Ap World Chapter 19-22

Chapter 22

East and Southeast Asian early modern trends were highly diverse. Most Asian peoples, except in the islands of Southeast Asia, were only marginally affected by the European arrival. India, China, and Japan were not fundamentally reshaped by the West. The peoples of East Asia developed new political and social strengths while following a policy of isolation in response to global trends. Vasco da Gama's voyage to India had opened the way to the east for Europeans, but it soon became clear that Europeans had little to offer Asians in exchange for their desired products. Asians were not interested in converting to Christianity. Asian states were too strong to be conquered by Europeans, but the latter's sea power allowed control of spice exports and regulation of some parts of the Asian trading network. The Europeans participated in the existing economic and political system, rather then attempting to capture it. The Asian Trading World and the Coming of the Europeans. The first Portuguese arriving in India discovered that their products, apart from bullion, were too primitive for profitable exchange for Asian goods. They saw that Muslim traders dominated Indian Ocean and Southeast Asian commerce and that Islam blocked the spread of Catholic Christianity. They also saw that the Muslims and Asian peoples were deeply divided and did not understand the threat posed by the new intruders. Bonds of Commerce: The Asian Sea-Trading Network, c. 1500. The trading network stretched from the Middle East and Africa to East Asia and was divided into three main zones. An Arab division in the west offered glass, carpet, and tapestry manufacturing. In the center was India and its cotton textiles. China, in the east, manufactured paper, porcelain, and silk textiles. Peripheral regions in Japan, Southeast Asia, and East Africa supplied raw materials. Among the latter were ivory from Africa and spices from Sri Lanka and Indonesia. In the overall system, profits were gained from commerce in both long-distance luxury items and shorter-distance bulk goods. Most of the trade passed along safer coastal routes, converging in vital intersections at the openings of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, and the Straits of Malacca. The system had two critical characteristics: central control and military force were absent. Trading Empire: The Portuguese Response to the Encounter at Calicut. Since they did not have sufficient acceptable commodities for profitable trade to Asia, the Portuguese used force to enter the network. Their superior ships and weaponry were unmatched except by the Chinese. Taking advantage of the divisions between Asians, the Portuguese won supremacy on the African and Indian coasts. They won an important victory over an Egyptian-Indian fleet at Diu in 1509. To ensure control, forts were constructed along the Asian coast: Ormuz on the Persian Gulf in 1507, Goa in western India in 1510, and Malacca on the Malayan peninsula in 1511. The Portuguese aimed to establish a monopoly over the spice trade and, less successfully, to license all vessels trading between Malacca and Ormuz. Portuguese Vulnerability and the Rise of the Dutch and English Trading Empires. The Portuguese had limited success for some decades, but the small nation lacked the manpower and ships necessary for enforcement. Many Portuguese ignored their government and traded independently, while rampant corruption among officials and losses of ships further hampered policies. Dutch and English rivals challenged the weakened Portuguese in the seventeenth century. The Dutch captured Malacca and built a fort at Batavia in Java in 1620. They decided to concentrate on the monopoly control of some spices. The English were forced to fall back to India. The Dutch trading empire resembled the Portuguese, but they had better-armed ships and controlled their monopoly with ruthless efficiency. The Dutch discovered that the greatest long-run profits came from peacefully exploiting the established system. When the spice trade declined, they relied on fees charged for transporting products from one Asian place to another. They also bought Asian products and sold them within the system. The English later adopted Dutch techniques. Going Ashore: European Tribute Systems in Asia. Europeans were able to control Asian seas, but not inland territories. The vast Asian armies offset European technological and organizational advantages. Thus, Europeans accepted the power of Asian rulers in return for permission to trade. Only in a few regions did war occur. The Portuguese and Dutch conquered coastal areas of Sri Lanka to control cinnamon. In Java, the Dutch expanded from their base at Batavia to dominate coffee production. By the mid-eighteenth century, they were the paramount power in Java. The Spanish in the Philippines conquered the northern islands, but failed in the Islamic south. The Europeans established tribute regimes resembling the Spanish system in the New World. Indigenous peoples lived under their own leaders and paid tribute in products produced by coerced labor under the direction of local elites. Spreading the Faith: The Missionary Enterprise in South and Southeast Asia. The Protestant Dutch and English were not much interested in winning converts. Catholic Portugal and Spain were, but success in Asia was minimal. The world religions of Islam and Hinduism were difficult foes. Italian Jesuit Robert Di Nobili during the 1660s unsuccessfully attempted to win converts among upper-caste members through study of Sanskrit and Indian culture. General conversion occurred only in isolated regions like the northern Philippines. Once conquered, the government turned indigenous peoples over to missionary orders. Converted Filipino leaders led their peoples into European ways, but traditional beliefs remained strong within the converts' Christianity. Modest Returns: The Early Impact of Europeans in Maritime Asia. By 1700, following two centuries of involvement, Europeans had made only a minimal impact on the peoples of South and Southeast Asia. Important new trade routes linking Europe, the Indian Ocean world, the Philippines, and the Americas had opened. The Europeans also had established commercial centers, such as Goa, Calcutta, and Batavia, and introduced the concept of sea warfare into a once peaceful commercial world. Still, the Asian system survived, and Europeans decided to accept rather than destroy existing arrangements. Because of the long contacts between Europe and Asia, the level of exchanges did not match the New World Colombian Exchange, although American food plants introduced by Europeans were important. European ideas, not impressing Asians, had minimal impact. Ming China: A Global Mission Refused. The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) ruled over the earth's most populous state. China possessed vast internal resources and advanced technology. Its bureaucracy remained the best organized in the world, and its military was formidable. The return to the examination system ensured the presence of a numerous and educated elite. The dynasty emerged when Zhu Yuanzhang, a military commander of peasant origins, joined in the revolts against the Mongols and became the first Ming emperor, with the name of Hongwu, in 1368. Zhou strove to drive out all Mongol influences and drove the remaining nomads beyond the Great Wall. Another Scholar-Gentry Revival. The poorly educated Zhou was suspicious of the scholar-gentry, but he realized that their cooperation was necessary for reviving Chinese civilization. They were given high government posts, and imperial academies and regional colleges were restored. The civil service exam was reinstated and expanded. Although family connections remained important, the examination played a greater role than ever before in determining entry to public service. The highly competitive examination system became more routine and complex, allowing talented individuals to become eligible for the highest posts. Reform: Hongwu's Efforts to Root Out Abuses in Court Politics. Hongwu sought to limit the influence of the scholar-gentry and to check other abuses at the court. He abolished the post of chief minister and transferred to himself the considerable powers of the office. Officials failing in their tasks were publicly and harshly beaten. Other reforms included choosing imperial wives from humble families, limiting the number of