Premodern Period(aka the Age of Interaction, aka the

First Global Age)1450-1750

The point in history where the balance of power shifts from the East to the

West.

Periodization…mostly in line

Questions to Consider

Analyze the changes and continuities in Western Europe.

Compare the paths of non-Western societies in Asia, Africa & the Americas.

Characterize the world economy during this period.

Analyze the impact of technology on this period.

Themes to Consider (most themes tied heavily into the theme of interaction)

Political organization—Empire BuildingCultural & Intellectual MovementsInteraction & its Consequences

◦Trade◦Demographic Shifts

TechnologyGender Roles

Analyze the changes and continuities in Western

Europe.

Key Empires emerge at this time as a result of:◦Revolutions in thought and culture◦Exploration◦Commercial Revolution

Case Studies: Catholic vs. Protestant Nations, Absolute vs. Limited Monarchies

Similarities? Differences?

Changes and Continuities?

ChangesGrowth of citiesMiddle classMarriage and

family structure Questioning spiritWomen’s rolesreligion

Continuities?

Land based Empires: Compare responses to West

Don’t forget the outliers…

Tokugawa Japan Aztec/Inca

Cultural and Intellectual Movements

Cultural and intellectual developments, Dates

Famous People or Events

Content of Idea or Movement

Diffusion (Where did the ideas spread?)

Scientific Revolution Copernicus Galileo Francis Bacon William Harvey

World could be explained through natural laws rather than superstition Sun was the center of the universe Scientific Method Questions traditional church teachings

Europe/American colonies

Enlightenment John Locke Jean-Jacques Rousseau Thomas Hobbes Voltaire

Natural Rights – life, liberty and property Right of people to revolt and overthrow government Freedom of speech, press, and religion

Europe/American colonies

Neoconfucianism Zhu Xi combine elements of Buddhism and Daoism to make Confucianism more accessible for less literate Chinese

China, Korea, Japan

Exchanges in arts Italian Renaissance paintings Mughal minature paintings Taj Mahal

celebration of beauty focus on individual achievement

Europe and its colonies, South Asia

Characterize the world economy during this period.

The New World Economy/Trade

Demographics: coercive labor

Slave Systems: Coercive or

Forced Labor Locations and Characteristics

Forced Labor's Impact on

Demographic Changes

Treatment of Slaves

Status of Slaves

slave trade (Trans Saharan and East

Africa) East Africa mostly woman part of kinship

plantation slavery (Atlantic Slave

System)

Carribean North America South

America

15 to 25 million slaves transported to the Americas middle passage

silver mining plantations

maroons/work stoppages not much

social mobility

Mamluks/Janissaries Abbasid(Mamluks)Ottoman Empire military service mobility

serfs Eastern Europe Russia

becomes "virtual slavery" some mobility

More Demography

Spread of epidemic disease◦ Smallpox,

measles, flu, STD’s

Population decreases dramatically in Americas, leading to the decline of civilizations in Mesoamerica and the Andes.

New racial hierarchies

Human Interactions w/Environment

Degradation of New WorldThe Little Ice Age

Analyze the impact of technology on this period.

CartographyCompassAstrolabeLateen sailsNew ship

designs

Compare the role of women in two premodern societies.

Women

Little change from previous period◦Powerful Exceptions: Elizabeth I, Queen Isabella, Nur Jahan◦Still shared power (except Elizabeth)

Impact of Interaction on Women◦Racial miscegenation in Americas◦Changes in trade/production

Europe: nominal impact of Renaissance/ReformationOutside of Europe:

◦Africa matrilineal but impacted by slave trade◦Neoconfucianism in China