Factors that Contributed to the Abolition of Slavery The philosophers of the European Enlightenment wrote about the equal rights of

men and of their natural rights such as life, liberty and property As Enlightenment ideas grew in popularity, so, too, did the idea that all men were

created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights Thus the adaptation of the Enlightenment idea challenging established social

hierarchies contributed to the growth of the movement to abolish slavery in the Atlantic world

Social hierarchies based on nobility and birth were not attractive in this Age of Reason

The European Enlightenment changed attitudes regarding privilege and power

The Haitian Revolution The French Revolution is most closely associated with the revolution in Haiti Prior to its independence, Haiti was a French colony known as St. Domingue, its

slave-based sugar and coffee industries had been fast-growing and successful, and it had become the most profitable colony in the Americas

The French Revolution had a great impact on St. Domingue as its white minority split into Royalist and Revolutionary factions while the mixed-race population campaigned for civil rights and the slaves of northern St. Domingue organized and planned a massive rebellion which began on August 22, 1791

Toussaint L’Ouverture led the rebellion and his successor, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, ordered the execution of whites remaining after the Napoleonic attempts to reconquer St. Domingue and reimpose slavery

The colony declared independence on January 1, 1804

Similarities – North American and South American Revolutions The North and South American independence movements of the late eighteenth and

early nineteenth centuries shared revolutionary demands based on Enlightenment political ideas

Enlightenment thinkers throughout Europe questioned traditional authority and embraced the notion that humanity could be improved through rational change

New ideas of government and law circulated, ideas such as popular sovereignty, consent of the governed, and natural rights

The American and French Revolutions were directly inspired by Enlightenment ideals

The French Revolution of 1789 was the culmination of the High Enlightenment vision of throwing out the old authorities to remake society along rational lines, but it devolved into bloody terror that showed the limits of its own ideas and led, a decade later, to the rise of Napoleon – still, its goal of egalitarianism attracted the admiration of the early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and inspired both the Haitian war of independence

Social Darwinism Theory that persons, groups, and races are subject to laws of natural selection

Social Darwinists held that the life of humans in society was a struggle for existence  ruled by “survival of the fittest”

Social Darwinism was used to example the rise of monopolists in the United States – monopolists were the fittest members of the business world and naturally rose to the top as opposed to using unfair practices to dominate the market and imperialists conquered because they were superior to conquered peoples

Of course, this was a misapplication of Charles Darwin’s ideas regarding natural selection and survival of the fittest as Darwin was writing of species as opposed to individuals or “races” within species

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution had the greatest role in providing a justification for imperialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Effect of Vasco da Gama’s Voyages The Portuguese nobleman Vasco da Gama sailed from Lisbon, Portugal in 1497 on

a mission to reach India and open a sea route from Europe to the East After sailing down the western coast of Africa and rounding the Cape of Good

Hope, his expedition made numerous stops in Africa before reaching the trading post of Calicut, India, in May 1498

In 1948, the Portuguese established an all-water route to India by circumnavigating Africa thereby entering the Indian Ocean trade network

A major long-term effect of Vasco da Gama’s voyage to India in the late 1490s was it led to the integration of European merchants into the Indian Ocean economy

Europeans were now actively participating in the Indian Ocean economy

The Triple Entente in World War I In the early 1900s, France, Russia, and Great Britain made up the Triple Entente Earlier, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy formed the Triple Alliance The nations of the Triple Alliance agreed to support each other if attacked by either

France or Russia A general fear of the growth of the German military led to the formation of the

Triple Entente The Alliance system was one of the causes of World War I as what began as a

conflict between two parties in the Balkans erupted into a conflict of many nations

Peasant Revolts and the Dynastic Cycle The Mandate of Heaven or the right to rule stated clearly that the emperor and the

dynasty ruled as long as the emperor was competent – in other words, as long as the country functioned well

If famines, plagues, floods, and war befell China, then the emperor and his dynasty had lost the Mandate of Heaven

