World in Transition
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Geography
o Europe
o Asia
o Globalization
o Trade Routes (Mongol influence)
World Changes
o Caliphate VS Byzantine Empire
 Fall of Byzantine to Turks
 Fall of Caliphate to Mongols
o Cultural Change in Mideast
 Re-focus on Religion
 Sufi Movement
 Jerk Landlords
 Pesants treated poorly, became Serfs on large estates
 Loss of productivity
 Reduction of Tax Revenue
 Ottoman Turks in Control
 Took over most of the land left by the fall of the
Caliphate
o Ming Dynasty
 1368 Mongols kicked out
 Ming rulers worked to expand Chinese control and borders
 Mongols north, reestablish dominance over smaller
kingdoms to south
 State sponsored trading expeditions
 Change from traditional policies that bordered on
isolationism
 1433 policy shifted back to isolationism
 sets stage for European dominance
Growth of European Influence
o Vitality VS. Struggles
 New cultural and political developments
 Growth of Strong Monarchies
 Military Development
o 100 years war
 Urban Growth spurred economy
 Contact with Asian cultures through Silk road and
Mongol empire
o Technologies learned: Gunpowder, printing
press and Compass
 Struggles
 Black Death
 Muslim Turks growing power and influence
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Unfavorable balance of trade
o Europeans liked expensive stuff, didn’t have very
valuable stuff to trade back, so had to make up
difference in gold and violence
 Renaissance (revival in Europe of classical themes and styles of
Rome and Greece)
 Human Values
o Focus on human innovation and ability
 Iberian Reconqista
 Expel or convert Muslims and Jews
European Expansion and Exploration
o Tools of the Trade
 Deep water ships
 Compass
 Astrolabe
 Mapmaking
 Explosives from China = GUNS
o Early Colonization/trade efforts
 Goals
 Route over water to India for trade
 Portugal into the Azores
 Plantation economies
 Success of early colonies led to further expansion
 Portugal around Cape of good hope
o Spanish Explorers
 Chris Columbus
 Got lost
 Sent by Spanish to find a route to india
 Found America
 Ferdinand Magellan
 All around the world
o Other European Exploration
 Britain
 Defeated Spanish Armada for dominance of the seas in
1588
 Focused on Northern America, with a few exceptions in
West Indies
 French
 Into Canada
 Corporations
 Dutch East India Company
 British East India Company
o Monopolies almost acting as small nations on
their own.
Globalization
o Columbian Exchange
 Disease
 Smallpox and other communicable diseases ravage the
populations of the Americas
 Food
 Corn, potatoes, yams all come from the Americas and
influence the world
 Control of Trade
 Europe began to come to dominate trade throughout
the world through intimidation, technology, and
coercion
o Mercantilism
 Import vs Export
 Eurocentric idea
 The idea of mercantilism is simple: Export more than
you import using your own ships.
 Raw materials in, finished products go out
 Human Labor as a commodity
 Rest of the world
 Coercive labor systems (plantations)
 Americas = importation of slaves since local population
had been devastated
 Asian countries participated, but only a little
o China had little interest in outsider goods
o Japan did at first, but then pulled back
 Colonies
 The South Americas
o Portuguese and Spanish in the Caribbean and
South America
o Expansion and conquest by small groups over
much larger forces
o Focus on gold early on, later development of
plantation system
 North America
o French, British, and Dutch
o Quebec (French) (eventually taken by British
after 7 years war)
o Other colonies less important to colonial powers
early on. . .
o Considered themselves part of Western
Civilization
 Africa and Asia
o African Slave Trade
o South African Colonies (Dutch Farmers AKA
Boers)
o Indian conflict between France and Britain
 Warfare and economic competition
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