Topic 3.1 European, East Asian and Gunpowder Empires Expand

• Gunpowder spread via trade routes - Silk Road, Trans-Saharan, Indian Ocean

• Gunpowder Empire refers to large firearms to conquer. (3 islamic states)

• Militaristic and yet, artistic and architectural legacies

• Armed trade was common in expanding empire

• Ottoman empire (sunni muslim) lasts for around 600 years and ends post WW1

• Mughal empire (sunni muslim) takes over delhi sultanate

• Safavid empire (shia muslim)

• Armed trade - trade with us or we will kill you

Europe

• 1450 signifies the end of the Medieval Period

• Gutenberg printing press gave way to an increase in literacy starting in Europe

• Several countries became powerful, wealthy nations

• New monarchies as a result of leaders wanting to centralize by controlling (England, France, Spain)

• Head ranking monarchists: Tudor  (england), Valois (france), Isabella and ferdinand (Spain)

Russia

• Pivotal position for trade

• Still tightly linked to Europe (all 3 capitals - Kiev, St. Petersburg and Moscow)

• Product of Mongol Influence and Viking invasions

• Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) took control of local khanates (Golden Horde)

• Expanded East to control fur trade, allowed Stroganovs (land owners) to hire Cossacks (peasant warriors) to fight local tribes and again access to the Volga River.

Russia Expands

• Control of the Volga River allowed them to access trade through the Caspian Sea and directly to Persia and the Ottoman Empire

• Continued moving east into Siberia

  • Defeated tribes

• Reached Pacific in 1639 (made their way to North America - Alaska 1741)

• Imperial Expansion relied on the increased use of:

  • Gunpowder

  • Cannons

  • Armed Trade

• Political and religious disputes lead to rivalries and conflict between states within Russia

East Asia

• Yuan Dynasty overthrown by the Ming Empire

• Ming Empire stabilized

• Portuguese and other Europeans arrived

• The Manchu from Manchuria seized power

  • Final Chinese Dynasty

• Japan and Korea experienced parallel developed

• Ming Dynasty expanded the size of China

  • Conquered Mongolia and Central Asia

    • Reconquered by Mongol armies in 1440

• Chinese leaders restored and expanded the Great Wall to help keep out invaders from the North

• Ming Dynasty ended in 1644

East Asia - Qing Dynasty

Emperor Qianlong (1736-1796)

• Poet, Knowledgeable in art and calligraphy

• China administration and tax collections at all time high

• Initiated military campaigns west of China

• Annexed Xinjian (Chinese Turkestan), mass killing of local populations

• Uighurs (We-gers), the Muslim population, never fully incorporated into rest of Chinese culture

• Installed Dalai Lama on the throne in Tibet

• Successful against Nepal

• Unsuccessful against Burma and Vietnam (SE Asia)

• Qing Dynasty sold limited trade privileges

  • European trade limited to Guangzhou (Cantol today) - not allowed to stay long term. Trading seasons

• Britain unsatisfied with limited trade

  • Emperor Qianlong told King George that China had no need for British goods

• Chinese bureaucracy became corrupt

• White Lotus War (1796-1804), led by peasants, sought to restore the Ming Dynasty

  • Qing government brutally suppressed the uprising

  • Marked the end of their golden age

• From 1300 to 1700, the “gunpowder empires” dominated parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia

Rise of Islamic Gunpowder Empires

• Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal Empires shared traits besides being Muslim

  • Descended from the Turks

  • Spoke a Turkish language

  • Filled power vacuums

  • Relied on gunpowder weapons

The Rule of Tamerlane - Timurid Empire

• Invasion of Central Asia and the Middle East by Mongol-Turkic ruler Tamerland (Timur the Lame). Overthrow the Il-Khanate

  • Set the stage of rise of Turkic empires

• Army partly composed of nomadic invaders from Eurasia

• Moved from Samarkand to ruthless conquest of Persia and India

• Ghazi Ideal - model for warrior life that blended cooperative values of nomadic culture with the willingness to serve as a holy fighter for Islam

  • Served as model for warriors in the Gunpowder Empires

The Rule of Tamerlane (Late 14th Century)

• Tamerlane’s violent takeover in Central Asia included massacre of some 100,000 Hindus in Delhi

