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1 Becoming Human
2 Rivers, Cities and the Rise of Complex Societies, c. 4000-2000 BCE
3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Micro-Societies, 2000-1200 BCE
4 First Empires and Common Cultures, 1200–350 bce
5 Worlds Turned Inside Out, 1000–350 bce
6 Shrinking the Afro-Eurasian World, 350 bce–250 ce
7 Han China and The Roman Empire, 300 BCE –300CE
8 The Rise of Universal Religions, 300–600 CE
9 New Empires, and Common Cultures, 600-900 CE
10 The World Becomes “The World,” 1000-1300 CE
11 Crises and Recovery in Afro-Eurasia, 1300-1500
12 Contact, Commerce, and Colonization, 1450-1600
13 Worlds Entangled, 1600-1750
14 Cultures of Splendor and Power, 1600-1780
15 Reordering the World, 1750–1850
16 Alternative Visions of the Nineteenth Century
17 Nations and Empires, 1850–1914
18 An Unsettled World, 1890–1914
19 Of Masses and Visions of the Modern, 1910-1930
20 The Three-World Order, 1940–1975
21 Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: Globalization 1975-1999
22 Epilogue, 2000–2007

Chapter 11: Crises and Recovery in Afro-Eurasia, 1300-1500

Chapter Outline

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  1. Collapse and integration
    1. Mongol decline
    2. The Black Death
      1. Eurasian trade routes
      2. Population loss
    3. Rebuilding states
      1. Dynasties
  2. Islamic dynasties
    1. Mongols failed to establish enduring regimes in the Islamic world.
      1. Il-khanate in Persia
    2. Growing influence of Turkish and Persian-speaking Muslims
      1. Nomadic groups
    3. Rise of the Ottoman empire
      1. Turkish warriors based in Anatolia
      2. Champions of Sunni Islam
        1. By the mid-sixteenth century, they created a vast multiethnic, multilingual empire
          1. Anatolia
          2. Balkans
      3. The Conquest of Constantinople
        1. Mehmed the Conqueror (r. 1451-1481)
          1. Built a fortress along Bosporus
          2. Conquered the city on May 29,1453
          3. Renamed it Istanbul
        2. Refugees fled to West with ancient texts
        3. Expansion continued
          1. Greece
          2. Balkans
      4. The Tools of Empire Building
        1. Suleiman expanded empire further
          1. Led army on thirteen military campaigns
          2. Gifted administrator
          3. Called "the Lawgiver" and "the Magnificent"
        2. Sultan was defender of the faith
          1. Constructed mosques and supported schools
      5. Istanbul and the Topkapi Palace
        1. Administrative and commercial center
        2. Topkapi Palace
          1. Residence of the sultan
          2. Training school for the bureaucracy
          3. Harem
            1. Had own hierarchy of rank and prestige
            2. 10,000 to 12,000 women lived in the palace
      6. Diversity and Control in the Ottoman Empire
        1. More bilingual than other empire
        2. Turkish was the language of administration.
        3. Arabic and other languages were spoken in the provinces.
        4. Regional autonomy
          1. Military appointed loyal followers to collect taxes for Istanbul and for themselves.
        5. Janissaries
          1. Served the sultan
          2. Guarded against decentralizing tendencies in the provinces
    4. The emergence of the Safavid empire in Iran
      1. Turkish-speaking warriors
      2. Shiism as a unifying force
        1. Intolerant of other religious views
      3. Shah assumed role of a traditional Persian king
      4. Activist clergy
    5. The Delhi Sultanate and early Mughal empire
      1. Delhi Sultanate avoided Mongol conquest
        1. Sultans patronized Muslim learning and culture
      2. Delhi Sultanate succumbed to new Turkish invaders.
        1. Timur
      3. Collapse of Delhi Sultanate precipitated religious revivals.
        1. Sufism in Bengal
        2. Bhakti Hinduism
        3. Sikhism in Punjab
      4. Islamic Afghani forces conquered the Delhi Sultanate and created the Mughal dynasty in 1526.
        1. Babur
  3. Western Christendom
    1. High Middle Ages (1100-1300)
      1. Population growth
      2. Commercial and manufacturing advances