Losing the Mandate of Heaven justified rebellions and often rebellions were peasant rebellions as peasants suffered the most when government failed to provide for its people

Indeed, the fall of the Chinese dynasties between 600 and 1450 was often aided by peasant revolts

To lose the Mandate of Heaven was to justify rebellion which might lead to the collapse of a dynasty and then the creation of a new dynasty as the dynastic cycle continued

The Bolshevik’s New Economic Policy under Lenin Vladimir Lenin was the leader of the Bolshevik or Communist Revolution in Russia

in 1917 While he favored government ownership of property – as a result of a civil war

between communists and non-communists – the economy had suffered Lenin implemented the New Economic Policy to improve the economy and he did

this by allowing some elements of free market capitalism in the economy Yes, Lenin and leading Bolshevik elements sought to bring back free enterprise and

the profit motive in order to jump-start an economy severely dislocated by World War I and the Russian Civil War

Lenin’s New Economic Policy allowed peasants who had previously been forced by the Communists to hand over all their produce to the war effort were now allowed to keep some of their produce to sell for profit - some (the kulaks) became quite rich; in addition, small traders were allowed to set up businesses

Leader of the Bolshevik Party after Lenin Stalin was the political figure who eventually emerged to lead the Bolshevik Party

after the death of Lenin Vladimir Lenin led the Russian Revolution and founded the Soviet state; following

his death in 1923, he was succeeded by Joseph Stalin, who adopted more dictatorial methods of governing than Lenin

Joseph Stalin was the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1929 to 1953

Under Stalin, the Soviet Union was transformed from a peasant society into an industrial and military superpower

However, Stalin ruled by terror, and millions of his own citizens died during his brutal reign.

Facts about the Ottoman Empire The Ottomans originally were seminomadic Turks The Ottomans had an elite fighting force of slave troops made of Christian boys -

Janissaries In the Ottoman Empire, Islamic religious scholars served administrative functions The Ottoman period spanned more than 600 years and came to an end only in 1922,

when it was replaced by the Turkish Republic and various successor states in southeastern Europe and the Middle East 

At its height the empire encompassed most of southeastern Europe to the gates of Vienna, including present-day Hungary, the Balkan region, Greece and parts of Ukraine; portions of the Middle East now occupied by Iraq, Syria, Israel, and Egypt; North Africa as far west as Algeria; and large parts of  the Arabia Peninsula

Similarities – Inca Empire and Roman Empires

Both empires were able to integrate distant provinces through extensive roadways Yes, it is said that all roads lead to Rome but it could also be said that all roads lead

to Cusco [Cuzco] The Romans and the Incas built many roads to connect their empires and control

their subjects The Inca road began at the center of the Inca universe: Cusco, a city in the Peruvian

Andes, said to be built in the shape of a crouching puma It actually was not a single road but a network of royal roads, an instrument of

power designed for military transport, religious pilgrimages and to move supplies

Champa Rice A rapid increase of East Asian populations was an important long-term

demographic impact of the spread of rice varieties in East Asia during the period circa 600 C.E. to 1200 C.E.

During Song Dynasty times, new developments in rice cultivation – especially the introduction of new strains of rice from what is now Central Vietnam, along with improved methods of water control and irrigation – spectacularly increased rice yields

Farmers developed many varieties of rice, including drought resistant and early ripening varieties, as well as rice suited for special purposes such as brewing

Drought-resistant rice developed in Champa, a kingdom in what is now Vietnam Champa rice grew even when the rains did not arrive

Japanese Expansion after 1914 The Japanese most vigorously sought to achieve territorial expansion in the years

following 1914 in China In the 1930s, China was a divided country – in 1927 Chiang Kai-Shek had formed a

Nationalist Government – the Kuomintang (the KMT), but his dictatorial regime was opposed by Mao Zedong’s Communists (CCP) and civil war between the Communists and Nationalists erupted in 1930

In 1931, Japan, eager for the vast natural resources to be found in China and seeing her obvious weakness, invaded and occupied Manchuria

