By 1400, there was a shifting balance between world civilizations. The international role of the Islam world, with the fall of the Abbasids and other Mongol disruptions, was in decline. The Ming dynasty of China attempted, for a time, to expand into the vacuum. The most dynamic contender was Western Europe. The West was not a major power, but important changes were occurring within its civilization. Italy, Spain, and Portugal took new leadership roles. The civilizations outside the international network, the Americas and Polynesia, also experienced important changes.
In the Middle East and North Africa, the once powerful civilizations of Byzantium and the Abbasids had crumbled. The Byzantine Empire was pressed by Ottoman Turks; Constantinople fell in 1453. The Abbasids were destroyed by the Mongols in 1258.
Social and Cultural Change in the Middle East.
By around 1300, Islamic religious leaders had won paramountcy over poets, philosophers, and scientists. A rationalist philosopher like Ibn-Rushd (Averroes) in Spain was more influential in Europe than among Muslims. Islamic scholarship focused on religion and legal traditions, although Sufis continued to emphasize mystical contacts with god. Changes occurred in economic and social life as landlords seized power over the peasantry. From 1100, peasants became serfs on large estates. As a result, agricultural productivity fell. Tax revenues decreased and Middle Eastern merchants lost ground to European competitors. The Islamic decline was gradual and incomplete. Muslim merchants remained active in the Indian Ocean, and the Ottoman Turks were beginning to build one of the world’s most powerful empires.
A Power Vacuum in International Leadership
The rise of the Ottomans did not restore Islam’s international vigor. The Turkish rulers focused on conquest and administration and awarded less attention to commerce. The result was a power beyond Ottoman borders. The Mongol dominions in Asia provided a temporary international alternative, but their decline opened opportunities for China and western Europe.
Chinese thrust and Withdrawal.
The Ming dynasty (1368-1644) replaced the Yuan and pushed to regain China’s previous borders. It established influence in Mongolia, Korea, Vietnam, and Tibet. In a new policy, the Ming mounted state-sponsored trading expeditions to India, the Middle East, and eastern Africa. The fleets, led by Chinese Muslim admiral Cheng Ho and others, were technological world leaders. Ming rulers halted the expeditions in 1433 because of their high costs and opposition from Confucian bureaucrats. Chinese merchants remained active in southeast Asian waters, establishing permanent settlements in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, but China had lost a chance to become a dominant world trading power. The Chinese, from their viewpoint, had ended an unusual experiment, returning to their accustomed inward-looking policies. The withdrawal opened opportunities for European expansion.
The small states of the West were still backward during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The staples of medieval culture, including the Catholic Church, were under attack. Philosophy had passed its creative phase. Warrior aristocrats lost their militaristic disarray. Growing population outstripped food supplies, and famines were a recurrent threat after 1300. The arrival of the deadly Black Death (bubonic plague) during the fourteenth century cost Europe one third of its population.
The West, despite the reverses, remained a dynamic society. Strengthened feudal monarchs provided effective governments. The Hundred Years’ War stimulated military innovation. In Spain and Portugal, regional rulers drove back Muslim occupiers. Urban economic growth continued to spur commerce, and the church accepted key capitalistic principles. Technology, especially in ironworking and timekeeping continued to progress.
Imitation and International Problems.
New opportunities for imitation occurred when the rise of the large and stable Mongol empire provided access to Asian knowledge and technology. Western elites sought Asian luxury products, paying for them by exporting raw materials. The ensuring unfavorable trading balance had to be made up in gold. By 1400, gold shortage threatened the economy with collapse. The rise of the Ottoman Empire and other Muslim successes further threatened Europe’s balance of trade with Asia. The reaction included the expansion in the Adriatic of the city-state of Venice and the beginning of explorations to by pass Muslim-dominated routes to Asia.
Secular Directions in the Italian Renaissance
A final ingredient of the West’s surge was internal change. The Renaissance, a cultural and political movement grounded in urban vitality and expanding commerce, began in Italy during the fourteenth century. The earlier phases involved literary and artistic themes more friendly to the secular world than the previous religiously oriented outlook had been. Artists and writers became more concerned with personal reputation and glory. In commerce, merchants sought new markets. City-state governments, eager for increased revenue, supported their expansion.
The Renaissance, above all, was a cultural movement. It began in Florence and focused on literature and the arts. The movement stressed stylistic grace and a concern for a code of behavior for urban gentlemen. There was innovation in music and the visual arts. Painters realistically portrayed nature and individuals in religious and secular themes and introduced perspective. The early Renaissance did not represent a full break from medieval tendencies. It had little effect outside of Italy, and in Italy it focused on high culture and was little concerned with science. Still, the Renaissance marked the beginning of important changes in Western development. The developing scope of Italian commerce and shipping; ambitious, revenue-seeking city-state; and sailors of the Renaissance goal of personal glory set the stage for future expansion.
