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UNIT IV 1450CE-1750CE
Big Picture Questions of UNIT IV • Why did Europe become a dominant power during this time period? Was it because European nations vied for world dominance or because of technological superiority, or both? Why did some of the European nation states develop vast empires while other did not? • What were some of the ways in which non-European cultures interacted with Europe? What influences contributed to these differences? What were the consequences? • How did the global economy change during this time period? What was the impact on the world’s civilizations? • What were the impacts of global interaction on the environment? Conversely, what were the impacts of the environment on human societies? What ideas, diseases, plants, and animals traveled the globe along with human settlement?
Major Developments of UNIT IV – 1450CE-1750CE • Europe became the dominant world power through the use of their new technologies, new ideas of governing, and new forms of economic organization. • Raced to secure faster trade routes • Take new colonial possessions • Gain control of key resources • European success came at the expense of the land-based empires in Asia and the declining empires in the Americas.
The European Transition • Life in the Middle Ages • Dominated by local issues, concern for salvation, territorial disputes, the Black Death, a lack of education outside of monasteries, and small-scale trade. • What Changed? • Countries began to unify under centralized rule • The exposure by the Crusades to the Islamic centers of learning • The development of scholasticism that guided learning
Revolutions in European Thought:The Renaissance • Europe experienced an influx of money and a rise in the middle class, who will largely be focused on recapturing and studying the past • Humanism – the focus on human endeavors and individuality • Renaissance (“rebirth”) spurred by powerful families, or patrons, in the Italian city-states. • Painters like Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Donatello used humanistic principles to depict the human figure realistically; employed a technique known as linear perspective; movement spread north with more religiously motivated paintings. • With the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg, books were easy to produce, began to include the local vernacular (native language), and spread literacy across Europe. • Literature blossomed… • Machiavelli’s “The Prince” – how-to book for monarchs who wanted to maintain their power. • Erasmus’s “In Praise of Folly” – satirized foolish political moves. • Sir Thomas Moore’s “Utopia” – described an ideal society. • William Shakespeare’s Life Works – exemplified humanism and the era’s obsession with classical civilizations
Revolutions in European Thought:The Protestant Reformation • The Catholic Church wielded an immense amount of power and influence on the political powers of Europe; leaders power increased if the church blessed their reign • In order to finance its projects, the Church would sell indulgences (the purging of sins on Earth) • Martin Luther in 1517 nailed his 95 Theses on the Wittenberg Church door, outlining his frustrations with the Catholic Church’s practices • (1) Opposed the selling of indulgences, (2) claimed that salvation was given directly by God. • Christianity Splits Again • Lutherans – supporters of Martin Luther and his teachings • Calvinists – the idea developed by John Calvin of predestination (people had a predetermined, ultimate destiny) • King Henry VIII – renounced Rome and declared himself the head of religious affairs in England • The Counter Reformation • The institution of reforms in the Catholic Church in order to win back those that split from the Church; banned the sale of indulgences, consulted more frequently with bishops and parishes, and trained its priests; officially formalized by the Council of Trent in the mid-1500s. • Ignatius Loyola and the Jesuits – influential in restoring faith in the teachings of Jesus as interpreted by the Catholic Church
Revolutions in European Thought:The Scientific Revolution • During the Middle Ages, the Church and the political structure reinforced the lack of scientific investigation • Scientific Revolution – with the growth of universities, educated Europeans began to examine the world around them with new vigor, leading to some revolutionary discoveries. • Copernicus and Galileo • Helped prove the heliocentric universe theory • Scientific Method • Scientific inquiries be proven by the system of observation, reason, experimentation, and mathematical proof • Sir Isaac Newton developed calculus to prove the theories of previous scientists and developed the law of gravity • Led to atheism and deism, when many began to reject the church’s rigid pronouncements that conflicted with the scientific findings
