Unit 3 (1450-1700) Gunpowder Empires, Renaissance, Reformation Flashcards
Silk Road
-Network of trade routes from 130 BC to 1453 (Han Dynasty to Ottomans)
-Cities like Baghdad and Samarkand located along it
-Spread key innovations like gunpowder, compasses, paper, etc
Caravanserais
-Large inns along the silk road to house travelling merchants
Items traded on Silk Road
From East: Silk, Jade, precious stones, porcelain, tea, spices
From West: Horses, glassware, textiles, manufactured goods
Evolution of Silk Road Importance
-Height in the Tang Dynasty (700s) during the Chinese Golden Age
-Decreased when ocean trade became prominent in the late Song period
-Revived during the Pax Mongolica (1200s-1300s)
-By Ottoman rule and Age of Exploration, only used for local trade (other routes became more efficient)
Indian Ocean Trading Network
-Established before the classical period (500 bc)
-Height in 1000-12000 AD and a resurgence in 1400s
-Declined with he rise of Europe in the Age of Imperialism and steamship invention (1800s)
Key players on the IOTN
Africa:
-Raw materials (ivory, gold, animal skins)
-City-states (Kilwa, Sofala, Mombasa)
-Swahili (Bantu+Arabic)
Muslim traders:
-Horses, carpets, swords
-Formed diasporic communities (Gujarat)
-Arab dhow
-Astrolabe
Southeast Asia:
-Spices
-Malacca, Srivijiya, etc
India:
-Center of the IOTN
-Calicut (pepper) and Bombay ports
-Provided monsoon winds
China:
-Chinese junk ship
-Zheng He expeditions
Portugal and the IOTN
-In the 1500s, the Portuguese, with their gunpowder weapons, tried to monopolize it
-They failed but still taxed ships and made people buy a cartaz (trade license)
-Them and other European influence led to the decline of this trade network
Gunpowder Empires
Ottomans (1299-1922)
Safavids (1501-1736)
Mughals (1526-1858)
Origins of Ottoman Empire
-Mongols/Timur had already destroyed Abbasid Dynasty (Baghdad) and defeated the Seljuk Turks
-Mongols began the gunpowder trend
-Anatolia was left weak and ready for conquering
Osman I
-Most successful ghazi prince (emir)
-Ghazis were “warriors for Islam”
-Built a small state in Anatolia between 1300 and 1326
-West called him Othman and his followers Ottomans
What accounted for the Ottomans’ military success?
Gunpowder:
-Foot soldiers with muskets
-Bronze cannons to break through strong walls
Mehmet II (Mehmet the Conqueror)
-Attacked Constantinople when he was 21
-Breached the walls (first ever to do so)
-Turned the Hagia Sophia into the biggest mosque in the world
-Constantinople was now Istanbul and open to people of all religions and backgrounds
-Center of trade routes between east and west
-Legitimized Ottoman rule by claiming he was the new Roman Caesar (taking over the Byzantine empire)
Selim the Grim
-Came to power by overthrowing his father, murdering his brothers, executing his nephews, and killing all but one of his sons
-Defeated the Safavids of Persia at Chaldiram
-Captured Jerusalem, Mecca, and Medina (holiest Islamic cities)
-Conquered Cairo (ending Egyptian Mamluk Dynasty and taking the intellectual Islamic center)
-Secured the East so Suleiman could take the West
Suleiman I (Suleiman the Lawgiver)
-Selim’s son
-Ottoman empire reached its peak
-Came to power in 1520, ruled for 46 years
-Conquered Belgrade, Rhodes, Tripoli, North African coastline to Morocco, and Hungary
-Failed his Siege of Vienna so pulled back from central Europe
-Simplified the tax system and reduced the government bureaucracy which bettered citizens’ daily lives
-Interested in poetry, history, geography, math and architecture
Ottoman Harem
-Where the sultan and wives lived
-Where government ran
-Women often involved and tried to promote their sons
Roxelana
-Influential wife of Suleiman
-Got her son to be next Sultan
Janissaries
-Elite force of 30,000 men drawn from the people of conquered Christian territories (Ukraine and Russia mostly) under the devshirme system
-Could rise to high government posts
-Turned into a social class
Devshirme system
-Sultan’s army taking boys from their families, educating them, converting them to Islam, training them as soldiers
