Nekeisha Maxie
Chapters 14-16
CHAPTER 14
Around the end of the twentieth century, reactions to the empire building of the early modern period remain varied.
Uighur attempts to win independence from China
Native American protests against 500th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in America
Early modern European colonies were massively significant.
Russians also constructed a major empire
Qing dynasty China doubled in size
Mughal Empire of India pulled together Hindus and Muslims
Ottoman Empire reestablished some of the older political unity of the Islamic heartland
The empires of the early modern era show a new stage in globalization.
EUROPEAN EMPIRES IN THE AMERICAS
Western European empires were marked by maritime expansion.
Spaniards in Caribbean, then on to Aztec and Inca empires
Portuguese in Brazil
British, French, and Dutch colonies in North America
Europeans controlled most of the Americas by the mid-nineteenth century
The European Advantage
Geography: European Atlantic states were well positioned for involvement in the Americas
The Atlantic’s fixed winds helped, once they were understood
Chinese and Indians had such rich markets in the Indian Ocean that there wasn’t much incentive to go beyond
Marginality: Europeans were aware of their marginal position in Eurasian commerce and wanted to change it
Rivalry: interstate rivalry drove rulers to compete
Merchants: growing merchant class wanted direct access to Asian wealth
Wealth and status: colonies were an opportunity for impoverished nobles and commoners
Persecuted minorities looking for more freedom
European states and trading companies mobilized resources well
Seafaring technology
Iron, gunpowder weapons, and horses gave Europeans an initial advantage over people in the Americas
Rivalries within the Americas provided allies for European invaders
The Great Dying—the demographic collapse of Native American societies
Pre-Columbian Western Hemisphere had a population of perhaps 60 million–80 million
No immunity to Old World diseases
Europeans brought European and African diseases
Mortality rate of up to 90 percent among Native American populations
Native population nearly vanished in the Caribbean
Central Mexico: population dropped from 10 million–20 million to around 1 million by 1650
Similar mortality in North America
The Columbian Exchange
Massive native mortality created a labor shortage in the Americas
Migrant Europeans and African slaves created entirely new societies
Brought plants and animals to the Americas
American food crops (e.g., corn, potatoes, and cassava) spread widely in the Eastern Hemisphere
Potatoes especially allowed enormous population growth
Corn and sweet potatoes were important in China and Africa
Exchange with the Americas reshaped the world economy
Importation of millions of African slaves to the Americas
New and lasting link among Africa, Europe, and the Americas
Network of communication, migration, trade, transfer of plants and animals (including microbes) is called “the Columbian exchange”
The Atlantic world connected four continents
Europeans got most of the rewards
New information helped lead to the Scientific Revolution
Colonies were an outlet for rapidly expanding European population
Shift in the global balance of power to favor Europe
COMPARING COLONIAL SOCIETIES IN THE AMERICAS
Europeans did not just conquer and govern established societies: they created wholly new societies.
All were shaped by mercantilism—theory that governments should encourage exports and accumulate bullion to serve their countries
Colonies should provide closed markets for the mother country’s manufactured goods
Colonies differed widely, depending on native cultures and the sorts of economy that were established
In the Lands of the Aztecs and the Incas
Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires (early sixteenth century)
The most wealthy, urbanized, and populous regions of the Western Hemisphere
Economic basis of the colonial society was commercial agriculture and mining (gold and silver)
Rise of a distinctive social order
Replicated some of the Spanish class hierarchy
Accommodated Indians, Africans, and racially mixed people
Spaniards were at the top, increasingly wanted a large measure of self-government from the Spanish Crown
Emergence of
mestizo (mixed-race) population
Mestizos became a majority of the Mexican population by the nineteenth century
Hispanic in culture, but often looked down on
Colonies of Sugar
Lowland Brazil and the Caribbean developed a different society
Regions had not been home to great civilizations and didn’t have great mineral wealth until the 1690s
Sugar was in high demand in Europe
Colonies produced almost solely for export
Arabs introduced large-scale sugar production to the Mediterranean
Europeans transferred it to Atlantic islands and Americas
Portuguese on Brazilian coast dominated the world sugar market 1570–1670
British, French, and Dutch in the Caribbean broke the Portuguese monopoly
Sugar transformed Brazil and the Caribbean
Production was labor intensive, worked best on large scale
Planters turned to African slaves 80 percent of all Africans enslaved in the Americas ended up in Brazil and the Caribbean
Much more of Brazilian and Caribbean society was of African descent
Haiti in 1790, 93 percent of the population was entirely or partially of African descent
Large mixed-race population provided much of urban skilled workforce and supervisors in sugar industry
Most were
mulattoes (mixed Portuguese-African heritage), but Brazil had some 40 separate and named racially mixed groups
Plantation complex based on African slavery spread to southern parts of North America
North America, European women came earlier
Settler Colonies in North America
A different sort of colonial society emerged in British colonies of New England, New York, and Pennsylvania
British got into the game late; got the unpromising lands
British society was changing more rapidly than Catholic Spain
Many British colonists were trying to escape elements of European society
British settlers were more numerous; by 1750, they outnumbered Spaniards in New World by five to one
By 1776, 90 percent of population of North Americanncolonies was European
Indians were killed off by disease and military policy
Small scale farming didn’t need slaves
England was mostly Protestant; didn’t proselytize like the Catholics
Protestant Bible-reading led to higher literacy among colonists
British colonies developed traditions of local self-government
Britain didn’t impose an elaborate bureaucracy like Spain
British civil war (seventeenth century) distracted government from involvement in the colonies
North America gradually became dominant, more developed than South America
THE STEPPES AND SIBERIA: THE MAKING OF A RUSSIAN EMPIRE
A small Russian state centered on Moscow began to emerge ca. 1500.
