Bellringer
• Name the 3 time periods we’ve studied so far
with their dates and major developments.
Dates
Name
Development
1=
2=
3=
1
a look back at
Post-Classical history
• Take a few minutes to complete the handout
1. Developments?
2. What if?
3. Sorting Civilizations
2
What does it mean to be modern?
1450 CE – 1750 CE
Late Agrarian Age
Early Modern Period
1450 CE – 1750 CE
Ancient
10,000 BCE
Classical
1000 BCE
Postclassical
3 CE
1750
CONTINUITIES:
“Late Agrarian Era”
• Empire building remains important
– Although now by gunpowder
• Regional cultures largely intact
– Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam
• Inequality remains
– Privileged Kings & aristocrats, male dominance
as natural
• Economic production intact
– Handicraft manufacturing
– Rural peasants, not urban workers, are
primary producers
4
Triggers for Big Change
• New technology
– Guns, Maritime technology, Printing press
• Christian fear of Muslim expansion
– Ottoman capture of Constantinople causes
European exploration to circumnavigate Mid-East
• Reaction to Western European
encroachment in Afro-Eurasia
5
BIG CHANGES:
“Early Modern Era”
1. Discovery of New World & more
international contact
– Slave trade, global silver trade, spread of
Christianity
2. Greater focus on science
3. Population growth
– Doubles between 1400 & 1800
4. More commercial economies
– Producing for distant markets rather than local
6
“Early Modern”?
Use of term, early modern, implies an
additional “Big Change”:
5. Shifting Power Alignment – W. Europe
– Sometimes referred to as “Great Divergence”
• Consider the evidence…
• To what extent would you characterize 1450 to
1750 as the Great Divergence?
• What is the best label for this shifting power
alignment?
– Rise of West? Decline of East? European dominance?
Europe catching up to dominant East?
Global equilibrium? Great Divergence?
Shifting Power toward
W. Europe
Read pg. 354,
“In Depth: Causation & West’s
Expansion”
– If you had to choose a single determinism
(cultural, political, or technological) as
basic to Western expansion, which would
you choose?
Shifting Power Alignment – A Long View
1. 8000 BCE – 1000 BCE: Civilization-Ancient Period
2. 1000 BCE – 600 CE: Empires & durable cultures
3. 600 CE – 1450 CE: Consolidation;
–
China, India, Middle East
4. 1450 CE – 1750 CE: Transition;
–
China & Europe equal but Europe in driver’s seat
5. 1750 CE – 1914 CE: European era;
–
Industrialization & the great divergence
6. 1914 CE – present: American century & core’s
declining advantages
1450 CE – 1750 CE
Era of Global Interaction!
1450 CE – 1750 CE
Ancient
10,000 BCE
Classical
1000 BCE
Postclassical
10 CE
1750