-Sometimes mother would bribe officials to take their sons so they could have a good future in the janissary corps
Millets
-Non-Muslim religious communities (Christians, Jews, etc)
-Given freedom to keep their own laws and practices because of the Quran’s teachings
-Head of each millet reported to the sultan and his staff
-Leads to Eastern European tension (groups never had to interact and learn to get along)
Mosque of Suleiman
-Designed by architect Sinan
-Masterpiece with domes and half domes
-The huge complex included schools, a college, library, bath, and hospital
-Shows cultural flourishing under Suleiman
Tax farming
-Ottoman decentralized tax system
-People bid on taxation rights
-Saved the empire money but got currupt
Tanzimat Reforms
-Ottoman attempt to reform in the 1830-70s
-Tried to modernize military, education, laws, government, etc
-Tried to be more secular
-Failed
Ottoman Decline
-Secession issues (incompetent rulers chosen)
-Military failure at Lepanto against Spain and Italy
-Nationalism (countries like Egypt, Greece, Serbia broke off )
-Empire was finally dissolved with the creation of Turkey after WWI
Isma’il I (1501-1524)
-Seized most of present day Iran starting in 1499 when he was only 12
-Took the ancient Persian title Shah (king) to start the Safavid Empire
-Made shi’a Islam the state religion and became a religious tyrant
-Lost to Ottomans at the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514
-Set the border between empires, current border between Iran and Iraq
Tahmasp (1524-1576)
-Son of Isma’il
-Learned from the defeat at Chaldiran
-Used artillery (cannons) to expand to the Caucasuses (northeast of Turkey)
-Brought Christians under Safavid rule
Shah Abbas (1587-1629)
-Abbas the great
-Similar slave army to janissaries
-Created a Safavid culture and golden age
-Tolerant
-Opened empire up to foreign influence in art
-Hired foreigners for gov jobs
-Made same mistake as Suleyman (left empire to incompetent grandson)
Safavid foreign influence
-Capital Esfahan
-Chinese tiles and Armenian carpets
-Chinese art
-Carpet industry (showed European influence in designs eventually)
Mughals
-Mainly of Turkic origin from Central Asia, some Mongol blood
-Name comes from Mongols
-Invaded India, starting with the north
-Sunni Muslims
Pre-Mughal India history
-Fighting between Hindus and Muslims
-Mahmud of Ghazni invades around 1000 AD with his Turkish armies, destroyed Hindu monuments, etc
-Delhi Sultanate (1200s-1500s), loose empire ruled by Turkish warlords
-Delhi destroyed by Timur in 1398 but eventually rebuilt
Rajputs
-“sons of kings”
-Ruled Muslim kingdoms in northwest India
Babur (1526-1530)
-Descended from Chinggis Khan and Timur
-Inherited a small kingdom in Uzbekistan/Tajikistan, but his elders took it away
-Built up an army and swept into India, laying groundwork for Mughal Empire
-Strong general and defeated much bigger armies led by Dehli sultans and Rajputs
Akbar (1556-1605)
-Firm defender of religious freedom, married Hindu, Christian, and Muslim women
-Abolished the jizya (tax on non-Muslims)
-Governed through a diverse bureaucracy of foreigners
-Graduated income tax
-Redistributed bureaucrats’ land after death
-Invaded Deccan plateau and allied with Rajputs
-Revived Hindu literature (Tulsi Das)
-Architecture with Hindu influence (Fatepur Sikri)
Languages in Mughal Empire
-Persian was the official language of the court and high culture
-Common people spoke Hindi (mix of Persian and a local language)
-Urdu language came out of the diverse Mughal armies (mix of Arabic, Perisan, and Hindi)
Jahangir and Nur Jahan (1605-1627)
-Jahangir was Akbar’s son
-Weak ruler, left state affairs to his wife Nur Jahan
-Made her father prime minister
-Rejected religious tolerance, only promoted Islam
-Ousted Jahangir’s son Khusrau
-He went to the Sikhs (blend of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sufism)
-Sikh leader Guru Arjun tortured to death and Sikhs become militant brotherhood because of it
Shah Jahan (1628-1658)
-Very cultured like his grandfather Akbar
-Built the Taj Mahal as a tomb for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal (cultural blending, Pietra Dura)