Moscow began to conquer neighboring cities
Over three centuries grew into a massive empire
Early expansion into the grasslands to south and east was for security against nomads
Expansion into Siberia was a matter of opportunity (especially furs), not threat
Experiencing the Russian Empire
Conquest was made possible by modern weapons and organization
Defeated peoples swore allegiance to the tsar and paid tribute
Conquest brought devastating epidemics, especially in remote areas of Siberia—locals had no immunity to smallpox and measles
Pressure to convert to Christianity
Large-scale settlement of Russians in the new lands, where they outnumbered the native population in Siberia and othets
Russians and Empire
With imperial expansion, Russians became a smaller proportion of the overall population
Rich agricultural lands, furs, and minerals helped make Russia a great power by the eighteenth century
Became an Asian power as well as a European one
Long term Russian identity problem
Expansion made Russia a very militarized state
Colonization experience was different from the Americas
Conquest of territories with which Russia had long interacted
Conquest took place at the same time as development of the Russian state
The Russian Empire remained intact until 1991
ASIAN EMPIRES
Asian empires were regional, not global.
Creation of Asian empires did not include massive epidemics
Did not fundamentally transform their homelands like interaction with the Americas and Siberia did for European powers
Making China an Empire
Qing dynasty (1644–1912) launched enormous imperial expansion to the north and west
Qing rulers were Manchu nomads who conquered China
Nomads of the north and west were very familiar to the Chinese
80-year-long Chinese conquest (1680–1760)
Motivated by security fears; reaction to Zunghar state
China evolved into a Central Asian empire
Conquered territory was ruled separately from the rest of China through the Court of Colonial Affairs
Considerable use of local elites to govern
Officials often imitated Chinese ways
Government did not try to assimilate conquered peoplesLlittle Chinese settlement in the conquered regions
Russian and Chinese rule impoverished Central Asia, turned it into
Backward region and nomadic society was largely destroyed
Muslims and Hindus in the Mughal Empire
Mughals united much of India between 1526 and 1707
Mughal Empire’s most important divide was religious
Some 20 percent of the population was Muslim; most of the rest were Hindu
Emperor Akbar (1556–1605) attempted serious accommodation of the Hindu majority
Brought many Hindus into the political-military elite
Imposed a policy of toleration
Abolished payment of
jizya by non-Muslims
Created a state cult that stressed loyalty to the emperor
Akbar and his successors encouraged a hybrid Indian-Persian- Turkic culture
Mughal toleration provoked reaction among some Muslims
Emperor Aurangzeb (1658–1707) reversed Mughal policy,tried to impose Islamic supremacy
Aurangzeb banned
sati widow burning, music and dance at court, various vices
Destruction of some Hindu temples
Reimposition of jizya
Aurangzeb’s policy provoked Hindu reaction
Opposition movements fatally weakened the Mughal Empire after 1707
Muslims, Christians, and the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire was the Islamic world’s most important empire in the early modern period
Long conflict (1534–1639) between Sunni Ottomans and Shia Safavids
The Ottoman Empire was the site of a significant cross-cultural encounter
Anatolia, most of the conquered Christians converted to Islam
Balkans, Christian subjects mostly remained Christian
Balkans, many Christians welcomed Ottoman conquest
Ottoman taxed less and were less oppressive
Christian churches received considerable autonomy
Balkan elites were accepted among the Ottoman elite without conversion
Jewish refugees from Spain had more opportunities in the Ottoman Empire
Devshirme: tribute of boys paid by Christian Balkan communities
Boys were converted to Islam, trained to serve the state
Devshirme was a means of upward social mobility
Ottoman state threatened Christendom
Europeans worried about a Muslim takeover of all Europe
Some Europeans admired Ottoman rule
Philosopher Jean Bodin (sixteenth century) praised Ottoman religious tolerance
European merchants evaded papal bans on selling firearms to the Turks
Ottoman women enjoyed relative freedom
REFLECTIONS: COUNTERING EUROCENTRISM . . . OR REFLECTING IT
The chapter brought together stories of European, Russian, Chinese, Mughal, and Ottoman colonization to counteract a Eurocentric view of the early modern world.
