1450 CE – 1750 CE
Era of Global Interaction!
Chapter 16 & World Economy
1450 CE – 1750 CE
Ancient
10,000 BCE
Classical
1000 BCE
Postclassical
1 CE
1750
The World in 1400
Middle East in 1400
► Loss
of trade revenue &
agricultural productivity
 Peasants slip into serfdom
 Turn increasingly toward faith & away
from science for answers
► Abbasid,
Mongol, & Byzantine
collapse creates power vacuum
Middle East in 1400
► Ottomans
fill void
China in 1400
► Ming
dynasty initially focuses on reestablishing borders & influence
 Example: Zheng He
China in 1400
► Foreign
influence ended in favor of
internal development
 Economy, industry, & agriculture
 Emphasis on tradition & Neo-Confucianism
India in 1400
► Timor
& Mongol descendants led
to broad Islamic empire, Mughal
Europe in 1400
► Contact
& exchange bred curiosity
 Renaissance fosters spirit of exploring world
 Wealth focused in Italian city-states expanded
international trade, banking, art
► Monarchy
& commerce strengthening
 Reconquista of Spain drives out Muslim kingdoms
Global Connections
Muslim trade & Indian Ocean-based trade
↓
Mongol moment & land-based trade
↓
Return of sea trade & Chinese moment
↓
Leadership shifting toward Europe
A Shift – Why?
• New Technology: Key to Power
•Europe v. China
Arab portolan charts
& maps
Chinese compass &
explosives
Arab lateen sail
Chinese
sternpost
rudder
Technology in Iberia
• New sturdier ships
– Needed for ocean travel
– Experience in N.Atlantic vs. Med
• Maneuverability
– Added a rudder
• Sails
– Combined square & lateen sails to advance in
uncooperative winds
Technology in Iberia
• Navigation instruments
• Astrolabe / cross staffs
• Compass
• Winds & currents
• Volta do mar
European Exploration
Countries (in chronological order)
Example territory outside
Europe
A-
A-
B-
→ B-
C-
C-
D-
D-
Comparison
→
1550
1700
Luxuries → Exploration
• Desire for luxuries helped fuel European
exploration
– Discovery of New World
Exploration → Truly Global Network
• Result:
– Columbian Exchange
• massive swap of people, diseases, plants, &
animals b/t New World & Old World upon
arrival of Christopher Columbus.
European Exploration
Columbian Exchange
Examples:
From Old World
Small Pox
Horses
Sugarcane
Africans
Wheat
Cotton

From New World
Potatoes
Corn
Tomatoes
Tobacco

Columbian Exchange
• Silver
– What was the role of silver in the Columbian
Exchange?
The world economy &
developments in Western Europe
are connected!
Early Modern W. Europe - Pre-Test
£ Put the following developments in
chronological order & give a brief
description




Enlightenment =
Renaissance =
Scientific Revolution =
Protestant Reformation =
W. Europe’s
Commercial Revolution
Commercial Revolution
£ A time of internal economic growth in
W. Europe as it became more trade-based
£ Standard of living improved
Economics?
1. What is “economics”?
2. What are some basic principles of
economics?
W. Europe’s Postclassical
Economy?
1. Manorialism
£ Subsistence farming = serfs
£ Lords live off of taxes
£ “Old Money” based on landownership and
tradition
2. Small guilds develop to encourage
artisanry
Early Modern
Economy
Early Modern
Economy
…is global
W. Europe’s Commercial Revolution
…based on new theory:
• Mercantilism
– A policy that encouraged nations to maximize
exports and minimize imports
• Meant colonized ports could only trade w/ mother
country
– Europe buys raw materials ($)
– Europe sells manufactures ($$$)
Mercantilism & Results in Europe
– Colonial markets led to more manufacturing
in W. Europe
New Manufacturing Demands
in Europe
Met through…
£ Cottage Industry
(also called Proto-Industrialization & Putting-Out System)

Production of cloth in rural areas



Done by farmers in winter months
Supplemented rural income
Merchants amassed capital & avoided guilds
Cottage Industry
New Manufacturing Demands
in Europe
Met through…
£ Cottage Industry
(also called Proto-Industrialization & Putting-Out System)

Production of cloth in rural areas



Done by farmers in winter months
Supplemented rural income
Merchants amassed capital & avoided guilds
£ Urban manufacturing improved by technology
 Metal working, pottery, shoemaking
Mercantilism & Manufacturing
Investment in cottage & urban manufacturing due to…
£ Inflation
£
What is inflation?
£
£

Why was there inflation in early modern Europe?
Why would inflation encourage investment?
Money in 1550 would buy less in 5 years, so
merchants invested in manufacturing
Commercial Revolution
in Western Europe
£ New sources of income for:




Governments
Banks
Merchants
Farmers
• Pre-1450: Life similar to E. Europe
• 1450-1750: peasant families had 5x
more stuff than E. Europeans
Exploration, Columbian Exchange,
Mercantilism, & Commercial Revolution
…in World Economy
• New economic patterns (not able to move inland, but)
– Slave trade
• Intensifies mercantilism & dependency
– New World plantation economies
• Intensifies mercantilism & dependency
– exception:
• Gunpowder empires:
China, Ottomans
Silver?
Reflect…
• How are the world economy and
developments in Western Europe connected?