-People suffered under his rule due to famine and high taxes to fund his extravagance
-Third son Aurangzeb put him in prison to secure the throne
Aurangzeb (1658-1707)
-Master of military strategy and built the empire to its biggest size
-Power of the empire weakened however due to his oppression of the people
-Enforced Islamic laws like no drinking or gambling
-Appointed censors to make sure people prayed
-Reinstated jizya tax on non-Muslims, dismissed Hindus from top gov jobs, destroyed Hindu monuments
-Hindu Rajputs rebelled
-Marathas (militant Hindus) founded their own state
-Sikhs started their own state, Punjab
-Raised taxes on Hindu merchants to pay for these wars, led to even more rebellion
Mughal Decline
-Aurangzeb drained the empire’s resources and lost the people’s loyalty
-Millions died of famine while nobles lived in luxury
-Central state weakened (emperor became a figurehead while local Rajputs gained power)
-Europeans started to take hold of India
-Portuguese, Dutch, French and English (PDFE)
-Shah Jahan let English build a trading post at Madras, Aurangzeb handed them the port of Bombay
The Renaissance
1300-1600
-The rebirth of art and learning
-Began in northern Italy but took longer to spread to northern Europe because France and England were in the Hundred Years’ War (1337 to 1453)
-It started in Italy due to its cities (Crusades), wealthy merchants, bubonic plague (church decline), and classical heritage
Medici
-Powerful family with a fortune from trade and banking
-Cosimo de’ Medici was essentially a dictator of Florence for 30 years (1434-1464)
-Didn’t hold his own office but instead influenced rulers in exchange for loaning them money
-His grandson Lorenzo the Magnificent did the same thing starting in 1469
-Sponsored the arts by collecting manuscripts and opening their library to the public
Italy’s classical heritage
-Connections to Ancient Greece and Rome
-Scholars started studying the Latin manuscripts preserved in monasteries in 1300
-Reconquista
-When Constantinople fell to the Ottomans (1453), Byzantine scholars fled to Rome and brought Greek manuscripts with them
Humanism
-Focused on human potential and achievement
-Worldly values (don’t worry about heaven, live your life)
-Luxuries allowed, don’t need to live a simple, pious life
-Influenced art+architecture and popularized the study of classical subjects (history, literature, philosophy)
Renaissance art
-Continued the medieval trend of painting religious subjects but used more of a classical realistic style
-They also started painting prominent citizens
-The technique of perspective was also rediscovered
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
-Italian painter, sculpture, inventor, and scientist (true renaissance man)
-Tried to understand things, sketches in notebooks
-Mona Lisa and The Last Supper
Michelangelo (1475-1564)
-Italian
-Portrayals of the human body, showing force and heroic grandeur
-Sistine Chapel’s paintings, sculpted David and Pieta
Raphael (1483-1520)
-Learned from studying the works of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo
-Advanced realism
-Painted Madonna and the Child a lot
-Filled Pope Julius II’s library with frescoes
-One of them, “School of Athens” shows Classical and Renaissance figures together
Pope Julius II
-Huge patron of the arts
-Commissioned Raphael to paint his library
Francesco Petrarch
“Father of Humanism”
-Collected classical manuscripts
-Poet (Laura sonnets)
Niccolo Machiavelli
-Wrote a book called “The Prince”
-Political guidebook for gaining power and keeping it
-Said most people are selfish and corrupt, so a prince must be willing to trick his enemies and people for the greater good
-Not concerned with what was morally right, just what was politically effective
-“The ends justify the means”
Northern Renaissance
-Northern humanists were more interested in the religious ideas than secular themes in Italy
-Happened by artists studying in Italy and then returning as well as artists fleeing Italy (war)
Albrecht Durer
-German artist that traveled to Italy to study art
