Maritime Expansion in
Afro-Eurasia, 1500-1700
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In India, the Portuguese found well-established ports and trading
networks.
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They wanted to be a part of the trade in Malacca was on the straits
of Sumatra and Malaya Peninsula.
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East African gold, ivory, slaves, and timber were traded to Arabia, Persian
Gulf countries, and western India.
Center of Indian Ocean trade from Southeast Asia and Ming China, controlled
by Muslims
Portuguese did not have tradable goods that Indians or Asian rulers
wanted.
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The Portuguese took over trade that was already
being controlled by other peoples.
In other places, the Portuguese just joined in with
the existing trade.
Siam (Thailand) was attempting to achieve
independence from Burma when the Portuguese
arrived.
The Portuguese made few converts to Catholicism.
Portugal began to lose its dominance by 1600.
Other European powers arrived with ship-based cannon and
equal or superior fortifications.
– Most significant threat came from the Dutch, who had
superior shipping and business systems to the Portuguese
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To protect individual merchants, the Dutch created the
joint-stock company.
Multiple shares were sold to protect investments if natural disasters or
storms destroyed cargo.
 Small investors could also make a modest profit with little risk.
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The Dutch led the way to modern commercial capitalism.
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Banks, stock exchanges, and insurance companies increased efficiency
of capital accumulation.
The bourgeoisie became the rising social class of Western
Europe.
bourgeoisie was based on ownership of property rather than inherited
titles.
 In Holland, participation in trade was seen as a noble pursuit.
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The Dutch East India Company was founded in 1602 by
Amsterdam merchants.

It was the largest and most powerful of the seventeenth-century
commercial enterprises.

The monopoly of the Dutch East India Company
was maintained through force.
–
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Dutch had more advanced ship designs and
construction.
–
–
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Followed the Portuguese model of using military force to
achieve economic profit
Seized Malacca from the Portuguese in 1641
Created the port of Cape Town in 1652 in South Africa
The Dutch East India Company profits from the
spice trade.
….But also,

The Indian Ocean trade was driven by silver
imported from the Spanish colonies in America.
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The Portuguese viewed Africa as a source of gold.
The Atlantic slave trade was driven largely by the need
for labor for sugar plantations.
Slaves were mostly procured from west coast of Africa.
The king Afonso of Kongo (r. 1506–1543), converted to
Christianity.
Slave trade between Africa and Portugal disrupted the
traditional treatment of captives of war.
Afonso of Kongo complained to the king of Portugal that
the Portuguese were no longer interested in conversion –
just slaves
Atlantic slave trade focused on the west coast of Africa,
without any major impact on the east coast or the
interior.
A Comparison of Columbus’s and Zheng
He’s Voyages
• China was richer than Spain or Portugal and thus lacked
motivation to seek new lands.
• Columbus and other European explorers were
deliberately seeking new lands to colonize.
• Real voyages of exploration because the Europeans were going to
new territory.
• The Ming were not using their voyages to expand their
empire
• The Ming ended their voyages because they were not profitable.
Key Points
• Muslims already everywhere! Africa near Gibraltar
(Spain), Alexandria, Constantinople, India, and even
Korea and China!
• Muslim’s were mainly concerned with OVERLAND
PATHS.
• Portuguese “borrowed” Arab seafaring designs such
as the Caravel.
Potuguese/Spanish Caravel
Arab Dhow (2 mast)
Arab Dhow (1 mast)
The Chinese Expand!
The Chinese court shifted their politics and
their world view blossomed outward
• an age of exploration without conquest.
The role of the Eunuch…!
Cheng Ho = Zheng He
Chinese Ship (9 masts)!
A comparison between
the ships of Cheng Ho
and Columbus!
- Era of 6 uninterrupted voyages (1405-1424) under Yung
Lo for “tributary relations”
- Yung Lo dies in 1424, anti-maritime forces swell, but a
7th voyage launched in 1433
And then… the Great Withdrawal
- Long-held bitter feuds between intellectuals and
philosophers arose again.
o tributary system required China to pay out
more than China received.
o Every new tributary state worsened the
imbalance of Chinese trade.
- After Cheng-Ho's last voyage (1433) edicts
prohibited Chinese from traveling abroad.
- By 1474, Imperial fleet shrunk from 400 warships
to 140 vessels;
- by 1500 it was a capital crime to build a junk with
more than two masts.