eunuchs, and exiling all rivals for the throne to provincial estates. Writings displeasing to the ruler were censored. Later rulers of the dynasty let the changes lapse. A Return to Scholar-Gentry Social Dominance. Hongwu sought to improve the lives of the peasantry by agriculture-aiding public works, opening new and untaxed lands, lowering forced labor demands, and promoting handicraft industries supplementing household incomes. The beneficial effects of the measures were offset by the growing power of rural landlords allied with the imperial bureaucracy. Peasants were forced to become tenants or landless laborers. The Ming period continued the subordination of women to men, and youths to elders. Draconian laws forced obedience. Opponents, including women, had to go underground to improve their situations. Imperial women continued to be influential, especially with weak emperors. Outside the court, women were confined to the household; their status hinged on bearing male children. Upper-class women might be taught reading and writing by their parents, but they were barred from official positions. Non-elite women worked in many occupations, but the main way to gain independence was to become a courtesan or entertainer. An Age of Growth: Agriculture, Population, Commerce, and the Arts. The early Ming period was one of buoyant economic growth and unprecedented contacts with overseas civilizations. The commercial boom and population increase of late Song times continued. The arrival of American food crops allowed cultivation in marginal agricultural areas. By 1800 there were more than 300 million Chinese. Chinese manufactures were in demand throughout Asia and Europe, and Europeans were allowed to come to Macao and Canton to do business. Merchants gained significant profits, a portion of them passing to the state as taxes and bribes. Much of the wealth went into land, the best source of social status. The fine arts found generous patrons. Painters focused on improving established patterns. Major innovation came in literature, assisted by an increase in availability of books through the spread of woodblock printing, with the full development of the novel. An Age of Expansion: The Zhenghe Expeditions. Under Emperor Yunglo, the Ming sent a series of expeditions between 1405 and 1423 to Southeast Asia, Persia, Arabia, and East Africa under the command of Zhenghe. The huge fleets of large ships demonstrated a Chinese potential for global expansion unmatched by other contemporary nations. But the Chinese were ambivalent about the voyages' worth. Few tangible returns resulted from the costly ventures. National resources, it was argued, were better spent in defending Chinese borders. The voyages were abandoned in the early 1430s. In Depth: Means and Motive in Overseas Expansion: Europe and China Compared. Why did the Chinese, unlike Europeans, withdraw from overseas expansion? The small nation-states of Europe, aggressively competing with their neighbors, made more efficient use of their resources. European technological innovations gave them an advantage in animal and machine power that helped overcome overall Chinese superiority. One answer to the differing approaches can be seen in the attitudes of the groups in each society favoring expansion. There was wide support in general European society for increasing national and individual wealth through successful expansion. Christian leaders sought new converts. Zhenghe's voyages were the result of an emperor's curiosity and desire for personal greatness. Merchants, profiting from existing commerce, were little interested. The scholar-gentry opposed the expeditions as a danger to their position and as a waste of national resources. Chinese Retreat and the Arrival of the Europeans. The Chinese, after the end of the Zhenghe expeditions, developed a policy of isolation. In 1390 the first decree limiting overseas commerce appeared and the navy was allowed to decline. Europeans naturally were drawn to the great empire. Missionaries sought access to the court. Franciscans and Dominicans worked to gain converts among the masses; the Jesuits followed the Di Nobili precedent from India in trying to win the court elite. Scientific and technical knowledge were the keys to success at the court. Jesuits like Matteo Ricci and Adam Schall displayed such learning, but they won few converts among the hostile scholar-gentry who considered them mere barbarians. Ming Decline and the Chinese Predicament. By the late 1500s, the dynasty was in decline. Inferior imperial leadership allowed increasing corruption and hastened administrative decay. The failure of public works projects, especially on the Yellow River, caused starvation and rebellion. Exploitation by landlords increased the societal malaise. The dynasty fell in 1644 before Chinese rebels. A political vacuum followed that ended when northern nomads, the Jurchens, or Manchus, seized control. Their leader, Nurhaci, established the last of the imperial dynasties, the Qing. Fending Off the West: Japan's Reunification and the First Challenge. During the sixteenth century an innovative and fierce leader, Nobunaga, one of the first daimyos to make extensive use of firearms, rose to the forefront among the contesting lords. He deposed the last Ashikaga shogun in 1573, but was killed in 1582 before finishing his conquests. Nobunaga's general Toyotomi Hideyoshi continued the struggle and became master of Japan by 1590. Hideyoshi then launched two unsuccessful invasions of Korea. He died in 1598. Tokugawa Ieyasu won out in the ensuing contest for succession. In 1603, the emperor appointed him shogun. The Tokugawas continued in power for two and one-half centuries. Ieyasu, who ruled from Edo (Tokyo), directly controlled central Honshu and placed the remaining daimyos under his authority. Outlying daimyos, over time, were also brought under Tokugawa rule. The long period of civil wars had ended and political unity was restored. Dealing with the European Challenge. European traders and missionaries had visited Japan in increasing numbers since 1543. The traders exchanged Asian and European goods, the latter including firearms, clocks, and printing presses, for Japanese silver, copper, and artisan products. The firearms, which the Japanese soon manufactured themselves, revolutionized local warfare. Roman Catholic missionaries arrived during Nobunaga's campaigns. He protected them as a counterforce to his Buddhist opponents. The Jesuits, by the 1580s, claimed hundreds of thousands of converts. Hideyoshi was less tolerant of Christianity. The Buddhists had been crushed, and he feared that converts would give primary loyalty to their religion. Hideyoshi also feared that Europeans might try to conquer Japan. Japan's Self-Imposed Isolation. Official measures to restrict foreign influence were ordered from the late 1580s. Christian missionaries were ordered to leave; persecution of Christians was underway during the mid-1590s. Christianity was officially banned in 1614. Continued persecution provoked unsuccessful rebellions and drove the few remaining Christians underground. Ieyasu and his successors broadened the campaign to isolate Japan from outside influences. From 1616, merchants were confined to a few cities; from 1630, Japanese ships could not sail overseas. By the 1640s, only Dutch and Chinese ships visited Japan to trade at Deshima Island. Western books were banned. The retreat into isolation was almost total by the mid-seventeenth century. The Tokugawa continued expanding their authority. During the eighteenth century the revival of neo-Confucian philosophy that had flourished under the early Tokugawas gave way to a school of National Learning based upon indigenous culture. Some of the elite, in strong contrast to the Chinese scholar-gentry, continued to follow, with avid interest, Western developments through the Dutch at Deshima. Conclusion: Asia and the First Phase of Europe's Global Expansion. Western exploration and commercial expansion only touched most of Asia peripherally. In East Asia, Chinese and Japanese strength blocked European domination of their lands. In South and Southeast Asia, where European impact was stronger, most Asians retained control of their destinies. Asian change came from indigenous factors that maintained old cultural and social influences. Even in commerce and seafaring, where their influence was greatest, Europeans found it better to become part of existing networks.

