1. CHAPTER 13 Political Transformations: Empires and Encounters 1450–1750
Robert W. Strayer
Ways of the World: A Brief Global History Second Edition and Ways of the World: A Brief Global History with Sources Second Edition
CHAPTER 13
Political Transformations: Empires and Encounters
1450–1750
Copyright © 2013 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

2. Political Transformations / Empires and Encounters 1450-1750
Chapter#13
Early Modern Era
Political Transformations / Empires and Encounters

3. European Advantage
Countries on the Atlantic rim – Portugal, Spain, Britain and France were closer to America than any Asian competitor
Winds in the Atlantic were consistent
European innovations in mapmaking, navigation, sailing techniques, and ship design gave them an advantage in entering the Atlantic Ocean World

4. Motivated by their desire to obtain goods from Asia, gain new territories
More land was needed to support the population based on wheat and livestock
Western Europe needed grain, sugar, meat, and fish
Rulers were also driven by their rivalry with each other
Also the desire to spread Christianity

5. European states were able to mobilize human and material resources
Sailing techniques built on Chinese and Muslim technology allowed sailing across the Atlantic
Able to transport people and supplies across great distances
Ironworking, gunpowder weapons, and horses were far superior to what was in the Americas
Sailed for Gold, Glory and God

6. Aztecs
Division in the Americas provided allies for European
Natives who resented the Aztec rule joined with the Spanish against the Aztec
Spanish were looked a liberators
Spanish leader – Hernan Cortez
Aztec leader - Moctezuma

7. Incan’s were divided as two brothers struggled for control
Atahualpa and Huascar
Atahualpa will become emporer
Spanish leader – Francisco Pizzaro

8. Disease was the greatest advantage the Europeans had
With no immunities to European diseases the nave population was decimated
Disease will kill so many natives that shortly after arriving the new settlers will outnumber the natives

9. The Great Dying
Global impact – collapse of Native American societies
60-80 million population prior to the Spanish arrival
Greatest concentration in Mesoamerica and Andean zone – Aztec and Incan empires
Disease –small pox, measles, typhus, influenza, malaria, and yellow fever
90% of population died is=n some cases

10. Population of Caribbean almost vanished in 50 years
Central Mexico population of 20 million decline to 1 million by 1650
North America experience the same results
William Bradford governor of Massachusetts saw the death of so many natives (90%) as the ”good hand of God”

11. Columbian exchange
The death of so many natives in America created a labor shortage
Made room for immigrants and enslaved Africans
Over several centuries of Colonial Era European and African people created new societies
New arrivals brought disease, plants and animals

12. Wheat, rice, sugarcane, grapes, and many garden vegetables and fruits as well as weeds
Animals – horses, pigs, cattle, goats, sheep - all new to America
Allowed for ranching economies both north and south Americas
Horses transformed many North American tribes – abandoned farms and hunted from horseback

13. America’s food crops – corn, potatoes, and peppers went to Eastern hemisphere
New foods led to population growth in Europe
Europe’s population 60 million in 1400 / 390 million 1900
Potatoes also went to Ireland – and population grew rapidly – years later many dies as a fungus destroyed the crops
Caused millions of Irish to leave their homeland

14. In China corn, peanuts and sweet potatoes led to a population explosion
Early 20th century – crops from America 20% of Chinese diet
American stimulants Tobacco and chocolate soon used world wide
Tea from China and coffee Islamic world spread globally
Silver mines of Peru and Mexico fueled transatlantic commerce

15. Allowed Europeans to buy silks and porcelains they prized
The slave trade brought needed labor from Africa
Sugar and cotton trade caused millions of African to be enslaved and sent to Americas
This HUGE transfer of people, good, disease and ideas is called the Columbian Exchange
It is a collision of culture between the eastern and western hemispheres

16. Comparing Colonial Societies in America
Spanish, Portuguese, British, and French all created new empires in the new world
Created new societies – decimation of natives mixed with new immigrants and slaves
Mercantilism – The colonial empires existed for the purpose of bettering the mother country
Fueled war an Colonial rivalry

17. Cortez made an alliance with native Tlaxcala against the Aztecs
Received 100s of female slaves
Daughters from elite families – distributed to his soldiers
Aztec ruler – deliver women with light skin, corn, chickens, eggs, and tortillas

19. Some Spanish married the elite women
Moctezuma’s daughter – mistress to Cortez later married several other Spanish men
Below elite status – women experienced sexual violence and abuse- also men
City destroyed and Mexico City rebuilt in same spot

21. Spanish conquest of Incans and Aztecs gave Spain
Access to great wealth
Within a century and before any English attempt at settlement, established about a dozen major cities, universities, hundreds of cathedrals, and missions
Network of international commerce
Large plantations established and silver and gold mines