Key Points
Why Didn’t the Muslims Take Over in World Dominance?
• Hindus - some castes forbidden to pass over salt
water!
- tolerant of Muslim, but Muslins did not welcome
Portuguese
• Muslims
1. They had the technology.
•
But, they did not build a seafaring empire.
•
advanced in astronomy, geography, mathematics, and navigation (the
required seafaring sciences)
2. - Consequences  May have ruled all of Europe!
Ottoman’s decayed.
Three new Muslim dynasties
• Ottoman Empire, reached its peak in the
17th century;
• to the East, Safavids ruled in Persia and
Afghanistan
• Mughals ruled the north and middle India.
Three new Muslim dynasties
• All three dynasties originated from Turkic
nomadic cultures.
• All three empires had a monarchal system
of rule.
• All three empires sustained themselves
primarily through agrarian taxation.
The Three Great Muslim Empires of the
Early Modern Era
The Ottoman Empire, 1500–1650
• The center of the Ottoman Empire was Constantinople.
– Ottoman military power: mostly based on cavalry, infantry, and
artillery,
– One type of Ottoman soldier: Ghazis: nomadic horsemen.
–
–
–
–
Wanted to conquer Christians of Byzantium --> infidels
professional army, due to use of gunpowder weapons
Ghazis also collected taxes and controlling conquered lands.
Over time --> relied more on slaves in the military and the
administration.
Rise of the Ottoman
• Ottoman Turks
-The Turkic peoples entered Anatolia
 defeated the Seljuks of eastern Anatolia in
13th C.
 defeated the Mamluks in Egypt in 1517.
• Modern Military Administration
– Recruited Christians into an elite Guard
– Janissaries “New Troops”
• were young Christian slaves converted to Islam
• Foot soldiers, administrators
• Loyal to the Sultan
THE RIVAL OTTOMAN AND
SAFAVID EMPIRES
• Ottoman Turks
• The Ottomans controlled the
three holy cities of Islam:
Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem
– all pilgrimage sites
• Selim I (1512-20)
– He brought the Ottoman
Empire to its zenith
Selim I
THE RIVAL OTTOMAN AND
SAFAVID EMPIRES
• Suleiman the Magnificent
(1520-1566)
- education, taxation, and
criminal law
 (Kanuns)
- poet and goldsmith
– Allowed local Christian and Jewish
people to maintain their own courts
Expansion of Empire: Constantinople
Suleiman • Took strongholds of Belgrade, Rhodes, and most of
Hungary
• Siege of Vienna in 1529
• Sieged Constantinople, 1453
• New capital of Ottoman Dynasty
• Renamed Istanbul
– Now a dominant force in the Balkans and Anatolia Peninsula
Battle between the Turks and
Christians, 16th century
The Turkish
Conquest of
Constantinople
Under Mehmet II
became capital of
Ottoman Empire:
Istanbul
The Bridgeman Art Library
THE RIVAL OTTOMAN AND
SAFAVID EMPIRES
• Social Life
- Education
- Architecture
 Sinan, the great architect, was commissioned to build
many mosques, hospitals, shops, baths and cemeteries
 The Suleiman Mosque - 1575
THE RIVAL OTTOMAN AND
SAFAVID EMPIRES
• Economic Achievements
- both the Ottomans and Safavids used the
system of capitulations
allowed foreign Christians living in the empire a
degree of freedom and exemption from taxes and
laws.
 B/C Ottomans controlled the major trade routes from
Asia they regulated Euro consumption of coffee,
indigo, silks & food stuffs like potatoes and tomatoes.
 Spain did not dig that!!! (Remember?)
THE RIVAL OTTOMAN AND SAFAVID
EMPIRES
• Ottoman Decline
- 3 major reasons:
1. Administrative
Corruption
2. Disputes Among
Janissaries
3. External Assaults
From a Resurgent
Europe
THE RIVAL SAFAVID EMPIRE
• The Imperial Safavids
- Safavids profited from struggles of rival
Turkic groups after Mongol invasions.
- Safavids were Shi'a Muslims from a family
of Sufi preachers and mystics.
- Bid dispute about “who” should lead
Muslims
SAFAVID EMPIRE
– Iran long benefited from contact an with
Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean, and India.
– Safavids invaded Iran & most people there were
Sunni Muslims.
