Unit 1: The Global Tapestry

Review of History Within Civilizations

• What rises out of collapse of classical civilization and interactions developing between new states

  • Growth of long-distance trade

Overview of World’s Major Religions in 1200

• Religious Mysticism: adherents within religions focusing on mystical experiences that bring them closer to divine - prayer, meditation

• Buddhism

  • Cultures: India, China, Southeast Asia, Japan

  • Context:

    • Founded by Siddhartha Gautama, a young Hindu prince - lived in Nepal from 563-483 BCE, rejected wealth and world possessions and became Buddha (Enlightened One)

    • No supreme being - 4 Noble Truth: (1) all life is suffering, (2) suffering caused by desire, (3) can be freed of suffering by being freed of desire, (4) freed by following a prescribed path (eightfold path)

      • Eightfold path: outlines principles and practices a Buddhist must follow

        • moral lifestyle and meditation

    • carried over some features of Hinduism

      • karma, rebirth

    • Death of Buddha (483 BCE) = Buddhism split - Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism

    • Theravada Buddhism (originated to Sri Lanka): meditation, simplicity, nirvana as renunciation of consciousness and self

      • emphasis on escaping the cycle of birth and death

        • mainly restricted to monks

    • Mahayana Buddhism (spread of Buddhism to East Asia): great ritual, spiritual comfort - more complex but with greater spread

      • emphasized that Buddhist teachings were available to all, not just a select few (cough cough Theravada Buddhism)

      • emphasized compassion

      • made Buddha into an object of devotion

    • Tibetan Buddhism (spread to Tibet):

      • same basic doctrines as the others, but emphasized mystical practices

        • lying prostrate

        • elaborate imaginings of deities

  • Impact: rejects caste system - appealed to those of lower rank

    • India: reabsorbed in Hinduism

    • China, Japan, Southeast Asia: Buddhism continued to thrive

    • Further: spread via trade routes

    • spread to China in Han Dynasty

• Christianity

  • Cultures: started as group of Jews, quickly expanded through Europe, northeastern Africa, Middle East

  • Context:

    • Based around Jesus of Nazareth, a figure who claimed to be Messiah the Jews had awaited - teachings of devotion to God and love for others

    • Jesus was crucified by Roman and Jewish leaders in 30 CE and his followers believe he rose from dead into heaven

    • Based on Bible teachings

    • Believe Jesus is the Son of God - forgiveness of sins, everlasting life is achievable through him

    • World was created by God, but world has fallen from God

    • Believers should seek God and care for him and others

  • Impact: compassion, grace through faith appealed to lower classes and women

    • Became most influential religion in Mediterranean basin by 3rd century

    • Became official religion of Roman Empire, then branching north and west

    • Connection with Roman Empire had profound impact on global culture

• Confucianism

  • Cultures: China (400 BCE+)

  • Context:

    • Founded by Confucius, educator and political advisor - thoughts and sayings collected in the Analects

    • Deals with how to restore political and social order, not with philosophical or religious topics

    • Belief that society is hierarchical (superiors and inferiors). Harmony depended on keeping the proper relationships.

    • Filial piety: emphasized the need for children to obey and honor their parents, grandparents, and deceased ancestors.

    • 5 fundamental relations build society and make it orderly - (1) ruler and subject, (2) parent and child, (3) husband and wife, (4) older sibling and younger sibling. (5) friend and friend

  • Impact:

    • Compatible with other religions, causing it to flourish

    • Led to distinctive Chinese culture of tight-knit communities

    • Stayed within Chinese culture

• Hinduism

  • Cultures: India

  • Context:

    • Belief in one supreme force called Brahma who created everything - gods are manifestations of Brahma (Vishnu = preserver, Shiva = destroyer)

    • Goal of believer is to merge with Brahma - believe it takes multiple lives to accomplish and believers live to determine who they will be in their next life

    • Following the dharma (rules and obligations of your caste) will move you towards Brahma - moksha is highest stake of being (internal peace and release of soul)

    • No sacred text - Vedas and Upanishads guide Hindus

  • Impact:

    • Religion and social caste system, which has prevented global acceptance of religion

    • Recently, Hindus are rebelling caste system

    • Spawned Buddhism

• Islam

  • Cultures: caliphates (Islamic kingdoms), North Africa, central Asia, Europe

  • Context:

    • 7th century - Muslims are the believers

    • Allah presented words through prophet Muhammad, whose words were recorded in the Qur’an

    • Salvation is won through submission to God - 5 Pillars of Islam: (1) confession, (2) prayer 5 times a day, (3) charity, (4) fasting during Ramadan, (5) pilgrimage to Mecca

    • 2 groups, Shia and Sunni, who disagreed who should succeed Muhammad

  • Impact:

    • Rapidly spread to Middle East

• Judaism

  • Cultures: Hebrews

  • Context

    • God selected a group of holy people who should follow his laws and worship them

    • Unique relationship with God

    • World is for them to enjoy, free will - destiny of world is paradise

    • Hebrew Bible - Torah, miracles, laws, historical chronicles, poetry, prophecies

  • Impact

    • First of major monotheistic faiths

Developments in Asia (1.1 Developments in East Asia)

China and Nearby Regions

• Song Dynasty (960-1279)

  • How did the Song Dynasty maintain and justify its power?

    • The revival of Confucianism, or Neo-Confucianism helped to legitimize Song Dynasty rule due to its ancient history in China

      • new: influence of Buddhist and Daoist philosophical ideas

      • revival of Confucianism demonstrated a continuity between ancient China and Song Dynasty but also illustrates innovation

        • rulers used the hierarchical view of society to maintain and justify their rule

    • use of an imperial bureaucracy - in order to be a part of the bureaucracy eligible men had to pass the Civil Service Exam, based on Confucian classics (bureaucracy: governmental entity that carries out the will of the emperor)

      • China’s bureaucratic system known as a meritocracy

        • poor vastly underrepresented

        • still, allowed for more upward mobility than any other hiring system

        • 1. bureaucracy staffed with only the most qualified men

        • 2. increased competency and efficiency of bureaucratic tasks

      • by the end of the Song: bureaucracy grew so large --> contributed to empire's weakness (created so many jobs and paid the officials so well, the increased costs of government starting drying up China's surplus wealth)

    • Bureaucracy began in Qin, but Civil Service Exam was in Han

      • Qin --> Han --> Sui --> Tang --> Song --> Yuan --> Ming (relative order, missing some)

  • Life for women in Song China:

    • Confucianism justified subordination of women - foot binding: women’s feet bound after birth to keep them small (occurred in elite social circles)

    • stripped of legal rights: could not own property, remarry, etc.

    • limited access to education

  • Neo-Confucianism: Buddhist ideas about soul, filial piety, maintenance of proper roles, loyalty to superiors

  • CONTINUITIES: The Song Dynasty demonstrated continuity and innovation to maintain and justify its rule. Confucianism as the state philosophy and the Civil Service Exam began during the Han Dynasty (202 BCE - 220 CE) which means this was a continuity in Chinese History. However, Neo-Confucianism showed innovation (change). The use of a large bureaucracy began during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE). This is also a continuity.

  • Although the Song Dynasty made it their policy to emphasize more traditional Chinese ideas, like Confucianism, Buddhism continued to play a significant role in their society

    • Mahayana Buddhism (maybe?)

    • Chinese eventually developed own type of Buddhism - Chan Buddhism

  • Economy in Song China:

    • 1. Commercialization of Economy

      • produced more goods than they needed to survive and sold the excess on World Market

      • Song officials moved more and more to the use of paper money

        • resulted in related practices like credit and promissory notes —> thoroughly commercialized

    • 2. Iron & Steel Production

      • by the 11th century, both large scale manufacturers and home-based artisans were producing enough iron and steel to create all the suits of armor needed for war, all the coins needed for trade and taxation, and many of the tools needed for agriculture

    • 3. Agricultural Innovation

      • widespread use of iron plows and rakes

      • Champa Rice expanded agricultural productivity

        • came from Champa Kingdom in Vietnam

        • drought resistant, harvestable twice a year (doubled agricultural output)

        • POPULATION BOOM

    • 4. Transportation Innovations

      • expanded Grand Canal which linked Yellow and Yangzi Rivers

      • made trade among different regions cheaper

      • 1. perfection of magnetic compass

        • improved navigation on water

        • further facilitated sea-based trade among various regions

      • 2. new ship-building techniques

        • improved design of massive trade ships called Junks by creating water-type bulkheads and stern-mounted rudders (made navigation more accurate) —> led to more trade among regions —> more economic prosperity

  • innovators created the first gun

  • proto-industrialization: set of economic changes in which people in rural areas made more goods than they could sell

  • world’s most commercialized society

• Ming Dynasty (1368-1644): after brief period of Mongol dominance

• Religion: influenced by Nestorianism, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, Islam, and especially Buddhism in two of its forms

  • Mahayana: peaceful and quiet existence apart from worldly values

  • Chan or Zen: meditation and appreciation of beauty

Korea

• maintained a tributary relationship with China

• influence by China:

  • 1. Korean court used a similar civil service exam to staff the bureaucracy

    • key difference: Nobles had more power in Korea

  • 2. adopted Confucian principles to organize family structures

  • 3. went even further than China in marginalizing their role of women

    • mostly applied to elite members of society

Vietnam

• similar relationship like Korea to China (basically independent politically but had tributary relationship to China)

• Chinese influence:

  • 1. elite members of Vietnam society adopted

    • Confucianism

    • Buddhism

    • Chinese literary techniques

    • Civil service exam

  • women not as marginalized in Vietnam

    • evidence: several of nature deities were women, female version of Buddha

    • never adopted footbinding: just like Korea and Japan

Japan

• Heian Japan: separated from China by a ocean, still influenced by China

  • whatever cultural traits the Japanese adopted, it was voluntary

    • unlike Korea, with the looming threat of being invaded

  • around 7th and 9th CE: organized imperial bureaucracy

  • Chinese Buddhism also took root

  • Chinese writing system

• Relatively isolated from external influences outside Asia for many years

• Feudal Japan (1192):

  1. Emperor

  2. Shogun (chief general)

  3. Daimyo: owners of larger pieces of land, powerful samurai (like knights)

     • Followed Code of Bushido code of conduct - loyalty, courage, honour

  4. Lesser samurai (like vassals)

  5. Peasants and artisans

• Women had little rights and esteem

Developments in the Middle East (1.2 Developments in Dar-Al-Islam)

• Dar-Al-Islam = House of Islam (everywhere Islam was the majority religion)

• Judaism, Christianity and Islam interacted with each other

  • all monotheistic

  • 1. Judaism:

    • Ethnic religion of Jews

    • originated in Middle East

    • the soil in which the other 2 faiths grew

  • 2. Christianity:

    • established by Jewish prophet Jesus Christ

      • claimed to be the Messiah or the Savior that Jews were waiting for

      • after his death at the hands of Roman authorities: his followers spread his messages of salvation by grace

        • earliest Christians were a persecuted minority, but later on the Roman Empire adopted it (most significant influence of Christianity upon society)

  • 3. Islam:

    • founded by prophet Muhammad on the Arabian Peninsula, who claimed to be the final prophet in the line of God’s messengers

    • Islamic Doctrines: taught his followers that salvation would be found in righteous actions like almsgiving, prayer, and fasting

    • after the death of Muhammad: the faith he established started spreading rapidly throughout the Middle East, North and South sub-Saharan Africa, into Europe and South Asia (Dar-al-Islam)

      • impacted societies where it was practiced

    • Muhammad used to be a merchant:

      • Jesus’ teachings on accumulating wealth: DON’T

      • Thus, Islamic states became more prosperous than Christian states prior to 1200

      • Islamic states facilitated trade throughout Afro-Eurasia

        • facilitated rise of giant Empires

• Abbasid Caliphate/Dynasty: Golden Age to Remember

  • Islamic Empire from 750-1258 CE - early mid-9th century golden age

  • 1. Ethnically Arab

  • 2. In power during the Golden Age of Islam

    • by 1200s, was beginning to fracture and losing its place as the center of the Islamic world

    • IMPORTANT: several new Islamic empires began to rise in its place

      • largely made up of Turkic peoples, not Arab peoples

      • from the time of Muhammad till the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate, Islamic empires were run by Arabs - but now the Turkic Muslims start coming in and setting up new rival empires out of the crumbling edifice of the Abbasid Empire

  • Capital in Baghdad (modern-day Iraq)

  • Centre for arts and sciences - mathematics (Nasir al-Din al Tusi), medicine, writings (House of Wisdom library)

  • Built around trade - used receipt and bill system

• Turkic Muslim Empires: Seljuk, Mamluk Sultanate, Delhi Sultanate

  • 1. Seljuk Empire: established in 11th century in Central Asia

    • pastoral, brought in by the Abbasids as a professional military force to expand their empire and to culturally integrate their empire by force

      • but by 1200s, Seljuk warriors began to claim more and more power for themselves

      • In the end, the Abbasid caliphs were still in power and claimed to speak for all of Islam, but the Seljuks had most of the political power

  • 2. Mamluk Sultanate:

    • in Egypt

    • prior to them, Ayyubid Sultanate under Saladin

      • in order to advance goals of the state, Saladin needed more labor

        • thus, enslaved group of Turkic warriors known as Mamluks

        • Saladin dies, sultans following were incompetent

        • Mamluks seized power giving rise to another Turkic Muslim state

  • 3. Delhi Sultanate:

    • south Asia

    • invading Turks established a state in the north and ruled over the Indian population for about 300 years

    • The main point is that as the Arab Muslim empires, like the Abbasid, declined, new Muslim empires made up of Turkic peoples were on the rise (BIG CHANGE)

  • CONTINUITY in Muslim Empires:

    • 1. Military in charge of Administration

    • 2. Implemented Sharia Law

      • code of laws established in the Quran

• How Islam Spread:

  • 1. Military Expansion:

    • establishment of Delhi Sultanate

  • 2. Merchant Activity:

    • trade

    • Empire of Mali converted to Islam - chief reason was the increased access to trade among Dal al-Islam

  • 3. Muslim Missionaries

    • large branch known as Sufis

      • Sufism was new and emerging form of Islam that emphasized mystical experience (available to everyone)

• Innovations and Transfers:

  • Mathematics: Nasir Al-Din Al-Tusi

    • trigonometry: Nicholas Copernicus used his work to prove Earth revolved around the Sun (heliocentric theory)

  • Golden Age of Islam: House of Islam in Baghdad - library

    • preserved works of Greek moral and natural philosophy

    • scholars translated them into Arabic and made extensive commentaries on them, and without that effort, those works would likely have been lost forever

• Decline of Islamic Caliphates: Internal Rivalries and Mongol Invasions

  • Challenged by revolt of enslaved Turkish warriors, new Shia dynasty in Iran, Seljuk Turk Sunni group, Persians, Europeans, Byzantines, and most importantly Mongols

  • Mongols overtook and destroyed Baghdad in 1258

  • Ottoman Turks would later reunite Egypt, Syria, and Arabia in new Islamic state until 1918

  • Mamluks: Egyptian group that defeated Mongols in Nazareth, helping preserve Islam in Near East

State Building in South Asia & Southeast Asia (1.3)

Belief Systems:

• 3 main belief systems that were established and fighting for dominance: Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism

India (South Asia)

• Delhi Sultanate: Islamic invader kingdom in Delhi

• Dominant religion was Hinduism: (or maybe Muslim???)

