Rise of the West

1450-1750

When we last left off…

• Western Europe developing a great curiosity about the world under increasingly powerful governments

• Eastern European powers changing (expulsion of the Mongols/end of Byzantine Empire)

• Asian powers weakening and/or looking inward• A fragmentation in the Muslim world, but an

ever-growing expanse of the Islamic faith• Large empires in Meso and South America• Various political formations in Sub-Saharan

Africa

Major Trends of the Age

• A diverse and dynamic Western European culture and society

• European encroachment on a new GLOBAL trade network

• The spread of Western colonies

• Gunpowder empires

The Renaissance

• Began in Northern Italy– Center of trade; patronage system– Revival of Classical (Greek/Roman culture)

• Slower to spread to Northern Europe (effects of the plague)

• Humanism– Individual achievement– Increasing focus on secular issues– Question, wonder, curiosity

The Arts

• Italian artists– Perspective– Realism– Classical revival and mythology

• Northern European– Portraiture– Peasant life– Landscape– Religious themes

The Protestant Reformation

• Martin Luther– Upset by corruption, worldliness of the church– The selling of indulgences

• 95 Theses 1517• Faith and faith alone; priesthood of all believers,

the source of authority is the Bible• Literacy goes up (printing press)• Peace of Augsburg—secular rulers in Northern

Europe break ties with the Catholic Church to enhance their power

Other Protestant Faiths

• Calvinism– Predestination– Geneva, Switzerland (theocracy)

• Anglicanism– Henry VIII wants to remarry; pope won’t annul

marriage

The Catholic Reformation

• The Council of Trent– Ends corruption– Creates Jesuit order– Increasing use of the Inquisition– No changes in doctrine

The Scientific Revolution

• Copernicus and the heliocentric theory

• Challenges Church already weakened by Protestant movement

• Scientific method– Observation and reason

• Power of the individual

Age of Exploration

• God (primarily Catholic missionaries)

• Gold

• Glory

The Portuguese

• Henry the Navigator

• Around Africa to India

• 1500s dominance in Indian Ocean

• Tried to control pre-existing spice trade

• Not very successful

• Often destructive; strong missionary goals

• Colonize Brazil

The Spanish

• Ferdinand and Isabella post Reconquista• Colonization of the Americas• Strong missionary goals• Enslavement of Native Americans

– Encomienda system– Criticism by Catholic Church-Bartolome de las

Casas– Atlantic slave Trade

• Mining for Silver

• Treaty of Tordesillas

• Avoid conflict between Catholic Portugal and Spain

The Dutch

• Capitalist nation

• Responsible for shipping (weakness of the Spanish)

• Dominant Indian Ocean in 1600s

• Less missionary effort

The French

• North America

• India

Conflict with the British• 1700s• 7 Yrs War; French and Indian War, Battle of

Plassey

Mercantilism

• A nation’s wealth is measured in gold and silver

• Encouraged colonization

• A zero-sum game: winners=parent country

The British

• British hegemony by the late 1700s

• Interest in weakening Mughal Empire– British East India Joint Stock Company

• North America

• British East India Joint Stock Company– Power of merchants

East Asia

• Continue looking inward

• Ming/Qing China– Canton System

• Japan– Tokugawa Shogunate– Dutch learning—once per year

Gunpowder Muslim EmpiresOttoman Empire

• 1453 captures Constantinople

• Multi-cultural-tolerance of religious minorities

• Battle Safavid Empire

• Suleiman the Great

• Increasing encroachment by West

• Weakening by 1700s—leads to Eastern Question

Safavid Empire

• Shiite Muslim

• Shah Abbas I

• Forced conversion

• Battle the Ottomans

• End 1722

Mughal Empire

• Muslim rulers over Hindu majority

• Akbar the Great– Tolerant– Tried to create syncretism (blending)

• Allowed foreigners to trade

• Later rulers weaker and less tolerant; paved way for later British colonization

Russia

• Power of Moscow Princes as Mongol tax collectors

• The Ivans limit the power of the boyars

• Tradition of autocratic rule (going back to Byzantine and Mongol roots)

• Peter the Great– Westernization (no power to merchant class)