Japan created a nominally independent state called Manchukuo, but the Chinese Emperor who ruled it was a puppet of the Japanese

In the 1930’s the Chinese suffered continued territorial encroachment from the Japanese, using their Manchurian base, and the whole north of the China was gradually taken over

The Compass Some world historians have argued that the growth of European influence in the

period 1450-1750 was due in large part to non-European inventions such as the compass

In Europe, the magnetic compass first appeared in Amalfi, Italy, around the turn of the 14th century

But it is not known if the magnetic compass was also invented in the West or if it migrated to Europe along trade routes from China

However, it is clear that because sea trade and military advantage were of far more strategic importance to Western nations, they pushed the technology of the magnetic compass far more intensely than did the Chinese

The European Age of Exploration relied greatly on the magnetic compass

Dates of Abolition of Slavery in the United States and Abolition of Serfdom in Russia Slavery and serfdom were abolished in the 1860s in the United States and Russia The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution formally abolished slavery in

the United States in 1865 The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution declared that “Neither slavery

nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”

The emancipation of the serfs formally occurred in Russia in 1861 Tsar Alexander II issued the proclamation of the emancipation of the serfs

Nationalism and Ethnic Minorities in the Austro-Hungarian Empire The Austro-Hungarian Empire was a multiethnic empire Many of the ethnic groups within the empire longed for their own nations, their own

countries Indeed rebellious ethnic minorities in the Russian, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian

Empires during the late nineteenth century were motivated primarily by nationalism

Nationalists in the Austro-Hungarian Empire wanted one nation for one culture or one ethnic group; they did not want to be a minority group within a multiethnic empire

The Ottoman Empire and Russian Empire were also multiethnic empires with groups wanting their own nations – separatists and nationalists who longed for their own homelands

The Meiji Reformation The policies of the Meiji reformers brought about the promotion of rapid

industrialization in Japan In 1868, the emperor was restored to power and feudalism was abolished in Japan The Meiji Restoration was a result of Commodore Perry’s ending of the Tokugawa

policy of isolationism and the realization that the West had risen in power and that Japan must change in order to ensure its independence

During the Meiji Restoration, the modernization and industrialization of Japan occurred

Japan became a modern industrial nation and eventually an imperial power too

The Cult of Domesticity In the cult of domesticity, a woman must be a perfect wife and mother A woman is a consumer, a shopper for self and family A woman’s sphere is the domestic sphere, the sphere of home and family and

separate from the work world of men

It was the cult of true womanhood in the 1800s and was largely accepted in middle and upper-class families in the West

The Industrial Revolution ushered in a new era in gender relations in America and Europe, an era in which men became the ones who left the house to make money and the women stayed behind to care for it. 

Facts about the Tokugawa Shogunate After 1603, the Tokugawa Shogunate disallowed any Japanese from traveling

outside the home islands The Tokugawa Shogunate prohibited trade with Western nations, prohibited

Japanese from going abroad to trade, and reaffirmed Japan’s official relations with China and Korea within the East Asian international structure

Following the “Act of Seclusion” (1636) setting forth these conditions, Japan was effectively “secluded” from interchange with Western Europe (but not with East Asia) for the next 200 years

Only the Dutch retained a small outpost on an island in Nagasaki Harbor; books obtained from the Dutch were translated into Japanese and “Dutch learning” formed the basis of the Japanese knowledge of developments in the West throughout this period

To prevent division among the Japanese people [as missionaries often accompanied European traders] and to maintain the Great Peace that the Tokugawa shoguns had created, Japan was isolated during the Tokugawa Shogunate

The Spread of Disease on Mongol Trade Routes The Mongols conquered the lands of the Silk Roads and therefore secured these

important trade routes Trade flourished on the Silk Roads due to the Pax Mongolia [period of peace in the

Mongol Empire] as the Mongols protected travelers and merchants on the Silk Roads

Of course, as trade increased – more people traveled – and more germs spread Trade along the Mongol road system across Central Asia was a major contributing

factor to the spread of the plague to Cairo, Beijing, and Florence in the fourteenth century