  • 1. polytheistic religion (different from Judaism and Islam which were monotheistic)

  • 2. Ultimate goal of believers is to reunite their individual souls to the all pervasive world soul known as Brahman

    • involves cycling through death and rebirth (reincarnation) to achieve

  • Provided conditions for a unified culture in India

    • achieved this by structuring Indian society according to caste system

• Buddhism also established:

  • founded in India

  

  • ethnic religion: belief system is tightly bound to particular people in a particular area

    • don’t spread very well

  • universalizing religion: can be planted in any culture without completely overturning that culture

    • much more likely to spread

  • by the time of 1200s, Buddhism influence in its birthplace was waning

• Islam: 1206 - Turkic Muslim invaders came into South Asia and set up Delhi Sultanate

  • second most important belief system there

  • Because in large parts of India the Muslims were in charge, it became the religion of the elite, and then throughout Southeast Asia

State Building in South Asia

• Muslim rulers had a lot of trouble imposing Islam on India

• pockets of resistance to Muslim rule:

  • Rajput Kingdoms: collection of rival and warring Hindu kingdoms that existed before Muslim rule

• new Hindu Kingdom founded in the South: Vijayanagara Empire in 14th century

  • Muslim Sultans in the north wanted to extend rule of Delhi Sultanate to the South

    • sent a group of emissaries down there

    • however those emissaries were Hindu who converted to Islam

    • once they were out from watchful eyes of the Muslim overlords, they quit being Muslim and established a rival kingdom

• Islam took over Northern India - clash between Islam monotheism and Hinduism polytheism

• Islam rulership brought in colleges and farming improvements

• Rajput Kingdoms: several Hindu principalities that united to resist Muslim forces from 1191 until eventual takeover in 1527

Southeast Asia

• Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam

• Changes in Religion:

  • 1. Hinduism

    • new expression of faith through Bhakti Movement

      • encouraged believers to worship one particular god in the Hindu pantheon of gods

      • rejected the hierarchy of Hinduism

      • encouraged spiritual experiences to all people regardless of social status

  • 2. Islam

    • Sufism (more mystical, spiritual experience-based version of Islam)

    

    • 3rd point: made them better candidates for spreading throughout the region

  • 3. Buddhism

    • despite the original teachings of the Buddha emphasizing access to enlightenment for all people, buy this time in South Asia it became more and more exclusive (monks who confined themselves to monasteries)

      • Southeast Asia - Buddhism declined

State Building in Southeast Asia

• Sea-based states:

  • Srivijaya Empire (7th to 11th century) Buddhist state heavily influenced by Indian Hindu culture - main source of power was control over little waterway called the Strait of Malacca

    • got rich by putting taxes on ships passing through

  • end or 1200s the Majapahit Kingdom established on Java

    • formerly were a Hindu kingdom but with strong Buddhist influences

    • maintained power by creating a tributary system among various states in the region

• Land-based states:

  • Sinhala Dynasties in Sri Lanka:

    • Buddhist states

  • when a state is designated as sea-based or land-based, what it means is whether they get their power from the sea or from the land

  • Khmer Empire: Hindu empire founded as

    • built Angkor Wat

    • later Khmer rulers converted to Buddhism and added Buddhist statuary all over the temple without destroying Hindu elements

      • when two religions blend like that: syncretism

• Religion spread and established different states

  

• Khmer Empire (9th-15th century): Hindu Empire in modern day Cambodia, Laos, Thailand

  • Beliefs were carried through Indian Ocean trade network

  • Crafted the Angor Wat temple

State-Building in the Americas (1.4)

Mesoamerican Civilizations:

• Context: Maya Civilization (250-900 CE)

  • built huge urban centers, most sophisticated writing system in all the Americas during that time, complex math (concept of 0)

  • Maya State Building:

    • 1. state structure was basically a decentralized collection of city-states that were frequently at war with each other

    • 2. fought to create a vast network of tributary states among neighboring regions (textiles, military weapons, building materials

    • 3. emphasized human sacrifice

• Aztec Empire (1345-1528)

  • Mexica people - semi-nomadic who migrated around 14th century

  • 1428 - consolidated power in the region, entered alliance with two other mesoamiercan states - established empire with aggressive program of expansion

  • Mexica ethnic group established the Aztec Empire

• CONTINUITIES (Aztec from Maya):

  • political structure: decentralized power (all the people they conquered were set up as tributary states)

  • tributary system

  • religious motivation for expansion

  • in order to secure legitimacy as rulers over all the people, the Mexica claimed heritage from older, more renowned Mesoamerican people

• Aztec capital city called Tenochtitlan: vast markets set up, so economy was commercialized to some degree

Andean Civilizations:

• 

• Context: Wari which collapsed in 1000 CE

• mid 1400s the Inca Empire was established (borrowed a lot from older civilizations)

• Inca also made requirements of the people they conquered, but instead of tribute payments were usually labor payments

  • Mit’a system: Inca state required the labor of all people for a period of time each year to work on state projects like mining or military service

• from Wari: religion-centered political structure, and use and expansion of infrastructure including vast network of roads and bridges

Mississippian Culture:

• emerged 8th and 9th century CE in North America, established in Mississippi River Valley, represented first large scale civilization in North America

  • soil was fertile, society developed around farming (agriculture)

  • political structure dominated by powerful chiefs known as the Great Sun which ruled each town and extended political power over smaller satellite settlements (hierarchical society)

  • extensive mound building projects (mostly memorial in nature, acting as burial sites for important people, hosted religious ceremonies on the top

  • Cahokia: largest urban center

Mesa Verde and Chaco:

• after rise of Mississippian culture

• region was dry:

  • innovative ways developed of transporting and storing water

  • not many trees to provide timber for building structures:

    • Chaco carved sandstone blocks out of massive quarries, imported timber from distant regions and built massive structures

    • Mesa Verde built housing complexes right into the sides of cliffs using sandstone

• 3 great civilization in Central and South America: Maya, Incas, Aztecs

• Aztecs: Trade and Sacrifice

  • Arrived in Mexico in mid 1200s

  • Tenochtitlan: capital city (modern Mexico City)

  • Expansionist policy and professional, strict army

  • Empire of 12 million people with flourishing trade, many of people enslaved

  • Women were subordinate, but could inherit property

• Inca: My Land is Your Land

  • Andes Mountains in Peru

  • Expansionist - army, established bureaucracy, unified language, system of roads and tunnels

  • Many people were peasants

  • Capital of Cuzco had almost 300000 people in late 1400s

  • Women were more important and could pass property to their daughters

  • Polytheistic religion with human sacrifice - Sun god was most important

    • People were mummified after death

  • Military was very important

  • Temple of the Sun and Machu Picchu architecture

• The Mayans (textbook does not go into detail)

State Building in Africa (1.5)

State Building in sub-Saharan Africa

• Swahili Civilization: emerged around 8th century

  • collection of independent city-states which rose to prominence because of strategic location on the East coast which gave access to bustling Indian Ocean trade

  • 1. Merchants interested in: gold, ivory, timber, and limited degree of enslaved laborers

  • goods imported from farmers and pastoralists

  • 2. Islam became dominant belief system

    • Swahili thrived on trade, and merchants in the Indian Ocean trade that were the biggest deal were Muslim

    • conversion among Swahili elite took place voluntarily and that was great for them because it connected them to the wider economic world of Dar-al-Islam

    • Islam influenced Swahili language: hybrid between bantu family of languages (indigenous) and Arabic (outside)

    • 2nd similarity: China did it with Confucian ideals while the Swahili States elevated the merchant elite above commoners

• Great Zimbabwe:

  • also got rich by participating in Indian Ocean trade which they facilitated by controlling several ports on the coast

  • mainly exported gold

  • economic mostly around farming and cattle herding

State Building in West & East Africa

• Hausa Kingdoms: collection of city-states that were politically independent and gained power and wealth through trade across trans-saharan trade network

  • similar to Swahili civilization

  • more influential and powerful African states during this period adopted Islam to both organize their societies and facilitate trade with the larger network present in Dar-al-Islam

    • exception: Ethiopia

      • was Christian, commissioned the constructuion of massive stone churches which communicated who was in charge to their subjects

      • 1. grew wealthy through trade

        • traded both in Mediterranean Sea and in larger Indian Ocean network

        • salt was one of the most valuable commodities

      • 2. centralized power

        • king on top, stratified class hierarchy

• Islamic Empire spread to North Africa in the 7th to 8th centuries - travelled through Sahara Desert and reached the wealthy sub-Saharan

• An explosion of trade began

• Hausa Kingdoms: off Niger River, series of state system kingdoms

  • Islam region, achieved economic stability and religious influence though long trade (salt and leather) - notably city of Kano

  • Political and economic downturn in 18th century due to internal wars

Developments in Europe (1.6)

• Christianity dominated Europe

  • back during the time of the Roman Empire, it was the official state religion due to emperor Constantine

    • for a while, unified Romans all over

    • 476 CE - western half of Roman Empire fell

    • however, eastern half (Byzantine Empire) kept faith and politically and socially organizing properties

      • Byzantine flavor of the faith was known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity

        • provided belief structure that helped Byzantine rulers justify and consolidate their power structure which was highly centralized (kinda similar to Song Dynasty?)

    • in the west, after the highly centralized Roman Empire fell, the region broke apart politically into many decentralized entities

      • despite the fragmentation in the west, Christianity maintained a powerful presence in the form of Roman Catholic Christianity

• Christianity in Europe: 1) Eastern Orthodox Christianity, 2) Roman Catholic Christianity

• by 1200s, Byzantine Empire lost lots of territory to neighboring Islamic powers

  • 1453-new Muslim power aka Ottoman Empire sacked capital city of Constantinople and changed the name to Istanbul (end of Byzantine Empire)

  • Eastern Orthodox Christianity was picked up and embraced by the Kievan Rus

• Kievan Rus: (adopted it before fall of Constantinople), but after Byzantine ended, it became the main embodiment of Christianity

  • borrowed a bit from Byzantine: architectural styles, alphabet, idea of using church structures to organize the state

• In Western Europe, this type of centralization was not occurring

  • in terms of trading connections, were pretty isolated, but still Roman Catholicism was constant

    • church hierarchy of popes, bishops, cardinals provided some common structure among the various states of Western Europe

    • Roman Catholic Church also provided occasions to whip(?) European Christians into a religious fury and go fight Muslims in distant lands (occasions known as Crusades)

      • except for the First Crusades, did not win against Muslims

        • did have effect of connecting Europeans to larger trade networks

• While Christianity was the dominant belief system, Islam and Judaism held important minority positions

  • ex. Iberian Peninsula - Muslims invaded in 8th century and by our period, ran the place (Muslim rule in Europe)

  • Jews scattered throughout Europe, regularly facilitated and participated in trade

    • European Christians suspicious of Jews (anti-Semitism)

• Political Decentralization in the West:

  • at this period, NO large empires in Europe

  • in western Europe, the social, political and economic order was essentially organized around a system known as feudalism

    • system of allegiances between powerful lords, monarchs, and knights

    • greater lords and kings gained allegiance from lesser lords and kings

    • land was exchanged to keep everyone loyal

  • Manorialism:

    • peasants (serfs) bound to land and worked it in exchange for protection from the lord and his military forces

    • serfs similar to slaves - difference was that serfs were not owned by the lord but rather bound to the land

• however, by the start of 1200, Europe’s political structure began to change:

  • monarchs in various states began to gain power and centralize their states by introducing large militaries and bureaucracies

  • big deal because prior to this, nobility held more power

• Middle Ages: fall of Rome before Renaissance - complicated time

• Eastern Roman Empire became Byzantine Empire

• Western Europe: collapsed entirely - Christianity remained strong

• European Feudalism: Land Divided

  • Feudalism: European hierarchy social system of Middle Ages

    1. King: power over whole kingdom

    2. Nobles: had power over sections of kingdom in exchange for loyalty to king and military service

    3. Vassals: lesser lords with sections of Noble land who could divide it further - estates were called fiefs or manors (self-sufficient)

       • Founded three-field system: 3 fields for fall, spring, and empty one to replenish nutrients

       • Conflict between lords was regulated with code of chivalry which condemned betrayal and promoted mutual respect

       • Male dominated: women could not own land and land was passed down to eldest son (primogeniture), their education was limited to domestic skills

    4. Peasants or Serfs: worked the land

       • Had few rights or freedoms outside of manor

       • Skilled in trades, which helped them break out of feudal mode as global trade increased - led to middle class emergence of craftsmen and merchants

Emergence of Nation-States

• At end of Middle Ages, people began moving from feudal kingdom organization to linguistic and cultural organization - emergence of modern countries

• Achievement of statehood in 13th century took different paths

  • Germany: reigning family of emperorship died out, entering a period of interregnum (time between kings) - merchants and tradespeople became more powerful

  • England: English nobles rebelled against King John and forced him to sign the Magna Carta - reinstated the nobles, laid foundation for Parliament

    • Later divided into House of Lords (nobles and clergy - legal issues) and House of Commons (knights and wealth burghers - trade and taxation)

  • France: in 12th century, England began to occupy many parts of France which spurred revolts - Joan of Arc fought back English out of Orleans

    • Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453): unified France, leading to England’s withdrawal

  • Spain: Queen Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon married to unite Spain in a single monarchy and forced all residents to convert to Christianity - Spanish Inquisition

  • Russia: taken over by Tartars (group of eastern Mongols) under Genghis Kahn in 1242 until Russian prince Ivan III expanded his power in 1400s and became czar - Ivan the Terrible became a ruthless ruler utilizing secret police in 1500s

Unit 2: Networks of Exchange

Height of the Middle Ages: Trading and Crusading

• Merchants emerged in towns - referred to as Burghers, became politically powerful

• Towns often formed alliances with each other

• Hanseatic League (1358): trade alliance though northern Europe to drive toward nationhood, increase social mobility and flexibility

• Architecture: Romanesque to Gothic - especially reflected in cathedrals

  • Flying buttresses: tall windows and vaulted ceilings

  • Often had art and sculpture, music

• Scholasticism: growth of education and knowledge - founding of universities for men; philosophy, law, medicine study; ideas of Muslims and Greeks - came in conflict with religion

• Crusades (11-14th century): military campaigns by European Christians to convert Muslims and non-Christians, combat religious questioning

  • Combat Heresies: religious practices/beliefs not conforming to traditional church doctrine

  • Pope Innocent III: issued strict decrees on church doctrine - frequently persecuted heretics and Jews, unsuccessful 4th crusade

  • Pope Gregory IX: Inquisition (formal interrogation and prosecution of perceived heretics with punishments like excommunication, torture, execution) - church often referred to as Universal Church or Church Militant

  • Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274): Christian theologian who made advancements in Christian thought - faith and reason aren’t in conflict

• Urbanization

  • Trade led to the growth of urban culture - cities usually were around trade routes

  • Silk Route cities were the most populous - Baghdad, Merv, Chang’an

  • Constantinople before 1400 and Paris and Italian city-states after 1400 were big European cities

The Mongol Empire (2.2)

• largest contiguous land-based empire ever

Rise of the Mongol Empire:

• birth of Temujin, a Mongol who were pastoral nomads living in Gobi Desert

  • proved to be a powerful leader, through skillful diplomacy allied himself with powerful people

  • after leading several important military raids and being victorious, united the various Mongol groups under himself in 1206 and assumed the title Chinggis Khan (also known as Ghengis Khan, westernized version)

  • attacked and conquered Northern China, then terriroty in Central Asia then up to Southern Russia

  • died in 1227, sons kept expanding until empire reached peak at 1279

• How Mongols kept winning:

  • Military Organization: organized into groups of 10,000 or 1,000, 100, 10, made controlling and commanding them efficient

  • Superior Weaponry and Skills: weapon of choice was a bow larger than traditional ones (could sink enemies much further away)

    • skillful horse riders, could often outride those they encountered

  • Lucky Timing:

    • Song Dynasty recently lost control of north territory and large states like the Abbasid Empire had been declining in power for a long time

      • Mongols brought Abbasid Empire to an end with the destruction of Baghdad in 1258

  • Reputation for Brutaility:

    • in some cases, Mongol armies would slaughter nearly everyone in a settlement and then leave just a few alive so they could run to the next town and warn them of the Mongols

      • in some places, Mongols didn’t even have to fight - immediate surrenders

• although their expansion was pretty violent, once they reached their peak they became much more peaceful

  • period of peace under Mongol rule called Pax Mongolica

    • as the Mongol Empire expanded, it replaced a lot of Empires

• after Chinggus Khan’s death, his grandsons organized the empire into several khanates, or military regions:

• 

  • in many regions, Mongol rulers adopted a lot of cultural norms over the people they ruled

  • ex. Kublai Khan ruled in China and set up a new Chinese dynasty called the Yuan Dynasty

    • united warring factions from across China, many of the Confucian Elite believed that he posessed the Mandate of Heaven to rule China

    • styled himself as a benevolent Confucian-style ruler

    • Mongols in China did not become Chinese, but Mongols adapted their style of rule to the conditions of that place

• Mongols and Economics:

  • arguably, the Silk Roads were never as organized and prosperous than they were under Mongol rule

  • whole length of Silk Road under Mongol rule: 1 state was responsible for keeping everyone safe and goods flowing from one side of world to another

    • 1. Improved Infrastructure

      • built bridges, repaired roads —> facilitated more trade

      • thanks to Pax Mongolica, trade flourished

    • 2. Increased Communication (and cooperation along Eurasia)

      • ex. Persian and Chinese (course?) often worked together across distances, sent skilled artisans back and forth, exchanging ambassadors, shared military intelligence

        • done with the help of the Yam System: series of communication and relay stations spread across the empire

        • because of this interregional diplomatic, far-flung parts of the Empire were more friendly, increased trade, which further increased wealth of all involved

• Technological and Cultural Transfers

  • Mongols had a high opinion of intellectuals and skilled artisans

    • when on tours of conquest, were careful to not kill those people

    • because it was the Mongol policy to send skilled people to all different parts of the empire, that movement encouraged the transfer of technology and ideas and culture

  • Mongol Transfers:

    • 1. Medical Knowledge

      • developed by ancient Greek/Islamic scholars over to Western Europe

    • 2. Adoption of Uyghur Script

      • Mongol adaption of that script to write their language

      • Chinggus Khan first decided that his own Mongolian language needed a written form too —> adopted the Uyghur Script from a conquered people in Central Asia, became a kind of Lingua Franca (widely adopted imperial language)

      • point: despite their brutal rise, the Mongol Empire facilitated many cultural transfers across many parts of Eurasia

sultanates vs caliphates??? caliphate islamic ruler of the state, ruler of religion. sultatnates - islamic ruler ruled states, didnt claim to be the ruler of the religion.

