Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
(The Americas to 1500) Transatlantic Slave Trade East Asia The Age of Exploration Ottoman, Safavid and Mogul Muslim Empires The First Global Age 15th to 18th Centuries Latin America’s Peoples, Resources, and Social Hierarchy Early Modern Europe Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment Absolute and Constitutional Monarchies Russia and Eastern Europe Fifteenth Century is Turning Point 1. Changing ideas on geography—Those who returned from the Crusades revealed what Asia had to offer—Clothes, silks, jewels, spices, etc. Marco Polo’s explorations of the 1300s revealed the riches of Asia. In 1411, Ptolemy wrote Geography—Greatly affected European exploration. 2. Technological Advancements Mariner’s Compass and Astrolabe—Better understanding of location using quadrants and shooting position by the stars. More efficient ships. The Printing Press! Fifteenth Century is Turning Point 3. Social Changes Population explosion after the Black Death. New learning—More books—Educated people were aware that the earth was not flat. 4. Rise of Modern Nation States with Strong Central Governments Feudalism replaced with absolute monarchs, who used armies for conquest and could economically support exploration. Henry VII of England, Louis XI of France, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain—Competition leads to Exploration! 5. The Reformation Henry VIII’s divorce from Catherine (Spanish) caused hostilities and created a rivalry between absolute monarchs for the Americas to be Catholic or Protestant. Fifteenth Century is Turning Point 6. Changing Economic System—Rise of the middle merchant (trading) class that had money to invest in exploration. Beginnings of Commercial Capitalism (private businesses based on profit). Enclosure Movement— Property owners begin to enclose fields with beginnings of sheep being farmed for wool—Peasants displaced—Motivation to 7. Glory, God, and Gold becomes move to America. the rally cry of explorers. Columbus on the Indians’ “Discovery” of the Spanish, 1492 “I [Columbus wrote], in order that they might feel great amity towards us, because I knew that they were a people to delivered and converted to our holy faith rather by love than by force, gave to some among them some red caps and some glass beads, which they hung round their necks, and many other things of little value. At this they were greatly pleased and became so entirely our friends that it was a wonder to see. Afterwards they came swimming to the ships’ boats, where we were, and brought us parrots and cotton thread in balls, and spears and many other things, and we exchanged for them other things, such as small glass beads and hawks’ bells, which we gave to them. In fact, they took all and gave all, deficient in everything. They all go naked as their mothers bore them, and the women also, although I saw only one very young girl. And all those whom I did see were youths, so that I did not see one who was over thirty years of age; they were very well built, with very handsome bodies and very good faces. Their hair is coarse almost like the hairs of a horse’s tail and short; they wear their hair down over their eyebrows, except for a few strands behind, which they wear long and never cut. Some of them are painted black, and they are the colour of the people of the Canaries, neither black nor white, and some of them are painted white and some red and some in any colour that they find. Some of them paint their faces, some their whole bodies, some only the eyes, and some only the nose. They do not bear arms or know them, for I showed to them swords and they took them by the blade and cut themselves through ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are certain reeds, without iron, and some of these have a fish tooth at the end, while others are pointed in various ways. They are all generally fairly tall, good looking and well proportioned. I saw some who bore marks of wounds on their bodies, and I made signs to them to ask how this came about, and they indicated to me that people came from other islands, which are near, and wished capture them, and they defended themselves. And I believed and still believe that they come here from the mainland to take them for slaves. They should be good servants and of quick intelligence, since I see that they very soon say all that is said to them, and I believe that they would easily be made Christians, for it appeared to me that they had no creed [religion of their own]. Our Lord willing, at the time of my departure I will bring back six of them to Your Highnesses, that they may learn to talk . . . ” Station 2 Major European Trade Routes and Colonies, about 1750 Station 3 Gunpowder and Gunpowder Empires Gunpowder and guns were invented in china in the tenth century and spread to Europe and Southwest Asia in the fourteenth century. However, the full impact of gunpowder was not felt until after 1500. Between 1500 and 1650, the world experienced a dramatic