World History _ Europe PPT

(A Satyal Module)
Overview & Key Points
Note: The content on this PPT is not exhaustive, but it is a brief overview/ outline of key
developments in world and European history. The aim is for the non-history students in my WH
module (Fall 2022 batch) to get some background information in European & World History as well
as get an idea of the shape and trajectory of historical change in Europe till c. 1800.

COURSE MATERIALS ARE FOR MY STUDENTS’ USE ONLY.

PLEASE DO NOT DISTRIBUTE OR POST ONLINE.

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History – The Discipline & Essay Writing

(Slides 3-7)

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History as a Discipline
• History: History is related to the word ‘story’ – both come from the root Latin
word historia that means a narrative of past events
• Prehistory vs. History: Prior to the emergence of written records vs. after the
emergence of written records
• 2 meanings of history: (1) All that happened in the past (2) How has this past
been written about and how did this writing change over time (=
historiography). That is, history is both what happened & its changing
understanding and meaning.
• Purpose of history: Is to explain how and why what happened, i.e., providing
an explanation so that we can understand why things are how they are. That
also helps us anticipate what the future may be like.
• Why should we study history?: As we know the past, we also develop a
sense of who we are (identity), what it means to be human (Humanities),
how past societies solved their problems.

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History as a Discipline
• Context in history: History requires us to think in terms of a context,
i.e., space (where are things happening) & time (relevant time period)
• Method in history: Historians access material evidence (artefacts,
images, written documents) + other historians’ writing + develop a
conceptual frame to analyze and present a well-researched narrative
• Key concepts in history: (1) Change & Continuity (2) Cause & Effect
(3) Evidence (relevant knowledge extracted from sources typically
created during & after the study period) (4) Connections (5)
Emergence, not only origins

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Framework?
• Framework?: Framework is the organizing principle of information, e.g.,
cultural history, subaltern history, environmental history. Framework also
allows for a more intensive study of and debates on a chosen aspect of the
past.
• Social: Processes, institutions, individuals connected to the hierarchies,
sustenance and organization of societies (slow changing)
• Economic: Processes, institutions, individuals connected to the use,
creation & distribution of resources (rapid change)
• Cultural: Processes, institutions, individuals connected to learning &
survival – attitudes, ideas, customs, behaviors, creative/artistic activities
(slow change)
• Political: Processes, institutions, individuals connected to the distribution
and exercise of power (rapid change)

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How to write a history essay?
• Carefully study the question to find out what is it asking you to do
• Break up the question into its component parts and devise a plan for writing:-
• What are the relevant people, events, themes, concepts connected to the question?
• What is the supporting evidence?
• What are you going to argue (taking together themes, events, evidence)? – The rest of the essay should explain
and validate that argument
• Now plan a structure for your essay – (1) abstract, keywords (2) introduction, essay body comprising multiple
paragraphs, conclusion
• Introduction – Directly address the question, provide its context, state your argument & outline what follows in
the next few pages
• Essay Body – Sections elaborating your argument
• Conclusion – Closing sentences briefly summarizing the argument & indicating its importance
• Citation – List of references you used. No plagiarism – use Turnitin & Grammarly to check & remove plagiarized
content
• Other tips:
• (i) Proofread before submitting for any errors (Spellcheck & Grammarly)
• (ii) Refrain from sweeping or over-generalizing statements
• (iii) Practice writing short sentences
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Europe
• 'Europe’ – Of likely Greek origin meaning “wide gazing”, referring to the
broad shoreline as seen from the sea
• Phoenician origin meaning “evening”, as in the place where the sun would
set.
• 6th c BCE Europa - Europa means 'broad-face’ referring to the full moon.
• Eu-rope - meaning 'well-watered’.
• 1st application of the word Europa to central Greece and subsequently, all
of Greece.
• By 500 BCE, Europa came to refer to the European continent – Greek
familiarity was w/ the Mediterranean region (Greece lay at its eastern end)
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European History – Chronology

(Slides 9-11)