22. Native people provided most of the labor
Encomienda - legal system that gave the right to the Spanish to force labor
Also required them to give protection to natives and instruction in Christianity
This turns into enslavement
Repartimiento – same system but more control by the Spanish officials

24. 17th century – hacienda system
Large plantation owners employed natives – low wages, high taxes, creating large debts to landowners
Peons – poor working class had very little control over their lives
Top of the society -land owning aristocrat
They started to feel more and more as colonials and deserving of self-government
New hierarchy established

25. Peninsulares – Spanish born living in America
Creoles – Spanish born in America
Mestizo – European and native
Mulatto – European and African

27. Women were not allowed to hold office
Considered weak and in need of protection
Bearers of civilization – link to male wealth, honor, status of future generations
Strict control of their sexuality – obsession with “purity of blood”
Scarcity of women – 7-1 ratio early in early colonial Peru

28. Native women seeking security married Europeans
Mestizo eventually becomes the majority population of Spanish Americas
Mestizo women worked in domestic servants, or in husband’s shops, wove cloth, made candles and cigars
Natives were subject to abuse and exploitation – labor force in mines and on estates
In Native law women cold own property but in Spanish law they could not

29. Colony of Sugar
Brazil and British, French, and Dutch islands of the Caribbean – aka sugar islands
Europeans gained the technology from the Muslims and introduced this in America
Huge demand in Europe
Areas where sugar was grown was mostly for export and they important needed foods
Massive use of slave labor, harsh conditions

30. Native American population had been wiped out or had run away in Brazil
Europeans turned to the African slave trade
80% of Africans ended up in Brazil and the Caribbean
Slaves worked on sugar plantations – very harsh conditions
Conditions, disease = 5-10% death rate a year

31. ½ the population women
Women worked under the same conditions and received the same amount of food
Some women worked for white owners doing domestic chores, or hired out to homes, shops, laundries, inns and brothels
Eventually the population was mostly African decent

32. Haiti 1790 / 93%
Brazil – cross racial mixing
Use of concubines and casual relationships among African, Indian and Portuguese
Produced a substantial mixed race population
Mulattoes – African & European was very prominent

33. British North America
Slavery extended here / mostly to plantations in the south
Cotton, tobacco, rice and indigo
Less racial mixing here
Racial divide –Black =African, Red= Indian, White= Europeans

34. Slavery was less harsh in North America
Slaves in the United States reproduced and by Civil War, almost all slaves had been born here
Not the case in Latin America where new slaves were imported into the 19th century
Brazil – many slaves were set free here (more so than North America)

35. Blacks and mulattoes had more economic opportunities in Brazil
Some found rolls in government
North America – any amount of African made you “black”
Brazil a person of African and non-African considered non black

36. Settler Colonies in North America
British were the last to establish colonies in the new world
Many considered the lands they took in North America as “left overs” lacking wealth
Not a prominent part of the world stage until the 18th century
British settlers came from a changing

37. England – had already had Protestant / Catholic conflict
Rich merchant class, distinct from nobility, established a parliament, which checked the power of the king
Brought much of their English culture to America

38. Puritans and Quakers came to America to break away from English culture
Men in Puritan New England became independent heads of the home – no nobility
Women in Puritan society - role wife and mother
Husband head of the house and women below him
Women prosecuted for fornication much more often than men
Few women attended school but were majority in church- could not become ministers

39. British settlers outnumbered Spanish settlers in the new world / 5/1 by 1750
By the time of the American Revolution, 90% of colonies population was Europeans
Disease and military attacks had decimated the native populations
Christianity not spread here as much / not deemed as important by British Protestants
Protestants did insist on all being able to read the bible

40. Schools were mandated in New England and here there was a very literate population
Over 75% / women lower
Latin America Catholics / 95% illiterate by independence
British settlers developed self-government

41. Joint stock companies invested in new colonies
Virginia aka London Company invested in Jamestown
For much of the 17th century the English government ignored or neglected the colonies / salutary neglect
They elected colonial assemblies to defend their rights – representative government

43. The Steppes and Siberia: The Making of the Russian Empire
Same time Western Europe was building an empire
Russia was taking shape and would become the world’s largest state
Moscow – center of Russia

44. Expanding Russia – Polish, Germans, Ukrainians, Belorussians, and Baltic people
Eastern Europe to Pacific
Security a problem
Pastoral societies often rained and enslaved population

45. Siberia
220,000 people by 17th century
100 languages
Hunting / gathering / small groups
“Soft Gold” fur bearing animals – pelts were in world demand

46. Russian Empire
Russian military conquered the surrounding territories / modern weapons
Demanded oath of allegiance
Tribute or yasak paid in cash or in kind
Disease followed conquest / local had no immunities to invaders disease

