Tang and Song ChinaKEY IDEA During the Tang and Song dynasties, Chinaexperienced an era of prosperity and technological innovations.

Starting in A.D. 220, China went through a longperiod of troubles during which no single ruler

was strong enough to unite the entire area. In 589,Wendi changed that. He brought the northern andsouthern regions under his power and named him-self emperor. His new dynasty—the Sui—lastedonly during his rule and that of his successor.However, these two rulers were important. Theybuilt the Grand Canal, a long waterway that con-nected the two major rivers of China. It linked thepeople of the cities in the north to the rice-growingregions in the fertile south.

The Tang Dynasty followed and lasted for 300years. Tang rulers retook northern and westernlands that had been lost under the Han Dynasty.Under the Empress Wu—the only woman ever torule China as emperor—the Tang captured parts ofKorea as well.

Early Tang rulers made the governmentstronger. To run their empire, they revived thepractice of using men educated in the writings ofthe philosopher Confucius. Schools were set up totrain people in these works. Candidates for govern-ment jobs had to pass tests in order to win work.

The Tang Dynasty began to weaken when therulers once again levied heavy taxes. While theChinese people became angry over these burdens,nomads attacked the empire’s western lands andbegan to capture some areas. In 907, the last Tangruler was killed, and a new dynasty—the Song—took its place. It, too, lasted about 300 years. TheSong Dynasty ruled a smaller area than did theTang. However, China under its rule was strong.

During the Tang and Song periods, China mademany advances in technology. The Chinese

invented the use of movable type, allowing them toprint books. They also invented gunpowder for usein fireworks and weapons. The Chinese grew morefood, based on advances in farming and an improvedvariety of fast-growing rice. Trade increased, firstthrough Central Asia on the land route called theSilk Road and later over the oceans. This allowedBuddhism to spread from China to Japan, Korea,and Vietnam. Tang and Song China became famousfor their artistic advances.

These developments brought about changes inChinese society. The old noble families lost power,while the scholar-government officials gainedpower. Below them was an urban middle class,laborers, and peasants. The status of womenbecame worse.

The Mongol ConquestsKEY IDEA The Mongols, a nomadic people from thesteppe, settled across much of Asia.

Much of Central Asia is covered by flat grass-land that cannot support farming. Nomadic

herders lived in this area. They traveled from placeto place seeking grass to feed herds of sheep andgoats. From time to time over the centuries, thesenomads struck out to attack the settled farmingpeoples to the east, south, and west. In the early1200s, the Mongols began such an attack. Underthe leadership of Genghis Khan, they met hugesuccess. In just over 20 years, he led his people toconquer Central Asia.

Three factors contributed to the Mongols’ mili-tary success. First, they organized their army in alogical, easy-to-control way with experiencedfighters in command. Second, Genghis Khan wasable to outthink and outwit his enemies. Finally, theMongols used cruelty as a weapon. This helpedconvince other cities to surrender without a fight.

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF Empires in East Asia, 600–1350CHAPTER OVERVIEW Under Tang and Song rulers, China became the mostadvanced culture in the world. Then fierce warriors from Central Asia swept over China, creating a new empire that encouraged trade. In ruling China, theMongols reached great heights. Japan developed its own culture based on ideasand practices borrowed from China. Chinese influence extended to Korea andSoutheast Asia.

Summary

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After Genghis Khan died in 1227, the Mongolarmies continued to advance. Under Genghis’s sonsand grandsons, the armies conquered China, tookparts of Korea, captured Russia, and threatenedeastern Europe. By 1260, the remaining empirewas divided into four areas called khanates. Therulers in these areas gradually adopted the cultureof the people they ruled. Those in the west becameMuslims. Those in China took on Chinese culture.In this way, the four khanates grew apart.

The Mongols proved able rulers who broughtabout a long period of peace in Central Asia. Theypromoted trade and the exchange of ideas betweenAsia and Europe. Along with this trade, they mayhave brought a deadly disease—the plague—thatcaused widespread death in Europe in the 1300s.

The Mongol EmpireKEY IDEA Kublai Khan ruled China and encouraged for-eign contact and trade, but the Yuan Dynasty was besetby problems.

The Mongols needed several decades to completetheir conquest of China begun by Genghis

Khan in 1215. In 1260 Kublai Khan, grandson ofGenghis, took the title of Great Khan. Finally, in1279, Kublai Khan managed to defeat the lastChinese army in the south. He became the firstforeigner to gain complete control of China andrule the land.

Kublai Khan founded the Yuan Dynasty thatruled China for only about 100 years. The dynastywas important because it united China for the firsttime in several hundred years and opened China totrade with the west. The Mongols did not disruptChinese government or culture but, in fact, adoptedit for themselves. Kublai Khan adopted Chineseways and built a new capital in the city of Beijing.

However, the Mongols still wanted further con-quests. Kublai Khan launched two attacks on Japanin 1274 and 1281, but both failed.

To rule his empire, Kublai Khan continued tofollow Chinese practices. The Mongols kept the topgovernment jobs for themselves. They also hiredmany people from other lands for these jobs, trust-ing them more than they did the Chinese.

Kublai Khan rebuilt the Great Canal. He pro-moted foreign trade, which took such Chineseinventions as printing, gunpowder, paper money, thecompass, and playing cards to Europe. This activityled the European trader Marco Polo to journey to

China. He lived there for many years and traveledthroughout the Mongol Empire. When he returnedto Italy in 1292, he told Europeans fantastic storiesabout Chinese wealth.

In the last years of his rule, Kublai Khan raninto trouble. Attacks on Southeast Asia failed, cost-ing many lives and much treasure. After Kublai’sdeath in 1294, Mongol leaders struggled for controlof the empire. These fights helped weaken Mongolrule, which allowed parts of China to erupt inrebellion. In 1368, some rebels finally won controlof the Chinese government from the Mongols.They established a new dynasty called the Ming.

By this time, the whole Mongol Empire hadbegun to collapse. Mongols lost control of Persia inthe 1330s and Central Asia in the 1370s. They con-tinued to rule Russia until the late 1400s, however.

Feudal Powers in JapanKEY IDEA Japanese civilization was shaped by culturalborrowing from China and the rise of feudalism and mili-tary rulers.

Japan gained from its location. It was near enoughto China to benefit from the influence of Chinese

culture. It was also far enough to be able to protectitself from complete Chinese domination.

Japan is not one island but several thousandislands of varying sizes. Most people, though, liveon the four largest of them. The islands have fewnatural resources, such as coal and oil. Also, themany mountains leave little land that can be usedfor farming.

Early in its history, Japan was broken up intomany small areas, each led by a clan. These clansbelieved in their own gods. Later, all these beliefswere combined to form Japan’s religion, Shinto.The main ideas of Shinto were to respect the forcesof nature and the ancestors of a family.

In the A.D. 400s, the Yamato became the mostpowerful of these clans. They claimed that theywere descended from a sun goddess. Later, Yamatoleaders began to call themselves emperors. Theemperor remained an important figure in Japan.Even when other groups took control of the gov-ernment, they retained the position of the emperorand said they were ruling in his name.

During the 400s, Japan began to feel theinfluence of Chinese culture. Buddhism traveledfrom China to Japan and became an important reli-gion in the islands. The emperor sent people to

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China to learn Chinese ways and bring them backto Japan. The Japanese also adopted the Chinesesystem of writing, painting, and other parts ofChinese culture. Around the late 800s, though, theJapanese stopped sending people to China to learnChinese culture.

From 794 to 1185, Japan’s noble family ruledthe country from the capital at Heian. This era rep-resented the peak of Japanese culture, when thepeople of the court led lives of complex rituals,careful manners, and artistic good taste. Womenwriters of the time provide a detailed view of thisrefined court life.

Over time the power of the emperor declinedand nobles with large land holdings began to asserttheir power. They hired private armies, and thesesoldiers began to terrorize farmers. For protection,farmers gave up some of their land to the lords.Thus began a time of local power like Europe’sMiddle Ages. The local lords used a group oftrained soldiers called samurai to protect themfrom attacks by other lords. These samurai fol-lowed a strict code of honor.

After a period of war, one of these lords arose asthe most powerful. The emperor named him theshogun, or superior general of the emperor’s army.While the emperor remained in power in name,the new shogun ran the country. This pattern wasfollowed in Japan from 1192 to 1868. Shoguns led adefense of Japan against invasions of the Mongolsfrom China.

Kingdoms of Southeast Asia and Korea

KEY IDEA Several smaller kingdoms prospered in Eastand Southeast Asia, a region culturally influenced byChina and India.

Southeast Asia lies between the Indian andPacific oceans and stretches from China almost

to Australia. It includes such mainland areas asmodern Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, andVietnam and the islands of Sumatra, Java, andBorneo, among others. The region has never beenunited culturally or politically.

From about A.D. 800 to 1200, the Khmer empireof modern Cambodia was the main power on themainland of Southeast Asia. The main source ofwealth of this empire was the growing of rice. TheKhmer had large irrigation works to bring water totheir fields. Rulers built huge and beautiful temples

and palaces. At the same time, a trading empirecalled Srivijaya arose on Java and nearby islands. Itscapital became a center for the study of Buddhism.

