Major European Developments

• After 300 years of development, Europe become the dominant world power

• Revolutions in European Thought and Expression:

  • 1300s: Europe had been Christian for over a thousand years

  • As countries began to unify and connect more, especially with countries who had preserved their history, Europe expanded its worldview and explored its past and 4 cultural movements happened

The Renaissance

• As trade increased, people moved to the cities and an influx of money was experienced - a lot of money went to studying the past

• Humanism: focus on personal accomplishment, happiness, and life on earth instead of living for the goal of salvation

  • Afterlife remained dominant in the Catholic Church

• Arts have a comeback

  • People could afford art again - Medici family patrons of Michelangelo and Brunelleschi

  • Artists focused on realism - Leonardo da Vinci and Donatello

• Western writers have an audience

  • mid-1400s: Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press - made books easy to produce and affordable, and accessible to everyone

  • led to more literate people

The Protestant Reformation

• Catholic Church was one of the most powerful organizations in the Middle Ages - power in politics and society - undisputed authority

• Church capitalized off its many followers with indulgences: paper faithful could purchase to reduce time in purgatory

• Nobles and peasants began getting increasingly frustrated by the church’s exploitation and noticed its corrupt nature

• Martin Luther: German monk who published his list of complaints against the church - most significantly proposed salvation was given directly through God, not through the church, which significantly reduced the church’s influence

  • Pope Leo X: excommunicated Luther when he refused to recount his idea

• Christianity split - Luther’s ideas led to many others to come forward

  • Lutherans: Luther’s followers - separated from Catholic Church

  • Calvinism - John Calvin: predestination - only a few people would be saved by God, great influence in Scotland and France

  • When the pope refused to annul King Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon because a heir wasn’t produced, he declared himself the head of religious affairs - presided over Church of England/Anglican Church

  • Jesuits - Ignatius Loyola: prayer and good works leads to salvation

• Catholic Reformation (16th century)

  • Catholic church attempts to remedy some of their controversies and regains some of its credibility - still wanted authority and control

  • Council of Trent: reinstated pope authority, punished heretics, reestablished Latin as only language in worship

  • Caused wars

Scientific Revolution

• Expanded education led to world discoveries

• Copernican Revolution: Nicolaus Copernicus - discovered earth and other celestial bodies revolved around the sun and the earth rotated on its axis

• Galileo: built off Copernicus’s theories and proved them - forced to recant by the Catholic Church and put under house arrest

• Scientific Method: shift from reasoning being most reliable means of scientific meaning to scientific method (theory, documentation, repetition, others experimenting)

• Tycho Brahe, Francis Bacon, Johannes Kepler, Sir Isaac Newton

• Led to Industrial Revolution, and many rejecting the church - atheists (believe no god exists), deists (believe God exists, but is passive)

• Deism: became popular in 1700s - God created the earth but doesn’t interfere in its workings

European Rivals

Spain and Portugal

• Spain became very powerful, supporting exploration, expansion of Spanish language and culture, and having a large naval fleet

  • Under Charles V, Spain controlled parts of France, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Spain, America

  • Under Charles’s son Philip, the Spanish Inquisition to oust heretics was continued, the Dutch Protestants under Spain revolted to form independent the Netherlands - lost a lot of money in mid-17th century and was poised to be defeated by England and France

• Portugal focused on dominating costal Africa, Indian Ocean, Spice Islands - lost control to Dutch and British

England

• Henry VIII never succeeded in having a male heir - his daughter Elizabeth I became Queen

• Elizabethan Age (1558-1603): expansion, exploration, colonization in New World - golden age

  • Muscovy Company: first joint-stock company - British East India Company

• James I: succeeded Elizabeth in 1607 - England and Scotland under one rulership, reforms to accommodate Catholics and Puritans failed

• Charles I: succeeded James in 1625 - signed Petition of Rights (limiting taxes and forbidding unlawful imprisonment) - ignored it for the next 11 years

  • Scottish invaded England out of resentment for Charles in 1640 - called the Long Parliament into session (sat for 20 years), which limited the powers of the monarchy

  • Parliament raised an army, under Oliver Cromwell, to fight the King after he tried to arrest the

  • Parliament defeats the king and executes him - began the English Commonwealth (Oliver Cromwell known as the first Lord Protector)

• Oliver Cromwell: intolerant of religion, violent against Catholics and Irish - highly resented

• Charles II: exiled son of Charles I invited by Parliament to reclaim the throne as a limited monarchy after Cromwell died (Stuart Restoration)

  • Agreed to Habeas Corpus Act: prevents people from arrests without due process

• James II: succeeded Charles II after his death - highly disliked, fear he would make England a Catholic county - driven from power by Parliament (Glorious Revolution)

• Succeeded by his daughter Mary and her husband William - signed English Bill of Rights (1689)

France

• Unified and centralized under strong monarchy after Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453)

• Largely Catholic, but French Protestants started to emerge (Huguenots) and fought with the Catholics

• Henry IV: issued Edict of Nantes (1598) (environment of tolerance between religions) - first of Bourbon kings who ruled until 1792

• Cardinal Richelieu: chief advisor to the Bourbons who compromised with Protestants instead of fighting with them

  • Created the bureaucratic class noblesse de la robe, succeeded by Cardinal Mazarin

• Louis XIV: reigned from 1642-1715 - highly self-important and grandiose, condemned many Huguenots, never summoned the French lawmakers, appointed Jean Baptiste Colbert to manage royal funds - France almost constantly at war to increase empire

  • War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714): Louis’s grandson was to inherit the Spanish throne, so England, Roman Empire, and German princes united to prevent France and Spain from combining

German Areas (Holy Roman Empire?)