The Iberian Peninsula also was a key center for change. Spanish and Portuguese Christian military leaders had for centuries been pushing back the borders of Islam. Castile and Aragon established regional monarchies after 1400; they united through royal marriage in 1469. Iberian rulers developed a religious and military agenda; they believed they had a mission to convert or expel Muslims and Jews and to maintain doctrinal purity. Close links formed between church and state. The changes stimulated the West’s surge into wider world contacts.
European efforts to explore the Atlantic began in the late thirteenth century. After early discoveries, a rapid move was made to a colonial system.
Early Explorations.
The Genoese Vivaldi brothers in 1291 had vanished after passing the Strait of Gibraltar in search of a route to the “Indies.” Other Genoese explorers reached the Canary Islands, the Madeiras, and perhaps the Azores during the fourteenth century. Vessels from Spain sailed southward along the West African coast as far as Sierra Leone. Technological barriers hindered further exploration until 1430. Europeans solved problems through building better ships and learning from the Arabs the use of the Chinese compass and astrolabe. European mapmaking also steadily improved.
The Portuguese and Spanish began to exploit the discovered island territories of the Azores, Madeiras, and Canaries. Prince Henry of Portugal, motivated by a combination of intellectual curiosity, religious fervor, and financial interest, reflected many of the key factors then stimulating European expansion. Land grants were given to colonist who brought along Western plants, animals, and diseases. They began a laboratory for later European imperialism. Large estates produced cash crops-sugar, cotton, tobacco – for Western markets. Slaves were introduced for crop cultivation. The developments were modest, but their patterns established precedents for the future.
The international framework developing during the postclassical period left out many regions and peoples. The Americas and Polynesia were not part of the new international exchange. Some of their societies experienced new problems that placed them at a disadvantage when experiencing outsider intervention.
Both the Aztec and Inca empires experienced difficulties after 1400. Aztec exploitation of their subject peoples roused resentment and crated opportunities for outside intervention. The Inca system created tensions between central and local leadership, stresses exacerbated by imperial overextension. The complications stemming from European invasion changed all of the developing dynamics of the peoples of the Americas.
Polynesian culture between the seventh and 1400 experienced spurts of migration and conquest that spread peoples far beyond the initial base in the Society Islands. One migration channel brought Polynesians to the Hawaiian Islands. After 1400, Hawaiian society was cut off from Polynesia. In Hawaii, the newcomers, living from agriculture and fishing, spread widely across the islands; pigs were introduced from the Society Islands. Warlike regional kingdoms were formed. In them a complex society emerged in which priests and nobles enjoyed special privileges over commoners. Rich oral traditions preserved their cultural values.
The presence of ethnocentric outlooks in most cultures creates problems of interpretation in world history. The practices of foreign peoples often are regarded as inferior. Although many civilizations looked down on others, the present power of Western standards makes ethnocentrism a real issue. It is necessary to remain open-minded when thinking about other cultures and to consider how their patterns are the result of their particular historical development.
A second channel of migration brought settlers to New Zealand perhaps as early as the eighth century. The Polynesians adapted to the different environment, producing an expanding population and developing the most elaborate Polynesian art. Tribal military leaders and priest dominated a society that possessed many slaves gained in warfare. The Polynesians did not work metal, but they created a vigorous economy based on agriculture and domestic animals. They produced a rich oral tradition. As in Hawaii, all the accomplishments were achieved in isolation from the rest of the world.
Clearly, the ear around 1400 was a time of transition in world history. It marked the most significant shift since the fall of the classical empires. The rising of the West was part of a series of complex events all over the world. There were shifts in international trade leadership, in power relationships, and civilization dynamism. The changes even affected societies where existing patterns endured. Although sub-Saharan Africa continued along independent paths of evolution long after 1400, the altering world patterns were drawing Africans into a new relationship with Europe.
Changes and continuities affected many societies in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Muslim traders and missionaries continued to be active, but the Mongols introduced a new set of contacts. Subsequent Mongol decline returned attention to trade in the Indian Ocean. The question of leadership in global contacts was in flux in 1450. African merchants continued to rely on interactions with the Middle East. Western Europe’s position was strengthening . Southeast Asia was increasingly drawn into trade and missionary activity.
Ibn-Rushd (Averroes): Iberian Muslim philosopher; studied Greek rationalism; ignored among Muslims but influential in Europe.
Ming Dynasty: Replaced Mongol Yuan dynasty in China in 1368; lasted until 1644; initially mounted large trade expeditions to southern Asia and Africa; later concentrated on internal development within China.
Zhenghe: Muslim Chinese seaman; commanded expeditions throughout the Indian Ocean.