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Chronology – Key Developments & Events
• 700 BCE: Generalized use of iron in Europe
• 509-27 BCE: Roman Republic in the state of Rome formed w/ elected magistrates
• 27 BCE: Roman Empire is founded
• 300–1500 CE: European Middle Ages
• 300–700 CE: Europe’s Age of Migration
• 330 CE: Constantinople is founded
• 395 CE: Roman empire splits; founding of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire
• 395–1453 CE: Byzantine Empire
• 476–1500 CE: Fall of the Roman Empire & Catholic Church rises to prominence
• 5th–13th c: Feudalism & Manorialism in Europe; begins to decline by the 13th c in W. Europe
• 500–1600 CE: Illuminated manuscripts produced in Europe
• 800–1806 CE: Holy Roman Empire (Carolingian ruler, Charlemagne r. 800-814 CE)
• 800–1000 CE: Serial invasions destroy the Carolingians; Schism in the Church in 1054 CE
• 1095–1291 CE: Crusades or military expeditions turning religious wars focusing on the Holy
Land w/ the recovery of Jerusalem in 1099 – 8 major crusades
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Chronology – Key Developments & Events
• 1100–1400 CE: Serfdom & manorialism at their height in Med. Europe
• 12th c onward: Emergence of European banking – Italian traders the 1st bankers in Europe
• 1337 CE: Hundred Years War breaks out b/w England & France
• 1347 CE–1352 CE: Black Death – 1/3rd of Europe’s population dead – took 3 centuries for popln. to restore
• 14th–16th c: European Renaissance – a cultural movement that began in Florence
• 16th c: Reformation – Signals the end of ‘Middle Ages’ & the beginning of modernity; Papacy & Catholic Church’s
authority questioned – Martin Luther
• 14th–16th c: Popular revolts rock Europe challenging the king’s authority (1st is East Anglia revolt of 1381 in
England unwilling to support nobility w/o pol & eco power-sharing)
• 1453 CE: European Age of Discovery after the Ottomans capture Constantinople & close the overland Silk Route
b/w Europe and the East
• Late 15th c onwards: Columbian Exchange – widespread transfer of goods, plants, animals, metals, humans,
technology, diseases b/w New World (Americas), Western Hemisphere & Old World (Asia-Africa)
• 1450–1550: Early printing in Europe - mechanical process for printing multiples of the same textual sources and
visual representations (early 11th c China & 13th c Korea)
• 16th–17th c: Scientific Revolution – Copernicus (1543) & Newton (1687)
• 18th c: Enlightenment in Europe
• 1620–1621 CE: ‘Pilgrims’ on Mayflower sail from Europe to North America and establish the Plymouth Colony in
Massachusetts, USA
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Chronology – Key Developments & Events
• 17th–18th c: Enlightenment in Europe – Preceded by the Scientific Revolution - Separation of Church-
State, human happiness, reason, progress, constitutional government, individual liberty & religious
tolerance
• Mid-16th–Mid 18th c: Agricultural Revolution, forming the base for Industrial Revolution in W. Europe
• Mid-18th c (1st phase): Industrial ‘Revolution’ 1st phase begins – Reforms in Russia – French Revolution
– Slave trade peaks within 3 decades – American Revolutionary War – Fresh oceanic & land
explorations
• 18th c: Western & Northern Europe developing faster than S-C Europe
• Late 18th c: Private property is established in Europe
• 1757: New phase of imperial power & foundation of British colonialism - British win a decisive battle
in Bengal
• 1776: Steam engine commercial (1st c CE – 1st steam engine in Roman Egypt)
• 1785: Mechanical loom in England – Indian textiles, now costlier, begin to be displaced
• 1804: Napoleon as ruler of France – signals the return of monarchy in Europe
• 1815: Congress of Vienna concludes and imposes a conservative balance of power across Europe
through the mutual agreement of the Great Powers of Austria, Britain, France, Russian, and Prussia
• 1830: 1st railway (Liverpool-Manchester)

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World Prehistory: Stone Age, 3.3 mya–5000 ya
• Stone Age refers to the prehistoric cultural stage characterized by the
creation and use of stone tools.
• Oldest known stone tools = 3.3 mya - first appearance of human beings as
tool-using mammals
• Stone Age divided into three separate periods—Paleolithic
Period, Mesolithic Period, and Neolithic Period—based on the degree of
sophistication in the fashioning and use of tools & complexity of social
organization
• Development of culture during the Paleolithic shaped most by climatic &
environmental factors of the Pleistocene Epoch
• Pleistocene Epoch = 2.58 mya – 11,700 ya

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World Prehistory – Paleolithic, 3.3 mya–11,700 ya
• 3.3 mya – 11,700 ya: Paleolithic – small communities of about 20-25 people in temporary
settlements close to fresh water sources + foraging, hunting, fishing as primary means of
obtaining food, building of shelters, tool-making ------- very slow rate of natural/physical evolution
of humans with the onset of the Stone Age, but human evolution is primarily cultural during and
after the Stone Age
• Human-Nature relationship at the core of historical change thereafter, esp.the unique human
capability for abstract, symbolic thinking
• Stone tools provide us an idea of the development of culture
• 300,000 ya: AMH emerge (AMH = Anatomically Modern Humans or Homo Sapiens)
• 100,000 ya: AMH migrate Out of Africa via land & sea – 1st navigation by coasting along the Indian
Ocean rime – basis for peopling of SE Asia, Australia & the Americas
• 50,000 ya: Control of fire & emergence of language two of the most significant Stone Age
developments
• 44,000 ya: Oldest cave art & figurines (female form dominant suggesting concerns around
fertility)
• 20,000 – 8000 ya: Complicated instruments being made (e.g., needles, spear, dagger)

