Unit 5
Learning Goals For each of the civilizations below you will describe how they grew into a world power and their interactions with the European continent China Japan Arabia India Americas
China China is the longest lasting empire on our planet. It still exists today. Chinese civilizations have been built upon the concept of the Mandate of Heaven. The emperor is in charge of China because heaven has willed it to be so. The emperor will stay in charge as long as they rule fairly and effectively, evidence of which being peace and prosperity throughout China. If the mandate exists, the citizens of China must not rebel. If the mandate is lost, it is the duty of citizens to rebel.
Chinese Dynasties The mandate of heaven began under the Zhou dynasty in 1046 BC and helped keep them in power for 800 years After the Han dynasty in China fell in 220 AD, China had no clear dynasty for many years The dynasty concept was often used by foreign occupiers or smaller local rulers to back up oppressive actions in China The Tang (Tong) dynasty was the next to obtain the mandate for multiple centuries, from 618 to 907 AD The Tang restored a civil service examination to see where citizens should be employed They also built a stable economy by giving land to peasants instead of big landowners
Chinese Dynasties During this time, China was building trade routes and ports along the Silk Road China began processing steel for swords, invented gunpowder (by accident), and even invented a medieval flame-thrower From 1160 to 1206, a Mongolian herder began to unify his people under the promise of conquest. His name was Genghis Khan Their numbers were few, but the actual amount of land Khan and his followers conquered was the largest in history The Mongol dynasty would take over China
Chinese Dynasties Under Kublai Khan, Genghis Khan s grandson, China expanded it s territory into Vietnam and southern Asia The Chinese tradition was to remain isolated from all other foreign nations. Confucianism said that trade and exploration was a sign that your own homeland was weak Khan wasn t Chinese, and welcomed other national visitors to China s borders for the first time in history Marco Polo was an Italian merchant who spent 24 years living among Khan in the brand new city of Beijing When he returned to Italy in 1292, he brought tales of extraordinary cities of gold, canals, paper money, and bathing rituals Europe began to grow interested in China and their vast wealth
Chinese Dynasties The Ming dynasty followed the Mongols and lasted until 1644 in China The biggest change in China during the Ming was their willingness to leave their homes and explore Emperor Yong Le built a massive palace in the new capital of Beijing called the Forbidden City. Yong Le also ordered a local official named Zheng He to make a series of voyages and explore the world Zheng made seven voyages with 28,000 men and 62 ships He brought back items to China they had never seen before Palms, Spices, Giraffes, all which earned a huge profit
Chinese Dynasties The Chinese hosts and the exploring visitors (the Portuguese, Jesuits, etc) impressed each other China had incredible architecture, efficient printing process and paper making, and appreciated the teachings of Confucius Europeans had large elaborate ships, complicated clocks and sextants. Locals did not like the influence of other cultures in China. The Ming quickly lost the mandate following these meetings. New diseases and internal struggles regarding exploration brought them down
Chinese Art and Literature China was one of the first civilizations to appreciate the art of landscaping Large areas of land covered with flowers showed earth s perfection Reflection pools in gardens showed the sky s perfection Paintings and stories left large spaces blank The empty canvases reflected the Chinese belief that no one can know the whole truth.
Japan In the early 600 s AD (around the time Mohammad received his vision), Shotoku Taishi began to centralize Japanese government and citizens under one ruler The ruler, titled an emperor, was believed to be a divine figure. This belief would continue until the 1940 s Although the position of an emperor stayed, the government began to dissolve in 794 and local aristocrats began ruling over their smaller areas To help collect debts and protect their families, they hired military servants called Samurai soldiers
Japan The Samurai were similar to Knights in England Samurai prided themselves on military performance Weapons of choice were swords and bow and arrows, and they rode on horseback in battle They were fiercely loyal to a ruler, not a country. But their loyalty was also dependent on payment. If their ruler was killed under their protection, the samurai became a ronin, a disgraced and leadership position.
Japan The same time that the Portuguese were making contact with China, they were also making contact with Japan The Japanese at first were fascinated by tobacco, eyeglasses, clocks, etc. They also found the guns and ammunitions bought by the Japanese useful in dealing with enemies They did not, however, welcome Christian missionaries, who tended to destroy Japanese shrines By 1750, the capital city of Japan, Edo, was one of the richest and largest cities in the world
The Ottomans The Arabs lived right in the center of numerous trade routes Gold, Ivory and slaves from Africa Silk, porcelain and paper from China Spices from India Nearly every trade route crossed a desert, and Arabs were skilled at desert living
The Ottomans In present-day northwest Turkey, a group of Turks began to grow in power and claim important rivers and straits. They called themselves the Ottomans By 1390, the Ottomans had claimed most of Turkey and nearby Bulgaria The only obstacle to claiming the entire peninsula left was taking Constantinople On April 6, 1453, the Ottoman attacked with cannons and trebuchets launching 1200 lb boulders throughout the city. On May 29, almost 2 months later, the Ottoman soldiers finally entered the city and claimed it as their capital.
