A.p. Us History Notes

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Merchantilism

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I. A new economic theory adopted by many European nations with the goal of maintaining a favorable trade balance-whereby a country exports more than it imports.
II. European colonies depended on raw aterials and natural reasourses from their colonies; colonies were also viewed as markets for fiunished goods.
III. This policy encouraged competition among Europeans to establish more colonies.
IV. Teory rejected in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations

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East African Cultures

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I. Bantus migrated to the eastern coast of Africa-bringing agriculture, cattle hearding, and iron metallurgy-and developed complex societies governed buy small, local states.
II. People living along the coasts supplemented Bantu with ocean fishing and maritime trade-builders of Swahili society.
III. The Swahili controled the eastern coast of Africa from Mogadishu to Kilwa and the Comoro Islands and Sofala; spoke Swahili and aupplemented it with Arabic.
IV. Eastern coast of Africa attracted attention from Islamic merchants, who brought wares (such as pottery, glass, and textiles) from Persia, India, and China in exchange for local products (tortoise shells, leopard skins)
V.Important cities for trade: Mogadishu, Lamu, Malindi, Mombasa, Kilwa, Mozambique, and Sofala.

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Frankish Empire

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I. Franks built a society based on agriculture in the northern region of Europe (France, Germany, and Low COuntries) and oversaw the development of decentralized political institutions in those areas.
II. Clovis (strong political and military leader) led successful campaigns; one campaign finally ended Roman authority in Gaul and established Frank as most powerful and dynamic of new states in western Europe.
III. Clovis (and thus the Franks) converted to Christianity and thereby gained the support of Christians from former Roman Empire, the pope, and the hierarchy of the western Catholic Church.
IV. Frankish unification of western Europeans made possible Muslim defeat at Tours in 732.

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Decline of Carolingian Empire

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I. Charlemagne accepted the title of emperor from the pope in 800 but died short thereafter, in 814.
II. Charlemagne was succeeded by his son, Louis the Pious, who kept the empire together. Not as brilliant as his father, Louis subsequantly lost control over his bureaucracy.
III. Louis's three sons fought over their inheritance-each got an equal portion (Treaty of Verdun, 843) of the now dissolved empire.
IV. External pressures were a factor in the decline: Muslins from the south, Magyars from the east, and Vikings from the north.

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Establishment of Nationstates in Western Europe

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I. New strong nations with centralized authority emerged after the feudal period in Italy, Spain, France, and England.
II. Two essential components to state building: capital (taxes) and a large standing army.
III. Process began in Italy as a result of papal influence and a large flow of post-crusades capital from trade.
IV. Post-Hundred Year's War: France and England raised armies and levied taxes.
V. Spain's state building peaked when Ferdinand of Aragon married Isabella of Castile to unite two previously independent Ibertian regions.

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Hanseatic League (Hansa)

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I. A trade that developed in the Baltic and North Sea (1400's to 1600's); encompassed the comertial centers of Poland, northern Germany, and Scandinavia; linked to the Mediterranean through the Rhine and Danube Rivers.
II. Traded: grain, furs, timber, and pitch.
III. Frequency of trade led to the adaptation of credit and banking systems, which made trade possible on a large scale.
IV. Commertial partnership further increased the volume of trade in Europe.
V. Impact of class structure of northern Europe made social mobility possible.

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Mongol- Christian Deplomacy

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I. Large imperial states were connected by expansice trading networks. For transactions between states to go smoothly, it was imperitive that political and diplomatic ties be strong.
II. Mongols and western Europe had a common enemy- the Muslims. European crusaders tried to recapture Jerusalemfrom the Muslins, and Mongos attacked the Abbasid Empire from the east.
III. Pope Innocent IV sent missionaries to convert the Mongol Khans to Christianity to no avail; although welcomed by the Khans, ultimatly unsuccessful.

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Results of the Crusades

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I. Increased cultural diffusion- Europe was reintroduced to Greco- Roman culture, which had been preserved by the Byzantine Empire, and, in addition, discovered eastern goods such as silk, rice, glass, and coffee.
II. Led to the development of the High Middle Ages as demand for "new" goods and ideas increased and led to increased trade; people moved off of manors and there was a decelopment of towns and cities and growth of power for kings.
III. Byzantine Empire, fuedal nobles, and papal power and the church were weakened.
IV. European technology improved.

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Ghana

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I. Primary state of West Africa: located between the Senagal and Niger rivers ca. 750-1250.
II. Ghana became increasingly important as a result of increased trans-Saharan trade (especially gold, which Ghana itself did not produce but aquired from the south)
III. Strengthened empire through taxation and control of gold trade; also traded ivory and slaves.
IV. In exchange for gold, Ghana recieved horses, cloth, manufactured goods, and salt.
V. Islam spread to Ghana across trade routes.

