The World in 1450: Changing Balance of World Power

1. The World in 1450: Changing Balance of World Power 16

2. Figure 16.1 Chinese oceangoing ship from expeditions in the 16th century. This was a smaller ship than those used earlier in the great voyages of the early 15th century, whose end opened opportunities for other international traders. But the Chinese maintained active commerce even after this, particularly in maintaining contacts established in the postclassical period with the Philippines and with southeast Asia.

3. Chapter Overview • Key Changes in the Middle East • The Structure of Transregional Trade • The Rise of the West • Outside the World Network

4. TIMELINE 1250 C.E. to 1450 C.E.

5. Key Changes in the Middle East • Abbasids destroyed by Mongols, 13th century • Byzantine Empire falls to Ottomans, 1453

6. Key Changes in the Middle East • Social and Cultural Change in the Middle East • Religious leaders in control by 1300 • Ibn-Rushd (Averröes) • More popular in Europe • Landlords dominate peasants • Serfdom • Economic decline • Gradual and incomplete Arab decline

7. The Structure of Transregional Trade • Mongols • Decline hinders international trade • Ottomans • Not an international power

8. The Structure of Transregional Trade • Chinese Outreach and Reconsideration • Ming dynasty (1368-1644) • Replaces the Yuan • Expansionist • Into Mongolia, Korea, Vietnam, Tibet • State sponsors commercial ventures • India • Middle East • Africa

9. The Structure of Transregional Trade • Chinese Outreach and Reconsideration • Chinese fleets • Muslim admiral Zheng He • 1433, expeditions stopped • More isolationist • Still trade in Asian area • Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia

10. The Rise of the West • Period of relative stagnation, 14th, 15th centuries • Aristocracy indulge in ritual • No longer useful militarily • Famine • 1348, Black Death

11. The Rise of the West • Sources of Dynamism: Medieval Vitality • Monarchies • Increasingly centralized • Aristocracy less of a threat

12. The Rise of the West • Imitation and International Problems • Trade imbalance • To east, for luxury products • Gold shortage by 1400 • Trade also threatened by Ottomans • Impetus to find other routes

13. Visualizing the PastPopulation TrendsPercentages or Proportions of Total World Population

14. Visualizing the PastPopulation TrendsPopulation Levels (Millions)

15. The Rise of the West • Secular Directions in the Italian Renaissance • Italy takes the lead, 14th century • Renaissance of styles and themes from classical Greece and Rome • Secular trend • Personal fame for artists, writers • City-states support the arts

16. The Rise of the West • Renaissance Culture • Francisco Petrarch • Humanism • Interest in classical past, philology • Painters • Use of perspective, shadow • More interested in the individual • Ambitious, confident mood

17. Figure 16.2 Europe's new spirit amid old values. Dante, Italian writer of the 14th century, holds a copy of his great work, the Divine Comedy, with both religious (souls tormented in hell) and Renaissance (the solid, classical-style urban buildings of the city of Florence) symbolism greeting him. The painting was designed by Domenico di Michelina for the cathedral of Florence in 1465.

18. Figure 16.3 Although the nave of Florence Cathedral was completed in the fourteenth century, it was not until the fifteenth century that architect Filippo Brunelleschi was able to solve the engineering challenge presented by the plan for the massive dome. In order to eliminate the need for temporary wooden scaffolding during construction, Brunelleschi used a skeleton of eight large ribs alternated with eight pairs of thinner ribs, all tied together by nine sets of horizontal ties, all of which would be able to support the workers as the dome was raised.

19. The Rise of the West • The Iberian Spirit of Religious Mission • Castile, Aragon • Effective armies • Promote Christianity • Convert or expel • Arabs, Jews • Later reestablishment of the Inquisition in Spain

20. The Rise of the West • The First Phases of Western Expansion • The Genoese Vivaldi brothers • 1291, disappear after passing Gibraltar • 14th century explorers • Canary Islands, Madeiras, possibly the Azores • Spanish expeditions along west African coast • Vasco da Gama

21. Figure 16.4 Columbus is supposed to have had a copy of this world map in Spain. The map, dating from about 1489, shows the Old World as Europeans were increasingly coming to know it. Note how reachable India looked to Europeans using this map—although, of course, they had to go around Africa.

22. The Rise of the West • Colonial Patterns • Azores, Madeiras, and Canaries exploited • Prince Henry of Portugal (Henry the Navigator) • Land grants • Pattern • Cash crops for European markets • Slaves used

23. Figure 16.5 This 18th-century engraving portrays Vasco da Gama's audience with the Indian ruler of Calicut in 1498. This picture was painted well after the fact. What kind of comparison does it suggest between European and Indian societies?

24. Outside the World Network • Americas and Polynesia not part of international trade • Political Issues in the Americas • Aztec and Inca challenged after 1400 • Aztecs face resistance from subjects • Inca expansion jeopardizes the state • Local leaders a threat

25. Outside the World Network • Expansion, Migration, and Conquest in Polynesia • 600–1400 • Migrations, conquest • Hawaii settled • Then cut off from Polynesia

26. Map 16.1 Polynesian ExpansionStarting in the 7th century, the Polynesians expanded north and south of their starting point in the Society Islands.

27. Outside the World Network • Isolated Achievements by the Maoris • New Zealand settled as early as the 8th century • Maori • Population expansion • Sophisticated art

28. The Problem of Ethnocentrism • Disposition to judge foreign peoples by the standards of one's own culture • Ethnocentric potential of the West • Dismissing people who did not exploit latest military technology as inferior • Validity of other practices • Rise of the West not "good" resulting from progressive values • Balance, perspective essential

29. Outside the World Network • Adding Up the Changes • 1400 a time of change globally • Technological change (compass, astrolabe) • Africa relatively unaffected • New relations with Muslim worlds

30. The ruins of Leptis Magna, one of the three great early Roman cities, which gave Tripolitania its name. Leptis was an elaborate city with baths and ornate buildings; it was also the center of African trade.

31. Ibn Battuta, in Egypt. Ibn Battuta’s wide travels utilized and encouraged a growing pattern of contacts.

32. Buddhist prayer on a scroll—earliest known printed work, 868 C.E. The image depicts the frontispiece to the world’s earliest dated printed book, the Chinese translation of the Buddhist text the “Diamond Sutra.” This consists of a scroll, over 16 feet long, made up of a long series of printed pages. Printed in China in 868 C.E., it was found in the Dunhuang Caves in 1907, in the northwestern province of Gansu.