The Black Death spread on Mongol trade routes

Dutch Boers and Afrikaners in South Africa South Africa is an African country that continued to have a sizeable segment of the

population with European ancestry in the 1990s The first Europeans to settle in South Africa were the Dutch Boers; their

descendants were known as Afrikaners The British assumed control of the colony and came into conflict with the Dutch

Boers; eventually the British left and handed political power to the white minority For many years, South Africa was ruled by a white minority that denied the Black

South African majority equal rights

A system known as apartheid or “apartness” was created that led to racial segregation in South Africa; Black South Africans were denied the vote; and whites controlled the most profitable lands

China and Global Trade before Introduction of Indian Opium in China by British As global trade expanded in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, China

exported more than it imported, thus absorbing a large amount of the world’s silver Europeans greatly desired Chinese goods and the Chinese did not desire European

goods; to pay for Chinese goods, Europeans used silver and as such, silver flowed into China and out of Europe

This did not please the Europeans and by the early 1800s, a “solution” was found in the sale of opium

Once opium – a highly addictive drug – was introduced to China, silver began to flow out of China

Yet – remember that in the 1500s and 1600s – silver flowed into China!

Columbian Exchange and Trade Connections between Americas and Europe, Africa, and Asia

The Columbian Exchange was the great global cultural that began with the arrival of Columbus in the Americas

The Columbian Exchange was the exchange of crops, peoples, diseases, and livestock between the Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia

From 1500 to 1750, the Americas had sustained economic interactions with Europe, Africa, and East Africa as crops from the Americas flowed to these lands

Potatoes and corn greatly benefitted the peoples of Europe, Africa, and East Asia [China, Korea, and Japan] as these highly caloric crops greatly increased populations

Yet the Columbian Exchange had tragic effects on Native American Indians who died from new diseases introduced by Europeans such as smallpox and to enslaved Africans who replaced dying Native American Indians on plantations in the Americas

The Opium Wars The British bought many Chinese goods and its silver flowed into China to pay for

these goods; however, the British wanted the Chinese to buy British goods and have some Chinese silver flow into Britain

The Chinese, however, did not want British goods and even said, “Your country has nothing we need”

When the British discovered that the poppy plant grew in their colony of India and that it could be transformed into opium, a highly addictive drug, then the British had a product that addicts would need and flooded the Chinese market with opium addicting many Chinese to the drug

A such, opium linked Great Britain, India, and China in the nineteenth century It also led to the first Opium War in 1839 when the Chinese tried to abolish the

trade and the British sought to continue the trade

The Value of Myths for Historians Myths are useful historically because myths provide insights into the values and

traditions of their societies A myth is a traditional story of possible historical events that serves to reveal the

world view of a people or explain a practice or belief but a myth cannot be proven – it is believed as opposed to factually proven

Yet even though a myth is not factually proven, it reveals what the people of a culture value – what they believe in

As such, myths are very useful for they reveal the values, morals, and ideas of a culture

Historians use myths to understand the cultural point of view of a group of people

Facts about the Phoenicians The Phoenicians were a seafaring people from modern-day Lebanon They also are credited for their development of an alphabetic writing system The Phoenicians’ alphabetic writing system was adapted by the Greeks and

eventually adapted by the English An alphabet is based on symbols for the sounds of a language as opposed to a word

– thus, an alphabet is easier to learn as there are fewer sounds in any language than number of words

The Phoenicians were a people who occupied the coast of the Levant (eastern Mediterranean); their major cities were Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, and Arwad – all were fiercely independent, rival cities and, unlike the neighboring inland states, the Phoenicians represented a confederation of maritime traders rather than a defined country

Islamic Transmittal of Greek and Arab Learning to Medieval Europe via Islamic Spain The transmittal of Greek and Arab learning was the most important effect of