Western European empires still receive more discussion space because they were different and more significant than the others.
They were something wholly new in human history
They had a much greater impact on the people they incorporated
Eurocentrism continues to be a controversial issue among world historians.
Chapter 15
The Atlantic slave trade was and is enormously significant.
The slave trade was only one part of the international trading networks that shaped the world between 1450 and 1750.
Europeans broke into the Indian Ocean spice trade
American silver allowed greater European participation in the commerce of East Asia
Fur trapping and trading changed commerce and the natural environment
Europeans were increasingly prominent in long-distance trade, but other peoples were also important.
Commerce and empire were the two forces that drove globalization between 1450 and 1750.
Gradual creation of a single “new world” from the many premodern “old worlds”
EUROPEANS AND ASIAN COMMERCE
Europeans wanted commercial connections with Asia.
Columbus and Vasco da Gama both sought a route to Asia
Motivation above all was the desire for spices (though other Eastern products were also sought)
European civilization had recovered from the Black Death
National monarchies were learning to govern more effectively
Substantial military buildup (with gunpowder weapons)
Some cities were becoming international trade centers
Development of a more capitalist economy
The problems of old trade systems from the Indian Ocean network
Muslims controlled supply
Venice was chief intermediary for trade with Alexandria; other states resented it
Desire to find Prester John and enlist his support in the Crusades
Constant trade deficit with Asia
Europeans longed for sources of precious metals
A Portuguese Empire of Commerce
Indian Ocean commerce was highly rich and diverse
Portuguese did not have goods of a quality for effective competition
Portuguese took to piracy on the sea lanes
Portuguese ships were more maneuverable, carried cannons
Established fortified bases at key locations (Mombasa, Hormuz, Goa, Malacca, Macao)
All but Macao were taken by force
Portuguese created a “trading post empire”
Goal was to control commerce, not territories or populations
Operated by force of arms, not economic competition
At height, controlled about half of the spice trade to Europe
Portuguese gradually assimilated to Indian Ocean trade patterns
Carried Asian goods to Asian ports
Many Portuguese settled in Asian or African ports
Their trading post empire was in steep decline by 1600
Spain and the Philippines
Spain was the first to challenge Portugal’s control of Asian trade
Establishment of a Spanish base in the Philippines
First encountered when Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigated the globe (1519–1521)
Philippines were organized in small, competitive chiefdoms
Spaniards established full colonial rule there (takeover occurred 1565–1650)
The Philippines remained a Spanish colonial territory until 1898, when the United States assumed control
Major missionary campaign made Filipino society the only major Christian outpost in Asia
Competition with Islam on the island of Mindanao
Spaniards introduced forced relocation, tribute, taxes, unpaid labor
Large estates for Spanish settlers, religious orders, and Filipino elite
Women’s ritual and healing roles were attacked
Manila became a major center with a diverse population
Periodic revolts by the Chinese population; Spaniards expelled or massacred them several times
The East India Companies
Dutch and English both entered Indian Ocean commerce in the early seventeenth century
Ca. 1600: both the Dutch and the English organized private trading companies to handle Indian Ocean trade
Merchants invested, shared the risks
Dutch and British East India companies were chartered by their respective governments
Had power to make war and govern conquered peoples
Established their own trading post empires
Dutch empire was focused on Indonesia
English empire was focused on India
French company was also established
Dutch East India Company
Controlled both shipping and production of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mace
Seized small spice-producing islands and forced people to sell only to the Dutch
Case of Banda Islands: Dutch killed or enslaved almost the entire population (15,000 people); replaced them with Dutch planters and slaves
Destroyed the local economy of the Spice Islands; made the Dutch rich
British East India Company
Was not as well financed or as commercially sophisticated as the Dutch; couldn’t break into the Spice Islands
Established three major trade settlements in India (seventeenth century)
British navy gained control of Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf
Could not compete with the Mughal Empire on land
Negotiated with local rulers for peaceful establishment of trade bases
Britons traded pepper and other spices, but cotton textiles became more important
Dutch and English also became involved in “carrying trade” within Asia
Both gradually evolved into typical colonial domination
Asian Commerce
European presence was much less significant in Asia than in Americas or Africa
Europeans were no real military threat to Asia
The case of Japan
Portuguese reached Japan in the mid-sixteenth century
Japan at the time was divided by constant conflict among feudal lords (
daimyo) supported by
samurai
At first, Europeans were welcome
Around 300,000 Japanese converted to Christianity
But Japan unified politically under the Tokugawa
shogun in the early seventeenth century
Increasingly regarded Europeans as a threat to unity
Expulsion of missionaries, massive persecution of Christians
Japanese were barred from travel abroad
Europeans were banned, except the Dutch at a single site
Japan was closed off from Europe from 1650 to 1850
Asian merchants continued to operate, despite European presence
Overland trade within Asia remained in Asian hands
Tens of thousands of Indian merchants lived throughout Central Asia, Persia, and Russia
SILVER AND GLOBAL COMMERCE
The silver trade was even more important than the spice trade in creating a global exchange network.
