The Worlds of the Fifteenth Century Chapter 12

Paleolithic Persistence: Australia and North America By 1500, Paleolithic people still lived in Australia, arctic coastlands, parts of Africa, the Americas; Siberia. Australians assimilated outside technology into their societies, but they still didn’t have agriculture: - canoes, fish hooks, netting techniques; artistic styles. Paleolithic peoples still existed in North America: - abundant resources enabled complex hunting and gathering. - had permanent villages, economic specialization, hierarchies, chiefdoms, and food storage.

Agricultural Village Societies: The Igbo Existed in much of North America, Amazon River basin, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Mostly avoided oppressive authority, class inequalities, and seclusion of women – kinship reliance. “The Igbo have no king,” but they did trade: The West African Igbo (modern-day Nigeria) did not have a king or a state like their neighbors, but they did engage in commerce with nearby kingdoms.

Agricultural Village Societies: The Iroquois Became fully agricultural by 1300 in central New York. An Iroquois confederation was established by 5 tribes. Iroquois League of Five Nations ended blood feuds and tribal conflicts; coordinated Iroquois relations with outsiders. Iroquois Society: - descent was matrilineal. - married couples lived with the wife’s family. - women controlled agriculture and property. - women selected and could depose officeholders.

Map of the Iroquois Confederacy

Pastoral Peoples: Central Asia and West Africa Turkic warrior Timur – tried to re-create the Mongol Empire in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. Timur’s army devastated Russia, Persia, and India, but his death in 1405 prevented any lasting empire. In the following centuries, these pastoral peoples were “swallowed up” by expanding Russian and Chinese empires. The Fulbe, from the Senegal River, were nomadic cattle herders who traveled among settled societies. They paid rent for grazing rights. Later they would convert to Islam, lead a series of jihads, and establish their own states.

Map of Timur’s Empire

Ming Dynasty China (1368-1644) By the 15th century, most of the world’s population lived in an empire. China was disrupted by Mongol rule and the plague. There was recovery under the Ming Dynasty: - efforts to eliminate all signs of foreign rule. - promotion of Confucian learning. - civil service exams were re-established. Highly centralized government was established: - power given to court (eunuchs) - restored farmland, canals, irrigation projects, and planted a billion trees. Arguably the most prosperous and well governed major civilization in 15th century.

Ming China (Cont’d) Admiral Zheng He commissioned a fleet of over 300 ships and over 27,000 men in 1405. Purpose – get tribute from distant peoples. There was no desire to colonize. The government abruptly stopped the voyages in 1433 because it was seen as a waste of resources. Chinese merchants and craftsmen continued to settle and trade in Japan, Philippines, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, but without government support.

Map of 15th Century Asia

European Comparisons: State Building and Cultural Renewal Europe’s population and economies began to grow again after 1450. Politically – very fragmented, independent competing states. Ex: The Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453). The Renaissance began in Italian city-states (1350-1500): - artistic return to naturalism. - “returning to the sources” Greco-Roman. - humanism: studying secular topics. - Machiavelli’s “The Prince” was a guide for effective rule. - A challenge to Christianity?

Map of Europe in 1500

Niccolo Machiavelli

European Comparisons: Maritime Voyaging The Portuguese began voyages in 1415. Columbus reached the Americas in 1492. In 1497, Vasco da Gama sailed around Africa to India. Motivations – seeking African and Asian wealth, Christian converts; allies in Crusades against Islam. Europeans used violence to carve out empires and monopolize commerce.

Maritime Voyaging (Cont’d) Chinese voyages ended; European ones kept escalating: - No overarching political authority in Europe to end the voyages. - Rivalry between states encouraged more exploration. - Much of Europe’s elite interested in overseas expansion. - China had everything it needed; Europeans wanted the greater riches overseas (the East). - China’s food production could expand internally; European system expanded by acquiring new lands and thereby adding potential Christian converts.

Map of 15th Century Africa

In the Islamic Heartland: The Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire lasted from the 14th to the early 20th century. Territory – Anatolia, Eastern Europe, Middle East, and North Africa. Great wealth, power, and splendor. Sultans claimed to be the caliph (successor to the Prophet). Protector of the Islamic faith. Ottoman aggression towards Christians: - Fall of Constantinople in 1453. - Siege of Vienna in 1529. - Europeans feared Turkish expansion.

