Notes from the lecture presented by Dr Ashley Eva Miller (Department of
Historical Studies, UCT) at the 2011 CAPS Content conference co-ordinated by
Shikaya in partnership with the WCED.
The powerpoint which accompanies this lecture have also been made available by
Dr Miller and can be downloaded from the WCED Curriculum website.
The world around 1600
OUTLINE
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Next 45 MIN  talk about the world around 1600 –
o “Around 1600” – key – chronology is loose - the curricilum jumps
around time periods quite a lot
First  focus on some important themes surrounding the world as a whole
around 1600
Then – look quickly at 3 early modern empires and discuss some notable
aspects about them
Finally, concepts related to early modern European societies
CAVEAT  most notably in our global snapshot we excluding American
civilisations
QUESTION to start off with  What was the world like around 1600?
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The early modern world is very interesting period of history
For students it’s hard to think about the early modern world without being
affected by what they know followed – especially events like the industrial
revolution and the rise of the west
One way to push our boundaries is to revisualise the world
fun way to do this is to visualize the world through a CARTOGRAM
Cartograms allow you to show a single isolated variable – for instance here
we look at population and we come out with a different world view –
If a country is larger on the map than another, then that country has a higher
proportion of the world total  looking at countries relative to each other
Interesting about cartograms – connected to how our brains work - When we
are looking at one of these cartograms, we are actually taking in values for
about 200 territories – if we looked a chart we wouldn’t be able to take in all
those numbers but our brains can process it visually
So what we see is that the country appears larger on the map depending on
the share of the population they have
This Map  bigger depending on share of the world’s wealth they have
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What do we see from these maps?
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The world in the year 1500 was not a Europe-centred world system – it was a
polycentric world with no dominant centre
The polycentric world just means that there were several political, social or
economic centres in the world
Look at the map  China, India, Europe, North and West Africa, and Japan
all had large shares of the total population and share of wealth
So the world around 1600 was polycentric
Interactions – Globalisation
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Second major point to think about with regards to the world around 1600 is
that there was also a significant amount of interaction between different
regions of the world
This is why many historians argue that the world economy from around the
17th c. became globalized
Of course  depends on how you define globalization but if we look at the
just the global trade routes by ocean or sea in this MAP we can see the many
connections around the world –( not just driven by Europe)
The actually operation of this worldwide trade was assisted by merchants –
alongisde them there were missionaries and other travellers
the point is that people, ideas, goods and technology as well as goods
travelled across the globe in ways that their ancestors had no idea was
possible
So the world was - to a certain extent - polycentric and globalised
1. CHINA world power (1368-1644)
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First empire we’re going to look at is the Ming Dynasty of China
China was the largest single empire in the world at the time
The first unified Chinese state was established in 221 BC
o Since then, China changed dynasties about 9 times
the Ming dynasty began in 1368 (MAP)
Ming Dynasty – was made up of ethnically Han Chinese – were the last
ethnically Chinese dynasty  they conquered the invading Mongols (that
made up the Yuan Dynasty in China)
The Ming Dynasty produced one of the greatest eras of orderly government
and social stability in human history
Several historians argue that at the time of the Ming Dynasty the world was
Sinocentric – meaning it was centred on China 
o Chinese products spread throughout Asia, Africa and Europe
Even if we don’t think of the world as Sinocentric – China certainly was a
financial, agricultural and handicrafts hub during the early modern period
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CLICK  a lot of evidence showing how advanced Ming China was
Standard of living was very high for the time
o Life expectancy comparable with England
 Even higher by some estimates (late 30s) which was longer than
the French and even the Dutch
o Incomes comparable with England
 Living standards – measured by height –
 also measured by calories  Nutrition of workers comparable
with England
o Consumption of household goods and textiles similar
o Court- wealth and lxury (PICTURE)
The Ming Economy was the largest in the world at the time
o It was a commercialized empire – meaning they had extensive markets
at home and abroad – inland waterways very important to maintaining
their domestic markets (PICTURE)
o The Chinese economy was agriculturally based and the Ming
government careful to improve agriculture –
 reduced taxes, invested in canals and irrigation, developed and
spread technology
o While it was agriculturally based, production also grew at this time –
China had mass production – and it produced a lot of goods for
international trade, including porcelain – mass manufacturing [to the
point Europeans complained about the influx of cheap goods from
China  Sound familiar??]