-Self portrait of himself as a Renaissance man
Jan van Eyck (late 1300s-1441)
-First great Flemish Renaissance painter
-Oil paint techniques
-Arnolfini Marriage Portrait
Thomas More (1478-1535)
-Christian humanist (human advances should still serve God)
-From England
-Wrote in Latin
-Wrote the book “Utopia” in 1516 which critiqued society
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
-“Greatest playwright of all time”
-Commanded the English language, showed understanding of human beings
-Humanism because commented on human nature and had classical themes/influences
History of printing
-Began in China with block printing
-China started moveable type printing (not practical because alphabet is so big)
-Block printing arrives in Europe in the 1200s
-Johann Gutenburg reinvents movable type (1440) and then invents the printing press (converted wine press) to print the Gutenburg Bible (1455)
Spread of printing/books
-Books became cheap enough for many to buy them
-Literacy increased, very advanced society
-Vernacular use increased in writing (more than just Latin scholars could read now)
-Bible printed in vernacular, more people made their own interpretations, demands for religious reforms
Causes of Reformation
-Renaissance emphasis on the individual and secular ideas challenged church authority
-Printing press spread secular themes
-Rulers resented pope’s attempts to control them
-Merchants hated paying church taxes to Rome
-Church corruption (not educated, didn’t follow vows, extravagant lives)
The Reformation
-Started by Martin Luther
-Movement for religious reform
-LEd to the founding of Christian churches who didn’t accept the pope’s authority
Martin Luther
-Became a monk in 1505
-Taught scripture at Wittenburg University in Saxony (Germany)
-Started the Reformation
The 95 Theses
-Published by Martin Luther
-Attacked “pardon-merchants” like Johann Tetzel who sold indulgences
-Posted on the castle church door in Wittenburg to foster debate with scholars
-Somebody took them to a printer and they spread across Germany
What ideas did Luther base his call for reform on?
-Salvation is only won by faith (not faith and good works)
-Church teachings based on Bible (pope and church traditions are false authorities)
-All people with faith are equal, priests not necessary to “interpret God”
Conflict due to Reformation
-German peasant revolt
-Protestant vs. Catholic prince war
-Thirty Years’ War
Peace of Augsburg (1535)
-End to the fighting between Catholic and Protestant German priests
-Managed by Charles V
-Each state’s ruler could choose their state’s religion
Henry VIII
-Needed a male heir so he wanted a divorce
-Pope didn’t allow it
-Changed the country to Protestantism
Act of Supremacy
-Passed by the Reformation Parliament
-Made the English king leader of England’s church (no longer the pope)
How did Henry VIII gain power/wealth after becoming supreme head of England’s church?
-Closing all the monasteries
-Seized their money and land (20% of all English land)
Henry VIII’s legitimate kids
Ruled after his death in 1547
Edward VI
-Mother was Jane Seymor (3rd wife)
-King at nine years old, lasted six years
-Protestants gained power
Mary I
-“Bloody Mary”
-Mother was Catherine of Aragon
-Returned English Church to pope’s rule
-Had Protestants killed
Elizabeth I
-Mother was Anne Boleyn
-Returned Protestantism
Elizabeth I
-Had the church return to Henry VIII’s setup
-Became head of the Anglican church
-Patron of the arts
-Elizabethan age (golden age)
Spanish Armada
-Led by Philip II of Spain because he was Catholic
-130 ships, 8,000 sailors, 19,000 soldiers
-England defeated them under Elizabeth I (with the help of bad weather)
John Calvin
-Calvinism (type of Protestantism)
-Predestination
-Rules about morality
-Puritans (England), Pilgrims (new world)
Catholic Reformation
“Counter-Reformation”
-Council of Trent
-Reforms (no indulgences, educated priests, stricter rules, missionary efforts)
-Slowed Protestant spread
Society of Jesus
-Jesuits
-Ignatius of Loyola
-Goal was to spread Catholicism around the world
-Part of the Catholic Reformation