These two cultures were influenced by India.Another culture—Vietnam—fell under the influenceof China. China controlled the area from about 100B.C. to A.D. 900. Vietnam became an independentkingdom, known as Dai Viet, in 939. While takingBuddhism and other influences from China, theVietnamese developed their own special culture.Women, for instance, enjoyed more rights inVietnam than they did in China.

Korea, like Japan and Vietnam, was influencedby China but maintained its own traditions as well.From China, the Koreans learned Buddhism, theteachings of Confucius, the benefits of central gov-ernment, and a system of writing. The KoryuDynasty ruled Korea from 935 to 1392. It had agovernment similar to China’s. However, Korea’smethod of using examinations to fill governmentjobs did not keep wealthy landowners from domi-nating society. The dynasty, though, produced manygreat artistic achievements in Korean culture.

Korea fell to the Mongols and was occupieduntil the 1350s. The heavy tax that they demandedmade the country poor and led the people to revolt.When the Mongols lost power, a new dynasty tookcontrol of Korea and ruled for 518 years.

Review1. Clarifying Identify two changes in technology

or society that took place in Tang and SongChina.

2. Analyzing Causes What factors helped createMongol success in war?

3. Determining Main Ideas What kind of rela-tions did the Mongols have with the Chinese?

4. Summarizing What pattern of governmentdeveloped in Japan?

5. Drawing Conclusions What two culturesinfluenced the people of Southeast Asia? Howdoes geography help explain why?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF Societies and Empires of Africa, 800–1500

CHAPTER OVERVIEW In north and central Africa, people lived by hunting andgathering. Later followers of Islam built states that joined religious and politicalpower. In West Africa, empires built on wealth from trade rose and fell. In EastAfrica, a blend of African and Muslim cultures created several cities that enjoyedthriving trade. In Southern Africa, one trading empire gave way to another.

Summary

North and Central AfricanSocieties

KEY IDEA North and central Africa developed hunting-gathering societies, stateless societies, and Muslimstates.

People in early African societies began to getfood by hunting and gathering. Some societies

today use these methods as well. Scholars studythem to obtain clues about the lives of people inthe past. They recognize, though, that there is noexact relationship between how people lived thenand now.

The Efe, who live in the rain forest of centralAfrica, are one group of hunter-gatherers that arestudied. They live in groups of between 10 and 100people, all being related to one another. Each fam-ily lives in its own shelter, made of grass and brush.They keep few possessions so that they can moveoften in the search for food.

Women perform the work of gathering. Theytravel through the forest looking for roots, yams,mushrooms, and seeds. Men and older boys do thehunting, killing small antelopes or monkeys. Thegroup is led by an older male, but he does not giveorders or act like a chief. Each family makes itsown decisions, but they do ask the leader for hisadvice.

These African societies are organized alongfamily ties. Families, however, are understood inbroader terms than simply parents and children.Societies trace their families in terms of lineages,counting as related all people who share a commonancestor. The lineage includes not just living mem-bers but those born in the past and those yet to beborn. In some societies, lineages are traced throughmothers and in others they are traced throughfathers.

In many African societies, lineage groups tookthe place of rulers. These societies are called state-

less societies because they do not have central gov-ernments. Authority in these societies was spreadamong more than one lineage to prevent any onefamily from dominating. Within these societies,people use discussion to settle conflicts betweengroups.

Some African societies also have another set ofrelationships important to people. Children of similarages form into groups called age sets. All membersof the age set take part in ceremonies. These signalthe movement from one stage of life to the next.

An important influence on the history of Africawas Islam, which arrived in the continent in thelate 600s. By 670, Muslims ruled Egypt and mostof North Africa. In their new states, the rulerserved as both political and religious leader. TheIslamic tradition of obeying the law helped pro-mote order and support the government. The com-mon influence of Islamic law also forged bondsbetween the different North African states.

Among the North Africans who converted toIslam were a group called the Berbers. In the 11thcentury, a group of Berbers became strongly com-mitted to spreading Islam. They were called theAlmoravids. They conquered modern Moroccoaround 1060, the empire of Ghana by 1076, andparts of Spain.

They were displaced in the 1100s by anothergroup of Berbers, the Almohads. They arose in theAtlas Mountains of Morocco and opposed theAlmoravids. They said Almoravids no longer fol-lowed strict Muslim teaching. Almohads, too, cap-tured Morocco and then Spain. They extendedtheir power as far east as the cities of Tripoli andTunis. Within about 100 years, this empire brokeup into smaller states.

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West African CivilizationsKEY IDEA West Africa contained several powerfulempires and states, including Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.

Trade was conducted across the vast SaharaDesert of North Africa as early as A.D. 200, but

it was not regular. The pack animals of the time—oxen, donkeys, and horses—could not travel far inthe desert. Then Berbers began using camels.Since these animals were ideally suited to dry con-ditions, trade became regular and frequent.

By the 700s, the rulers of the kingdom of Ghanawere growing rich. They taxed the goods that traderscarried through their land. The two most importanttrade goods were gold and salt. Gold was taken fromdeep mines or from streams in the western andsouthern parts of West Africa. The people there wereeager to trade for salt from the Sahara region. Arabtraders brought cloth and manufactured goods fromthe cities on the Mediterranean Sea to the north.

The king of Ghana made sure that the price ofgold stayed high. Only the king could own goldnuggets. As religious and military leader, as well ashead of the government, the king was powerful. Bythe year 800, Ghana had become an empire, con-trolling the people of different regions nearby.

Over time, Muslim merchants and tradersbrought their religion to Ghana. By the 1000s, thekings converted to Islam and began to use Muslimsas advisers. Many common people in the empire,though, stayed with their traditional beliefs. Later,Ghana fell to the Almoravids of North Africa. Afterthat, Ghana never regained its former power.

By 1235, a new kingdom began—Mali. It arosesouth of Ghana, but its wealth and power was alsobased on the gold trade. Founder of the kingdomwas Sundiata, who became the first emperor. After winning a series of battles, he set up a well-organized government to run his kingdom.

Later Mali rulers adopted Islam. One of themwas Mansa Musa. He used his skill in leading anarmy to make Mali twice the size of the old empireof Ghana. To rule this large empire, he named gov-ernors to head several provinces. Mansa Musa wasa devoted Muslim. He had new mosques, or housesof worship, built in two cities. One of those cities,Timbuktu, became known as a leading center ofMuslim learning. A later traveler to the area namedIbn Battuta described how peaceful Mali was. Mali,though, declined in the 1400s and was replaced byanother empire that grew wealthy from gold.

The next trading empire was Songhai, and itwas farther to the east than Mali. It arose in the1400s when Sunni Ali used river canoes and horsesto strike quickly. He gained control of new areas—including the city of Timbuktu. He was followed byAskia Muhammad. He was a Muslim with a deepsense of religious feeling who was determined torun the empire in the way of Islam. The SonghaiEmpire fell, however, because other people hadstronger weapons. In 1591, a Moroccan army usedgunpowder and cannons to beat a Songhai armythat had only swords and spears. This defeat endedthe period when empires controlled West Africa.

In other parts of West Africa, people gatheredin city-states that remained independent of theseempires. In what is today northern Nigeria, theHausa people built city-states between the years1000 and 1200. They depended on the food raisedby farmers and on trade in salt, grain, and cottoncloth. One city-state also traded people as slaves.No one city was powerful enough to control itsneighbors for long.

In the southern part of Nigeria and modernBenin another people arose—the Yoruba. Theylived in smaller communities that survived by farm-ing. Some of these villages were joined together insmall kingdoms. The people believed that the kingswere gods. Kings surrounded themselves with alarge court of musicians, magicians, and soldiers. Atthe same time, a secret society of religious andpolitical leaders reviewed the king’s actions andlimited his power. Two powerful Yoruba kingdomswere called Ife and Oyo. Ife lasted from 1100 untilthe late 1600s, when Oyo arose. Both were centeredin cities with high walls, and both were supportedby highly productive farms. Ife had skilled artistswho produced work in ivory, wood, pottery, bronze,brass, and copper.

To the south and west was another kingdom,Benin. The kingdom arose in the 1300s and reachedits peak of power 100 years later. At that time, KingEwuare extended his control over an area from thedelta of the Niger River as far east as the moderncity of Lagos, Nigeria. He made Benin City, hiscapital, stronger by building high walls. He also builta huge palace full of works of art. In the 1480s,ships from Portugal arrived in the major port ofBenin to trade. Their arrival marked the beginningof a long period of European interference in thehistory of Africa.

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Eastern City-States andSouthern Empires

KEY IDEA From 1000 to 1500, East African city-statesand southern African empires gained wealth and powerthrough trade.

The east coast of Africa became an area markedby a blend of cultures. Africans speaking Bantu

languages moved to the area from central Africa.Arab and Persian Muslims came from the northand east to make trading contacts. These peoplescreated a new blended language called Swahili. Itbecame common in the port cities of the east coastof Africa.

