1. Chapter 16 THE WEST AND THE CHANGING WORLD BALANCE – The East The shifting balance of power among civilizations in Asia, Africa and Europe changed the nature of international contact

2. Decline of old order Byzantium & Abbasids crumble
1258 Mongols take the Abbasid
capital of Baghdad
1453 Ottoman Turks take
Constantinople, capital
of Byzantium
Social & cultural decline
- decline gradual
Middle East – Islamic religious leaders gain “upper hand”
scholarship focuses on religion
Rise of Sufi movement

3. With no government control, landlords seize
power over peasantry
- become serfs
- agricultural productivity falls
- trade declines
merchants lose ground to European traders
decline of Mongols opens up opportunities for China & Western Europe to step into leadership positions
International Leadership
- Ottoman’s rise but don’t restore Islamic importance
- focused on conquest & administration
- little attention to commerce

4. Admiral of Chinese fleet
China
Ming Dynasty ( )
push borders
influence neighboring countries
state sponsored trading expeditions
- technological innovations in sailing
- expeditions halted in 1433
- cost
- opposition from Confucian
bureaucrats
Zhenghe
Admiral of Chinese fleet

5. lost chance to become dominant world trading power
Chinese felt only an experiment
- return to typical isolationist policies
- little need for foreign products
merchants remain active in
SE Asia

6. What if the Chinese did not halt their explorations?