Unit 3, 4, and 5: Land-Based Empires, Transoceanic Interconnections, and Revolutions

Major European Developments and the Renaissance

After a period of approximately $300$ years of development, Europe emerged as the dominant world power. This transition was marked by significant revolutions in European thought and expression. By the $1300\text{s}$, Europe had been a Christian-dominated region for over a thousand years. However, as various countries began to unify and establish connections, particularly with nations that had preserved their historical records, Europe expanded its worldview. This expansion facilitated four major cultural movements. The Renaissance occurred as trade increased, leading to an influx of money and a migration of people into urban centers. This wealth was largely directed toward the study of the past. A primary philosophical shift during this time was Humanism, which is defined as a focus on personal accomplishment, happiness, and life on earth instead of the singular goal of salvation. While the concept of the afterlife remained dominant within the Catholic Church, the arts experienced a significant comeback because individuals could once again afford them. The Medici family famously served as patrons for Michelangelo and Brunelleschi. Artists of this era, such as Leonardo da Vinci and Donatello, shifted their focus toward realism. Furthermore, Western writers gained a wider audience due to the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-$1450\text{s}$. This invention made books affordable, easy to produce, and accessible to everyone, which led to a significant increase in literacy rates.

The Protestant Reformation and Religious Fragmentation

During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church was one of the most powerful organizations in the world, holding undisputed authority in both politics and society. The Church capitalized on its large following through the sale of indulgences, which were papers the faithful could purchase to reduce the amount of time a soul spent in purgatory. This exploitation led to increasing frustration among both nobles and peasants who observed the corrupt nature of the institution. Martin Luther, a German monk, published a list of complaints against the Church and proposed that salvation was granted directly through God rather than through the Church, an idea that significantly undermined the Church's influence. Consequently, Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther after he refused to recant his ideas. This led to a split in Christianity with the emergence of the Lutherans, who were followers of Luther that separated from the Catholic Church. Other movements followed, such as Calvinism, established by John Calvin, which centered on the doctrine of predestination—the belief that only a few people would be saved by God. This sect gained great influence in Scotland and France. In England, when the pope refused to annul King Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon because no male heir had been produced, the King declared himself the head of religious affairs and presided over the Church of England, also known as the Anglican Church. Additionally, the Jesuits, founded by Ignatius Loyola, emphasized that prayer and good works lead to salvation.

The Catholic Reformation and the Scientific Revolution

In the $16\text{th}$ century, the Catholic Church initiated the Catholic Reformation to remedy controversies and regain credibility while maintaining its authority. The Council of Trent was a key part of this effort, as it reinstated the authority of the pope, punished heretics, and reestablished Latin as the only language permitted for worship. Parallel to these religious shifts, the Scientific Revolution was driven by expanded education and world discoveries, though it also caused wars. The Copernican Revolution began with Nicolaus Copernicus, who discovered that the earth and other celestial bodies revolve around the sun and that the earth rotates on its axis. Galileo built upon and proved these theories but was forced to recant by the Catholic Church and placed under house arrest. This period marked a shift from relying on reasoning as the primary means of scientific truth to the modern scientific method, which involves theory, documentation, repetition, and experimentation by others. Notable contributors to this movement included Tycho Brahe, Francis Bacon, Johannes Kepler, and Sir Isaac Newton. These developments eventually led to the Industrial Revolution and caused many to reject the church, identifying as atheists, who believe no god exists, or deists, who believe God exists but remains passive. Deism became popular in the $1700\text{s}$, based on the belief that God created the earth but does not interfere in its workings.

Rivalry and Sovereignty in Spain and Portugal

Spain became a formidable power by supporting exploration and the expansion of Spanish language and culture, backed by a large naval fleet. Under the rule of Charles V, Spain controlled territories in France, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Spain, and the Americas. His son, Philip, continued the Spanish Inquisition to oust heretics. However, the Dutch Protestants under Spanish rule revolted to form the independent Netherlands. By the mid-$17\text{th}$ century, Spain lost significant wealth and was positioned for defeat by England and France. Portugal, meanwhile, focused its efforts on dominating coastal Africa, the Indian Ocean, and the Spice Islands, though they eventually lost control of these regions to the Dutch and the British.