The Persian and Arab traders brought porcelainbowls from China and jewels and cotton cloth fromIndia. They bought ivory, gold, tortoise shells, andother goods in Africa to take back to Asia. By 1300,this thriving trade took place in more than 35 citieson the coast. Some cities became centers for manu-factured goods, such as weaving and the making ofiron tools.

One of the richest of these trading ports wasKilwa. It was located to the south—as far south astraders could reach from India and return in thesame season. Thus all trade goods from farthersouth had to come through Kilwa. In 1488, though,the situation changed. Ships arrived on the eastcoast of Africa from Portugal. Portuguese sailorswere looking for a route to India to join in thetrade for spices and other goods desired in Europe.Soon the Portuguese used their cannon power toattack Kilwa and other trading centers in Africa.They burned parts of some cities and took control ofothers. For the next two centuries, the Portugueseremained a powerful force in the region.

On the east coast of Africa, as in West Africa,the growing contract with Muslim traders resultedin the adoption of Islam. A sultan, or governor,ruled each city. Most government officials andwealthy merchants were Muslims. As in WestAfrica, though, most common people kept their tra-ditional beliefs.

Along with trade goods, the Muslim traders alsoengaged in the trade of human slaves. Enslavedpersons did household tasks in such areas as Arabiaand Persia. Some were sent to India to be used assoldiers. This slave trade was not large, however.Only about 1,000 people a year were traded asslaves. The later European-run slave trade wasmuch broader.

In southern Africa, a great city-state arose in the1000s. The Shona people lived in rich land, wherethey grew crops and raised cattle. Their city, calledGreat Zimbabwe, had a good location. It linked thegold fields inland with the trading cities on thecoast. From the 1200s through the 1400s, the citycontrolled this trade and grew wealthy. Around1450, though, the people left the city, although noone knows why. One explanation is that overusehad destroyed the grasslands, soil, and timber. It isthought the area could no longer support a largepopulation. Acres of ruins remain as silentreminders of the past of Zimbabwe. They includestone buildings and a high wall carved with figuresof birds.

Heir to Great Zimbabwe was the MutapaEmpire. It began around 1420 when a man namedMutota left the area and moved farther north look-ing for salt. He and his successors took control of alarge area—almost all of the land of the moderncountry of Zimbabwe. This empire gained wealthfrom the gold in its land. The rulers forced peoplethey had conquered to mine their gold, which theythen sold on the coast. The southern region of theempire formed its own kingdom. In the 1500s, thePortuguese moved in. They tried to defeat theempire but could not. Later, through trickery, theygained control of the government.

Review1. Comparing and Contrasting How did social

groupings in north and central African societiesdiffer from that of American society today?

2. Drawing Conclusions What religion hadinfluence throughout Africa? Did that influenceextend to all levels of society?

3. Determining Main Ideas What common fea-ture linked the kingdoms and empires of WestAfrica?

4. Developing Historical Perspective How doesSwahili symbolize the blending of cultures inEast Africa?

5. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing EffectsHow did location add to the power of Kilwa?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF People and Empires in theAmericas, 500–1500

CHAPTER OVERVIEW Native North Americans followed several ways of life. Yet,they shared trade links and religious and social practices. The Maya of CentralAmerica developed a complex civilization of independent city-states. The Aztecof Mexico had a huge empire, but their harsh rule over conquered people causedbitterness. The Inca of South America built a vast empire in the Andes Mountains.

Summary

North American Societies KEY IDEA Complex North American societies werelinked to each other through culture and economics.

Between about 40,000 and 12,000 years ago,hunter-gatherers moved from Asia to North

America. (At that time the two continents had aland connection.) These were the first Americans,and they spread down throughout North and SouthAmerica. They followed many different ways of life,each suited to the environment in which they lived.

The peoples of the Pacific Northwest, frommodern Oregon to Alaska, lived in an area withmany resources. They hunted whales in the sea andgathered food from the forests on the coast.

The peoples of the Southwest lived in a moredifficult region. Still, they began farming the land.The Anasazi built cliff dwellings. Later, they builtlarge apartment-style compounds. They used stoneand clay baked in the sun for these buildings. Theyused irrigation to bring water to their crops. Laterpeoples living in this area continued the traditionsof the Anasazi.

In the woods east of the Mississippi River,another culture arose. These people are called theMound Builders. They built large mounds of earththat were filled with copper and stone objects.Some mounds were made in the shape of animalswhen seen from above. The Mississippians were apeople who lived later in this area. They built asmall city that was the center for their culture. Ithad a flat-topped pyramid with a temple on top.

The peoples of the eastern woodlands had manydifferent cultures and spoke many different lan-guages. They often fought over control of land.Some groups formed alliances to put an end to this fighting. The most successful of these was theIroquois League, which linked together five differ-ent tribes in upper New York.

While these North American groups had manydifferences, they had some features in common,

too. Trade linked people of all regions of NorthAmerica. Religious ideas were similar across thecontinent as well. Nearly all native North Ameri-cans thought that the world was full of spirits andthat people had to follow certain rituals and cus-toms to live in peace. They also shared greatrespect for the land, which they did not believethat people could own. They also shared an empha-sis on the family as the most important social unit.Family included parents, children, grandparents,and other relatives. In some tribes, families werelinked together with others who shared a commonancestor. These larger groups, called clans, wereidentified with something in nature, such as an ani-mal, called totems.

Maya Kings and CitiesKEY IDEA The Maya developed a highly complex civilization based on city-states controlled by dynastiesof kings.

Agreat civilization arose in what is today south-ern Mexico and northern Central America.

This was the Maya civilization, and it appearedaround A.D. 250. In their Classic Period—from 250to 900—the Maya built large cities such as Tikal,Copán, and others. Each city was independent andruled by a god-king. Each city was both a religiouscenter and a trade center for the area around it.These cities were large, holding tens of thousandsof people, and were full of palaces, temples, andpyramids. Archaeologists have found at least 50Maya cities.

Trade linked these many cities. Among the tradegoods were salt, flint, feathers, shells, cotton cloth,and ornaments made of jade. Cacao beans—whichare used to make chocolate—were sometimes usedas money. Farming of maize, or corn, beans, andsquash provided the Maya’s main source of food.Maya society was divided into social classes. Thebest warriors and priests were at the top, followed

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by merchants and craft workers. Peasant farmers—the majority of the people—were at the bottom.

The Maya had a complex religion that was thecenter of their society. There were many gods,including one for each day. The actions of the day’sgod could be predicted, they thought, by followinga calendar. The Maya sometimes cut themselves tooffer their blood to the gods in sacrifice. Sometimesthey killed enemies and sacrificed them.

To understand their gods, the Maya developedknowledge of mathematics, calendars, and astron-omy. Maya math included the idea of zero, whichwas used to help make calendars. They had two calendars, a religious one that had thirteen 20-daymonths and one based on the sun that had eighteen20-day months. They linked the two together toidentify days that would bring good fortune. Mayaastronomy was very accurate. The Maya observedthe sun, moon, and stars to make their calendars asaccurate as possible. They calculated the length ofthe solar year—the time it takes the earth torevolve around the sun—almost perfectly.

In the late 800s, the Maya began to decline.Historians do not know why. One explanation maybe growing war between the different city-states,which drove many people out of the cities into thejungle. Another may be that the soil became lessproductive due to intensive farming over a longtime. Whatever the cause, the Maya became a lesspowerful people. They continued to live in thearea, but their cities were no longer the thrivingtrade and religious centers they had been.

The Aztecs Control Central Mexico

KEY IDEA Through alliances and conquest, the Aztecscreated a powerful empire in Mexico.

The Valley of Mexico is a mountain valley morethan a mile above sea level. Full of lakes and

fertile soil, it was a good place for people to settle.In this area, an early city-state called Teotihaucán(“City of the Gods”) arose in the first century A.D.At its peak in the sixth century, the city had as manyas 200,000 people, many of whom were involved inthe trade of obsidian. This hard green or black vol-canic glass was found nearby and could be used tomake very sharp weapons. In the city was the hugePyramid of the Sun, larger at its base than thelargest pyramid of Egypt. By 750, Teotihuacán wasabandoned for reasons that are not clear.

The next people to dominate the area were theToltecs, who rose to power around 900 and ruledover central Mexico for about 300 years. The Toltecsworshiped a fierce war god. They were very warlikeand based their empire on conquest. Around 1000,a ruler named Topiltzin encouraged the Toltec peo-ple to worship a peaceful god, Quetzalcoatl.Followers of the war god rebelled, however, anddrove Topiltzin away. In time, Topiltzin andQuetzalcoatl became one in the legends of the peo-ple of the Valley of Mexico. According to these leg-ends, he would return one day, bringing a newreign of light and peace. The legend ofQuetzalcoatl lived on in central Mexico for cen-turies.

Around 1200, as the Toltecs were losing controlof the region, another people arrived on the scene—the Aztecs. The Aztecs founded a city and grew inpower. By the early 1500s, they controlled a largeempire that included somewhere between 5 and 15million people. This empire was based on militaryconquest and collecting tribute from conqueredpeoples.

Military leaders, who owned huge amounts ofland, led the Aztec nation along with governmentofficials and priests. Below them were common-ers—merchants, craft workers, soldiers, and farm-ers who owned their land. At the bottom of societywere the slaves taken as captives in battle. At thetop was the emperor, who was treated as a god aswell as a ruler.

