Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Vocabulary:

1. Chinggis Khan

2. Tumens

3. Karakorum

4. Shamanistic religion

5. Golden Horde

6. Prester John

7. Mamluks

8. Kubilai Khan

9. Tatu

10. Nestorians

11. White Lotus Society

11. White Lotus Society

12. Khagan

13. Khanates

14. Ming Dynasty

15. Zheng He

16. Black Death

17. Renaissance

18. Portugal, Castile, and Aragon

19. Vasco da Gama

20. Henry the Navigator

21. Ethnocentrism

I. Nomadic Peoples

A. Nomadic peoples served as links between peoples rather than barriers to or opponents of civilization

1. Nomads participated in trade networks, spread religious ideas inventions, plants, and disease between peoples

2. All the great trade routes were pioneered by nomads. Often nomadic groups cut off trade while at other times they guarded them

3. These trade routes were important communication links between civilizations. Inventions such as paper and gunpowder arrived in Europe over trade routes such as these

B. Pastoral Nomads

1. Pastoral nomads inhabited the large grasslands of central Asia, the Sudan and East Africa, and highland South America.

2. Grassland areas had enough rain to support grass but not agriculture thus the lands were not permanently settled by sedentary groups

3. As pastoral nomads spread they displaced or absorbed smaller groups of hunter-gatherers

C. Nomadic Facts

1. Horses were revered by the nomads but were not used in warfare until the invention of the stirrup and bridles

2. Since nomads were not involved in time-intensive agriculture, they could spend large amounts of time in hunting and training with weapons. The horse gave the nomads a degree of mobility not seen in armies of the day. Horses also provided nomadic peoples with the ability to outrun enemies who were chasing them

3. Another nomadic group were the Huns. The Huns warred with China, toppled the Guptas Empire in India, and smashed into the crumbling late Roman Empire

4. Much of the movement of these nomadic peoples was due to drought and intertribal warfare. These migrations played an important role in the decline and fall of numerous empires

5. The nomad warriors acquired a reputation for ferocity and savagery.

6. Most of the great defensive structures were built to keep nomadic peoples out (Great Wall, Hadrian’s Wall, Roman German defenses, etc.)

7. Were organized into tribes and clans with leaders elected by free men.

II. Chinggis (Genghis) Khan Chinggis (Genghis) Khan – born Temujin

A. Temujin had a growing reputation as fierce warrior…made alliances with other groups

1. United the different clans of Mongols

2. Elected khagan (supreme ruler) of Mongol tribes

C. The Mongols at War

1. Highly organized military…all cavalry

2. Natural warriors – skilled with bow / horsemanship

3. Organized into Tumens – 10,000 warriors

4. Use of scouts, spies, and informers

5. Use of new weapons – gunpowder projectiles, and cannon

Where did the Mongols get these new weapons?

D. Conquests

1. Northern part of China forced to become vassal state

2. Conquered Turkic Empire (Persia) (1219)

a. First Islamic raid

b. Turks added to Mongol army

The Mongol Empire of Chinggis Khan

E. Life Under the Mongols

1. Despite reputation for ruthlessness, Mongols were tolerant rulers

2. Interested in new ideas, goods, and tolerated other religions

3. Established capital at Karakorum

4. Establishment of “Pax MongolicaPax Mongolica”…Mongolian Peace

5. Legal code…ended fighting between tribes

6. Safe secure trade routes took commerce to new heights

F. The Death of Chinggis (Genghis) Khan (1227)

1. Buried in secret

2. Empire left to three sons and grandson

a. Third son, Ogedei, elected Khan

3. Mongol expansion continued

4. Russia & Europe became targets of the Golden Horde, one of the four Khanates created by Chinggis’ death

III. Mongol Push Into Europe and Beyond

A. Conquering Russia (1200s)

1. Russia was a mix of small kingdoms based on trading cities such as Kiev and Novgorod

2. Despite the threat of Mongol invasion, the Russians refused to unite or cooperate and were conquered

3. The Mongols mounted the only successful invasion of Russia in the winter…Napoleon & Hitler later failed

4. Kiev was destroyed but Novgorod was spared due to their submission

5. Mongols dominated Russia for next 250 years

a. Russian princes were made Mongol vassals and paid tribute

b. Heavy taxes caused peasants to become serfs

B. Muscovy (Moscow) emerged as dominant Russian city due to its status as tax collector for the Mongols and center of Orthodox Church

1. Moscow’s rise coincided with a decline in the power of the Golden Horde

2. Moscow eventually led a revolt against the Mongols and broke their control…Ivan III (the Great) was leader

3. Mongol control greatly influenced Russia’s development

a. The power of the nobility over the people was consolidated

b. Russia was isolated from the West – did not experience the Renaissance or Reformation