The English Monarchy, Civil War, and the Glorious Revolution

In England, King Henry VIII never succeeded in producing a male heir, leading to his daughter Elizabeth I becoming Queen and ushering in the Elizabethan Age from $1558$ to $1603$. This golden age was characterized by expansion, exploration, and colonization in the New World. It saw the rise of the Muscovy Company and the British East India Company, the first joint-stock companies. Elizabeth was succeeded in $1607$ by James I, who brought England and Scotland under a single rulership, though his attempts at religious reforms for Catholics and Puritans failed. His successor, Charles I, signed the Petition of Rights in $1625$, which limited taxes and prohibited unlawful imprisonment, but he ignored these terms for the next $11$ years. In $1640$, the Scottish invaded England due to resentment toward Charles, leading to the session of the Long Parliament, which sat for $20$ years and limited monarchical powers. After Charles I tried to arrest members of Parliament, Parliament raised an army under Oliver Cromwell, defeated the king, and executed him. This began the English Commonwealth, with Cromwell serving as the first Lord Protector. Cromwell was widely resented for being intolerant of religion and violent against Catholics and the Irish. After his death, Parliament invited Charles II, the exiled son of Charles I, to reclaim the throne as a limited monarchy during the Stuart Restoration. Charles II agreed to the Habeas Corpus Act, which prevents arrests without due process. He was succeeded by James II, whose unpopularity and perceived desire to turn England into a Catholic country led Parliament to drive him from power during the Glorious Revolution. He was succeeded by his daughter Mary and her husband William, who signed the English Bill of Rights in $1689$.

The French Monarchy and the Bourbon Dynasty

France became unified and centralized under a strong monarchy following the Hundred Years' War, which lasted from $1337$ to $1453$. Although the nation was largely Catholic, French Protestants known as Huguenots emerged and engaged in conflict with Catholics. Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes in $1598$, creating an environment of religious tolerance; he was the first of the Bourbon kings who ruled until $1792$. Cardinal Richelieu, as chief advisor to the Bourbons, chose to compromise with Protestants and created a bureaucratic class known as the noblesse de la robe. He was succeeded by Cardinal Mazarin. Louis XIV, who reigned from $1642$ to $1715$, was known for his extreme self-importance. He condemned many Huguenots, never summoned French lawmakers, and appointed Jean Baptiste Colbert to manage royal funds. Under his rule, France was almost constantly at war to expand its empire. This included the War of Spanish Succession from $1701$ to $1714$, where England, the Roman Empire, and German princes united to prevent Louis's grandson from inheriting the Spanish throne and combining the two nations.

The Holy Roman Empire and the German States

The Holy Roman Empire, located in present-day Austria and Germany, was weakened by complex dynamics in rulership and religion. In the early $16\text{th}$ century, it lost parts of Hungary to the Ottoman Turks and was later devastated by the Thirty Years' War from $1618$ to $1648$. Despite this, German states began gaining power by the $18\text{th}$ century. The Peace of Augsburg in $1555$ was intended to end conflicts between Catholics and Protestants. However, the Thirty Years' War began when Protestants in Bohemia challenged Catholics, resulting in a highly destructive conflict. The war concluded with the Peace of Westphalia in $1648$, where German states affirmed their commitment to peace.