CLICK  China’s Government highly ordered
o The Ming dynasty maintained and advanced good institutions
o Chinese governemnt - remarkable consistency across diferent dynasties
o Continued the system of meritocracy for government
 China followed the ethic system developed by Confucius –
early in its history it had an exmination system for governemnt
positions --> that meant that people got posts based on merit –
(PICTURE)
o The emperor had absolute power BUT scholar-officials and eunuchs
(castrated men) also important and acted as checks on the system
Science and technology were advanced but the pace of advancements had
slowed from earlier times (certainly slower than in Europe)
o The Chinese had already invented the compass, gunpowder and
printing
o A lot of advances in Ming Dynasty science and technology were driven
by European misisonaries in China
o BUT the Chinese had advanced mass production for textiles, metal
work, and ceramics, seaborne transportation
o Especially advanced were their complex engineering in public works
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Ex. the Great Wall of China which was revived during the Ming
Dynasty
And the Grand Canal [PICTURE] that ran from Shanghai to
Beijing – it was 1200 miles long to compare, the innovative
Canal du Midi in France was 150 miles long – massive
infrastructure project
another area of advanced technolgoy was in shipbuilding and navigation
also leads us to a really exceptional moment of the Ming Dynasty – capturing
its international significance are the voyages of Zheng He
think about first world-class navigators – people tend to think of Christopher
Columbus and Vasco da Gama BUT someone who predated both of them
with a fleet that put both of their fleets combined to shame was Admiral
Zheng He (lived from 1371 to 1433)
Zheng He was a Muslim eunuch, who was a trusted adviser to one of the
Ming Emperors (he actually helped him depose the previous emperor)
Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored a series of 7 naval
expeditions designed to establish Chinese international presence, control over
trade, and impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin
In July 1405 – first expedition left, 87 years before Christopher Columbus set
sail
MAP  route: Zheng He’s fleets travelled as far as the East Coast of Africa 
dispensing and receiving goods along the way.
Bestseller 1421  argues he went to America NOT TRUE
Zheng He had absolutely massive expeditions
Travelled with over 28000 men including sailors, clerks, interpreters, soldiers,
artisans, medical men, meteorologists (Columbus’ crew was only 90 men)
His fleet had over 300 ships
His ships were over 400 feet long and 150 feet wide (excavations have given
these numbers credibility), vs. Columbus’ largest ship which was 90 feet long
and 30 feet wide
Zheng He didn’t decimate the population of the cities they visited; instead
they built granaries, warehouses and stockades.
They carried gifts from the Chinese emperor to the rulers of the lands he
visited, and carried back officials and envoys to China as guests of the
imperial court.