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World Prehistory – Neolithic 10,000–5000 ya
• 10,000 ya: Climate change (warmer Holocene)
• 1st Neolithic communities practicing agriculture – about 100 people in
semi-permanent settlements still close to fresh water sources but in other
zones, e.g., tropical rainforests + tool-making more refined & smooth that
could support early farming (e.g., spade, sickle)
• World population 10,000 ya = 10 million (approx.)
• Multiple origins of agr – Mesopotamia, Sub-Saharan Africa, China & South
America
• 2 kinds of mutually-dependent agricultural communities – sedentary &
mobile pastoralists
• Pastoralists – Steppe region – birthplace of wheel & horse domestication

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Spread of
Agricultural
Settlement
in Neolithic
Europe,
7000-2000
BCE

(see next
slide for
description)

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The Spread of Agricultural Settlement,
Europe & N. Africa, c. 2000 BCE
The map shows the spread of agricultural settlement in Europe and
North Africa until about 2000 BCE. The map is color-coded according to
the estimated date of agricultural settlement based on tree-ring
corrected radiocarbon dating.

The main routes of agrarian expansion are shown. Labels indicate the
locations of early farming groups as follows:
- impressed ware cultures
- bowl cultures
- funnel rim pottery cultures
- Danubian linear incised pottery cultures
- Balkan painted and impressed ware cultures
early painted ware cultures

The locations of excavated farming villages are also indicated.

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World Prehistory – Neolithic 10,000–5000 ya
• A changed Human-Nature relationship & culture in the Neolithic since
farming implied domesticating wild species of plants, animals and
humans – diverse diet, increased calorie intake & new land in farming
implied capacity to support more dense populations
• World Popln by early CE: 250 m approx. (i.e., 25 times more in 10,000
years)
• World Popln 1st c - 21st c CE: 28 times more in 2,000 years (7 b)
• World Population increase in the last 15,000 years: 1000 times
• Evolution of 1st city-states from agricultural cores

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The spread of
civilization in Eurasia,
3500 to 1500 BCE
(see next slide for description)

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The spread of civilization in Eurasia, 3500-1500 BCE
Summary
The map shows the locations of the following groups:
•Carpathian and Balkan Bronze Age groups
•Shang Chinese bronze working
•Bell-Beaker groups
•Tumulus cultures
•Steppe cultures
•Steppe nomads
•Desert nomads
•Irrigated agriculture (Mesopotamia, Nile, Indus Valley, Yellow
River)

The following trade routes are also indicated:

•Bell-Beaker exchange routes, c. 2800-1800 BCE
•amber routes after c. 1800 BCE
•trade routes between urban areas

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World History – 1st Wave of Civilizations,
14,000 y.a. – 2200 y.a. (12,000-200 BCE)
• 1st wave of civilizations = Bronze Age Civilizations (BAC) Egypt, Mesopotamia, Indus
Valley, China
• Features of BAC?: Sites in river valleys practicing intensive agr & easy transport, cities,
more complex societies (division of labor & hierarchical, w/ interlinked parts), agrarian
surpluses, writing, religious system, building activity, greater economic production &
trade (long distance + local) each one arose independent of the other in the 1st wave
• Formalization of political power (states) connected to religion (e.g., idea of divine
kingship) & writing; writing also allowed legal codes that made law consistent + literary
growth. However, writing cannot be over emphasized because only a tiny percentage
was literate. So, writing helped consolidate top-level interactions, both regional & cross-
civilizational
• Early Civ: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley, China, Ancient Americas
• Note: Difference b/w city-state & state: States were a later development that emerged
from city-states. City-states are urban centers w/ own governance mechanisms; states
are formalized, centralized systems that command power, which must be legitimized

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The European Bronze Age
(3500-800 BCE)

Amber sources and trade routes

and copper locations and mines in
Central Europe, c. 3500-800 BCE.

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Spread of the chariot in
Eurasia, 2000-500 BCE
This map shows the diffusion of chariot technology in
Eurasia and to the Middle East from about 2000 BCE
to 500 BCE approx.

