Culf: 3330 History And Evolution Of Global Processes Pt.1

Front 1

Emperor Yongle
1402 to 1424

Back 1

Who: He was the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China
When:during the Ming Dynasty
What: Experiments with sea expeditions and moves capital north to Beijing
Where: In China
Why: To deter Mongol attacks. Also, for a long time, China was inward looking. It never took interest in national affairs, and only concentrated on itself until Emperor Yongle was in power. With his sea expeditions, China finally started looking outward until his death.

Front 2

Christopher Columbus:
1492

Back 2

Who: Italian Navigator
What: wanted a direct link to Asia, so as to avoid the middle man and avoid paying expensive costs for items.
Where: Spain/ Caribbean
When: During the beginning of European exploration,
Why: Led an expedition in search for a route to Asia in order to obtain spices. Founded the Caribbean instead. Established links between the eastern and western hemispheres and paved the way for the conquest, settlement, and exploitation of the Americas by European peoples.

Front 3

Hernan Cortez
early 1500s

Back 3

Who: Spanish conqueror
What: he and 450 men bring down the Aztec empire in Mexico. Also brought smallpox to the New World, killing thousands of native people.
Where: In Mexico
When: During the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
Why: He came into Mexico in search for land. Land equaled money. Also, when he conquered Mexico, thousands of Spanish people settled there, and because of that, it led to the creation of modern Mexico, with a mix of Spanish, mestizo, and idios peoples.

Front 4

Nicolaus Copernicus
1543

Back 4

Who: Polish astronomer
What: argued that the sun, rather than the earth, stood at the center of the universe and that the planets, including the earth, revolved around the sun.
Where: Europe
When: During early European Transformation/ Transformation of scientific thinking
Why: It broke the idea that earth and humanity were unique creations of God. The theory harmonized much better with observational data.

Front 5

Suleyman the Magnificent
During the 1500s

Back 5

Who: Suleyman the Magnificent
What: Expanded into Asia, Europe (conquered Baghdad, captured Belgrade/ captured many neighboring countries with force), and develops naval power for the Ottomans.
Where: The Ottoman Empire
When: During the Ottoman Expansion,
Why: Ottoman expansionist goals shifted from non-Muslim areas to areas that were governed by other Muslims/ because the Mamluks were no longer able to protect Muslim holy sites from foreigners.

Front 6

Martin Luther
1500s-1600s

Back 6

Who: He was a theologian
What: Writes Ninety-Five Theses, attacking the Roman Catholic church’s practices, proclaims the Bible was the only source of Christian religious authority
Where: Western Europe
When: During the Protestant Reformation,
Why: Wanted to return to biblical text for authority, close monastaries, translate bible from latin to vernacular language, and end of priestly authority, especially the pope. His ideas sparked the Protestant Reformation, which splits Europe in half, causing conflicts and war.

Front 7

John Locke
late 1600s

Back 7

Who: English philosopher
What: Argues that rules derive their power from the consent of the ruled, saying they are not devine agents of God. Individuals retain personal rights, give political rights to rulers. Life, Liberty, and property. Ppl had right to dissolve a government and stage a revolution if government did not protect the natural rights of its citizens.
Where: Europe
When: During the Enlightenment,
Why: Questioned the idea that European monarchs possessed a divine right to rule, made government secular, and allowed people to have a say in government.

Front 8

Maximilien Robespierre
around the 1790s

Back 8

Who: Ruthless but popular radical
What: He and the Radical Jacobin party dominated the Convention, and the Committee of Public Safety, which was the executive authority of the Republic. They sought to eliminate the influence of Christianity in French society by closing churches, forcing priests to take wives, and promoting a new, secular “cult of reason”. He made frequent use of the guillotine, executing thousands of people.
Where: In France
When: During the French Revolution,
Why: The Jacobins believed that France needed complete restructuring, so they unleashed a campaign of terror to promote their revolutionary agenda.

Front 9

Napoleon Bonaparte
1700s- 1800s

Back 9

Who: a military leader
What: Joins the Directory, overthrows it, and crowned himself emperor, imposed a new constitution, advocated for patriarchal authority, but limited freedom of speech. Sought to extend his authority throughout Europe.
Where: France
When: During the French Revolution,
Why: In order to restore stability to France. During his expansion, he spread French Revolution Ideas of democracy, but in reality, killed his ideas during his tyranny.

Front 10

Karl Marx
1800s

Back 10

Who: German theorist
What: Published the Communist Manifesto, which states that there are two major classes: the capitalists, who control means of production, and the Proletariat, wageworkers who sell their labor.
Where: Europe, mainly Britian
When: During the Industrial Revolution,
Why: Anti-Capitalist: argued for an overthrow of capitalists in favor of a dictatorship of the proletariat. His ideals spawned movements, but Marxism didn’t really materialize in Europe because the elite began to better the working conditions of people so workers would not rebel and overthrow them.

