THE WEST AND THE CHANGING WORLD BALANCE

1
THE WEST AND THECHANGING WORLD BALANCE

• CHAPTER 15
• THE END OF
• POST-CLASSICAL
• AGE

2
END OF THE OLD ORDER

• Collapse of Post-Classical states
• Byzantines
• Following 2nd Crusade, slow decline
• Conquered 1453 by the Ottoman Turks
• Abbassid Caliphate
• Weakened by sectionalism
• Under control of Turkish clans
• Mongols and Timurlane
• Conquered all major Eurasian states
• Muslim cities destroyed
• New routes and cities arose due to Mongols

3
SOUTH WEST ASIA

• Muslim religious leaders began to exert control
• Rationalism opposed by religious conservatives
• Mysticism, Islamic legalist traditions in favor
• Pursuit of science declines
• Landlords exercised greater authority
• Peasants reduced to borderline slavery, serfdom
• Agricultural productivity declined
• Tax revenue
• Europeans challenged Arabs
• Mediterranean, rise of Aragon, Castile, Venice,
  France
• Merchants began to replace Muslim merchants
• No total collapse of Islamic civilization
• Arabs lost power, old Abbassid realm fragments
• Ottoman Turks rapidly took over most of area

4
INTERNATIONAL POWER VACUUM

• Ottoman Empire
• Sultans did not restore Muslims to same level
• Ottomans not center of international trade
• Science and philosophy stagnated.
• Result was power vacuum in Islamic world
• Rise of Rivals to Ottomans
• India
• Persia
• Egypt
• Mongols provided alternative framework
• Redirected land trade away from Muslims
• Land routes turned attention to sea routes.

5
THE CHINESE

• Ming dynasty drove out the Mongols in 1368
• China was best placed to control Eurasian trade
• Ming emperors sought expansion
• Extending the borders of the empire
• Reviving the tribute system
• Initiating state-sponsored maritime expeditions.
• Voyages reached India, the Middle East, and
  Africa
• Ming emperors ordered the voyages to cease in
  1433.
• Costs of voyages hurt infrastructure
• Scholar-gentry opposed voyages
• China's decision reflected traditional
  Confucianism
• Concentration on internal improvements
• Cultural isolation
• Economic expansion did not depend on foreign
  trade
• China's withdrawal from world
• Cleared the path for the emergence of Europeans
• China began long stagnation

6
HERE COME THE EUROPEANS

• By 15th century
• West began to expand its world contacts
• Important changes taking place in Europe
• Church Under attack
• Great Schism saw up to three rival popes
• Wealth led to reformers, who were condemned
• Hus in Holy Roman Empire
• Wycliffe in England
• Western philosophy and creativity stagnate
• Political organization of feudalism not effective
• Feudal monarchs acquire new powers, wealth
• Introduction of cannons, new weaponry
• Death of nobles led to rise of citizen armies
  under kings
• Impact of the Black Death,
• Carried off almost one-third of Europe's
  population
• Hit Italy and France worst
• Hit merchants and urban elites including clergy
  heavily

7
LATE MEDIEVAL VITALITY

• New States Arose
• More powerful and centralized nations arose
• Developed in aftermath of 100 Years' War.
• France, England, Castile, Aragon, Sweden
• New forms of military organization
• Made greater centralization possible
• Improvements in metallurgical technology
• Construction and use of guns and munitions.
• Capitalism became more evident
• Arose simultaneously in Netherlands, Italy
• Based on cities, non-nobles, banking, trade
• Increased urbanization
• Especially true in Italy, Netherlands
• Often associated with trade

8
WESTERN EUROPE GROWS

• Overall trend between 1000/1700
• Rapid population expansion
• Black Death only slowed trend
• Europeans acquire Asian technology
• Western technology equal to Eurasian
• Europeans adapt, improve on ideas
• Europeans invent new ideas
• Europeans apply technology
• Adapted science to practical
• Used technology in trade, navigation, war

9
RENAISSANCE SECULARISM

• Began in Italy
• At the beginning of the 14th century
• Turned away from the medieval cultural
• More secular outlook in art and literature
• Wealth of Italian cities patronized the arts
• Typical political unit of Italian peninsula
• City-state
• Florence, Milan, Venice, Rome and Naples
• Cities competed for land, accomplishments
• Administrative, economic innovations