Legend:
- red, 2000 BC: area of the earliest known spoke-
wheeled chariots (Sintashta-Petrovka culture)
- orange, 1900 BC: extent of the Andronovo culture,
expanding from its early Sintashta-Petrovka phase;
spread of technology in this area would have been
unimpeded and practically instantaneous
- yellow, 1800 BC: extent of the great steppes and half-
deserts of Central Asia, approximate extent of the
early Indo-Iranian diaspora at that time. Note that
early examples of chariots appear in Anatolia as early
as around this time.
- light green, 1700 BC: unknown, early period of spread
beyond the steppes
- green/cyan, 1600-1200 BC: the Kassite period in
Mesopotamia, rise to notability of the chariot in the
Ancient Near East, introduction to China, possibly also
to the Punjab and the Gangetic plain (Rigveda) and
East and North Europe (Trundholm Sun Chariot),
assumed spread of the chariot as part of Late Bronze
Age technology
- blue, 1000-500 BC: Iron Age spread of the chariot to
W Europe by Celtic migrations
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Europe & World: Historical Period

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Ancient
Civilizations of the
Old World, 3500 to
after 600 BCE

This map shows the

spatial and temporal
locations of ancient
civilizations in the
African, Asian, and
European continents.

Each civilization is
color coded by its
period of origin:
3500-1000 B.C.E
2100-1000 B.C.E.
After 600 B.C.E.
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Next Civilizational Wave, 600 BCE:
New empires, Religions & Trade - Silk Route
• Persia: Cyrus, Achaemenids, Zoroastrianism;
• India: Magadha, Mauryas, Buddhism; Guptas & the ‘Golden Age’
• Classical Greece: City-states (polis), philosophy (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle)
• Rome: From Republic to Empire – Pax Romana – Roman conquests of
Europe and the Mediterranean – Christianity & its spread – Indo-Roman
trade
• China: Han empire - Silk Route is founded and emerges as a
transcontinental cultural & commercial connection – it was not just a
China-Rome link but an Africa-Eurasia connection that included land and
sea routes. Spices from India & SE Asia; glass beads from Rome; silk,
ginger, and lacquerware from China; furs from animals of the
Western steppe & slaves all travelled along the Silk Road

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What is an empire?
• An empire is a centralized state politically controlling or ruling a large territory w/ diverse
populations
• All empires in history were long-lasting, controlled large areas that were acquired mostly
through military conquest but also cultural influence or economic relationship – wealth
was subsequently extracted from the defeated people to fund imperial governance and
campaigns
• Empires could have more than 1 capital city & multiple core areas (i.e., area surrounding
the capital city). The more distant areas are peripheries.
• Empires being very large were rarely directly administered by the emperor ruler –
instead they were sub-divided into provinces with regional leaders, who were
accountable to the ruler
• Empires involved multi-level exchanges – facilitated exchange of people, ideas, goods
and practices + mutual interactions
• Empires were accompanied with imperial ideologies, symbols, traditions implying that
loyalty & identity were vital to empires’ longevity

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 1st Eurasian Civilization/ Empire
Alexander’s Conquests & Cultural Diffusion, 336-323 BCE
• Alexander of Macedonia (not Greece) conquests created the 1st Eurasian
empire that also helped with cultural diffusion across a wide, differentiated
territory.
• Alexander’s empire also helped to consolidate the centrality of the Ancient
Greek civilization.
• In 334 BCE, he first crossed into what is now Turkey (from Hellespont) and
began the reversal of what had previously been an East to West flow of ideas
(and armies). He defeated the Persian Empire that led to removing direct
competitors to what came to be called ‘Western Culture’.
• But Alexander’s conquests not only diffused European beliefs on the
conquered lands, but elements from the various peoples he encountered
were borrowed. These helped shape the culture of Eurasia and the eastern
Mediterranean for nearly 1000 years.
• Alexander is considered as the perfect example of “culture following swords”.

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The 1st
‘International
Empire’
Alexander of
Macedonia’s
military
campaigns and
empire
boundaries in
northeast Africa,
southeast
Europe, and
Middle East from
336 to 323 BCE.

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Economy of the Hellenistic Period, 323-31 BCE
Economic influence, sites of key resources, and trade routes during the Note the difference between Hellenic
Hellenistic Period in North Africa, southern Europe, and Middle East. & Hellenistic:
- Hellenic refers to Ancient Greece,
esp. in the Classical Period (5th – 4th
c BCE) and a part of the larger
Classical Antiquity period (8th c BCE
– 6th c CE)
- Hellenistic refers to Greek cultural
influence on the East after
Alexander, 323-31 BCE
- Hellas was the ancient name for
Greece
- Classical Antiquity (8th c BCE – 6th c
CE) was the cultural period w/ the
Mediterranean Sea at its core. It
comprised 2 “interlocking”
civilizations, Greece & Rome that
formed the Greco-Roman World.
Its influence extended to rest of
Europe, N. Africa & W. Asia

