Download Key Concept 4.1 Globalizing Networks of Communication and

Key Concept 4.1 Globalizing
Networks of Communication and
Exchange
 Describe the degree of
global “interconnection” after
1500 CE compared to before
1500. What were the overall
effects of this change in
global interconnectedness?
This is meant to be a general
answer here.

How did the global trade
network after 1500 affect the
pre-existing regional trade
networks?

What technological
developments made
transoceanic European travel
and trade possible? Where
did those developments
originate?
Answer
Concepts & Relevant Factual Examples in underline
Before 1500 CE, the world wasn’t fully “global” yet, in that the two halves of the world
never had any lasting contact or influence on each other. The “Old World” of AfroEurasia and the “New World” of the Americas were separate. There had been some
contact, since the Vikings had voyaged to North America (they named it “Vinland”),
but this was not very extensive, and the small Viking presence in North America soon
faded. After 1500 CE, the New World and Old World were permanently brought
together when Europeans rediscovered the Americas with a lasting impact upon the
peoples of both the Old World and the New World. In addition to this, since
innovations in technology had given Europeans the ability to travel further than they
ever had before, they could also be connected to other remote regions such as the Indian
Ocean region. The degree of global interconnection was upgraded, and this new contact
led to more trade, greater contact with different ideas, and the rise of a new world
socioeconomic order including the establishment of colonies that intensified as time
went on. New organisms went to different parts of the globe in the Columbian
Exchange. These organisms, as well as the developing New World Order, could have
both auspicious and detrimental effects on the people of the world. Ultimately, the
Europeans arose as a dominant power in world affairs.
Trade in many regional trade networks intensified during this period. Europeans
entered and took some limited control over the Indian Ocean trading network. When
Da Gama got to India on his voyage, he had to bring back goods as convincing evidence
of his success, but he didn’t have any goods that the Indians wanted. He ended up using
military force to get them to trade with him, and this opened the door to early
colonialism. This didn’t really affect many features of trade, though. The same goods
were traded regionally, usually in the same manner, though European contact in areas
such as the Indian Ocean region eventually led to the development of colonies and
imperialism. The focus gradually shifted from land routes to maritime trade as
maritime trade had a greater and greater significance in world economics. Land routes
such as the Silk Roads decreased in importance. The Mediterranean Sea and TransSaharan route remained important.
Several innovations in technology helped make long distance sea travel and trade
possible for Europeans. Some of these were innovations in their own ships. They often
built upon previous knowledge. Portugal made important advancements in ship
construction with the caravel and the galleon. Ships became faster, more maneuverable,
and more seaworthy, as well as more able to support heavy mounted weaponry for
defense. Maps were also improved, becoming more precise and accurate. A lot of new
borrowed technology helped them in the field of navigation. Navigational instruments
such as the compass and astrolabe, an instrument allowing navigation by the stars,
allowed for further long distance travel. The compass originated in the East, from
“Facts”




Indian Ocean
Mediterranean
Trans-Saharan
Silk Road

Maps, navigational
instruments, ship
building?
China or the Muslim Empire. Through trade, this technology spread to Europe.

Discuss the major notable
trans-oceanic voyages
between 1450-1750.
Admiral Zheng He was a key figure in China’s short period of involvement in transoceanic trade. During the early Ming dynasty, he led large fleets of Junks, tremendously
large Chinese treasure ships, on very extensive trade expeditions to demonstrate
Chinese power and superiority. On these voyages, China, which usually had little
interest in foreign affairs, made direct trade contact with people in other regions. They
sailed all over the Indian Ocean region, even trading valuable Chinese goods directly
with people in the Swahili coast cities of East Africa. China could have had an
immensely powerful influence in global trade. If the Chinese had rounded the tip of
Africa and made it to the Atlantic it could have drastically changed the picture of world
history. However, this was not the case. Financial issues back home made building
humongous treasure ships and organizing large trading expeditions a lesser priority than
strengthening wall defenses and pushing the Mongols back. Many Chinese, with the
“middle kingdom” ideology, did not see foreign involvement and trade as a worthy
expenditure. So, the Chinese soon pulled out of extensive global trade, and the voyages
stopped.
Prince Henry the Navigator was a notable patron of Portuguese exploration. He
sponsored numerous voyages down the west coast of Africa, and founded several
schools of navigation. The perseverance of these voyages and schools made great
headway in the charting of Africa’s coast.
Bartolomeu Dias, a Portuguese explorer, was the first European to round the Cape of
Good Hope at the tip of Africa.
Vasco da Gama’s voyage to the Indian Ocean was one of the first naval expeditions
from Europe to India. Using routes discovered by previous pioneers, especially Dias,
and the help of an Indian pilot, they went down the coast of Africa, rounded the tip, and
went across the Indian Ocean to land in Calicut. The efforts of da Gama and Dias
opened up a valuable route of trade and communication.
Christopher Columbus set out to sail for Spain in 1492 and sailed across the Atlantic,
believing that he would go right around the world and discover a successful new trade
route to the spice-wealthy East Indies. However, he inadvertently discovered the
Caribbean instead, and brought the Americas into lasting contact with Afro-Eurasia.
Ferdinand Magellan organized the first expedition that circumnavigated the globe. He
didn’t survive the voyage, but it proved that without a doubt the world was round, and
opened up new possibilities for trade.