The capital city—Tenochtitlán—was built on anisland in a lake. The Aztecs made long causeways to connect the city to the land. The city was large,with between 200,000 and 400,000 people. It waswell-planned and had a huge government and reli-gious complex at its center.

Religion played a major role in Aztec society.Their cities held many temples built for the differ-ent gods they believed in. Priests led rituals, andthe most important was for the sun god. Priests hadto make the sacrifice of human blood to ensure thatthe sun god was happy and the sun would rise everyday. People taken captive in war were sacrificed. Sothe need for a steady supply of victims helped pushthe Aztecs to fight their neighbors.

When Montezuma II became emperor in 1502,the Aztec empire began to have problems. TheAztecs ordered the other peoples they had con-quered to hand over even more people forsacrifice. These other peoples finally rebelled

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against the Aztecs. In the midst of this conflict, theSpanish arrived and made first contact with theAztecs. Some Aztecs saw the Spaniards’ arrival asthe legendary return of Quetzalcoatl.

The Inca Create a Mountain Empire

KEY IDEA The Inca built a vast empire supported bytaxes, governed by a bureaucracy, and linked by exten-sive road systems.

Another great civilization—the Inca—arose inthe Andes Mountains of South America. It was

built on the foundations made by several earliercultures. This culture, though, united much of theAndes under one rule.

The Inca first settled in the Valley of Cuzco, inmodern Peru. It had a kingdom there by the 1200s.They believed that their ruler was related to the sungod, who would bring wealth and power to them.Only men from one of 11 noble families could serveas king.

In 1438, Pachacuti became the ruler of theInca, and he launched a campaign of conquest thatexpanded the empire’s size. By 1500, the Inca ruledan empire that stretched along the Andes Mountainsfrom modern Ecuador all the way south to Chileand Argentina. It held about 16 million people. Theempire did not grow only through military conquest.Often the Inca offered new peoples the chance tojoin the empire peacefully as long as they sworeloyalty to the emperor. Many peoples became partof the empire in this way. When force was needed,though, the Inca were fierce fighters.

The Inca had a very organized system for thegovernment of their empire. Families were placedin groups of 10, 100, 1,000, and so on. Each groupwas led by a chief. The Inca usually let local rulersstay in place when they conquered a people—aslong as the ruler and the people met key Incademands. The most important was the need for alladult workers to spend some days each year work-ing for the state. They might work on state farms orstate building programs.

The Inca built a complex network of roads tolink all parts of the empire. The Inca also built allgovernment buildings in the same style to create acommon identity for the government throughoutthe empire. They made all people speak a commonlanguage—the Inca tongue, called Quechua.

The Inca controlled the economy, telling peoplewhat to grow or make and how it would be distrib-uted. They used irrigation to ensure that farmlandsgot enough water. They also found a way to freeze-dry potatoes—a staple crop—for times when foodwas scarce. The government also took care of peo-ple who needed help, such as the very old or ill.

In spite of all these advances, the Inca neverdeveloped a system of writing. All records werekept in peoples’ memories. They did have a systemof counting. They also had day and night calendarsfor information about their gods.

The Inca religion played a central role in Incalife. They believed in fewer gods than the peoplesof Mexico. The most important of them were thecreator god and the sun god. Cuzco, the capital,was the most important religious center. It was dec-orated with gold and other precious objects.

Review1. Clarifying What divided and what linked native

North Americans?2. Determining Main Ideas What Maya cultural

advances were connected to their religiousbeliefs? Why?

3. Comparing and Contrasting Compare andcontrast the Maya and the Aztec in terms of gov-ernment.

4. Drawing Conclusions Were the Aztec peoplegood engineers? Explain your answer.

5. Summarizing What steps did the Inca take tounify the different peoples in their empire?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF The Muslim World Expands,1300–1700

CHAPTER OVERVIEW A group of Turks called Ottomans set up a new empire inwhat is now modern Turkey. Farther to the east, the Safavid Empire arose inmodern Iran, where rulers embraced a special type of Islam that made them dif-ferent from their neighbors. Meanwhile, India saw the rise of yet another empireas Muslims created a powerful state there.

Summary

The Ottomans Build a Vast Empire

KEY IDEA The Ottomans established a Muslim Empirethat combined many cultures and lasted for more than600 years.

In 1300, the world of the eastern Mediterraneanwas seeing changes. The Byzantine Empire was

fading. The Seljuk Turk state had been destroyedby the Mongols. Anatolia, the area of modernTurkey, was now inhabited by groups of nomadicTurks. They saw themselves as ghazis, or warriorsfor Islam. They formed military groups and raidedthe lands where non-Muslims lived.

The most successful ghazi was Osman. WesternEuropeans took his name to be Othman and calledhis followers Ottomans. Between 1300 and 1326,Osman built a strong but small kingdom in Anatolia.Leaders who came after Osman called themselvessultans, or “ones with power.” They extended thekingdom by buying land, forming alliances withother chieftains, and conquering everyone theycould. The military success of the Ottomans wasaided by gunpowder—especially as used in cannons.

The Ottomans ruled kindly through local offi-cials appointed by the sultan. Muslims had to servein the army but paid no taxes. Non-Muslims paidthe tax but did not have to serve in the army. Manyjoined Islam simply to avoid the tax. Most people intheir empire adjusted quickly to their easy rule.

One warrior did not. Timur the Lame, calledTamerlane in the west, arose in central Asia. Heclaimed to be descended from Genghis Khan. Theclaim probably is not true—but he was as fierce asthe Mongol conqueror. He conquered Russia andPersia, where he burned the city of Baghdad to theground. In 1402, he defeated the Ottomans in bat-tle and captured the sultan. Timur died three yearslater on his way to conquer China.

Back in Anatolia, the four sons of the last sultanfought for control of the empire. Mehmed I won

control, and his son and the four following sultansbrought the Ottoman Empire to its greatest power.One of them—Mehmed II—took power in 1451and captured Constantinople. At first, his shipswere unable to sail near the city because barriersblocked the way. So he had his soldiers drag theships over hills so they could be launched onanother side of Constantinople. After several weeksof fighting, the Ottoman force was simply too strongfor the tiny army left in the city. In 1453, Constan-tinople finally fell to the Ottomans. Mehmed madethe city his capital, which was renamed Istanbul.The famous and beautiful church of the HagiaSophia became a mosque. The rebuilt city becamehome to people from all over the Ottoman Empire.

Other emperors used conquest to make theempire grow. After 1514, Selim the Grim took Persia,Syria, and Palestine. He then captured Arabia, tookthe Muslim holy cities of Medina and Mecca, andgained control of Egypt.

His son, Suleyman I, brought the OttomanEmpire to its greatest size and most impressiveachievements. He conquered parts of southeasternEurope by 1525. He won control of the entire easternMediterranean Sea and took North Africa as far westas Tripoli. Although he was defeated in a battle forVienna in 1529, his Ottoman Empire remained huge.

Suleyman ruled his empire with a highly struc-tured government. Serving the royal family and thegovernment were thousands of slaves. Among themwas an elite group of soldiers called janissaries.They were Christians taken as children and madeslaves with personal loyalty to the sultan. They weretrained as soldiers and fought fiercely for the sultan.Other slaves held important government jobs. Theempire allowed people to follow their own religion.Jews and Christians were not mistreated by theOttomans. Suleyman revised the laws of theempire, which won him the name Suleyman theLawgiver. Suleyman also oversaw an empire that

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was full of accomplished works of art. Using anexcellent architect, he built many fine buildings inhis capital.

The empire lasted long after Suleyman butspent the next few hundred years in decline. Noneof the sultans were as accomplished as he hadbeen, and the Ottoman Empire’s power slipped.

Cultural BlendingCase Study: The SafavidEmpire

KEY IDEA Many world cultures incorporate influencesfrom various peoples and traditions.

Throughout history, different peoples have livedtogether, and their cultures have influenced one

another. Often these people have blended one culture with another. This can be due to trade, conquest, movement of people from one area toanother, or conversion to a new religion.

Changes often happen in places where culturalblending takes place. Changes in language, arts andarchitecture or religion are examples. For example inthe Safavid empire the spoken language was Persian.But after Muslims came to live in the empire, Arabicwords appeared in the Persian language.

Cultural blending took place in the SafavidEmpire of Persia. The Safavids began as membersof an Islamic group that claimed to be related to theprophet Muhammad. In the 1400s, they becameallied with the Shi’a, a branch of Islam. The majorgroup of Muslims, the Sunnis, persecuted the Shi’afor their views. The Safavids, fearing their strongneighbors who were Sunni Muslims, decided tobuild a strong army to protect themselves.

In 1499, a 14-year-old leader named Isma’il ledthis army to conquer Iran. He took the traditionalPersian title of shah, or king, and made the newempire a state of Shi’a. He destroyed Baghdad’sSunni population. Ottoman Turk rulers—who wereSunni Muslims—in turn killed all the Shi’a thatthey met. This conflict between the two groups ofMuslims continues today.