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The Roman
Empire in the
Year 1 CE

Map shows the

approximate
boundaries of the
Roman Empire in
1 CE
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From Roman Republic (509-27 BCE) to Roman Empire
(27 BCE-476 CE) to Byzantine Empire (395-1453 CE)
• Roman Republic in the city-state of Rome was one of the 1st representative governments in
the world (Roman society comprising Patricians & Plebians). R Republic preceded the empire
– its serial military victories made it the most powerful polity in the Mediterranean and was
a major factor in the rise of the Roman Empire
• Roman Empire emerged from the Roman Republic marked by civil wars & widespreadstsocial
unrest – extended to the Mediterranean, N. Africa & W. Asia. Augustus became the 1 &
sole ruler of Rome.
• Pax Romana = ‘Roman Peace’ is the name for the period 27 BCE-180 CE under Augustus –
Trade w/ India & China
• What made the Roman empire so powerful? Citizenship to defeated people, military
victories & vast wealth from conquered areas, labor from slaves, a standing defense &
deployment of Roman legions to frontiers for political control of distant areas, imperial
imagery, political discourse and material shifts, e.g., currency (w/ the Roman emperor’s
image suggesting honor, victory & a godly association), law, bureaucracy, educational
system, extensive road and canal networks, a vibrant manufacturing and trading economy as
well as agriculture

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117 CE: Roman Empire at its Peak

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Economic Life in
the Roman
Empire

Summary:
Location of
natural and
manufactured
resources and
trade routes
during Roman
Empire (includes
Europe, North
Africa, Middle
East).

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From Roman Republic (509-27 BCE) to Roman Empire
(27 BCE-476 CE) to Byzantine Empire (395-1453 CE)
• A major shift was the state’s patronage to Christian institutions from 320
CE; in 324 CE, capital was shifted to Byzantium (Constantinople) but the
empire’s split in 395 CE & the Germanic tribal, ‘barbarian’ invasions in
the western end of the empire caused its decline. Thereafter, only the
Roman empire’s eastern end survived.
• The eastern empire came to be called Byzantine Empire (395-1453 CE)
w/ capital at Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey), an imperial
center of learning & art as well as a trade emporium of land and sea
trade. It reached its height under Justinian I (r.527-565 CE) – it was
struck by the plague in 542 CE; Crusaders captured it b/w 1204-1261 CE
followed by instability until the Ottomans captured Constantinople and
ended the Byzantine empire in 1453 CE.

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Disintegration
of the Roman
Empire, 300 to
600 CE
Summary
This map presents the
disintegration of Rome
caused by nomadic groups
such as the Vandals and the
Huns during the fourth and
fifth centuries. The map is
color-keyed in regards to the
kingdoms that arose after
the fall of the Western
Roman Empire in those
regions. As religion played a
large role in many of the
European population’s lives,
cities in which important
churches reside are marked,
like Paris and Rome.
In addition, the Empire of
Justinian of 565 CE is
outlined on the map

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Byzantine, Eastern Roman Empire:
A Lasting Cultural Legacy
• Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire represents one of the high
points of historical connectivities in the pre-modern period.
• B. Empire not only served as a physical bridge between East and
West during the first millennium, it also combined a variety of
traditions and beliefs from Eurasia giving it a cosmopolitan and
multi-ethnic character.
• The territorial decline of the Empire after the 8th century and its
diminution after 1204 also reflected the rise of yet another global
force: Islam. Although the B.E. disappeared as a political entity
subsequently, the cultural exports of Byzantium still lie at the core
of the extant culture of Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean.

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Post-Roman Western
Europe? Charlemagne’s
Empire, r. 800-814 &
Holy Roman Empire
Map shows Charlemagne’s empire in Europe and the
surrounding territory by 814 CE – Beginning of Holy
Roman Empire

Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, was a Carolingian

ruler. He is also called the ‘Father of Europe’ since he
unified western Europe. Christianity & education were
encouraged under him.
Also, the Church-state relationship laid down by
Charlemagne was retained, esp in the Eastern Roman
Empire. And, the Carolingian system of noblemen to
administer areas within the empire (in lieu of power,
land and loyalty) characterized landed relations in
much of feudal Europe until the crisis of feudalism
began to surface in the 14th c.
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Voyages of
Exploration,
Europe,
c. 800 CE
This map shows the Viking
explorations to Scandinavia,
Greenland and Canada
around 800 CE.
===Inset===
Caption: Viking Trade and
Raids
This map c. 800 CE shows
the Viking trading and
raiding routes in Europe
and western Asia, reaching
as far as Italy and Baghdad,
in the Abbasid empire.
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Christianity in the Middle
Ages
Christianity spread
throughout Europe and
the Mediterranean area
during the Middle Ages.
Click on the boxes in the
map key at upper right to
see the expansion of
Christianity and Islam and
the separation between
Western and Eastern
Christianity in 1054.

