Unit 1
What was the Renaissance?
A period of revival in interest of Greek and Roman art, literature, culture, and civic virtue that fueled humanism and new ideas (which eventually led to the Enlightenment and had a large effect on the Scientific revolution)
Who was the guy that united pastoral nomad groups of the Gobi Desert and became the ruler of a powerful gunpowder empire, created tribal alliances, was known to be brutal, destroyed neighboring groups, and regulated some the silk road?
GENGHIS KAHN
What was the Divine Right of Kings?
This was a belief that Kings used to gain power in saying that god chose them to rule the kingdom. They couldn't be accountable for their actions by earthly authority such as a parliament. No one can defy god's word so the king could get away with anything. (James I, Charles I, and William Laud)
What is the difference between an indentured servant and slaves?
Indentured servants sign up to be a servant of a landlord or noble and work for them for a period of time in exchange for passage, while slaves were considered property as they were kidnapped and put into hard labor until they die.
What was classical Liberalism?
The belief in natural rights, laissez-faire economics, constitutional government, and reduced spending on armies and making churches.
What are the five pillars of islam?
Profession of Faith (shahada), Prayer (salat), Alms (zakat), Fasting (sawm), and Pilgrimage (hajj).
What were monsoon winds and how did they affect sailing?
These were powerful winds that came from the northeast during the winter, and southwest in the spring and summer. They made ocean based trade difficult because it would get ships offtrack and make the trips longer. (it slowed down trade)
What were indulges?
Indulges were "go out of hell free" cards. The church made people believed if they payed them that their sins would be pardoned, that theyed be avenged. Martin Luther didn't like this and this was one of the factors that caused him to write the 95 Thesis and put it on the church door.
What was Mercantilism?
The idea of providing for the mother country to gain power and wealth to benefit the economy through regulating external trade at the expense of others. (pie analogy)
What was Laissez-Faire?
The term "laissez-faire" means: to leave alone. This approach meant that governments should reduce their impact and intervention on people and buissnessess.
What was the religeon that was closely related to mysticism and had swirling dervishes?
Sufism
How did Mansa Musa's journey to Mecca in 1324, how did it affect Mali's economy?
What was the scientific method?
1. Observe
2. Question
3. Hypothesis
4. Experiment
5. Analysis/conclusion
What were the maritime empires?
Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, France, and Holland.
What is Empiricism?
The belief that wisdom/knowledge is gained through a person's 5 senses, experiments, and experiences. Rather than believing principles and information provided by religion and tradition.
What are 4 types of state building in the periods 1200 to 1450?
States arising in land that was once controlled, new leadership under previous empire, states adapting to foreign ideas, and existing states expanding in influence.
What is a diaspora? How did it relate to the spread of culture?
A diaspora is when settlement of people move away from their homeland. This movement affected the spread of culture and religion because the settlement of people bring it with them and affect nearby towns and settlements. (ex:enslaved africans) This also pertains to merchants going to different areas, marrying, settling down and spreading their religion.
What was the Scientific Revolution? Who was in it?
The scientific revolution was the aftermath of The Protestant Reformation and was affected by the Renaissance ways of thinking. This revolution encouraged new ideas and strayed from the beliefs of the church and medieval literature. Scientists were the majority of people in this movement. Nicolas Copernicus, a polish cleric/astronomer, developed the Heliocentric Theory ("Sun center theory"). Galileo Galilei, an italian astronomer, found that the moon is rough and the sun has dark spot (=gods creation isn't perfect). Lastly there's Francis Bacon, an English statesman, who strayed from aristotle and created "Empiricism" and "The Scientific Method."
What was the Treaty of Tordesillas?
A treaty made between Spain and portugal that divided and reserved the Americas between them. Portugal got some land in the east along with Brazil while Spain got all the land west of the meridian that went through eastern South America.
What was the philosophies?