What originally motivated
Europeans to travel across
the northern Atlantic?
Europeans were originally motivated to travel across the northern Atlantic by the
possibility of a Northwest Passage for trade through the Arctic Ocean. If a Northwest
Passage could be found, accessing the Indian Ocean trading network would be easier.
The British and the French led many expeditions into the Northern Atlantic, the French
being the first, reaching Canada in 1534. Cod was a highly desired fish, and fishing


Zheng He
Prince Henry,
Dias, and da Gama

Columbus

Magellan

Northwest
Passage

Cod?
grounds were found in the northern Atlantic.

What areas of the world were Oceania was still mostly left out of the global trade network in this period, and
largely unaffected by the new involvement in Polynesia was limited. These regions include present-day Hawaii, Easter
Island, New Zealand, and Australia.
global connections during
this period?

What new financial and
monetary means made the
new scale(s) of trade
possible? What previously
established scale(s) of trade
continued? a more general
answer here
Joint stock companies, invented by the Dutch, allowed the degree of financial risk taken
in sponsoring a sea voyage to be lessened. It was essentially multiple investments for a
sea voyage. This helped encourage trade and helped enable the volume of trade to
increase. Joint stock companies were often given royal charters by the monarchy of
their homeland for favorable trade conditions over specific regions. They had the right
to coin money and raise armies in the areas they were designated.
Intense trade continued in the Indian Ocean region. Previously established trading
markets also remained, including the Hanseatic League in the Baltic Sea.

Describe the overall trade
role of European merchants
c. 1450-1750.
European merchants didn’t have many new goods of their own to contribute to the
world market. They just tended to be middlemen, transporting goods from one region
to another. They also established colonies at times and established joint stock
companies.


Silver was found in large amounts at Potosi in Argentina by the Spanish, as well as in
What role did silver play in
facilitating a truly global scale other areas of the New World. Exploiting the natives for mining labor, this silver was
taken out of the ground and shipped off to the Old World where it became used as a
of trade?
currency. Silver was an official currency in China, and peasants had been ordered to
start paying their taxes in silver rather than with other goods, so it was in high desire
there. On the Western end, in Europe, spices and other Chinese goods were highly
desired, and silver was in a humongous supply from the Americas, so they ended up
paying for it in silver, causing a perpetual departure of silver from Spain as goods were
imported from the East. It flowed from Spain to other parts of Europe, across the Silk
Roads and other areas of trade, and eventually to China, where it stayed and did not
circulate. There was skyrocketing inflation in Spain due to the large supply of silver,
even though it went out of Spain quickly. Silver also helped pull Japan into the
economy, since it had silver mines.
What new mercantilist
financial means develop to
facilitate global trade?
Mercantilism developed as a dominant financial theory in this period. The key idea of
mercantilism was to import less and export more while sponsoring domestic
productivity, and the economy was supposed to be regulated to make this happen. It
encouraged countries to acquire colonies for its economic sake, and encouraged trade to
be regulated in these colonies to help develop monopolies on certain goods and block

royal charters—
joint stock companies

Potosi

mercantilism,

Dutch and British
East India Companies
competing countries from getting any form of advantage. This facilitated colonialism
and imperialism. Joint Stock Companies such as the Dutch and British East India
Companies regulated and facilitated trade in the regions they were responsible for,
separate from the government. This helped the flow of the global economy.

What were the economic and
social effects of the Atlantic
trading system?