Enormous silver deposits were discovered in Bolivia and Japan in the mid-sixteenth century
In the early modern period, Spanish America produced around 85 percent of the world’s silver
The Philippines were the critical link between Spanish America and Asian markets
China’s economy was huge and had a growing demand for silver.
1570s: the Chinese government consolidated taxes into a single tax to be paid in silver
Value of silver skyrocketed
Foreigners with silver could purchase more Chinese products than before
Silver was central to world trade.
“Silver drain” to Asia: bulk of the world’s silver supply ended up in China (most of the rest reached other parts of Asia)
Spanish silver brought to Europe was used to buy Asian goods
Silver bought African slaves and Asian spices
The Spanish “piece of eight” was widely used for international exchange
Potosí, Bolivia, became the largest city in the Americas (population:160,000) because it was at the world’s largest silver mine
The city’s wealthy European elite lived in luxury
Native American miners lived in horrid conditions
Silver vastly enriched the Spanish monarchy.
Caused inflation, not real economic growth in Spain
Spanish economy was too rigid
Spanish aristocrats were against economic enterprise
Spain lost its dominance when the value of silver fell ca. 1600
Japanese government profited more from silver production than did Spain.
Tokugawa shoguns used silver revenues to defeat rivals and unify the country
Worked with the merchant class to develop a market-based economy
Heavy investment in agriculture and industry
Averted ecological crisis, limited population growth
In China, silver further commercialized the country’s economy.
People needed to sell something to obtain silver to pay their taxes
Economy became more regionally specialized
Deforestation was a growing problem; wasn’t addressed as it was in Japan
Europeans were essentially middlemen in world trade.
Funneled American silver to Asia
Asian commodities took market share from European products
THE “WORLD HUNT”: FUR IN GLOBAL COMMERCE
Europe’s supply of fur-bearing animals was sharply diminished by 1500.
The Little Ice Age may have increased demand for furs
There was intense competition for the furs of North America.
French were prominent in St. Lawrence valley, Great Lakes, and along the Mississippi
British traders moved into Hudson Bay region
Dutch moved into what is now New York
North American fur trade
Europeans usually traded with Indians for furs or skins, rather than hunting or trapping animals themselves
Beaver and other furry animals were driven to near extinction
By the 1760s, hunters in the southeastern British colonies took around 500,000 deer every year
Trade was profitable for the Indians
Received many goods of real value
Huron chiefs enhanced their authority with control of European goods
But Indians fell prey to European diseases
Fur trade generated much higher levels of inter-Indian warfare
Native Americans became dependent on European trade goods.
Iron tools and cooking pots
Gunpowder weapons
European textiles
As a result, many traditional crafts were lost
Many animal species were depleted through overhunting
Deeply destructive power of alcohol on Indian societies
Russian fur trade
Profits of fur trade were the chief incentive for Russian expansion
Had a similar toll on native Siberians as it had on Indians
Dependence on Russian goods
Depletion of fur-bearing animal populations
Russians didn’t have competition, so they forced Siberians to
Provide furs instead of negotiating commercial agreements
Private Russian hunters and trappers competed directly with Siberians
COMMERCE IN PEOPLE: THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE
Between the mid-fifteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries, the Atlantic slave trade took an estimated 11 million people from Africa to the Americas.