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Toltecs

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I. Migrated to central Mexico, settled int Tula during the eight century.
II. Irrigated crops of maize, peppers, tomatoes, chilies, and cotton from the Tula river to support 60,000 people at peak.
III. Army maintained a tightly knit empire.
IV. Important center of pottery and weaving; imported torquoise, jade, animal skins, and other luxury goods from Mesoamerica.
V. By 1175 problems between different ethnic groups and emerging nomadic tribes from nothwestenr Mexico destroyed the state.

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Aztec Religion

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I. Adapted indiginous beliefs.
II. Gods; Tezcatlipoca, "The Smoking Mirror" (the giver and taker of life) and Quetzalcoatl, "the feathered Serpant" (supported arts, crafts, and agriculture).
III. Gods made the world work through personal sacrifice (blood flow led to irrigation of crops); practiced sacrificial bloodletting.
IV. Sacrificed humans to appease war god, Huuitzilopochtli; built a temple in the center of Tenochtitlan.

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Development in Oceania

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I. Aboriginal people of Australia, isolated from other societies, created trade and exchange networks with other hunting and gathering societies as far away as 1,000 miles.
II. Traded items such as clubs, trinkets, flowers and iron axes (aborigines had no metallurgy).
III. New Guineans herded swine and cultivated root crops.
IV. No contact with advanced societies until late 1700's.

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Development of Pacific Islands

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I. Owing to the expanse of the Pacific Ocean, trade networks did not easily develop allowing for limited contact with other societies. There was some cultural diffusion, such as the spread of sweet potatoes.
II. Settlements arose in Easter Island, New Zealand, Tahiti, the Marqueasa Islands, and the Hawaiian Islands.
III. Islanders in the Pacific grew yams, sweet potatoes, breadfruit, bananas, coconuts, and taro and domesticated pigs and dogs.
IV. Fishponds added to the food supply in the Hawaiian Islands.

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Sufis

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I. Sufis focused on personal relationship to Allah rather than a strict interpritation of Islam. They allowed worship of traditional gods, who they believed were manifestations of Allah.
II. Sufis succeeded in converting people in India, sub-Saharan Africa, and southeastern Asia to their mystic ways from 1000 to 1500.
Iv. Sufis hoped that a flexable, tolerant approach to Islam would make it more palatable and intensify its spread.

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Agricultural Diffusion

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I. Muslim travelers introduced new foods (citrus fruits, rice) and commercial crops (cotton, sugarcane) to sub-Sahahran Africa.
II. European crusaders were first intorduced to sugancane and brought the sweetwner back to Europe.
III. Sugarcane plantations spran up in Sicily, Crete, cyprus, and Rhodes- infused local economy and introduced slave trade to the region because sugar is a labor-intensive crop.

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Technology of European Exploration

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I. Lanteen sails, whuich allowed ships to sail in any direction.
II. The astrolabe, used by sailors to determine latitude.
III. Inventions borrowed from the Chinese included the sternpost rudder, which improved navigation, and the magnetic compass.
IV. As more voyages were made, mariners learned more about the ocean winds and currents; as a rusult new, more accurate maps were drawn up.
V. Caravels, which were faster than older ships.

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European Exploration of the Pacific

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I. Between the 1500's and the 1700's, Europeans explored the Pacific motivated by trade.
II. In 1521 Ferdinand Megellan became the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean.
III. Few colonies were established in the Pacific; trade in the Eastern Hemisphere was conducted mainly through the Spanish- controlled city of Manila, established in 1571, which connected the Spanish colonies with Asian markets.
VI. Contact with Europe brought some change to the Pacific: new diseases and missionaries, who followed explorers in hopes of converting natives to Chrisianity.

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Commertial Revolution

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I. The changing nature of trade in this period was known as the Commercial Revolution.
II. Beginning in EUrope in the early 1500's, nations competed to expand their empires overseas.
III. The establishment of large colonial empires generated great wealth for many European nations and led to the establishment od new business practices, including joint-stock componies.

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Medival Colonization

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I. Once regional states emergen in Europe, Vikings looked to colonize elsewhere.
II. Scandinavians, led by Eric the Red, established a colony in Greenland during the late ninth and earky tenth centuries.
III. About 1000, Lief Ericsson established a colony in Newfoundland, Canada, for Scandinaviaand called it Vinland- it has plentiful supplies of timber and fish.
IV. Vinland was most likely occupied for several decades- ultimatly settlers left of died there owing to a lack of resources.
V. Norwegians established colonies in Iceland, followed by Sweden and Finland.

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Influence of Christianity in Europe

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I. Franks solidified Christianity as a foundation of the empire when Clovis converted; Charlemagne continued the commitment to Rome.
II. Italy worked to spread Christianity north, as did Charlemagne; by 1000, Christianity was the accepted religon in most of western Europe.
III. The pope was establshed as the single most important figure, providing the church with a sence of direction.
IV. Pope Gregory I protected the city of Rome and the church by mobilizing forces for the purpose of defense; he reasserted papal supremacy and increased the role and importance of the church in people's lives.