– The Tigris-Euphrates River Valley became the
boundary between the Arabic and Persian
languages, and Sunni and Shi’ite divisions.
THE RIVAL OTTOMAN AND
SAFAVID EMPIRES
• The Imperial
Safavids Expansion
- in 1501, Ismâ'il seized
Tabriz and was
proclaimed shah.
- followers conquered
most of Persia and
fought against the
Ottomans
THE RIVAL OTTOMAN AND
SAFAVID EMPIRES
• Ottomans
defeated Saffavids
at the important
Battle of Chaldiran
in 1514. The loss
meant that Shi'ism
was blocked from
further westward
advance.
THE RIVAL OTTOMAN AND
SAFAVID EMPIRES
• Abbas I (1587-1629)
- assumed power when
a teenager (16)
- got control of the
Qizilbash
provided the
backbone of the
Iranian army.
THE RIVAL OTTOMAN AND
SAFAVID EMPIRES
• War Between
Ottoman & Safavid
Empires
• War was over the
control of the
Euphrates-Tigris
River Valley.
• Safavids aligned with
the Hapsburgs
- Charles V
Charles V
THE RIVAL OTTOMAN AND
SAFAVID EMPIRES
• War Between
Ottoman & Safavid
Empires
• Role of Charles V
a)
b)
Charles V convinced the
Safavid’s to open a
second front against
the Ottomans,
Ultimate goal:
Habsburg-Persian
alliance
Charles V, The Holy Roman Emperor
THE RIVAL OTTOMAN AND
SAFAVID EMPIRES
• War ended with
Safavid victory
• Reclaimed Tabriz
from Ottomans.
• Local citizens
welcomed the Safavid
army as liberators and
took revenge against
the defeated Ottoman
Turks.
THE RIVAL OTTOMAN AND SAFAVID
EMPIRES
• Society and Gender Roles: Ottoman and
Safavid Comparisons.
1. Both dynasties had much in common.
a) They initially were dominated by warrior
aristocracies who maintained power with the
monarch.
b) The warriors gradually left the rulers' courts for
residence on rural estates where they exploited
the peasantry.
c) When central power weakened, the result was
flight from the land and rebellion.
THE RIVAL OTTOMAN AND SAFAVID
EMPIRES
• Safavid Decline
a) Abbas I, fearing plots, had removed all
suitable heirs.
b) The succession of a weak grandson began a
process of dynastic decline.
c) Internal strife and foreign invasions shook the
state. In 1772, Isfahan fell to Afghani invaders.
An adventurer, Nadir Khan Afshar, emerged
from the following turmoil as shah in 1736.
THE RIVAL OTTOMAN AND SAFAVID
EMPIRES
• The early modern Muslim empires met
their demise:
a) By ignoring of the rising European threat.
b) B/C little effort was made to incorporate
European technological advances.
c) As they failed to meet the European challenge
they weakened the economic base.
THE RIVAL OTTOMAN AND
SAFAVID EMPIRES
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•
•
•
The Gunpowder Empires and the
Shifting Balance of Global Power.
Each of the three great Muslim
dynasties gained power with the
support of nomadic warriors.
But past conditions had
changed.
Role of Battle of Chaldiran
 Gunpowder
Safavid Cannoneer
Changes in Technology and
Family.
 By
1.
2.
1500:
Contacts with Asia led to improvements in
technology.
A European-style family emerged. Ordinary
people married at a later age.
a)
3.
influenced husband-wife relations.
Later marriage was a form of birth control
and hence population numbers.
EUROPEAN NATION-STATES AND THE
REFORMATION
The Background of the Protestant Reformation
• The Reformation was a challenge to papal authority
in Europe as a result of the Renaissance.
 3 Main Reasons to Consider:
1. Widening Horizons--Individualism & Nationalism:
As social, physical, and intellectual horizons
widened, the Catholic Church did not keep pace.
EUROPEAN NATION-STATES AND THE
REFORMATION
2) Resistance from National Monarchies: They could
not continue to be both a religious and a political
institution
 newly emergent powerful monarchs would not
accept political interference from outside their
own boundaries
The Age of the Hapsburgs
Europe: 1500-1800
• Europe in the post
Renaissance/Reformation era.
• Many of the same battles reamin from the
days of the Renaissance/Reformation
• Battling Religious indecision and
controversy.
