The West and the Changing
Balance of World Power
Introduction
• Period of political transition
• As Mongols conquered Arab Empires and the
killed the Abbasid caliphate in 1258 new
power opportunities were created.
• China for a short time and Western Europe
would be the ones to take advantage of this
new power vacuum
Introduction/ Compass
• Many innovations and discoveries were not
attributed properly to the people who invented
or discovered them due to prejudices
• For example, the compass was developed by the
Chinese during the Tang dynasty. The Chinese
introduced it to the Indians, Arabs, and then the
Arabs to the Europeans. This technology allowed
for greater navigation to lands for trade. Due to
trade routes established by the Mongols,
Europeans were introduced to many new
products and ideas which would dramatically
shape European culture like the compass
Decline
• 1200 Byzantine and Islamic empire/ caliphate
dominated the Middle East
• However by 1400 both the Byzantine and much
of the Islamic empire had fallen
• This created a power vacuum and gave a chance
for others to move into positions of power. The
Mongols originally took up this position, but
quickly fell from power. The Chinese were the
next to partially take up this vacuum, but
decidedly turned their toward internal interest
which allowed for a more weaken western
Europe to expand!
Social and Cultural Change: Middle East
• New piety: Sufi movement
• Literature: Focus on religious ideas
• Philosophy: Rationalistic idea like those of Ibn
Rushd came under attack in favor of religious
devotion
• Agriculture: As power of the caliph declined
landlords seized control of peasant and turned
them into serfs. Overall productivity declined and
no new agriculture technologies were developed
• Trade: Merchants lost some ground due to lower
tax revenues, but still were very important in
international trade
Power Vacuum
• Ottoman Empire did not unite all Arab lands
nor was it the center of international trade
• Mongols created a stable, profitable overland
trade. When the Mongols declined suddenly
overland trade was no longer safe and people
began turning towards sea routes for trade
purposes.
Chinese Thrust and Withdrawal
• 1368: rebellious Chinese drive out the Mongols
• Ju Yuanzhang (the peasant leader) becomes the leader of the next
dynasty, Ming. It ruled China until 1644!
• By 1400 the Chinese had regained tribute payments (under the
Tang) and started to sponsor state trading expeditions in the Indian
Ocean –to Africa
• Zhenghe led these expeditions. He was a eunuch who was castrated
for his services to the royal court. He led 2700 coastal ships, 400
armed naval ships, 400 long distance ships, and 9 treasure ships. By
1433 the emperor had called and end to these expeditions.
Confucian scholars who competed with Zhenghe for the attention
of the emperor convinced the emperor it was not fiscal to spend
such money on expeditions and that they should concentrate on
internal affairs. The Chinese did not need foreign products…they
had plenty of internal products! (Textile and porcelain )
• Think what would have happened had the Chinese not stopped
they surly would have easily conquered European vessels!
A map of Ming dynasty China, showing the
surrounding kingdoms and peoples.
Chinese Withdrawal
• This shift in Chinese foreign policy would allow
way for a less organized civilization to increase
their international powers
• China retreated and the Arab powers now
were eclipsed…giving way to the powers of
western Europe.
Rise of the West
• Church was now under attack
• Bubonic Plague spread throughout Europe
decimating the population. The plague most
likely was spread via Mongols to Asia, the
Middle East, and Europe. Around 30 million
Europeans died from the plague
• 1348-1378 Plague hit hardest in Europe
• 1300’s famines due to food shortages!
