conquered Vietnam, Burma, Nepal

    • were both Confucian scholars

  • Did not interact a lot with surrounding nations, protected their culture

Japan

  • Shoguns ruled Japan in 16th century, but Christian missionaries came in and Jesuits took control of Nagasaki - westernization

  • Tokugawa Ieyasu: established Tokugawa Shogunate (Edo period) from 1600 to 1868 - strict government that instituted a rigid social class model

    • Moved capital of Japan to Edo (modern-day Tokyo)

    • National Seclusion Policy (1635): prohibited Japanese from traveling abroad and prohibited most foreigners

    • Japanese culture thrived - Kabuki theatre and haiku poetry became popular

Resistance

  • Key rebellions in 17th and 18th centuries:

    1. Ana Nzinga’s Resistance (Kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba) - 1641-167

      • Resisted Portuguese colonizers

    2. Cossack Revolts (Modern-day Ukraine) - 17-18th century

      • Resisted Russian Empire but were eventually defeated

    3. Haitian Slave Rebellion (Haiti) - 1791-1804

      • Resisted France and eventually achieved independence for Haiti

    4. Maratha (India) - 1680-1707

      • Resisted Mughal Empire and defeated them starting the Maratha Empire

    5. Maroon Societies (Caribbean and Brazil) - 17th-18th century

      • Resisted slave-owners in Americas and avoided attempts to be recaptured and sold

    6. Metacom’s War (US) - 1675-1678

      • Resisted British colonists over unfair trade practices

    7. Pueblo Revolts (US) - 1680

      • Resisted Spanish colonizers and their encomienda system, but victory was temporary