APWH Unit 3 & 4

Exploration was often state funded but…

Chartered companies- private investors who developed colonies for Monopoly control and annual fees, like the Netherlands and England



  •  Motives- Gold, God, Glory



 Portugal



 Prince Henry the Navigator- founded a navigation school and funded exploration



Bartolomeu Dias- First around the southern tip of Africa



 Vasco da Gama- went all around Africa and made it to India



 Trading Post Empires- an attempt to control trade routes rather than territory or people

 lacked power and population



 Spain



 Christopher Columbus- get to Asia by sailing west, not around Africa

 Financed by Queen Isabella



 Ferdinand Magellan- the first known circumnavigation of the world



 Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494-

 The newly discovered land was divided

 West = Spain  East = Portugal

 Failed to regulate settlement



 Conquistadors- 

 the Spanish were successful because…

  1.  Superior military technology

  2.  help from n

  3.  immunity to diseases



 The Columbian Exchange- the transfer of people, animals, plants, and diseases between the New and Old Worlds

Changes from the Columbian Exchange- 

  • Lots of natives died from disease, Europe gained the potato and population increased, tobacco went to Europe, sugarcane came to America, leading to slavery, horses changed the balance of power among groups






Casta System- 




Encomienda System- gave encomenderos (Spanish settlers) rights to force natives to work in mines or fields. In return, the Spanish would Christianize and take care of the natives. 



Bartolome de las Casas- a Spanish priest, who wrote about Spanish brutality in the New World



Netherlands (Dutch-

The land they conquered was captured by the British in 1664



England- 

Colonists were mostly middle class, farmers, artisans, and indentured servants.

Limited intermarriage as they saw the natives as savages



France- 

There was some intermarriage and they had the best relationship with Native Americans

Seven Years’ War (1756-1753)- Britain vs France

Results: France lost Canada, England gained control of the East Coast



Russia- 

Why did they expand? 

  • Security concerns (similar to the Mongols)

  • Opportunity following the Little Ice Age in fur trade



Yasak- tribute paid to Russian state in either money or goods (fur)



Natives became “russified” by adopting the Russian language and converting to Christianity (Russian Orthodox Christianity)



The Russian Empire acquired land much differently than European countries at the time. Russia focused on conquering adjacent lands, whereas Europe focused on worldwide conquests. 



Ivan the Terrible- the first Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia

  • Spent his childhood fighting off the boyars, landowning nobles who were attempting to take his power

  • Seized all power at 16



Westernizing Russia- 

Peter the Great- took power with a goal of westernization; making Russia more like European countries

-Got a warm water port 



Overview- 

Serfs until the mid 1800s

Geographically isolated 



China- 

Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)- 

  • Used Confucianism to reestablish Chinese traditions like the civil service exam) 

  • Yongle seized power and moved the capital back to Beijing, enlarged the Forbidden City and funded the voyages of Zheng He



Admiral Zheng He- a Muslim Chinese explorer, voyaged throughout the Indian Ocean, but funds were cut and used for other Chinese projects like the Great Wall. 



  • Confucianism promoted an agrarian lifestyle; foreign contact would destabilize China



 Qing Dynasty-  

  • 2nd foreign ruled dynasty- Ruled by the Manchus

  • Men had to wear queues (braids) 

  • Manchus took powerful positions but kept Chinese traditions



The Canton System- European trade restricted to one coastal city, China taxed all goods strictly



White  Lotus Rebellion- 

There was anger over European influence

Qing suppressed the rebellion, but 100,000 were killed



Islamic Empires- Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal



Ottoman Empire- 

Ended 1,100 years of Byzantine rule during the Siege of Constantinople in 1453



Suleiman the Magnificent- 

  • Pushed into Christian Europe

  • Conquered Serbia and Hungary 

  • Spread Islam 



Devshirme (“gathering”)- 

Tax on Christian boys from the Balkans. The boys would be educated in Turkish, Islam, and military strategy. 

The top 10% would become government officials, and the rest would become soldiers. 



Janissaries- infantry (of slave origin) who were the army's elite. 

Led to some rebellions



Safavid Empire- 

Founder: Shah Ismail

Religion: Shi’a Islam

Current Iran



Ottoman- Safavid Conflict- 

Rivalry with Ottomans due to religious differences (Sunni vs Shi’a Islam) 

Ottoman artillery and janissaries were no match for the Safavids



Shah Abbas- 

Moved the capital to Isfahan

Modernized empire- 

  • Encouraged trade

  • Built bureaucracy

  • Expanded

  • Added janissaries



The Safavid empire was mainly a farming empire, but they exported many tapestries that were made by women and men. 



Siege of Isfahan- 

High military costs, inflation, and decline of trade weakened the state, which fell to Afghan invaders.