Chapter 20

Much of Africa followed its own lines of development between the beginning of the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. The rise of the West and the Western-dominated economy, however, was a powerful force in influencing the course of African history. The Atlantic slave trade predominated in economic affairs after the middle of the seventeenth century. The forced removal of Africans had a major effect in some African regions and was a primary factor contributing to the nature of New World populations. African culture became one of the important strands in the development of American civilizations. Despite the rise of the West and the slave trade, nearly all of Africa remained politically independent and culturally autonomous. Among the important trends, Islam consolidated its position in sub-Saharan and East Africa, while in many parts of Africa, independent states formed and expanded. The Atlantic Slave Trade. The Portuguese inaugurated the pattern for contacts along the African coast. They established trading forts (factories); the most important, El Mina, received gold from the interior. Most forts were established with the approval of African authorities desiring trade benefits. Some of the forts allowed trade to interior states. Portuguese and Afro-Portuguese traders (lançados) followed routes to the interior to open new markets. Missionary efforts followed, particularly to the powerful states of Benin and the Kongo. King Nzinga Mvemba of the Kongo accepted Christianity and, with Portuguese assistance, sought to introduce European influences to his state. The ravages of the slave trade were a major reason for the limited success of the policies. Africa, in general, tried to fit the European concepts they found useful into their belief structures. The Europeans regarded Africans as pagan savages who could adopt civilized behavior and convert to Christianity. The Portuguese continued their southward ventures, in the 1570s establishing Luanda on the Angolan coast among the Mbundu. In the Indian Ocean, they established bases on Mozambique Island and other towns in an effort to control the gold trade coming from Monomotapa. On both coasts, few Portuguese settled permanently. Other Europeans followed Portuguese patterns by creating trading stations through agreement with Africans. In almost all instances, slavery eventually became the principal focus of relationships. Added impetus came from the development of sugar plantations on Portuguese and Spanish Atlantic islands and their subsequent extension to the Americas. Trend Toward Expansion. Between 1450 and 1850, about 12 million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic; about 10 or 11 million arrived alive. A number equal to one third of those shipped might have died in the initial raiding or march to the coast. The volume of the trade increased from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, with 80% of the total coming in the latter century. Brazil received more than 40% of all slaves reaching the Americas. The continued high volume was necessary because of high slave mortality and low fertility. Only in the southern United States did slaves have a positive growth rate. Other slave trades—trans-Saharan, Red Sea, and East African—under Muslim control, added another 3 million individuals to the total. Demographic Patterns. The Saharan slave trade to the Islamic world carried mostly women for sexual and domestic employment. The Atlantic trade concentrated on young men fit for hard labor in the Americas. African societies who sold slaves might keep women and children for their own uses. The Atlantic trade had an important demographic effect on parts of western and central Africa; the population there in 1850 might have been one half of what it would have been without the trade. The women and children not exported skewed the balance of the sexes in African-enslaving societies. The introduction of American crops, such as maize and manioc, helped suffering regions to recover from population losses. Organization of the Trade. Control over the slave trade reflected the European political situation. Until 1630, the Portuguese were the principal suppliers. The Dutch became major competitors after they seized El Mina in 1630. By the 1660s, the English worked to supply their plantation colonies. The French became major carriers in the eighteenth century. Each nation established forts for receiving slaves. Tropical diseases caused both resident Europeans and the crews of slave-carrying ships high mortality rates. The Europeans dealt with local rulers, calculating value in currencies composed of iron bars, brass rings, and cowry shells. The Spanish had a system in which a healthy man was considered a standard unit called an "Indies piece." Slaves arrived at the coast as a result of warfare and of purchase and movement by indigenous traders. Dahomey had a royal monopoly on slave flow. There have been arguments about the profitability of the slave trade. It has been suggested that its profits were a key element for the rise of commercial capitalism and the Industrial Revolution. Individual voyages certainly did bring profits to merchants and specializing ports. But considerable risks were involved. English profitability in the late eighteenth century was about 5% to 10%, about equal to other commercial ventures. The full economic importance is difficult to determine because of its direct links to the plantation and mining economies of the Americas. Goods were exchanged among Europe, Africa, and the Americas in complex patterns. The slave trade surely contributed to emerging Atlantic capitalism, while at the same time making African economies dependent on European trade and linked to the world economy. African Societies, Slavery, and the Slave Trade. The Atlantic trade transformed African patterns of slavery. Africans had developed many forms of servitude in their nonegalitarian societies. With land controlled by the state, slaves were an important way for individuals and lineages to gain wealth and status. Slaves held many occupations. Their treatment ranged from the relatively benign, when they were incorporated into kinship systems, to severe economic and social exploitation, when ruling hierarchies exercised power. The Atlantic trade opened new opportunities to slave-holding societies for expansion and intensification of slavery. Enslavement of women was central to African society. The Sudanic states had introduced Islamic concepts of slavery. The existence of slavery allowed Europeans to mobilize commerce in slaves by tapping existing structures with the assistance of interested African rulers. Slaving and African Politics. Most of the states of western and central Africa were small and unstable. The continuing wars elevated the importance of the military and promoted the slave trade. Increasing centralization and hierarchy developed in the enslaving societies; those attacked reacted by augmenting self-sufficiency and antiauthoritarn ideas. A result of the presence of the Europeans along the western coast was a shift of the locus of African power. Inland states close to the coast, and thus free from direct European influence, through access to Western firearms and other goods, became intermediaries in the trade and expanded their influence. Asante and Dahomey. Among the important states developing during the slave trade era was the empire of Asante among the Akan people. Centered on Kumasi, Asante was between the coast and the inland Hausa and Mande trading regions. Under the Oyoko clan, the Asante gained access to firearms after 1650 and began centralizing and expanding. Osei Tutu became the asantehene, the supreme civil and military leader, of the Akan clans. By 1700, the Dutch along the coast were dealing directly with the new power. Through control of gold-producing regions and slaves, Asante remained dominant in the Gold Coast until the 1820s. In the Bight of Benin, the state of Benin was at the height of its power when Europeans arrived. The ruler for a long period controlled the trade with Europeans; slaves never were a primary commodity. The kingdom of Dahomey among the Fon peoples had a different response to the Europeans. It emerged around Abomey in the seventeenth century; by the 1720s, access to firearms led to the formation of an autocratic regime based on trading slaves. Under Agaja (1708-1740), Dahomey expanded to the coast, seizing the port of Whydah. The state maintained its policies into the nineteenth century. Too much emphasis on the slave trade obscures creative processes occurring in many African states. The growing divine authority of rulers paralleled the rise of absolutism in Europe. New political forms emerged that limited the power of some monarchs. In the Yoruba state of Oyo, a council and king shared authority. Art, crafts, weaving, and wood carving flourished in many regions. Benin and the Yoruba states created remarkable wood and ivory sculptures. East Africa and the Sudan. On Africa's east coast, the Swahili trading towns continued a commerce of ivory, gold, and slaves for Middle