The West and the Changing World Balance C15 EQ: How did th

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The West and the Changing World Balance

• C15
• EQ How did the balance of world power shift from
  east (Middle East and Asia) to west (Europe) by
  the end of the 1400s?

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Themes Its a Hodgepodge Chapter!!!

• 1400 a shift in balance occurs between world
  civilizations
• The world-wide role of Islam was in decline
• China made one last attempt to influence the
  world before falling into isolation
• Western Europe was become the dominant world
  region (Italy, Spain and Portugal)
• The Americas and Polynesia also experienced
  significant changes

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A Change in the Middle East

• Byzantium and the Abbasid dynasty were gone
• Byzantium was crushed by the Ottomans, the
  Abbasids by the Mongols
• Religious leaders began to dominate artistic
  endeavorsmost Islamic thinkers (like Averroes)
  had to practice beliefs outside of the Islamic
  heartland (Greek rationalism)
• Sufis still ran around emphasizing mystical
  contact with God
• Economic power was in declineagricultural
  productivity diminished as feudalism found its
  way into Muslim society
• European traders overtook and avoided Muslim
  traders and tax revenues from trade declined
  (Mediterranean)
• The Ottomans did not help the economic
  situationthey did not focus on overland trade
  (which fell into the hands of the Mongols),
  rather spent their existence conquering and
  expanding territorytheir empire would be solely
  based on agriculture (leading to their decline
  during the industrial revolution)
• The Ottomans did, however for a short period,
  along with the Safavids maintain an Indian Ocean
  trading network that would become the basis for
  trans-oceanic trade in the coming centuries

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Chinese Thrust and Withdraw

• The Ming dynasty replaced the Yuan dynasty in
  1368 and pushed to regain Chinas previous
  borders
• The Ming (under the leadership of Hongwu)
  reasserted themselves over their neighboring
  states and began to explore surrounding areas
• China had at this point what was perhaps the only
  large scale system of product manufacture in the
  world, producing such items as weapons,
  gunpowder, silk clothes, ships and porcelain
• Under the leadership of Yongle, the great
  navigator Cheng Ho (Zheng He) sailed the south
  seas to Africa, India, the Indies and possibly
  other areas with the Ming Treasure fleets
• "1421 The Year China discovered the World"
• The Ming halted Zhengs expeditions in 1433
• Bureaucrats in the scholar gentry began to see
  interaction as both costly and dangerous to China
• China became isolated once again, as bureaucrats
  claimed that since internal economic production
  was dominant, there was no need for foreign trade
• NOTE We will hear all of this again in Chapter
  22

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Rise of the West

• Many small states in the West were still backward
  in the 14th and 15th centuriesthe Catholic
  church was under attackkings were
  self-indulgentpopulation were growing too fast
  and famines were widespreadso lets have a
  plague and kill them all off (Black Death)1/3 of
  the population was killed
• Warfare was a dominant part of life for Europeans
• 100 Years War features England vs. France,
  demonstrating a new NON-feudal form of
  solicitation of warfare, draft and pay your
  troopsthis gave the central monarchy greater
  authority
• Spain and Portugal spend better parts of 200
  years driving the Muslims off of Iberiathis
  drive for freedom leads both to seek a greater
  position in world trade
• Mongols had brought an era of prosperity to
  Europe as trade contact with the east
  explodedhowever, their decline put Europe in a
  bindas a result, the hunger for gold and Eastern
  luxuries put a strain on the newly emerging
  Western economy
• The ultimate message was clear, find a way to
  bypass the Muslims to trade with the east

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SpainNobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition

• Religious fervor in Spain helped to drive out the
  Muslims for good in the 15th century
• The kingdoms of Castile and Aragon married
  in1469, and the result was Ferdinand and
  Isabellathey set forth a clear agenda
• Persecute/expel the heathens (Muslims, Jews)
  and purify their kingdom into a Catholic state
• Develop the military and begin to expand Iberian
  control into Europe
• Explore the world, compete with their rivals in
  Portugal for dominance of sea trade

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Rise of the West - Renaissance

• Internal change was critical to the western
  surgethe Renaissance was just that, a cultural
  and political movement grounded in urban vitality
  and expanding commerce
• Begun in the 14th century, it started out as a
  literary and artistic movementart imitated life
  and was more friendly to the secular world
• Florence, Italy became the center of the
  movement, and realistically, the Renaissance
  really made little headway out of Italy to the
  rest of the world in its early stagesItaly
  benefited solely from its developments of art,
  high culture, goal of personal glory etcbut the
  rest of Europe would soon take notice
• Commercial states sought new markets and city
  states emerge as trading states (Venice,
  Hanseatic League)
• NOTE This will also be discussed further in
  Chapter 17 and AP European History

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The Exploration Experiment

• Atlantic Exploration beganPortugal vs. Spain in
  a battle royale for dominance of the sea
• It was actually explorers from Italy who first
  sailed out the straits of Gibraltar down the
  African coast in the 14th centuryPortugal and
  Spain followed suit, though these exploits were
  hindered by poor technology
• All learned better shipbuilding techniques and
  use of compass/astrolabe form Muslim explorers
  and sailorsPrince Henry the Navigator of
  Portugal led the charge in improving sea faring
  activities
• Portugal and Spain began to settle the Canary
  Islands, Madeiras and Azoresthe royalty set up
  land grants on these islands and they
  experimented with the plantation economy, growing
  cash crops

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Americas and Polynesia

• The Aztec and Inca empires of the late 1400s
  began a period of declineinternal warfare and
  civil uprisings occurred frequentlyeventually,
  European invasion would take advantage of it
• In Polynesia, explorations/colonization of South
  Pacific Islands from the original hearth (map
  347) occurred from the 7th century into the
  1400sHawaii was settled, then cut off form the
  rest of Polynesia by 1400a distinct agricultural
  society developedkingdoms and warring states
  emerged on the individual islandsa social order
  of priests, nobles and peasants was also
  establishedrich oral traditions (stories) and
  the Hawaii language (13 letter alphabet)
  preserved cultural values

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Maori New Zealand

• Parallel to the development of Hawaii,
  Polynesians settled New Zealand in the 8th
  century and became isolated as the Maori
• New Zealand provided a different climate and
  larger amount of territory and the development of
  Maori society was more complex
• Similar political institutions were established,
  with military leaders and priests, but
  differences existed in that each held slaves
  gained in warfare
• The Maori were highly skilled artists, but they
  had no skill at metallurgythe economy also was
  based on agricultural development
• Lastly, the Maori too compiled rich oral
  traditions of their society

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Summing up the Changes

• Clearly, there are a series of events that make
  the 1400s a great period of transition in world
  history
• The collapse of Muslim empires
• The transition of technological knowledge and
  learning from east to west
• The drive for sea-born exploration, spurred by
  competition between regional kingdoms
• These transitions created lasting impacts (next
  unit)
• The conquest of the Americas
• The conquest and subjugation of Africa
• The move towards mercantilism and global trade
• The first vestiges of Imperialism in the East

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This Week

• Tuesday Document Analysis Pg. 342
• Wednesday Change Analysis
• Thursday/Friday Unit 2 EXAM
• Chapters 6 thru 15 are on this exam
• 30 MC
• Must do both the Compare/Contrast AND
  Change/Continuity Essay