47. People forced to convert to Christianity
Destruction on Mosques and tax incentives to those who converted
Forced resettlement of Muslims
Catherine the Great established religious toleration for Muslims (18 century) but had state agency watch and control them

48. Russians migrated to Siberia
700,000 by 1720 / Local people reduced to 30% and 14% by 19th century
Loss of hunting grounds and pasture lands to Russian agriculture undermined older societies
People became dependent on grain, sugar, tea, tobacco, and alcohol
Fees required crossing agriculture lands
Steppes and Siberia became part of Russian state

50. Russia and Empire
Wealth / rich agriculture lands, furs and mineral deposits helped Russia become a great power
Movement west was mostly by military conquest
Ottomans, Poland, Sweden, Lithuania, Prussia, and Austria
Western Europe was aware of a growing and more powerful Russia

51. Contact with Western Europe also fostered westernization
Peter the Great
Modernization, administration changes, manufacturing, nobles made to dress European
St. Petersburg became the new capital
Catherine the Great vied herself as part of the Enlightenment

53. Conflict with Asia
Some of Asia controlled by Russia
Next to China, India, Persia and Ottoman Empire
Conflict with Islam

54. Asian Empires
China went deep into central Asia
Turko-Mongol invaders from Central Asia created the Mughal Empire / bringing Hindu South Asia within a single political group
Ottoman Empire / Muslim rule to Largely Christian society in southeastern Europe
Turkish Rule to Arab population in North Africa and Middle East

55. Chinese empire
15th century China stopped ocean exploration
17th and 18th century China built a new Empire
Qing or Manchu Dynasty

56. Nomadic (foreign) from north of Great Wall
Wanted to keep ethnic distinction
No intermarriage
Mastered Chinese language
Confucianism / to govern empire
Trade, tribute system and warfare continued with nomadic peoples

57. 1680-1760 Qing military brought huge regions under its control
This was undertaken for security concerns
Eastern movement took them into conflict with Mongols
Treaty with Russia / Treaty of Nerchinsk 1689 – established borders
Chinese did not look at themselves as imperial power but were unifying the people

58. China created this empire by using more advanced military / modern weapons
Conquered people forced to dress Chinese / officials wear peacock feathers
Did not force assimilation
Buddhist monks not required to pay taxes of labor
Mongolian, Tibetan and Muslim cultures were respected

59. Muslim and Hindus in the Mughal Empire
Turic people who claimed to be descendants of Chinggis Khan and Timur
Brutal conquest / provided India with a rare political unity
Division in Mughal Empire was religion
Ruling dynasty and Muslim people 20%
Most of the rest were Hindu / in some form

61. Akbar 1556-1605 / most famous emperor
Accommodated the Hindu majority
He married several princesses (Hindu Tribes) did not make them convert to Islam
Hindus in political and military
Supported building of Hindu temples
Tried to loosen restriction on women

62. Encouraged remarriage of widows
Discouraged child marriage
Discouraged Sati (widow followed her husband in death by throwing herself in fire)
Set market days for women
Nur Jahan 20th wife was considered the power behind the thrown / opium & alcohol addicted husband

63. Akbar had ulama (Islamic religious scholars) retrained
Removed special tax on non Muslim
Constructed a special house of worship / many religions participated
Hindu epic Ramayana translated into Persian
Created a Indian-Persian –Turkic culture
Policies caused a sharp reaction by some Muslims

65. Women were not following Islamic strict law
Some wanted to impose Sharia Law
Emperor Aurangzeb / tried to impose Islamic dominance
Music and dance banned
Dancing girls ordered to get married or leave
Gambling, drinking, prostitution, and narcotics were suppressed

66. Hindu temples destroyed
Jizay – “Censors of Public Morals” enforced Islamic law
This caused a split and conflict between Islamic and Hindu people
After his death this area was open to British take over

67. Muslims and Christians in the Ottoman Empire
Created by Turkic Warriors
Starting in 1300s these Ottoman Turks took over much of the Middle East and North Africa
Creating an Islamic world
Taking the “Sword of Islam” and serving as defender of the faith

68. Strict Islamic Law / creating a strong patriarchal society / women veiled, secluded
Allowed women property rights / some gained great wealth
Ottoman courts used to protect rights marriage, divorce, property and inheritance
Holy cities of Islam – Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem to under Ottoman control

69. Imposing Sunni version of Islam
Persian Empire holding to Shia for of Islam - divide in Islamic world
Byzantium fell in 1453 and Constantinople became Istanbul the capital of the Ottoman Empire
Balkans – mostly Christian
Many Christians welcomed Ottoman conquest

70. Less taxation and churches allowed to practice
Many Jewish and Christian would use Muslim courts to protect their rights as they were granted more rights here
Devshirme – required Christian communities to turn over a quota of young boys
Boys forced into Turkish homes and into Islam

72. The End