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Church –
East
West
Split of
1054

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Crusades in Europe, 1095-1571
• A period of excesses and religious violence in European history. What caused the
Crusades? It was a combination of factors: the wealth of the feudal estates provided
support to the Crusades. By the 11th century, western Europe had overtaken S.C. Europe
in growth and development.
• Population and economic growth in Europe and a more upbeat W. Europe; a more
socially active role of the Pope post-Church reforms; growing perception of the need to
defend Christianity in the Eastern lands in the context of Jewish & Islamic presence in the
“Holy Land”; emerging practice of pilgrimage (3 centers in Jerusalem, Rome & N-W
Spain); millenarianism (end & savior). 8 major crusades
• Consequences – widespread violence & killings that changed European society deeply
(despite the redemptive claims of religious war), and securing W. Europe from wars with
the neighboring Middle East. Crusades also opened up new areas for trade, exchange of
shipbuilding information & a wave of missionary embassies.
• Crusading disappeared in the 16th century after the Protestant Reformation & declining
Pope’s authority

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The Crusades: Map shows regions by dominant religion, principal crusade routes, and areas of
anti-Jewish riots in eastern Mediterranean and surrounding lands, 11th and 12th Centuries.

48
Holy Roman Empire, 800-1806 CE
• HRE extended across western, central Europe. It derived its legitimacy from
the idea of supreme power vested in the emperor (Germanic speaking
initially). The following factors–idea of a Christian empire, given the context
of the Church-State relationship in Europe; idea of the Roman Empire as
universal and eternal; existence of a powerful king; competition w/
Constantinople–were factors in the HRE’s emergence. In its validation, the
Church granted HRE the status of the only legitimate successor of the
Roman Empire. Charlemagne’s imperial coronation of 800 CE
• HRE also became the ideological base for the idea of The First Reich in 20th
c Germany (Nazi Germany being the Third Reich)
• HRE’s decline was linked to the economic & political recovery of other W.
European regions, especially the 11th c revival of Pope’s authority. By 1556,
the Empire was a loose confederation of small areas until its decline in
1806 CE.
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Holy Roman Empire in
the 16th c

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Feudalism & Manorialism in Europe, 5 –13
th th c CE
• Feudalism (Latin feudum or fief) refers to a particular form of landed
relations w/ the lord-vassal relationship at its core. The vassal was
given a fief by the lord. In turn, the vassal owed military service to
their lord. A few vassals (Barons) held fiefs directly from the Crown.
• Feudal society was held together by a ”feudal contract” whereby the
vassal owed loyalty to the lord w/ rent, labor military service. The lord
was obligated to provide the vassal with a fief, protection and justice.
The material base of feudalism was unfree peasants or serfs & tenant
farmers (tilling the lord’s own lands or demesne) providing rent &
labor to their lords (vassals of another in the hierarchy).
• The feudal system’s fundamental features remained the same for W.
Europe but minor variations according to the region occurred.

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Feudalism & Manorialism in Europe, 5th–13th c CE
• Manorialism or Manorial System was the socio-economic system in Western Europe w/ the
manor at its core. A manor was a autarkic (self-sufficient) landed estate or fief that was under the
lord’s control. Under manorialism, W. European peasants tilled small pieces of land on the manor,
also owing rent & labor to their lord. Peasant were tied to the land & their lord. This relationship
between the peasant (serf) and the lord is called serfdom
• Manors also had free tenants, who owed rent + military service to their lords in exchange for
using land on the manor.
• Feudalism originated from the post-Roman empire context – trade disruptions (esp olive oil, wine)
implied farms had to be self-sufficient + labor shortages led to reduced farm sizes. Hereditary
tenancies were now passed by Roman law. Slavery was the base on which serfdom evolved. As
the urban economy collapsed, plebians moved to villages, where they became coloni or
sharecropping peasants.
• With the Carolingian Empire’s decline in 888 CE, local manorial lords became powerful enough
and the economic situation weakened further so that the coloni were converted to serfs. Due to
the loss of stability, war and disease after Charlemagne, serfs also needed this protection &
subsistence. Hence it was a two-way requirement.
• Manorial system peaked in the 8th c and began to decline by the 13th c; in Eastern Europe, the
manorial system peaked in the 15th c

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Feudal Hierarchy; Organization of the Manor

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The Mongols,
1207-1368
1368-1687
Mongol empire was the largest
contiguous land empire that
emerged from the unification of
several nomadic tribal groups
under Genghiz Khan, the empire’s
founder. The empire declined by
late 14th century but survived as
small Khanates till 1687.