Eastern markets. A few slaves went to European plantation colonies. On Zanzibar and other islands, Arabs, Indians, and Swahili produced cloves with slave labor. In the interior, African peoples had created important states. Migrants from the upper Nile valley moved into Uganda and Kenya, where they mixed with Bantu-speaking inhabitants. Strong monarchies developed in Bunyoro and Buganda. In western Africa, in the northern savanna, the process of Islamization entered a new phase linking it with the external slave trade and the growth of slavery. Songhay broke up in the sixteenth century and was succeeded by new states. The Bambara of Segu were pagan; the Hausa states of northern Nigeria were ruled by Muslims, although most of the population followed African religions. Beginning in the 1770s, Muslim reform movements swept the western Sudan. In 1804, Uthman Dan Fodio, a Fulani Muslim, inspired a religious revolution that won control of most of the Hausa states. A new and powerful kingdom developed at Sokoto. The effects of Islamization were felt widely in the West African interior by the 1840s. Cultural and social change accelerated. Many war captives were dispatched to the coast or across the Sahara for the slave trade. The level of local slave labor also increased in agricultural and manufacturing enterprises. White Settlers and Africans in Southern Africa. By the sixteenth century, Bantu-speaking peoples occupied the eastern regions of southern Africa. Drier western lands were left to the indigenous Khoikhoi and San. Migration, peaceful contacts, and war characterized the relations between the groups. The Bantu peoples practiced agriculture and herding, worked iron and copper, and traded with neighbors. Chiefdoms of various sizes, where leaders ruled with popular support, were typical. New chiefdoms continually emerged, resulting in competition for land and political instability. In the Dutch colony at Cape Town, established in 1652, the settlers developed large estates worked by slaves. Colonial expansion led to successful wars against the San and Khoikhoi. By the 1760s, the Afrikaners crossed the Orange River and met the Bantu. Competition and war over land resulted. Britain occupied the Dutch colony in 1795 and gained formal possession in 1815. British efforts to limit Afrikaner expansion were unsuccessful, and frequent fighting occurred between the Afrikaners and Africans. Some Afrikaners, seeking to escape British control, migrated beyond colonial boundaries and founded autonomous states. The Mfecane and the Zulu Rise to Power. By 1818, a new leader, Shaka, gained authority among the Nguni people. He created a formidable military force of regiments organized on lineage and age lines. Shaka's Zulu chiefdom became the center of a new political and military organization that absorbed or destroyed rivals. Shaka was assassinated in 1828, but his successors ruled over a still-growing polity. The rise of the Zulu and other Nguni chiefdoms marked the beginning of the Mfecane, a time of wars and wandering. Defeated peoples fled into new regions and created new states—among them the Swazi and Lesotho—by using Zulu tactics. The Afrikaners' superior firepower enabled them to hold their lands. The Zulus remained powerful until defeated during the 1870s by the British. The basic patterns of conflict between Europeans and Africans took form during this era. In Depth: Slavery and Human Society. Slavery has existed in both complex and simpler societies from the earliest times. Coerced labor took different forms: indentured servants, convict laborers, debt peons, chattel slaves. The denial of control over an individual's labor was the essential characteristic of slavery systems. It was easier to enslave people outside one's own society, to exploit differences in culture, language, and color. The attitude of Europeans and non-African Muslims thus contributed to the development of modern racism. The campaign against slavery that grew from Enlightenment ideas was an important turning point in world history. Slavery has persisted in a few societies until the present, but few individuals openly defend the institution. African slavery was important in shaping the modern world. It was one of the early international trades, and it assisted the development of capitalism. Vociferous debate continues about many interpretations of the effect of the trade on African and American societies. The African Diaspora. In the Americas, slaves came in large enough numbers to become an important segment of the New World population. African cultures adapted to their new physical and social environments. The slave trade linked Africa and the Americas; it was the principal way in which African societies joined the world economy. Africans participating in the commerce dealt effectively with the new conditions, using the wealth and knowledge gained to the advantage of their states. Slave Lives. The slave trade killed millions of Africans; family and community relationships were destroyed. As many as one third of captives may have died on their way to shipping ports; shipboard mortality reached about 18%. The trauma of the Middle Passage, however, did not strip Africans of their culture, and they interjected it into the New World. Africans in the Americas. African slaves crossed the Atlantic to work in New World plantations and mines. The plantation system developed on Atlantic islands was transferred to the Americas. Africans quickly replaced Indians and indentured Europeans as agricultural laborers. Slaves also mined gold and silver and labored in many urban occupations. In early seventeenth-century Lima, Africans outnumbered Europeans. American Slave Societies. In all American slave societies, a rough social hierarchy developed. Whites were at the top, slaves at the bottom. Free people of color were in-between. Among the slaves, owners created a hierarchy based on origin and color. Despite the many pressures, slaves retained their own social perceptions: many slave rebellions were organized on ethnic and political lines. Slave-based societies varied in composition. Africans formed the overwhelming majority of the population on Caribbean islands; high mortality ensured a large number of African-born individuals. Brazil had a more diverse population. Many slaves were freed, and miscegenation was common. Slaves made up 35% of the population; free people of color were equal in number. The southern British North American colonies differed in that a positive growth rate among slaves lessened the need for continuing imports. Manumission was uncommon, and free people of color were under 10% of Afro-American numbers. Thus, slavery was less influenced by African ways. The People and Gods in Exile. Africans worked under extremely harsh conditions. The lesser numbers of women brought to the New World limited opportunities for family life. When a family was present, its continuance depended on the decisions of the owner. Despite the difficulties, most slaves lived in family units. Many aspects of African culture survived, especially when a region had many slaves from one African grouping. African culture was dynamic and creative, incorporating customs that assisted survival from different African ethnicities or from their masters. Religion demonstrates this theme. African beliefs mixed with Christianity, or survived independently. Haitian vodun is a good example of the latter. Muslim Africans tried to hold their beliefs; in 1835, a major slave rising in Brazil was organized by Muslim Yoruba and Hausa. Resistance to slavery was a common occurrence. Slaves ran away and formed lasting independent communities; in seventeenth-century Brazil, Palmares, a runaway slave state under Angolan leadership, had a population of 10,000. In Suriname, runaway slaves formed a still-existing community with a culture fusing West African, Indian, and European elements. The End of the Slave Trade and the Abolition of Slavery. The influences causing the end of the slave trade and slavery were external to Africa. The continued flourishing of slave-based economies in Africa and the Americas makes it difficult to advance economic self-interest as a reason for ending the slave trade. Africans had commercial alternatives, but they did not affect the supply of slaves. Enlightenment thinkers during the eighteenth century condemned slavery and the slave trade as immoral and cruel. The abolitionist movement gained strength in England and won abolition of the slave trade for Britons in 1807. The British pressured other nations to follow course, although the final end of New World slavery did not occur until Brazilian abolition in 1888. Global Connections: Africa and the African Diaspora in World Context. Africa entered the world economy in the slave-trade era. Its incorporation produced differing effects on African societies, but many societies had to adapt in ways that placed them at a disadvantage that facilitated later loss of independence during the nineteenth century. The legacy of the slave trade, as European rulers practiced forced labor policies, lingered into the twentieth century.