o  PICTURE giraffe from Africa brought back in 1400s – actually from
bangladesh
Story is that at the end of these journeys in 1433 - China turned inwards and
became isolationist
BUT I want to qualify this
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The point is that they didn’t want to colonise and expand
They had explored the world, and confirmed they were the richest in the
world, saw little need for external trade, such massive internal market
AND – there was also the threat of new invasions – didn’t want to overextend
BUT they continued their trade at the coast  The Portuguese took control of
the Chinese island Macao in 1557  coastal trade continued
So while they DID shrink their navy – I wouldn’t go so far as to say they were
isolationist
They still had a significant impact on the world economy after 1433 –
(especially in their demand for silver – shaped the European interest in the
Americas)
2. Songhai/Songhay Empire in West Africa: (1340-1591)
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Second empire we need to look at today is the Songhai Empire in West Africa
lasted from 1340 to 1591
With this empire it’s important to emphasize  Diversity, Complexity,
Conflict and CHANGE that existed in Precolonial Africa
West Africa had three core empires – MAP Ghana, Mali and Songhai
Songhai was the later empire- became the largest and wealthiest
Core of these empires, great cities of Gao, Timbuktu and Jennne
The Songhai ethnic group can be traced back to fishermen living along the
Niger, south east of Gao [POINT] – by 9th century they were part of a state
known as Songhai
During the early 1300s they fell within the Empire of Mali but the Mali rulers
never managed to collect taxes from them
The Songhai took advtange of the Mali Empire’s decline and asserted its
independence  Songhai Empire was established 1340 –
Songhai made Gao their capital and began their own imperial expansion
throughout the Western Sahel
the Songhai Empire was a very stratified society
IMPORTANT  (students in my African EH course - have a sense
precolonial Africa as communist utopia – communal property and equality)
Empire had a hierarchy:
Rulers at court, including bureaucrats, and governors
It also had a scholarly and inteellectual class
After this there were Merchants, then Artisans, followed by Peasants
and finally Slaves  Of course slavery was not invented by Europeans but
was part of African history
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Songhai Empire slaves used mostly in agriculture, and paid tribute to masters
in crops - they reflect the many different types of slaves that could exist
CLICK  First emperor was Sonni Ali Ber (the Great) (r. 1464 to 1493)
Like the Mali Kings before him, he was a Muslim but said to posess magical
powers and criticized by some Muslim scholars for supporting traditional
religious practices
Early in his reign, he conquered many neighbouring states including what
remained of the Mali Empire
Quite brutal when he conquered the towns of Timbuktu and Jenne
In oral tradition  seen as powerful politician and great military commander
BUT in some written accounts he was described as an intolerant tyrantparticulary by some Muslim writers  can get into the theme about sources
and bias in history
His successor was  Askia Muhammad the Great reigned from 1493 to 1523
He strengthened the empire and made it the largest in West Africa’s history
He centralised the administration of empire and created an efficient
bureaucracy
He also Built canals to improve agriculture
He also made Islam integral part of his empire  travelled to Mecca with
overwhelming amount of gold, some to charity, some as gifts
Askia created many schools – and he brought muslim scholars from Egypt
and Morocco to Timbuktu
Timbuktu had already been a thriving cultural and commercial center – for
centuries by the time of the Songhai Empire
o Reached its height under the reign of the Askia
o Was an important centre of Koranic culture – university and numerous
schools attended by an estiamted 25 000 students from Africa and
beyond
hundreds of thousands of medieval African documents written in Arabic or
African languages written in Arabic script that have been preserved by
private households in Timbuktu – dating back to the 1200s – UCT working
with the SA government is working on a project to preserve them
o BUT these sources are relatively unknown and underused
CLICK
- Key to Timbuktu’s cosmopolitanism was that it was was an integral part of
the trans-Saharan trade route –
- Askia Muhammad introduced standardized weights and measures, and
imposed inspectors – which also encouraged trade
- MAP 
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o From the north: Salt, luxury textiles, weapons, cowries, utensils,
glassware
o From the south: gold, slaves, and kola nuts
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Askia Muhammad was overthrown by his sons
o following 1531 the Songhai empire went into decline – as a result of
the political chaos, multiple civil wars as well as several epidemcis
It came as a surprise when Morocco invaded Songhai in 1591 – the Moroccans
wanted to seize control especially of Timbuktu and desired to revive the
trans-Saharan trade in gold
While the military did have full time soldiers, the army wasn’t modernized so
the empire fell to Moroccans and their firearms in 1591
3. Mughal/Moghul Empire in India (1526-officially 1858)
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Third empire to consider is the Mughal Empire (present day India) – the
Dynasty ruled from 1527 until 1858
Before the Mughal Empire, in the 15th century – there were many regional
states, principalities, and princes in what is today’s India