        1. expansion of long-distance trade
      3. Cultural flowering
        1. Universities
        2. Islamic learning
    2. Reactions, Revolt, and Religion in Europe
      1. The Black Death
        1. 25-50 percent of population perished
        2. Declining influence of the Western Church
        3. Declining legitimacy of the feudal order
          1. Peasant revolts
            1. Jacquerie
            2. English Peasants' Revolt
          2. Decline of Holy Roman empire
    3. State-building and Economic Recovery in Europe
      1. Regional dynasties and states appear
        1. Promotion of national languages
        2. Use of religion to legitimize rule
        3. Chronic struggles to assert authority
          1. Landed nobility
          2. Peasants
        4. Use of strategic marriages
      2. Political Consolidation and Trade in Portugal
        1. House of Aviz consolidated power in fifteenth century
        2. Dynasty promoted new commercial horizons
          1. Redirection of trade from Mediterranean to Atlantic Ocean
            1. West Africa
            2. Vasco da Gama sails to India in 1498
      3. Dynasty Building and Reconquest in Spain
        1. Marriage of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469
        2. Inquisition against Jews and Muslims
        3. Marriage into the House of Habsburg
          1. Charles V
      4. The Struggle of France and England and the Success of Small States
        1. France
          1. France's victory in the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453)
          2. House of Valois
            1. Strategic marriages
            2. England
            3. War of the Roses (1455-1485) failed to create a dynastic house
            4. Emergence of the house of Tudor
      5. Lack of centralization in most of Europe in the fifteenth century
        1. Nobility still powerful
        2. City-states flourished like Venice
    4. European identity and Renaissance
      1. Scholars and artists developed a humanist approach to arts, science, literature
      2. Sources for this new approach
        1. Commercial prosperity
        2. New monarchs and wealthy merchants patronized the arts
        3. Printing press
      3. Conflict with secular and religious authorities
      4. Creation of a network of educated men and women
        1. Concept of a good, "civilized" Europe
  4. Ming China
    1. Impact of the Black Death on China
    2. Resistance to the Yuan dynasty
      1. Red Turbans
      2. Zhu Yuanzhang
    3. Ming dynasty founded 1368
    4. Centralization under the Ming
      1. Beijing
        1. Forbidden City
        2. Marriage and kinship
        3. Rule through kinship
      2. Elimination of rivals
      3. Establishment of imperial bureaucracy and administrative network
        1. 10,000 to 15,000 officials
        2. Villages
        3. Social hierarchy
      4. Rebuilding of infrastructure, tax system
    5. Religion under the Ming
      1. Emperors used religion to legitimize rule
    6. Ming Ruleship
      1. Religious and local dissent
      2. Terror and repression
    7. Trade under the Ming
      1. Merchants reestablished long-distance commercial exchange
        1. Porcelain
      2. Emperors suspicious of long-distance trade
        1. Foreign influence
        2. Official, but seldom enforced, ban on maritime commerce in 1371
      3. Maritime expeditions of Zheng He (1405-1433)
        1. Exception to Ming policy
        2. Attempt to establish tributary relations throughout the Indian Ocean
        3. Voyages canceled after threat from Mongols reappeared in the north
      4. Trade continued but without official patronage
  5. Conclusion
    1. By the 1500s a small number of centralized, expansive dynasties had emerged or were emerging.
    2. Each was politically innovative.
      1. Use of dynastic marriage, religion, administrative bureaucracies
    3. Each sought commercial expansion.
    4. Europe, because of Muslim predominance in Eurasian trade, sought new connections.
  6. Chronology
  7. Study Questions
  8. Further Readings

 

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