The Safavids reached their height in the late1500s under Shah Abbas. He reformed the military,making two armies that were loyal to him and himalone. He also gave new weapons to the army tomake them better fighters. He reformed the gov-ernment, getting rid of corrupt officials. He alsobrought gifted artists to his empire, who helpedmake his capital and other cities very beautiful. In

taking these steps, Shah Abbas drew on good ideasfrom other cultures. He used Chinese artists andenjoyed good relations with nations of Europe.Through this contact, the demand for Persian rugsincreased greatly in Europe. In this period, rug-making, which had simply been a local craft inPersia, was changed into a major industry for thecountry.

As with the Ottoman Empire, the SafavidEmpire began to decline soon after it had reachedits greatest height. Shah Abbas had killed orinjured his most talented sons—just as Suleimanhad done—fearing that they would seize powerfrom him. As a result, a weak and ineffective grand-son became shah after him. Under his poor leader-ship, the empire lost power.

While the empire fell, the blended culture thatthe Safavid Empire had created continued. Themain elements of that culture were the joiningtogether of the Persian tradition of learning andsophistication and the devout faith of the Shi’a.These elements are found in Iran even today.

The Mughal Empire in IndiaKEY IDEA The Mughal Empire brought Turks, Persians,and Indians together in a vast empire.

Starting in the 600s, India went through a longperiod of unsettled life and trouble. After the

Gupta Empire fell, nomads from central Asiainvaded the area and created many small kingdoms.In the 700s, Muslims arrived on the scene. Theirarrival launched a long history of fighting betweenthem and the Hindus who had lived in India forcenturies.

The Hindus were able to prevent the Muslimsfrom taking their land for about 300 years. Then agroup of Muslim Turks conquered a region aroundthe city of Delhi and set up a new empire there.They treated the Hindus in their area harshly. Theirrule ended in 1398, when Timur the Lame totallydestroyed Delhi.

A little over a hundred years later, a new powerarose. Babur had a small kingdom north of India.He raised an army and began to win large parts ofIndia. Babur had many talents. He was a lover ofpoetry and gardens and a sensitive man who usedhis feelings for others to become a superb leader. Hewas also an excellent general. He once led a forceof only 12,000 soldiers to victory over an enemyarmy of 100,000. His empire was called the Mughal

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Empire because he and his families were related tothe Mongols.

Babur’s grandson, Akbar, was equally talented.His name means “Greatest One,” and the nameseems suitable to the man. He ruled with great wis-dom and fairness for almost 40 years.

Akbar was a Muslim, but he believed stronglythat people should be allowed to follow the religionthey chose. He set an example by letting his wivespractice whatever religion they chose. In his gov-ernment, too, Akbar hired people based on theirability and not their religion. Both Hindus andMuslims gained jobs as government workers.

Akbar ruled fairly. He ended the tax that Hindupilgrims had to pay. He also ended the tax that allnon-Muslims had to pay. To raise money, he imposeda tax based on a percentage of the food grown. Thismade it easier for peasants to pay the tax. His landpolicy was less wise. He generously gave land togovernment officials. However, when they died hetook it back and handed it to someone else. As aresult, workers did not see any point in caring forthe land because they were not preserving it fortheir children.

He had a strong, well-equipped army that helpedhim win and maintain control of more lands. Hisempire held about 100 million people—more thanlived in all of Europe at the time.

During Akbar’s reign, many changes in culturetook place. His policy of blending different culturesproduced two new languages. Hindi blended Persianand local languages. It is still widely spoken in Indiatoday. Urdu grew out of a mixture of Arabic, Persian,and Hindi and was spoken by the soldiers in Akbar’scamp. Today it is the official language of Pakistan.The empire became famous for its book illustra-tions, which were adapted from the art of Persia.Akbar—who could not read—had a huge library ofbooks and served as a patron to many writers. Healso sponsored the building of a new capital cityand many buildings.

After Akbar’s death in 1605, the empire beganto decline. During the reign of Jahangir, the realpower was his wife, Nur Jahan. She was an ableruler but had a bitter political battle with one ofJahangir’s sons. Since that son found help from theSikhs—members of a separate religion—that groupbecame the target of attacks by the government.

Jahangir’s successor was Shah Jahan, and he toochose not to follow Akbar’s policy of religious toler-ation. Shah Jahan was a great patron of the arts

and built many beautiful buildings, including thefamous Taj Mahal. It was a tomb for his belovedwife. However, his ambitious building plans requiredhigh taxes, and the people suffered under his rule.

His son Aurangzeb ruled for almost 50 years and made the empire grow once again with newconquests. However, his rule brought about newproblems. A serious Muslim, the new ruler putharsh new laws in place. He punished Hindus anddestroyed their temples, which produced a rebellionthat managed to take control of part of his empire.At the same time, the Sikhs had become skilledfighters, and they won control of another part ofthe empire. To fight these battles, Aurangzeb hadto increase taxes. Since he only taxed Hindus, notMuslims, this move only made large numbers ofpeople more and more angry.

After his death, the empire fell apart, and localleaders took control of small areas. There continuedto be a Mughal emperor, but he was only a figure-head, not a ruler with any real power.

Review1. Clarifying How did the Ottomans treat non-

Muslims?2. Summary What were Suleyman’s major

accomplishments?3. Determining Main Ideas Despite their bril-

liant rule, what critical mistake did Suleiman andShah Abbas make?

4. Drawing Conclusions What evidence of cul-tural blending can you find in Akbar’s rule?

5. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing EffectsHow did Akbar’s successors contribute to theend of the Mughal Empire?

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Spain Builds an American Empire

KEY IDEA The voyages of Columbus prompted theSpanish to carve out the first European colonies in theAmericas.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus, an Italian sailor,led a voyage on behalf of Spain. He sailed west

from Europe intending to reach Asia but insteadlanded in the Americas. This was land that Europeanshad not known existed before. Columbus thoughtat first that he had reached Asia, or the Indies. Hemisnamed the natives he met Indians and claimedthe land for Spain. The king and queen agreed tolet him lead another voyage. This one was an expe-dition to form colonies, or controlled lands, thatSpain would rule.

In 1500, a Portuguese explorer landed in Braziland claimed that land for his country. In 1501,another Italian sailor on behalf of Spain, AmerigoVespucci, explored the eastern coast of SouthAmerica. He said that these lands were not Asiabut a new world. Soon after, a mapmaker showedthe lands as a separate continent. He named themAmerica after Vespucci.

Other voyages gave Europeans more knowledgeabout the world. One explorer reached the westcoast of Central America and first saw the PacificOcean. Another, Ferdinand Magellan, led a boldexpedition from Spain that sailed completelyaround the world. Magellan himself died abouthalfway around. However, a few members of hiscrew survived. They returned to Spain after sailingfor almost three years.

Spanish conquistadors, or conquerors, alsobegan to explore the lands of the Americas. Therethey found great riches. In 1519, Hernando Cortéscame to Mexico and defeated the powerful AztecEmpire. The Spanish had the advantage of riflesand cannons. They also had the aid of severalnative groups who were angry over harsh Aztec

rule. In addition, the Aztec were seriously weak-ened by new diseases brought to the Americas withthe Spanish. Native peoples had no resistance tomeasles, mumps, and smallpox, which killed themby the hundreds of thousands.

About 15 years later, another Spanish force, ledby Francisco Pizarro, conquered the mighty IncaEmpire of South America. Once again, the Spanishgained access to huge amounts of gold and silver.By the mid-1500s, Spain had formed an Americanempire that stretched from modern-day Mexico to Peru. After 1540, the Spanish looked north ofMexico and explored the future United States.However, one large area of the Americas—Brazil—remained outside the control of Spain. Brazil wasthe possession of Portugal. Colonists there builthuge farms called plantations to grow sugar, whichwas in demand in Europe.

The Spanish had a pattern of living among thepeople they conquered. Because few Spanish set-tlers in the Americas were women, Spanish men hadchildren with native women. These children andtheir descendants formed a large mestizo popula-tion, people with mixed Spanish and NativeAmerican blood. The Spanish also formed largefarms and mines that used natives as slave labor.Many landowners treated the native workers harshly.Some Spanish priests criticized this treatment. In1542, the Spanish stopped making slaves of nativepeoples. They soon, however, would bring enslavedAfricans to the Americas to meet labor demands.

European Nations Settle North America

KEY IDEA Several European nations fought for controlof North America, and England eventually emerged victorious.

In the early 1500s, the French began to exploreNorth America. Jacques Cartier came across and

named the St. Lawrence River. He then followed it

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF The Atlantic World, 1492–1800CHAPTER OVERVIEW Starting in 1492, the Spanish built a large empire in theAmericas, but the native peoples suffered. In North America, the Dutch, French,and English fought for control. England finally won. The labor of enslaved per-sons brought from Africa supported the American colonies. The contact betweenthe Old World and the New produced an exchange of new ideas.

Summary

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inward to reach the site of modern Montreal. In1608, Samuel de Champlain sailed as far as modernQuebec. In the next 100 years, the French exploredand claimed the area around the Great Lakes andthe Mississippi River all the way to its mouth at theGulf of Mexico. The area became known as NewFrance. The main activity in this colony was tradein beaver fur.