Construction of Spanish Power?
• Directly related to the dominance of the
overseas exploration.
• Spanish claimed amazing amounts of land
and gold during the period of exploration.
Their conquest of the Indian empires in
Central America gave them great fortune
which would be used to control key aspects
of Europe.
The Hapsburgs:
• Originally dukes of small German states the
expanded their control into Austria and
quickly gained enough might in the region
through warfare and intermarriage to assure
themselves control of the Holy Roman
Empire.
• Cleverly arranged marriages will give them
control over much of Europe by the 1500’s.
Charles V
• Gained control of Spain in
1516
• Elected emperor of Holy
Rome in 1519
• Went from Charles I to
Charles V with that title.
• Amongst Europe's most
powerful Monarchs
• Similar in size to
Charlemagne’s empire.
Charles V: Achievements
•
•
•
•
•
Ruled for 37 years
Protection from Ottoman Turks in Europe
Built a large Naval force
Fought wars to advance the interests of Spain.
Forced to relinquish present day Hungary to the
advancing Ottoman Turks
• Retired in 1556: gave empire to his son Phillip II
Phillip II of Spain
• Made Spain into the pre eminent power in Europe
built on power of father.
• Made Spain one Europe’s first Nation States
• Devout Catholic whose greatest achievement was
to rid Europe of Protestantism.
• Reinstated the Inquisition.
• Map of Phillips Europe:
The Inquisition:
What is the Inquisition:
• A tribunal or court of religious faith based
on the intense questioning of ones religious
purity and faith. A rigorous examination
often ending in torture or death to purge the
“heretic”.
• Forced conversion or allegiance to
Catholicism.
The Revolt of the Netherlands
• Direct Challenge to the authority of Phillip II.
• Netherlands 17 provinces with a history of
independent governance.
• Violent period emerged over who controls.
• Dutch have always had a tradition of liberty and
freedom, uncomfortable being ruled. They will
win their independence in the North. Two
countries will emerge: Netherlands and its catholic
south known as Belgium.
• Violence captured by Dutch artists.
The Spanish Armada:
• The main military power of the day.
• Epitomized the conflict between Protestant
England and Catholic Spain.
• England fearing a Spanish takeover after
they finished with the Dutch, sided with the
Dutch and declared a “pirate” war at sea by
giving permission to raid Spanish ships.
Phillip II responds to Elizabeth
• Elizabeth very much like her dad Henry
VIII, powerful, and stubborn!
• Phillip decides to punish Elizabeth and
England for meddling by Invading the
island nation with a huge array of ships
called an Armada.
• It was made up of about 130 ships with
24,000 soldiers.
English response
• The English had much smaller, more swift,
maneuverable ships that moved in and
around the gigantic Spanish ships with ease.
• They set old boats on fire and launched
them at the Spanish who in response fled to
the North Sea only to be vanquished by a
huge storm called the “Protestant Winds”.
Impacts of Armada
•
•
•
•
•
Established England as a European Power.
Victory for Protestantism
Brought about continued religious conflicts
Decline of Spain
Focus on Imperialism
Thirty Years War
• Controversy had been silenced by the Peace of
Augsburg in 1555 in which the Holy Roman
Emperor acknowledged the legitimacy of the
Lutheran Church…but troubles were beginning.
• Involved nearly every nation in Europe bound by
religious ties.
• Traced back to the decentralization of the German
Princes and their Lutheran fiath.
Denmark ignites conflict
• Bohemian protests against the Catholic
Holy Roman Empire, forced the Northern
European nation of Denmark to declare war
on Holy Rome. The conflict snowballed
with all Protestant nations siding with
Denmark and Catholics with Holy Rome.
Pick a Side?
•
•
•
•
•
Protestants:
France (Catholic)
Bohemia
Germany
Denmark
Sweden
•
•
•
•
Catholics:
Holy Rome
House of Hapsburg
Spain
Austria
Impacts of the War
• Amongst histories
bloodiest wars.
Millions of people
were killed and
ravaged by the famine
and disease of the era.
State building:
• All of Europe involved in
a conflict on Political,
Social, Religious and
Economic significance.
• A turning point of History.
Europe becoming
independent states
Peace of Westphalia
• As you can see from the following map the
peace radically changed the map of Europe.
The big Winner: France. The big loser:
Hapsburgs