What were the effects of the
Columbian Exchange?
The unintentional biological
effects?
The transfer of foods/animals
to new geographic regions?
Discuss “new” world to “old”
The Atlantic trading system connected the Old World and the New World
economically. Sugar, tobacco, and other cash crops were in high demand in Europe.
This led to the development of large plantations to mass produce these products. Sugar
plantations were common in Brazil and the Caribbean Islands. The tasks that needed to
be performed to create these goods were very labor-intensive, but in the Americas, a
large amount of the native population had been wiped out by disease. There was not
enough labor from the native population to keep these plantations running, so the
Europeans used the labor of slaves they obtained from Africa. As the sugar industry
and the industries of the other cash crops grew in importance, more and more labor was
needed to fit the supply with the growing demand. Massive amounts of slaves were
shipped to the Americas over the Atlantic ocean in a horrific journey known as the
Middle Passage. This forced migration was a major aspect of the Atlantic trading
system, and specifically the Slave Trade. In the Americas, new social designations and
hierarchies based on race and ancestry formed. As intermingling happened, Mestizos,
who were half-Indian, were joined by Mulattoes, who were half-African. Also, since
there weren’t as many female slaves brought over to the Americas, intermingling often
occurred between male slaves and females from the native population. Usually, the
people with the “purest” European ancestry were on top of the hierarchy. Creoles were
people who were born in the Americas, but the children of Europeans. In West Africa,
since many of the young, strong men had been enslaved and sent to the Americas, there
was often a higher proportion of women to men. This led to an increase in polygamy in
some areas. Also, on the coasts, as the slave trade kicked in, Africans were often
intensely involved, economically, because they were in charge of supplying slaves to
Europeans. Slaves became a chief export in the region.
The Columbian Exchange had an extremely long lasting impact on the world. One of
the most prominent of these was the spread of disease, leading to demographic
catastrophes. The Old World and New World, separate for thousands of years, had
different diseases. The people from each region had developed immunity to their own,
endemic diseases, but not to foreign diseases. This led to disastrous effects when
Europeans brought smallpox and measles to the New World. These diseases killed a
vast amount of the local population of the Americas, at times even 90%, since they had
never encountered the disease before and had not developed any immune resistance to
it.
One major feature of the Columbian Exchange was the transfer of foods and animals to
new geographic regions. Crops such as potatoes, maize, and manioc from the New
World went to the Old World and greatly enriched nutrition and agriculture. For

Migrations
including the TransAtlantic slave trade

Smallpox, measles

Potatoes,maize,
manioc

Okra

Sugar

Horses, cattle
AND “old” world to “new”

What effects did American
food crops have on the diet
of Afro-Eurasians…and what
demographic impact
ultimately? Why?
example, potatoes, when they came to Afro-Eurasia, were hardier and more productive
than the existing staple crops. They had a higher yield, and brought better nutrients to
the people. This lead to a large population increase in the Old World. Maize and the
sweet potato were very effective in China. Okra was introduced to the New World from
the Old World. Sugar was brought to the New World from the Old World, and could be
cultivated very efficiently and profitably; the increasing demand for sugar had a large
impact on the economies of both the Old and the New World. Animals were also a
large part of the Columbian Exchange. Prior to the Columbian exchange, the Americas
had almost no domesticated livestock. As settlers came from Europe to the Americas,
they brought horses and cattle with them. The Old world got Turkeys and Guinea Pigs
from the New World.

How did the actions of
European settlers in the
Americas affect the region
environmentally?
When European settlers came to the Americas, they started to impact the region
environmentally. Their need for wood and farmland led them to cut down a large part
of the native forests, and their methods of agriculture led to soil depletion. Earthworms
and red marsh worms were brought to America as a result of the English trading
tobacco for soil. They took all the nutrients in the soil. Plantation farming and livestock
took up massive amounts of land. The exploitation of natural resources such as silver in
mining also had degrading effects on the environment. Deforestation also occurred due
to Spanish cutting down trees to make pastures for cattle and accelerated when areas for
plantations and mines were needed.