Millions more died in the process
Vast human tragedy
African slave trade transformed the societies of all participants
The African diaspora created racially mixed societies in the Americas
Slave trade and slavery enriched many
Slavery became a metaphor for many types of social oppression
The Slave Trade in Context
Most human societies have had slaves
Africans had practiced slavery and sold slaves for centuries
Trans-Saharan trade took slaves to the Mediterranean world
East African slave trade
Slavery took many forms, depending on the region and time period
Slaves were often assimilated into their owners’ households
Children of slaves were sometimes free, sometimes slaves
Islamic world preferred female slaves; Atlantic slave trade favored males
Not all slaves had lowly positions (in Islamic world, many slaves had military or political status)
Most premodern slaves worked in households, farms, or shops
Distinctiveness of slavery in the Americas
The scale and importance of the slave trade in the Americas was enormous
Largely based on plantation agriculture, with slaves denied any rights at all
Slave status was inherited
Little hope of manumission
Widespread slavery in society that valued human freedom and equality—unlike anywhere else except maybe ancient Greece
Slavery was wholly identified with Africa and with “blackness”
Origins of Atlantic slavery lay in the Mediterranean and with sugar production
Sugar production was the first “modern” industry (major capital investment, technology, disciplined workers, mass market)
The work was very difficult and dangerous—slaves were ideal
At first, Slavs from the Black Sea region provided most slaves for Mediterranean sugar plantations
Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (1453) cut off supply
Portuguese found an alternative slave source in West Africa
Africans became the primary source of slave labor for the Americas
Slavs weren’t available
Indians died of European diseases
Europeans were a bad alternative: Christians from marginal lands couldn’t be enslaved; indentured servants were expensive
Africans were farmers, had some immunity to diseases, were not Christian, and were readily available
Long debate on how much racism was involved
Muslims had some racism in regard to sub-Saharan Africans
English had developed anti-Irish racism, may have transferred it to Africans
Made exploitation of Africans palatable by dehumanizing them
The Slave Trade in Practice
Slave trade was driven by European demand
Europeans didn’t raid Africa for slaves; they traded freely with
African merchants and elites
From capture to sale on the coast, trade was in African hands
Africans received trade goods in return, often bought with American silver
Destabilization of African societies
Many smaller societies were completely disrupted by slave raids from their neighbors
Even larger states were affected (e.g., kingdom of Kongo)
Some African slave traders were themselves enslaved by unscrupulous Europeans
Increasing pace of Atlantic slave trade
Between 1450 and 1600, fewer than 4,000 slaves were shipped annually
Portuguese wanted African gold, spices, and textiles, too
Were often involved in transporting goods within Africa
In the seventeenth century, average of 10,000 slaves per year taken to the Americas
High point of the slave trade: by the 1750s, more than 60,000 slaves brought to the Americas each year
Who was enslaved?
People from West Africa (present-day Mauritania to Angola)
Mostly people from marginal groups (prisoners of war, debtors,criminals)
Africans generally did not sell their own peoples
80 percent of slaves ended up in Brazil and the Caribbean
5–6 percent in North America
The rest in mainland Spanish America or in Europe
About 15 percent of those enslaved died during the Middle Passage
Comparing Consequences: The Impact of the Slave Trade in Africa
Created new transregional linkages
Africa became a permanent part of the Atlantic world
Slowed Africa’s growth, while Europe and China expanded in population
Sub-Saharan Africa had about 18 percent of the world’s population in 1600 but only 6 percent in 1900
Slave trade generated economic stagnation and political disruption in Africa
Those who profited in the trade did not invest in production
Did not generate breakthroughs in agriculture or industry—since Europeans didn’t increase demand for Africa’s products, just for its people
Political effects
Some kingdoms (Kongo, Oyo) gradually disintegrated
Some took advantage of the slave trade
Benin was one of the most developed states of the coastal hinterland
Aja-speaking peoples to the west of Benin
Slave trade disrupted several small, weak states
Inland kingdom of Dahomey rose in the early eighteenth century
Was a highly authoritarian state
Turned to deep involvement in the slave trade, but under royal control
Annual slave raids by the army
Government depended on slave trade for revenue
REFLECTIONS: ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION—THEN AND NOW
A study of global commerce in the early modern period shows both how different from and how similar we are to people of the past.
Globalization isn’t just a twentieth-century phenomenon.
But early modern globalization was much slower and on a smaller scale
Communications between England and India took 18 months in the eighteenth century
Early modern globalization was not yet centered on Western civilizations
Early modern economic life was mostly preindustrial
Early modern globalization was tied to empire building and slavery
CHAPTER 16
The current evolution vs. “intelligent design” debate has its roots in the early modern period.
Christianity achieved a global presence for the first time
The Scientific Revolution fostered a different approach to the world
There is continuing tension between religion and science in the Western world
The early modern period was a time of cultural transformation.
