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Outline
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Chapter 15: The West and the Changing World Balance
  • AP World History


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Key Concepts…
  • The Decline of the Arab Caliphate, with its fall in 1258, and the disruptions of the Mongolian Empires caused a shift in world power.
  • China stepped up to the plate early, but was soon followed by Western Europe.
  • Western Europe initiated many internal changes first, with Italy, Spain, and Portugal leading the way.
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Out with the Old…
  • 1200: Middle East is dominated by two major empires, Byzantine and Islamic Caliphate.
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Out with the Old…
  • By 1400, the Byzantine Empire was in decline (with the help of Ottoman Turks).
    • Constantinople falls in 1453 to the Turks.
  • 1258: Fall of the last Arab Caliphate (Abbasid)
    • The fall of Islamic Caliphate did NOT delete Islam, nor its empires from the maps of the world.
      • Trade was disrupted, but will rebound by 1400
      • The Ottoman Turks will reestablish much of the power lost by the Caliphate in the 1500s-1700s.
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Transition
  • The Mongols were  of the first to develop an alternative Global framework.
  • Soon after, China would repel the Mongols, leading to a brief era of Chinese expansionism.
    • 1368: Ming Dynasty (lasts until 1644)
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China’s Ming Dynasty
  • Ming rulers secure China, pushing Mongols to the North.
    • Forced tribute payments from Korea, Vietnam, and Tibet.
  • Early 1400’s: Huge trading expeditions to Southern Asia and beyond.
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Zhenghe’s trading expeditions…
  • 1405-1433: Admiral Zhenghe, a Chinese Muslim eunuch.
    • Led expeditions that hugged Asian coastline
    • 28,000 armed troops aboard
    • Improved compass, and better maps
    • Goods for trade
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The end of Asian expansion
  • Zhenghe’s expeditions were called off in 1433.
    • Resented by Confucian bureaucracy
    • Unacceptable costs (especially when fighting the Mongols, and building a new capital city in Beijing)
    • Rooted in China’s history of emphasizing internal development, keeping commercial development at bay.
    • China squanders the opportunity, but internally becomes stronger as a result.
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Rise of the West
  • Where was the west around 1400?
    • The Church (dominant institution of the Middle Ages) was under attack.
    • 1215: Magna Carta
    • Medieval Philosophy…not so creative
    • Warrior aristocrats…not as warrior-like
    • By 1300, population outpaced food supply…causes famine
      • No new food supply techniques were discovered.
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The Rise of the
West
  • The Black Plague (or, Bubonic Plague):
    • Reduces Chinese population by 30% by 1400.
    • Follows trade routes from India to the Middle East
    • 1348-1375: Europe’s worst episode, killing 30 Million people, roughly 1/3 of Europe.
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The Rise of the West
  • How did the West achieve dominance?
    • Strengthening of Feudal Monarchy
    • Hundred Years’ War (Britain and France) stimulated Military technology
      • Central power of governments increase
    • Christians drove Muslims out of Spain and Portugal
    • Growth of cities spurs urban economies centered on commercial capitalism.
    • Technology continued to expand
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The Rise of the West
  • How else, then, did the West achieve dominance?
    • Mongol domination of Asia in the 13th and early 14th centuries opened up Asian technology to the Westerners.
      • Printing press
      • Compass
      • Gunpowder
    • Ever since the Crusades, Europeans had a greater desire for Asian made goods, resulting in an unfavorable balance of trade, causing a Gold Famine that threatened the European economy.
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The Rise of the West
  • The rise of the Ottoman’s also led to increased fear over a Muslim surge in power.
    • Search for new ways around the newly-developing Muslim Empire
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The Rise of the West
  • 1400’s: Italy, cultural and political movement known as rebirth, or the Renaissance
    • Stressed more secular subjects
    • Realistic portrayals of people and nature
  • Why Italy?
    • Connection to Ancient Rome
    • 14th Century: Led the West in Banking and trade
      • Healthy commercial practices gave the money to be able to support cultural activities.
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Renaissance Culture
  • A Cultural Movement
    • Practical ethics, urban codes of behavior
    • Art and Music flourish
      • Themes include nature and people
    • Architecture moves from Gothic to Classical
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Impact of the Renaissance
  • Little influence outside of Italy
    • Focused on high culture, not popular culture
    • Minimal interest in Science
    • Not a FULL-break from Medievalism
  • Although, Italian commerce proved to be a building block of European power.
    • The “Renaissance spirit” spurred innovation.
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The Iberian Contribution
  • Christian leaders had been pushing back Muslim forces for years.
  • After 1400 regional monarchies had been established in the provinces of Castile and Aragon, united in Marriage in 1469.


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Ferdinand and Isabella
  • Spanish and Portuguese formed a unified agenda for the expulsion of the Muslims, continued by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella
    • Effective armies with cavalry
    • Government should promote Christianity through conversion.
    • Close links between Church and State


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Western Expansion…attempt #1
  • Early ventures were inhibited by technological barriers.
    • Efforts were underway to improve these technologies through Arab contacts, who learned from the Chinese.
    • Mapmaking improved
  • 1498: Vasco de Gama was the first European to reach India by sea.
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Colonial Patterns
  • Prince Henry of Portugal (Prince Henry the Navigator) was a driving force in making the colonies Spain and Portugal already had, profitable.
    • Student of astronomy and Nautical Science
    • Sponsored a third of Portuguese ventures before his death in 1460.
    • Mixture of curiosity, knowledge, money, and religion motivate him.
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Colonial Patterns
  • Iberians set up a system of colonialism that would be seen for years to come.
    • Colonists set up large agricultural estates for cash crops to be sold on European market.
    • Introduced sugar, then cotton and tobacco
    • Used slave labor from Northwest Africa
  • Sound familiar?
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What’s going on elsewhere?
  • Important note: Changes elsewhere are happening simultaneously, but unrelated to changes in Europe, Middle East, and Asia.
    • Disunity in Aztec/Incan Empires, and overextension throughout the 1400s caused weakened empires throughout the Americas


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What’s going on elsewhere?
  • Polynesia: Expansion beyond the Society Islands (Tahiti, Samoa, and Fiji).
    • Migration to Hawaii, where Hawaiians and Polynesians mixed quickly. Pigs were imported to Hawaii
      • Set up regional kingdom structure that was highly warlike.
        • Social caste system dominated life
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Elsewhere…
  • Maori’s migrate from Polynesia south to New Zealand.
    • Successful adaptation to colder environment.
    • Tribal military leaders hold power
    • Polynesia will be of the last places to be colonized by Europe later in history.
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Put it all together…
  • Many changes, if not all, occur independently. Every change is explainable, but their combination is accidental.
    • Technology
    • Roles of individuals
    • Impact of political shifts
    • Cultural movements
    • Revolutions in commerce