The Emergence of the Russian Empire

In the late $15\text{th}$ century, Russian leaders overthrew the reigning Mongols, and Moscow became the center of Orthodox Christianity. Ivan III refused to pay tribute to the Mongols and declared Russia's independence. He and his successor, Ivan IV, recruited peasants by offering them freedom from their feudal lords, the boyars, if they conquered their own land. Ivan IV, known as Ivan the Terrible, was a strong but feared leader who executed many he perceived as threats to his power. Following his death without an heir, Russia entered the Time of Troubles from $1604$ to $1613$, a period of relative chaos. Michael Romanov was eventually elected by feudal lords, beginning the Romanov dynasty that consolidated power and ruled ruthlessly until $1917$. Peter the Great, who ruled from $1682$ to $1725$, focused on westernizing Russia. He was followed later by Catherine the Great, who ruled from $1762$ to $1796$. While Catherine promoted education and Western culture, she considered the conditions of the serfs to be of no importance.

The Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottoman and Mughal

The Ottoman Empire, founded by Osman Bey as the Mongol Empire fell, preceded the year $1450$. In $1453$, the Ottomans invaded Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire and renaming the city Istanbul. As an Islamic empire, they solidified control over territories spanning from Greece to Persia and across the Mediterranean into Egypt and Northern Africa. They utilized a system called timars, where land was given to aristocrats for control. They also practiced devshirme, the enslavement of Christian children who were trained as warriors called Janissaries. Selim I became ruler in $1512$, expanding the empire and making Istanbul the center of Islamic civilization. Suleiman I followed in $1520$, fostering a golden age of military and arts until $1566$. While they took parts of Hungary, they failed to capture Vienna. In India, Babur, a Mongol leader, invaded in $1526$ to establish the Mughal Empire, which dominated for the next $300$ years. His successor Akbar, reigning from $1556$ to $1605$, united the subcontinent through religious toleration and granted Muslim landowners, or zamindars, the power to tax. This golden age of art and thought saw Hindus and Muslims living side-by-side, and under Shah Jahan, the Taj Mahal was constructed. However, the emperor Aurangzeb ended religious toleration and persecuted Hindus while waging war to conquer the rest of India. Europeans arrived in the early $17\text{th}$ century for trade, but Britain did not become an imperial superpower in the region until after $1750$.

African Kingdoms and Resistance to Colonization

Beginning in the $10\text{th}$ century, trade wealth led to the rise of powerful kingdoms like Songhai, Kongo, and Angola. Songhai was an Islamic state ruled by Sunni Ali from $1464$ to $1493$, who established a navy, a central administration, and financed Timbuktu before the state fell to Moroccans. The Asanti Empire arose in $1670$ and successfully avoided invasion while expanding its territory. In Kongo, King Alfonso I converted his people to Catholicism, but the kingdom was mostly destroyed by its former ally, Portugal. Angola was established by the Portuguese around $1575$ for the slave trade, but Queen Nzinga famously resisted Portuguese control for $40$ years.

Isolationism in Asian Empires: China and Japan

In China, the Ming Dynasty was restored in $1368$ after the expulsion of the Mongols and lasted until $1644$. During the early $15\text{th}$ century, Zheng He, a famous navigator, led huge fleets to explore Asia and the Indian Ocean. Eventually, the economy failed due to silver currency inflation, $17\text{th}$-century famines, and peasant revolts. Qing warriors, originally invited to assist the Ming, instead ousted the emperor in $1644$. The Qing, or Manchus, ruled until $1911$. As they were not ethnically Chinese, they affirmed their legitimacy through imperial portraits featuring Chinese historical items. Kangxi, ruling from $1661$ to $1722$, conquered Taiwan, Mongolia, Central Asia, and Tibet. Qianlong, reigning from $1735$ to $1796$, conquered Vietnam, Burma, and Nepal. Both were Confucian scholars who protected Chinese culture by limiting interaction with foreign nations. In Japan, Shoguns ruled during the $16\text{th}$ century, but the arrival of Christian missionaries and Jesuit control of Nagasaki led to westernization concerns. Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa Shogunate, or Edo period, from $1600$ to $1868$, moving the capital to Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and instituting a rigid social class model. The National Seclusion Policy of $1635$ prohibited Japanese citizens from traveling abroad and barred most foreigners. During this period, Japanese culture thrived with the rise of haiku poetry and Kabuki theatre.