The Mongols influenced European

and Asian history in many ways:
- cavalry warfare & seige tactics
- export of gunpowder to Europe
- rise of trade routes and
commodities such as pearls,
ceramics and silk
- astronomy & sciences
- carriers of information about
Asia’s riches to Europe leading to
European voyages to Asia
- possibly indirectly transmitted
plague to Europe (& Black Death)
- postal system

54
The Black Death, 1347-1352 CE
• Bubonic plague epidemic in Europe that killed 1/3 of its population –
consequences? Reduction of cultivated land, temp end to wars, disruption
of trade, labor shortages & rising wages (peasants, artisans), anti-Semitism,
popular mystical & occult practices
• Post-Black Death & peasant revolts, a shift occurred: as the European
peasantry settled over time, some agricultural labor moved into artisanal
manufacturing in cities & greater specialization. At the same time, long-
distance trade began to pick up as the demand for things from far-flung
areas grew.
• These contributed to the rise of guilds in Europe (like shrenis in India), a
powerful cultural movement (Renaissance) & the era of maritime
exploration.
• 14th–16th c: Popular revolts; Clergy-Nobility-Commoners hierarchy is
questioned

55
This map shows the
effects of the Black
Death on the
European economy
from 1429 to 1525.

56
Expansion of Banking & Finance in Europe
from the late 14 c
th

• Italian traders of the 12th & 13th c were the first bankers of Europe.
• While China and the Middle East had developed key financial tools &
services, the 1st large-scale modern banking, infrastructures &a network of
financial institutions emerged in Europe.
• Trade with Asia had provided vital banking-related information to Europe,
but it was in Europe that banking expanded. Banks across multiple cities
across continents began to honor bills of exchange, leading to Europe’s firm
grip over trade & finance. At the same time, banking families became
important players in European politics and economy.
• Bankers, esp Italian bankers, also began to lend money to kings for funding
wars & voyages. The Dutch emerged as the banking center after the 18th c

57
The Renaissance, 14th–16th c: A Material Cultural
Rebirth
• Renaissance (French: “rebirth”) – a 19th c term used to present a “uniquely European” phenomenon +
idea of the revival of Greco-Roman ancient culture. The 19th c context of Europe as a global power
was important here as it wove into the validating idea of a superior culture
• R was primarily cultural movement – began in Florence, Italy before it spread slowly to other parts of
Europe.
• R confined to wealthy classes of Europe w/ a small merchant participation – R influence confined to
art & literature but it is overlooked how R was influenced by trade in Europe. With an eco recovery
and rising demand for luxury goods after the Crusades & the Black Death, Italian merchants and
bankers profited the most. This wealth from trade was used to patronize artists and writers. African &
Eurasian trade networks financed the Renaissance – e.g., new pigment dyes from India and Central
Asia were worked into a bigger palette of artists; mathematical knowledge from Arabia & India
supported the rise of Italian banking in Europe; Paper-making & movable type from China and the
Middle East
• Voyages along the African coast also introduced elements of W. African art
• Renaissance Humanism: N. Italian origins in the 13th c. Humanism was the Renaissance’s singularly
unique and decisive contribution. Humanism itself is a system of thought that focuses on the human
realm. Publications helped to spread the idea rapidly. 3 aspects of Ren Humanism important: (1) shift
towards secular concerns (2) critical individualism (3) revival of Classics & Letters

58
The Reformation, 16th c: Martin Luther
• Reformation (of the Church) was initially an attempt by dissatisfied priests to reform the
Roman Catholic Church. It led to a split in Western Christianity (as opposed to Eastern
Christianity). Martin Luther & John Calvin were key figures of the Reformation.
• Counter-Reformation was the response of the Roman Catholic Church that created a new
order called Jesuits to counter the Protestant movement.
• The 16th century saw a great cultural debate about religious reforms and values. Both
Reformation and Humanism focused on reforms. However, humanism focused more on
educational reforms with roots in the Renaissance’s revival of classical learning and thought
(Latin was the unifier language of European culture). Its emphasis was on reforming
individuals through eloquence, not reason.
• The Reformation led to the creation of new Protestant churches. The largest of the new
church’s groupings were the Lutherans (mostly in Germany, the Baltics, and Scandinavia).
• Martin Luther, a key figure in the Protestant Reformation; he strongly disputed the claim that
money could buy freedom from God’s punishment for sin. Luther’s theology challenged the
Pope’s authority by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge
from God, and opposed priestly intervention

