Connecting Hemispheres
500-1800
People and Empires in the Americas
North America
600-late 1500s
Government by a variety of small tribes to
complex societies
Similar religious beliefs in the Great Spirit
Economy influenced by the environment
Mesoamerica: Maya
250-900
Government by city-state kings
Religion plays a major role in society and
rule
Trade links between city-states and other
Mesoamerican groups
Trade links to other groups
Math and astronomy develop to support
religious beliefs
Pyramid builders
Written language using hieroglyphs
People and Empires in the Americas
Mesoamerica: Aztec
1200-1521
Mesoamerica: Inca
1400-1532
Government by warrior kings
Government by theocracy- sun-god king
Religion plays a major role in society and
rule
Religion plays a major role in society and
rule
Trade links between tribute states and other
Mesoamerican groups
Social welfare state cares for all people
Human sacrifice practiced for religious
offerings
Pyramid builders
Pictorial written language
Extensive road system links the country
togeter
European Renaissance
Birthplace: Italy (around
the 1300s)
What happened?
– A period of intellectual
and artistic creativity
– Artists and writers revive
techniques, styles, and
subjects from classical
Greece and Rome and
celebrate human
achievement
The Northern Renaissance
Who: German and Flemish
artists
Major event:
– Gutenberg’s Printing
Press
The Reformation
What it is: a movement
for religious reform and
challenges the authority
of the Roman Catholic
Church
Led by: Martin Luther
Helped by: King Henry VIII
(England)
– Starts Church of England
Protestantism
What it is: Denominations
of Christianity with the
common belief that the
individual can interpret
the Bible without clergy or
Catholic Church tradition
– Calvinists
– Anabaptists
Catholic Church Reaction:
Introduces its own
reforms
The Muslim World Expands
Muslims control the
Middle East, India, North
Africa, and parts of
Europe
The Ottoman Empire
• Move into
Byzantium
• Take
Constantinople
• Add Syria and
Palestine
• Use janissaries
and devshirme
to control the
empire
Janissaries- member of the Turkish infantry
Devshirme- system of collecting Christian boys
from the Balkans and turing them into slaves
Safavid Empire
• Take old Persian
Empire
• Expand to
Caucasus
Mountains
• Build a new
capital
• Use janissarystyle army to
control the
empire
Mughal Empire
• Delhi Sultanate
loosely controls
Indian subcontinent
• Barbur lays
groundwork for an
empire
• Akbar controls most
of subcontinent in
empire
• Aurangzeb expands
empire to its largest
size
European Exploration
Main reason for exploration: desire for new
sources of wealth
Other motivation: Spread Christianity
What made it possible: Advances in technology
– Caravel and triangular sails
– Navigational techniques and tools
Portugal Leads
Why: Strong government
support
Areas explored: Africa and
Asia
Key People:
– Prince Henry
– Vasco da Gama
Spanish
Why: Desire for a direct
sea route to Asia
AND
Rivalry with Portugal
Areas explored: New
World
Key Person: Christopher
Columbus
Treaty of Tordesillas
Treaty of Tordesillas- agreement between Spain and
Portugal to honor the Line of Demarcation that stated
lands east of the line belonged to Portugal and lands west
of the line belonged to Spain
Trading Empires in the Indian Ocean
• Portugal took control of spice trade from
Muslim merchants
• English and Dutch challenge Portugal's
dominance
• Also fought each other
• Dutch East India Company- richer and more powerful
than England’s company, drove out the English and
established their dominance in the region
Isolation
China
Japan
1433- Abandons voyages of
exploration
1612- Outlaws Christianity and
drives out Christian
missionaries
1500s- Severely restrict trade
with foreigners
1630s- Institute a “closed
country policy” and remain
isolated from Europe for 200
years
The Atlantic World- Europeans
• 1500s- Spanish and
Portuguese colonize
Central and South
America and
establish prosperous
overseas empires
• Conquistadorconquerors
The Atlantic World- Europeans
• 1600s-1700sEnglish, French, and
Dutch battle for
control of North
America…. English
are victorious
The Atlantic World- Native Americans
• Between 1521 and
1533 the once
mighty Aztec and
Incan empires fall to
the invading Spanish
The Atlantic World- Native Americans
• Throughout the
Americas, the native
population is
devastated by
European conquests
and diseases
The Atlantic World- Africans
• Beginning around
1500, millions of
Africans are taken
from their homeland
and forced to labor
as slaves in the
Americas
The Atlantic World- Africans
• Africans eventually
become an
important part of
the Americas, as
they populate the
various regions and
share aspects of
their culture
Columbian Exchange- a period of cultural and biological
exchanges between New and Old Worlds
Exchanges of plants, animals, diseases, and technology
transformed European and Native American ways of life.
Middle Passage- the stage of the triangular trade
in which millions of Africans were shipped to the
New World as part of the Atlantic slave trade.