The Mughal Empire began when a regional chieftain from the north
(Afghanistan) who was of mixed Turkish and Mongol ancestry began to
conquer areas in 1526
o The goal was to create a new empire, not just plunder the land
This chieftain established the Mughal dynasty  name comes from the
Persian world for Mongol  became Mughald
o say someone is a business mogul  actually comes from this, referring
to the wealth of this empire
This chieftain’s grandson, named Akbar, ruled from 1556-1605 –
o He was one of most powerful and intellectual of all of India’s historic
rulers– awe-inspiring
Good soldier with a great military force (massive for the time) –
o He united north and began conquest in the south  MAP
but was also cultured and clever leader
He was a patron of the arts and Indian portrait painters were influenced by
the West
Expressed great tolerance of Hinduism –
o going to the unusual extreme marrying a Hindu princess
he implemented a clear bureaucracy with special ministries for finance, law
and military affairs
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o his political model of governors with checks and balances was used for
many centuries in India after he died
o system of taxation was efficient and careful – prosperity increased
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Under Akbar’s grandson Shah Jehan I (r. 1627-1658) the Taj Mahal was built
in the North
o Designed by Turkish architecht – took 14 years to construct
o It was constrcuted for his favourite wife and a shrine for himself
o In Mughal style it Blended Islamic, Persian, Turkish and Indian
architecture
o It involved materials from all over India and Asia including crystal
from China, turquoise from Tibet and over 1000 elephants to transport
building materials
o Estimated 20 000 workers recruited from north India
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The materials drawn from all over Asia reflect how India, during the Mughal
Empire was very active in regional trade
o For thousands of years their ports were major nodes in the Indian
Ocean trade and beyond
o CLICK  MAP – following the winds, there were connections across
the Indian Ocean
o The Mughal Empire was ruled from inland so the traders were largely
left to their own devices and the trade was relatively free
DECLINE
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Political structure of the Mughal Empire began to unravel in mid 17th century
By 1659 Mughal leaders were not as tolerant of Hindus (entirely, demolishing
some temples in the name of Islamic law)
o Interesting that India is one major culture area of the world that was
conquered by Muslims but did not generally accept Islam
Another center of resistance emerged in northwest – new religion from 16th
century Sikh religion -- more activist than Hindu, a military brotherhood
By early 1700s India was basically divided into 3 major states: Mughal empire
(largest), new Deccan state (Hindu in the South) and Sikh empire (northwest)
This growing weakness and division was an invitation to more active
European intervention
Europeans arrived in India (in the form Vasco da Gama) in 1498
o By 1510 the Portuguese acquire Goa - the Dutch also a presence
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BUT by the 1700s, it was Britain who had the most involvement (their British
East India company had a lot of influence over the British governemnt and
they could rely on the best navy in the world at the time)
o By the middle of the 1700s, British got more invovled by seizing
territories and bribing regional princes
They had a smaller military than the Mughals but better weaponry
The Mughal empire survived but increasingly powerless
Should be noted that some Indians welcomed British vs. intolerant Muslims
By 1800 more than half of subcontinent was governed by independent
kingdoms– the majority in loose alliance with British
A big legacy of the Mughal Empire in political terms was a bitter rivalry
beteen Muslims and Hindus
4. European societies
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The final geographic area we’re going to look at this morning – Europe
Map  1600 –first thing we notice big difference that European societies were
smaller, part of a competing state system
Some historians believe that it is this competition that encouraged Europeans
to advance, for example to invent new military technologies, and push their
boundaries of exploration
Of course there was a great amount of cultural, poltical and economic
diversity in Europe at the time
BUT there are some common historical concepts we can look at
The curriculum asks you to look at feudalism basically a set of legal and
military customs – really between 9th and 15th centuries
CYCLE – categories of King, Nobility, Knights and Vassals
feudal society – was broadly about ordering society around relationships that
assign land in exchange for service or labour
it enabled warriors to acquire vast armies and territory without necessarily
owning the land or having any royal title to their rule
It was an organizing system of the rural economy  over the course of the
ealry modern period it was slowly replaced by advent of a money based
market economy
Feudal practices slowly declined as there was a growing middle class and a
greater focus on monarchy
Something to keep in mind about feudalism is that it was NOT a formal
political system described by the people at the time –
o terms coined in 17th century, academic concept in mid 20th c
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There was a considerable degree of variation in types of feudal arrangements
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PLAGUE
Another unifying theme of early modern Europe was disease.