Islamic expansion on the civilization of medieval Europe The Muslims were experiencing a golden age when the Western Europeans were

experiencing a medieval period marked by frequent warfare (particularly in the early years of the Middle Ages) and a decline in education

The one country in Western Europe conquered by the Muslims was Spain – Islamic Spain flourished during the Middle Ages and became a cultural bridge to Western Europe – allowing ideas from the Islamic golden age to eventually enter the region

The Muslims had preserved Greek and Roman learning – at a time when Germanic invaders were burning libraries in Rome

Thus, coupled with their great advances in mathematics and science and their preservation of Greek and Roman learning, Islamic expansion brought new ideas and old but forgotten ideas to Western Europe

Islamic civilization experienced a golden age under the Abbasid Dynasty, which ruled from the mid-8th century until the mid-13th century

The Pax Mongolica Having conquered a vast empire in Asia, the Mongols were able to guarantee the

security and safety of travelers

There were some conflicts among the various Mongol Khanates, but recognition that trade and travel were important for all the Mongol domains meant that traders were generally not in danger during the 100 years or so of Mongol domination and rule over Eurasia

Yes, during the 13th century, long-distance trade in Eurasia increased primarily because The Mongols worked to secure trade routes and ensure the safety of merchants passing through their vast territories

The Mongols promoted inter-state relations through the so-called “Pax Mongolica” – the Mongolian Peace

In China, under Mongol rule, merchants had a higher status than they had in traditional China and during their [merchants’] travels, they could rest and secure supplies through a postal-station system that the Mongols had established

Reason for Sunni and Shi’a Split The split between Sunni and Shi’a Muslims occurred as a result of disagreement

over leadership succession issues Muhammad, the founder of Islam and the last prophet according to Islam [the “Seal

of the Prophets”] had died unexpectedly without naming a successor Having no sons, a question arose over who the legitimate ruler of the Islamic umma

or community should be One group of Muslims, the Sunni [the majority of Muslims] believed that any pious

Muslim man could rule the umma The Shi’a, however, disagreed as they believed that only a descendant of the

Prophet Muhammad – through his son-in-law ‘Ali – could rule

Facts about the Abbasid Caliphate In Abbasid times, the Arabs learned from China the technique of making paper The battle of Talas occurred in 751 between the Abbasid Caliphate’s Arab-Persian

army and the Chinese army and is often said to be one of the most important battles in Central Asian history because it marked a decisive point in  history in deciding that Central Asia would come under the influence of the Muslim world and not the Chinese

The Abbasid caliphate in 751 was in its ascendency, having replaced the Umayyad Caliphate in 750

The Abbasid and the Chinese armies met along the Talas river in Central Asia The battle also had dramatic repercussions for the history of technology as well,

because Chinese prisoners, captured at Talas and subsequently taken to Samarkand, taught the Arabs there how to manufacture paper, thus introducing that revolutionary technique into the Islamic world

The Five Pillars of Islam and the Eightfold Path of Buddhism The Five Pillars are to Muslims as the Noble Eightfold Path is to Buddhists In contrast to many other religions, the basic practice of Islam is simplicity itself –

the believer worships God directly without the intercession of priests or clergy or saints

The believer’s duties are summed up in five simple rules, the Five Pillars of Islam: Belief, Worship, Fasting, Almsgiving, and Pilgrimage.

The first Pillar of Islam is for the believer to testify, in Arabic, that “There is no god but God and that Muhammad is His messenger.”

The second Pillar of Islam is to worship God five times a day – at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and nightfall; to do so, the believer washes according to a particular ritual and prostrates himself or herself on the ground in the direction of Mecca, while reciting certain phrases

The third Pillar of Islam is to abstain from food and drink, as well as smoking and sex, between sunrise and sunset during the month of Ramadan, the ninth month in the Muslim calendar

The fourth Pillar of Islam is to give alms (zakat) to the poor; Muslims are supposed to donate a fixed amount of their property to charity every year

The fifth Pillar of Islam is to undertake the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in one’s lifetime, if one is able, during the first days of Dhu'l-Hijja, the twelfth month of the Muslim calendar