Fall of the Mongol Empire:

• many of the people under Mongol rule redoubled their efforts to install powerful centralized leaders and create a unified culture, paving the way for a modern world

• Set of tribes and clans that were superb horseman and archers

• Genghis Kahn: unified the tribes in Mongolia in the early 1200s to expand their authority over other societies - first invaded China in 1234

• Mongol Empire: spanned from Pacific Ocean to Eastern Europe - spit into hordes after death of Genghis Kahn, ruthless warriors destroying cities but remained peaceful after settling into cities

  • Golden Horde: conquered modern-day Russia

  • Kublai Khan: Genghis Kahn’s successor - ruled China

• Didn’t really have a set culture - didn’t enforce religion or way of life on conquered nations, but did make any cultural advancements

• Timur Lang: Mongol leader who took over India and destroyed everything - grew Islam in the nation

• If any residents of society the Mongols took over resisted, they would immediately kill them, so most had no choice but to give in - they were ruthless fighters, organized and mobile

• Impact:

  • Great diffusers of culture

  • Prevented Russia from culturally developing

  • World trade, cultural diffusion, global awareness grew as they spread through Europe, the Middle East, and Asia

Mali and Songhai

• Mali had a lot of gold that Islamic traders were interested in

• Mansa Musa: Malian ruler who built the capital of Timbuktu and expended the kingdom beyond Ghana

• Sonni Ali: Songhai ruler that conquered region of west Africa in 15th century - became a major cultural centre until 1600

Chinese Technology

• Song Dynasty: bureaucratic system built on merit and civil service examination creating a lot of loyal government workers, improved transportation and communication and business practices

• Concentrated on creating an industrial society - improved literacy with printed books which increased productivity and growth

Review of Interactions Among Cultures

Trade Networks and Cultural Diffusion

• Trade exploded from 1200-1450

• Improved with better transportation and monetary systems

• Main Global Trade Routes:

  1. The Hanseatic League

  2. The Silk Road

  3. The land routes of the Mongols

  4. Trade between China and Japan

  5. Trade between India and Persia

  6. The Trans-Saharan trade routes between west Africa and the Islamic Empire

• Cultural diffusion - spread religions, languages, literature, art, idea, disease, plague

• Bubonic Plague: started in Asia in the 14th century and carried by merchants - killed about 1/3 people

Indian Ocean Trade Network (2.3)

• definition: network of sea routes that connected various states throughout Afro-Eurasia through trade

• Causes of Expansion:

  • 1. Collapse of Mongol Empire in 14th century

    • when the Mongol Empire started falling apart, so too did the ease and safety of travel along the Silk Roads and that led to a greater emphasis on maritime trade in the Indian Ocean (maritime = sea-based)

  • 2. Innovations in Commercial Practices:

    • same practices as used in Silk Roads

      • money economies, ability to buy goods on credit made trade easier and therefore increased the use of these eroutes

  • 3. Innovations in Transportation Techniques

    • 1. Magnetic Compass (improvements made)

      • helped sailors know for sure which direction they were going

    • 2. Astrolabe (improved)

      • tool used to measure stars and get an accurate reckoning of location

    • 3. Lateen Sail (increasing use)

      • allowed ships to take wind in almost any direction

    • 4. Knowledge of Monsoon Winds

      • predictably blew in different directions depending on time of year

    • 5. Improvements in Shipbuilding

      • ex. Chinese junk - massive ship that could carry lots of cargo

      • bigger and better Dhows used by Arab traders , could haul more cargo

      • mostly only luxury goods went on Silk Roads, since more common items wouldn’t be worth transporting across the world on the camel’s back

      • with increasing girth of trading ships, more common items could be shipped and sold in bulk like cotton textiles, grains along with luxury goods

  • 4. Spread of Islam

    • Islam was very friendly to merchants

    • created conditions for connectivity across land-based routes like the Silk Roads and also facilitated increased trade along sea-based routes as well

• Effects of Expansion:

  • 1. Growth of Powerful Trading Cities

    • 1. Swahili City-States

      • imported gold and ivory and enslaved people and sold them to merchants

      • as converts to Islam, built mosques

    • 2. Malacca, capital city of Sultanate of Malacca

      • controlled Strait of Malacca, taxed ships passing through

    • 3. Gujarat

      • traded goods like cotton textiles and indigo in exchange for gold and silver from middle east

      • just like Malacca, taxed ships coming in and going out its ports

  • 2. Increased establishment of Diasporic Communities

    • diaspora - related to disperse

    • a group of people from one place who establish a home in another place while retaining their cultural customs

      • Diasporic Chinese communities in southeast Asia

    • these communities became a kind of connective tissue holding the Indian Ocean Network together and increasing its scope

      • ex. Chinese merchants arrived in various ports in/around southeast Asia and the diasporic Chinese merchants living there would interact with local merchants and the government to facilitate trade

  • 3. Cultural and Technological Transfers

    • the cultural and technological exchanges that occur over trade routes are just as significant as the goods exchanged over these trade routes

    • merchants brought religion and language and technology

      • ex. Admiral Zheng He

        • commission by China’s new Ming Dynasty to go explore the Indian Ocean and enroll other states in China’s tributary system

        • his ships were huge and equipped with latest in military tech like gunpowder cannons, later adopted in many regions

        • with the Ming Dynasty’s insistence on state-led trade partnerships, various states around the Indian Ocean began taking more significant roles in trade

• Dominated by Persians and Arabs - western India to Persian Gulf to eastern Africa

• Great Zimbabwe: trading empire in Africa from 11th to 15th centuries

Vibrant Indian Ocean Communities

• Sailors marrying local women created cultural intermixing

Silk Roads (2.1)

• vast network of roads and trails that facilitated trade and the spread of culture and ideas across Eurasia in and before the period 1200-1450 (cultural diffusion)

• mainly luxury items that were exchanged (Chinese silk)

  • expensive to haul goods on a camel

• Silk Road Spread: Causes

  • exchanges along the silk road grew in scope

  • innovations in commercial practices:

    • 1. Development of Money Economies

      • pioneered by Chinese - used paper money to facilitate trade among various regions

      • with the introduction of paper money to facilitate trade, a merchant could deposit bills in one location and withdraw the same amount in another location —> increased ease of travel and security of transactions

    • 2. Increasing use of credit

      • instead of paper money, merchants could secure pieces of paper from merchant families in one region and go to another region and exchange that paper for coins

        • Chinese called it “flying money”

        • increasing use of this led to expansion of trade and networks of exchange

    • 3. Rise of Banks

      • used to facilitate all the exchanges of paper money and bills of credit

      • kept the flow of trade going along

      • in Europe: introduced Banking Houses based on Chinese model

        • merchant could present a bill of exchange and receive amount of money equal to the bill

  • Innovations in Transportation Technologies

    • 1. Caravanserai: series of inns and guest houses spaced about a day’s journey apart on the most frequented routes where travelling merchants and their animals could lodge for the night

      • 2 important functions:

        • 1. provided safety from plunderers

        • 2. became centers of cultural exchange & diffusion

    • 2. Saddles: made riding easier over long distances

      • more than one camel: frame & mattress saddle could hold more goods

  • commercial and transportation innovations meant that it was easier for merchants to pay for goods and get paid for goods and travel long distances safer and more comfortably

• Effects:

  • 1. New Trading Cities

    • cities were strategically located along these routes that they grew in power and wealth

    • cities along the way provided stops to resupply

      • 1. Kashgar (eastern edge of China) located at the convergence of two major routes of the Silk Roads, passed through exceedingly dry and hot terrain

        • built around a river, suited for agriculture (travelling merchants could stop for water and food)

        • with an increasing demand for interregional trade, Kashgar became a destination in itself hosting highly profitable markets and eventually became a thriving center for Islamic scholarship

      • 2. Samarkand (central Asia)

        • relics of many religions

  • 2. increased demand for luxury goods in all places along the Silk Roads

    • Chinese silk and Porcelain

      • as demands grew for these luxury items, Chinese, Indian, and Persian artisans increased their production of these goods

        • shift to producing more and more items for sale in distant markets had impacts on population:

          • peasants in China’s Yangtze River Valley spent more time producing silk textiles for trade, scaled back on agricultural production

          • reorienting the economy like this created the conditions in China for proto-industrialization

            • a process by which China began producing more goods than their own population could consume, which were then sold in distant markets

            • all the money coming back into Chinese economy, went and reinvested it into their growing iron and steel industry

  • 3. Cultural Diffusion

    • merchants spread their own religion

    • when merchants met at the caravanserai, exposed to new innovations like saddles

    • discussed later: also led to spread of germs

• China to Mediterranean cultures in early days of Roman Empire and from 1200 to 1600

• Cultural exchange through travellers stopping at trade towns - Kashgar, Samarkand

• Silk, porcelain, paper, religion, food, military technologies

Trans-Saharan Trade (2.4)

• series of trade routes that connected North Africa and the Mediterranean world with interior of West Africa and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa

• Causes of Expansion:

  • 1. Innovations in Transportation Technologies

    • introduction of Arabian camel (about 1100)

  • 2. Saddles

    • riding and for carrying larger loads of cargo

  • 3. Caravanserai

    • just like Silk Roads

  • merchants now able to travel more comfortably, carry bigger loads and find shelter along the way, by 1200 the trans-Saharan network expanded larger than it had ever been

• Trans-Saharan Goods

  • 1. Gold

  • 2. Crops like Kola Nuts

  • 3. Horses

  • 4. Salt

• each region specialized in creating and growing various goods, and that difference created the demand to trade with each other, and created the occasion for the expansion of these networks

• Effects:

  • 1. Growth of Empires

    • Empire of Mali: established in 1200s, had converted to Islam —> got connected to economic trade partnerships throughout Dar-al-Islam

      • that religious and ecnomic connection meant that Mali, once it was established, grew exceedingly wealthy because of its participation in the trans-Saharan trade network

      • exported gold, gained wealth and power by taxing other merchants travelling their trade routes through their territory

      • display of wealth in its most poweful and influential ruler Mansa Musa:

        • as a Muslim decided he would embark on Hajj (pilgrimmage to Mecca)

        • stopped for a while in Egypt to resupply with his entourage

        • injected so much gold into Egyptian economy that the value of all existing gold plummeted

          • futher monopolized trade between the North and the interior of the continent

Hanseatic League

• Made up of over 100 cities

• Created substantial middle class in northern Europe

• Set precedent for large, European trading operations

Expansion of Religion and Empire: Cultural Clash

• Both natural spread of religion through contact over trade and intentional diffusion through missionary work or religious war

Cultural Effects of Connectivity (2.5)

• Trade Networks and Diffusion

• 1. Cultural Transfers

  • spread of belief systems

    • Buddhism spread from India to East Asia via the Silk Roads (2nd Century CE)

    • ex. took root among Chinese, Buddhism changed over time

      • in order to make Buddhist teachings intelligible to the Chinese population, merchants and monks explained them in terms of Chinese Daoism, which was a belief system indigenous to China

        • result: new blending of ideas called syncretism —> Chinese form of Buddhism called Chan Buddhism (popular among lower class)

        • later Buddhism exported to Japan, where it was changed again to Zen Buddhism

    • Spread of Islam: spatial arrangement of Dar-al-Islam meant that Muslim merchants had plenty places to go to sell goods —> possibility of inclusion into that giant Islamic network of exchange that encouraged leaders in various states across Africa and Southeast Asia to convert (ex. Swahili, adopted Islam and got connected to larger Islamic netowkr) (proof in language of Swahili - blend of Bantu (indigenous to Southern Africa) and Arabic)

• 2. Literary and Artistic Transfers

  • Muslim scholars translated and commented upon classical works of Greek and Roman philosophy at Baghdad’s House of Wisdom

    • eventually transferred to Southern Europe where they would spark the Renaissance near end of this period

• 3. Scientific and Technological Transfers

  • Chinese papermaking technologies spread to Europe by 1200s along with moveable type which was adopted and modified by Europeans which led to an increase in literacy

  • spread of gunpowder from China thanks to Mongols: adapted by Islamic empires and later European states who would perfect the use of this material —> altered balance of power throughout the world

Consequences of Connectivity on Rise and Fall of Cities (Effects of Trade on Cities)

• Rising: Networks of exchange led to the increasing wealth and power of trading cities

• Expansion of Cities:

  • 1. Hangzhou in China (located at end of Grand Canal, became one of China’s most significant trading city)

    • trade led to futher urbanization of landscape and population

  • 2. Samarkand & Kashgar

    • along Silk Roads

• for all these cities, expansion of trading networks only increased their influence and taht resulted in an increase of productivity in those place

• not only did merchants travel these routes, but also militaries that wanted to conquer

• Decline of Cities:

  • 1. Baghdad

    • capital of Islamic cultural and artistic achievement

    • Mongols rose to power in 1200s and sacked them, leading to a decline in the city and borught the end of the Abbasid Empire

  • 2. Constantinople

    • political and religious capital of the Byzantine Empire

    • rise of Islamic Ottoman Empire, sacked them in 1453 and renamed it Istanbul

• Increased Interregional Travel:

  • they were facilitated by networks of exchange

    • made possible by increasing safety and security of these routes (Mongols)

    • 1. Ibn Battuta

      • Muslim scholar from Morocco, travelled all over Dar-al-Islam, took notes about people, rulers, cultures

      • Battuta's travels were important because he wrote about them and told grand stories ofo the places he visited which helped his readers develop an understanding of far-flung cultures across the world

    • 2. Marco Polo (European)

      • traveled from Italy to China and all throughout Indian Ocean, wrote about Kublai Khan and China’s grandeur and wealth

    • 3. Margery Kemp:

      • Christian mystic, made pilgrimages to Christianity’s holy sites (Jerusalem, Rome, Spain, etc)

      • although illiterate, good memory and dictated observations to be written down

Environmental Consequences of Connectivity (2.6)

• also introduced new crops to various places

• Agricultural Transfers:

  • 1. Bananas

    • first domesticated in southeast Asia but thanks to merchants crossing the Indian Ocean, they were introduced to Africa, where they flourished

      • when bananas were introduced, the diets of the people were expanded and that led to population growth

  • 2. Champa Rice

    • China from Champa Kingdom, population growth

  • 3. Citrus Fruits (sour oranges and limes from Muslims Traders into Europe via the Mediterranean trade routes where they spread throughout Europe and North Africa

    • more variation in diets, better health

• Diffusion of Diseases:

  • spread of Bubonic Plague (the Black Death)

  • thank the Mongols

  • through their conquests, increased the pace and volume in geographical extent of trade by keeping thouse various routes safe

    • 1331 the Bubonic Plague erupted in northern China, travelled rapidly through the Silk Roadsand through the Indian Ocean Trade

    • spread almost entirely along trade routes

    • killed crap ton of people

Other Reasons People Were on the Move

• Ran out of room in certain places, but cities were always increasing in size as opportunities grew in them

• New cities and empires drew people in

• Muslim pilgrimages

Notable Global Travellers

1. Xuanzang: Chinese Buddhist monk - through T’ang Dynasty to India to explore Buddhism

2. Marco Polo: merchant from Venice, to China and Europe

3. Ibn Battuta: Islamic traveler, through Islamic world to India to China

4. Margery Kempe: English Christian, through Europe and Holy Land

Unit 3: Land-Based Empires

Land-Based Empires Expand (3.1)

• Gunpowder Empires:

  • land-based

  • expanding geographically

    • main cause was adoption of gunpowder weapons

    • sprung up in the wake of the fall of the Mongols

• #1: Ottoman Empire

  • during this period, most significant Islamic empire

  • founded in 14th century after Mongol empire fell (?)