A group of thinkers and writers during the enlightenment who explored political, economic, and social theories in new ways. (included:benjamin franklin,Thomas Jefferson, Adam Smith, and other french thinkers)
Why was the Abbasid caliphate the supposed the golden age of Islam?
a. The abbasid caliphate was the supposed golden age of islam because of the increase in education and the productivity in trade. Due to spreading ideas and new inventions of the Trans Saharan trade and the Silk Road, a famous trade route stretching across Afro Eurasia, the Abbasid empire prospered and grew with the many influences of these trade routes. These routes provided the opportunity for the influx of knowledge, of which caused the capital, Baghdad, t become a center of learning.
c. Around the 8th century, the trade routes of the Silk road caused the people of the Abbasid Caliphate to gain knowledge from other cultures and carried on the works of earlier thinkers like Aristotle. They translated Greek writings into Arabic, studied mathematics and gave the knowledge to the europeans, and lastly adopted paper making from china.
e. Spread of ideas, inventions , and knowledge came through this empire and knowledge of medicine got better and there came more accurate astronomical charts. Literary works were translated and spread, saving many works of earlier thinkers. This increased the education of newer generations, so they spread this wisdom throughout the world.Many famous scholars came from Baghdad and helped neighboring cities. Along with literary and scientific works, food and resources were also brought along the many trade routes through Baghdad when port cities and canals were built, as a result increasing economy. Baghdad and other cities nearby apart of the empire prospered along these routes.
How did the improvements in transportation technologies affect the trade in Afro Eurasia in 1200-1450?
a. The improvements in transportation technologies affected the trade in Afro Eurasia by making trade much more efficient and as a result causing empires to prosper. These technologies improved by spread of knowledge from trade routes on both sea and land that would often lead through cavarensai, oases, port cities, and rest points along these routes. The most popular of these routes being the Silk Road, famous trade route stretching across Afro Eurasia, The Trans Saharan, which lied in west Africa, and the Indian Ocean . As a result, empires thrived and wisdom spread and evolved.
c. Both Seafaring technology on the Indian Ocean trade and land based trade routes like the Trans Saharan and Silk roads improved in their technology. With the inventions of the lateen sail, stern rudder in the 1st century AD, astrolabe in the mid 15 century, magnetic compass, camel saddles and lastly the improvement in maps made trade more productive and efficient. Chinese, Indian and Southwestern Asians expanded their knowledge of astronomy, other aspects of the natural world and made improvements to the existing technologies at that time like the stern rudder and Lateen Sail. the Chinese also spread gunpowder and guns, along with papermaking which eventually led to printing technology and the growth of literacy around the 13th century.
e. Seafaring technology on sea based trade routes like the Indian Ocean trade improved with the inventions of lateen sails, stern rudder, astrolabe and the magnetic compass. The lateen sail was a triangular sail that allowed sailors to catch winds coming from different directions, the stern rudder helped control and stabilize the ship easier, the astrolabe helped sailors determine how far north or south they were from the equator, and lastly the magnetic compass told sailors whether they were going north, south, east, or west. On land based trade routes like the Trans Saharan and Silk roads, technology improved with the recreation of maps and the invention of the camel saddles. The maps helped navigate merchants to their destination and the camel saddles could sit on the top of the hump, in front of the hump or behind the hump. The saddle on top of the hump gave the rider a better visual of the landscape around them, a saddle in front of the hump gave the rider more control over the camel and the saddle behind the hump was the most comfortable. All these improvements influenced merchants and explorers to try their luck out at sea
What are the attributes of an empire and why would you consider the powers from 1450-1750 to be empires?
a. The characteristics of an empire would be that it would have a military, would be expansion minded, must consider beliefs and tolerance level, and must be concerned with the transition of power. The powers from 1450-1750 would be considered empires because they had considered and had done everything needed to be considered an empire. These powers were commonly referred to as gunpowder empires, meaning that they used gunpowder as force to expand and conquer other empires and cities, included the Safavid empire, the Mughal Empire and the Ottoman Empire. All of which whose rulers had opinions on religion, had been thoughtful about their predecessor, had a military, and were expansion minded.
