The West and the Changing World BalanceChapter 15 (1 of 1)
The World Powers During the Postclassical Error Decline
1453Turks conquer the Byzantine Empire
What city was defeated to end the Byzantine Empire?
1258Abbasids are defeated by
Mongols
What city was destroyed to end Abbasid rule?
Baghdad Constantinople
The Fall of the Byzantine
Empire’s capital of Constantinople marks the end of the postclassical period in world
history
Over Time, Arab Dominance Ends
Can you name a group that controlled the
Abbasid empire and made the Abbasid caliphs
puppet leaders?
By the 1100s, the Abbasid caliphate (which ruled
Arab/Muslim empire) was beginning to decline
945 = Persians (called Buyids) capture Baghdad, and they run the Abbasid
caliphate
1258 = Mongols destroy Baghdad and kill the last
Abbasid caliph, ending the Abbasid empire
1055 = Seljuk Turks defeat the Buyids and run the
empire
Serfdom in the Middle East
Agriculture suffered as peasants no longer free to farm, had to provide what
landlord wanted
As Abbasid empire fell, landlords seized control
over peasants, who were reduced to serfdom
Arabs, who had once dominated trade, started to fall behind, as western
Europeans gained on them
Secular (non-religious) ideas, such as science and philosophy, were losing out
to a focus on religion
As the postclassical era
came to a close in the 1400s, the
Middle East began being more strict to their Islamic
religion
Ottomans Take Control of Muslim Lands (1453)
One reason was because they did not promote trade
Though powerful, Ottomans never
became main world superpower
like Arabs previously had
Would the Mongols Fill Power Vacuum and Become the Dominant World Power?
Decline of Mongols, meant overland trade routes no
longer safe
But Mongol rule was relatively short-
lived and they began to decline
Instead, there was a new focus on
finding trade routes by sea
So China, and the New Ming Dynasty, Must Have Emerged As New World Leaders?
China did play the role of world leaders, but only for
about 50 years
Zheng He (or Chang Ho)
From 1405 – 1433, these
Chinese expeditions
were led by a Chinese
Muslim named Zheng He
Ming Dynasty defeated the Mongols in 1368 and
sponsored trade
expeditions
Despite Zheng He’s Success, China Abruptly Stopped Exploration and Trade in 1433
Chinese were still in process of driving out Mongols and building huge capital at Beijing,
and expeditions were too costly
Confucians believed the expeditions went against their values (remember – looked down on artisans
and merchant)
Instead, Ming Dynasty Focused Internally and Within the Region
• Focused on getting tribute from neighbors in East Asia
• Focused on finishing off the nomadic invaders (such as Mongols) to the north
• Focused on building Chinese agriculture
• Focused on internal economic development
The Power Vacuum Was Left Open
Arabs decline after fall of Abbasids as Ottomans
weren’t focused on trade and exploration
Who would emerge as the predominant power in the world?
China took the lead and looked like next world
power, but quickly decided
to stop
Byzantine Empire gone in eastern Europe,
controlled by Ottomans
The Door Was Open
For Western Europe
Western Europe Unlikely Winners to be Next World Power in 1400s
The Roman Catholic
church was under political
and theological
attack
Western Europe still somewhat
behind technologically
Bubonic Plague (Black Death) wiped out 1/3
of its population in
the 1300s
Famines led to more death and peasant
uprisings
Trade Plays Big Role
When Mongols had big empire, trade flourished, an western Europe benefitted more than most area
Avoid the Muslims
Western Europeans wanted trade with Asia, but avoid the Middle East, which led to a search for sea routes to Asia (and the Italian city-states
of Venice and Genoa were key leaders in the search)
In 1291, the Muslims drove out the last Christian Crusaders at Acre, and trade to Asia had to go through the Muslim Middle East
The Renaissance Begins in 1400
The Renaissance was a cultural and intellectual movement
which revived the Greco-Roman style, and at first only affected
high society
Italian city-states became wealthy and could support the
arts and literature, which began to flourish
The Iberian Peninsula joins the Italian city-states in a push for change and innovation
During most of postclassical era, the
Muslims had ruled the Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula is where Spain and Portugal
are today
A Marriage for the Ages!
Ferdinand and Isabella promoted Catholicism and
began the Spanish Inquisition to drive out Muslims, Protestants, and Jews
In 1469, Ferdinand and Isabella wed, uniting the Castile and Aragon, the 2 major monarchies on the
peninsula
Italians and Portuguese Intensify Efforts to Find Western Sea-Route to Asia
Their efforts sparked others to try to find a route (such as Columbus 200
years later)
Vivaldis Brothers = Italian brothers seeking western
sea-route to Asia, but disappeared in 1291
Technological Barriers Overcome
But then the compass and astrolabe (learned from
the Arabs, who had learned them from the
Chinese) made its way to western Europe
Until the 1430s, a lack of technology prevented sea
travelers from western Europe from exploring past the west coast of
Africa
Vasco de Gama
I was a Portuguese explorer who found a
sea route to India, which allowed
Portugal to dominate trade in the Indian Ocean. Who am I?
Henry the Navigator
Portugal was 1st European nation to establish an overseas colony (the
Azores in 1439)
Portuguese prince who was responsible for
Portuguese explorations
Spain Follows Portugal to Establish Overseas Colonies
Slaves were imported from northwest Africa to
do much of the work
These colonies were set up to produce cash crops
Meanwhile, In the Rest Of the World…
The two areas are the Americas and the
Polynesians living on the Society Islands (Fiji, Tahiti, and Samoa) in the Pacific
By that we mean the areas that did not have contact with the rest of the world
during the postclassical era
However, changes were going on within each society that would weaken each, and make them susceptible to foreign
invasion
Because they were isolated from the rest of the world, America and Polynesia were not affected by outside forces
during postclassical era
Americas
Aztec and Inca were suffering from rebellions
and other Native American groups were
beginning to emerge and vie for power
Polynesia
Because they developed in isolation, they lacked modern technology and
were very vulnerable when the Europeans
showed up
More on Polynesia
During the Postclassical Era (especially 600 C.E. – 1300 C.E.) Polynesians were expanding to new territories (2 of which were
Hawaii and New Zealand)
Aloha!
• Polynesians settled Hawaiian islands up until 1400, when migration to stopped (from 1400 to 1778, Hawaii cut off from all societies, including Polynesia)
• Politically, Hawaii divided into warlike regional kingdoms
• Caste system established (priests and nobles at top, and commoners very low and barred from doing many activities)
• Despite outdated technology and no written language the Hawaiians still created a complex culture
The Maoris• Polynesians from Society Island migrated to New Zealand starting in early 700s, and they are called Maoris
• Maoris produced the most elaborate Polynesian art and population kept expanding
• Like in Hawaii, tribal military leaders and priests held great power (and each tribe had slaves gotten from prisoners of war)
• Maoris produced a rich oral tradition and were good at woodworking (no metal, but had vigorous economy by combining imported crops and animals with vegetation native to their new settlements)