Facts about Sufis Sufis were Islamic mystics Sufis were very effective missionaries because they tolerated observances of some

non-Islamic customs Sufis sought and emotional and mystical union with Allah and used emotional

sermons and song and dance to encourage devotion Sufism is a mystical Islamic belief and practice in which Muslims seek to find the

truth of divine love and knowledge through direct personal experience of God Sufism consists of a variety of mystical paths that are designed to ascertain the

nature of humanity and of God and to facilitate the experience of the presence of divine love and wisdom in the world

Reasons for the Crusades The Crusades began in 1095, when armies of Christians from Western Europe

responded to Pope Urban II’s plea to go to war against Muslim forces in the Holy Land

There were many reasons for the Crusades like racial and religious prejudice, geopolitical conflict between Europe and the Middle East, religious fervor, and the personal greed of many Europeans to gain wealth and land

The Black Death, however, was not a reason for or a cause of the Crusades because the Black Death occurred after the Crusades

The Black Death entered Western Europe on trades routes in 1347 but the Crusades began in 1095

Near the end of the 13th century, the rising Mamluk dynasty in Egypt drove the European invaders out of Palestine and Syria in 1291

The Crusades are considered successful failures in that the Crusaders did not permanently regain control of the Holy Land but gained many valuable ideas and products from the Muslims and their golden age

Reasons for Successful Expansion of Ottoman Empire in the period 1450 to 1600 The Ottomans’ adoption of the latest gunpowder and artillery technology

contributed the most to the Ottoman Empire’s successful expansion in Europe and the Middle East in the period from 1450 to 1600

During the late 14th century, the Janissary corps became the most important element of the Ottoman army

The Janissary corps was originally staffed by Christian youths from the Balkan provinces who were converted to Islam on being drafted into the Ottoman service

Subject to strict rules, including celibacy, they became highly skilled soldiers The Ottoman Empire was also a gunpowder empire In its early years, the Ottoman adopted new military technology to excel in warfare

Sumerian Cuneiform Cuneiform is the name of the ancient Sumerian writing system The earliest known writing dates back to around 3,000 B.C.E. and was invented by

the Sumerians Cuneiform texts were drawn on damp clay tablets using a pointed tool Cuneiform means “wedge-shaped,” because people wrote it using a reed stylus cut

to make a wedge-shaped mark on a clay tablet The best known piece of literature from ancient Mesopotamia is the story of

Gilgamesh, a legendary ruler of Uruk, and his search for immortality

Facts about the Neolithic Revolution A major effect of the Neolithic Revolution was the establishment of sedentary village

communities In the Neolithic Revolution, people learned to domesticate plants and animals,

people learned to farm Farming allowed for sedentary lifestyles as crops must be tended and food is

produced locally The nomadic lifestyles of hunters-gatherers were no longer possible as farms need

daily tending This dramatic shift from nomadism to sedentary societies marked the Neolithic

Revolution – of course, it is important to remember that the Neolithic Revolution occurred in different places and at different times around the world and that in a few places, it did not occur at all as a few people in the world are still hunters-gatherers today

The Tokugawa Shogunate and the Act of Seclusion The isolationism of the Tokugawa government included forbidding Japanese from

going abroad In theory, no foreigners in and no Japanese out to prevent cultural diffusion Of course, there was the port of Nagasaki that allowed the Chinese and Dutch to

trade With the exception of the Dutch trading post on the island of Deshima in Nagasaki

Harbor, Japan remained inaccessible to all European nations for some 150 years

after 1639, when the Tokugawa government adopted a policy of severely restricted economic and cultural contact with the West

The Dutch language was therefore the only medium by which the Japanese in the late 18th century could study European technology

When the Tokugawa Shogunate collapsed and the Meiji Restoration began, Dutch learning became very important -

Reasons for the Weakening of the Ottoman Empire in the 1600s Weak rulers and state corruption were internal factors or forces that weakened the