Black Death: Fourteenth century bubonic plague; decimated populations in Asia an d Europe.
Renaissance: Cultural and political elite movement beginning in Italy circa 1400; based on urban vitality and expanding commerce; produced literature and art with distinctly more secular priorities than those of the European Middle Ages.
Portugal, Castile, and Aragon: Regional Iberian kingdoms; participated in reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims; developed a vigorous military and religious agenda.
Francesco Petrarch: Italian author and humanist; a major literary figure of the Renaissance.
Vivaldi brothers: Genoese explorers who attempted to find a Western route to the “Indies;” precursors of European thrust into southern Atlantic.
Vasco da Gama: Portuguese explorer; first European to reach India by sea around Africa.
Henry the Navigator: Portuguese prince; sponsored Atlantic voyages; reflected the forces present in late postclassical Europe.
Ethnocentrism: Judging foreigners by the standards of one’s own group; leads to problems in interpreting world history.
Important “Big Picture” concepts to understand:
A response to the statement that the relative rise of the West after the fourteenth century was not so much as result of Western innovation as the decline of civilizations in the Middle East and Asia.
The statement is justified with respect to the changes occurring in the Middle East and China, but only so far as it is recognized that change rather than absolute decline took place in those regions. IN the Middle East, the end of the Abbasids, the rise of the Seljuk Turks, and the disruption of the Mongol empires did not cause total decline. The Ottomans began building their future major empire. The Muslim trade empire disintegrated, since the Ottomans were less interested in commerce than their predecessors were. This opened the door for Western trade expansion. IN China, there was no political disruption of traditional centralization under the Ming; there was a brief effort to expand Chinese trade throughout Asia. The Chinese withdrawal in 1433 left opportunities for the West. It can be argued that Western advances were the result of perceived weaknesses; an unfavorable balance of trade with other civilizations and a fear of Ottoman expansion led to exploration and new trade routes.
What differences were there between the world of 1250 and the world of 1450? The demise of the Mongol empires led to the disruption of the links connecting the civilizations of the East. There was relative decline in the Middle East as the great trade empire fragmented. The rise of the Ottoman Empire, with its political center in Asia Minor and southeast Europe, was a major political factor. In Eastern Europe, Russian independence from the Mongols created a new civilization. In China under the Ming, traditionalism was reasserted after the expulsion of the Mongols. In the Americas, the Aztec and Inca empires were disintegrating from internal weaknesses. Polynesian groups remained culturally isolated and technologically primitive. In the West, the cultural forms of the Renaissance challenged medieval culture, and Westerners were beginning exploration and attempts to gain control of worldwide trade. The steps marked the beginning of change in international leadership and dynamism.
The _____________________________ was a Turkic government established in Asia Minor and eventually spreading throughout the Middle East following the retreat of the Mongols.
The ________________ dynasty was established in China following the overthrow of the Mongol Yuan dynasty.
The cultural and political movement that begin in Italy ca. 1400 and that created a literary and artistic style with distinctly more secular priorities was called the ________________
Two kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, ________________________________, pressed the reconquest of Spain from the Muslims.
One of the major literary figures of the western Renaissance, _________________ was an Italian author and humanist.
Two Genoese brothers who attempted to find a western route to the “Indies,” the ____________________________ disappeared in 1291.
The first cash crop introduced in the Americas to be imported by Europe was _________________________________, which had previously been imported from Asia.
The Polynesians who migrated to New Zealand, the __________________, successfully adapted to a colder and harsher climate than that of their original homeland.
The _____________________________, with their interlocking holdings in Eurasia, actively encouraged international travelers and exchanges of technology.
Despite its political and commercial roots, the renaissance was first and foremost a _____________________________ movement.
The rising Sufi movement and its emphasis on piety in Islam were both the cause and the result of the narrowing of intellectual life among the Muslims.
China had long emphasized internal development, amid some international isolation, while maintaining suspicion of merchant values and any policy that would unduly elevate commercial activity.
Italy was the center of initial Renaissance cultural definitions because it retained more contact with Roman tradition that did the rest of Europe.
Early Western colonization was based on small, single-family holdings seeking to establish agricultural self-sufficiency.
Unlike the civilizations of the Americas, Polynesia was not vulnerable to the importation of European diseases.
By 1300, religion became predominant in the Islamic Middle East.
Once the Mongol Empire fell, people were able to start using overland trade routes in Asia that had previously been too dangerous to travel.
Although the Hundred Years’ War was destructive, it stimulated military innovations that enhanced the power of centralized monarchies.
The Italian Renaissance involved a firm rejection of all religious works in favor of a humanistic approach.
The early Renaissance had a tremendous impact on almost all of Western Europe.
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