    • grew rapidly for 2 reasons:

      • 1) strategic control of the Dardanelles (highly strategic choke point, used to launch many campaigns of expansion

      • 2) adoption and development of gunpowder weapons

    • one of the largest achievements: sack of Constantinople (heart of Christian Byzantine Empire in 1453) —> renamed to Istanbul

• #2: Safavid Empire:

  • established beginning of 1500s out of the ashes of former Muslim empires

  • grew under leadership of Ismail

    • declared themselves a Shi’a Muslim state

    • context: before this period, two major divisions of Islam: Shia and Sunni —> had conflicting beliefs about who was the legitimate successor of Muhammad

      • Shia believed Muhammad’s true successor must be a blood relative

      • Sunni believed Muhammad’s successor can be elected

    • why this was important: when Safavid did that, they kinda angered neighboring Sunni Muslim empires (ex. Ottoman Empire and Mughal Empire)

  • under rule of Shah Abbas —> military expanded, adopted gunpowder weapons

  • empire also lacked natural defensive barriers like mountains, Shah Abbas built up Safavid military (adoption of gunpowder weapons),

    • just like with Ottoman Empires, Safavid calvary not interested in learning to shoot guns from horses and so he established an enslaved army (just liek with Ottomans, they were Christians from conquered regions, in this case the Caucasus region)

    • 

• #3: Mughal Empire:

  • replaced Delhi Sultanate in 16th century under the leadership of Babur

    • made use of expanding military armed with gunpowder, cannons and guns to expand

  • expanded even further under Babur’s grandson, Akbar

    • extremely religious tolerant

    • under his leadership, Mughal Empire became the most prosperous empire of the 16th century

    • Muslim

• #4: Qing Dynasty aka Manchu Empire:

  • context: decline of Mongol rule in China (Yuan Dynasty) —> Ming Dynasty established in 14th century (ethnically Han)

    • expanded through use of gunpowder

    • by 1500s, Ming Dynasty was fracturing due to internal divisions, external wars —> rise of Qing

  • Qing established by another group of outsiders (first was Mongols) namely the Manchu people

    • 1636 took advantage of fractured Ming and invaded

    • 40 year campaign of conquest to claim all the former Ming territory used gunpowder weapons

      • Important: Manchu were not ethnically Han like the majority of China’s population (later would cause tension)

• 

• Rivalries between states:

  • clashes mostly caused by religion and politics

  • #1: Safavid-Mughal conflict

    • series of wars fought between the two in 17th century

    • both wanted to expand into the Persian Gulf in Central Asia

    • before war started, Mughals controlled the territory, but while they were off fighting elsewhere, the Safavids tried to take it, fought but unable to take back (Mughal)

    • conflict erupted due to religious rivalry

      • Safavids were Shi’a, Mughals were Sunni —> both claimed to be the rightful heirs to previous Muslim dynasties

  • #2: Songhai-Moroccan conflict:

    • Songhai had expanded and grown rich due to participation and partial control of trans-Saharan trade

      • right about that time, began to weaken due to significant internal problems

      • growing Moroccan kingdom saw the weakness and wanted more control over the trade routes controlled by the Songhai

      • in a surprise invasion, Moroccan (whipped?) the Songhai due to use of gunpowder weapons of which the Songhai had none

Land-Based Empires: Administration (3.2)

• How rulers of land-based empires legitimized and consolidated their power

• legitimize power: refers to the methods the ruler uses to communicate to all their subjects WHO is in charge (methods used to establish their authority)

• consolidate power: measures a ruler uses to take power from other groups and claim it for him or herself

• Administrative Methods - 1) Bureaucracies and militaries: empires and powers

  • 1. Formation of Large Bureaucracies

  • large imperial bureaucracies (body of government officials responsible for administering the empire and ensures the laws are being kept) (expanding empires —> larger bureaucracies)

    • ex. Ottoman Empire - Devshirme system

      • system by which the Ottomans staffed their imperial bureaucracy with highly trained individuals, most of whom were enslaved

        • ex. in campaigns for territorial conquest in the Balkans, the Ottomans enslaved Christian boys who were then sent to live with Turkish families to learn the language, then sent to Istanbul for a proper Islamic education

        • many of those boys ended up in the military, but the best were given further education and sent to work in the Ottoman bureaucracy where their elite education made them wise and effective administrators

  • 2. Development of Military Professionals - Military Expansion

    • creating elite cadres of military professionals

    • same Devshirme system supplied elite soldiers who became known as the Janissaries - made up of enslaved Christians and formed the core of the Ottoman standing army which was significantly increasing in size

• 3) religious ideas, art, and monumental architecture

• religion:

  • 1. European monarchs - religious belief - rule by divine right of kings (idea that monarchs were God’s representative on Earth)

  • 2. Aztecs - human sacrifices

    • believed Sun god lost energy at regular intervals and can only be reinvigorated through spilling of sacrificial blood

    • height of Aztec empire - priests and rulers worked in tandem to perform these sacrifices usually using prisoners of war and gathered whole cities for the ritual

• art:

  • 1. Qing Dynasty - Emperor Kangxi displayed imperial portraits of himself around the imperial city

    • although they were Manchu people (outsiders), but in those portraits Kangxi is depicted according to traditional Confucian values which appealed to his Chinese subjects

    • images depicted him surrounded by books, suggesting Confucian wisdom

• architecture:

  • 1. Palace of Versailles built for French monarch Louis XIV (14)

    • when people of France saw this palace —> legitimized power

    • also consolidated power - forced French nobility to live there at least part-time

      • able to remove power from them and situate it right under him

      • he could keep an eye on them and they competed for his attention

  • 2. Inca Sun temple in Kusco (?)

    • Incan rulers considered to be direct descendants of gods, so to faciliate festivals of worship, temple was built, walls covered with sheets of gold, courtyards contained hundreds of gold statues

    • Incan rulers were associated with Gods, so magnificient buildings was a way of legitimizing power

• how imperial rulers financed imperial expansion (huge militaries and monumental architecture)

• 4. innovations on tax collection systems(Systems of Taxation) Financing Empire:

  • 1. Zamindar system (Mughal Empire)

    • Mughal rulers were Muslim while most of South Asian population was Hindu —> large amounts of suspicion towards Muslim rulers

    • to combat that, Mughal rulers employed local land owners called Zamindars to collect taxes throughout the empire on behalf of the emperor

      • effect: extended imperial authority and consolidating imperial power

    • Zamindars: elite landowners who were granted authority to tax peasants living on their land on behalf of hte imperial government

      • eventually grew corrupt and started skimming money off the top to enrich themselves

  • 2. Tax farming (Ottoman Empire)

    • didnt want to increase size of bureaucracy for to collect taxes

    • the right to tax subjects of the Ottoman Empire went to the highest bidder

      • whoever got that right was authorized to collect taxes from a particular group of people and they enriched themselves by collecting more taxes than were legally required, thus padding their pockets

        • helped Ottoman government by providing a reliable source of income at the beginning of every year which came from the bidding for the right to tax

        • since tax farmers weren’t members of the official bureaucracy, the Ottomans didn’t have to pay them since they paid themselves

  • 3. Tribute Lists (Aztec Rulers):

    • whenever the Aztecs conquered a place, they gave tribute lists filled with the goods that place were responsible for sending to the imperial

      • ensured steady flow of a wide variety of goods to the Empire

      • communiated who was in charge to those conquered regions

Land-Based Empires: Belief Systems (3.3)

• Christianity, Islam, Syncretism

• Christianity in Europe:

  • dominant religion: Christianity - shared cultural glue

  • heart of Roman Catholic Church was located in Rome

  • church present and active in most states

  • 11th century: church leaders fought over doctrines and a massive split occurred, creating 2 different branches:

    • Eastern Orthodox Church (dominant in East)

    • Roman Catholic Church (dominant in West)

  • by 1500, Catholic Church wielded enormous power in Europe (Pope Leo X), even though this was about the time when more powerful monarchs began to challenge them

    • even so, filthy rich and built magnifent structures like St Peter’s Basilica

      • in order to fund these projects, church began sale of indulgences

        • people could purchase these little slips of paper which promised forgiveness of sins or got people they knew shorter time in purgatory

        • several other corrupt practices - simony (practice of putting high church positions up for sale —> people’s confidence in church waning

        • 

          • Martin Luther: Catholic monk, saw nothing in Bible saying sins could be forgiven in exchange for money and nothing that said Church offices could be bought

          • thought the Catholic church misinterpreted scriptural teachings about salvation

            • wrote 95 Theses denouncing many of the corrupt practices and doctrines he witnessed in the church - nailed to church door in Vitenburg(?) 1517

            • branded as heretic and got excommunicated

    • however, Luther wasn’t the first reformer to criticize the doctrines and practices of the church - but for some reason, it was his work that split the church in process known as Protestant Reformation (CHANGE in Christainity in Europe)

      • he had printing press: enabled Luther’s voluminous writings to spread throughout Europe quick

      • eventually Catholic Church realized that some of the Protestant critiques were true , so intiated a reformation of their own known as Catholic Reformation aka Counter Reformation

      • church gathered at series of meetings known as the Council of Trent, tossed out many corrupt practices like nepotism, absenteeism

        • CHANGE !

      • CONTINUITY: at the Council of Trent, the catholics reaffirmed their ancient doctrines of salvation by faith and works, nature of biblical authority, and other ideas that made the split between Catholics and Protestants complete

      • also reaffirmed that Martin Luther was a heretic

  • the catholic church continued as a dominant expression of Christainity in Europe

  • 

  • Split of Church had massive effects on state power throughout Europe:

    • various rulers across Europe either remained Catholic or imposted Protestantism upon the people they ruled

      • this religious division which often intensified political division led to a series of religious wars in Europe until 1648

  • both reformations led to significant growth of Christianity in Europe

• Islam in the Middle East

  • big empires: Ottoman Empire, Safavid Empire

    • JUST LIKE with Christianity, Islam experienced a split back in 7th century

    • split of Sunni (anyone spirtiually qualified for that role), Shi’a (only legitimate successor of Muhammad had to be blood related)

    • Safavids were Shi’a while the Ottomans were Sunni

    • both wanted to beat back the other and claim territory for their own

    • ultimately, Ottomans got the upper hand

      • it was because of their political rivalry that the split between the Shi’a and Sunni branches of Islam intensified

• 

• 

• ^^ those first three were not blood relatives

• Changes in South Asia

  • development of new belief systems

  • Muslims held power in region in Mughal Empire, not good to huge majority of Hindus

    • two belief systems emerged that tried to bridge the gap between Islam and Hinduism

    • 1) Bhakti movement

      • originated in 7th century, innovation on Hinduism that emphasized mystical experience in union with one of Hinduism’s many gods

      • because the Bhaktis shared many similar beliefs and practices as with the mystical movement in Islam, (Sufism), some exchange and blending occurred

    • 2) rise of Sikhism - new belief system that blended elements of Islam and Hinduism

      • demonstrated CONTINUITY because it held onto significant doctrines of both belief systems,

        • ex. belief in one God, cycle of death and reincarnation

      • demonstrated CHANGE because as the faith developed, many distinctions were discarded, like the caste system and gender hierarchies

    • 

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

European Rivals

Spain and Portugal

• Spain became very powerful, supporting exploration, expansion of Spanish language and culture, and having a large naval fleet

  • Under Charles V, Spain controlled parts of France, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Spain, America

  • Under Charles’s son Philip, the Spanish Inquisition to oust heretics was continued, the Dutch Protestants under Spain revolted to form independent the Netherlands - lost a lot of money in mid-17th century and was poised to be defeated by England and France

• Portugal focused on dominating costal Africa, Indian Ocean, Spice Islands - lost control to Dutch and British

England

• Henry VIII never succeeded in having a male heir - his daughter Elizabeth I became Queen

• Elizabethan Age (1558-1603): expansion, exploration, colonization in New World - golden age

  • Muscovy Company: first joint-stock company - British East India Company

• James I: succeeded Elizabeth in 1607 - England and Scotland under one rulership, reforms to accommodate Catholics and Puritans failed

• Charles I: succeeded James in 1625 - signed Petition of Rights (limiting taxes and forbidding unlawful imprisonment) - ignored it for the next 11 years

  • Scottish invaded England out of resentment for Charles in 1640 - called the Long Parliament into session (sat for 20 years), which limited the powers of the monarchy

  • Parliament raised an army, under Oliver Cromwell, to fight the King after he tried to arrest the

  • Parliament defeats the king and executes him - began the English Commonwealth (Oliver Cromwell known as the first Lord Protector)

• Oliver Cromwell: intolerant of religion, violent against Catholics and Irish - highly resented

• Charles II: exiled son of Charles I invited by Parliament to reclaim the throne as a limited monarchy after Cromwell died (Stuart Restoration)

  • Agreed to Habeas Corpus Act: prevents people from arrests without due process

• James II: succeeded Charles II after his death - highly disliked, fear he would make England a Catholic county - driven from power by Parliament (Glorious Revolution)

• Succeeded by his daughter Mary and her husband William - signed English Bill of Rights (1689)

France

• Unified and centralized under strong monarchy after Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453)

• Largely Catholic, but French Protestants started to emerge (Huguenots) and fought with the Catholics

• Henry IV: issued Edict of Nantes (1598) (environment of tolerance between religions) - first of Bourbon kings who ruled until 1792

• Cardinal Richelieu: chief advisor to the Bourbons who compromised with Protestants instead of fighting with them

  • Created the bureaucratic class noblesse de la robe, succeeded by Cardinal Mazarin

• Louis XIV: reigned from 1642-1715 - highly self-important and grandiose, condemned many Huguenots, never summoned the French lawmakers, appointed Jean Baptiste Colbert to manage royal funds - France almost constantly at war to increase empire

  • War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714): Louis’s grandson was to inherit the Spanish throne, so England, Roman Empire, and German princes united to prevent France and Spain from combining

German Areas (Holy Roman Empire?)