The Ottomans The Ottomans built their empire by naming local Muslim officials, called Sultans, in charge By 1600 s, the Ottoman Empire contained modern-day Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Albania, and Hungary The Sultans power grew in the Ottoman until each controlled their own kingdom Sultan s would pass military control to their sons and grant political or advisory control to their wives and daughters. Each family also appointed a Grand Vizier Viziers ran meetings and communicated in citizens courts Sultans behind the scenes gave Viziers orders to carry out The Ottoman rulers were kind to non-muslims, allowing them to worship their own gods.
The Islamic Spice Trade Muslim civilizations showed an interest in Southeast Asia in order to profit from the spices that grew there. The Holy Roman Empire and East Asian nations also began attempts to claim the nations As a result, Indonesian and Philippine Islands evolved into a mix of four different kingdoms Buddhist kings, Islamic sultans, Jesuit missionaries and local natives Christianity never stuck, but the others managed to claim territories Buddhism: modern-day Thailand, Burma, and Cambodia Islam: Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines
The Islamic Spice Trade Buddhist and Muslim nations had a monopoly on the spices of Southeast Asia Pepper, salt, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg. The islands of Indonesia made it difficult to find a water route into these nations While Europeans searched the ocean for a route, the Muslims already were building trading posts in these countries. As a result, the nations of Southeast Asia remained isolated from the European influence that was impacting much of the rest of Asia
India The Indian civilization built a civilization based on castes and social structure. Brahmans: Priests, at the top of society Kshatriyas: Warriors and Kings Vaisyas: Commoners, merchants Sudras: Peasants, artisans Untouchables: Garbage dwellers The caste system was based on reincarnation. Humans are reborn into high or low castes based on their previous lives Therefore, whichever caste you belong to, it s your own fault
India The Moguls were a group of mountain dwellers in the Himalayas that moved south into India in 1500. They set up a capital in Delhi, India One of the first permanent rulers of the Moguls was 14 year old Akbar, grandson of the general of the Moguls When Akbar captured a kingdom, he allowed the locals to still worship in their own way He required a taxes, but adjusted the amount peasants were required to pay during years of famine or drought The moguls also took advantage of their geography and grew rich on trade
India The moguls were Muslim foreigners living in a Hindudominated land. Hindu-women had much more power than Muslim, so Moguls were forced to assimilate Women provided political advice, received salaries, and could own land However, child marriage remained common and men still claimed the right of suttee When a wealthy man died, he had the right to order that his wife be killed with him so that no other man could have her
Central and South Americans Central and South America have been home to civilizations since as early as 1200 BC The Toltecs, Nascans, Chavins, Moches, Caralans The three largest and most famous civilizations in these continents were the Maya, the Aztec, and the Inca Some of these nations died before ever meeting a European and were only recently discovered
Maya The Maya lived in 300-900 AD in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico They built massive city-states that may have contained up to 100,000 citizens per city The Mayan people were three separate classes: The rulers, who were descended from gods The priests, or scribes The townspeople (Artisans, farmers, merchants, etc) The Maya believed that all existence was a cycle of life and death, including the Earth. The Maya had two calendars, a solar calendar of 365 days and a spiritual calendar of 260 days. These calendars were organized in cycles of creation and destruction The calendars, when paired together, created a life-span of the earth The previous life-cycle began in 3114 BC and ended on 12-23-2012
Aztec The Aztec civilization began in what is now Mexico City in 1325. Although covering a large portion of present-day Mexico, the majority of the civilization was in their capitol city. The Aztec rulers claimed territories surrounding the capitol, and appointed governors to rule in their place By 1500, the population of Aztec peoples was nearly 4 million The civilization was flourishing until the arrival of Spanish explorers
Inca Of the three well-known American civilizations, the Inca are the only who dwelled in South America From Ecuador to Southern Chile The Inca built an enormous empire, complete with highways, hilltop palaces, structures for withstanding earthquakes, and high-altitude farming Inca writing was called quipo, and was a system of tracking information using various knot combinations in strings
European Exploration Europeans had been successfully crossing the Atlantic for hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus discovery of the New World Vikings from Norway were patrolling the northern Atlantic since 700-800 AD Discovered Iceland and Greenland Leif Ericson, reached the northern edge of Newfoundland, Canada in a single-sail ship around 1000 AD John Cabot, 450 years later, also reached Newfoundland and claimed the territory for England
