AP World History 1450-1750

Open Ended

Prompt:

"Imagine you are living in Europe in the year 1500. News has just reached you about explorers who are sailing to unknown lands across the ocean. What do you think are the reasons these explorers are setting out on their journeys? How might their discoveries change the world around you?"

Guidelines:

- Write at least 5-7 sentences.

- Consider factors such as wealth, religion, power, and curiosity.

- Think about how these explorations could impact trade, culture, and society in Europe and beyond. 

I can explain the impact of European
exploration and colonization on global
trade and cultural exchanges between
1450 and 1750.

Objective

1450-1750
Overview

AP World History

General Overview

●The world was connected for the first time (Eastern and Western
hemispheres)

●Global system of exchange and interaction
○mostly warfare, exploitation, slavery

●massive effort of Europeans to explore the world

●Europeans = driven by quest for power, hope of spreading Christianity,
desire for wealth (God, Glory, Gold)

●Europeans first in history to sail around the globe

●Conquered and transformed the Americas

●Changed environments of Africa, Americas, and Europe with the
Columbian exchange
○new foods, animals, and diseases were exchanged

General Overview

●Rise of Europe - until 1100 they struggled
compared to China and “gunpowder
empires” like Ottomans, Safavids, and
Mughals

●By 1700 - Europe overtook these cultures
becoming strongest, most technologically
adept, and richest civilization in the world

●Setup for industrial domination in our next
unit (1750-1900)

●Improved agriculture was leading to
population increase
○population rose from 350 million in
1400 to 610 million in 1700

France’s King Louis XIV the “Sun King”

Multiple Choice

Who is depicted in the image?

• King Henry VIII

• King Louis XIV

• King Charles I

• King Philip II

Medieval vs. Renaissance Art

Europe in 1700 (Notice Italy is still a series of city-states)

Great Wall of China - Strengthened by the Ming Dynasty

Global Power & International Relations

●During 1500s and 1600s, global might was in
China and Islamic world’s “gunpowder
empires” (Ottoman Turkey, Safavid Persia,
and Mughal India)

●By 1700s Europe was overtaking them

●European campaign to explore and colonize
the rest of the world, especially in the
Americas

●Also colonized the African coast and parts of
Southeast Asia

●Importance of gunpowder meant that from
this time forward, technological aptitude and
military strength would always be connected

Political Developments

●Political organization became more centralized and sophisticated

●Nation-states emerged: solid political units with relatively fixed borders,
sense of national unity, and populations that were mostly homogenous in
terms of language and ethnicity

●Europe experimented with absolutism and parliamentarism (forms of
monarchy)

●Features of modern governments began to appear, such as:
○bureaucracies, agencies, admiralties, treasuries, general staffs, state
banks, and other institutions

Jesuits in China

Multiple Choice

How many different voyages did Columbus make to the Americas?

• 1

• 2

• 3

• 4

Economic & Environmental Developments

●Social diversification from growing importance of nonagricultural ways of
making a living

●More economic importance placed on trade, commerce, and money, rather
than land (end of feudalism)

●Europe’s exploration and colonization of the Americas created new major trade
network in the Atlantic - linked Europe, Africa, North and South America
“triangle trade”

●1500s and 1600s - silver extracted by the Portuguese affected the world
economy (Europe and China experienced inflation, silver as a world
currency/commodity)

●Birth and growth of Atlantic slave trade - forced deportation of 12 million
Africans

●Columbian exchange - diseases killed at least 80-90% of native populations

Potosi Silver Mine, South America

Islamic Empires of Pre-Modern Period

Ottoman Miniature Paintings

Ottoman Empire (1451-1566)

Cultural Developments

●level of scientific knowledge and technological
achievement increased in Europe

●Renaissance, Scientific Revolution, and the
Enlightenment all furthered intellectual growth of
Europe

●increasing influence of printing press led to rapid
spread of information, scientific knowledge, religious
debates, and new ideas - boosted literacy

●Protestant Reformation - split between Protestants
and Catholics

●As a result of the Age of Discovery, Europeans
established a presence in almost all parts of the
world.