• Holy Empire was in present day Austria/Germany - weak due to the mixed dynamics, rulership, and religion of the surrounding area

  • Lost parts of Hungary to Ottoman Turks in early 16th century

  • Devastated by Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)

  • German states were gaining power by 18th century

• Peace of Augsburg (1555): intended to bring end to conflicts between Catholics and Protestants

• Thirty Years’ War: began when protestants in Bohemia challenged Catholics - violent and destructive

  • Peace of Westphalia (1648): German states affirmed to keep the peace

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

Unit 4: Transoceanic Interconnections

Sea-Based Empires: Technology (4.1)

• Adopted Technologies

• these states that developed these sea-based empires were located in Europe

• global balance of power shifted to sea-based empires

• Adopted Maritime Technology:

  • 1. Magnetic Compass

    • first developed in China, for reckoning direction

  • 2. Astrolabe

    • enabled ships to determine lattitude and longitude by measuring stars

    • first developed by either Arabs or Greeks

  • 3. Lateen Sail

    • triangular-shaped sail, developed by Arab merchants

    • takes wind on either side, allowed for much more precise sailing

  • 4. improved Astronomical charts

    • detailed diagrams of stars and constellations, helped sailors know where they were

    • Muslims were mainly responsible for these charts, built on work of classical Greek astronomy

• Europeans did not invent these technologies, they adopted them

  • exposed to these innovations through merchant activity along the major trade routes

    • occurred thanks to Pax Mongolia

• European Innovations:

• Shipbuilding Innovations:

  • 1. Caravel (Portugal)

    • Portuguese intentionally went smaller (in last period, people thought bigger was better seen by Chinese junk) with the caravel

      • much more nimble on water

      • more navigable - able to more easily enter shallow coastal areas and navigate through inland rivers

      • equipped these ships with cannons - due to speed and agility, made good fighting ships

  • 2. Carrack (Portugal)

    • realized that dreams of empire would need to be built on trade (caravals too small)

    • much larger could carryway more cargo

    • bigger so could carry more guns, key to Portugal’s reign in the Indian Ocean Trade during this time

  • 3. Fluyt (Dutch)

    • would eventually dethrone Portuguese in Indian Ocean Trade

    • ship designed exclusively for trade

    • massive cargo holds, required much smaller crews

    • cheap to build - due to Dutch innovations in tools to build them that cut cost of production almost in half

Causes of European Exploration (4.2)

• State Sponsored Exploration - new era of sea-based empire building was state-sponsored

• big deal - result of significant changes in the distribution of power in EUropean states

• recovering from devastation of Black Death, population growing again

• Monarchs becan to consolidate power under themselves away from nobility

• European monarchs built up their militaries, learned how to use gunpowder weapons and implemented more efficient ways to tax their people. (inspired by land-based)

• a huge motivator for states sponsoring maritime exploration was the increasing desire for Asian and Southeast Asian spices, most notably, pepper

  • problem - all those land-based empires (Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal, Manchu) controlled all the land routes through which those spices passed - meant when they showed up to Europe, they were exceedingly expensive

  • so as European states began growing in power they were highly motivated to find alternative routes to trade with states on the other side of the world - began looking to the sea

• 1) Portugal’s trading post empire

  • geographically had no way to expand exept by the sea

  • member of royal family named Prince Henry the Navigator sponsored the first European attempts to find an all-water route into the Indian Ocean trade network

  • Portugal’s Motivations:

    • 1. Technology

      • Caravel, Carrack, (built for that type of exploration)Astrolabe, Magnetic Compass

    • 2. Economics

      • aware of the riches available in the trans-Saharan trade mainly in the form of Gold

      • later decided that spices was even more enticing

    • 3. Religion

      • growing desire to spread Christianity throughout the world after Portual and Spain reconquered the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims (reconquista)

      • Prince Henry also desired to find a fabled eastern Christian Monarch named Prester John (we now know its just a legend)

        • Henry thought it was true and thought it would be a hgue political and economic advantage to connect Christian states in the west to this Christian state in the East

  • result: trading post empire around Africa and eventually around the Indian Ocean

• establishing full-blown colonies were expensive, so Portuguese strategy for empire building was to establish self-sufficient trading posts in all these places whose main purpose was to faciliate trade

  • established their first major trading post in West Africa (people there were eager to trade with them, mostly Portuguese were after gold tehre)

• Vasco Degama (?) sailed around the southern tip of Africa and established trading posts all down the western and eastern coasts

  • momentous moment: travelled all the way to Calicut and discovered that the riches to be made by participating in the Indian Ocean trade network were far greater than operations around Africa

    • in subsequent voyages, the Portuguese established trading posts throughout the region all the way to Southeast Asia

      • Indian Ocean network incorporated all kinds of different mercahnts for many centuries

      • but when the Portuguese showed up, they were determined to own that netowrk - relatively easy time doing that because those caravels and carracks had plenty room for guns which gave them a huge advantage over the lightly armed ships that were regulars in that network

• 2) Spain’s Sea-Based Empire

  • Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella

  • Christopher Columbus -mariner from (??), got experience sailing fleets for the Portuguese down the African coast - had idea that it would be way quicker to access the Spice Islands of the east by sailing west across the Atlantic

    • tried to get Portuguese crown to sponsor a Westward voyage, failed, so persuaded Ferdinand and Isabella

    • October 1492 Columbus and his fleet reached the Caribbean Islands which he assumed were the spice islands of the East Indies

      • soon became apparant to other explorers that Columbus had bumped into two continents that nobody in Europe had previously known about

      • So, Spain sponsored other explorers like Ferdinand Magellan who sailed to the actual East Indies

      • began sending fleets to the Americas and conquering and colonizing

        • opened up trans-Atlantic trade - would ultimately prove more prosperous than the Indian Ocean trade

• Other States’ Empires

  • as Portugal and Spain’s power began to increase, other European states began sponsoring martiimeexploration as well

  • Causes for Exploration:

    • 1) Political Rivalry

    • 2) Envy

    • 3) Desire for Wealth

    • 4) Need for Alternative Routes to Asia (most of all)

  • 1) France:

    • sponsored expedition seeking westward passage to the Indian Ocean - didn’t find because it didn’t exist

      • but, as they explored portions of North America, they established themselves there and gained access to the incredibly lucrative fur trade in those regions

      • eventually by 1608, Samuel Dechampage(?) established the French colony of Quebec

      • habit of dying from in large numbers from diseases and their battles with the native Iriquo (??) people —> so like the Portuguese, mainly established their precense in the form of trading pots

  • 2) England:

    • late to the game - booming textile industry was making investors lots of money, less willing to invest in risky overseas ventures

    • however, after Queen Elizabeth the First rose to power and defeated Spain’s attempts to invade England which weakened Spain significantly, she threw her support behind westward exploration

      • comissioned Sir Walter Raleigh (?) to lead the expedition, he established England’s first colony in the Americas known as Virginia

        • kinda a disaster, but it ultimately turned around with the establishment of Jamestown in 1607

  • 3) Dutch Republic:

    • by 1579, gained independence from Spain - in the course of that struggle, emerged as the wealthiest state in all of Europe

      • soon began competing for control of trade posts around Africa and would eventually dethrone the Portuguese as the kings of the Indian Ocean trade

      • by 1608, the Dutch sponsored Henry Hudson to sail west in order to establish a Dutch presence in the new world, which he did by founding the colony of New Amsterdam

The Columbian Exchange (4.3)

• definition: the transfer of new diseases, food, plants, and animals between the Eastern and Western hemispheres

• Causes:

  • Christopher Columbus - momentous contact betwen the new world and the old world that the colubian exchange began to occur

• Effects: Disease

  • transfer of disease

  • because everyone in Afro-Eurasia was connected, trading, and exposed to each others germs for many centures, they had all developed immunities to those diseases

  • when Europeans arrived in the Americas they brought disease vectors with them (rats and mosquitoes)

  • because the indigenous peoples in the Americas had never been in contact with these kinds of diseases, they ended up devastating the population

    • 1) Malaria, carried by mosquitoes, which were introduced to the Americas by enslaved Africans who were transported for plantation work - killed millions of indigenous Americans

    • 2) Measles, highly contagious and spread rapidly in densely populated areas, also killing millions

    • 3) Smallpox (most devastating) - introduced in 1518, spread through Mexico and Central America and then down into South America where it killed around half the population and in some areas up to 90% - why indigenous people refer to that event as the Great Dying

• Effects: Plants and Food

  • introduced to BOTH hemispheres

  • European settlers brought wheat, grapes, olives (staple foods of European diets)

    • also brought Asian and African foods like bananas and sugars

    • while most indigenous Americans mostly retained their traditional diets, they slowly adopted some of these new foods which diversified their diets and therefore increased their lifespan

  • New world crops were transferred to Europe - maize, potatoes, manioc

    • and these new foods had a similar effect in Europe after 1700, which is to say, they diversified their diets and led to a healthier population, which then led to a significant population growth because of longer lifespans

    • some of the crops like maize were introduced to Africa and Asia

    • some of these new foods were grown as cash crops on European controlled plantations in the Americas

      • Cash Cropping: a method of agriculture in which food is grown primarily for export to other places

      • Europeans setting up colonies in the Americas found out quickly that they could get crazy rich through agriculture in the new world

        • the way they did that was by planting (usually single crops) on massive plantations that were worked by coerced laborers

        • ex. large scale operation growing sugar cane in Caribbean colonies - enslaved Africans mainly did the intensive and exhausting labor and then the sugar was exported to markets in Europe and the Middle East

  • enslaved Africans also brought new food to the Americas - okra and rice

• Effects: Animals

  • although went both ways, arguably it was the animals Europeans introduced to the Americas that had the biggest effect

  • Europeans brought domesticated animals like pigs, sheep, cattle - entirely new animals to this side of world, they had no natural predators and multiplied a lot and created the foundation for future ranching economies

  • but on the down side, all these new animals also caused some dire environmental consequences taht put significant strains on indigenous farmers

    • ex. sheep eat grass very close to the ground - large patches of grass started resembling not so much as a verdant green pasture —> erosion became a significant problem

  • one domesticated animal Europeans introduced that benefited them: horse

    • fundamentally changed the society of several indigenous peoples in North America by allowing them to more effectively hunt large herds of buffalo, which was a staple food item for them

Sea-Based Empires Established (establishment of Maritime empires) (4.4)

• European trade ascendency:

• motivations for European states developing Maritime Empires: Gold, God, Glory which also created rivalries

• motivations for Imperialism:

  • 1. to enrich themselves

  • 2. to spread Christianity

  • 3. be the greatest state

• 1. Portuguese - first to establish a trading post empire around Africa and throughout the Indian Ocean

  • largely able to do this by noticing that many of hte average merchant ships in the area were pretty lightly armed, so the Portuguese loaded their caravels and carracks with giant guns

  • once the Portuguese inserted themselves into this trading network, they weren't as interested in participating peacefully as they were in owning and controlling it by force

• 2. Spain - early on set their base of operations in the Philipines

  • while the Portuguese were generally content to set up and run small trading posts in these various places, the Spanish went ahead and established full-blown colonies

  • Spanish ran their colonies in the Americas namely through tribute systems, taxation, and coerced labor - used the exact same tactics in their colonial holdings throughout the Indian Ocean

• 3. Dutch - with their fluyts, they took over as the “kings” of the Indian Ocean trade, deposing the Portuguese quickly

  • Dutch used many of the same methods as the Portuguese to establish their dominance and control over this trade network

• 4. British - later, would end up controlling the largest sea-based empire in the world, but they had trouble getting started

  • interested in India, but lacked sufficient military power to take it from the Mughal empire

    • satisfied themselves with setting up a few trading posts along the coast

    • later in the 18th century, the British would gradually transform those trading posts into full-blown colonial rule in India (Dutch did the same in Indonesia)

• although European domination of the Indian Ocean trade introduced a significant change, there was also significant continuity

• Continuity in trade:

  • The Middle Eastern, South Asian, East Asian, and SE Asian merchants who had been using the trade network for centuries before the arrival of the Europeans continued to use it

    • also, European entrance into the trade network increased profits not only for Europeans but also for many of those merchants who had always used this network for trade

  • long established merchants like the Gujaratis in the Mughal Empire continued to make use of the Indian Ocean Trade even while Europeans sought to dominate it, and in doing so they increased their power and wealth

• Asian Resistance

  • 1. Tokugawa Japan

    • by the early 1600s, Japan which had previously been weakened by a lot of internal fracturing, was united under a shogun from the Tokugawa Clan (Tokugawa Ieyasu)

    • while the shogun was initially kind of open to trading with Europeans, he soon realized they were a threat to the hard won unification they had just achieved

    • many European merchants and explorers weren’t just content to buy and sell goods from these various places; many also sought to convert those various peoples to Christianity

    • so, by the second half of the 16th century, lots of Japanese people had converted to Christianity, and that seemed to the shogun like a recipe for a renewed cultural fracturing

      • so, expelled all Christian missionaries from Japan and suppressed the faith within Japan often with violence

  • 2. Ming China

    • voyages of Zheng He took place

    • among the many motives for the voyages of Zheng He, among the most important was to essentially create a situation in which most of the maritime trade in the Indian Ocean was processed through the Chinese state

      • (ultimately it didn’t work and the result was a series of isolationist trade policies that largely shut down sea based trade in China)

    • when the Portuguese came to China in the early 1500s to trade, they were only able to do so through bribery and various underhanded tactics

    • but soon, Ming officials found out and expelled them, which further isolated China from the growing European dominance in the Indian Ocean

• Expansion of African States

  • 1. Asante Empire in West Africa

    • key trading partner with the Portuguese and later the British by providing highly desired goods like gold, ivory, enslaved laborers

      • this economic partnership made the Asante rich and enabled them to expand their military and further expand and consolidate their power throughout the region

      • kinda like a bonus, the Asante used that power in military might to later repel the British from colonizing the region for a long time

  • 2. Kingdom of the Kongo in South Africa

    • made strong diplomatic ties to the Portuguese traders who were highly desirous to obtain gold, copper, enslaved laborers,

      • in order to further facilitate this growing economic relationship, the king converted to Christianity as did most of the nobles

      • relationship later deteriorated, stil taht economic connection between Portugal and kingdom of the Kongo massively enriched the African states

• Economic and Labor Systems

  • Europeans were building empires in the Americas

    • in the Americas, colonial economies were largely structured around agriculture

    • in order to keep this argicultural economy working, Europeans made use of both existing labor systems and introduced new labor systems

  • Existing labor systems:

    • the Spanish made use of the old Inca mit’a system

    • the Inca developed this system in which subjects of the empire were required to provide labor for state projects for a certain number of days per year

    • when the Spanish showed up to these areas, they were excited when they discovered the amount of silver buried in the hills

    • so, needed to figure out how to get enough laborers to dig all that silver out of the mountains, when they learned about mit'a system they used it

    • the Spanish implemented the mit'a system largely for their massive silver mining operations

  • New labor systems:

    • 1. Chattel Slavery

      • enslaved Africans were transported by the millions throughout the Americas mainly in order to work on sprawling plantations

      • chattel = property

      • laborers were owned as any other piece of property was owned and could be used at the will of the owner

      • what was new: race-based

        • slavery became hereditary - children of enslaved people would become enslaved themselves

    • 2. Indentured Servitude

      • an indenture (?) was a contract that a laborer would sign which bound them to a particular work for a particular period of time, usually 7 years

      • many poorer Europeans entered this kind of agreement in order to pay for their pasage to the colonies and then after their indenture was up, they could go free and live their lives

    • 3. Encomienda System

      • Spanish who made this form of labor up

      • used to coerce indigenous Americans into working for colonial authorities

        • essentially, indigenous people were forced to provide labor for the Spanish in exchange for food and protection

          • similar in a lot of ways to the old system of feudalism in Europe

          • wasn’t that materially different from slavery

    • 4. Hacienda System

      • also from the Spanish

      • haciendas (?) were large agricultural estates owned by elite Spaniards and on which indigenous laborers were forced to work the fields whose crops were then exported and sold on a global market

        • difference between hacienda and encomienda:

          • encomienda was more focused on controlling the population while hacienda was more focused on economics of food export

  • Development of Slavery

    • demonstrated both continuity and change

    • Continuity:

      • 1. African slave trade

        • African slave trade was not a new development that came with the rise of these martime empires

        • way before this period, the trade of enslaved African people was a regular feature in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean networks

      • 2. Cultural Assimilation

        • enslaved people of those networks were often assimilated into the culture in which they were sold

      • 3. Domestic Work

        • in the Islamic world, the majority of enslaved Africans became domestic servants in households and for those roles, the demand was very high for enslaved women and girls

      • 4. Slaves held power

        • in some cases in the Islamic world, enslaved people could hold significant military or political positions

      • all these realities continued during the rise and establishment of Maritime empires

    • Change:

      • mostly occured in Americas

      • 1. Agricultural Work

        • because the main economic engine of imperial empires in the Americas was difficult agricultural work, Europeans purchased male slaves 2:1 which significantly impacted the demographics of various African states

      • 2. Trans-Atlantic Trade Larger

        • much more massive than its Indian Ocean and Mediterranean counterparts

      • 3. Racial Prejudice (racial component of the Atlantic slave trade)

        • in the Americas, slavery became identified with blackness which justified the brutality of slavery

        • to be identified as black was to be less than human, this meant that plantation owners could treat their workers with violence and keep a clear conscience

Economics of Empire Building (4.5)

• how Maritime empires were maintained and developed from 1450 to 1750

• economic strategies to consolidate and maintain power

  • 1. Mercantilism

    • the dominant economic system in Europe at this period

    • a state-driven economic system that emphasizes the buildup of mineral wealth by maintaining a favorable balance of trade

    • defined wealth by minerals - gold, silver

      • therefore, the more someone has (a bigger slice of pie), the less there is for others