European Exploration Ever since Marco Polo s journey eastward, Europeans had seen the benefits of exploration and trade Access to new resources, such as spices and metals, brought enormous wealth High Demand, Low Supply New peoples who had never heard the word of God before drew missionary zealots Lifelong glory and fame went to the leaders of explorations who returned safely to tell of their journeys
European Exploration It s a myth that Europeans in the 15 th century thought the earth was flat. The shadow of the earth on the moon proved it was round centuries earlier They had no idea of circumference though Portuguese explorers tended to sail east, where maps of Africa and Asia at least showed how far they would have to go. Columbus, however, believed the route across the Atlantic would take him to Eastern Asia faster than around Africa
European Exploration Columbus would make four voyages to Central America, landing on every major island Each time, believing he had landed in East Asia Another explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, also managed to get royal funding for his expedition Magellan died in the Philippines, but his armada (fleet of ships) returned back to Spain Thus, Magellan is credited with being the first to circumnavigate the globe With each journey, men like Columbus and Magellan brought back tales of exotic new lands, with exotic new people and exotic new resources
Conquistadors The desire to explore quickly shifted into a desire to conquer and claim In 1519, explorer Hernan Cortes landed on the eastern coast of Mexico Cortes marched to Tenochticlan to meet the Aztec king, making allies with smaller villages along the way Aztec King Montezuma welcomed Cortes and was marveled by the horses, cannons, and guns Cortes at first made friends, then when he had learned of the terrain and the Aztec fighting abilities, attacked
Conquistadors The Conquistadors took Montezuma hostage and began to plunder the wealth of the Aztec pyramids The Aztec retaliated, but the Conquistadors brought an unexpected weapon: smallpox Meanwhile, Cortes was increasing his army by conscripting soldiers from outer parts of Mexico Within 30 years, the Spanish had claimed the territory of Mexico Meanwhile, down in South America, Spanish Conquistador Francisco Pizarro was attempting to take the Incas in a similar method
Conquistadors Pizarro reached the Incan civilization with only 180 men, but also brought horses, firearms, and smallpox When the emperor died of the disease, a brief civil war erupted among the Incans The new emperor, Atahualpa, lost most of his army taking control of the Incan empire. Pizarro took advantage and captured his palace. Pizarro eventually captured all of the Incan territory and established a new capital city at Lima, Peru
Exploration Summary By the end of the 1600 s, multiple European nations had set up claims all throughout the Americas Portugal: Brazil Spain: Central America, Peru, Ecuador Netherlands: New York France: Louisiana, Canada England: Massachusetts, Virginia Due to the ability to farm and grow crops such as sugar and tobacco, the Central and South America colonies were seen as far wealthier and important than North American colonies
Mercantilism Portugal and Spain began the concept of setting up colonies Settlements with government control and can serve as a center of trade The colonies helped nations stay at the top of a new economic system called mercantilism Nations trade resources between themselves High taxes, or tariffs, are placed on goods sold by foreign countries to encourage citizens to buy from their own land The government will pay citizens who are willing to farm/process/develop certain products Monopolies (being the only supplier of an important commodity) are the goal
Trade Routes One such commodity was sugar, a difficult crop that grew in Central America The hard labor required for growing this highly demanded crop sparked a renewed interest in an old custom: slavery By this time, Europeans had become familiar with most trade routes across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans Trade routes are mapped wind patterns and currents that could carry ships across the ocean in one direction or another Two trade routes developed were the triangular trade and the middle passage
Trade Routes Triangle Trade Traders would leave Europe and travel south, arriving at the coast of Africa Kidnap slaves (or buy them from a trading post) and pick up supplies for the journey across the Atlantic Travel northwest to plantations in Central America Sell slaves to the colonies in return for rum, tobacco, or sugar products Sail back northeast toward Europe Sell the rum, sugar products, and make a fortune Middle Passage A single route back and forth between Africa and Central America
The Slaves Europeans viewed Africans as inferior mentally, but physically perfect for slavery Slaves were obtained by kidnapping Africans from their village and holding them in small jails near trading posts. When traders arrived, they negotiated prices with slavetraders for gender, ages, and numbers of slaves The slave trade allowed Europeans to profit enormously from cash crops, which in turn provided more money for more slaves
Social Classes On the plantations in Central America, the mixing of cultures resulted in new class structures Peninsulares Native Spanish and Portuguese officials Creoles Descendents of Spanish and Portuguese, born in Latin America Land and business owners, they resented Peninsulares because they were treated as second-class Mestizos Children of Europeans and Native Americans Mulattos Children of Europeans and Africans