Unit 3&4: 1450-1750

• Imperial expansion relied on the increased use of gunpowder, cannons, and armed trade to establish large empires in both hemispheres
• Land empires included the Manchu in Central and East Asia; the Mughal in South and Central Asia; the Ottoman in Southern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa; and the Safavids in the Middle East
• Political and religious disputes led to rivalries and conflict between states. An example of this is the Safavid and Mughal conflict and Songhai Empire's conflict with Morocco
• Recruitment and use of bureaucratic elites


  • Became more common among rulers who wanted to maintain centralized control over their populations and resources
• Development of military professionals


  • Became more common among rulers who wanted to maintain centralized control over their populations and resources
• Rulers continued to use religious ideas, art, and monumental architecture


  • To legitimize their rule
• Rulers used


  1. Tribute collection

  2. Tax farming

  3. Innovative tax-collection systems
• Bites or military professions


  • Janissaries
  • Deshimme
• Art and monumental architecture

  • Portraits
  • Mughal mosques
  • Versailles
• Religious ideas


  • Mexica practice of human sacrifice
  • European notions of divine right
  • Songhai promotion of Islam
• Tax-collection systems


  • Mughal zamindari
  • Ottoman tax farming
  • Mexica tribute lists
  • Ming practice of collecting taxes in hard currency
• The Protestant Reformation marked a break with existing Christian traditions and both the Protestant and Catholic reformations contributed to the growth of Christianity
• Political rivalries between the Ottoman and Safavid empires intensified the split within Islam between Sunni and Shi'a
• Sikhism developed in South Asia in a context of interactions between Hinduism and Islam
• Knowledge, scientific learning, and technology from the Classical, Islamic, and Asian worlds spread, facilitating European technological developments and innovation
• Developments included


  • Production of new tools
  • Innovations in ship designs
  • Improved understanding of regional wind and currents patterns
• New state-supported transoceanic maritime exploration occurred in this period
• Portuguese development of maritime technology and navigational skills led to increased travel to and trade with Africa and Asia and resulted in the construction of a global trading-post empire
• Spanish sponsorship of the voyages of Columbus and subsequent voyages across the Atlantic and Pacific dramatically increased European interest in transoceanic travel and trade
• Northern Atlantic crossings were undertaken under English, French, and Dutch sponsorship, often with the goal of finding alternative sailing routes to Asia
• The new connections between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres resulted in the exchange of new plants, animals, and diseases, known as the Columbian Exchange
• European colonization of the Americas led to the unintentional transfer of disease vectors including mosquitoes and rats, and the spread of diseases that were endemic in the Eastern Hemisphere, including smallpox, measles, and malaria. Some of these diseases substantially reduced the indigenous populations, with catastrophic effects in many areas
• American foods became staple crops in various parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Cash crops were grown primarily on plantations with coerced labor and were exported mostly to Europe and the Middle East
• Afro-Eurasian fruit trees, grains, sugar, and domesticated animals were brought by Europeans to the Americas, while other foods were brought by African enslaved persons
• Populations in Afro-Eurasia benefitted nutritionally from the increased diversity of American food crops
• Europeans established new trading posts in Africa and Asia, which proved profitable for the rulers and merchants involved in new global trade networks. Some Asian states sought to limit the disruptive economic and cultural effects of European-dominated long-distance trade by adopting restrictive or isolation policies
• Driven largely by political, religious and economic rivalries, European states established new maritime empires, including the British, Spanish, Dutch, and French
• The expansion of maritime trading networks fostered the growth of states in Africa, including the Kingdom of the Kongo, whose participation in trading networks led to an increase in its power and influence
• Despite some disruption and restructuring due to the arrival of Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch merchants, existing trade networks in the Indian Ocean continued to flourish and included Indian and Asian merchants
• Newly developed colonial economies in the Americas largely depended on agricultural production and extractive labor systems, including the encomienda and introduced new labor systems, including slavery and indentured servitude
• Mercantilist policies and practices were used by European rulers to expand and control their economies and claim overseas territories. Joint-stock companies, influenced by these mercantilist principles, were used by rulers and merchants to finance exploration and were used by rulers to compete against one another in global trade
• Economic disputes led to rivalries and conflict between states
• In some cases the increase and intensification of interactions between newly connected hemispheres expanded the reach and furthered development of existing religions and contributed to religious conflicts and the development of syncretic belief systems and practices
• State expansion and centralization led to resistance from an array of social, political, and economic groups on a local level
• Enslaved persons challenged existing authorities in the Americas through organized resistance
• Many states, such as the Mughal and Ottoman empires, adopted practices to accommodate the ethnic and religious diversity of their subjects or to utilize the economic, political, and military contributions of different ethnic or religious groups. In other cases, states suppressed diversity or limited certain groups' roles in society, politics, or the economy
• Imperial conquests and widening global economic opportunities contributed to the formation of new political and economic elites, including in China with the transition to the Qing Dynasty and in the Americas with the rise of the Casta system
• The power of existing political and economic elites fluctuated as the elites confronted new challenges to their ability to affect the policies of the increasingly powerful monarchs and leaders
• Some notable gender and family restructuring occurred, including demographic changes in Africa that resulted from the trade of enslaved persons.
• The Atlantic slave trade contributed to the movement of labor-including enslaved persons and the mixing of African, American, and European cultures and peoples with all parties contributing to the cultural synthesis