Silk Road to New Imperialism

• These notes cover key topics from the Silk Road to the New Imperialism era.

Silk Road

• The Silk Road flourished under the Mongol Empire, facilitated by leaders like Kublai Khan.
• Travelers such as Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta documented their journeys, providing insights into different cultures.
• The Catalan Atlas, created by Abraham Cresques, was a significant map showcasing the world as known at the time.
• The Ming Dynasty in China, under Yongle, saw Admiral Zheng He's voyages, expanding Chinese influence.
• The Great Wall of China served as a major defensive structure.
• Confucianism was a dominant philosophy in China.

African Empires

• African empires, especially Mali, were rich in gold.
• The Trans-Saharan trade was crucial for connecting North Africa with sub-Saharan Africa.
• Mansa Musa of Mali was famous for his pilgrimage to Mecca and his wealth.
• Timbuktu was a major center of learning and trade in the Mali Empire.
• The Songhay Empire, led by Sunni Ali, succeeded Mali.

Age of Exploration (15th Century)

• It was driven by the desire to find new trade routes and expand European influence.

Muslim Empires

• The Ottoman Empire, under Mehmed the Conqueror, captured Constantinople (now Istanbul).
• Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent expanded the empire and oversaw a golden age.
• Janissaries were elite Ottoman soldiers. Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq provided accounts of Ottoman life.
• The Mughal Empire was founded by Babur ("the Tiger").
• Akbar promoted religious tolerance with his Divine Faith.
• Aurangzeb's rule saw religious conservatism and expansion.
• The Safavid Empire was another major Islamic power.
• Shah Jahan is known for building the Taj Mahal.

Technologies of Exploration

• The astrolabe, compass, cross-staff, caravel (ship), lateen sails, and sternpost rudder were crucial for navigation and exploration.

Portuguese Exploration

• Prince Henry the Navigator sponsored voyages that led to significant discoveries.
• Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope.
• Vasco da Gama reached India, establishing a sea route.

Spanish Exploration

• The Spanish Reconquista led to Isabella and Ferdinand's reign.
• Conversos and Marranos were Jewish and Muslim converts to Christianity, respectively.
• The Spanish Inquisition targeted heresy.
• Grenada fell to the Spanish, completing the Reconquista.
• Christopher Columbus's voyage in 1492 led to contact with the Tainos in the Americas.
• The Columbian Exchange involved the transfer of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old and New Worlds.
• Ferdinand Magellan's expedition circumnavigated the globe.
• The Treaty of Tordesillas divided newly discovered lands between Spain and Portugal.

Religions and Protestant Reformation (16th Century)

• The Jewish Diaspora refers to the dispersion of Jews.
• The Torah is the central text of Judaism.
• Islam's central text is the Quran.
• Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca.
• The Five Pillars of Islam are the core practices of the faith.
• Shia and Sunni are the two main branches of Islam.
• Dhimmi were protected non-Muslims in Islamic states, subject to the Jizya tax.
• The Roman Catholic Church was headed by the Pope.
• Saints, monks, and nuns played important roles in the Catholic Church.
• Indulgences were pardons for sins.
• Penance and sacraments were central to Catholic practice.
• Martin Luther challenged the Church with his 95 Theses.
• He translated the Bible into German and advocated for justification by faith.
• The Gutenberg Printing Press facilitated the spread of Reformation ideas.
• John Calvin emphasized predestination.
• King Henry VIII established the Anglican Church.
• Mary and Elizabeth I were significant figures in the English Reformation.

Conflicts of Religion

• Witch hunts were widespread.
• The Thirty Years' War and St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre were results of religious tensions.
• The Catholic Reformation included the Council of Trent, Ignatius Loyola (founder of the Jesuits).

Conquest of the Americas (16th Century)

• The Aztec Empire fell to Hernan Cortes.
• Tenochtitlan was the Aztec capital.
• Doña Marina served as Cortes's translator.
• Tlaxcalans and Totonacs were allies of Cortes.
• Smallpox devastated the native population.
• Motecuzoma was the Aztec ruler.
• The Incan Empire was conquered by Francisco Pizarro.
• Atahualpa was the Incan ruler.
• Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala documented the Spanish conquest from an indigenous perspective.