      • creates profound competition

      • favorable balance of trade - merchants wanted more exports than imports

        • since exporting goods means gold and silver comes in, importing goods - gold and silver go out

        • mercantilism was a powerful motivation for establishing and growing empires because, among many other reasons, once a colony was established, it created a kind of closed market to purchase exports from the imperial parent country

          • so more colonies means more people buying a state’s goods which means more mineral wealth is coming back

  • 2. Joint-Stock Companies

    • a limited liability business, often charted by the state, which was funded by a group of investors

      • limited liability - investors could only lose the money they invested in the business

      • charted by the state - a government approved this business and in doing so often granted it trade monopolies in various regions

      • funded by a group - a big innovation in how businesses were funded as they were privately funded, not state-funded

    • in order for mercantilism to be an instrument of imperial expansion, the state and its merchants had become intimately tied together in a kind of mutual interdependence

      • the state used merchants to expand its influence in far off lands while merchants relied on the state to keep their interest and activity safe while granting them monopolies in various regions of trade

      • 

      • so, joint-stock companies became the main tool by which this mutual arrangement led to expanding empires during this period

      • Dutch East India Company:

        • chartered in 1602 by the Dutch state who subsequently granted the company a monopoly on trade in the Indian Ocean

        • as the Dutch eduged out the Portuguese in that network, 2 things happened:

          • 1. the company's investors became exceedingly rich

          • 2. the Dutch imperial government was able to expand its power and influence across many places throughout the Indian Ocean

      • the French and British also developed joint-stock companies of their own for similar purposes, namely trade and imperial expansion

        • led to growing rivalry around the pie which sometimes led them to war as it did in the Anglo Dutch war

        • by way of contrast, while the French, British and Dutch were joint-stocking their way to world domination, states like Spain and Portugal were mainly funding their trade and imperial ventures through the state

          • one big reason why their influence on the world stage was declining during this period

• trade networks: Change and Continuity

  • Change:

    • 1. Atlantic System

      • the movement of goods, wealth, and laborers between the eastern and western hemispheres

      • this whole network of exchange didn’t exist until Spain sent Christopher Columbus sailing west, but once it was established, it was significant

    • 2. Importance of Sugar

      • one of the goods exchanged

      • colonial plantations, especially in the Caribbean, specialized in the growth of sugar cane, and without abundance of sugar, prices began to decrease and demand for sugar increased over in Europe

    • 3. Silver was King

      • ex. in modern day Bolivia, the Spanish heavily exploited a massive silver mine in Potosi, as well as in mines in other colonies

      • that silver was tranported back to Spain, and from there, injected into the wider European economy and used to purchase goods from Asia which had twofold effect: (Effects of Sugar)

        • 1. Satisfied Chinese Demand for Silver

          • growing demand that was satisfied, which further developed the commercialization of their economy

        • 2. Increased profits

          • the goods silver purchased in Asian markets like silk, porcelain, and steel, were traded across the Atlantic system resulting in more profits

    • 4. Coerced Labor

      • 1. Forced Indigenous Labor (in their colonial holdings)

        • ex. Spanish

      • 2. Indentured Servitude

        • ex. Britain

      • 3. Enslaved Africans

        • ex. nearly all imperial powers

      • all of this was established and maintained by the global flow of silver and trade monopolies granted by heads of state to charter companies usually joint-stock companies

    • The Atlantic system of trade turned European states into the political and geographical equivalent of pie hogging

  • Continuity:

    • 1. Afro-Eurasian markets thrived

      • regional markets across Afro-Eurasia continued to flourish and increase their reach during this period right at the same time

        • even though Europeans were increasingly dominating the Indian Ocean network because of their naval superiority (both in ships and in weaponry), all the various merchants who had always traded in this network from the Middle East all the way to Southeast Asia continued to trade and even benefited from the increased merchant traffic

    • 2. Asian Land Routes

      • despite the growing European dominance on the sea, overland routes like the Silk Roads almost entirely controlled by Asian land-based powers, notably Ming China, and then the Qing Dynasty

European and Expansion

• Portuguese and Spanish controlled major shipping routes in Indian Ocean, Indonesia, Atlantic Ocean

• Portugal financed explorations

  • Prince Henry the Navigator (King John I’s son)

  • Vasco da Gama: explored eastern Africa, India

• Spain also did:

  • Financed Christopher Columbus: explored Americas

• Treaty of Tordesillas (1494): agreement between Spain and Portugal to split colonized land between them

• England, Netherlands, France launched own explorations to acquire new colonies - caused rise in nationalism and powerful monarchies

• Explorers

  1. Amerigo Vespucci (1500): South America

  2. Ponce de Leon (1513): Florida

  3. Vasco de Balboa (1513): Central America

  4. Ferdinand Magellan (1519): South America to Philippines

  5. Giovanni da Verrazzano (1524): North America

  6. Sir Francis Drake (1578): circumnavigated the globe

  7. John Cabot (1497): North America

  8. Henry Hudson (1609): Hudson River

• Products that aided new explorations:

  1. Sternpost Rudder: invented in China - better control of ships

  2. Lateen Sails: invented in Roman Empire - allowed directional control of ships

  3. Astrolabe: navigation device that measured distance between sun and stars on horizon to determine latitude

  4. Magnetic Compass: developed in China - determine direction

  5. Three-Masted Caravels: large ships fit for longer journeys

The New World: Accidental Empire

• Spanish explorers found great wealth in Aztec and Inca Empires

• Hernando Cortés: landed on coast of Mexico in 1519 - sought to exploit the Aztec Empire of their gold and spices

  • Neighbouring states were willing to help Spanish conquer Aztecs as they had taken over a lot of the neighbouring communities - or those who didn’t cooperate were forced or killed

  • Became very hungry for wealth and quickly seized Montezuma and began a siege of Tenochtitlan

Disease: Ultimate Weapon of Mass Destruction

• Spanish brought smallpox to the Aztec Empire which reduced their population from 20 million in 1520 to 2 million in 1580 - Spanish were able to take control in 1525

• Francisco Pizarro took over Inca Empire in 1531 partially due to spreading disease to them

  • Pizarro was in control of the Inca Empire by 1535

The Encomienda System

• Spanish implemented a hierarchical colonial society as they took over the New World

• Structure:

  1. Peninsulares: Spanish officials governing the colonies

  2. Creoles: Spanish born in colonies to Spanish parents - barred from high positions but were educated and wealthy

  3. Mestizos: those with European/Native American ancestry

  4. Mulattos: those with European/African ancestry

  5. Native Americans

• Viceroys: governors of each of 5 regions of New Spain - established the encomienda system (system of forced labour of the natives and African slaves)

African Slave Trade

• Slaves brought to New World to work on the plantations and mines

• Europe exploited a system of slavery already existing in Africa - prisoners were supposed to serve their captors before being released

• Europeans traded for their surplus of enslaved people, but didn’t understand that they were supposed to be released

• As demand for slaves in Europe increased, Europe became even more ruthless - kidnapping Africans, causing wars, forcing rulers to give up their citizens

• Slaves were forced onto ships, chained below deck, and endured brutal Middle Passage

• Around 13 million Africans were taken - 60% to South America, 35% to Caribbean, 5% to North America, around 20% of people on each trip perished

The Columbian Exchange

• Transatlantic transfer of animals, plants, diseases, people, technology, ideas among Europe, Americas, and Africa

• Never before had so much moved across the ocean

• Transfer of food products caused population increase in Europe, Asia, and Africa

• Two key products: sugar (plantations appeared all over Spanish colonies), silver (mining also in Spanish colonies) - both used significant forced labour

• Spanish control of silver opened doors in Ming China

The Commercial Revolution

• Age of Exploration: trading, empire building, conquest - due to financing schemes

• Banking became a respectable practice - lead to joint-stock company (pool resources of merchants to distribute costs and reducing dangers of individual investors)

• Led to huge profits and modern-day concept of stock markets

• Muscovy Company, Dutch East India Company took over trade routes

• Mercantilism: theory that creating a favourable balance of import and export was best - of course, this led to Europe’s intense colonialism to match their import demand

  • Caused resentment in colonies

• Europe established limited trade with China from 16-18th century

  • Portugal gained control of Spice Islands to gain access to China

  • China and Japan still highly limited their trade with them

• Developments in Specific Countries - 1450-1750

  • Major movements of the times affected parts of Europe differently

  • People with power guarded it

  • Peasant class weren’t able to participate in any developments

  • Powerful states were also developed in Middle East, India, China, and Japan

  • Monarchies contributed to development of strong loyalties and led to many conflicts/wars

Unit 5: Revolutions

The Enlightenment

• 17th and 18th centuries - humankind in relation to government

• Divine Right: church allied with strong monarchs, monarchs believed they were ordained by God to rule - people had moral/religious obligation too obey

  • Question of ultimate authority

  • Mandate of Heaven in China - had to rule justly to be appreciated in heaven

• Social contract: governments not formed by divine decree, but to meet social and economic needs

• Philosophers of the age:

  1. Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679): government should preserve peace/stability - all powerful rule who ruled heavy-handed

  2. John Locke (1632-1704): men are all born equal, mankind is good and rational - primary role of government was to secure and guarantee natural rights and revolting is justified if not

  3. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778): all men are equal, society organized according to general will of people - government is protection by community and both being free

  4. Voltaire (1694-1778): espoused idea of religious toleration

  5. Montesquieu (1689-1775): separation of powers among branches of government

  6. David Hume (1711-1776): lack of empirical evidence casts doubt on religion

  7. Adam Smith (1723-1790): an “invisible hand” will regulate economy if it is left alone

  8. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797): women should have political rights, including voting and holding office

  9. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804): knowledge exists beyond what is deduced from use of only observation or only reason

  10. Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794): criminals retain some rights and state should not practice cruel punishment

• Enlightened monarchs: utilized ideas of tolerance, justice, improving quality of life

• Neoclassical Period: middle of 18th century - imitated style of ancient Greek/Roman architecture

Enlightenment Revolutions in the Americas and Europe

American Revolution

• British defeated France over American territory - French and Indian War/Seven Years’ War - pushed France to northern territory

• Americans revolting against British rulership

• British passed laws on behalf of Crown for the American colonizers (George Grenville, Charles Townshend)

  • Revenue Act (1764), Stamp Act (1765), Tea Act (1773) intended to raise funds for British government

• Colonizers opposed these laws and began battling British troops shortly after - Boston Tea Party (1773): colonists dumping imported tea in harbour to protest Tea Act

• Thomas Paine: wrote Common Sense, encouraging colonizers to form a better government than the monarchy - 6 months later the Declaration of Independence was signed

• France joined forces with Americans in 1777 and defeated the British in 1781 and the American democracy was created

French Revolution

• France was running out of money from monarch spending, wars, and droughts - Louis XVI proposed raising taxes to the Estates-General (governing body infrequently called by the kings)

  1. First Estate: clergy

  2. Second Estate: noble families

  3. Third Estate: everyone else

  • Representatives from each estate

• Third Estate was facing being shut out of new constitution - formed National Assembly in 1789 out of protest and peasants stormed the Bastille shortly after

• Declaration of the Rights of Man - adopted by National Assembly in 1789 and caused big changes in French government structure

• Established a constitutional monarchy at first, but new constitution development led to the Convention being the new ruling body - France become a republic (led by Jacobins who later beheaded the king)

• Convention threw out constitution again and created Committee of Public Safety: enforcer of revolution and murdered any anti-revolution people

  • led by Maximilien Robespierre

• French beheaded Robespierre in 1795 and established another new constitution with the Directory as the government

  • Built up military, with Napoleon Bonaparte as one of the generals

• Napoleon overthrew the Directory in 1799 - Napoleonic Codes (1804) recognized equality of men, dissolved the Holy Roman Empire with French military and fought other countries who eventually met to overthrow him (Prince von Metternich, Alexander I of Russia, Duke of Wellington)

  • Defeated him at Waterloo in 1813 and met at Congress of Vienna to discuss what to do with France

• Congress of Vienna:

  • Balance of power should be maintained among powers of Europe

  • Tried to erase French Revolution

Haiti:

• France enslaved many Haitians, who eventually revolted successfully, led by Pierre Toussaint L’Ouverture

  • Jacques Dessalines, a former slave, became governor-general in 1804

South America

• Napoleon invaded Spain and appointed his brother Joseph Bonaparte to the throne -

  • Colonists ejected French governor and appointed own leader in Venezuela, Simón Bolívar, who eventually helped them declare independence from Spain in 1811

• Established a national congress, but was also opposed by Spanish royalists, who declared a civil war

• Bolívar won freedom for Gran Colombia (Columbia, Ecuador, Venezuela)

• José de San Martin: took command of Argentinian, Chilean, Peruvian armies, and defeated many Spanish forces to also declare independence from Spain

Brazil

• John VI of Portugal fled to Brazil when Napoleon invaded Portugal -

  • His son Pedro became the emperor of Brazil and declared it independent with a constitution

    • His son Pedro II took over and abolished slavery

Mexico

• priest Miguel Hidalgo led a revolt against Spanish rule in 1810, who was later killed by them

  • Jose Morelos picked up where he left off

• Independence achieved in 1821 - Treaty of Cordoba: Spain recognizing their 300-year-old control of Latin America was ending

• Neocolonialism: independent nations still controlled by economic and political interests

  • Riches accumulated often stayed within wealthy landowning class

  • Mexican Revolution: protest of neocolonialism - rejection of Porfirio Diaz’s dictatorship to protest impoverished conditions

Other resistance movements:

1. Peru

   • Tupac Amaru II led a revolt against Spanish occupiers and inspired further resistance movements

2. West Africa

   • Samory Toure led resistance against French colonizers and inspired further resistance

3. US

   • Sioux resisted the US government invading their land, but were shot at during their protests

4. Sudan

   • Muhammad Ahdam led Mahadists in a revolt against colonial rule of Egypt but was stopped by the British

• Slavery still existed in independent nations as well as class inequalities

• Catholic Church still dominated

Industry and Imperialism

• Industrial revolution in Britain can not be separated from Imperialism

• Industrial countries gained power quickly to exploit colony resources

• Industrial Revolution: began in Britain in 19th century - spread through Europe, Japan, US

• Agricultural output increased significantly again - more people moved to cities

  • Enclosure: public lands that were shared for farming became enclosed by fences

  • New farming technologies

  • Urbanization was natural - London grew to over 6 million people

• Domestic system (most work being done on farms or at home or at small shops) preceded

• New advancements that changed production:

  1. Flying shuttle: sped up waving process

  2. Spinning jenny: spinning vast amounts of thread

  3. Cotton gin: invented by Eli Whitney - processed massive amounts of cotton quickly

  4. Steam engine - Thomas Newcomer, James Watt

  5. Steamship - Robert Fulton

  6. Steam-powered Locomotive - George Stephenson

  7. Telegraph: communication with great distances in seconds

  8. Telephone - Alexander Graham Bell

  9. Lightbulb

  10. Internal Combustion Engine for cars

  11. Radio

• Also major developments in medicine and science, theory of natural selection (Charles Darwin)

• Rapid creation of products was done in factories

  • Interchangeable parts: machines could be replaces or fixed quickly

  • Assembly line: each worker had one small part in production - man became the machine

  • Workers were overworked, underpaid, and working in unsafe conditions - child labour was common

  • Despairing conditions

• Formation of new social classes - aristocrats were those rich from industrial success, middle class of skilled professionals, huge working class

• Adam Smith: success achieved through private ownership and free market system (capitalism) - governments removed from regulation = laissez-faire capitalism

  • Start of stock market and other financial instruments

• Karl Marx: The Communist Manifesto - working class take over means of production and all resources would be equally - Marxism was foundation for socialism and communism

  • Luddites: workers who destroyed equipment in middle of night to protest working conditions

  • Marxism mixed with capitalist thought to create partly socialist systems in many places

• Major split among intellectuals and policymakers in regards to response to inhumane factory conditions

• Factory Act of 1883: limited hours of each workday, restricted children from working, factory owners had to make conditions safer

  • Labour Unions: vehicles for employees to bargain for better conditions

  • Living conditions improved - middle class became larger, public education increased, social mobility became more common

  • Slave trade abolished in 1807 in Britain

  • Women became more limited to their traditional roles

Nationalist Movements and Other Developments

• Nationalism was strong after Napoleonic era

• France, Spain, Portugal, Britain, Russia had unified

• Italy and Germany, which were city-states took longer to unify and alter balance of European power

  • Italy: Count Camillo Cavour named prime minister of Sardinia by Victor Emmanuel II who pushed for nationalism - after Giuseppe Garibaldi, another nationalist overthrew other Italian kingdoms, a lot of Italy was unified in 1861

  • Germany: Prussia, which controlled a lot of present-day Germany, under the rule of William I who appointed Otto von Bismarck as prime minister, defeated Austria and engaged in the Franco-Prussian War to create the new German Empire

    • New emperor William II forced Bismarck to resign and built a huge military force

• Other Nationalist Movements:

  

• Russia:

  • Romanov czars had absolute power in 19th century

  • Alexander II began reforms - Emancipation Edict: abolished serfdom but had little effect

  • Small middle class began to emerge which led to an intellectual political group The People’s Will assassinating Alexander II

  • In response, Alexander III started Russification: all had to learn the Russian language and convert to Russian Orthodoxy

• Ottoman Empire: was at danger of collapse so Britain and France worked to maintain it to prevent Russia from gaining control over Mediterranean

The Growth of Nationalism

• Desire of people of common cultural heritage to form independent nation-state/empires that protects their cultural identity

• Had major influence and effects all over the world

Unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization

In Search of Natural Resources

• Europe has coal and iron for power and factory equipment, but needed raw materials that didn’t grow there - solution = colonization

• Colonization has given industrial countries great wealth

• Europe had colonized nations on every continent - depleted raw materials in these nations at extreme speed and destroyed and polluted environments

• Transnational Businesses: international corporations that strengthened Europe’s economic power in Asia and Africa

European Justification

• Europe was very ethnocentric - other cultures were barbaric and uncivilized, even as progressives were denouncing the slave trade - why?