C. Mongol Retreat from Europe

1. Christians cheered Mongol defeats of Muslims

2. Hungarian and German armies defeated by Mongols

a. Caused real concern in Western Europe…fear

3. The imminent invasion of Europe by the Mongols never happened due to death of Ogedei and ensuing power struggle led to their retreat…never returned

D. Attacking Islam

1. Conquered the Abbasid Caliphate, sacked Baghdad, and defeated the Seljuk Turks

a. This opened up the Middle East to later conquest by the Ottoman Turks

2. The Mongols were defeated by the Mamluk Turks slave dynasty of Egypt in 1260 with the cooperation of Christians in the declining Crusader states

IV. The Mongols in China

A. Led by Kubilai Khan (grandson of Chinggis Khan), the Mongols turned on the Song

1. Song China was slowly conquered…very difficult

2. In 1260 Kubilai assumed the title of the great khan

3. Kubilai named his regime in China the Yuan Dynasty

4. As ruler of China, Kubilai passed laws to ensure the Mongols and Chinese remained separate

a. He forbade Chinese scholars from learning Mongol writing

b. Mongols were forbidden to marry ethnic Chinese

c. Only women from nomadic families were selected as concubines

d. Even friendships between Mongols and Chinese were discouraged

5. Kubilai was fascinated by Chinese culture

a. He surrounded himself with Chinese advisors

b. He introduced Chinese music and rituals into his court

c. He did refuse to reinstate the civil service exams

6. A new social structure was established with the Mongols at the top

7. Gender Roles

a. Mongol women remained aloof from Chinese culture

b. They refused to adopt footbinding

--They retained the right to move about freely

c. Because of the short reign of the Mongols, they had little influence over Chinese women

B. Foreign Cultural Influences

1. Mongol curiosity brought great numbers of foreigners to the Mongol court including scholars, artisans, and office-seekers

2. Muslims were favored…brought new knowledge

a. Muslims and Persians brought the sciences to the Mongols…corrected the Chinese calendar, made maps, and established hospitals

3. Kubilai welcomed travelers and emissaries from Europe including Marco Polo

a. Polo’s book later helped inspire European exploration

C. Scholar-Gentry Resistance

1. Most saw Mongols as barbarians whose rule endangered Chinese traditions

2. Kubilai’s policies prevented the scholar-gentry from dominating politics

3. Kubilai’s favoritism towards foreigners also offended the scholar-gentry

4. Mongols raised the social status of artisans and merchants as commerce boomed

D. The Fall of Yuan China (Mongols)

1. Mongols attempted two invasions of Japan and an invasion of Vietnam that failed

a. Losses tarnished Mongol reputation as invincible

2. Revolts against Mongol rule broke out in Southern China

3. Kubilai’s successors lacked his skill and left rule to corrupt Chinese underlings

4. The scholar-gentry encouraged peasant revolts

5. Chaos erupted as Mongol rule collapsed…Ming dynasty formed

E. The Last Great Nomadic Conquests

1. Timur the Lame or Tamerlane

a. Turkic leader claiming descendency from Chinggis Khan – extremely cruel

b. Conquered into India, Mesopotamia, Persia, and parts of Russia

c. Unlike the Mongols, his reign did not expand trade nor increase international interaction!!!

d. 1405 he dies…empire disintegrates…steppe nomads never challenge again

V. Shifts in World Power: Middle East and Asia

A. Middle East

1. Abbasids destroyed by Mongols in 1258

2. Social and Cultural Changes (1300)

a. Religious leaders in control

b. Landlords dominate peasants, forcing them into serfdom…as a result, agricultural production fell

c. Economic decline

--Tax revenues decreased

--Middle Eastern merchants lost ground to their European counterparts by 1100, but were still active in world markets

Islamic decline was far from total. Muslim merchants still sailed the Indian Ocean and the Ottoman Turks were just

beginning to build one of the world’s most powerful empires.