Systems of Spanish Rule in the Americas:

• Labor systems included the encomienda and mitá.
• Potosí was a major silver mining center.
• Haciendas were large estates.
• Viceroys administered Spanish territories.
• Society was stratified into Penninsulares, Criollos, and Mestizos.
• The Virgin of Guadelupe became a symbol of Mexican identity.
• Manilla Galleons facilitated trade between the Americas and Asia.

Mercantilism:

• It involved government control over trade to maximize wealth.
• Trans-Atlantic trade connected Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
• Joint-stock companies (e.g., English East India Company, and Dutch VOC) were used to finance ventures.

North American Colonization

• Native Americans, including the Iroquois Confederacy, were impacted by colonization.

Trans-Atlantic Slavery (16th-19th Centuries)

• African societies like Angola (under Queen Nzinga) and Kongo (under Afonso I) were affected.
• The Yoruba Kingdom had its own cultural and religious practices, including animist traditions.
• The Middle Passage was the brutal journey of slaves across the Atlantic.
• The plantation system relied on chattel slavery to produce cash crops like sugar, coffee, tobacco, cotton, and indigo.
• Engenho refers to sugar mills.
• Slaves faced beatings, violence, and resistance.
• African culture influenced the Americas, with examples such as gumbo and capoeira
• Syncretic religions like Voudon and Santeria emerged.
• Maroons formed communities like Quilombo.
• Abolitionism gained momentum.
• Olaudah Equiano and the Quakers were prominent figures in the movement.

Scientific Revolution (17th Century)

• Ancient science relied on figures like Galen (medicine), Aristotle, and Ptolemy.
• The geocentric universe model placed Earth at the center.
• Arab/Muslim science advanced fields like medicine (Ibn Sina/Avicenna) and anatomy (Mansur's Anatomy).
• Nicolaus Copernicus proposed the heliocentric system.
• Johannes Kepler described elliptical orbits.
• Galileo Galilei used the telescope for astronomical observation.
• European medicine saw advances through Vesalius's dissections and William Harvey's discovery of blood circulation.
• The scientific method was championed by René Descartes.
• Émilie du Châtelet made contributions to physics and mathematics.

Enlightenment (18th Century)

• It critiqued absolutist monarchy (e.g., Louis XIV of France and the Palace of Versailles).
• Tyranny and the Divine Right of Kings were challenged.
• Coffee houses fostered civil society and a public sphere.
• Philosophes advocated for belief in progress and natural laws of society.
• Immanuel Kant wrote "What is Enlightenment?".
• Voltaire advocated for tolerance.
• Cesare Beccaria wrote on punishment.
• Baron de Montesquieu proposed the separation of powers.
• Jean Jacques Rousseau discussed social contract and popular sovereignty.
• Denis Diderot created the Encyclopédie.
• Madame de Pompadour and Madame Geoffrin hosted salons.
• Mary Wollstonecraft advocated for women's rights.
• Comte de Buffon and Johann Blumenbach contributed to racial categorization.

Enlightened Despot

• Catherine the Great of Russia enacted reforms, but faced the Pugachev Rebellion.

Global Reform and Modernization

• Peter the Great sought to Westernize Russia.
• St. Petersburg became Russia's "Window to the West."
• Boyars were Russian nobles.
• Catherine the Great continued reforms.
• Serfdom remained a key issue in Russia.
• The Qing Dynasty in China was led by Manchus and Han Chinese.
• Confucian philosophy and the Analects emphasized filial piety.
• Scholar bureaucrats were selected through civil service exams.
• Kangxi and Qianlong were significant Qing emperors.
• The emperor was considered the Son of Heaven and resided in the Forbidden City.
• In Japan, The Tokugawa Bakufu was ruled by Tokugawa Ieyasu, a Shogun.
• Daimyo were feudal lords.
• Floating worlds were centers of entertainment.
• Matthew Perry's arrival led to the Meiji Restoration, marking Japan's modernization.
• In the Ottoman Empire, the Wahhabi Movement sought religious purification.
• Sultan Mahmud II initiated reforms, including the slaughter of Janissaries.
• The fez became a symbol of reform.
• The Tanzimat Reforms aimed to modernize the empire.