Both Christianity and scientific thought connected distant peoples
Scientific Revolution also caused new cultural encounter, between science and religion
Science was a new worldview, almost a new religion for some
Science became part of the definition of global modernity
Europeans were central players, but they did not act alone.
THE GLOBALIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY
In 1500, Christianity was mostly limited to Europe.
Small communities in Egypt, Ethiopia, southern India, and Central Asia
Serious divisions within Christianity (Roman Catholic vs. Eastern Orthodox)
On the defensive against Islam
Loss of the Holy Land by 1300
Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453
Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1529
Western Christendom Fragmented: The Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation began in 1517
Martin Luther posted the Ninety-five Theses, asking for debate about ecclesiastical abuses
Luther’s was one of many criticisms of the Roman Church
Luther’s protest was more deeply grounded in theological difference
Argued a new understanding of salvation—through faith alone rather than through good works
The Bible, not Church teaching, is the ultimate authority
Gave large role to individual conscience
Questioned the special role of the clerical hierarchy (including the pope)
Luther’s ideas provoked a massive schism in Catholic Christendom
Fed on political, economic, and social tension, not just religious differences
Some monarchs used Luther to justify independence from the papacy
Gave a new religious legitimacy to the middle class
Commoners were attracted to the new religious ideas as a tool for protest against the whole social order
German peasant revolts in the 1520s
Many women were attracted to Protestantism, but the Reformation didn’t give them a greater role in church or society
Protestants ended veneration of Mary and other female saints
Male Christ figure was left as sole object of worship
Protestants closed convents, which had given some women an alternative to marriage
Only Quakers among the Protestants gave women an official role in their churches
Some increase in the education of women, because of emphasis on Bible reading
. But there was little use for education beyond the family
The recently invented printing press helped Reformation thought spread rapidly
Luther issued many pamphlets and a German translation of the New Testament
As the Reformation spread, it splintered into an array of competing Protestant churches
Religious difference made Europe’s fractured political system even more volatile
1562–1598: French Wars of Religion (Catholics vs. Huguenots)
August 24, 1572: massacre of thousands of Huguenots
Edict of Nantes issued by Henry IV in 1598: granted considerable religious toleration to Protestants
1618–1648: the Thirty Years’ War
Catholic-Protestant fight started in the Holy Roman Empire
Spread to most of Europe
Killed off 15–30 percent of the German population
Peace of Westphalia (1648): each state is sovereign and can decide its own religious affairs
Protestant Reformation provoked a Catholic Counter-Reformation
Council of Trent (1545–1563) clarified Catholic doctrines and practices
Corrected the abuses and corruption that the Protestants had protested
New emphasis on education and supervision of priests
Crackdown on dissidents
New attention given to individual spirituality and piety
New religious orders (e.g., the Society of Jesus [Jesuits]) were committed to renewal and expansion
The Reformation encouraged skepticism toward authority and tradition
Fostered religious individualism
In the following centuries, the Protestant habit of independent thinking led to skepticism about all revealed religion
Christianity Outward Bound
Christianity motivated and benefited from European expansion
Spaniards and Portuguese saw overseas expansion as a continuation of the crusading tradition
Explorers combined religious and material interests
Imperialism made the globalization of Christianity possible
Settlers and traders brought their religion with them
Missionaries, mostly Catholic, actively spread Christianity
Missionary orders: Dominicans, Franciscans, Jesuits
Portuguese missionaries led in Africa and Asia
Spanish and French were prominent in the Americas
Russian Orthodox missionaries worked in Siberia
Missionaries were most successful in Spanish America and the Philippines
European success encouraged belief that the old gods had been defeated
Christians didn’t confront a literate world religion there
Confucians, Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims resisted Christianity much more
Conversion and Adaptation in Spanish America
Prrocess of population collapse, conquest, and resettlement made Native Americans receptive to the conquering religion
Vast majority were baptized by 1700
Europeans claimed exclusive religious truth, tried to destroy traditional religions instead of accommodating them
Occasional campaigns of destruction against the old religions
Some overt resistance movements
Taki Onqoy (“dancing sickness”) in central Peru (1560s)
Blending of two religious traditions was more common
Local gods (
huacas) remained influential
Immigrant Christianity took on patterns of pre-Christian life
Christian saints took on functions of precolonial gods
Leader of the church staff (