3. Groups Lack International Strength

a. Ottomans focused on conquest, not commerce…caused them to lack power outside of their own borders

--Did expand into the Balkan Peninsula by the 1300’s

b. The Mongols did not last long…their decline opened up opportunities, both political and economic, for China and Western Europe

B. Chinese Expansion

1. Ming dynasty (1368-1644) – replaces the Yuan (Mongols)

a. Expansionist – Into Mongolia, Korea, Vietnam, Tibet

b. State sponsors commercial ventures to India, Middle East, Africa

c. Age of Expansion (1405 – 1423)

--Seven major sea expeditions by Zheng He (Zhenghe)

--Voyages to India & Africa

--Voyages end (1433)

d. Chinese return to isolation – back to tradition…internal economy was doing well…saw little need for outside trade

--Still trade in Asian area – Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia

--This opened opportunities for Western traders

VI. Western Europe Begins to Awaken

A. Began with relative stagnation, 14th, 15th centuries

1. Food supplies insufficient – famines were a constant threat after 1300…no agricultural innovation

2. 1348, Black Death – bubonic plague

a. Spread along trade routes…through nomads, sea routes

b. 30-40 percent of European population dies; led to labor shortages; payincreases

The Black Death“This scourge had implanted so great a terror in the hearts of men and women that brothers abandoned brothers, uncles their nephews, sisters their brothers, and in many cases wives deserted their husbands. But even worse…fathers and mothers refused to nurse and assist their own children.”

B. Signs of Rebirth…Decline of Feudalism

1. Feudal monarchies became increasingly centralized, they provided effective government…cities grow

a. Power of aristocracy began to decrease

2. Hundred Years War (1337 – 1453) – military innovation: longbows, gunpowder, cannon, peasant armies

This war signaled the end of the

Medieval period!

Battles of Crecy & Agincourt

3. Iberia – Spain & Portugal

a. Regional monarchs were strengthened through Reconquista – driving out the Muslim occupiers

--From 11th cent. military leaders had been fighting

--Regional monarchies began to form 1400

--Castile and Aragon allied through marriage in 1469;they undertook a Christian mission to expel

Muslims and Jews from the Iberian Peninsula

Ferdinand & Isabella!!!

C. European Trade Problems

1. Trade imbalance

a. Demand for Asian luxury products led to a gold shortage by 1400…Europeans did not have goods that were in demand in Asia, therefore they had to use gold (later silver) to acquire the desired Asian goods.

b. This gold shortage threatened Europe with economic collapse.

2. Trade was also threatened by the Ottoman Empire

a. ****This provided an desire to find other ways to bypass the Muslim-dominated trade routes****

--This eventually led to European exploration.

Contact with Asia came throughthe Mongol Empire!!!!!!!!!

D. Worldly Shift of the Italian Renaissance

1. Italy takes the lead in the 14th century…WHY?

a. “Rebirth” of classical thought facilitated by wealth of Italian city-states and contact with Byzantine Empire

--Italy led Europe in both trade and banking.

2. Religious art & literature was the focus…becomes secular

a. Personal fame for artists, writers more important

3. City-states support new commerce and the arts

E. Renaissance Society and Culture

1. Renaissance mostly a cultural, not political, movement

2. HumanismHumanism – emphasis on the individual and the human spirit based on the classics

3. Painters

a. Renaissance artists were patronized by the Church and the wealthy…the Medici Family!!Medici Family!!

b. Innovations include use of perspective and greater emphasis on the human form

c. Great Renaissance artists include Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci

La Pieta-

Michelangelo

Sistine Chapel

Michelangelo

The center of

Renaissance art was

Florence!

The Annunciation- BotticelliExample of

Perspective

VII. Exploration and Colonization

A. Why did Europeans Explore?

1. The Crusades

2. Contact with Mongols

3. Spice trade dominated by Muslims and Venice

4. Last land route vanished with fall of Byzantines.

5. Fear of the Muslims

6. High prices caused Europeans to seek alternate trade routes

7. Compass

8. Astrolabe

9. Development of deep-draft, round-hulled vessels (caravels) allowed greater amounts of cargo to be transported and allowed the use of cannon.

NewTechnology

China by way of the Muslims

B. 14th century explorers

1. Canary Islands, Madeiras, possibly the Azores

2. Spanish expeditions along west African coast

C. Beginnings of Colonization

1. Azores, Madeiras, and Canaries exploited

2. Prince Henry of Portugal led the way

a. Land grants offered to colonists

3. Pattern of Development

a. Cash crops for European markets

--Sugar, Cotton, Tobacco

--Slaves used

Canary Islands

Prince Henry the Navigator

Places Outside theEuropean & Asian WorldDuring the Postclassical

Era

Aztecs & Incas…internalproblems created

opportunities for externalintervention (after 1400)

Polynesiansmigrate toHawaii!!!

Maoris settle inNew Zealand…perhaps

as early as the 8th century.

Muslim traders andmissionaries continued to be

active, but the Mongols introduceda new set of contacts.

Global leadership wasin question in 1450!

The Mongol decline returned attentionto trade in the Indian Ocean.

African merchantscontinued to rely

on interactions withthe Middle East.

WesternEurope’s

position wasstrengthening.

Southeast Asiawas increasingly

drawn into trade andmissionary activity.

Global Connections:1450 & the World