10
RENAISSANCE VALUES

• Age of cultural innovation and individualism.
• Artists abandoned medieval formalism
• Concentration in arts, music, literature
  (humanities)
• Embrace more realistic and secular styles
• Classical architectural forms replaced Gothic
• Tended to idealize Greece and Rome
• Initially Renaissance largely limited to Italy
• Even there its style was not accepted everywhere
• Spread to France, England, Netherlands, Germany
• Called Northern Renaissance
• Bible, Hebrew more important as themes
• Science, math, theology of equal importance
• Italian commercial and shipping techniques
• Laid the foundation for Western expansion
• The "Renaissance spirit"
• Encouraged a sense of innovation and discovery.

11
IBERIA

• Castile, Aragon, Portugal are lead states
• Christian Reconquista began 714
• Castile, Aragon united by marriage, 1469
• Drove Muslims out of Iberia by 1492
• The Church Militant
• Constant warfare powerful, trained armies
• Defense, expansion of Christianity a duty
• Church worked closely with Iberian states
• Encouraged sense of religious mission
• Expansion abroad
• Attack Muslims
• Conquer lands for Christianity
• Break their trade monopolies

12
EARLY EXPANSION

• Began in the 13th century
• Early discoveries promise of colonialism
• Early Explorations
• Vivaldi brothers of Genoa explore Atlantic
• In 14th century, Genoese discovered Canary
  Islands
• Ships from Barcelona explore Atlantic African
  coast
• Development of new technology
• More sea-worthy vessels
• Compass
• Astrolabe
• European discoverers
• Generally dominated by Portugal
• King supported a navy
• Built school under Prince Henry, sent out ships
• Penetrate even farther into the Atlantic
• Along the African shore

13
COLONIAL PATTERNS

• Colonization followed exploration
• Spanish and Portuguese
• Settlers established agricultural estates
• European diseases killed off natives
• Europeans tried to enslave natives
• Europeans established feudal model for estates
• Designed to produce commercial crops
• Sugar, cotton, and tobacco became popular crops
• Iberian settlers imported African slaves
• Commercial ventures were successful
• Stimulate further colonization
• Plantation model of exploitation

14
OUTSIDE THE NETWORK

• Areas not part of this global network
• The Americas
• Polynesia
• Most of sub-Saharan Africa
• Remained unaffected by early expansion
• Eventually brought into European system
• Some experienced difficulties
• Vulnerable to European expansion

15
POLITICAL AMERICAS

• Aztec/Inca empires of the Americas
• In disarray prior to arrival of Europeans
• Both had internal, external opposition
• Aztecs hated
• Incas divided between family, clans
• If Americas had continued in isolation
• Other cultures would have risen
• Iroquois, Moundbuilders in US

16
Expansion, Migration, and Conquest in Polynesia

• Between 7th and 15th centuries
• Migrations
• From Society Islands to Polynesia
• From Polynesia to Hawaii
• Settlement of Hawaii and New Zealand
• To Hawaiian islands
• An agricultural society developed
• Hawaii had regional kingdoms
• Stratified societies
• Dominated by priests and nobles
• Hawaii lacked metallurgy, system of writing

17
NEW ZEALAND

• 2ND migration to New Zealand
• Maori culture of New Zealand
• Warlike
• Dominated by priests and nobles
• Lacked metallurgy
• Concentrated on use of indigenous species
• All of these developments occurred in total
  isolation from other civilizations.

18
THE CHANGES

• The 15th century was an era of critical
  transitions involving world trade and the
  relative power of civilizations.
• As in the 20th century, newly dynamic
  civilizations challenged those that had
  previously dominated. Technology played a key
  role.

19
GLOBAL CONNECTIONS

• This period saw change and continuity in global
  networks. Old trade networks, like Middle Eastern
  Muslim networks, took place in a new context,
  such as the Mongol empire, which emphasized new
  land-based routes. Mongol decline shifted
  attention to sea-based routes. New states arose
  using new or diffused technologies. Social
  structures were changing, too.
• The key continuity was the interest and
  dependence of many regions on interregional
  trade.