Chapter 19

The Caribbean Crucible. The Caribbean experience was a model for Spanish actions in Latin America. Columbus and his successors established colonies. The Indians of the islands were distributed among Spaniards as laborers to form encomiendas. European pressures and diseases quickly destroyed indigenous populations and turned the islands into colonial backwaters. The Spaniards had established Iberian-style cities but had to adapt them to New World conditions. They were laid out in a grid plan with a central plaza for state and church buildings. Royal administration followed the removal of Columbus and his family from control. Professional magistrates staffed the administrative structure; laws incorporated Spanish and American experience. The church joined in the process, building cathedrals and universities. During the early sixteenth century, Spanish women and African slaves joined the earlier arrivals, marking the shift from conquest to settlement. Ranches and sugar plantations replaced gold searching. By this time, most of the Indians had died or been killed. Some clerics and administrators attempted to end abuses; Bartolomé de las Casas began the struggle for justice for Indians. By the 1520s and 1530s, the elements of the Latin American colonial system were in place. The Paths of Conquest. The conquest of Latin America was not a unified movement. A series of individual initiatives operating with government approval was the pattern. One prong of conquest was directed toward Mexico, the second at South America. In 1519, Hernán Cortés led an expedition into Mexico. He fought the Aztecs with the assistance of Indian allies. At Tenochtitlan, Moctezuma II was captured and killed. By 1535, most of central Mexico was under Spanish control as the Kingdom of New Spain. Francisco Pizarro in 1535 began the conquest of the Inca Empire, then weakened by civil war. Cuzco fell in 1533. The Spanish built their capital at Lima, and by 1540, most of Peru was under their control. Other Spanish expeditions expanded colonial borders. Francisco Vazquez de Coronado explored the American southwest in the 1540s; Pedro de Valdivia conquered central Chile and founded Santiago in 1541. By 1570, there were 192 Spanish urban settlements in the Americas. The Conquerors. The conquest process was regulated by agreements concluded between leaders and their government. Leaders received authority in return for promises of sharing spoils with the crown. The men joining expeditions received shares of the spoils. Most of the conquerors were not professional soldiers. They were individuals from all walks of life out to gain personal fortune and Christian glory. They saw themselves as a new nobility entitled to domination over an Indian peasantry. The conquerors triumphed because of their horses, better weapons, and ruthless leadership. The effect of endemic European diseases and Indian disunity eased their efforts. By 1570, the age of conquest was closing. Conquest and Morality. The Spanish conquest and treatment of Indians raised significant philosophical and moral issues. Were conquest, exploitation, and conversion justified? Many answered that Indians were not fully human and were destined to serve Europeans. Converting Indians to Christianity was a necessary duty. In 1550, the Spanish ruler convoked a commission to rule on such issues. Father Bartolomé de las Casas defended the Indians, recognized them as humans, and argued that conversion had to be accomplished peacefully. The result was a moderation of the worst abuses, but the decision came too late to help most Indians. The Destruction and Transformation of American Indian Societies. All indigenous peoples suffered from the European conquest. There was a demographic catastrophe of incredible proportions as disease, war, and mistreatment caused the loss of many millions of individuals. In one example, the population of central Mexico during the sixteenth century fell from 25 million to less than two million. The Spanish reacted by concentrating Indians in towns and seizing their lands. An entirely different type of society emerged. Exploitation of the Indians. The Spanish maintained Indian institutions that served their goals. In Mexico and Peru, the traditional nobility, under Spanish authority, presided over taxation and labor demands. Enslavement of Indians, except in warfare, was prohibited by the middle of the sixteenth century. In place of slavery, the government awarded encomiendas (land grants) to conquerors who used their Indians as a source of labor and taxes. The harshness of encomiendas contributed to Indian population decline. From the 1540s, the crown, not wanting a new American nobility to develop, began to modify the system. Most encomiendas disappeared by the 1620s. Colonists henceforth sought grants of land, not labor. The state continued to extract labor and taxes from Indians, who worked in mines and other state projects. Many Indians, to escape forced labor, fled their villages to work for wages from landowners or urban employers. Despite the disruptions, Indian culture remained resilient and modified Spanish forms to Indian ways. In Depth: The Great Exchange. The Spanish and Portuguese arrival ended the isolation of the New World from other societies. After 1500, millions of Europeans and Africans settled in the Americas. Biological and ecological exchange—called the Columbian Exchange—changed the character of both new and old societies. Old World diseases decimated New World populations. Old World animals quickly multiplied in their new environments and transformed the structures of Indian societies. Both Old and New Worlds exchanged crops and weeds. The spread of American plants, especially maize, manioc, and the potato, had a major effect, allowing population expansion in many world regions. Colonial Economies and Governments. More than 80% of Spanish America's population was engaged in agriculture and ranching, but mining was the essential activity. Until the eighteenth century, the Spanish maritime commercial system was organized around the exchange of New World precious metals, especially silver, for European manufactured goods. The exchange made Latin America a dependent part of the world system. The Silver Heart of The Empire. The major silver mines opened in Mexico and Peru during the middle of the sixteenth century. Potosí in Bolivia was the largest mine, and Zacatecas in Mexico, resulted in the creation of wealthy urban centers. Mines were worked by Indians, at first through forced methods and later for wages. Mining techniques were European. The discovery of extensive mercury deposits was vital for silver extraction. The crown owned all subsoil rights; private individuals worked the mines at their expense in return for giving the crown one fifth of production. The government had a monopoly on the mercury used. The industry, dependent on a supply of food and other materials for workers, was a stimulus for the general economy. Haciendas and Villages. Spanish America remained an agricultural economy. Large sedentary Indian populations continued traditional patterns. When population dwindled, Spanish rural estates (haciendas) emerged. Using Indian and mixed-ancestry workers, they produced grains, grapes, and livestock primarily for consumers in the Americas. The haciendas became the basis of wealth and power for a local aristocracy. In some regions, there was competition between haciendas and Indian farmers. Industry and Commerce. Sheep raising led to the formation of small textile sweatshops worked by Indian women. Latin America became self-sufficient in foodstuffs and material goods, requiring from Europe only luxury items. From the point of view of Spain and the world economy, silver ruled the commercial system. All trade was reserved for Spaniards and was funneled through Seville and Cádiz. A board of trade controlled commerce with the Indies. The board often worked with a merchant guild (consulado) in Seville that had extensive rights over American trade. To protect their silver fleets from rivals and pirates, the Spanish organized a convoy system made possible by the development of heavily armed galleons. Galleons also transported Chinese products from the Philippines to Mexico. Strongly fortified Caribbean ports provided shelter for the ships. Only one fleet was lost before the system ended in the 1730s. The wealth in silver that went to Spain was used for state expenses and for manufactured goods for the Americas. Much of the silver left Spain and contributed to general European inflation. All through the period, Spain's wealth depended more on taxes than on American silver, although the prospect of its continuing import stimulated unwise government spending. Ruling an Empire: State and Church. Sovereignty over the Spanish empire rested with the crown, based on a papal grant awarding the Indies to Castile in return for its bringing the lands into the Christian community. The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) between Spain and Portugal regularized their conflicting claims by drawing a north-south line around the earth; the eastern regions belonged to Portugal, the western to Spain. All of the Americas, except Brazil, went to Spain. Indians and many Europeans did not accept the decisions. The Spanish empire became a bureaucratic system built on a juridical core of lawyers who had both legislative and administrative authority. The king ruled from Spain through the Council of Indies; in the Americas there were viceroyalties based in Mexico City and Lima. The viceroys, high-ranking nobles, represented the king and had extensive legislative, military, and judicial powers. The viceroyalties were divided into ten divisions run by royal magistrates. At the local level, other magistrates, often accused of corruption, managed tax and labor service regulations. The clergy performed both secular and religious functions. They converted Indians and established Christian villages. Some defended Indian rights and studied their culture. In core areas, the formal institutional structure of the church eventually prevailed; since the state nominated church officials, they tended to support state policies. The church profoundly influenced colonial cultural and intellectual life through architecture, printing, schools, and universities. The Inquisition controlled morality and orthodoxy. Brazil: The First Plantation