Revolutions in European Thought:The Enlightenment • Enlightenment – the 17th and 18th century movement that focused on the role of mankind in relation to government • Divine right of monarchs during the High Middle Ages suppressed the rights of the people, until the idea of the social contract (government arose to meet the needs of the people) arose • Enlightened Thinkers: • Hobbes in “Leviathan” – believed a powerful monarch should rule to preserve peace and stability • Locke in “Two Treatises of Government” – believed in natural and unalienable rights of life, liberty, and property (justified revolution). • Rousseau in “The Social Contract” – believed the essence of freedom is to obey laws and subject oneself to the general will of the community (anti-slavery movement) • Voltaire – believed in religious toleration • Montesquieu – believed in the separation of powers among branches of government (used the example of Britain)
European Exploration and Expansion • Eager to eliminate the Muslim middlemen and discover more efficient trade routes to Asia, the western Europeans set out to sea, creating “floating empires” • Portugal • Financed by Prince Henry the Navigator, Diaz sailed aorund the tip of Africa in 1488 and Vasco da Gama made the trip to India by 1497. • Spain • Ferdinand and Isabella competed with the Portuguese by funding Columbus’s voyage in 1492; this competition led to the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 that split the New World between New Spain to the west and Brazil to the east (Portugal). • Conquering of the Americas • Hernan Cortes in 1519 toppled the Aztecs and Moctezuma, through the helpd of the Aztec’s enemies, the use of Malinche, their advanced technology, and the spreading of diseases • Francisco Pizarro in 1531 toppled the Inca Empire and Atahualpa through similar measures as explained above
The Encomienda System • Colonial society was a hierarchical organization • Peninsulares – Spanish officials sent to govern the colonies • Creoles – people born in the colonies to Spanish parents (educated and wealthy) • Mestizos – mixed European and Indian descent • Mulattos – mixed European and African descent • Bottom were Native Americans and Africans • Established the encomienda system (feudal system of the New World), which provided the peninsulares land and a number of native laborers to work the land; in return the peninsulares would protect the natives and convert them to Christianity
The African Slave Trade • Bartolome de las Casas discussed the horrible working conditions of the natives and hoped for a different population of laborers to be sent to the New World • As demand for the slaves increased, European and Africans became increasingly ruthless in capturing Africans • Began the Atlantic Slave Trade of approximately 13 million Africans and their Middle Passage to the New World (60% to S. Am., 35% to Car., 5% to N. Am.) • Brought to the plantations and sold; would be tied to the land, along with their children; treated as property.
The Columbian Exchange • Columbian Exchange – transatlantic transfer of animals, plants, diseases, people, and technology among Europe, the Americas, and Africa. • Goods Sent to the Americas: • Goods - Horses, pigs, goats, chili peppers, and sugar cane (resulted in the plantation system of the Caribbean), guns, slaves. • Diseases - Small Pox • Ideas - Catholicism • Goods Sent to Europe (and Africa): • Goods – corn, peanuts, tomatoes, potatoes, squash • Diseases – Syphilis • Silver Trade: • Monopolized by the Spanish due to the rich mines in Mexico and Peru. • Initially depended on slave labor from the natives. • Opened the doors to Ming China, but would soon inflate the price of silver so much that it would collapse the Spanish economy.
The Commercial Revolution • Funding Exploration: • Trustworthiness of the banking system, led to the creation of joint-stock companies (an organization created to pool the many resources of merchants); developed a substantial middle class. • Dutch East India Company – controlled routes and land to the Spice Islands (Indonesia) • Mercantilism: • The attempt to create a favorable balance of trade in order to hold onto more gold, silver, and wealth than other countries. • Would foster resentment from the colonies because of the forced transfer of resources back to the home country.
European Rivals: Spain and Portugal • Portuguese Efforts: • Dominated coastal Africa, the Indian Ocean and the Spice Islands; inevitably they couldn’t maintain their far flung colonial empires due to a lack of manpower • Spanish Efforts: • Exploration expanded the Spanish language and culture (Roman Catholicism) and built a formidable fleet. • Charles V • Created an empire that stretched from Austria to Germany to Spain; fought with France and the Ottomans; defended Catholicism from the encroaching Protestants. • Philip II • Saw its greatest expansion in the New World; oversaw the continuation of the Spanish Inquisition, led the Catholic Reformation, and supported an increase in missionary work; empire began to decay when they lost the Netherlands and were defeated on the seas by the English in 1588.