fiscal) was a prestigious native who carried on the role of earlier religious specialists
Many rituals survived, often with some Christian influence
An Asian Comparison: China and the Jesuits
Christianity reached China in the powerful, prosperous Ming and Qing dynasties
Called for a different missionary strategy; needed government permission for operation
Jesuits especially targeted the official Chinese elite
Like Matteo Ricci (in China 1582–1610), they dressed like Chinese scholars, emphasized exchange of ideas
Were respectful of Chinese culture, tried to accommodate it
No mass conversion in China
Some scholars and officials converted
Jesuits were appreciated for mathematical, astronomical, technological, and cartographical skills
Missionary efforts gained 200,000–300,000 converts in 250 years
Missionaries didn’t offer much that the Chinese needed
Christianity was unappealing as an “all or nothing” religion that would call for rejection of much Chinese culture
Early eighteenth century: papacy and other missionary orders opposed Jesuit accommodation policy
. Was regarded as an affront to Chinese culture and the emperor’s authority
PERSISTENCE AND CHANGE IN AFRO-ASIAN CULTURAL TRADITIONS
African religious elements accompanied slaves to the Americas
Development of Africanized forms of Christianity in the Americas, with divination, dream interpretation, visions, spirit possession
Europeans often tried to suppress African elements as sorcery
Persistence of syncretic religions (Vodou, Santeria, Candomble, Macumba)
Expansion and Renewal in the Islamic World
Continued spread of Islam depended not on conquest but on wandering holy men, scholars, and traders
Offered connections to the wider, prosperous world of Islam
The syncretism of Islamization was increasingly offensive to orthodox Muslims
Helped provoke movements of religious renewal in the eighteenth century
Series of jihads in West Africa (eighteenth/early nineteenth centuries) attacked corrupt Islamic practices
Growing tension between localized and “pure” Islam
The most well-known Islamic renewal movement of the period was Wahhabism
Developed in the Arabian Peninsula in mid-eighteenth century
Founder Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792) was a theologian
Aimed to restore absolute monotheism, end veneration of saints
Aimed to restore strict adherence to the sharia (Islamic law)
Movement developed a political element when Abd al-Wahhab allied with Muhammad Ibn Saud; led to creation of a state
The political power of the Wahhabis was broken in 1818, but the movement remained influential in Islamic world
Reform movements persisted and became associated with resisting Western cultural intrusion
China: New Directions in an Old Tradition
Chinese and Indian cultural/religious change wasn’t as dramatic as what occurred in Europe
Confucian and Hindu cultures didn’t spread widely in early modern period
Ming and Qing dynasty China still operated within a Confucian framework
Addition of Buddhist and Daoist thought led to creation of Neo-Confucianism
Both dynasties embraced the Confucian tradition
Considerable amount of debate and new thinking in China
Wang Yangmin (1472–1529): anyone can achieve a virtuous life by introspection, without Confucian education
Critics later argued that this individualism contributed to the Manchu conquest of China
Chinese Buddhists also tried to make religion more accessible to commoners—withdrawal from the world not necessary for enlightenment
Similarity to Martin Luther’s argument that individuals could seek salvation without help from a priestly hierarchy
Lively popular culture among the less well educated
Production of plays, paintings, and literature
Great age of novels, such as Cao Xueqin’s
The Dream of the Red Chamber (mid-eighteenth century)
India: Bridging the Hindu/Muslim Divide
Several movements brought Hindus and Muslims together in new forms of religious expression
Growth of Sikhism, a religion that blended Islam and Hinduism
Founder Guru Nanak (1469–1539) had been part of the bhakti movement; came to believe that Islam and Hinduism were one
Nanak and his successors set aside caste distinctions and proclaimed essential equality of men and women
Gradually developed as a new religion of the Punjab
Developed a Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth (teacher book)
Created a central shrine, the Golden Temple of Amritsar
Mandated distinctive dress for men
Evolved into a militant community in response to hostility
A NEW WAY OF THINKING: THE BIRTH OF MODERN SCIENCE
The Scientific Revolution was an intellectual and cultural transformation that occurred between the mid-sixteenth century and the early eighteenth century.
Was based on careful observations, controlled experiments, and formulation of general laws to explain the world
Creators of the movement saw themselves as making a radical departure
Sense that they were “moderns” combating “ancients”
Scientific Revolution was vastly significant
Fundamentally altered ideas about the place of humankind within the cosmos
Challenged the teachings and authority of the Church
Challenged ancient social hierarchies and political systems
Also used to legitimize racial and gender inequality
By the twentieth century, science had become the chief symbol of modernity around the world
The Question of Origins: Why Europe?