increase in the manufacture of weapons based on gunpowder. Large-scale production of cannons was especially evident in Europe, the Ottoman Empire, India, and China. By 1650, guns were also being made in Korea, Japan, Thailand, Iran, and, to a lesser extent, in Africa. Firearms were a crucial element in the creation of new empires after 1500. Spaniards armed with firearms devastated the civilizations of the Aztec and Inca and carved out empires in Central and South America. The Ottoman Empire, Mogul Empire in India, and the Safavid Empire in Persia also owed much of their success in creating and maintaining their new weapons. Historians have labeled these empires the “gunpowder empires.” The success of Europeans in creating new trade empires in the East owed much to the use of cannons as well. Portuguese ships, armed with heavy guns that could sink enemy ships as a distance of 100 yards or more, easily defeated the lighter fleets of the Muslims in the Indian Ocean. Spanish galleon with cannons. Comparing Cultures — Although gunpowder was invented in China, it was the Europeans who used it most effectively to establish new empires. Station 4 The Growth of Mercantilism During the Age of Exploration, European nations adopted a new economic policy known as mercantilism. This theory held that a country’s power depended mainly on its wealth. It contended that there was a fixed amount of wealth in the world. As a result, the goal of every nation became the attainment of as much wealth as possible in order to build strong navies and purchase vital goods. According to mercantilist thought, a nation could increase its wealth and power in two ways. It could obtain as much gold and silver as possible and it could establish a favorable balance of trade, in which it sold more goods than it bought (more exports than imports). A nation’s ultimate goal under mercantilism was to become selfsufficient, not dependent on other countries for goods . . . Mercantilism went hand in hand with colonization, for colonies played a vital role in this new economic practice. Aside from providing silver and gold, colonies provided raw materials that could not be found in the home country, such as wood or furs from the Americas. In addition to playing the role of supplier, the colonies also provided a market. The home country could sell its goods to its colonies. This call for colonies led to the growth of the Triangular Trade . . . Mercantilism contributed to the creation of a national identity as countries competed for control of colonies and, thereby, for control of wealth. Station 5 Mercantilism, Colonization and the Triangular Trade Station 5 The Arrival of Europeans In 1511, the Portuguese seized Melaka and soon occupied the Moluccas. Known to Europeans as the Spice Islands, the Moluccas were the chief source of the spices that had originally attracted the Portuguese to the Indian Ocean. The Portuguese, however, lacked the military and financial resources to impose their authority over broad areas. Instead, they set up small settlements along the coast, which they used as trading posts or as way stations en route to the Spice Islands. A Shift in Power The situation changed with the arrival of the English and Dutch traders, who were better financed than were the Portuguese. The shift in power began in the early 1600s when the Dutch seized a Portuguese fort in the Spice Islands and then gradually pushed the Portuguese out of the spice trade. During the next 50 years, the Dutch occupied most of the Portuguese coastal forts along the trade routes throughout the Indian Ocean, including the island of Ceylon (today's Sri Lanka) and Melaka. The aggressive Dutch traders drove the English traders out of the spice market, reducing the English influence to a single port on the southern coast of Sumatra. The Dutch also began to consolidate their political and military control over the entire area. They tried to dominate the clove trade by limiting cultivation of the crop to one island and forcing others to stop growing and trading the spice. Then the Dutch turned their attention to the island of Java, where they established a fort at Batavia in 1619. The purpose of the fort was to protect Dutch possessions in the East. Gradually the Dutch brought the entire island under their control. Impact on the Mainland Portuguese and then Dutch influence was mostly limited to the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian Archipelago. The arrival of the Europeans had less impact on mainland Southeast Asia. The Portuguese established limited trade relations with several mainland states (part of the continent, as distinguished from peninsulas or offshore islands), including Thailand, Burma, Vietnam, and the remnants of the old Angkor kingdom in Cambodia. By the early seventeenth century, other European nations had begun to compete actively for trade and missionary privileges. In general, however, the mainland states were able to unite and drive the Europeans out. In Vietnam, a civil