How did the Columbian
Exchange affect the spread
of religions?
During the Columbian Exchange, the spread of religion was facilitated by the greater
contact and communication between the two hemispheres. Specifically, it was mostly
Europeans spreading Christianity to the Americas because they had missionaries. The
Jesuits went around as Eurpeans went and exchanged goods, Jesuits would try to
convert people with their top down policy. They tried to convert the leader first,
figuring that it would trickle down to the general population. They founded a lot of
schools and shared knowledge in the conversion process. There were even Jesuit
schools in Japan before the Tokugawa Shogunate cut of most contact with Europeans.
Catholics and Protestants completed for converts on the new frontiers of European
exploration. Syncretism also aided the spread of religion because it allowed for greater
leniency for the customs and ideas of the native people to exist alongside the newer
belief system. This made conversion easier. One kind of exception involves the slave
trade and all the Africans exported to the New World; they also brought their customs
and religion, too. Vodun and Candomble are two such African religions that adapted to
conditions in the New World. Another example of how local beliefs were incorporated
into Christianity as it spread was in Latin America with the cults of saints.

Overall—where did the
“universal” religions of
Islam had done most of its spreading by the time of Period 4, but under the Gunpowder
Empires, especially the Ottoman Empire, there was further conversion to Islam. An

pigs


Turkeys, guinea
Deforestation
Soil depletion

Christian
missionaries

Jesuits

Vodun,
Candomble

syncretism


Buddhism, Christianity, and
Islam spread in this period?
example of this is the strongly recommended conversion of the Janissaries. Similarly,
Buddhism didn’t do much more spreading except within Asia. Buddhism spread more
along the Silk Road during the Post Classical Period, centuries before Period 4. But
Christianity swelled dramatically in the Americas and Southeast Asia.
What other syncretic religion
developed during this
period—why?
What major developments
occurred in the arts during
the period?
Sikhism developed in the northwestern region of India as a blend of Islam and
Hinduism. It is a monotheistic religion that developed as a result of the long ages of the
religions existing side-by-side in Mughal India.
The Renaissance was a blossoming revolution in the arts in Western Europe. More
people broke away from the stiff figures of the Middle Ages and started experimenting
with Greco-Roman styles and other innovations like realism, perspective and
chiaroscuro. They tried to paint things in a more lifelike way. Artists like Da Vinci,
Michelangelo, and Shakespeare were three great names of the Renaissance. Artists also
experimented with more secular themes compared to the Medieval Period when subjects
were almost exclusively religious. This demonstrated a shift from a focus on getting
into the afterlife towards a greater focus on humanism, focusing rather on living this
life. This period was the beginning of the humanist movement, started by Petrarch,
which influenced art, architecture, and science. Renaissance artists started signing their
work. This all was helped by an increase in the state sponsorship of the arts—funded by
increasing tax revenues from prosperous trade. It happened first in Italy then in other
parts of Europe, this spread was called the Northern Renaissance.
Other developments included:
 Griots, legends, and oral histories in Africa. The African Sundiata legend was
passed down orally during these years. Sundiata, or the Lion Prince, was the
brilliant founder of Mali who influenced culture.
 Kabuki is a type Japanese theatre that prospered in the Pre-Modern period.
 Shakespeare wrote his famous plays in England.
 Cervantes the Spanish writer wrote Don Quixote, one of the first European
novels.
 Mesoamerican codices were created as a type of writing, and reveal a lot about
Aztec culture and religious practices.
 State sponsorship of the arts in Mughal India under Akbar the Great. There was
a school of miniature painting in Mughal India, dedicated to the creation of
small, meticulous paintings, which was state-sponsored.
 Japanese woodblock moveable type for printing books.

How did public literacy as
well as literary and artistic
forms of expression develop
during this period?
The printing press was invented at the beginning of this period. This meant that books
were less expensive and available to a wider section of the public, which majorly
increased literacy. Many Christians learned to read so they could read the bible. As
people got more interested in reading, people also got more interested in writing and

Sikhism

Renaissance

Mughal miniatures

Japanese
woodblock prints

Post-Conquest
codices in Mesoamerica

Shakespeare,
Cervantes, Sundiata,
kabuki
there were more authors, poets, and playwrights.
Key Concept 4.2 New Forms
of Social Organization and
Modes of Production
 How and where did peasant
labor intensify during the
period?


