Chapter 13: Political Transformations: Empires and Encounters, 1450–1750

I. European Empires in the Americas

A. The European Advantage

                  1. Geography and winds

                  2. European marginality, land-hunger, and social drives

                  3. Organization and technology

                  4. Local allies

                  5. Germs

B. The Great Dying

                  1. 60–80 million people without immunities

                  2. Old-World diseases

                  3. Demographic collapse

C. The Columbian Exchange

                  1. People brought germs, plants, and animals

                  2. Corn and potatoes to Europe, Africa, and Asia

                  3. American tobacco and chocolate, Chinese tea, and Arab coffee

                  4. Silver, slaves, and sugar

                  5. Europe the biggest winner

II. Comparing Colonial Societies in the Americas

A. In the Land of the Aztecs and the Incas

                  1. Encomienda, repartimiento, and hacienda

                  2. Creoles and peninsulares: “Purity of blood”

                  3. Mestizo and castas

                  4. Indians

B. Colonies of Sugar

                  1. Portuguese Brazil’s monopoly (1570–1670)

                  2. Labor intensive and an international mass market

                  3. African slaves and mulattoes

C. Settler Colonies in North America

                  1. British get the leftovers

                  2. British society in transition

                  3. Class equality with gender inequality

                  4. Pure settler societies with little racial mixing

                  5. Protestantism and weak royal control

III. The Steppes and Siberia: The Making of a Russian Empire

A. Experiencing the Russian Empire

                  1. Conquest and yasak

                  2. Settlers put pressure on pastoralists

B. Russians and Empire

                  1. Russia becomes multiethnic

                  2. Wealth of empire

                  3. Peter the Great (r. 1689–1725) and the West

                  4. Contact with China and Islam

                  5. What kind of empire?

IV. Asian Empires

A. Making China an Empire

                  1. Qing expansion in the West (1680–1760)

                  2. Colonial?

                  3. Economic downturn in Central Asia

B. Muslims and Hindus in the Mughal Empire

                  1. 20 percent Muslim

                  2. Akbar (r. 1556–1605)

                  3. Ahmad Sirhindi (1564–1624)

                  4. Aurangzeb (1658–1707)

C. Muslims and Christians in the Ottoman Empire

                  1. “The Sword of Islam”

                  2. Decrease in women’s autonomy yet many rights

                  3. New importance of Turkic people in the Islamic World

                  4. Balkan, Armenian, and Orthodox Christians

                  5. Devshirme

                  6. Fear and admiration in the Christian West

V. Reflections: The Centrality of Context in World History

A. Contextual thinking

B. Not all empires are equal