Intro to Unit 1: Early Modern Empires, 1500-1700
A. Stable Worlds
1. Empire restored: Ming China
Mongol rule – new
Ming = ruling house/dynasty
Kingdoms and empires ruled by family for long period of time
Extend power because it provides stability
(concept of having rights does not exists)
Need a lot of people to run it
Civil service bureaucracy can be extended by exam system
Eunuchs – remove male parts, so you will not be able to create a family and be loyal to empire.
Villages
Each village 110 horses, 10 houses = leading families
“older families” responsible for other families, (community services)
Religion
Confucianism – connecting wellbeing of state with structure
“church and state connected”
Buddhism, Taoism
Tolerated as long as it does not interfere with others
“try to overthrow the state”
Quarter of taxes collected in China is spent in imperial
2. Kingdom Isolated: Tokugawa Japan
Shogun (imperial office)
Ruled, later not much power out of local region
Daimyo (land holders)
Ruled more, supported by own army
More important > more population
Samurai (daimyo troops)
Warring States Period (1467-1568)
Japan falls into Warring state Period
Extremely destructive
A war without purpose
Again Shogun bring stability peace and comfort.
System “bakufu”
Shogun’s office or administration “the office”
Means tent office
No Europeans in Japan
3. Kingdoms in Sub-Saharan Africa
Sudanic Kingdoms
Songhai – power emperor.
Controlled gold trade, slave trade
Makes money by trade
Hausa City Sates – develops major trading center.
Every city runs its own affair
Controlled by African…
Guinea Coast Kingdoms
Yoruba-Oyo
Benin
Bantu Peoples
Kongo
East Africa
B. A Disrupted World Europe, c. 1450-1550
1.The Black Death
Kills fast and extremely bad
Very contagious
Numbers are large
Fleas carry the disease
Population goes down drastically
2. Rethinking Man: Humanism
New way of seeing the world
Knowing the role of man, man con control more than god
Those who fight, those who pray, those who work
“free people”
Not against the religion just rethinking humanism
Bible is Latin, nobody read Latin
You only trust the people who read to you
Bible translated into various languages
You now have power to interpret the bible
Trade in Europe now makes the bible accessible
Reading the bible is now a solo activity
3. Challenging the Church: Beginnings of the Reformation
Martin Luther – catholic in fear that he will be judged by God and go to hell
“The Jus should live by faith”’
Meaning that God has love for you and God will save you.
Launches attack on indulgences
Purgatory – “Hell and heaven” when you died you went there and people prayed for you to get out. You paid people before you died.
Luther was scammed and his doc. Of being against the idea is out.
He is charged with harassing
Luther lived in Germany and is protected by kingdom prince, from the church. These people were not against him.
Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation (1520)
Written by Luther
Says the church “sucks”
Uses the prince and princess to start war with the church
People become rebellious because of Luther
Twelve Articles of the Memmingen (March 1525)
Helps peasants
Right to choose their ruler
Rules to be more just
Peasants become rebellious
An Admonition to Peace (April 1525)
Doc. By Luther
Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants (May 1525)
Adds appendix
“Against robbery”
Luther is still protected. He uses force in together with the peasants
Peasants are tutored by their ruler
No compassion for peasants
Lutherism becomes state religion
Some people adapt to this religion, other stay with catholic
Becomes of war between the two, results in vvvvv
Peace of Augsburg (1555)
Religion is determined by ruler of territory
People who live on territory have no choice
4. Catholic Reformation a.k.a. Counter-Reformation
Pope sets inquiry, says Luther is wrong
Realizes church