Discuss the labor system of
slavery in Africa during this
period. Traditional slavery in
Africa as well as exports of
slaves—what were the
patterns of the exportation of
slaves during this period?
How did labor systems
develop in the colonial
Americas throughout this
period?
Pay attention to
chronological development
here
Answer
Concepts & Relevant Factual Examples in underline
Before, agriculture was primarily for subsistence. In this period, commercial
agriculture started to develop. Expansion of agriculture supported population growth
during this time period. Farms often became larger to feed the people who moved into
more populous areas. On the Siberian frontier in Russia, there was also a great increase
in peasant agricultural area, as Cossacks spread east and created settlements. Silk
production in China and cotton production in India also intensified in peasant labor.
Due to the global flow of silver causing inflation in China, peasant labor intensified
because they had to work harder to get silver which was required to pay taxes.
” Facts “
 Trans-Saharan
 West/Central Africa
 East Africa
Slavery had been a labor system in Africa for ages. Ethnic rivalries often led to war
which led to conquest where the defeated were often enslaved. The slave trade to the
Americas started during this period when there was a higher need for labor to support
population growth in the New World. African slaves were immune to most of the
diseases that decimated the native Indian population; this increased the demand for
imported slaves. In Africa, slaves were often just used as domestic servants. In the
Atlantic slave trade, they were used as manual laborers on massive plantations.
 In the Trans-Saharan network, slaves were brought up through Africa to the
Mediterranean Sea trade networks.
 West/Central Africa—slaves in this region often went to the Atlantic coast to be
traded for guns and other goods from the Europeans.
 East Africa—There was also a slave trade in East Africa that connected to the Indian
Ocean trading network.
Initially, when Europeans came to Latin America, they started out using the encomienda
system where conquistadores and settlers were given grants of land and native laborers.
Haciendas were estates with extra emphasis on commercial agriculture and used once
the encomienda system fell. The mit’a system came next as gradually over time the
tribes and groups of Latin America gained a little more economic independence. In this
mit’a system, Europeans borrowed from a labor system that the native Latin Americans
had before the Europeans came. There was a set amount of labor they desired. So you
could have more people do the work for a shorter amount of time or vice versa. The
mit’a system was still coerced labor but to a lesser extent than an outright serfdom.
Then, as more economic independence developed with time, bands of laborers would be
hired by the Europeans in a wage labor system.
In North America, many Europeans came to the New World by trading themselves into
indentured servitude, which was usually a fixed number of years of unpaid labor in
exchange for something such as a passage to the Americas. This was the only way
many immigrants could afford the passage.
The great cotton plantations of the South used slave labor and developed a plantation




encomienda
hacienda
wage labor
mit’a

indentured servitude
(the first round)

chattel slavery

How did the post-1450 economic
order affect the social,
economic, and political elites?
See below
Who were NEW elites? How
did they become so?
How did the pre-existing
elites react to changes?
economy totally dependent on free labor similar to those of Brazil and the Caribbean.
Chattel slavery is the type of slavery we tend think of first, where slaves were
considered to be the property of their owners.
The merchant class started to rise in status during this time since they were prospering
from increased trade. This was especially true in port cities like Venice and Genoa.
Merchant leaders in these wealthy trading cities would often replace the aristocracy and
assume their power and influence. Merchants gained more sway on the monarchs.
Previously, in feudal times, nobles even though they were vassals, still held the real
power. Monarchs in general started to consolidate their power and the balance shifted
away from the noble class.
 Urban commercial
entrepreneurs in
trading cities
Many new elites took power due to political conquest and new economic opportunity.
The Manchus took over the Ming Dynasty in China and climbed to the top of the social
hierarchy. When they took power they changed the social hierarchy. Originally, the
ethnic Chinese had been on top. The Creoles were direct descendants of those who had
come to Latin America from Spain and Portugal. They gained significant power
through the wealth of their large plantations and formed a new economic and social
elite.
 Manchus in China
 Creoles in Latin
America
Many of the former elite wanted to retain power and tradition, so they often tried to
resist many of the changes that were taking place or being imposed upon them by
political leaders. Zamindars were the ruling aristocracy in Mughal India who were tax
collectors as well as landowners. Because there was hostility between them and the
new Mughal political elite, the zamindars rebelled frequently. The Daimyo were the
feudal hereditary warlord class in Japan. The Daimyo were somewhat unified under the
Tokugawa Shogunate, and when became less politically fragmented. They were also a
source of dissent, and caused trouble. The old nobility in Europe also resisted change.
 Zamindars in the
Mughal empire,
Daimyo in Japan,
nobles in Europe
Discuss notable gender and
family restructuring during
the period.
During this period, there began to be far more female political rulers than before. A
prominent example would be Queen Elizabeth of England. Family size in Europe
decreased. In the European exploration of Southeast Asia, European men became more
dependent on native women to help them communicate and make deals and
negotiations, which gave the native women more opportunities. European family size
also decreased during this time period. Mostly men were taken from Africa as slaves,
which caused women to have to step up their domestic roles.
Discuss the new social
hierarchy that developed in
Latin America.
In the Americas, new social designations and hierarchies based on racial and ethnic
constructs formed. As intermingling happened, Mestizos, who were half-Indian, were
joined by Mulattoes, who were half-African. Different castas augmented the social
hierarchy with designations based on ancestry and race. Also, since there weren’t as
many female slaves brought over to the Americas, intermingling often occurred
between male slaves and females from the native population. Usually, the people with



