1. The Worlds of the 15th Century
Major turning point in human history…

2. Human Communities Paleolithic: Agricultural Village Societies:
Australia, Siberia, parts of Africa and the Americas
Australia and Northwest coast of North America
Both – very different
Agricultural Village Societies:
North America, Africa (south of equator), South America, SE Asia
Avoided oppressive authority
Nigeria
Yoruba created
Benin
Igbo
Iroquois – role for women?

3. Herding Peoples
Turkic warrior Timur (Timerlane) tried to restore the Mongol Empire ca. 1400
His army devastated Russia, Persia, and India
Died in 1405 while preparing invasion of China
His successors kept control of area b/t Persia and Afghanistan for 100 years
Timur’s conquest was the LAST great military success of Central Asian nomads

4. 1500s – China and Europe Ming Dynasty
Disrupted by Mongol rule and plague
Recovery
Confucian learning
Yongle = Encyclopedia (wisdom of past)
Reestablished civil service examination
Highly centralized government
Court eunuchs
Planted 1 billion trees
Yongle commissioned massive maritime fleet
Possibly the most prosperous civilizations of it time

5. Europe Pop began to rise again in 1450
State building BUT fragmented with many independent states
The Hundred Years’ War ( )
Renaissance – reclamation of classical Greece
Began in Italy ( )
Greater naturalism in art – da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo
“humanist” scholars to explore secular topics

6. Europe cont… Maritime voyaging Crash Course!!
1415 – Portuguese voyages
1492 – Columbus
Vasco da Gama
Small in comparison to Chinese voyages
Europeans were seeking wealth, converts, and allies
Used violence to carve out empires
Chinese voyages ended – European ones increased
Rivalry b/t states increased competition
China had everything it needed/Europeans wanted more
China’s food produced internally

8. Islamic World 4 major states or empires
Islamic Heartland: Ottoman and Safavid Empires
1. Ottoman Empire lasted from 14th to 20th century
Huge territory
Anatolia, eastern Europe, Middle East, North African coast
Sultans claimed the title “caliph” and the legacy of the Abbasids
Attempted to bring unity to Islamic world
Aggressive towards Christian lands = Constantinople in 1453, siege of Vienna in 1529, Europeans feared Turkish expansion
2. Safavid Empire emerged in Persia from a Sufi religious order
Established after 1500 and imposed Shia Islam as official religion
Sunni Ottoman Empire and Shia Safavid Empire fought periodically between

9. Islamic Heartland cont..
3. The Songhay Empire – rose in West Africa
Islam was limited to urban elites
Sonni Ali followed Muslim practices but was also regarded as a magician with much charm
Major center of Islamic learning/trade
4. Mughal Empire – India, created by a Turkic group that invaded India in 1526
Gained control over most of India
Tried to create partnership between Hindus and Muslims
Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagara continued to flourish in south

10. The age of these 4 great Muslim empires is sometimes called a “second flowering of Islam”
Energy, prosperity, cultural brilliance
Spread of Islam to SE Asia
Malacca – major Muslim port city in fifteenth century
Mulaccan Islam blended with Hindu/Buddhist traditions

11. The Americas - Aztecs
Seminomadic people who migrated southward from N. Mexico and est. themselves on an island in Lake Texcoco by 1325
Capital = Tenochtitlan
Loosely structured
5-6 million people
Trade included slaves – sacrifice

12. Incas Andes mountains – 2500 miles long Emperor was absolute ruler
80 provinces with an Inca governor
Quipus recorded population data
Quechua – language
Cuzco – capital
Everyone performed labor (mita)
Both practiced “gender parallelism”

13. Religion Christendom = divided into RC and Eastern Orthodoxy
Buddhism linked people in China, Korea, Tibet, Japan, and parts of the Southeast Asia
Islam brought people together through the annual hajj, yet conflict still existed.

14. Trade Trade was almost everywhere Silk Road network was contracting
Ocean trade pick up in the West Atlantic/Indian Ocean

15. Looking to the Modern Era 1500-2000
Modern human society emerged first in Europe in the nineteenth century and then throughout the world
Core feature – industrialization
Massive pop increase
Favor urban wealth over rural landowning elites
States become more powerful
The Modern Revolution was just as important as the A.R.
Revealed new economic inequalities

16. Western Europe
After 1500, Western Europe became the most innovative, prosperous, powerful part of the world
Spread of European languages and Christian religion throughout the world
Initiated the Scientific Revolution and the Industrial Revolution
Isms: liberalism, nationalism, feminism, socialism
Rest of the world was confronted by powerful, intrusive Europeans