Colony. The Portuguese reached Brazil in 1500 as Pedro Alvares Cabral voyaged to India. There was little to interest Europeans apart from dyewood trees; merchants received licenses for their exploitation. When French merchants became interested, a new system was established in 1532. Portuguese nobles were given land grants (captaincies) to colonize and develop. Towns were founded and sugar plantations were established using Indian and later African slave workers. In 1549, a royal governor created an administration with a capital at Salvador. Jesuit missionaries also arrived. Indian resistance was broken by disease, military force, and missionary action. Port cities developed to serve the growing number of sugar plantations increasingly worked by African slaves. Sugar and Slavery. Brazil became the world's leading sugar producer. The growth and processing of sugar cane required large amounts of capital and labor. Brazil, with a single crop produced by slave labor, was the first plantation colony. In its social hierarchy, white planter families, linked to merchants and officials, dominated colonial life. Slaves, composing about one half of the total population at the close of the seventeenth century, occupied the bottom level. In-between was a growing population of mixed origins, poor whites, Indians, and Africans who were artisans, small farmers, herders, and free workers. Portugal created a bureaucratic administrative structure under the direction of a governor general that integrated Brazil into the imperial system. The cores of the bureaucracy were lawyers. Regional governors often acted independently and, along with the governor general, reported directly to Lisbon. Missionaries had an important role; they ran ranches, mills, schools, and church institutions. During the seventeenth century, Brazil became the predominant Portuguese colony. It remained closely tied to Portugal; there were no universities or printing presses to stimulate independent intellectual life. Brazil's Age of Gold. Between 1580 and 1640, Portugal and Brazil shared the same monarch, the Habsburg ruler of Spain. During the seventeenth-century struggles between Spain and Holland, the Dutch occupied part of Brazil until expelled in 1654. Meanwhile, the Dutch, English, and French had established sugar plantation colonies in the Caribbean. The resulting competition lowered sugar prices and raised the cost of slaves. Brazil lost its position as predominant sugar producer, but exploring backwoodsmen (Paulistas) discovered gold in the Minas Gerais region in 1695. People rushed to the mines and formed new settlements. Mines were worked by slaves. Government controls followed to tightly manage a production that peaked between 1735 and 1760. Brazil then was the greatest source of gold in the Western world. The gold, and later diamond, discoveries opened the interior to settlement, devastated Indian populations, and weakened coastal agriculture. The government managed to reinvigorate coastal agriculture and control the slave trade, while the mines stimulated new ventures in farming and ranching. Rio de Janeiro, nearer to the mines, became a major port and the capital in 1763. A societal hierarchy based on color remained in force. The gold and diamonds did not contribute much to Portuguese economic development. The resources gained allowed Portugal to import manufactured goods instead of creating its own industries. Multiracial Societies. The conquest and settlement of Latin America by Europeans formed large multiethnic societies. Indians, Europeans, and Africans came together in hierarchies of color, status, and occupation. By the eighteenth century, mixed peoples (castas) were a major population segment. The Society of Castas. The key to societal development was miscegenation. Indian women suffered sexual exploitation from Europeans, and the crown sponsored marriages in a society where there were few European women. The result was mestizo population possessing higher status than Indians. A similar process occurred in colonies with large African slave populations. American realities had created new social distinctions based on race and place of birth. Europeans were always at the top; African slaves and Indians occupied the bottom. Mestizos filled the intermediate categories. Restrictions were placed on mixed-origin people, but social mobility was not halted. Over time, distinctions grew between Spaniards born in Spain (peninsulares) and the New World (Creoles). The latter dominated local economies and developed a strong sense of identity that later contributed to independence movements. Society as a whole remained subject to Iberian patriarchal forms. Women were under male authority; upper-class women were confined to household occupations, but many from the lower class participated in the economy. The Eighteenth-Century Reforms. Spain and Portugal shared in the eighteenth-century European intellectual ferment and in the changes forced by new demographic and economic trends. European population growth and eighteenth-century wars gave the colonies new importance. Both Spanish and Portuguese empires revived, but with long-term important consequences detrimental to their continuation. The Shifting Balance of Politics and Trade. Spain's colonial system by the eighteenth century required serious reform. Spain was weakened by poor rulers, foreign wars, and internal civil and economic problems. France, Britain, and Holland were dangerous enemies; during the seventeenth century, they seized Spanish Caribbean islands and developed their own plantation societies. As the Spanish mercantile and political system declined, the flow of silver dropped and the colonies became increasingly self-sufficient. Local aristocrats took control over their regions, while corruption was rampant in government. Crisis occurred in 1701 when disputes over the Spanish royal succession caused international war. The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) ended the fighting and, for concessions opening the colonies to some foreign trade, recognized the Bourbon family as rulers of Spain. The Bourbon Reforms. The new dynasty worked to strengthen Spain. Charles III (1759-1788) instituted fiscal, administrative, and military reforms in an effort to create a rational, planned government. The Jesuits were expelled from Spain and the empire in 1767, but the church remained an ally of the regime. French bureaucratic models were introduced, taxation was reformed, and ports were opened to less restricted trade by Spanish merchants. In the Americas, new viceroyalties were created in New Granada and Rio de la Plata to provide better defense and administration. Under the authority of José de Galvez, broad general reforms followed. Creoles were removed from upper bureaucratic positions. The intendancy system, borrowed from the French, provided more efficient rule by Spanish officials. As an ally of France, Spain was involved in the eighteenth-century Anglo-French world wars. In the Seven Years War, the English seized Florida and occupied Havana. The losses stimulated military reform. More troops went to the New World, and Creole militias were formed. Frontiers were defended and expanded; California was settled. The government took an active role in the economy. State monopolies were founded and monopoly companies opened new regions for development. More liberal trade regulations expanded Caribbean commerce. Cuba became a full plantation colony. Buenos Aires presided over a booming economy based on beef and hides. The more open trade, however, damaged local industries. Mining revived with new discoveries worked by improved technology. The Bourbon changes had revitalized the empire, but in the process, they stimulated growing dissatisfaction among colonial elites. Pombal and Brazil. The Marquis of Pombal directed Portuguese affairs from 1755 to 1776. He labored to strengthen the Portuguese economy and to lessen his country's dependence on England, especially regarding the flow of Brazilian gold to London. The authoritarian Pombal suppressed opposition to his policies; the Jesuits were expelled from the empire in 1759. Reforming administrators worked in Brazil to end lax or corrupt practices. Monopoly companies were formed to stimulate agriculture. New regions began to flourish, among them the undeveloped Amazon territory. Rio de Janeiro became the capital. Pombal abolished slavery in Portugal, but not in Brazil. To help increase population growth, Indians were removed from missionary control and mixed marriages were encouraged. The reforms had minimal effect on society: the colony remained based on slavery. The trade balance first improved, but then suffered when demand for Brazilian products remained low. Reforms, Reactions, and Revolts. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the American Iberian colonies shared world growth in population and productive capacity. They were experiencing a boom in the last years of the century. But the many reforms had disrupted old power patterns, at times producing rebellions. In New Granada, the widespread Comunero Revolt occurred in 1781. A more serious outbreak, the Tupac Amaru rising, broke out among Peruvian Indians. Brazil escaped serious disturbances. The movements had different social bases, but they demonstrated increased local dissatisfaction with imperial policies. Sharp social divisions among colonial groups hindered effective revolutionary action until Spain and Portugal were weakened by European political and social turmoil. Global Connections: Latin American Civilization and the World Context. The large colonies of Portugal and Spain provided an important place in the expanding world economy. By the eighteenth century, weakened internal situations allowed European rivals to benefit directly from Iberian colonial trade. Portugal and Spain had transferred their cultures to the Americas, recreating there a version of Iberian life modified by local influence. Surviving Indian populations adapted to the colonial situation and a distinctive multiethnic and multiracial society emerged that mixed the cultures of all participants. Where slavery prevailed, African cultures played a major role. Latin American civilization was distinct from the West, but related to it. In world markets, Latin American products remained in demand, maintaining a society with its economic life dependent on outside factors.

