Unit 3 - Land-Based Empires c. 1450 - 1750

Question 1

Explain how and why various land-based empires developed and expanded from 1450 to 1750.

Answer 1

• Imperial expansion relied on the increased use of gunpowder + weaponry to establish large empires
• gunpowder empires:
  - russia (debatable)
  - ottoman
  - safavid
  - mughal
• other land-based empires:
  - qing china
  - songhai
  - states in eu
  - aztec
• eu:
  - early modern pd starts ~1450 = end of plagues, end of 100 Years’ War, printing press -> ↑ in literacy = getting better
  - mid class ↑ bc of ↑ trade
  - ↑ bureacracies as gov’t centralize
  - comes at cost of lords + churches
  - ex: monarchs remove nobles’ private armies in attempt to consolidate power
  - tudors in england, valois in france, isabella + ferdinand in spain
• russia:
  - ivan the terrible (actually great) expanded territory further east + took over mongol land
  - used GUNPOWDER
• ming -> qing:
  - overthrew mongol yuan + brought stability for 300 yrs
  - conquered mongolian lands in an attempt to expand but this backfired bc mongols don’t play
  - reinstatement of the great wall of china
  - manchus take over + establish qing dynasty in 1644
  - emperor kangxi took over taiwan, mongolia, & c. asia
  - after him, emp qianlong annexed xinjian (home of the Uyghur), installed dalai lama in tibet, & invaded nepal but failed w/ burma + vietnam, draining funds -> white lotus society comes back & rebelled against corrupt imperial bureacracy but qing repress it
• ottomans:
  - lasted 600 yrs + covered n. africa, anatolia, c. asia via GUNPOWDER
  - mehmed ii took control of byzantine’s constantinople -> istanbul = center of all trade routes -> vry prosperous
  - cathedral of st. sophia -> hagia sophia (mosque)
  - tried to take over venice, failed, but got a yrly tax from them
  - suleiman i tried to annex vienna twice, failed, but christian eu got scared bc of ottoman’s ability to send troops that deep into eu (peaked here: 1520-1566)
• safavids:
  - Ismail conquered most of persia and iraq via GUNPOWDER
  - made shi’a islam official religion of empire -> unified most of the population together but also pushed away the other major form of Islam: the Sunnis -> since ottomans = sunni, always at war w/ each other
• mughal empire:
  - 1520s, Babur founded in the Mughal Empire in India via GUNPOWDER
  - Akbar = best leader
  - flourished bc of arab traders who specialized in spices, precious stones, tropical food -> gold + silver
• fall of gunpowder empires were bc of their:
  - failure to modernize economies
  - failure to modernize militaries

Question 2

Explain how rulers used a variety of methods to legitimize and consolidate their power in land-based empires from 1450 to 1750. How did they fund stuff?

Answer 2

• dev of bureaucracy + military for centralization:
  - ottoman devshirme: took christian boys from balkans as slaves + educated them + indoctrinated them to become loyal -> joined gov’t or janissaries (elite warriors)
  - salaried samurai in japan
  - tokugawa shogunate = consolidation of power thru transferring daimyo’s power to shogun + required daimyo to live in capital so shogun could watch them
  - chinese imperial bureacracy
  - civil service exams reintroduced under ming
  - england’s justices of the peace: sent out to diff counties to carry out will of the monarch
  - consolidation of power led to parliament creating the eng bill of rights which granted liberties to ppl
• rulers used religion to legitimize their rule:
  - Aztec practice of human sacrifice
  - European notions of divine right
  - france followed absolutism (louis xiv)
  - built palace of versailles + made nobles there so he could keep an eye on them
  - Songhai promotion of Islam (askia the great made it official religion)
• rulers used art + architecture to legitimize their rule:
  - Qing imperial portraits
  - Incan sun temple of Cuzco
  - Taj Mahal built by Shah Jahan
  - European palaces, such as Versailles
  - ottoman miniature paintings + sulaymaniyah mosque + coffeehouses
• rulers collected taxes to fund stuff:
  - Mughal zamindar (paid gov’t officials of military caste) tax collection
  - Ottoman tax farming (non-gov’t officials collect taxes in villages for gov’t, payment = keep some $)
  - aztec tribute lists
  - Ming practice of collecting taxes in hard currency

Question 3

Explain continuity and change within the various
belief systems during the period from 1450 to 1750. (scientific rev too)

Answer 3

• CONTINUITY: The predominant religions of earlier periods- Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and others- continued to dominate the large land-based empires between 1450 and 1750
• CHANGES:
  - Protestant Reformation: a religious reform movement that swept through Europe in the 1500s + marked a break w/ existing christian traditions
  - roman catholic church gets more power -> corruption:
  - sale of indulgences
  - simony (sale of clergy positions)
  - usury (high interest rate on loans)
  - clergy spent a lot of time in worldy affairs
  - german monk Martin Luther comes along + voices his grievances w/ the 95 Theses -> excommunicated
  - major point abt faith alone is necessary for salvation (‘sola fide’)
  - his ideas spread thx to printing press -> reaches calvin who believes in the elect + predestination
  - henry viii wants son but catherine of aragon only gave daughters so he wants a divorce but pope said nope so henry, annoyed, consults w/ parliament -> breaks from catholic church + creates anglican church + declares himself head
  - some princes in northern germany convert to protestantism bc frustrated w/ power of church -> disputes among catholic princes -> peace of augsburg
  - king henry iv in france issues edict of nantes protecting huguenots but later revoked by louis xiv
  - 30 years’ war: catholics vs protestants
  - end w/ peace of westphalia
  - Counter-Reformation to win back catholicism:
  - council of trent eliminated some corruption but reaffirmed most practices
  - inquisition rooted out ‘heretics’
  - jesuits (society of jesus) = missionaries started by ignatius de loyola
• Scientific Rev:
  - early 1600s, scientific thought spreads thru eu + represents more secular outlook (major change) based on logic
  - francis bacon comes up w/ empiricism: back up hypotheses w/ evidence (scientific method)
  - principia by newton talks abt gravity -> leads to enlightenment later on
• Political rivalries btwn the Ottoman and Safavid empires intensified the split within Islam between Sunni and Shi’a
• Akbar in mughal empire supported sikhism (hinduism + sufism) by giving land grants
  - akbar tries to ease tensions btwn hindus + muslims by giving hindus positions in gov’t + married hindu wives + exempted them from jizya tax + creating his own syncretic faith: din-i-ilahi which only had 21 followers
  - tried to outlaw child marriages + sati but failed