Cultural Developments

●European power was limited in much of Asia and Africa

●China and Japan limited European missionaries and merchants in their societies

●nothing hinted that the Industrial Revolution was coming - human, animal, wind,
and water still supplied all of the energy - handicrafts had not been replaced by
factory-based production

●Landowning elites (not middle class) still held power

●rural peasants (not urban workers) made up the social group among the lower
classes

●traditional values prevailed: Confucianism, Hinduism, and caste system

●Islam continued to spread in Southeast Asia and Africa

Multiple Choice

What was a common material used in Medieval art for creating religious icons?

• Marble

• Gold leaf

• Oil paint

• Watercolor

Multiple Choice

Which trade route is marked in blue on the map of Africa, Asia, and Europe?

• Silk Roads

• Indian Ocean

• Trans-Arabia

• Trans-Sahara

Gender Issues

●women still had secondary status in terms of
social roles, economic opportunities, and
political influence

●marriage was usually economic arrangement

●in Europe, individual women or women of
small but important segments of society (from
aristocracy or emerging middle class) gained
educations, became active in business, made
scientific discoveries, or became artists or
writers

●handful of Europe’s most important monarchs
during this era--Elizabeth I, Maria Theresa,
Isabella, and Catherine the Great were female

Elizabeth I - Queen of England

Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, France (built by Louis XIV as a show of power)

Multiple Choice

Who was one of the most important female monarchs in Europe during this era?

• Queen Victoria

• Elizabeth I

• Cleopatra

• Joan of Arc

Questions and Comparisons to Consider

●compare one or more major European monarchies with an Asian empire
(Ottomans, Ming China, Mughal India)

●Contrast Russia’s relationship with Western Europe with the way one of the
following interacted with the West: Mughal India, Ottoman Empire, Tokugawa
Japan, or China

●Consider various forms of monarchy and how they were legitimated (divine right,
constitutions, Mandate of Heaven, etc)

●Compare growing Atlantic slave trade with other systems of unfree labor
(serfdom in Russia, Arab slave network)

●Compare European Age of Discovery with earlier efforts at exploration, such as
Zheng He or Ibn Battuta’s

●Compare different approaches of various European nations to colonization (both
in Americas and worldwide)

Multiple Choice

What was a key outcome of the Columbian exchange?

• Changed environments of Africa, Americas, and Europe

• Established new political systems

• Developed new languages

• Created new art forms

Multiple Choice

What factor contributed to the population increase in Europe during this period?

• Improved agriculture

• Industrialization

• Military conquests

• Trade expansion

Multiple Choice

What was the primary reason for Europe's struggle until 1100?

• Lack of resources

• Technological inferiority

• Political instability

• Geographic isolation

Multiple Choice

Which empire was not part of the "gunpowder empires"?

• Roman Empire

• Ottoman Turkey

• Safavid Persia

• Mughal India

Multiple Choice

Which of the following regions was not colonized by Europe during the 1700s?

• Antarctica

• African coast

• Southeast Asia

• Americas

Multiple Choice

What marked the end of feudalism in terms of economic priorities?

• Focus on land ownership

• Emphasis on trade and commerce

• Decline in monetary systems

• Increase in agricultural activities

Multiple Choice

What was a major economic change during the end of feudalism?

• Increased focus on agriculture

• More importance on trade and commerce

• Decline in monetary systems

• Expansion of feudal lands

Multiple Choice

What type of workers did not make up the social group among the lower classes?

• Urban workers

• Rural peasants

• Artisans

• Merchants

Multiple Choice

Which trade route is marked in red on the map of Africa, Asia, and Europe?

• Trans-Sahara

• Silk Roads

• Indian Ocean

• Trans-Arabia

Open Ended

3-2-1 Closure with grow/glow protocol

3 things learned,

2 questions,

1 interesting fact,