Age of Revolutions

• The American Revolution challenged British rule under George III.
• The Stamp Act and "No Taxation without Representation" were key issues.
• The Declaration of Independence was a pivotal document.
• The Constitutional Convention established a new government under George Washington.
• The French Revolution began with the Estates General.
• The Third Estate formed the National Assembly.
• The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was proclaimed.
• The Storming of the Bastille was a symbolic event.
• Women marched to Versailles.
• Olympe de Gouge wrote "Declaration of Rights of Woman and Female Citizen".
• Revolutionary symbols included the Tricolor flag and Marsellaise.
• The National Convention, led by Jacobins and Girondins, carried out the Reign of Terror under Maximilien Robespierre, using the guillotine.
• Napoleon rose to power, implemented the Napoleonic Code and Concordat, but was defeated at Waterloo.
• The Congress of Vienna restored monarchies.
• The Haitian Revolution was led by Toussaint L’Overture.
• General LeClerc attempted to suppress the revolt.
• The Code Noir regulated slavery.

Age of Nationalism and Ideologies (19th Century):

• Conservatism was supported by aristocrats.
• Liberalism was favored by the bourgeoisie.
• Romanticism emphasized emotions and prejudice.
• Nationalism created a sense of imagined community.
• Latin American independence movements were led by figures like Miguel Hidalgo (Mexico) and Simon Bolivar (Gran Colombia).
• German Unification involved figures like Otto von Bismarck and events like the Franco-Prussian War.
• Italian Unification involved figures like Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi.
• Political Anti-Semitism was evident in the Dreyfus Affair.
• Zionism, led by Theodor Herzl, sought a Jewish homeland.
• The United States Civil War addressed issues of nation-building and racism.
• The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were passed but faced challenges like sharecropping, the Ku Klux Klan, lynching, Jim Crow Laws, minstrelsy, and discriminatory practices.
• The Indian Removal Act led to the Trail of Tears.
• Reservations and assimilation policies impacted Native Americans.

Age of Industrialization

• Pre-industrial economies relied on guilds, craftsmen, mercantilism, and feudalism.
• Capitalism, as described by Adam Smith, emphasized competition and laissez-faire economics.
• Joint-stock companies enabled capital investment.
• The transition to the factory system replaced the putting-out system and cottage industry.
• Inventions in the textile industry included John Kay’s flying shuttle, the spinning jenny, Samuel Crompton’s mule, Richard Awkright’s water-frame, and Edmund Cartwright’s power loom.
• Labor and urban conditions worsened, with child labor, deskilling, tenements, and foundling hospitals.
• Protests included Luddites and labor unions.
• Utopian Socialists like Robert Owen and Charles Fourier sought ideal communities.
• Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels advocated for communism and the abolition of private property.
• Reform efforts included the Sadler Commission and British Factory Act.

New Imperialism (mid to late 19th century)

• Motivations for empire included uniting nations, access to raw materials, and markets.
• Tools of empire included steam power, the telegraph, quinine, and machine guns.
• Ideologies of imperialism included scientific racism, Social Darwinism (Herbert Spencer), and the concept of the civilizing mission ("White Man’s Burden").
• British Imperialism in Asia saw direct rule in India (The Raj) and involvement in the Opium Trade with China, resulting in unequal treaties, for example, the Treaty of Nanjing.
• The Scramble for Africa involved figures like Cecil Rhodes and events like the Berlin West Africa Conference.
• The Belgian Congo under Leopold II was notorious for its rubber exploitation and violence.