  1. Social Darwinists: applied natural selection to sociology - there were dominant races or classes , therefore Britain was the most powerful/fit

  2. Moral obligation to civilize others - Rudyard Kipling’s poem “White Man’s Burden” described colonization as justified

European Imperialism in India

• India had many luxuries to Europeans - tea, sugar, silk, salt, jute

• India was vulnerable to external powers after wars in 18th century Mughal empire and religious conflict

• France and England battled each other in Seven Year’s War for colonial superiority and Britain won

• British East India Company: joint-stock company like a multinational corporation - had exclusive British trade rights in India - led by Robert Clive

• Britain started slowly taking over Mughal Empire territory and setting up administrative regions through empire - first, island of Ceylon, then Punjab Northern India, then Pakistan and Afghanistan

• Sepoy Mutiny: Indians who worked for British as soldiers were called Sepoys - they rebelled against British Muslim/Hindu disrespect in 1857, but it failed

  • British then made all of India a crown colony - Queen Victoria made Empress of India above almost 300 million Indian subjects

  • Mughal Empire ended when last ruler Bahadur Shah II was sent into exile

• India became model of British imperialism - upper castes taught English, Christianity spread, industrialization and urbanization - but more and more Indians dreamed of being free from Britain

  • 1885: group of Indians formed Indian National Congress to fight for independence - wouldn’t be achieved until mid-20th century

European Imperialism in China

• Up until 1830s, Europe could only trade with China in city of Canton - China was relatively isolationist, until Europe gained industrial power and barged in with weapons

• Opium Wars: British traders brought Opium to China in 1773 and widespread addiction was caused - forbidden and seized in 1839

  • Britain wanted to continue trade, so brought war to China

  • Treaty of Nanjing: China forced to sign unequal treaty that gave Britain considerable rights to expand trade with China

  • Hong Kong declared crown possession of Britain in 1843

  • Second Opium War occurred in 1856 for four years when Britain tried to further trade and China lost again - all of China opened to trade

• British takeover caused Chinese to turn on their government’s failings

  • White Lotus Rebellions (beginning of 18th century): Buddhists who were frustrated over taxes and government corruption

  • Taiping Rebellion (mid-18th century): rebels led by religious zealot who almost succeeded in taking down Manchu government

  • Self-Strengthening Movement (1860s): Manchu Dynasty attempt to get its act together, which failed

  • Korea declared independence from China in 1876

  • Sino-French War (1883): Chinese lost control of Vietnam

  • Defeated by Japan in Sino-Japanese War

  • Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895): China forced to hand control of Taiwan to Japan and give them trading rights

  • France, Germany, Russia, Britain took their own spheres of influence in China - not quite colonies as Manchu Dynasty still had authority

  • in 1900, US pledged to support sovereignty of Chinese government and equal trading to prevent full British takeover (Open Door Policy) - despite barring Chinese immigrants from US in 1882 (Chinese Exclusion Act)

• Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, or Boxers: Chinese peasant nationalists attempted to rebel by slaughtering Christian missionaries and controlling foreign embassies in response to government’s defeats and concessions to the West, but failed

  • Boxer Protocol: China forced to pay Europeans and Japanese with rebellion costs

• Chinese culture also started to crumble - imperial government ended in 1911 and a republic was established in China

Japanese Imperialism

• Japan kept Europeans away in 17th and 18th centuries - until European and US appetite for power intensified and Commodore Matthew Perry arrived from US in a steamboat in 1853 - Japan felt obligated to join industrialized world

• Treaty of Kanagawa (1854) was a trade agreement with the West

  • Samurai revolted against shogun who ratified it and restored Emperor Meiji to power

• Meiji Restoration: era of Japanese westernization - Japan became a world power

  • 1870s: built railways and steamships, abolished samurai warrior class

  • Prioritized military power - took control of Korea and Taiwan from China in 1895 - military pageantry became a cultural movement

  • 1890s: Japan became powerful enough to reduce European and US influence

European Imperialism in Africa

• Interior Africa remained unknown to Europeans - costal regions used for limited trade, ship stopping points, and the slave trade

• 1807-1820: most European nations abolished slave trade as Enlightenment principles gained more force - slavery abolished a few decades later

  • No new enslaved people entered Europe but those still in slavery were not free until mid-century

  • Former slaves returned to Africa or established their own nations

• South Africa: Dutch first arrived and settled Cape Town - British seized it in 1795

  • South African Dutch (Boers) moved northeast and discovered diamonds and gold - British followed and fought the Boer War (1899-1902) to gain rights to resources, which they won

• Egypt: when Napoleon tried to take control of Egypt in 18th century during the weak Ottoman rule, Muhammad Ali defeated the French and the ruling Ottoman Empire in 1805 - began industrialization and agriculture expansions

  • efforts just temporarily halted by Abbas I

  • Suez Canal constructed with French and completed in 1869 - connected Mediterranean to Indian Ocean (eventually British took control of it too)

Berlin Conference

• Otto van Bismarck hosted European powers in Berlin in 1884 to discuss land claims in African Congo - encouraging colonialism

• By 1914, almost all of Africa was colonized by Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Belgium (except Ethiopia and Liberia)

• Europeans added substantial infrastructure to the continent, but stripped Africa of resources, most exercised direct rule and implementation of customs over African people (except British who were already busy with India)

• Europeans disregarded African boundaries, cut tribal land in half or forced enemy tribes together, ignoring history and culture

• Traditional African culture also started falling apart

  

US Foreign Policy

• Monroe Doctrine: US President Monroe declared Western Hemisphere off-limits to Europeans in 1823 - Britain agreed out of fear of Spain’s potential actions

• Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine: US would be responsible for intervening in financial disputes between Americas and Europe, if to maintain peace because Europe was still investing in Latin industry

• US was exercising own imperialism over Latin America - built their Panama Canal in Panama

• US launched Spanish-American War in 1898 to aid Cuba in their conflict with Spain - defeated Spain and gained control over Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico, and Cuba (given independence in exchange for construction of US military bases)

Unit 7: Global Conflict

The World War I Era

• At beginning of 20th century, most of world was colonized by Europe or had been colonized by Europe - everywhere was connected to instability in Europe

• European countries had had feuds, but industrialism and rise in nationalism caused military build-up and more powerful weapons, alliances and power-grabbing rivals increasing

• Triple Alliance (1880s): Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy - protect against France

• France-Russian alliance to keep Germany in check

• Schlieffen Plan: Germany’s attack on France through Belgium, a neutral country

• Triple Entente: Britain, France, Russia - later joined by Japan

• Ottoman Empire was in bad shape and kept losing territory - Greece, Slavic areas declaring independence, countries disagreeing on land arrangements and allies

  • Bosnia and Herzegovina still under control on Austria-Hungary, as decided by Berlin Conference of 1878

• Austria-Hungary Archduke Franz Ferdinand visited Bosnia and was assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip - war was already on the horizon and this was the final blow

  • Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia - Russia was allies with Serbia - France, Germany, Britain joined to honour their alliances (Italy later joined the Triple Entente in 1915)

• Central Powers Alliance: Ottoman Empire, Germany, Austria-Hungary

• Over 40 countries joined the war effort because in part of widespread colonial connections

• US joined the Allies in 1917 after Germany sunk British boat Lusitania in 1915 which had over 100 American passengers on board and kept sinking American ships attempting to bring resources to Britain - final push was Germany trying to get Mexico to join the war in 1916 (Zimmermann telegram - a secret telegram between German diplomats saying Mexico could regain territory taken by US if they joined forces)

  • Previously had isolationism policy (neutrality, focusing on internal affairs instead)

• The Great War lasted until Germany and Central Powers gave up in November 1918

  • 8.5 million soldiers were killed

  • 20 million civilians died

• The Treaty of Versailles: signed in 1919 - official end to WWI

  • Germany was to pay war reparations, release territory, downsize military to prevent them from rising to power again - poverty and resentment in Germany led to Hitler’s rise

  • Austria-Hungary divided into other nations like Czechoslovakia

  • Departure from President Wilson’s Fourteen Points, more focused on future peace and workable balance of power - but was disapproved of by Britain and France who put strict punishments on Germany

• President Wilson called for formation of council of nations called League of Nations to preserve peace and establish humanitarian goals, but was not widely accepted (even by US)

• Russian Revolution

  • Socialists began to organize after Czar Nicholas II’s forced resignation in 1917, resentment was strong among working class

    • Had lost war against Japan over Manchuria in 1904

    • Fired at peaceful protestors in 1905 (Blood Sunday)

  • Alexander Kerensky established a provisional government - ineffective because it disagreed with the local councils, soviets, who represented workers, peasants, and soldiers

  • Socialist party is known as the Bolsheviks - led by Marxist leader Vladimir Lenin

  • April Theses: issues by Lenin - demanded peace, land for peasants, power to soviets

    • within 6 months took power of government - soon to be called Soviet Union

  • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918): armistice with Germany - ceded part of western Russia to Germany so they dropped out of WWI

  • Counterrevolutions began occurring in Russian empire - Bolsheviks created Red Army, military force under Leon Trotsky to defeat counterrevolutions

  • Soviet Union became a nation lacking of trust by Western neighbours with a powerful army

• When Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, a movement to reclaim Turkish culture spawned a genocide of Armenian minority and a shift to Turkish nationalism - which resulted in loss of most of remaining land in peace negotiations

  • Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk): led successful military against invading Greece and overthrew Ottoman Empire to become first president of Turkey

World War II Era

Stalin and the Soviet Union

• Lenin first instituted the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1920s - allowed farmers to sell portions of grain for profit - successful, but Lenin died and new Communist leader, Joseph Stalin discarded it

• Five-Year Plans: taking over private farms for state-owned enterprises (collectivization) - really was totalitarianism

• Stalin industrialized the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) - relied on terror (secret police, bogus trials, assassinations)

The Great Depression

• War was expensive and Europe owed a lot of money to America (especially France and Germany)

• Money was based on credit, loans that would never be repaid = US stock market crash in 1929 leading to international catastrophe

• US and Germany hit the hardest - 1/3 of workforce unemployed, loss of trust in government = fascism

Fascism

• Main idea: destroy will of individual in favour of the people

• Wanted a unified society like communists, but did not eliminate private property or class distinctions

• Pushed for extreme nationalism - often on racial identity

• Fascism in Italy

  • First fascist state - founded by Benito Mussolini in 1919

  • Squad called Blackshirts fought socialist and communist organizations to win over factory and land owners

  • The Italian king named Mussolini Prime Minister

  • Faced very little opposition and took over Parliament in 1922

Rise of Hitler

• Revolt when German emperor was abdicated after WWI - a conservative democratic republic took over (Weimar Republic)

• Mussolini’s success in Italy was influencing Germany - Nationalist Socialist Party (Nazis) rose to power in 1920s

• People of Germany were rejecting Weimar Republic elected body the Reichstag due to economic crisis

• Adolf Hitler became head of Nazi Party - believed in extreme nationalism and superior race - believed the Aryan race was the most superior race

• By 1932, Nazis dominated German government and Hitler became leader of Reichstag in 1933

• Seized control of the government - his fascist rule is known as the Third Reich

Appeasement?

• Hitler began rebuilding military (against Treaty of Versailles) and withdrew Germany from League of Nations

• Spain was in turmoil after fall of Spanish monarchy - nationalist army under General Francisco Franco took control of large parts of Spain - established a dictatorship in Spain in 1939 with help from Germany and Italy

• Hitler continued restoring Germany: took back the Rhineland part of Germany, formed alliance with militant Japan, annexed Austria, given Sudetenland at Munich Conference of 1938 (Hitler, Mussolini, Neville Chamberlin of England) to cease his expansionist activities (appeasement) - did not work

• Hitler invaded rest of Czechoslovakia in 1939 and Italy invaded Albania in 1939

• Germans and Soviets signed a pact to stay out of each other’s countries (Nazi-Soviet Pact) and agreed to divide rest of Europe’s land between them

• Germany invaded Poland and Britain and France then declared war on Germany - start of WWII

Japan

• Became a world power when accepting an alliance with Britain in 1905

• Economy thrived after WWI until the Great Depression - Japanese militarists gained momentum

• Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and renamed in Manchukuo

• Withdrew from League of Nations and signed Anti-Comintern Pact (against communism) with Germany, beginning their alliance

• In 1937, began war on China which eventually merged into WWII

Review of WWII

• Hitler’s blitzkrieg technique destroyed everything in its path - by early 1940 Germany had control of Poland (half with USSR), Holland, Belgium, France

• Britain’s PM Winston Churchill did not give in to Germany’s pressures - even with German airstrikes from their more powerful airforce (Battle of Britain)

• Germany invaded Greece in 1941, breaking their deal with Soviet Union, so they invaded the Soviet Union too

• US didn’t want to get involved, but froze Japan’s assets in US to respond to their hostility - Japan entered Tripartite Pact with Rome and Berlin, making the war worldwide

  • in response to US sanctions, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in 1941 and declared war with US

• US began working on Manhattan Project: development of the atomic bomb

• 1943: US and Britain take control of Italy

• 1944: US, Britain, and Canada land on French beaches (D-day) and eventually liberate France

• 1945: Allied forces close in on Germany and end Europe war when Hitler commits suicide

• To end war in Pacific, US drops atomic bomb on city of Hiroshima in Japan - when Japan refused to surrender, they dropped another bomb on Nagasaki, causing them to surrender

The Consequences

The Holocaust

• Millions of Jews under German control were rounded up and killed in concentration camps to create the Aryan race

The Peace Settlement

• US and Soviet Union became superpowers and Germany and Japan forced to demilitarize

Europe Torn to Shreds

• US instituted Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe (only accepted by Western Europe nations) and rebuilt their economies in less than a decade

Decline of Colonialism

• War inspired native populations to rise against their oppressors

Big Changes for Women

• Women took over the workforce while men were fighting - after the war, many women kept their jobs

Creation of International Organizations

• United Nations, established in 1945, to prevent break out of another great war - goal was to mediate and intervene in international disputes

• UN published Universal Declaration of Human Rights in response to Holocaust

• World Bank, International Monetary Fund, General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs also formed to manage a global economy

Cold War

• US or Soviet Union did not want each other to spread its influence beyond their borders, so they were strategizing how to contain each other - lasting for the next 50 years

Unit 8: Cold War and Decolonization

Communism and the Cold War

• Cold War lasted from 1945 to early 90s

• US and Soviet Union tried to get the rest of the world to side with them

• An arms based race between - nuclear arsenals became large enough to wipe out the whole world

Power Grab

• Biggest conflict over future security - both wanted their worldview to dominate:

  • US: capitalism, democracy

  • USSR: communism/totalitarianism

• At conferences in Yalta and Potsdam in 1945, parts of Eastern Europe were divided among Allied forces - Soviet Union demanded control of its neighbouring states (Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria), which the US disagreed with

• 1948: French, US, British sections of Germany merged into one, while Eastern Germany was under Soviet control - they cut of access to Berlin from Western side (Berlin Blockade)

  • US flew in resources to trapped Western side (Berlin Airlift) until Soviets relented and split Berlin in half - built a wall on their side (Berlin Wall)

• East Vs. West

  • Europe was clearly divided in East and West

    • East: East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary = Soviet bloc

    • West: Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, West Germany, Greece, Turkey = Western bloc

  • Truman Doctrine (1947) said US would aid countries threatened by communism (containment) - Western bloc formed military alliance NATO for this

    • In response, Eastern bloc formed Warsaw Pact

  • Two alliances became heavily weaponized - line between them was called the Iron Curtain

  • Many countries were part of nonalignment - accepted investments from US and USSR but didn’t side with either

    • Helped many former colonies find cooperative economic relations

    • Bandung Conference (1955): leaders from Africa and Asia meet to discuss these partnerships - Non-Aligned Movement

China

• After fall of Manchu Dynasty in 1911, Sun Yat-sen led the Chinese Revolution of 1911 for China to become more Westernized and powerful

• Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the People: nationalism, socialism, democracy

• Established his own political party for his own goals - the Kuomintang (KMT)

• Chiang Kai-shek established KMT in 1920s while Japanese and Soviets also struggled to control China

• US helped drive Japan out, but communists and KMT continued to fight Chinese Civil War for next 4 years

• Communists recruited millions of peasants under Mao Zedong to drive KMT out of China into Taiwan (where they established Republic of China)

• Mainland China became People’s Republic of China and the largest communist nation in the world

• Taiwan and People’s Republic of China are still separated

• Mao Zedong

  • At first was successful in increasing China’s productivity and agriculture

  • Implemented Great Leap Forward by creating communes (local governments) to achieve a Marxist state - they couldn’t keep up with their agricultural quotas, so they lied about it causing starvation of over 30 million Chinese people

  • After withdraw of Soviet support, military became his focus and capitalism was implemented into economy - Mao didn’t like it

  • Mao’s Cultural Revolution: got rid of all Western influences to prevent privileged classes - universities shut down and most worked as farmers from 1960s to 70s

• Deng Xiaoping

  • New leader - focused on restructuring economy, reimplemented education

  • Free-market capitalism elements, property ownership, foreign relations - but still largely communist

  • Tiananmen Square Massacre: hundreds of protesters for democratic reform killed by government troops

Division of Korea - Korean War

• After WWII, was held half by Soviets and half by US until Korea could achieve stability

• Soviet communist regime in North Korea

• US democracy in South Korea

• North Korea attacked South Korea in 1950 to unite the two countries - United Nations, under General MacArthur, supported South Korea and China supported North Korea - armistice didn’t happen until 1953

• North Korea remains an isolated and dangerous nation today

Vietnam War

• After WWII, France attempt to hold on to colony of Indochina, but Vietminh nationalists fought back until it was agreed to split the nation into two

  • Communists - North under Ho Chi Minh

  • Democrats - South under Ngo Dinh Diem

• Soon war broke out between them - France and US supported South, but eventually the South was taken over by communist Viet Cong fighters, which looked very bad for US

Genocide in Cambodia

• Communism took over Cambodia and communist faction Khmer Rouge took over the government - goal to get rid of professional class an religious minorities led to 2 million deaths by the government

The Cuban Revolution

• US remained involved in Cuban affairs after Spanish-American War under Platt Amendment

• US supported the Batista Dictatorship from 1939 to 1959 until peasants began revolting in 1956 under leadership of Fidel Castro - led to Cuban Revolution in 1959

• Castro promoted democracy but immediately established a communist dictatorship instead, so the US imposed economic bans on trade with Cuba - strengthened Cuba’s ties with Soviets instead

• US organized Bay of Pigs Invasion with a small force of Cuban exiles, authorized by President Kennedy, to overthrow Castro - they were immediately captured

• In response, Soviets installed missiles in Cuba and when US found out, they established a navel blockade around the island - Cuban Missile Crisis

  • Soviets eventually backed down when US agreed to not invade Cuba - closest brush with nuclear war

Cold War Tensions and Democratization in Latin America

• US’s capitalistic destruction of resources in Latin America stirred radical political parties in Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Brazil - US was the imperialist “Good Neighbour”

• US distracted by wars and Cold War led to single-party rule in Mexico, brutal militaristic leaders in Argentina and Chile, and socialist democracies in Nicaragua and Guatemala

  • US focused on Nicaragua - ground for Bay of Pigs Invasion, targeting of Sandinista guerrillas in 80s

• Reliance on export economies has resulted in poor domestic economies and debt

• Only in 2000 did Mexico have first multi-party election - opposition, PAN party, won

Cold War Ends

• People in Eastern Europe, under communism, began to revolt over poor living conditions compared to the West, democracy, and self-determination in the 80s

Poland

• A Solidarity movement under Lech Walesa brought thousands of workers wanting reform of communist economic system

• Not until reform-minded Mieczyslaw Rakowski became the Prime Minister did Solidarity become legalized in 1989

• Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Solidarity member, became PM in first open elections

• Communism fell in 1990, Lech Walsea become president, and economy improved swiftly

German Reunification

• Decline of communism in Soviet bloc led to East Germany cutting ties with Soviets

• Berlin Wall was torn down in 1989 and East and West reunified

• Germany now focused on peace and economic reform instead of violence

The Soviet Union Collapses

• Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1986 and urged restructuring of Soviet economy - elements of private ownership instituted, nuclear arms treaties with US

• When Poland and other former Soviet nations separated from USSR, Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991

• Mostly peaceful, but ethnic cleansing occurred in the Balkans and many Muslims were murdered by Christian Serbians - led to UN troop involvement

• Most new countries formed constitutional democracies, Cold War was over, and US emerged as the world’s only superpowers

• Democracy and Authoritarian Rule in Russia

  • New Russia looked like a perfect federal state, but their abrupt intro to democracy and capitalism led to corruption, high unemployment, poverty, widespread crime

  • First president, Boris Yeltsin, had the challenge of reforming Russia

  • Yeltsin resigned in 1999 and former KGB agent Vladimir Putin became the head and has between the President and Prime Minister since then

    • Has caused significant unrest in relations with other nations

Independence Movements and Developments in Asia and Africa

Indian Subcontinent

• Indian National Congress, mostly Hindu, established in 1885 and Muslim League in 1906 to increase rights of Indians under colonial rule

• In 1919, Amritsar Massacre catapulted resistance - 319 Indians killed by the British during a peaceful protest

• Mohandas Gandhi became an important figure in resistance - philosophy of passive resistance (demonstrations, boycotts instead of violence)

• Hindu and Muslim groups disagreed while fighting for the same cause - Muslims pushed for their own nation called Pakistan

• Independence Won by India

  • Britain granted independence to India after WWII

  • Muslims and Hindus disagreed with how the independent nation should function - one group wanted unity between Hindus and Muslims, the other wanted to partition the subcontinent and form a separate Muslim nation (led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah)

  • British separated the subcontinent into three parts: India (Hindu), and Pakistan (Muslim) in two parts

  • Many died by religious persecution as they migrated across religious lines - created international conflict between Pakistan and India

Africa

• In 1910, South Africa established its own constitution, that was discriminatory to native Africans, and in 1912, the African National Congress was formed to oppose European colonialism

• in 1950s, independence movement across Africa grew and Gamal Nasser, general in Egyptian army, overthrew Egypt king and established a republic - inspired other Islamic nationalists along Mediterranean to also become independent

• Many Africans were undereducated and did not have skills to build productive, independent nations and European influence had caused major destruction in social dynamics

• Algeria fought war for independence against France from 1954-1962

• Nigeria and Ghana negotiated their freedom from Britain

• Kenya also negotiated constitution with Britain

• Angola and Belgian Congo overthrew colonial governments causing civil wars

• Zimbabwe was among last to establish majority African rule in 1980

• 53/54 of African nations belong to African Union - replaced Organization of African Unity

  • Still, Chad, Sudan, Uganda, Somalia, Rwanda, Congo continue to be wrecked by civil wars

• Rwanda

  • Conflict between Tutsi and Hutu groups (Tutsi, 15% of pop., governed the Hutu) caused ethnic strife, genocide, and human rights violations after colonial authorities left

  • Hutu revolted and killed as many as 800000 Tutsis over 100 days of genocide

• Apartheid in South Africa

  • Union of South Africa formed in 1910 combing British and Dutch colonies, the year after South Africa Act, completely excluded Black people from politics

    • 1923: segregation established and enforced

    • 1926: Black people banned from certain occupations

    • 1948: system of apartheid (racial separation) established - Black people forced into the worst parts of the country and city slums

  • Nelson Mandela became leader of African National Congress in 1950s determined to abolish apartheid

  • Sharpeville massacre: 67 protesters against apartheid killed - African National Congress then supported guerrilla warfare (resulted in Mandela being jailed in 1964)

  • Mandela was released in 1990 and apartheid crumbled - he was the first president elected in a free and open election

Middle East

• After WWI, France was put in charge of Syria and Lebanon, Britain in charge of Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq (Iran between Britain and Russia) - Arabia united itself as a Saudi Kingdom

• Creation of Modern Israel:

  • Many Jews left Israel region as Palestine became more and more Islamic

  • During WWI, Zionists (Jewish nationalists) convinced Arthur Balfour (Britain’s foreign secretary) to issue Balfour Declaration of 1917 - declared that Jewish people had right to live in Palestine, without displacing current Palestinians

  • Jews fleeing antisemitic mobs (pogroms) began flooding into Palestine, a lot more came during the 30s to escape Hitler

• Jewish Wait for a State Ends in 1948 - two Palestines, one for Jews and one for Muslims, officially created

  • As soon as David Ben-Gurion became first prime minister of Israel, Muslims attacked Israel (1948 Arab-Israeli War)

  • Israel fought back and eventually controlled most of Palestine, while Jordan held remaining portions (West Bank)

  • 1967 Six-Day War resulted in Israelis taking over all of Palestine - West Bank, Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip (Egypt), Golan Heights (Syria)

  • In 1977, Egypt recongized Israel’s right to exist when Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt signed the Camp David Accords - a huge blow to Palestinians (did not recognize West Bank in accords)

  • Since then, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), dedicated to reclaiming land and Palestinian state, has been unsuccessful in negotiating a homeland

  • In 2000, violence continued and Israel PM Ariel Sharon constructed a wall between Palestinian West Bank and Israel

  • In 2005, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas signed a cease-fire with Israel after previous president Yasser Arafat failed to do so

  • Intense division, military violence, and terrorism still exists between the groups and no advancements have been made

• Iranian Revolution

  • When Reza Shah Pahlavi rose to power and lead the shah in 1925 in Iran, Westernization was introduced to the nation

  • In 1960s, rights of women increased drastically which angered Islamic fundamentalists

  • President Jimmy Carter of US visited Iran to congratulate them on their modernization, which was the breaking point for fundamentalists - in 1979 Iranian Revolution ousted current shah and went back to a theocracy led by Ayatollah Khomeini

  • Human rights advancements were reversed and women went back to traditional roles - Qu’ran became basis of legal system

  • Iraq soon after invaded Iran over border disputes - Iraq received quiet support from US but still led to 8-year Iran-Iraq War

  • Power struggle still continues in Iran and American-led war that began in Iraq in 2003 complicated matters further

• Oil

  • Middle East was sitting on more than two-thirds of world’s oil reserves

  • Multinational corporations rushed to gain drilling rights in 20th century

  • Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, and Iraq started to earn billions annually, so they organized with some oil-exporting nations to form a petroleum cartel (OPEC) leading to more money and modernization

Unit 9: Globalization

International Terrorism and War

• After WWII, there was an increasing interest in maintaining international security - organizations like NATO, United Nations, International Criminal Court in The Hague (prosecutes war crimes), and NGOs (Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders) to provide international aid to those in need

• War in the Gulf

  • Iraq wanted to gain more control of oil reserves so they invaded Kuwait in 1990 under leadership of Saddam Hussein

  • United Nations sent forces to drive Iraqis out in early 1991 - now called Persian Gulf War

  • UN liberated Kuwait and put severe limitations on Iraq’s military and economic activity (although Hussein remained in power for another 10 years)

  • In 2003, coalition of countries, mostly US and Britain invaded Iraq to oust Hussein - Hussein was captured in December 2003 and a democratic government was formed in 2005

  • Despite conflicts and terrorism between Sunni, Shiites, and Kurds groups, a Kurdish president, Jalal Talabani and a Shia minister, Nouri ai-Maliki were elected, but they still have faced a number of challenges

• Taliban, Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden

  • In early 1980s, Soviets sent troops to Afghanistan under at request of Marxist military leader Nur Muhammad Taraki

  • Afghanis opposed communism and fought back until Soviets withdrew troops - left a power void that warring factions vied to fill

  • Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist regime, filled the void after 14 years of fighting

  • Provided a safe haven for Osama bin Laden, the Saudi leader of the international terrorist network Al Qaeda, who specifically despised the US

    • US:

      1. Supports Israel

      2. Had troops stationed in Saudi Arabia

      3. Is the primary agent of globalization believed to be infecting Islamic culture

  • On September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda attacked US by hijacking 4 US planes and flying 2 of them into the World Trade Centre in New York, 1 into the Pentagon, and 1 into a field in Pennsylvania - 3000 people died

    • US immediately declared a war on terrorism and invaded Afghanistan - the Taliban was removed from power and Osama bin Laden was killed, but Al Qaeda still survives

  • Many terror attacks linked to Islamic fundamentalists still occur throughout Europe and the Middle East

World Trade and Cultural Exchange

• End of Cold War and the Internet/technology resulted in a new and strong wave of global connection - last obstacle to true global interaction

• North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and European Union (EU) were created to unite global currency/trade further

• English became the language of global business and communication

• EU banded Europe into a single market to give US some competition in 90s

  • Has 3 branches: executive, legislative, judicial

  • Eurozone, a monetary union formed in 1999, included all but 3 nations (UK, Sweden, Denmark)

• Economies faltered again during the economic crisis in late 2000s - stronger economies like Germany were able to remain stable while over-extended economies collapsed badly

• Global Culture

  • Some significant examples of pop culture are:

    1. The Olympics

    2. World Cup Soccer

    3. Reggae Music

    4. Bollywood

    5. Social Media

    6. McDonald’s

• Rise of China and India

  • China had become a huge economic and industrial force in recent years - special economic zones developed to be exempt from communist rules and have since become worldwide production centres worth 100s of billions of dollars

    • Although, China has severely limited internet freedom and remains aged politically

  • India is one of the fastest growing economies - poor until the 90s, highly educated Indians brought the world of tech in Silicon Valley to India and made it a global hub for technology

  • Both are now nuclear powers with large military forces, but both also have serious problems with poverty and global emissions

• Global Alphabet Soup

  • General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GAFF) - later World Trade Organization - developed to reduce barriers on international trade - has 153 member states

  • Group of Six (G6): forum for world’s major industrialized democracies - original members US, Britain, West Germany, Italy, Japan, France

    • Become G7 in 1977 (Canada) and G8 in 1997 (Russia) but became G7 again after Russia’s involvement in Ukraine

    • G20 is separate - 20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors

Environmental Change

• Global integration has caused global environmental concerns

• Green revolution of 50s and 60s led to destructions of traditional landscapes, reduced species diversity, and social conflicts to produce inexpensive food

• Global warming is worsening at the fastest pace ever due to human activity - outcome is uncertain, but industrialized countries are not doing enough to limit their environmental damage

Global Health Crises

• Epidemics in countries with poor sanitation are still an issue - WHO (World Health Organization) works to combat them

• AIDS is a major crisis - 25% of African adults live with AIDS and treatment is expensive

• Global health issues highlight the global disparities as the disproportionately affect low-income individuals

Age of the Computer

• The personal computer was developed in the 1980s, followed by the Internet

• In the 1990s, computers became commonplace in homes

• Social Media has changed the way information spreads and has brought people closer together

• Internet has also been a method of government surveillance and storing of user data, which is considered by many a breech of privacy