war temporarily divided the country into two separate states, one in the south and one in the north. After their arrival in the mid-seventeenth century, the European powers began to take sides in local politics. The Europeans also set up trading posts for their merchants. By the end of the seventeenth century, however, it had become clear that economic opportunities were limited. Most of the posts were abandoned at that time. French missionaries tried to stay but their efforts were blocked by the authorities who viewed converts to Catholicism as a threat to the prestige of the Vietnamese emperor. Why were the mainland states better able to resist European challenges than the states in the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian Archipelago? The mainland states of Burma, Thailand, and Vietnam had begun to define themselves as distinct political entities. They had strong monarchies that resisted foreign intrusion in contrast to the non-mainland states that had less political unity . . . Station 6 China in the Age of Exploration . . . By the time Portuguese ships dropped anchor off the Chinese coast in 1514, the Chinese had driven out their Mongol rulers and had united under a new dynasty . . . One Ming ruler, Yonglo, had intense curiosity about the outside world. In 1405, well before Europeans began to sail beyond their own borders, he launched the first of seven voyages of exploration. He hoped they would impress the world with the power and splendor of Ming China . . . The voyages ranged from Southeast Asia to eastern Africa. From 40 to 300 ships sailed in each expedition . . . So why, when the Chinese were leading world exploration, did the explorations of European nations help lead to European dominance in the world rather than Chinese dominance? The answer lies with Chinese unity. Chinese scholar-officials complained that the voyages wasted valuable resources that could be used to defend against barbarians’ attacks on the northern frontier. After the seventh voyage, in 1453, Chinese officials decided to withdraw into isolation . . . Ming Relations with Foreign Countries China’s official trade policies in the 1500s reflected its isolation. To keep the influence of outsiders to a minimum, only the government was to conduct foreign trade. In reality, though, trade flourished up and down the coast. Profitminded merchants smuggled cargoes of silk, porcelain, and other valuable goods out of the country into the eager hands of European merchants. Usually, Europeans paid for purchases with silver, much of it from the mines of the Americas. Chinese industries such flourished, manufacturing and commerce increased, BUT China did not become highly industrialized for two main reasons. Firstly, the idea of commerce offended China’s Confucian beliefs. Merchants, it was said, made their money “supporting foreigners and robbery.” Secondly, Chinese economic policies traditionally favored agriculture. Taxes on agriculture stayed low, while taxes on manufactured goods and trade skyrocketed. Station 7 Japan in the Age of Exploration “Japan Unites Under the Tokugawa In the 1300s, the unity that had been achieved in Japan in the previous century broke down. Shoguns, or military leaders, in the north and south fiercely fought one another for power. The whole land was torn by factional strife and economic unrest. It would be centuries before Japan would again be unified . . . BUT in 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated his rivals and founded the Tokugawa Shogunate, which held power until 1867. Japan enjoyed more than two and a half centuries of stability, prosperity, and isolation, during which time Japanese culture flourished. One example is haiku poetry and kabuki theater . . . Europeans began coming to Japan in the sixteenth century, and the Japanese welcomed the traders. They were particularly interested in the Portuguese muskets an cannons, which would eventually challenge the way of life of the samurai . . . Japan in Isolation Within a century, however, the aggressive Europeans were no longer welcome. Christian missionaries had much success in converting the Japanese to Christianity and scorned traditional Japanese beliefs. Because so many of the rebels of a 1637 rebellion had been Christian, the shoguns ruthlessly persecuted Christians. These policies eventually eliminated Christianity in Japan and led to the formation of an exclusion policy. The persecution of Christians was part of an attempt to control foreign ideas. Under the Tokugawa, most commercial contacts with Europeans ended. One port, Nagasaki, remained open to foreign traders, but only to Dutch and Chinese merchants. For more than 200 years, Japan remained basically closed to Europeans. In addition, the Japanese were forbidden to leave, so as not to bring back foreign ideas. Japan would continue to develop, but as a selfsufficient country, free from European attempts to colonize or to establish their presence.” Station 8 Columbian Exchange Station 9 Station 9