c. In the 15th century, the Ottomans were the largest and most enduring of the Islamic empires. Mehemmed II established this empire's capital after conquering Constantinople in 1453 and seized lands around the western edge of the Black Sea. They were military oriented, were sunni, had some tolerance, and lastly expansion minded. The Safavids were established in northern Iran, conquered most of Persia and pushed into Iraq under their leader, Ismail, who was only 14 or 15 around the time. Though they didn't have a navy or good defenses, they rose to power in the 1500s because of their land base militia. They were Shi'a muslim and had no tolerance. Ismail was careful when he made Shah Abbas ruler, who presided over this empire at its's height and created a system of capturing Christian boys and creating more military power out of it. Lastly the Mughals were expansive minded with conquests in northern India, was had a military with their small navy and freedom of warriors, and were tolerant under Akbar's rule when he became ruler in 1556. They were a strong muslim empire that flourished with the trade and alliances of other cities and empires which is why they too are considered an empire.
e. The Ottomans were mostly sunni and had some tolerance when Suleiman was in rule. Their military functioned as a dual authority with central gov and made Janissaries which were warriors that were given the opportunity to rise up in society. Next were the Safavids. The rulers were Ismail and then Shah Abbas, they were shi'a and had no tolerance whatsoever. The leaders made the military independant and would make christian boys into their military, also giving them the opportunity to rise up in society. Lastly were the Mughals were led by Babur who ruled during a time of disarray and elected his grandson, Akbar to be the next ruler. Under Akbar's rule, the muslim empire achieved religion and political goals. Akbar had tolerance for hinduism and even tried to give them opportunities to have better jobs and put them in court. Though it didn't end well, there wasn't much tolerance with later when Aurangzeb was elected.
How did cash crops contribute to the Atlantic Slave trade in periods 1450 - 1750?
a. Cash crops contributed to the Atlantic Slave trade because they increase the labor of slaves. Cash crops are crops that are grown for the sole purpose of being sold on the market or being exported to foreign nations all to make profit. These crops were usually grown on a plantation by indentured servants, people who sign up for hard labor until freedom, and enslaved africans, ones who were kidnapped and work till their death.
c. Cash crops were first cultivated in Jamestown, an english colony that settled in 1607 on the James River and was founded by John Cabot. This use of crops became popular as it was used in the Columbian exchange. The Columbian exchange was an exchange of resources,food,people, culture, ideas, religion, plants, animals , and diseases between the New and Old Worlds in 1492 (east and west). Afterwords, when European powers found africa, they kidnapped the people and began selling them for profit. Portugal began plantation farming in brazil and required a constant importation of slaves to work on them. Along with Portugal, other European states started colonies in the northern parts of the Americas and also needed slave imports. This trade of slaves, raw resources, and manufactured resources between Europe and the Americas was called the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Cash crops were popular with exporting and importing to and from Europe and the Americas.
e. Cash crops like tobacco and cotton contributed to this trade because when they were sold, plantations grew in size. Because of this, plantations needed more slaves to cultivate the new land and grow more cash crops. As a result, the plantation owners and the slave importers became very wealthy.
How did the principles of John Locke influence the American Revolution in periods 1750-1900?
a. John Locke was an early thinker during the time of enlightenment. His natural rights of life,liberty and property encouraged people to stand up against a greater power, the english colonies in america to protect their natural rights. Locke believed strongly in Empiricism, which is the belief that knowledge comes from your 5 senses and experiences you have. Rather than relying on information and principles in the past or a body of power.
c. In 1690, John Locke wrote An Essay Concerning HUman Understanding. This influential essay proposed that a child was born on a tabula rasa, a "blank slate", and waiting to be filled with knowledge by their environment and education. Locke believed that people had the right to revolt against the government when it became unjust or it did not protect the people's rights.
e. All of John Locke's beliefs in the good person caused a jumpstart in the american revolution. Though many other factors affected the colonist's views of Britain, Locke's principles about going against the government if it doesn't protect the people's rights inspired the colonists. Britain wasn't protecting their rights, nor were they following the principles. Britain allowed soldiers to stay in citizen's homes which went against the principle of pursuit of property. Britain also increased taxes to pay off war debt which went against laissez-faire, an approach in which the government reduces their economic intervention, and liberty. Along with many other events that fueled the english colonists anger during the 1770s. But John Locke's view told the colonists that they weren't being treated right and that they had the power to revolt against their unjust government.