In particular there was the Black Death
o Map we see it was in fact a global pandemic
3 major outbreaks – though the plague itself returned at various times
o first was in 700s (some estimate half of Europe’s population was
wipded out)
o second 14thc entury – we’re interested in
o finally, the third was in China and India 1890s
Looking at the 14th century outbreak
o believed to have started in China – travel along Silk Road and reach the
then was carried by Oriental rat fleas, on merchant ships, spread
throughout Europe
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CLICK  MAP 2
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The plague peaked in Europe between 1348 and 1350 (spread from the
orange to the green to the yellow to the purple and pink areas)
Estimated that it killed 30-60% of Europe’s population
The global population dropped from 450 million to 350-375 million in 1400
led to religious, social and economic upheavals
o some believe it the chaos it caused helped ignite the Italian
Renaissance?
Renaissance
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Which is the final unifying theme of early modern Europe that we looking at
The term Renaissance literally means rebirth
o this was because it followed a period of cultural decline and stagnation
The Renaissance represents the transition from the Middle Ages to the
modern world
The Renaissance began around 1300 in the wealthy city-states of Italy –
particularly Florence and Tuscany
It spread across Europe - the dating of the period usually ends in the 17th c.
It was characterised by a surge of interst in learning and values
In particular, the classics of Greece and Rome were studied, inspiring an
intense creativity in the arts
Again, like feudalism, Renaissance – loose and contested historical term –
o It refers to a cultural movement, an intellectual transformation, and an
historical period
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o Somewhat vague in geographical and chronological terms
BUT it certainly points to a time of great intellectual energy
o Over time you saw a rise in the use of local vernacular languages for
scholarship (German, French, Italian, etc.) rather than Greek or Latin –
made ideas formerly exclusive to the elite, accessible to the masses
ART
If we look at art, we see a transformation in architecture, painting and
sculpture, especially a recovery of antique monuments
[PICTURE] Leonardo da Vinci (b. middle of the period 1452-1519) famously
painted the Mona Lisa early 1500s – most famous painting in the world
o da Vinci is known as a “Renaissance man” – meaning he was a
polymath - a person who had extraordinary talent in a range of areas
SCIENCE
In the area of science, some intellectuals began to question the teachings of
the Catholic Church
A good example of a figure like this is Galileo Galilei (came after da Vinci
1564-1642)
o The Italian philosopher who played a major role in the scientific
revolution of the 17th century
o He is famed especially his support for Copernicus’ idea of
heliocentrism (that the Earths and planets revolve around the sun) and
his improvements of the telescope [PICTURE]
o Galileo is often hailed as the father of modern science
o He was punished for his radical ideas by the Catholic Church
Overall the Renaissance was a time that orignated the truly scientific method
Technology also expanded
o In 1415 the first European printing press was created in Germany
There were also big developments in the technologies of the compass and
telescope developed, paper, gunpowder
There are obviously a million more things to say about the European
Renaissance but broadly it can be framed as a term we use to represent a
multitude of rapid changes in almost all areas of life across many European
countries
CONCLUSION
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So to wrap up
World around 1600 was polycentric (many centers of trade, culture, political
power)
Also reflects the numerous different ways of organizing states and
economies
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Early modern world was not stagnant but constantly changing and shifting
In many ways it was also globalised
o trade, disease, ideas, religions – all travelling across the world
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