The English also began to colonize NorthAmerica. The first permanent settlement came atJamestown, in modern Virginia, in 1607. The colonystruggled at first. Many settlers died from disease,hunger, or war with the native peoples. Soon farmersbegan to grow tobacco to meet the high demandfor it in Europe.

In the 1620s and 1630s, other groups fromEngland began to settle in modern Massachusetts.These settlers were deeply religious people whodid not agree with the practices of the Church ofEngland. They wanted to purify the church andwere called Puritans. They hoped to build a modelcommunity dedicated to God. They succeeded overtime in part because many families settled there.

Meanwhile, the Dutch also started a new colony.They settled in the location of modern New YorkCity and called it New Netherland. Like the French,they engaged in the fur trade and set up trading postsalong the Hudson River. The colony did not growvery large, but it did attract people from otherEuropean countries. New Netherland becameknown as a home to people of many different cul-tures. Europeans also took possession of many islandsof the Caribbean. There they built tobacco and sugarplantations that used enslaved Africans as workers.

The European powers began to fight for controlof North America. First, the English forced theDutch to give up their colony. New Amsterdam was renamed New York. The English also plantedother colonies along the Atlantic coast, from Maineto Georgia. These colonists came in conflict withthe French settlers in Canada on many occasions.The final fight started in 1754 and was called theFrench and Indian War. When it ended in 1763,France was forced to give up all its land in NorthAmerica to Britain.

The native peoples responded to these events inmany different ways. Many worked closely with theFrench and Dutch, joining in the fur trade andbenefiting from it. Those who lived near the English,though, had stormier relations with colonists. Morethan just trade, the English were interested in

acquiring land for settlers’ living and farming. Thiswas land that Native Americans would not be ableto use for hunting or growing their own food. Thisconflict erupted into war several times. Natives,though, could not overcome the settlers’ guns andcannons. As in Spanish lands, the native peoplessuffered even more from disease. Thousands uponthousands of natives died from European illnesses,making it impossible for them to resist the growthof the colonies.

The Atlantic Slave TradeKEY IDEA To meet their growing labor needs, Europeansenslaved millions of Africans in forced labor in theAmericas.

Slavery has a long history in Africa and in theworld. For most of that history in Africa, though,

no large numbers of people were enslaved. Thatchanged in the 600s, when Muslim traders startedto take large numbers of slaves. Between 650 and1600, Muslims took about 17 million Africans toNorth Africa and Southwest Asia. Most did havecertain rights. The European slave trade that beganin the 1500s was larger. Also, the enslaved Africanswere treated far more harshly.

In the Americas, when the natives began dyingfrom disease, the Europeans brought in Africans,for three reasons. Africans had resistance toEuropean diseases, so they would not get sick anddie. Also, many Africans knew about farming sothey would be accustomed to the work involved.Third, Africans were strangers to the Americas andwould know no places to hide from slavery. From1500 to 1870, when the slave trade in the Americasfinally ended, about 9.5 million Africans had beenimported as slaves.

The Spanish first began the practice of bringing Africans to the Americas. However, thePortuguese—looking for workers for sugar planta-tions in Brazil—increased the demand for slaves.During the 1600s, Brazil received more than 40 per-cent of all the Africans sent to the Americas. OtherEuropean colonies also brought slaves to work ontobacco, sugar, and coffee plantations. About400,000 slaves were brought to the English coloniesin North America. Their population increased overtime, though, to number about 2 million in 1830.

Many African rulers joined in the slave trade.They moved inland to capture people and broughtthem to the coast to sell to European traders.

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This trade was part of a triangular trade thatlinked Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Europeanships brought manufactured goods to Africa, trad-ing them for people. They carried Africans acrossthe Atlantic to the Americas, where they were soldinto slavery. The traders then bought sugar, coffee,and tobacco, which they carried back to Europe.Another triangle involved ships sailing from thenorthern English colonies in North America. Theycarried rum to Africa, people to the West Indies,and sugar and molasses back to the colonies tomake more rum.

The part of the voyage that brought people tothe Americas was called the middle passage. It washarsh and cruel. People were crammed into ships,beaten, and given little food. Many died, and manyothers simply jumped overboard trying to escape.About 20 percent of the people on these ships died.

Life on the plantations was harsh as well.People were sold to the highest bidder and thenworked from dawn to dusk in the fields of the plan-tations. They were given little food and lived insmall huts. Africans kept alive their traditionalmusic and beliefs to try to maintain their spirits.Sometimes they arose in rebellion. From NorthAmerica to Brazil, from 1522 to the 1800s, therewere small-scale slave revolts.

The Columbian Exchangeand Global Trade

KEY IDEA The colonization of the Americas introducednew and different items into the Eastern and Westernhemispheres.

There was constant movement of people fromEurope and Africa to the Americas. This large-

scale mixing of people and culture was called theColumbian Exchange. Important foods such ascorn and potatoes were taken from the Americas,where they originated, to Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Some foods moved from the Old World to theNew. Bananas, black-eyed peas, and yams weretaken from Africa to the Americas. Cattle, pigs, andhorses had never been seen in the Americas untilthe Europeans brought them. Of course, deadly ill-nesses also moved to the Americas. They killed alarge portion of the Native American population.

The settling of the Americas and the growth oftrade led to a new set of business practices still fol-lowed today. One was the rise of an economic sys-tem called capitalism. It is based on private owner-

ship of property and the right of a business to earna profit. Another new business idea was the joint-stock company. With this, many investors pooledtheir money to start a business and share in theprofits. European governments began to follow anidea called mercantilism. In this theory, a country’spower depended on its wealth. Getting more goldand silver increased its wealth, as would sellingmore goods than it bought. Colonies played animportant role because they provided goods thatcould be sold in trade.

With the American colonies, European societysaw changes. Merchants grew wealthy and power-ful, and towns and cities grew larger. Still, mostpeople lived in the countryside, farmed for a living,and were poor.

Review1. Drawing Conclusions What single factor was

most devastating for the native peoples of theAmericas and what effect did it have?

Analyzing Causes and Recognizing Effects2. How did settlement patterns in the Spanish

colonies lead to a mixing of Spanish and nativecultures?

3. Why did the French and Dutch have better rela-tions with the native peoples than the English?

4. Comparing and Contrasting Compare andcontrast the Muslim slave trade in Africa withthe European slave trade that began in the1500s.

5. Summarizing What was exchanged in theColumbian Exchange?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF Absolute Monarchs in Europe,1500–1800

CHAPTER OVERVIEW Spain lost territory and money. The Netherlands split fromSpain and grew rich from trade. For a time, France was Europe’s most powerfulcountry, where King Louis XIV ruled with total control. Austria’s queen resisted a Prussian land grab. Peter the Great modernized Russia. England’s Parliamentstruggled with different kings and became the greatest power in the country.

Summary

Spain’s Empire andEuropean Absolutism

KEY IDEA During a time of religious and economic insta-bility, Philip II ruled Spain with a strong hand.

Charles V ruled the Holy Roman Empire andvarious other European countries. In 1556, he

retired from the throne and split his holdings. Hisbrother Ferdinand received Austria and the HolyRoman Empire. His son, Philip II, got Spain and itscolonies.

Philip expanded his holdings by taking Portugaland gaining its global territories. When he tried toinvade England in 1588, though, he failed. Thedefeat made Spain weaker. However, Spain stillseemed strong because of its wealth—gold and sil-ver—that flowed in from the colonies in theAmericas.

This wealth led to some serious problems, how-ever. The prices of goods constantly rose. Also,unfair taxes hit the poor, keeping them from build-ing up any wealth of their own. As prices rose,Spaniards bought more goods from other lands.The silver from the colonies, then, began to flow toSpain’s enemies.

In the middle of these troubles, Spain lost land.Seven provinces of the Spanish Netherlands rose inprotest against high taxes. Also, they were Protestantand Spain was strongly Catholic. In 1579, theseseven provinces declared their independence fromSpain.

In the new Dutch republic, each province had aleader elected by the people. The Dutch also prac-ticed religious tolerance, letting people worship asthey wished. Dutch merchants established a tradingempire. They had the largest fleet of merchantships in the world and were the most importantbankers in Europe.

Though he lost possessions, Philip held tightcontrol over Spain. He and others who ruled in the

same way were called absolute monarchs. Theybelieved in holding all power. The Church’s powerhad weakened, which helped make this possible.Some absolute rulers ended conflict within theircountries by increasing their power. That is whathappened in France.

The Reign of Louis XIVKEY IDEA After a century of wars and riots, Louis XIV,the most powerful monarch of his time, ruled France.

France was torn by eight religious wars betweenCatholics and Protestants from 1562 to 1598.

In 1589, a Protestant prince, Henry of Navarre,became King Henry IV. He changed religions in1593, becoming a Catholic to please the majority ofhis people. In 1598, he issued an order called theEdict of Nantes. It gave Huguenots—FrenchProtestants—the right to live in peace and havetheir own churches in some cities.

Henry rebuilt the French economy and broughtpeace to the land. He was followed by his son, aweak king. However, that son had a very capablechief minister, Cardinal Richelieu. He ruled theland for him and increased the power of the crown.