Ottoman Empire beginning in the 1600s The Ottoman Empire began to decline in the late 1600s It ceased to expand and began to face economic competition from India and Europe Internal corruption and poor leadership led to a steady decline until the empire was

abolished and the country of Turkey was declared a republic in 1923 The once great empire began to experience a decline in its fortunes in the 1600s

Janissaries The Janissaries were Christian boys taken from conquered territories and raised as

Special Forces The devshirme system began in the late 14th century; Christian boys were recruited

by force to serve the Ottoman government The boys were generally taken from the Balkan provinces, converted to Islam, and

then passed through a series of examinations to determine their intelligence and capabilities

At the conclusion of each stage of the boys’ training, the boys passed through a selection and promotion process; the academic education at the palace schools was one of the finest in the Islamic world and among its aims was to produce obedience, as well as high morals

Because of their loyalty to the state, the boys would become guards, gatekeepers, scribes, pages, governors, soldiers, or prime ministers, depending on their merit and seniority

Although the boys were essentially transformed into state slaves, most considered it an honor as it led to a highly privileged position in Ottoman administration

Reasons for the Decline of the Qing Dynasty in the 1800s By the early 1800s, Manchu leaders in China met with popular discontent and

widespread reaction against corruption and economic malaise The Qing Dynasty had received the Mandate of Heaven in the 1600s and its early

rulers ruled effectively and wisely Over time, the dynasty began to decline Europeans also began to flood the Chinese market with opium Yes, subsequent Qing rulers were unable to meet the problems caused by increased

population pressure and concentration of land ownership The Manchu armies deteriorated, and popular unrest, aggravated by severe floods

and famine, were factors contributing to the Taiping (1850-64) rebellion and other rebellions

Efforts at modernization and Westernization met opposition from conservative officials especially through the efforts of the dowager empress Cixi

Bureaucratic inefficiency and corruption became widespread, a notable example being the diversion of funds intended for building a Chinese navy to instead construct an ornamental marble warship at the imperial Summer Palace outside Beijing

The first Opium War, the Anglo-French War, the Sino-Japanese War, and the Boxer Rebellion (1900) all resulted in defeats for China and the granting of major concessions to foreign powers

Why Creoles were “Cautious Revolutionaries” during Independence Movements Creoles were individuals born in the Americas of European ancestry Although they were frequently wealthy landowners, they were never appointed to

the top military and political posts because they were view by the Spanish rulers as being not as sophisticated as individual born in Spain

So, creoles wanted to replace peninsulares (individuals born in Spain) as the new elite of Spanish America

They were “cautious revolutionaries” in that they wanted to change their status but they did not want to completely change the class hierarchy – they did not want Indians and Africans to rise in status or receive land from land redistribution – the creoles wanted to increase their wealth and power but not the wealth and power of lower classes

Creole elites who yearned for independence were “cautious revolutionaries” because they feared that slaves and other oppressed groups would target local elites as part of a general social upheaval and that their lives and riches would be in jeopardy or danger

Johannes Gutenberg Johannes Gutenberg was responsible for the invention of movable type in the West Johannes Gutenberg was a German inventor who developed a method of movable

type and used it to create one of the Western world’s first major printed books, the “Forty-Two-Line” Bible

Already familiar with bookmaking, Gutenberg perfected small metal type Infinitely more practical than carving complete wood blocks for printing, each type

was a single letter or character Movable type had been used in Asia hundreds of years earlier, but Gutenberg’s

innovation was developing a casting system and metal alloys which made production easier

Books were produced faster and therefore sold at lower prices The printing press increased literacy in Western Europe and spread ideas

Dharma and Karma – In Hinduism and Buddhism Dharma and karma are important concepts in Hinduism and Buddhism Karma is the universal causal law by which good or bad actions determine the

future modes of an individual’s existence Karma affects reincarnation or samsara in that good deeds lead to better future

lives

The word “karma” is derived from the Sanskrit word karman – meaning “act” “A man turns into something good by good action and into something bad by bad

action” Dharma is the moral duty of each caste member in the Hindu caste system Buddhists use the term “Dharma” to refer to the teachings of the Buddha