Sources of Dynamism: Medieval Vitality
• Feudal monarchies strengthened in Europe
and their powers became more consolidated
and centralized
• Innovations occurred in military organizationstate soldiers paid directly by governments
• Muslims of Spain were driven out thanks to
the Reconquista
• Cities and towns grew as well as commerce
• Technology improved
Imitation and International Problems
• Mongol empire and their trade routes established new access
to Asian knowledge like the compass, printing, and
gunpowder
• Trade problems between Europe and Asia: Europe had an
uneven exchange with Asia. They traded wool, tin, cooper,
honey, and salt for luxury goods of spices (cinnamon and
nutmeg), silks, sugar, perfumes, and jewels. Of course the
Europeans had to supplement their exchange with gold. Soon
the economies of Europe were drained of their gold and they
required a new source in order to keep getting the luxury
good from Asia
• The Europeans also feared the Muslims and therefore were
seeking alternative trade routes to Asia to by pass the
Muslims and unstable lands of the Silk Roads to get their
Asian luxury goods
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Secular Directions in the Italian Renaissance
Human Values and Renaissance culture
Renaissance –rebirth of culture and
scholarship in Europe. Focus of activity within
aristocracy. 1350-1550
Used classical models for inspiration: Greece
and Rome
Started in Italy (geography, trade, root of
Roman Empire)
Franceso Petrarch-father of humanism
Innovations flourished and exploration and
conquest reflected the glory and nature of
man
Renaissance
• Rebirth
• Scholars use the term
Renaissance to describe
the cultural
achievements of the
14th –16th centuries
• Italy led the way due to
the commercial revival
of the area that started
in the 11th centuryCrusades
• Italy distinguished from
the rest of Europe by its
urbanization
• Italy had more major
and minor cities than
anywhere else:
geography key
• Amounts of disposable
wealth went up after
plague-luxury items
increased
• Life was hard for the
young and especially
the poor: children sent
to work: boys at age of
10 became apprentices
and girls domestic
servants
•
Renaissance
Art
The art of the
• Art was also a product of
Renaissance owed much
the educational system:
to the social system in
principles of the craft and
which artists lived
guild
• Wealth of cities
• Renaissance artists had
permitted for public
to solve problem of
works of art, which was
perspective and threecommissioned by
dimensionality. They
corporate sources to
returned to classical
show their power. Later
ideas, realism, nude
it was used on individual
figures, and expression in
level to show rich (newly)
the face
• Disposable wealth (non
• The artist was considered
critical personal funds)
a free intellectual worker
led to interest in
and was respected and
portraiture
rewarded.
Crucifixion
1335
Example of Middle Ages
Art
Museo
ThyssenBornemisza, Madrid
The Engagement
of Virgin Mary)
Example of
Renaissance Art
Raphael
1504
Great Renaissance Artists
Michelangelo
(sculpture)
Leonardo da Vinci
(painting)
Sandro Botticeli
(painting)
Brunelleschi
(architecture)
Donatello (sculpture)
Masaccio (painting)
Raphael (painting)
David, Sistine Chapel,
Pieta
Mona Lisa, Last Supper
Birth of Venus, Spring
Florence Cathedral
Judith Slaying Holofernes
Expulsion of Adam and
Eve
The Engagement of
Virgin Mary)
Works
• Leon Battista Alberti
(1404-1474)- On the
Family: classic study of
new urban values-thrift
and prudence
• Baldesar Castiglione
(1478-1529)-The Courtier:
an etiquette book that
prescribed every detail of
the education necessary
for the ideal state servant
• Francesco Petrarch (13041374): important figure in
literary humanism
• Niccolo Machiavelli
(1469-1527): The Prince:
blueprint to realistic,
modern power politics.
Explores how a ruler
should gain, maintain,
and increase power. It is
better to be feared than
loved. A ruler should
also be concerned with
the way things are NOW
not the way things
ought to be.
Machiavellian: entered
the language as a
synonym for politically
devious, corrupt, and
crafty.
Intellectual Hallmarks•
• Individualism: stressed
personality, uniqueness,
genius, and full
development of one’s
capabilities and talents.
Leon Battista Alberti
(1404-1474) “Men can do
all things if they will”
• Humanism: revival of
antiquity (Greece/Rome).
Humanists studied the
Latin classics to learn
what they reveal about
human nature.
Humanism emphasized
human beings, their
achievements, interests,
and capabilities.
Humanists placed
importance on grammar,
rhetoric, moral
philosophy, and history.