Chapter 21

The Mongol invasions of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries destroyed theoretical Muslim unity. The Abbasid and many regional dynasties were crushed. Three new Muslim dynasties arose to bring a new flowering to Islamic civilization. The greatest, the Ottoman Empire, reached its peak in the seventeenth century; to the East, the Safavids ruled in Persia and Afghanistan, and the Mughals ruled much of India. Together the three empires possessed great military and political power; they also produced an artistic and cultural renaissance within Islam. They contributed to the spread of Islam to new regions. All three dynasties originated from Turkic nomadic cultures; each possessed religious fervor and zeal for conversion. They built empires through military conquest based on the effective use of firearms. Each was ruled by an absolute monarch and drew revenues from taxation of agrarian populations. There were differences. The Mughals ruled mostly non-Muslim peoples, the Safavids mostly Muslims, and the Ottomans a mixture of Muslims and Christians. The Safavids were Shi'a Muslims; the others were Sunni. The Ottomans: From Frontier Warriors to Empire Builders. The Turkic peoples entered Anatolia after the Mongols defeated the Seljuks of eastern Anatolia in the middle of the thirteenth century. After a period of turmoil, the Ottomans secured dominance. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, they moved into the Balkans. In 1453, they captured Constantinople and ended the Byzantine Empire. During the next two centuries, they brought their rule to much of the Middle East, North Africa, and southeastern Europe. Their navy dominated the eastern Mediterranean. Even though the Ottomans failed to capture Vienna in sieges during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they continued as a serious threat to western Europe. A State Geared to Warfare. Military leaders had a dominant role in the Ottoman state, a polity geared to war and expansion. The Turkic horsemen became a warrior aristocracy supported by control of conquered land and peasants. When their power shrank before that of an expanding central bureaucracy, they built up regional power bases. From the middle of the fifteenth century, imperial armies were dominated by Janissary infantry divisions composed of conscripted youths from conquered lands. Their control of artillery and firearms gave them great power; by the middle of the sixteenth century, they intervened in dynastic succession disputes. The Sultans and Their Court. Ottoman rulers survived by playing off the competing factions within their state. The groups included religious and legal scholars. Muslim, Christian, and Jewish merchants were important. The latter two were "peoples of the book" who often were satisfied with the sound administration of their Muslim rulers. As the empire grew, the sultans lost contact with their subjects. A large bureaucracy headed by a vizier had great power in the state. Early rulers and their sons participated in the administration. Vague principles of imperial succession led to protracted strife and weakened the empire. Constantinople Restored and the Flowering of Ottoman Culture. The imperial capital at Constantinople combined the disparate cultures under Ottoman rule. The new rulers restored the city after 1453; the church of St. Sophia became one of Islam's grandest mosques. Most sultans tried to add to the city's splendor: Suleyman the Magnificent built the great Suleymaniye mosque in the sixteenth century. Constantinople became the commercial center dealing in products from Asia, Africa, and Europe. Many urban inhabitants belonged to merchant and artisan classes. The government closely regulated both activities. Artisan guilds were very important. By the seventeenth century, the Turkish language became the preferred vehicle for literature and government. The Ottomans left a significant artistic legacy in poetry, ceramics, carpet manufacturing, and architecture. The Problem of Ottoman Decline. The empire continued to be vigorous until the late seventeenth century. By then, the empire was too extensive to be maintained from its available resource base and transport system. As a conquest state, the Ottoman Empire began to decline once acquisition of new territory ceased. The bureaucracy became corrupt, and regional officials used revenues for their own purposes. Oppressed peasants and laborers fled the land or rebelled. Problems at the center of the state added to the decline. Sultans and their sons were confined to the palace; they became weak and indolent rulers managed by court factions. Civil strife increased and military efficiency deteriorated. Military Reverses and the Ottoman Retreat. The weakening within the empire occurred when outside challenges increased. The conservative Janissaries blocked needed military reform and allowed their state to lose ground to European rivals. The weakness in technology included the imperial navy. A Spanish-Venetian victory at Lepanto in 1571 ended Turkish control of the eastern Mediterranean. By then, Portuguese mariners had outflanked the Muslim world by sailing around Africa into the Indian Ocean. Portuguese naval victories there broke the Muslim dominance over Indian trade. The problems caused by loss of commercial revenues were exacerbated by inflation stimulated by the importation of New World bullion. A few able sultans attempted during the seventeenth century to counter the empire's decline. The collapse of the Safavids removed an important rival. Still, the major changes occurring within the European world were not matched by the Ottomans. The intense conservatism of the Janissaries and religious leaders blocked Western-inspired innovation. The Shi'a Challenge of the Safavids. The Safavids also profited from the struggles of rival Turkic groups after Mongol invasions. The Safavids were Shi'a Muslims from a family of Sufi preachers and mystics. In the early fourteenth century under Sail al-Din, they fought to purify and spread Islam among Turkic peoples. After long struggles, in 1501, Ismâ'il seized Tabriz and was proclaimed shah. His followers conquered most of Persia and fought against the Ottomans, who defeated them at the important Battle of Chaldiran in 1514. The loss meant that Shi'ism was blocked from further westward advance. In Depth: The Gunpowder Empires and the Shifting Balance of Global Power. Each of the three great Muslim dynasties gained power with the support of nomadic warriors. But past conditions had changed. The Battle of Chaldiran demonstrated that firearms were a decisive factor in warfare. Global history had entered a new phase. States used technology to reorganize their land and naval forces, and the changes influenced both social and political development. Once-dominant warrior aristocracies crumbled before governments able to afford expensive weapons. The Chinese scholar-gentry and Japanese shoguns had some success in limiting their effect, but nomads no longer were able to dominate sedentary peoples. Nomadic dynasties similarly declined when confronted by smaller, technologically superior rivals. The efficient use of firearms by European nations was a major factor in their rise to world power. Politics and War under the Safavid Shahs. Tasmaph I, after a period of turmoil, became shah in 1534 and restored dynastic power. Under Abbas I (1587-1629), the empire reached its zenith. The rulers brought the Turkic warriors under control; they were assigned villages and peasant labor for support. Some leaders gained important posts in the state and posed a constant threat to the shahs. Persians were recruited into the imperial bureaucracy as a counterbalance. The Safavids, as the Ottomans did, recruited captured slave youths into the army and bureaucracy. They were very important during the reign of Abbas I. They became the backbone of his army and held high civil posts. They monopolized firearm use and received training from European advisors. State