Facts about Mali Mali was a powerful African state in the 1300s because it was a major center of

trade and religious instruction and possessed large deposits of gold and metal ore Mali was a trading empire that flourished in West Africa from the 13th to the 16th

century The kingdom of Mali grew up along the Niger River and eventually spread across

1,200 miles from the city of Gao to the Atlantic Ocean The emergence of Mali – like Ghana before it and Songhai after it – was attributed

to the coupling of the lucrative gold trade from the Sudan with the salt brought by North African Muslim traders

The acceptance of Islam by the rulers of Mali and Songhay encouraged trade between their empires and North Africa

The Gunpowder Empires of the Islamic World in the Early Modern Era Safavid Persia, Ottoman Turkey, Mughal India were considered the Gunpowder

Empires in the Islamic world Scholars often use the term “gunpowder empire” to describe each of these three

empires [Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal], focusing attention on their military exploits, which were, indeed, impressive

Each made use of newly-developed firearms, especially cannon and small arms, to create their empires and to equip their armies, each state developed a highly centralized administration that could mobilize the financial, manpower and natural resources necessary to purchase gunpowder arms and then supervise the deployment of those arms and the training of soldiers to use the weapons

But all three empires were also centers of impressive cultural (artistic, literary and architectural) achievements

In addition, each was also all based on Islam in one form or another In the Safavid Empire, for example, it was Shah Ismail I who really established the

Shiite faith as the dominant religion of Iran/Persia

The Japanese Feudal Hierarchy and the Role of the Emperor Shogun, Daimyo [Lords], Samurai [Warriors], Peasants The shogun [most powerful lord] held effective political power The samurai class was transformed into a new aristocracy The emperor was the symbolic head of the country The emperor was a mere figurehead who reigned but did not rule as the Shogun

held the political power

Facts about Patriarchal Gender Systems In patriarchal gender systems, women are inferiors and must be protected

Patriarchy is a social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family, the legal dependence of wives and children, and the reckoning of descent and inheritance in the male line

In a patriarchal society, there is control by men and men have a disproportionately large share of power

A patriarchal society consists of a male-dominated power structure throughout organized society and in individual relationships

A patriarchy, from the ancient Greek patriarches, was a society where power was held by and passed down through the elder males

When modern historians and sociologists describe a “patriarchal society,” they mean that men hold the positions of power: head of the family unit, leaders of social groups, boss in the workplace and heads of government

The Significance of the Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution began in England in 1750; it involved the use of machines

in factories to produce goods – it increase the production of manufactured goods and reduced the prices of manufactured goods and ultimately led to increased standards of living as more people had more goods

Most world historians would agree that the key to European predominance in the world economy during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution led to better weapons and a greater ability to dominate the world economy

Industrialized nations were able to conquer other lands and acquire the natural resources of other lands to produce more manufactured goods

Britain, with its head start in manufacturing, its many world markets, and its dominant navy, would dominate industry for most of the 19th century, however, towards the end of that century, the United States and Germany would begin to challenge Britain's industrial power

Extraterritoriality “Extraterritoriality” can best be described as exemption of foreigners from the laws

of the country in which they live Extraterritoriality is exemption from the application or jurisdiction of local law or

tribunals After the Opium War, British citizens in China were exempt from punishment in

Chinese courts – they were tried only in British courts in China Thus, the Chinese government had no control over Europeans in China Extraterritoriality was disliked by the Chinese – it allowed foreigners to do as they

pleased in China

Trade in the Post-Classical Era and the Growth of Cities Trade and urbanization go together Urbanization is movement to cities Trading centers or trading ports often become cities

Interregional trade represents the most significant cause of the growth of cities in Afro-Eurasia in the period 1000–1450

As trade flourished in the post-classical era along the Silk Roads and in the Indian Ocean, cities emerged as centers were traders could exchange goods and rest before their long journeys to other lands