Map of the Ottoman Empire in 1580

In the Islamic Heartland: The Safavid Empire Established in the early 1500s. The Safavids emerged as a rival to the Ottomans. Based in Persia, they promoted the Shia branch of Islam and thus fueled a sectarian conflict with the Sunni Ottomans. Sunni Ottoman Empire and Shia Safavid Empire fought periodically between 1534 and 1639. The Sunni/Shia hostility continues to divide the Islamic world.

Map of the Safavid Empire

On the Frontiers of Islam: The Songhay Empire The Songhay Empire rose in West Africa in the second half of the fifteenth century. Islam was limited largely to urban elites The Songhay Empire was a major center of Islamic learning and trade. It gained great revenue from taxing commerce.

Map of the Songhay Empire

On the Frontiers of Islam: The Mughal Empire Created by Turkic group that invaded India in 1526. Efforts to create a partnership between Hindus and Muslims. 80% Hindu and 20% Muslim; Muslim Empire. New age of energy, prosperity, and cultural brilliance. Rise of Malacca as a sign of the times—became a major Muslim port city in the fifteenth century. Malaccan Islam blended with Hindu/Buddhist traditions.

Map of the Mughal Empire

Map of the Americas in the 15th Century

The Aztec Empire Population around 5-6 million people. Established out of an alliance of city-states. Capital city (Tenochtitlan) was the center of trade. Empire was loosely structured politically – fragmented. The Aztec Empire was a conquest-based state that required tribute from its conquered subjects. The merchant class “pochteca” became wealthy. Trade included slaves for human sacrifice. Purpose – the sun needs human blood.

Map of the Aztec Empire

The Inca Empire Population around 10 million people. The empire was 2,500 miles long. More centralized than the Aztecs: - 80 provinces each with a governor. - inspectors checked up on officials. - census recorded on quipus. Attempted cultural assimilation: - leaders of conquered people learned Quechua. - religious tolerance. - human sacrifices (not as much as the Aztecs).

The Inca Empire (Cont’d) Mita – labor service to the state (fixing roads, etc.) - “Chosen Women” were removed from homes to make corn beer and cloth at centers. Feasts given in return. “Gender Parallelism” – separate but equal spheres: - parallel religious cults for women and men. - parallel hierarchies of female and male political officials. - women’s household tasks were not regarded as inferior. Aztecs, sweeping was a powerful, sacred act. Inca ruler and his wife governed jointly, were descended from sun and moon, respectively.

Map of the Inca Empire

Webs of Connection Large-scale political systems brought together culturally different people: - efforts to integrate diverse peoples in Ottoman, Mughal, and Inca empires. Religion both united and divided far-flung peoples: - common religious culture of Christendom, but divided into Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. - Buddhism linked people in China, Korea, Tibet, Japan, and parts of Southeast Asia.

Webs of Connection (Cont’d) Islam was particularly good at bringing together its people: - hajj brought diverse people together. - yet conflict persisted between the Sunni and Shia. Patterns of trade: - the Silk Road network was contracting. - Indian Ocean trade was expanding.

Map of Religion and Commerce in the Afro-Eurasian World

Looking Ahead to the Modern Era, 1500-2012 Extensive trade but not yet truly global: While the trade networks ran deep and were quite large, the globe was not yet connected. Coming linkage of Afro-Eurasia, the Americas, and Oceania: Soon the whole world would become linked in what is now an almost inescapable global system. Radical change with industrialization: European technological advances would change methods of production, styles of living, and the ability to project power after the nineteenth century.

Looking Ahead to the Modern Era, 1500-2012 Demographic explosion: Human population would grow exponentially and impact other species on the planet like never before. Urbanized, commercialized, and literate: Cities would get larger and more common, people would be more tied into for-profit methods of production, and literacy would spread and open new perspectives on the world. Revolution of modernity: All of these forces made the second great revolution since the Agricultural Revolution, the revolution of modernity.

Looking Ahead to the Modern Era, 1500-2012 Rise of Europe and resistance to Europe: The modern era saw the unprecedented rise of Europe and the expansion of Europeans. The rest of the world had to decide how to deal with them. Often resistance came to characterize this process.