Global Patterns of Resistance and Rebellion

Significant rebellions occurred in the $17\text{th}$ and $18\text{th}$ centuries against various powers. Ana Nzinga resisted Portuguese colonizers in the Kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba from $1641$ to $1671$. In modern-day Ukraine, the Cossack Revolts of the $17\text{th}$ and $18\text{th}$ centuries resisted the Russian Empire, though they were eventually defeated. The Haitian Slave Rebellion from $1791$ to $1804$ resulted in Haiti's independence from France. In India, the Maratha resisted the Mughal Empire from $1680$ to $1707$, eventually defeating them to start the Maratha Empire. Maroon societies in the Caribbean and Brazil resisted slave owners throughout the $17\text{th}$ and $18\text{th}$ centuries. In North America, Metacom's War from $1675$ to $1678$ saw resistance against British colonists over unfair trade, and the Pueblo Revolts of $1680$ resisted Spanish colonizers and the encomienda system, though the victory was temporary.

Transoceanic Interconnections and European Expansion

Portugal and Spain controlled major shipping routes in the Indian Ocean, Indonesia, and the Atlantic. Prince Henry the Navigator and Vasco da Gama, who explored eastern Africa and India, were financed by Portugal. Spain financed Christopher Columbus to explore the Americas. In $1494$, the Treaty of Tordesillas was signed, splitting colonized land between Spain and Portugal. Influential explorers of this era included Amerigo Vespucci ($1500$), Ponce de Leon ($1513$), Vasco de Balboa ($1513$), Ferdinand Magellan ($1519$), Giovanni da Verrazzano ($1524$), Sir Francis Drake ($1578$), John Cabot ($1497$), and Henry Hudson ($1609$). Several inventions aided these explorations, including the sternpost rudder (invented in China), lateen sails (invented in the Roman Empire), the astrolabe for determining latitude, the magnetic compass (developed in China), and Three-Masted Caravels fit for long journeys.

Conquest, Disease, and Colonial Society

Spanish explorers Hernando Cortés and Francisco Pizarro found great wealth in the Aztec and Inca Empires. Cortés landed in Mexico in $1519$, seizing Montezuma and Tenochtitlan with the help of neighboring states. Disease was the ultimate weapon; smallpox reduced the Aztec population from $20$ million in $1520$ to $2$ million in $1580$. Pizarro took control of the Inca Empire by $1535$ using similar means. The Spanish implemented a hierarchical colonial society: Peninsulares (Spanish governing officials), Creoles (Spanish born in colonies), Mestizos (European/Native American ancestry), Mulattos (European/African ancestry), and Native Americans. Viceroys governed the five regions of New Spain and established the encomienda system of forced labor for natives and African slaves.

The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Columbian Exchange

Europeans exploited existing African slavery systems, but unlike the original systems where prisoners were released, Europeans kidnapped and forced Africans into perpetual labor. Approximately $13$ million Africans were taken, with $60\%$ going to South America, $35\%$ to the Caribbean, and $5\%$ to North America. Roughly $20\%$ of those on the brutal Middle Passage died. The Columbian Exchange involved the transatlantic transfer of animals, plants, diseases, people, and technology. This led to population increases in Europe, Asia, and Africa due to new food products. Key products included sugar and silver, both of which relied on forced labor. Spanish silver control allowed for trade with Ming China. The Commercial Revolution saw the rise of banking, joint-stock companies like the Muscovy Company and Dutch East India Company, and the theory of mercantilism, which emphasized a favorable balance of trade and intense colonialism.

The Enlightenment and the Social Contract

In the $17\text{th}$ and $18\text{th}$ centuries, the Enlightenment explored the relationship between humankind and government. This period challenged the concept of Divine Right, where monarchs believed they were ordained by God to rule. This was similar to the Mandate of Heaven in China, though the latter required just rule. Enlightenment thinkers proposed the Social Contract, suggesting that governments were formed to meet social and economic needs rather than by divine decree. Philosophers of the age specifically began addressing these issues of authority and human rights.