Front 11

Describe the development of the plantation economies of the New World and the African slave trade that supported it. What economic model did the European colonizing powers employ to enforce this relationship between themselves and their colonies? What was the impact on the political and social life of Africans, both those that were transported as slaves and those that remained in Africa?

Back 11

When Europeans came to South America, they found that the land was fertile and good for making cash crops. They created large plantations and needed large sources of labor to help run them. Spanish settlers relied heavily on native peoples as laborers. In particular, when the Portuguese came to South America and established the Portuguese empire, their life revolved around the sugar mills. They needed heavy labor to run those mills, so they attempted to enlist native people to work, but many refused and hid from the Portuguese. The Portuguese had a hard time finding laborers, so they turned to another source to help them out, which were African slaves.
One economic model the European colonizing powers employed was the triangular trade. Europeans would trade goods such as firearms to Africa in exchange for slaves. They sold their slaves to the New World in exchange for cash crops such as sugar. Another economic model Europeans applied to the colonies was mercantilism, where they forced the colonies to only buy imports from them and not from foreigners.
Transported slaves were subjected to poor working conditions, mistreatment, poor nutrition, and inadequate housing combined to produce high rates of disease and mortality. Owners found it easier to replace sick slaves with new slaves, so they were never taken care of. All they cared about was the profit of their sugar production. Africans who stayed in Africa faced serious losses from the slave trade, depriving them of millions of individuals. Since most transported slaves were males, the sex ratio was imbalanced. Women were forced to take on the duties men had. Violence escalated also with the large import of European firearms.

Front 12

What were the causes and motivations behind the European exploration and expansion known as the Age of Discovery? How did the interaction between the New and Old Worlds change the societies of both?

Back 12

What caused and motivated the European exploration and expansion was the desire to obtain spices, silk, ivory, and gold from Asia. There was a large trade network between Europe and China, where items coming from China would go through Italian and Muslim merchants before it arrived Europe, making them super expensive to buy. Europeans wanted to break the monopoly of these merchants, so they sponsored explorations to find routes leading to Asia to avoid the middlemen.
Eventually, Christopher Columbus discovered the New World, and although there was no spices, gold, or much silver, they did find the land fertile enough to cultivate cash crops. The Columbian Exchange was a major effect of his discovery. It started the global diffusion of plants and crops, animals, human populations, and disease pathogens, where it permanently alters human geography, and the natural environment in both the New and Old World. Diseases killed a vast number of indigenous people from the New World. Food supply increased, America obtained new animals, and new foods were introduced to Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Front 13

Describe the importance of the Scientific Revolution and outline the major thinkers and theories associated with it. Explain how the ideas of the Scientific Revolution would lead to the political and social ideals of the Enlightenment.

Back 13

The Scientific Revolution allowed scientists to rely heavily upon observation and mathematics to transform the study of the natural world, which weakened the influence of churches in Western Europe and encouraged the development of secular values. Johannes Kepler demonstrated that planetary orbits are elliptical, not circular. Galileo Galilei showed that the heavens were not the perfect, unblemished realm, finding spots on the sun and mountains on the moon. Isaac Newton depended on accurate observation and mathematical reasoning to construct a powerful fusion of astronomy and mechanics.

Isaac Newton’s theories influenced the realm of politics and human relationships during the Enlightenment. It was believed that human behavior and institutions might be guided by rational laws, so European and American thinkers sought to discover them. They believed that by understanding these natural laws they could use reason to develop a more perfect, just society.

Front 14

Summarize the primary social and political ideals put forward by the philosophies of the Enlightenment. Trace the influence of these ideals in the Age of Revolution and the development of the modern political systems like that of the U.S.

Back 14

Primary social and political ideals put forward by the philosophes of the Enlightenment questioned the authority, tradition, political and social structures of Europe. Popular sovereignty is one ideal that was birthed, where rulers derived their authority from the consent of those they governed, and the people had the right to replace the ruler if they broke the contract. Individual Freedom also came about. Philosophes called for religious toleration and freedom to express their views openly. Enlightenment thinkers also called for equality, where all individuals would participate directly in the making of policy and the creation of laws.

Today, the United States’ ideals are heavily influenced by Enlightenment thinking. We are based off of a democratic government, where our president and government are elected by the people that they govern. Our personal rights, such as life and liberty, also derive from that time. We all are granted individual freedom, where we are able to express our religious views openly. We also are granted equality, regardless of our race, gender, or social status. We are all able to participate in our government and vote for policies and the creation of laws.