The World in 1450: Change in the Balance of Power (1450) Lesson

By 1400, there was a shifting balance between world civilizations. The international role of the Islamic world, with the fall of the Abbasids and other Mongol disruptions, was in decline. The Ming dynasty of China attempted, for a time, to expand into the vacuum. The most dynamic contender was western Europe. The West was not a major power, but important changes were occurring within its civilization. Italy, Spain, and Portugal took new leadership roles. The civilizations outside the international network, the Americas and Polynesia, also experienced important changes.

Geography

Take a look at this map of the early explorations.

Early Voyages of Exploration Map

The World in 1450 - Changing Balance of Power

The Decline of the Old Order

In the Middle East and North Africa, the once powerful civilizations of Byzantium and the Abbasids had crumbled. The Byzantine Empire was pressed by Ottoman Turks; Constantinople fell in 1453. The Abbasids were destroyed by the Mongols in 1258.

Social and Cultural Change in the Middle East

By around 1300, Islamic religious leaders had won paramountcy text annotation indicator (the state or fact of being of greater importance than anything else) over poets, philosophers, and scientists. A rationalist philosopher like Ibn-Rushd (Averroës) in Spain was more influential in Europe than among Muslims. Islamic scholarship focused on religion and legal traditions, although Sufis continued to emphasize mystical contacts with god. Changes occurred in economic and social life as landlords seized power over the peasantry. From 1100, peasants became serfs on large estates. As a result, agricultural productivity fell. Tax revenues decreased and Middle Eastern merchants lost ground to European competitors. The Islamic decline was gradual and incomplete. Muslim merchants remained active in the Indian Ocean, and the Ottoman Turks were beginning to build one of the world's most powerful empires.

A Power Vacuum in International Leadership

Cheng Ho Fleet Image The rise of the Ottomans did not restore Islam's international vigor. The Turkish rulers focused on conquest and administration and awarded less attention to commerce. The result was a power vacuum beyond Ottoman borders. The Mongol dominions in Asia provided a temporary international alternative, but their decline opened text annotation indicator opportunities for China and western Europe.

Chinese Thrust and Withdrawal

The Ming dynasty (1368-1644) replaced the Yuan and pushed to regain China's previous borders. It established influence in Mongolia, Korea, Vietnam, and Tibet. In a new policy, the Ming mounted state-sponsored trading expeditions to India, the Middle East, and eastern Africa. The fleets, led by Chinese Muslim admiral Cheng Ho text annotation indicator (Zheng He) and others, were technological world leaders. Ming rulers halted the expeditions in 1433 because of their high costs and opposition from Confucian bureaucrats. Chinese merchants remained active in southeast Asian waters, establishing permanent settlements in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, but China had lost a chance to become a dominant world trading power. The Chinese, from their viewpoint, had ended an unusual experiment, returning to their accustomed inward-looking policies. Since internal economic development flourished, there was little need for foreign products. The withdrawal opened opportunities for European expansion.

The Rise of the West

The small states of the West were still backward during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The staples of medieval culture, including the Catholic Church, were under attack. Philosophy had passed its creative phase. Warrior aristocrats lost their militaristic focus and indulged in courtly rituals. The economic activities of ordinary Europeans were in disarray. Growing population outstripped food supplies, and famines were a recurrent threat after 1300. The arrival of the deadly Black Death (bubonic plague) during the fourteenth century cost Europe one third of its population,

Sources of Dynamism: Medieval Vitality

The West, despite the reverses, remained a dynamic society. Strengthened feudal monarchs provided effective government. The Hundred Years' War stimulated military innovation. In Spain and Portugal, regional rulers drove back Muslim occupiers. Urban economic growth continued to spur commerce, and the church accepted key capitalistic principles. Technology, especially in ironworking and timekeeping, continued to progress.

Imitation and International Problems

New opportunities for imitation occurred when the rise of the large and stable Mongol empire provided access to Asian knowledge and technology. Western elites sought Asian luxury products, paying for them by exporting raw materials. The ensuing unfavorable trade balance had to be made up in gold. By 1400, gold shortage threatened the economy with collapse. The rise of the Ottoman Empire and other Muslim successes further threatened Europe's balance of trade with Asia. The reaction included the expansion in the Adriatic of the city-state of Venice and the beginning of explorations to bypass Muslim-dominated routes to Asia.

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