peninsulars
creoles
castas—mestizos,
mulattos, and many more
the “purest” European ancestry were on top of the hierarchy. Creoles were people who
were born in the Americas, but the children of Europeans. Peninsulars were people who
were born in Europe, but came to Latin America, and were above the creoles.
Key Concept 4.3 State
Consolidation and Imperial
Expansion
 Discuss the overall role of
each--Africa, the Americas,
Asia, and Europe—in the
development of empires in
this period. An overview
here.
Answer
Concepts & Relevant Factual Examples in underline
“Facts”
In Africa, there were various land and conquest based empires in the Sudan, such as the
Mali and Songhay Empires, which stayed within Africa. The gunpowder empires of the
Ottomans, Mughals, and Safavids were land based and situated from the Eastern
Mediterranean to South Asia, straddling several regions. The Russian Empire was in
Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The Machus conquered the Ming Dynasty in China
and established the Qing Dynasty, but further expansion for the most part did not occur.
Europe was very impactful in creating maritime empires through overseas exploration,
conquest, and trade.

How did political rulers use
visual displays of power to
legitimize and consolidate
their rule. The easiest
example here is monumental
architecture. Provide at least
three specific examples of
rulers using it.
Political rulers used visual displays of power to legitimize and consolidate their rule.
One way they did this was through monumental architecture. The Ottoman ruler
Suleyman the Magnificent commissioned the Suleymaniye Mosque. The Mughal ruler
Shah Jahan commissioned the Taj Mahal. Louis XIV of France commissioned the
Palace of Versailles. All of these monumental structures were built, in some way or
another, as a physical assertion of a ruler’s power. The elaborate and elegant features
struck awe into those who saw them, and this was a perfect tool to imprint upon viewers
the ideal of a strong, powerful, nearly omnipotent ruler who could bring such a structure
into existence. A different type of visual display of power was the Aztec human
sacrifice as they pulled the still beating heart out of their newest victim and showed it to
Huitzilopochtli and their onlookers to show their mighty power.

What role did religion play in
legitimizing political rule?
Religion often played a highly important role in legitimizing political rule in this period.
Divine right monarchies were still very common in Europe. In divine right monarchies,
the ruler claimed that their right to rule had been bestowed upon them directly by God,
and that disobeying their word and power was practically equal to disobeying God. In
the Shi’a Muslim Safavid Empire, political rulers legitimized their power through
religion by claiming descent from Muhammad and his relatives. In the Aztec Empire,
religion also played a key role in the legitimization of a leader’s rule; human sacrifice
was a religious practice as well as a political terror tactic that snapped the empire’s
subjects into line. Public Confucian rituals where rulers venerated their ancestors
helped these rulers gain ethos and legitimacy.

How were ethnic and
Ethnic and religious minorities were often tolerated so that they could contribute to the