The cardinal ordered that Huguenots could notbuild walls for their cities. He also said nobles hadto destroy their castles. As a result, Protestants andnobles could not hide within walls to defy the king’spower. Richelieu used people from the middleclass—not nobles—to work in his government.That also cut nobles’ power.

French thinkers had reacted to the religiouswars with horror. They developed a new attitude—skepticism. Nothing could be known for certain,they argued. Doubting old ideas was the first stepto learning the truth, they said.

In 1643, Louis XIV, age four, became king.Cardinal Mazarin ruled for him until Louis was 22.Louis became a powerful ruler, with total control.

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Louis determined never to let nobles challenge him.He froze the nobles out of his government. He

gave more power to government officials and madesure that they answered only to him. He alsoworked hard to increase the wealth of France. Hischief minister of finance, Jean Baptiste Colbert,tried to build French industry. Colbert aimed toconvince French people to buy French-made goodsand not those from other countries. He urged peo-ple to settle in the new French colony in Canada.The fur trade there brought wealth to France.

Louis enjoyed a life of luxury at his court. Hebuilt a huge and beautiful palace at Versailles nearParis. He also made sure that nobles had to dependon his favor in order to advance in society.

Louis made France the most powerful nation inEurope. France had more people and a larger armythan any other country. However, Louis made somemistakes that later proved costly. After winning somewars against neighboring countries, he becamebolder and tried to seize more land. Other nationsjoined together to stop France by the late 1680s.The high cost of these wars combined with poorharvests to produce problems at home in France.

The final war fought in Louis’s time lasted from1700 to 1714. In this War of the Spanish Succession,France and Spain attempted to set up unitedthrones. The rest of Europe felt threatened andjoined in war against them. Both France and Spainwere forced to give up some of their American andEuropean colonies to England, the new risingpower.

Central European Monarchs Clash

KEY IDEA After a period of turmoil, absolute monarchsruled Austria and the German state of Prussia.

Germany had suffered from religious wars thatended in 1555. Rulers of each state agreed

that they would decide whether their lands wouldbe Catholic or Protestant. Over the next decades,though, the two sides had tense relations. In 1618, anew war broke out and lasted for 30 terrible years.

In the first half of the war, Catholic forces ledby Ferdinand, the Holy Roman Emperor, won.However, Germany suffered, because he allowedhis large army to loot towns. Then the Protestantking of Sweden won several battles against him. In the last years of the war, France helped theProtestants. Although France was a Catholic nation,

Richelieu feared growing Hapsburg family power.The Thirty Years’ War ended in 1648 with the

Peace of Westphalia. It had been a disaster forGermany. About 4 million people had died, and theeconomy was in ruins. It took Germany two centuriesto recover. The peace weakened the power of Austriaand Spain and made France stronger. Because of thiswar, each nation of Europe was seen as having anequal right to negotiate with all the others.

While strong states arose in western Europe,none emerged in central Europe. The economiesthere were less developed than in the West. Mostpeople were still peasants. This region had not builtan economy based in towns. Nobles enjoyed greatpower, which kept the power of rulers in check.Still, two important powers arose.

The Hapsburg family ruled Austria, Hungary,and Bohemia in an empire that linked many differ-ent peoples. Maria Theresa, Queen of Austria,managed to increase her power and cut that of thenobles. She was opposed by the kings of Prussia, anew state in northern Germany. Those kings built a strong state with much power given to the large,well-trained army. In 1740, Frederick the Great ofPrussia invaded one of Maria Theresa’s lands. Thequeen fought hard to keep the territory, but lost.Still, in fighting this War of the Austrian Succession,she managed to keep the rest of her empire intact.The two sides fought again beginning in 1756. Inthis Seven Years’ War, Austria abandoned Britain,its old ally, for France and Russia. Prussia joinedwith Britain. The Prussians and British won. In thatvictory, Britain gained complete control overFrance’s colonies in North America and India.

Absolute Rulers of RussiaKEY IDEA Peter the Great made many changes inRussia to try to make it more like western Europe.

Ivan III had made Moscow the center of a newRussian state with a central government. His son

continued that work. His grandson, Ivan IV—calledIvan the Terrible—began as a successful ruler. Headded lands to Russia and gave the country a codeof laws. After his wife died, however, he ruledharshly. He used secret police to hunt down oppo-nents and kill them. Ivan even killed his own oldestson. A few years after he died, Russian nobles metto name a new ruler. They chose Michael Romanov,the grandnephew of Ivan IV’s wife. He began adynasty that ruled Russia for about 300 years.

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The Romanovs restored order to Russia. In thelate 1600s, Peter I—called Peter the Great—beganan intense program of trying to modernize Russia.Peter admired the nations of western Europe. Hetraveled in Europe to learn about new technologyand ways of working. He returned to Russia deter-mined to make his country more advanced. His firststeps were to increase the powers of the czar, orruler, so he could force people to make the changeshe wanted. He put the Russian Orthodox Churchunder his own control. He cut the power of nobles.He built up the army and made it better trained.

He took several steps to make Russia morewestern. He brought potatoes as a new food, beganRussia’s first newspaper, gave more social status towomen, and told the nobles to adopt Westernclothes. He promoted education and built a grandnew capital city, St. Petersburg, on the shores ofthe Baltic Sea.

Parliament Limits theEnglish Monarchy

KEY IDEA Absolute monarchs in England were over-thrown, and Parliament gained power.

When Queen Elizabeth I died, her cousin James,king of Scotland, became king of England.

James fought with Parliament over money. His reli-gious policies also angered the Puritans in Parliament.They wanted to reform the English church to rid it ofCatholic practices. James was unwilling to make thesechanges.

His son, Charles I, continued the tensionbetween king and Parliament. Parliament forcedhim to sign a Petition of Right in 1628. By signing,Charles allowed that the king was answerable toParliament. Then he dissolved the Parliament andtried to raise money without it—going directlyagainst the Petition of Right.

Other actions of Charles had caused Scotland tothreaten to invade England. To meet the danger,Charles needed some money, and to raise taxes heneeded Parliament. When Charles called a newParliament, it quickly passed laws to limit hispower. Charles responded by trying to arrest itsleaders. Soon England was plunged into a civil war:Charles and his Royalists against the supporters ofParliament, many of whom were Puritans.

The English Civil War lasted from 1642 to 1649.Under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, the forces

of the Puritans won. They tried and executed Charlesfor treason—the first time a king had ever been exe-cuted in public. Cromwell became a military dictator,ruling until 1658. He crushed a rebellion in Irelandand tried to reform society at home. Soon after hisdeath, though, the government collapsed. The newParliament asked Charles’s older son to restore themonarchy. Charles II began to rule in 1660.

Charles II’s reign was a period of calm after tur-moil. After his death in 1685, James II becameking. His pro-Catholic policies angered and worriedthe English, who feared that he would restoreCatholicism. Finally, in 1688, seven members ofParliament contacted James’s older daughter, Mary,and her husband, William of Orange, prince of theNetherlands—both Protestants. They wanted themto replace James II on the throne. The event wascalled the Glorious Revolution, a bloodless revolu-tion that forced James to flee to France. Williamand Mary agreed, swearing to rule according to thelaws made by Parliament. They agreed to acceptthe Bill of Rights, which guaranteed English peoplecertain rights. From then on, no king or queencould rule England without the consent ofParliament.

Review1. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing Effects

Why did Spain weaken in power?2. Summarizing How did Richelieu and Louis

XIV increase the power of the French king?3. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing Effects

How did the Thirty Years’ War affect Germany?4. Clarifying What did Peter the Great do to

modernize Russia?5. Drawing Conclusions How did England

develop away from an absolute monarchy?

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Name Date

CHAPTERS IN BRIEF India and China EstablishEmpires, 300 B.C.–A.D. 550

CHAPTER OVERVIEW Skillful generals and rulers establish empires in northernIndia. They join together many different peoples and bring peace and prosperityto the land. During this time, the religions of India undergo changes in order tobe more appealing to the common people. In China a great empire sets the pat-terns of Chinese government and culture that would be followed centuries later.

Summary

India’s First EmpiresKEY IDEA The Mauryas and the Guptas made empires inIndia. Neither family, though, united India for very long.

In 321 B.C., Chandragupta Maurya used his armyto defeat the king of eastern India. He took the

throne and started a dynasty named after him.Chandragupta, not stopping with eastern India,

moved west. In 305 B.C., he began to challengeSeleucus, one of Alexander the Great’s generals.The two armies clashed for several years, and even-tually Chandragupta won. For the first time, north-ern India, from west to east, was joined under therule of one person.

Chandragupta was a harsh ruler. He charged aheavy tax on all the farmers who raised food—one-half of the crop they grew each year. He used thewealth he gained to build a huge army. He createda government that he controlled by carefully choos-ing officials and keeping a watchful eye on them.He split his empire into four provinces, each ruledby a prince. These areas, in turn, were divided intosmaller pieces that were run by members of thegovernment.

We know a great deal about life in Chandragupta’scourt because Seleucus sent a Greek there as anambassador. He described the richness of the palaceand the beauty of the capital city.

