490 likes | 674 Vues
World Civilization and Society II. Lecture 1: History and You, The World before 1750. Discussion questions for Wednesday, January 18:. What was different between Chinese expansion in the 1400s in the Indian Ocean region and European expansion in the Atlantic Ocean in the 1500s?
E N D
World Civilization and Society II Lecture 1: History and You, The World before 1750
Discussion questions for Wednesday, January 18: • What was different between Chinese expansion in the 1400s in the Indian Ocean region and European expansion in the Atlantic Ocean in the 1500s? • Whose account of the Spanish conquest of New Spain sounds more believable… that of Bernal Díaz or that of the Aztecs (excerpt of The Broken Spears)? Give examples of this • Note that you may need TWO 5 X 7 index cards for these questions next week!
What is History? HISTORY (what historians MAKE of the past) Politics (leaders, institutions) Culture (world view, values) Socioeconomics(economic relations, means of production, social classes) Are there other factors that make history?
How do historians make sense of the past? PRIMARY SOURCES (eyewitness accounts of the past) Examples: Diaries, letters, paintings, architecture, oral interviews, memoirs, postcards, music, etc. SECONDARY SOURCES (others’ interpretations of the past) Examples: Your textbook, scholarly articles, books, documentary films, historical fiction, etc.
Reading a primary source “The War as I Saw It” (1920)
History and you • History involves basic facts (names, dates, numbers, concepts, etc.) • History involves THINKING and IMAGINATION (implications of facts, linkages between facts) • Thinking and imagination are career assets (Harvard Business Review, 2011) • Asking questions and applying knowledge of the facts is crucial to your success in this class
The World Before 1750 • Asian-centered world system (1300s-1500s) • Traditional societies • Political power as sacred
Traditional Societies • Mostly agricultural • Very hierarchical • Slow to change • Lack of belief in progress • Individual wills mattered little
Traditional Governments • Religious authority legitimating rule • Decentralized & dependent on family and clan ties • People treated as subjects, not citizens
China • Ancestor worship • Hierarchical society • Confucianism • Scholar gentry and examination system • Imperial bureaucracy and the dynastic system • Mandate of Heaven
West Africa Before 1500 • Western and Central Sudan • Impact of savanna and desert • Sahara trade • Trade networks • Islam and trade • Timbuktu
West African empires • Mali Empire, 1300s (Mansa Musa) • Songhai Empire, 1400s – early 1500s (Muhammed Toure Askia) • Islam and traditional African religions (priest-kings) • Trade routes (gold, salt, slaves) • Implications of decline (Timbuktu)
Challenges to the Traditional World • European expansion (Columbian Exchange) • Centralized governments • Scientific Revolution • Enlightenment
Chinese expansion (1400s) • Tribute system • “Middle Kingdom” • Innovations in shipping and navigation • Zheng He expeditions (early 1400s) • Indian Ocean • Why scaled back?
European expansion (1400s-1500s) • Columbian Exchange (1500s) • Advances in shipping and navigation • Desire for Asian goods (spices, gold, etc.) • Desire for converting natives to Christianity • Conquest of the Americas (guns, germs, the “stranger effect”) • Exchanges of products (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers) • Exchanges of peoples (African slaves, European settlers) • Impact (greater European and Asian wealth, greater connections across the Atlantic Ocean, transformation of native populations in the Americas)
Centralized governments • Absolutism as form of government (1400s-1700s) • Centralized professional bureaucracy • Permanent standing army • Transforming society and culture (trade, commerce, education, etc.) • Increasing taxes on population
Functions of government National defense Education Law and order Promote trade & commerce Taxes Research Negative functions of government Social welfare Positive functions of government
Peter the Great • Ruled Russia 1689-1725 • Modernizing Russia through absolutism • Centralized bureaucracy • Increased taxes • Power over nobles • Western technology, fashion, & values
Impact of absolutism • Power centralized • Taxes increased • Contributes to European expansion and the Columbia Exchange