Theory of divine
right

Safavid Shiism

Aztec human
sacrifice

Public
performance of Confucian
rituals

Songhay
promotion of Islam
religious minorities treated in
the following empires—nonMuslims in the Ottoman,
Manchu treatment of the
Chinese, Spanish treatment
of the natives
economy. In the Ottoman Empire, non-Muslims, as dhimmi (“people of the book”),
were tolerated relatively well. They were not persecuted or forced to convert, but they
did have to pay a head tax. Non-Muslims were taken into the military through the
Devshirme, a system where Christian boys from controlled areas were enslaved,
recruited and voluntarily converted to Islam. This led to a lot of integration. Former
non-Muslims made up the majority of the vastly significant elite janissary force, where
they could rise to great power through a meritocratic system. Muslim superiority was
still recognized, though. In China, the Manchu, a separate ethnic group, established
political rule over a Han Chinese majority. They rearranged the social hierarchy so that
they were on top, and the Han Chinese majority was enthnically inferior to them. They
used strict regulations on economics, social organization and cultural interaction.
Interaction between Manchus and Han Chinese were limited, and special legislation was
passed that prohibited intermarriage. The Spanish were relatively intolerant. In the
Spanish Inquisition back home, they expelled, killed, or forcibly converted most of their
non-Christians. Across the Atlantic, in their increasing involvement in the New World,
they were often very intolerant as well. Forced conversion was common, and they often
treated the natives very badly. However, they also created the Republica de Indios,
where they tried to create a separate “republic” for the natives where they could rule
themselves to some degree, but the natives were isolated from each other, and outside
influences, in small communities.
How did rulers make sure
that their governments were
well run?
Many governments made sure that their governments were well run by nurturing a
talented bureaucracy to run the government. In the Ottoman devshirme, janissary
recruits did make up a large portion of the military, but they also provided skilled, well
trained bureaucrats to the government. Bureaucrats drawn from the janissaries were
specially filtered; they went through intensive training, and were very effective in
running the government. Civil service exams continued to be used in China to select
the bureaucracy, which also placed a large emphasis on merit.

How did rulers finance their
territorial expansion?
To finance territorial expansion, rulers collected tribute from their subject peoples and
taxed them in various ways. The Ottoman used a system of tax farming to help in their
tax collection. This increased their revenue and gave them more funding for expansion.

In this time period, what was
the relationship between
empire building and military
technology?

What European powers
established empires in this
In this time period, military technology was crucial to empire building. The Europeans’
more sophisticated weaponry gave them an advantage over the simpler weapons of
other areas of the world. This helped them to become a dominant naval power, and
allowed them to take control of areas that weren’t as militarily advanced. The landbased gunpowder empires of the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals also expanded with
the use of advanced weaponry.
Spain, Portugal, France, Britain, and the Dutch were the major European powers who
established Empires. These were all maritime empires. Trade was a large concern for


Republica de
Indios



devshirme
civil service exams
salaried samurai


tribute collection
tax farming
the Europeans, and they often took control of areas strategic to trade in the creation of
period? Where were they?
What was the nature of those trading post empires. The Portuguese had Brazil, as well as some parts of Southeast
Asia and Africa. The Dutch had much of Southeast Asia, the tip of Africa, as well as a
empires?
small hold the Americas. Spain had a large parts of Latin America, and some holdings
in Africa and Southeast Asia. France and Britain had large parts of North America,
with the British holding their Atlantic settler colonies and France lots of present-day
Canada. The British also had some parts of India.

What were the major land
based empires of the period?
Where did these empires
expand?
All the Muslim gunpowder empires were land based. The Ottoman Empire expanded
into the East Mediterranean, The Mughals had northern India, and the Safavids were
sandwiched between them.

What obstacles to empire
building did empires
confront, and how did they
respond to those
challenges?
Rivalries were a major obstacle to empire building. The European maritime powers
grappled over colonial holdings. There was also competition over trade routes. Piracy
existed a lot in the Caribbean. Valuable goods like sugar were being traded, and there
were struggles over these goods. In the Mediterranean region, there was intense rivalry
between the Christian Europeans and the Muslim Ottomans, which caused mutual
piracy that was sponsored by both sides. Continental European rivalries led to land
based conflicts such as the Thirty Years War. There was also rivalry between the Shi’a
Safavid Empire and the Sunni Ottoman Empire, which led to the Ottoman-Safavid War.
These external conflicts were tolling to all that were involved, since any disruption of
stability will make it harder and more expensive for a state to be run. However, there
were also several challenges from within that were obstacles to empire building. In the
Mughal Empire, Hindus often rebelled. In China often had peasant revolts such as the
Taiping Rebellion and the Boxer Rebellion in the Qing Empire. Additionally, there
were slave uprisings in the Americas. The Qing dealt with its rebellions by putting
them down, often with the aid of Europeans. The same was done with rebellions in
other regions to restore stability.

maritime empires

trading post
empires

Competition over
trade routes such as
piracy in the Caribbean

State rivalries like
the Thirty Years War or
the
Ottoman-Safavid
War

Local resistance
like peasant uprisings