Chandragupta’s grandson Asoka took the thronein 269 B.C. and brought the Mauryan Empire to itsgreatest height. At first he was a warlike king andfought many fierce battles with an enemy to thesouth. Then he decided to accept the teachings ofthe Buddha.

Asoka promised to rule in a fair and just way.He issued laws that urged his subjects to avoid vio-lence. He made great roads so that people couldtravel easily—and then placed wells and rest stopsall along these roads for travelers to refresh them-selves. Soon after Asoka died, however, his empirecollapsed.

For the next 500 years, India was a land oftroubles. In the center of India, a new kingdomarose to dominate the scene. In the northwest,many Greeks, Persians, and Central Asians enteredthe land, fleeing the invasions of others. Theyadded new ideas and languages to India’s rich mixof culture. In the south, three different kingdomsfought each other off and on.

Around A.D. 320, a new power arose in thenorth. It was Chandra Gupta (not related to thefirst emperor), and he came to power by marryingthe daughter of an important royal family. With thisalliance, he took the title of king and began to con-quer other areas.

His son, Samudra Gupta, followed the same pol-icy and for 40 years fought to win new lands for theGupta Empire. His son, Chandra Gupta II,brought the empire to its largest size. He managedto take parts of western India, including importantports on the Indian Ocean. With these, the Guptaswere able to engage in the rich trade that con-nected India, Southwest Asia, and the world of theMediterranean Sea. The Gupta Empire, like theMauryan Empire before it, now stretched all acrossnorthern India.

Farmers worked their land, following the cycle ofthe seasons. Each family was led by the father, and allmembers of the family worked on the farm. Part ofeach crop had to be paid to the king each year.Farmers also had to set aside part of each month towork on community resources such as wells or dams.Craft workers and those who worked in trade lived inspecial sections of each village, town, or city.

The Gupta kings were patrons of the arts, andartists flourished during their rule. The peoplewere happy, too, according to a Chinese travelerwho spent many years in India. However, thisperiod of calm ended soon after the death ofChandra Gupta II. Another wave of invaders,related to the Huns sacking Rome at this time,

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moved into India. Soon the great Gupta Empirehad broken up into several smaller kingdoms.

Trade Spreads IndianReligions and Culture

KEY IDEA Indian religions, culture, and science developedand changed. Through trade, they reached other lands.

Over time, the religions of Hinduism andBuddhism became more and more distant from

the common people. The special class of priestscontrolled Hinduism. Followers of the Buddhafound it difficult to find the promised goal of releasefrom this world. As new peoples moved into India,they brought new ideas. These ideas had an impacton these religions.

The Buddha had taught that a tough course ofspiritual life was the way to escape from the suffer-ing of the world. Self-denial was difficult for manypeople to follow, however. Many people came toworship the Buddha himself as a god, even thoughhe had forbidden it. Then they came to believe thatother people could become Buddhas themselvesthrough good works and sacrifice.

These ideas created a new kind of Buddhism,and the religion broke into two ways of belief. Sometook the new doctrine, and others held on to thestricter beliefs. However, with this new approach,Buddhism became a popular religion. All believershad the chance to be saved. This change caused anincrease in art. Buddhists with money built templesand shrines and then paid artists to decorate themwith sculptures and paintings.

Hinduism changed too. By the time of theMauryan Empire, only priests were involved inmany rituals of the faith. For centuries, Hinduismhad been a religion of many gods. Now other reli-gions based on only one god were becoming moreimportant. Many Hindus began to emphasize threegods in particular. By devoting themselves to thesegods, people began to feel the religion moredirectly in their lives.

Indian art enjoyed a period of great vigor duringthese centuries. Poets and playwrights wrote beau-tiful works of literature, while other artists laid thefoundations for the classical form of dance in India.

The scientists of India had many achievements.They proved that the earth was indeed round manyhundred years before Europeans realized it. Theymade great advances in mathematics, too. Theyinvented the idea of zero and of decimal numbers.

The doctors of India became highly skilled. Theyknew more than 1,000 diseases and used hundredsof medicines from plants to help their patients.

India was also a center of trade. It traded cottoncloth and animals to China for silk. Traders broughtspices from Southeast Asia to India along caravanroutes called the Silk Roads. Then they sold themto Rome and to other western peoples. This tradewas so busy that large numbers of Roman coinshave been found in India. The Indians also tradedtheir own cotton cloth in Africa for ivory and gold.They sent rice and wheat to Arabia for dates andhorses. They carried out this trade by land and sea.

Along with goods, Indians spread their culture.The art and architecture of many lands in SoutheastAsia shows the influence of Indian art. Some adoptedHinduism, and many began to follow Buddhism.

Han Emperors in ChinaKEY IDEA The Han Dynasty made China larger. It alsostarted a system of government that lasted for centuries.

An empire also arose in China, one that wouldhave long-lasting effects on Asia. The Chinese

had been united briefly under the Qin Empire, butit fell apart in a period of civil war. Two leadersworked together to win control of China. Then oneof them, Liu Bang, turned on the other anddefeated him in battle. In 202 B.C., he named him-self the first emperor of the Han Dynasty. The Hanwould rule parts of China for the next 400 yearsand set many patterns for Chinese culture for cen-turies to come.

Liu Bang made his government strong so thatno one else could rival him for power. Local officialsled the government throughout the land. Theyreported to the emperor in the capital. The rule ofthe previous emperor had been very harsh. Liu Bangtook a different approach. He lowered taxes andhad lighter penalties for crimes. Life became easierfor the Chinese people.

After the death of Liu Bang, one of his wives,the Empress Lü took over. In this time, as in otherparts of Han rule, court politics was a major part oflife around the ruler. Each group tried to find a wayof making sure that it could get and hold power.This game of political chess would take the ruler’sattention from the people he was supposed to rule.

From 141 to 87 B.C., the emperor Wudi ruledHan China. He made the area of his empire muchlarger, pushing it almost to the size of modern

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China. He began by defeating some nomads wholived in the north and bothered the people withconstant attacks. He moved troops and settlers tothe west. He sent soldiers to the north into modernKorea and to the south to modern Vietnam.

Wudi also changed the government in importantways. To run his government, he had a large num-ber of officials who reached down to the smallestvillage. To find people to fill these posts, he intro-duced a new system. Those who wanted to work forthe government had to earn the right by passing anexam. The exam tested them on their knowledge ofthe writings of Confucius, the Chinese philosopherwho had lived 400 years earlier. He also builtschools around the country that taught this knowl-edge. This system continued to work into the 20thcentury.

To support this large government, Wudi col-lected taxes. Farmers paid part of the crops theygathered each year. Merchants paid taxes on thegoods they traded. Peasants also gave one month’sworth of labor each year to the government to workon large public building projects such as dams androads.

Under Han rule, the Chinese had many newinventions. One of the most important was paper.Before that invention, books were printed on silk.Because paper was much cheaper, using it meantthat there were more books—and more learning inthe country. The Chinese also improved farming byinventing a new two-bladed plow.

This change was important because the numberof Chinese people had grown greatly. The Hanemperors told their people that farming was themost important work to do—because they neededto grow much more food to feed so many people.

At the same time, several industries becameimportant. The government took control of miningsalt and making iron, coins, and alcohol. For awhile the government went to work making silk.This expensive cloth was in great demand in India,Rome, and other lands. Only the Chinese knewhow to make silk from the cocoons of the silkworm,and they kept their secret closely guarded. Theywanted to be sure to control the trade.

China now included many different peoples,and the Han rulers tried to make sure that theylearned Chinese ways. They urged their people tomarry with people from these other groups. Newbooks told the story of the history of China.

One group that did not do well in Han Chinawas women. According to the teachings of Confucius,women were supposed to meet the needs of theirhusband and children and not become involved inother areas of life. Although some women in theemperor’s family might wield power, this was rare.

The empire began to have problems as the richpeople who owned large amounts of land grew moreand more rich. The poor, at the same time, werebeing forced to pay heavy taxes. For about 40 years,China suffered in two ways. The members of thecourt were caught up in plots to try to gain power.Meanwhile, the peasants rebelled against their hightaxes and poor lives. A government official namedWang Mang took the throne and tried to help thepoor by taking land from the large landholders. Inthe middle of these changes, though, a terrible floodstruck China and destroyed millions of homes. Thepeasants rebelled again, and Wang Mang was killed.At that time, a member of the old imperial Hanfamily was put back on the throne. A new Hanrule—called the Later Han Dynasty—was created.

For the next few decades, China enjoyed peaceand wealth. Later, though, the same problemsarose again—the gap between rich and poor wastoo great. By A.D. 220, the Han Dynasty had fallenfor good.

Review1. Comparing and Contrasting Compare and

contrast the rule of Chandragupta Maurya andAsoka.

2. Drawing Conclusions How did Buddhism andHinduism become more popular religions in thisperiod?

3. Summarizing Describe two advances in the sci-ences in India of the Guptas.

4. Forming and Supporting Opinions WhichHan emperor do you think was most important?Why?

5. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing EffectsWhat basic problem was there in Han China,which led to its fall?

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