and Religion. The Safavids originally wrote in Turkish, but Persian, after Chaldiran, became the language of state. They also adopted elaborate Persian traditions of court etiquette. The initial militant Shi'a ideology was modified as the Safavids drew Persian religious scholars into the bureaucracy. Religious teachers received state support, and teaching in mosque schools was supervised by religious officials. The population of the empire gradually converted to Shi'a Islam, which developed into an integral part of Iranian identity. When the power of the dynasty declined, religious leaders became more independent, but they continued to serve its rulers. Elite Affluence and Artistic Splendor. Abbas I attempted to make his empire a major center of international trade and Islamic culture. Internal transport conditions were improved, and workshops were created for silk textiles and carpets. Iranian merchants were encouraged to trade with other Muslims, Indians, Chinese, and Europeans. Abbas devoted special attention to building projects, especially mosques, in his capital of Isfahan. Society and Gender Roles: Ottoman and Safavid Comparisons. Both dynasties had much in common. They initially were dominated by warrior aristocracies who shared power with the monarch. The warriors gradually left the rulers' courts for residence on rural estates where they exploited the peasantry. When central power weakened, the result was flight from the land and rebellion. Both empires encouraged the growth of handicraft production and trade. Imperial workshops produced numerous products, and public works employed many artisans. Policies encouraging international trade were followed, although the Safavids were less market oriented than the Ottomans were. Women endured the social disadvantages common to Islamic regimes. The earlier independence within nomadic society was lost. Women were subordinate to fathers and husbands and had few outlets, especially among the elite, for expression outside of the household. The Rapid Demise of the Safavid Empire. Abbas I, fearing plots, had removed all suitable heirs. The succession of a weak grandson began a process of dynastic decline. Internal strife and foreign invasions shook the state. In 1772, Isfahan fell to Afghani invaders. An adventurer, Nadir Khan Afshar, emerged from the following turmoil as shah in 1736, but his dynasty and its successors were unable to restore imperial authority. The Mughals and the Apex of Muslim Civilization in India. Turkic invaders, led by Babur, invaded India in 1526 after being driven from Afghanistan. They sought booty, not conquest, and remained only when prevented from returning northward. Babur's forces, using military tactics and technology similar to those of the Ottomans, crushed the Muslim Lodi dynasty at Panipat in 1526 and in 1527 defeated a Hindu confederation at Khanua. Within two years, Babur held much of the Indus and Ganges plains. The first Mughal ruler was a talented warrior who also possessed a taste for art and music, but he was a poor administrator. His sudden death in 1530 brought invasion from surrounding enemies. Babur's successor, Humayan, fled to Persia; he led successful return invasions into India that restored control in the north by 1556. He died soon after. Akbar and the Basis for a Lasting Empire. Humayan's 13-year-old son Akbar succeeded to the throne and immediately had to face pressure from Mughal enemies. Akbar and his advisors defeated them, and the young monarch became a ruler with outstanding military and administrative talent. His armies consolidated Mughal conquests in northern and central India. Akbar advanced a policy of reconciliation with his Hindu subjects; he encouraged intermarriage, abolished head taxes, and respected Hindu religious customs. Hindus rose to high ranks in the administration. Akbar invented a new faith incorporating Muslim and Hindu beliefs to unify his subjects. The Hindu and Muslim warrior aristocracy were granted land and labor for their loyalty. Hindu local notables were left in place if taxes were paid. Social Reform and Social Change. Akbar attempted to introduce social changes that would benefit his subjects. Among them were reforms to regulate the consumption of alcohol. He strove to improve the position of women. Akbar encouraged widow remarriage and discouraged child marriages. He prohibited sati and attempted to break seclusion through creating special market days for women. Mughal Splendor and Early European Contacts. Even though most of his reforms, including the new religion, were not successful, Akbar left a powerful empire at his death in 1605. Not much new territory was added by successors, but the regime reached the peak of its splendor. Most of the population, however, lived in poverty, and India fell behind Europe in invention and the sciences. Still, by the late seventeenth century, the Mughals ruled over a major commercial and manufacturing empire. Indian cotton textiles were world famous and gained a large market in Europe. Artistic Achievement in the Mughal Era. The seventeenth-century rulers Jahangir and Shah Jahan continued the policy of tolerance toward Hindus along with most other elements of Akbar's administration. Both preferred the good life over military adventures. They were important patrons of the arts; they expanded painting workshops for miniatures and built great architectural works, including Shah Jahan's Taj Mahal, often blending the best in Persian and Hindu traditions. Court Politics and the Position of Elite and Ordinary Women. Jahangir and Shah Jahan left the details of daily administration to subordinates, thus allowing their wives to win influence. Nur Jahan, Jahangir's wife, dominated the empire for a time through her faction. Mumtaz Mahal, wife of Shah Jahan, also amassed power. While the life of court women improved, the position of women elsewhere in society declined. Child marriage grew more popular, widow remarriage died out, and seclusion for both Muslim and Hindus increased. Sati spread among the upper classes. The lack of opportunity for a productive role and the burden of a dowry meant that the birth of a girl became an inauspicious event. The Beginnings of Imperial Decline. Aurangzeb, Shah Jahan's successor, inherited a declining empire and was not able to reverse the process. He pushed two disastrous ambitions: to control all of India and to rid Islam of Hindu influences. By 1707, Aurangzeb had conquered most of India, but the warfare had drained the treasury and weakened the bureaucracy and military. The time spent on warfare diverted the rulers' energies from other vital tasks. Internal revolt and the growing autonomy of local leaders were not dealt with. Aurangzeb's religious policies increased internal weaknesses. Hindus in imperial service were kept from the highest posts, and measures against Hinduism were commenced. The head tax was restored. By the end of Aurangzeb's regime, his large empire was plagued by internal disruption. The Marattas of Western India and the Sikhs in the northwest strained imperial resources. Foreign enemies were ready to strike. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, state revenues and power passed to regional lords, a return to a pattern previously predominant in South Asia. There were tempting openings for foreign intervention. Global Connections: Gunpowder Empires and the Restoration of the Islamic Bridge Between Civilizations. The early modern Muslim empires had sufficient internal reasons for destruction, but their demise was made more certain by a common ignoring of the rising European threat. Little effort was made to incorporate European technological advances. The failure to meet the European challenge weakened the economic base of their empires as revenues and profits were drained off by foreigners. Importation of European bullion brought damaging inflation. Muslim leaders and scholars ignored these trends and caused serious difficulties for the world of Islam in the future.