UNIT 5: The Origins of Global Interdependence (1500 CE ~ 1800 CE)

Early Modern Era

By the 1500s CE

-Peoples throughout world built well-organized agricultural societies w/ distinct cultures

-Powerful Agricultural Societies Dominate

  • Asia, Mediterranean Basin
  • Europe
  • Much of Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Mexico
  • C Andean Region

-Pastoral Nomads

  • Thrive in dry grassy regions
  • C Asia, Africa

-Hunter-Gatherers

  • Small population – survive on lands where cultivation/herding not practical

-Intricate Transportation Networks

  • Supported travel, communication, exchange
  • Silk Roads
  • More than 1000 years merchants travel silk roads
  • Linked China to Mediterranean basin
  • Indian Ocean Basin
  • Mariners plied Indian Ocean & neighboring waters
  • Connecting from Japan to E Africa
  • Caravan Routes
  • Across Sahara desert
  • Brought sub-Saharan W Africa into larger economy of E hemisphere
  • Cultural & Biological Exchange
  • Religions – Buddhism, Christianity, Islam travel along trade routes
  • Food, animals, pathogens also spread much of E hemisphere
  • Americas & Oceania
  • Not as extensive as in E but also support communication & exchange long distances
  • Trade linked societies throughout N America
  • Seafarers routinely sail between islands groups in C & W Pacific

Intensification of Interaction After 1500 CE

-Commercial, cultural, biological exchanges more intense after new sea lanes

-New Transportation Networks

  • Sea lanes link lands of Indian, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean basins
  • Beginning in 1400s, Europeans look for all sea routes to Asia
  • Fostered direct contact between Europeans & peoples of sub-Saharan Africa & Asia
  • Facilitate interaction among peoples of E, W hemispheres & Oceania
  • European mariners created global networks much more systematic & intense than earlier times

Early Modern Era (1500-1800 CE)

-Establishment of links among all world’s regions gave rise to early modern era

-Different from 1000-1500 – only sporadic contacts among peoples in E, W & Oceania

-Different from 1800-Present – European domination (due to industrialization) of world

-Global Processes Around World

  • Biological Exchange
  • Plants, animals, diseases, human communities crossed world’s oceans
  • Established in new lands – dramatically affect natural environment & existing societies
  • Commercial Exchange
  • Merchants took advantage of new sea lanes
  • Inaugurate genuinely global economy
  • Agricultural products, manufactured goods & commodities reach distant markets
  • Diffusion of Technology
  • Printing, gunpowder
  • Diffusion of Cultural Tradition
  • Christianity & Islam
  • Attract increasing numbers around world

-Effects of Global Processes

  • Processes above had different effect for different peoples
  • Americas & Oceania
  • Indigenous peoples experience turmoil and disruption
  • Diseases ravaged populations
  • Sometimes led to collapse of societies
  • Europeans
  • By contrast flourished during this era
  • Traded profitably throughout world
  • Claimed vast stretches of land in the Americas
  • Colonized new lands for cultivation of crops for sale
  • Africans
  • Benefited from introduction of new food crops
  • Opportunity to obtain trade goods from abroad
  • Benefits came with terrible costs
  • Millions of slaves from sub-Saharan Africa
  • Forced migration to W hemisphere
  • Performed hard labor, poverty, physical & psychological abuse
  • East Asian & Islamic Regions
  • Sought to limit influence of global processes
  • Prospered from increased trade
  • But restricted introduction of foreign ideas & technologies

European World Hegemony?

-Europeans drew most benefits from era, but did not dominate world affairs… yet

-Didn’t achieve hegemony, but played more prominent role in world affairs than before

-Efforts fostered the dev. of increasingly interdependent world

-Americas

  • Established empires & settler colonies in Americas
  • But most of W beyond control until 1800s

-Africa

  • Established series of fortified trading posts and the colony of Angola in Africa
  • But traded in Africa at sufferance of local authorities
  • Rarely wield direct influence beyond coastlines

-Asia

  • Conquered Philippines and many Indonesian islands

-Out of European Control

  • Posted no threat at all to powerful states
  • China, India, SW Asia, Anatolia, Japan

Key Terms

•Caravel

•Prince Henry

•Columbus

•Royal Charter companies

•Mercantilism

•Joint stock companies

•Columbian exchange

•Potatoes

•Maize

•Vodun

•The Palace of Versailles

•Encomienda

•Hacienda

•Creole

•Daimyo

•Safavid

•Casta paintings

•Gunpowder Manchu

•Mughal

•Ottoman

•Thirty Year’s War

•Little Ice Age

•The Reformation