Focused on 2 major
philosophers-Plato and
Aristotle. Philology or
the study of the origins of
words was central to a
humanist like Lorenzo
Valla who proved the
Donation of Constantine
was a forgery
• Secularism: involves a
basic concern with the
material world instead of
with the eternal world of
the spirit
Iberian Spirit
• Reconquista-pushed Muslims and Jews back.
Jewish converters to Christianity: conversos
• 1469 Castile and Aragon united =Spain with
marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella
• Reconquista –religious and military unification
of Spain
• Religion and spreading the message of the
Catholic Church was soon sponsored by Spain
to expand to other lands
Early Explorations
• 1200 –Vivaldis (Italian) brothers sailed passed
the Straits of Gibraltar seeking a new route to
Asia, but they were never heard from again!
• Until the 1430’s technological barriers kept
Europe from exploring and navigation far
beyond the Mediterranean. Soon Chinese
technologies via Arab merchants (compass
and astrolabe) and better ships allowed for
voyages.
• 1498 Vasco da Gama of Portugal was the first
European to reach the Indies by sea
Colonial Patterns
• Spanish and Portuguese began to take advantage of new lands
they discovered. Prince Henry of Portugal known as Henry the
Navigator sponsored many voyages of Portugal prior to his
death in 1460. He also took advantage of these lands
economically, sending colonists to them as well as the
message of course of Christianity. The colonists would set up
large agricultural estates and grow cash crops that would be
sold back in European markets. Cash crops like sugar were
grown. Europeans also grew tobacco and cotton. Slaves from
Africa were used to farm these agricultural products.
• These ventures were successful enough to launch more
voyages beyond the Atlantic islands
Americas
• In the 1400 the Aztec and Inca empires ran
into problems. The Aztec empire created
many enemies with their tribute, need for
slaves, and need for human sacrifice while the
Incas had a problem in regards to claims to
the position of emperor and had broken out
into a civil war!
• When the Spanish conquistadors landed in the
1500’s, the Aztecs and Incas were divided and
already weakened. The Spanish just arrived at
an opportune time
Expansion, Migration, and Conquest in Polynesia
• 7th-1400’s developed in relative isolation like the Americas
• Postclassical era known for expansion, migration, and
conquest
• Spread to Society Islands, Tahiti, Samoa, and Fiji!!! I LOVE
FIJI!!! Fiji regional kingdoms and tribes would fight each
other…cannibals
• reached the uninhabited Hawaiian islands in 7th century by
way of war canoes! Remained in contact with Society Islands
and was cut off until European explores arrived in 1778
• Hawaii organized into regional kingdoms and were highly
warlike, hierarchy established, and had a complex culture
living with Neolithic technologies!
Isolated Achievements by Maori
• New Zealand. The Polynesians migrated to New
Zealand as early as the 8th century. They lived
primary in the northern island of New Zealand. The
people were called the Maori.
• New Zealand is colder so the Maori had to adapt to
this environment. They created great art and were
organized into tribes with military and priests who
held power. The tribe also included slaves who were
POW’s and their descendants. Their traditional dance
includes eye bulging to scare off enemies!
• They were totally isolated until the 18th century.
• Some Polynesians such as the Maori were totally
isolated.
Adding Up to Changes
• Complex coincidences led to changes
• Independent developments in Americas,
China, technological developments by Asia,
improvement of ships, and goals of leaders
like Prince Henry the Navigator.
• Sub-Saharan Africa had continuity. Mali fell,
but Songhay arose to power from 1464-1591
• Decline of Arabs meant the decline of African
trade networks. They also were kept from
major advantage of Mongol trade networks 
1450 and the World
• Postclassical period full of continuities and
changes. Changes came in empires that
contacted other empires like Muslims and
Mongols.
• Connection between Asia and Europe
• China active role for a short time in Indian
Ocean trade
• Shift from overland trade to sea routes
• Continuity: interest in trade and contacts.
Value of Afro-Eurasian contacts
Works Cited
http://pvs.kcc.hawaii.edu/polynesia.html
http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/1xarming.htm