• Holy Empire was in present day Austria/Germany - weak due to the mixed dynamics, rulership, and religion of the surrounding area

  • Lost parts of Hungary to Ottoman Turks in early 16th century

  • Devastated by Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)

  • German states were gaining power by 18th century

• Peace of Augsburg (1555): intended to bring end to conflicts between Catholics and Protestants

• Thirty Years’ War: began when protestants in Bohemia challenged Catholics - violent and destructive

  • Peace of Westphalia (1648): German states affirmed to keep the peace

Russia

• Russian leaders were overthrowing reigning Mongols in late 15th century

• Moscow became centre of Orthodox Christianity

• Ivan III refused to pay tribute to Mongols and declared them free from their rule - lead Russians, later Ivan IV did too

  • Recruited peasants freedom from boyars (their feudal lords) if they conquered their own land themselves

• Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible): strong leader feared by many - executing people who were threats to his power

• Battle for throne after Ivan IV died without an heir - Time of Troubles (1604 to 1613): killing those who tried to rise to the throne

• Michael Romanov was elected by feudal lords until 1917 - Romanovs consolidated power and ruled ruthlessly

• Peter the Great: ruled from 1682-1725 - redesigned and adapted Russia in to westernized fashion

• Catherine the Great: ruled from 1762-1796 - education and Western culture - serf conditions were of no importance to her

Islamic Gunpowder Empires

• Ottoman Empire precedes 1450 - founded by Osman Bey as the Mongol Empire fell

  • Eventually invaded Constantinople in 1453 and ended Byzantine Empire (Constantinople now named Istanbul)

  • Ottomans were Islamic and solidified rule over territory from Greece to Persia to around Mediterranean into Egypt and northern Africa by giving land (timars) to Ottoman aristocrats to control

  • Employed practice called devshirme: enslaved Christian children and turned them into warriors called Janissaries

  • Selim I: came into power in 1512, led much of the empire growth, made Istanbul centre of Islamic civilization

  • Suleiman I: succeeded Selim I in 1520, build Ottoman military and arts - golden age from 1520-1566

    • Took over parts of Hungary, but could not successfully take over Vienna

• Babur: Mongol leader who invaded northern India in 1526 - Mughal Empire (dominated for next 300 years)

  • United entire subcontinent

  • Akbar: succeeded Babur from 1556 to 1605 - united India further with religious toleration, did give Muslim landowners (zamindars) power to tax

  • Hindus and Muslims lived side by side in a golden age of art and thought - under Shah Jahan, the Taj Mahal was built

  • Aurangzeb: emperor who ended religious toleration and waged wars to conquer rest of India - Hindus were persecuted

  • Europeans arrived in early 17th century to trade and spread ideas - after 1750 is when Britain turned into an imperial superpower

Africa

• Starting in 10th century, wealth accumulated from trade - Songhai, Kongo, and Angola became powerful kingdoms

• Songhai:

  • Islamic state

  • Sunni Ali: ruler 1464-1493 - navy, central administration, financed Timbuktu - fell to Moroccans

• Asanti Empire: arose in 1670 - avoided invasion and expanded its territory

• Kongo:

  • King Alfonso I: Catholic, and converted his people

  • Mostly destroyed by previous allies Portugal

• Angola:

  • Established by Portuguese around 1575 for the slave trade

  • Queen Nzinga resisted Portuguese attempts to further their control for 40 years

Isolated Asia

China

• Ming Dynasty was restored until 1644 after kicking out Mongols in 1368

• Built huge fleets in early 15th century to explore Asia and Indian ocean - Zheng He: famous Chinese navigator

• Economy started failing due to silver currency inflation, famines in 17th century, peasant revolts

• Qing warriors were invited to help Ming emperor but instead ousted him in 1644

• Qing/Manchus ruled China until 1911

  • Not ethnically Chinese so had to affirm legitimacy - displayed imperial portraits with Chinese historical items

  • Kangxi: ruled from 1661 to 1722 and conquered Taiwan, Mongolia, central Asia, Tibet

  • Qianlong: ruled from 1735 to 1796 and conquered Vietnam, Burma, Nepal

  • were both Confucian scholars

• Did not interact a lot with surrounding nations, protected their culture

Japan

• Shoguns ruled Japan in 16th century, but Christian missionaries came in and Jesuits took control of Nagasaki - westernization

• Tokugawa Ieyasu: established Tokugawa Shogunate (Edo period) from 1600 to 1868 - strict government that instituted a rigid social class model

  • Moved capital of Japan to Edo (modern-day Tokyo)

  • National Seclusion Policy (1635): prohibited Japanese from traveling abroad and prohibited most foreigners

  • Japanese culture thrived - Kabuki theatre and haiku poetry became popular

Resistance

• Key rebellions in 17th and 18th centuries:

  1. Ana Nzinga’s Resistance (Kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba) - 1641-167

     • Resisted Portuguese colonizers

  2. Cossack Revolts (Modern-day Ukraine) - 17-18th century

     • Resisted Russian Empire but were eventually defeated

  3. Haitian Slave Rebellion (Haiti) - 1791-1804

     • Resisted France and eventually achieved independence for Haiti

  4. Maratha (India) - 1680-1707

     • Resisted Mughal Empire and defeated them starting the Maratha Empire

  5. Maroon Societies (Caribbean and Brazil) - 17th-18th century

     • Resisted slave-owners in Americas and avoided attempts to be recaptured and sold

  6. Metacom’s War (US) - 1675-1678

     • Resisted British colonists over unfair trade practices

  7. Pueblo Revolts (US) - 1680

     • Resisted Spanish colonizers and their encomienda system, but victory was temporary