1. Recovery AD
Expanding Worlds

2. Empires in Africa Ethiopia Zimbabwe
Expanded into the Great Rift Valley
Trade in gold, slaves, ivory, and civet
1481 AD Ethiopian Christian Church re-establishs contact with Rome
Zimbabwe
S.E. Africa
S. of regular monsoon wind routes
Grew as Arab traders moved south
Built trading centers called “zimbabwes”

6. Empires in Africa cont. Mali falls to internal wars
Portuguese sail up Niger expecting to find great civ. of Mansa Musa
Instead find ruins and shambles
Beginning of European discrimination against Africa
Songhay succeeds Mali, but never rises to become a great power
Kongo
Civilization grew around Congo River
Grew to power by selling slaves to Portuguese

9. Empires in the Americas
Incas c AD
Largest city at Cuzco (Peru)
Descendents of the Chavin
Environmentally diverse because of the Andes
Microclimates
Ranging from the edges of the Amazon (2000 ft) to high grass plains (13,000 ft)
Allowed for diverse range of crops
At its height, approx miles long
Ecuador to Peru
Built on conquest and oppression of people
Unsustainable system
Great architecture and road building
Machu Picchu

11. Empires in the Americas cont.
Aztecs
MesoAmerican civ. centered at Tenochtitlan
Approx ft. elevation
Middle of a lake
Poor ground for ag. led to society based on warfare
Hundreds of tributary communities
Empire ran from middle of Mexico to Guatemala
Allowed exchange of goods
Collection of sacrificial victims
Tribute peoples resented Aztec rule

13. Common Themes in American Empires
Extremely rapid expansion
Too fast for manpower to secure borders
Too fast/large for communication systems
No long-range trade with other powers
Lack of technological development because of lack of competition

14. New Eurasian Empires Russia
Previously an ever-changing series of principalities threatened by steppepeoples
Mongol invasion brought stability, allowing for the growth of power in some regions
Muscovy (Moscow) on the Volga River
Princes were tax collectors for the Mongols
Ivan I “Moneybags”
After fall of Constantinople (1453 AD) saw selves as the new, new Rome
Looked to throw off Mongol rule
1470s Ivan II “The Great” came to power
Absorbed other principalities
Married a Byzantine princess!
Traced lineage back to the Roman Caesars
Declared independent Russian Empire
Built on money from the fur trade (“black gold” of the North)

16. The Timurids
Islamic World recovered from plague slower than Europe or China
Worked to convert more and more steppepeoples
Timur the Lame (Tamerlane) Islamic Mongol descended from Genghis Khan
Overthrew Il-Khans
Built an empire in Iran and halted Ottoman expansion
Empire falls after his death
Lasting impacts include breaking power of Delhi Sultanate, distracting Ottomans from moving into Europe, and expanding conversion of steppepeoples to Islam

18. Ottoman Expansion Ottoman strength in geographical location
Silk Road
Indian Ocean trade winds
Volga, Danube, and Mediterranean seas converge
Straits of the Bosporus and Dardanelles (1453)
Tradition of empire and military expansion dating back to steppeland roots
Unlike many other steppeland peoples, Ottomans quickly adapted to modern military technologies

19. Ottoman Expansion cont.
Ottomans built navy in 1390 AD to challenge Venetian supremacy on Med. Sea
Become supreme naval power in E. Med. by 1500
First non-Europeans since Carthage (Punic Wars)
Built elite land force based on Janissaries
Male slaves raised from childhood to be soldiers
Taken as tribute from Christian communities

20. Mehmet II Mehmet II becomes Ottoman Sultan at 19 (1451 AD)
Wants to impose centralized gov. rather than the indirect rule of previous eras
Needed to control Constantinople
Used artillery and human wave attacks to take the city after two years of siege
German artillerist turned down by Byz. Hired by Ottomans
Last Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI died in combat on the steps of his palace
Ottomans take Constantinople in 1453 and begin looking deeper into Europe
End of the Byzantine Empire
End of the last bastion of the old Roman Empire

23. Limits of Chinese Imperialism
Buddhist Millenarianism
Loss of half the population by plague
Rest of pop. overworked to keep infrastructure intact (communication)
Rebellious peasants
Blame Mongol overlords
Peasant revolt led by solder Zhu Yuanzhang
Est. Ming dynasty
Challenged power of Confucian elite and instituted expansionist policies

25. Zheng He
Ming Admiral Zheng He sails massive fleet around Indian and Pacific Oceans (1405)
Largest fleet the world had ever seen
Most advanced ships in the world
Need to solidify empire at home led to abandonment of naval expansion
Confucian scholars come back into power
Probably good decision—all sea-based Empires in last 500 years have crumbled
China is still a power
May have landed in S. America or Antarctica, but there is no verifiable evidence to prove it

29. European Oceanic Imperialism
European merchants seeking access to Indian Ocean to bypass Ottoman middlemen
Spices from Sri Lanka and Indonesia most valuable commodities in the world
Going through Ottomans siphoned off most of the profits in the spice trade
European ocean navigation very limited
Atlantic fixed wind system vs. Indian seasonal monsoon winds

30. Portuguese Navigation
Interested in accessing W. African gold markets
Also discovered slave markets
African slaves became most important product out of W. Africa
Explored to discover if Indian Ocean was actually landlocked
Vasco da Gama sailed around Cape of Good Hope 1500 to reach India
Led to Portuguese domination of spice trade

31. Cristophero Columbo
Genoese merchant looking to reach India by sailing west
Financed by Italian bankers
Supplied by Spanish monarchs Isabella of Castille and Ferdinand of Aragon
Spain recently unified after completion of Reconquista in 1492 and looking to challenge Portuguese power
Discovered fast reliable routes across Atlantic
Charted Atlantic currents and winds
Died believing that the islands he landed on in the Caribbean were part of Indonesia

32. European Outlook c. 1500 Problems Positives
Famine because of labor shortages
Ottomans slowly pushing into Europe from the Balkans, threatening Christian Europe
Thule raiders obliterated Norse Greenland
Positives
Plague deaths opened made skill more important than class or blood for social advancement
“Virtue is the sole and unique nobility” –Venetian Coat of Arms (only true in W. Europe—class divisions actually solidified in E. Europe)

33. European Renaissance
Art and culture focus on classical learning of Greek and Rome
Rise of Humanism
Celebration of humanity rather than the divine
“Man is the measure of all things”
Study of /interest in texts and places outside the Christian world

34. Nation-state System in Europe
15th Century saw rise of nationalism in Europe
People identified selves as “French” or “English” first, rather than as “Christians”
Vernacular languages
Universities
Patron Saints
National sovereignty
Rejection of supranational authorities like the Holy Roman Emperor or the Pope
Paper allowed for faster/more efficient communication from central authority
Rise of power of central state (kings) and decrease in power of local authorities (nobles)

35. Beginnings of a World System
By end of the 15th Century, sea power linked the world
Frontier Africa and America linked to pop. centers in Asia and Europe
Atlantic trade linked with Indian Ocean trade
Technology, culture, ideas, and ecology exchanged faster than ever before
Massive changes in the world as a whole