• Tamerlane’s rule encouraged learning and the arts

  • Architecture in Samarkand still remains

• Used gunpowder to build military with heavy artillery

• Protected land routes of the Silk Road

• Failed to leave effected political structure in conquered areas

• Expenses of war ravaged the empire’s economy

• By 1507 all of his former empire is absorbed by the gunpowder empires

The Ottoman Empire

• By 1500, Ottoman Empire was extending

• The Ottoman Empire was the largest and most enduring Islamic empire of this period

• Founded by the Osma Dynasty in the 1300’s

• Lasted until its defeat in World War 1 in 1918

• Lasted for over 600 years

• Used the Millet System for smaller governments

• Millet System - an autonomous self-governing religious community organized by a religious leader that answers to the central government (to make sure they pay taxes)

Mehmed II (ruled 1451-1481 - took over from his father

• Established capital with conquests

  • Took over city through use of canon bombardment

    • Used 26 foot bronze cannons, 15-22 foot cannons

  • Changed city’s name from Constantinople to Istanbul

  • City used as a nexus of trade

    • Only water connection between the Aegean and Black Sea

• Strengthened the Ottoman navy to attack Italy (never conquered Venice)

• In the early 16th century, added lands in present day Syria, Israel, Egypt, and Algeria

• Istanbul became a center of learning after Mamluk declined

Suleiman I

• Ottoman Empire reached peak under Suleiman

The Safavids

• Originated in the Safavid order of Sufism in modern-day Northern Azerbaijan

• Military hero Isma’il conquered most of Persia and pushed into Iraq

  • Proclaimed Shah, equivalent of king or queen 1501

• Safavid Empire had two problems

  • No real navy

  • Lacked natural defenses

• Shah Abbas I, also called Abbas the Great (1588-1629) presided over height of Safavid Empire

  • Troops included Christian boys pressured into service (Devshirmv system)

  • Imported European weaponry and used European advice

• Shahs slowly came to control religion and politics

• Used Shia Islam as a unifying force

• Denied legitimacy of rule to any Sunni

  • Caused frequent hostilities with Sunni Ottoman Empire

  • Sunni-Shia hostility continues today in the region

• Conflict between Ottoman and Safavid Empires arose

  • Ottomans used trade embargoes

Women in the Safavid Empire

• Rarely mentioned in local histories

• Women permitted to participate in society

• Women veiled and movement was restricted

• Access to rights by Islamic law

  • Inheritance, divorce in extreme cases

Mughal India

• Founded by Babur, a descendent of Tamerlane, in the 1520’s

• 300 year dynasty in India

• Centralized government similar to Suleiman in Turkey

• Akbar, Babur’s grandson, oversaw one of the richest and best governed states in the world as the Mughal Empire

• Trade blows up under Akbar

• Overseas trade flourished

• Trade within empire conducted by merchant castes

• Castes or Jatis (sub-castes), are strict social groupings designated at birth

  • Four Categories: Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (Nobles and Warriors), Vaishyas (Merchants), Shudras (peasants)

  • Achoots, or Dalits, (aka untouchables) outside of the system

  • System is based for educational and work opportunities

• Taj Mahal

  • Built as a tomb

  • Good example of cultural diffusion

  • Known for its blending of Islamic and local Indian architecture

  • Tomb of Shah Jahan

Decline of the Gunpowder Empires

• Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires declined as Western European power grew

• Russia modernized and reorganized army

  • Modeled after England, France, and Netherlands

• Islamic Empires did not modernize

Decline of the Ottoman Empire

• Successors to Suleiman often held hostage to “harem politics”, the efforts of wives and concubines of the sultan to promote their own children to the throne

  • As a result, women became powerful behind the scenes

Decline of the Safavid

• Declined because of two things: lack of trade and military conflicts

Decline of the Mughal

• Emperor Aurangzeb (ruled 1658-1707) inherited weakened empire

  • Hoped to increase size of empire by bringing all India under Muslim rule

    • Drained empire’s treasury trying to expand to the South

• Unable to put down uprisings

  • Auranhzeb insisted on pious Islamic lifestyle and intolerance of other religions - Hindus, Sikhs, and others

  • Instability allowed British and French more economic power in India