The Islamic world was the most scientifically advanced realm in period 800–1400
China’s technological accomplishments and economic growth were unmatched for several centuries after the millennium
European conditions were uniquely favorable to rise of science
Evolution of a legal system that guaranteed some independence for a variety of institutions by twelfth/thirteenth centuries
Idea of the “corporation”—collective group treated as a legal unit with certain rights
Autonomy of emerging universities
University of Paris recognized as a corporation by 1215
Universities became zones of intellectual autonomy
Study of natural order began to separate from philosophy and theology
In the Islamic world, science remained mostly outside of the system of higher education
In madrassas (colleges), growing disdain for scientific and philosophical inquiry
Chinese authorities did not permit independent institutions of higher learning
Chinese education focused on preparing for civil service exams
Emphasis was on classical Confucian texts
Western Europe could draw on the knowledge of other cultures
Arab texts were important in the development of European science between 1000 and 1500
Sixteenth–eighteenth centuries: Europeans were at the center of a massive new information exchange
Tidal wave of knowledge shook up old ways of thinking
Explosion of uncertainty and skepticism allowed modern science to emerge
Science as Cultural Revolution
Dominant educated-European view of the world before the Scientific Revolution:
Derived from Aristotle and Ptolemy
Earth is stationary, at the center of the universe
A universe of divine purpose
Initial breakthrough was by Nicolaus Copernicus
On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543)
Promoted the view that the earth and the planets revolved around the sun
Other scientists built on Copernicus’s insight
Some argued that there were other inhabited worlds
Johannes Kepler demonstrated elliptical orbits of the planets
Sir Isaac Newton was the apogee of the Scientific Revolution
Formulated laws of motion and mechanics
Central concept: universal gravitation
Natural laws govern both the micro- and the macrocosm
By Newton’s death, educated Europeans had a fundamentally different view of the physical universe
Not propelled by angels and spirits but functioned according to mathematical principles
The “machine of the universe” is self-regulating
Knowledge of the universe can be obtained through reason
The human body also became less mysterious
The heart as a pump rather than as mysterious center of the body’s passions, etc.
Catholic Church strenuously opposed much of this thinking
Burning of Giordano Bruno in 1600 for proclaiming an infinite universe
Galileo was forced to renounce his belief that the earth moved around an orbit and rotated on its axis
But no early scientists rejected Christianity
Science and Enlightenment
The Scientific Revolution gradually reached a wider European audience
Development of a popular press and scientific societies
Scientific approach to knowledge was applied to human affairs
Adam Smith (1723–1790) formulated economic laws
People believed that scientific development would bring “enlightenment” to humankind
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) defined Enlightenment as a “daring to know”
Enlightenment thinkers believed that knowledge could transform human society
Tended to be satirical, critical, and hostile to established authorities
Attacked arbitrary government, divine right, and aristocratic privilege
John Locke (1632–1704) articulated ideas of constitutional government
Many writers advocated education for women
Much Enlightenment thought attacked established religion
In his
Treatise on Toleration, Voltaire (1694–1778) attacked the narrow particularism of organized religion
Many thinkers were deists—belief in a remote deity who created the world but doesn’t intervene
Some were pantheists—equated God and nature
Some even regarded religion as a fraud
Enlightenment thought was influenced by growing global awareness
Central theme of Enlightenment: the idea of progress
Some thinkers reacted against too much reliance on human reason
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) argued for immersion in nature rather than book learning
The Romantic movement appealed to emotion and imagination
Religious awakenings made an immense emotional appeal
Looking Ahead: Science in the Nineteenth Century
Modern science was cumulative and self-critical
In the nineteenth century, science was applied to new sorts of inquiry; in some ways, it undermined Enlightenment assumptions
Charles Darwin (1809–1882) argued that all of life was in flux
The Origin of Species (1859) and
The Descent of Man (1871) were shattering to traditional religious views
Karl Marx (1818–1883) presented human history as a process of change and struggle
Individualism lost ground to view of all species caught in systems of conflict
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) cast doubt on human rationality
European Science beyond the West
sScience became the most widely desired product of European culture
But early modern Asia was only modestly interested
Chinese had selective interest in Jesuits’ teaching
Most interested in astronomy and mathematics
European science had substantial impact on the Chinese kaozheng movement
Japan kept up some European contact via trade with the Dutch
Import of Western books allowed, starting in 1720
A small group of Japanese scholars was interested in Western texts, anatomical studies in particular
Ottoman Empire chose not to translate major European scientific works
Ottoman scholars were only interested in ideas of practical utility (e.g., maps, calendars)
Islamic educational system was conservative, made it hard for theoretical science to do well
REFLECTIONS: CULTURAL BORROWING AND ITS HAZARDS
Ideas shape peoples’ mental or cultural worlds and influence behavior.
Many early modern ideas are still highly significant
The development of early modern ideas took place in an environment of great cultural borrowing.
Borrowing was selective
Borrowing sometimes caused serious conflict
Efforts to stop cultural influence
Efforts to suppress the original culture
Foreign ideas and practices were often “domesticated”