European Rivals: England • Elizabethan Age: • Elizabeth I oversaw commercial expansion, exploration, and colonization in the New World, the works of William Shakespeare, the beginnings of joint stock companies, and the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 (Golden Age for England). • James I • Attempted to institute reforms to accommodate both the Catholics and the Protestants (forced the crossing of the Atlantic by the Puritans); saw the founding of Jamestown in 1607, the first English settlement in the New World to survive permanently. • Charles I • Ruled through the claim of divine right; sparked the English Civil War between Charles I and his Cavaliers and Parliament’s Oliver Cromwell and his Roundheads in 1641 (king was executed and Cromwell became Lord Protector of England). • James II • Glorious Revolution – the driving of James II from power by Parliament; was replaced by William and Mary in 1688 who signed the English Bill of Rights; limited the power of the monarchs.
European Rivals: France • Louis XIV • Exemplified the grandiose whims of the absolute monarchy; built the lavish Palace at Versailles; never summoned the Estates-General, the lawmaking body, to meet; revoked the Edict of Nantes (religious tolerations in France); appointed Jean Baptiste Colbert to manage the royal funds • War of Spanish Succession – diminished the power of France after failing to defeat England, the Holy Roman Empire, and German princes in battle over the possible combination of France and Spain
European Rivals: German Areas • Holy Roman Empire • Weak empire ruled by local lords; developed Protestant Lutheranism in the north and held onto Catholicism in the south, which created constant conflicts • Thirty Years War • Began in 1618 when the Protestant territories in Bohemia challenged the authority of the Holy Roman Catholic emperor, developing into a huge religious war; left the Holy Roman Empire depopulated and devastated; ended with the Peace of Westphalia that gave power to small German states.
Russia Out of Isolation • Ivan IV • Established absolute rule in Russia; convinced the Cossacks (peasant-soldiers) to conquer lands to the east; would execute anyone he perceived as a threat, leading to his nickname “the Terrible” • Peter the Great • Wanted to westernize Russia especially when it came to Russian culture (beard tax); built Russia’s first navy and founded the capital of St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea. • Catherine the Great • Brought more enlightened policies of education and western culture; enforced repressive serfdom and limited the growth of the merchant class; continued to expand Russia westward, gaining ground on the Black Sea.
Islamic Gunpowder Empires • Ottoman Empire • Took over under the leadership of Osman after the Mongol Empire fell; sacked the city of Constantinople in 1453, making it their capital city (Istanbul); under Suleiman the Magnificent the Ottomans lost at Vienna and would begin to look inward. • Empire would last until 1922 when it was broken up after World War I. • Safavid Empire • The empire to the east of the Ottomans; centralized state in modern day Iran that was dominated by Shia Islam; continued the long-standing rift between the Sunni and the Shia. • Mughal Empire • Began by Babur; united most of the Indian subcontinent in 150 years; under Akbar, India began a policy of religious toleration allowing the Hindus and Muslims to live side by side; the arrival of the Europeans during this period was the calm before the storm, affecting most of their coastal cities and trade.
Africa • Sub-Saharan Africa • Most were Islamic states with economic ties to the Muslim world through the Trans-Saharan trade of gold and salt (and slaves); most nations would fall to a superior (in technology) military force. • West Coast of Africa • Kongo – even though their kings converted to Roman Catholicism, the Portuguese tactics and desire for slaves from the interior undermined the kings of the Kongo • Need for slaves from the interior outweighed anything else.
Isolated Asia: China • Ming China • By 1368, the Ming Dynasty booted out the Mongols; developed huge naval fleets under the leadership of ZhengHe; decided to change their monetary system to one based off of silver currency; famines and peasant revolts led to the downfall of the Ming and the insertion of the Qing (Manchus from the north). • Qing China • Civil service system opened its doors to the best and brightest; expanded the empire; increasingly limited the contact of the Europeans with China in order to protect their culture; banned Christianity and limited the Europeans contact through on one city, Canton.
Isolated Asia: Japan • Tokugawa Shogunate • Tokugawa Ieyasu took control of Japan in 1600 and established a strict and rigid government; reversed initial attitudes toward the Western influences by secluding the country. • The arts of kabuki (Japanese theater) and the haiku (poetry) flourished during this period.
