The Early Modern World Rising European presence in world affairs…

Europe in the Americas Spaniards – Caribbean, Aztec, Inca Portuguese – Brazil British, French, Dutch – N. America By mid 1800s, Europeans controlled most of the Americas. Why not Asia? – Geography of Europe – Chinese and Indians had rich markets in the IO – Interstate rivalry drove rulers to compete for territory – Colonies were an opportunity for impoverished nobles and commoners – Religion – zeal and entitlement – Seafaring technology, iron, gunpowder weapons, and horses

The Collapse of the Native American Societies million pop No immunities to Old World diseases Mortality rate of 90% Vanished throughout the Caribbean Central Mexico – pop dropped from 20 million to 1 million by pfM4 pfM4

Created a shortage of labor in the Americas European and African slaves created entirely new societies Exchange with the Americas reshaped the world economy - slaves – Corn – Potatoes/sweet Network of communication, migration, trade, transfer of plants and animals (including microbes) is called the “Columbian Exchange”. The Atlantic world connected four worlds Europeans got most of the rewards

Europeans didn’t just conquer and govern, they created wholly new societies Shaped by mercantilism – a system of political and economic policy, evolving with the modern national state and seeking to secure a nation's political and economic supremacy in its rivalry with other states. According to this system, money was regarded as a store of wealth, and the goal of a state was the accumulation of precious metals, by exporting the largest possible quantity of its products and importing as little as possible, thus establishing a favorable balance of trade.goalprecious

Aztec and Inca Distinctive social order/Spanish class hierarchy, accommodated Indians, Africans, and racially mixed people Spaniards were at the top, wanting independence from Spanish Crown Emergence of mestizo (mixed race) Abuse and exploitation of Indians More racial fluidity than in N. America

Sugar Colonies Brazil and the Caribbean produced sugar solely for export – Portuguese dominated world sugar market – Transformed Brazil and Caribbean – Labor intensive, large scale, slave labor – Indians wiped out or fled – 80% of African slaves in Americas ended up in Brazil and the Caribbean – Much more of Brazilian and Caribbean society was of African descent – Plantation complex based on African slavery spread to south parts of North America – Fewer women in the North meant less racial mixing = less tolerance toward mixed blood – Sharply defined racial system evolved

Settler Colonies in North America A different sort of colonial society emerged in British colonies of New England and Middle Colonies British got the leftovers… More settlers than the Spanish Less interested in spreading Christianity than Spain The “dregs” of the colonial world would become United States

The Making of the Russian Empire While Western Europeans were building empires in the Americas, the Russian Empire was beginning to take shape In the late 1400s, a small Russian state centered on the city of Moscow was emerging from two centuries of Mongol rule Expanded over vast tundra, forests, and grasslands of northern Asia to the east and south of Moscow Eventually expanded westward and took in Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, Belorussians, etc…

conquest was made possible by modern weapons and organization conquest brought devastating epidemics, especially in remote areas of Siberia—locals had no immunity to smallpox and measles pressure to convert to Christianity large-scale settlement of Russians in the new lands, where they outnumbered the native population (e.g., in Siberia)

Rich agricultural lands, furs, and minerals helped make Russia a great power by the eighteenth century Became an Asian power as well as a European one the Russian Empire remained intact until 1991

Asian Empires Making China an Empire Qing dynasty (1644–1912) launched enormous imperial expansion to the north and west China evolved into a Central Asian empire conquered territory was ruled separately from the rest of China through the Court of Colonial Affairs

The Mughal Empire Mughals united much of India between 1526 and 1707 Emperor Akbar (r. 1556–1605) attempted serious accommodation of the Hindu majority Akbar and his successors encouraged a hybrid Indian-Persian-Turkic culture Mughal toleration provoked reaction among some Muslims Fractured Mughal empire and opened the way for a British takeover in the second half of the 18 th century