59
Scientific Revolution, 16th–17th c
• A series of deep conceptual transformations about the world reflected in a changed European
understanding of nature and science. Science emerged as a field of knowledge in its own right, distinct from
philosophy and technology. Radically new views on the universe, position of the earth,
• Scientific Revolution is better understood in the contexts of the Renaissance and the Reformation. By the
17th c, the Church’s views on science and nature had been seriously questioned so that science became the
rallying point of new knowledge traditions in Europe.
• What characterized this deep change? (1) Developing abstract reasoning (2) A view of nature as a machine
w/ interconnected parts & an order to ‘run’ (3) Experimentation & the scientific method (4) A new idea of
causation focused on scientific explanation & development of theoretical frameworks (5) Role of empiricism
in explaining natural phenomena (Francis Bacon)
• Astronomy (& Mathematics) – the base for the Scientific Revolution – in 1543, Copernicus published a new
heliocentric view of the universe (sun at the center & the earth in motion around it); Kepler’s new planetary
laws in 1609; Galileo’s telescopes & cosmology by 1610;
• Physics: Mechanics & a Mathematized Nature- Newton’s 3 laws of motion, gravity & concept of force; optics
and the nature of light; Electrical Properties of Matter; Logarithms (calculating tools); Scientific instruments
such as vacuum pump, mercury barometer & Industrial machines like the steam digester (a high pressure
cooker) leading to early models of a steam engine
• Chemistry: Metallurgy & Medicine particularly influenced by new discoveries in Chemistry
• Biology & Human Anatomy: Dissections (Vesalius, 1543), Cardio-Vascular system & circulation of blood
(William Harvey, 1628), Spinal Studies & the’ birth’ of physiology (Boerhaave, 1708); Dentistry; Wound
Management & Surgical Techniques, including ‘battlefield medicine’
60
Enlightenment, 18th c: Reason & Rationalism
• Enlightenment was a philosophical movement in 18th c Europe that focused on the scientific method not
faith (Voltaire & Rousseau) and questioned religious orthodoxy. The central idea was that reason is the
primary source of authority and legitimacy; progress, liberty, fraternity, constitutional government, tolerance
and separation of church and state.
• Reason & Rationalism: Enlightenment of the 18th century was an appeal to human reason as a way of
obtaining knowledge. Rationalism was, thus, the underlying idea of the Enlightenment.
• It was also the base for political modernization of Europe and the creation of a liberal democracy
• In a response to preceding religious violence in Europe, Radical Enlightenment emphasized separating
church and state. Enlightenment thinkers such as Locke also emphasized religious tolerance and protection
from government authority in the individual conscience realm
• Philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment also developed the modern concept of natural rights (Hobbes,
Thomas Paine) that is vital to republican government and civil society in the modern times. At the heart was
the idea of a social contract & inalienable rights. These arguments also served for critique of slavery & its
eventual abolition in Europe in late 18th c and in America in the 19th century.
• Enlightenment ideas also played a major role in shaping the ideas of the French Revolution of 1789 that
highlighted the rights of the common people.
• Science also played an important part in the Enlightenment philosophies – focus on empiricism and rational
thought. Enlightenment ideal of advancement and progress. The 18th century saw advancements in
medicine, mathematics, and physics; biological taxonomy; magnetism and electricity; and discipline of
chemistry.

61
This map shows the location of
universities, science academies, and
botanical gardens all over Europe.
Between the early 16th and 18th
centuries, there was a remarkable growth
of science and understanding of the
natural sciences, the hard sciences, and
other disciplines such as Philosophy. The
map also includes a brief explanation
about the phenomenon.

Legend indicates:

•University founded:
• before 1400
• 1400-1500
• 1501-1600
• 1601-1770
•Academy of Science founded:
• 1600-1770
•Botanical garden founded:
• 1500-1600
• 1601-1770
62
Revolutionary France 1789-94
This map shows the progression of the French Revolution in
France from 1789 to 1794.
Summary:
The French Revolution, or the Revolution of 1789, lasted from 1787-1799,
ending the Ancien Régime in France. Ancien Régime was a feudal socio-
political system in which all were the king’s subjects, not citizens. Status
and rights emanated from a social order that comprised the clergy, the
nobility & The Third Estate (commoners).
Feudalism was a particular economic, social and political system that
emerged in western Europe from the 5th – 12th c. It centered around the fief
and services tied to the fief, which was a certain form of property holding
that bonded vassals (who tilled the fief lands) by loyalty and service to
lords (fief owners). Lords performed admin & judicial functions. The vassal-
lord relationship was permanently conflict-ridden.
The revolution emerged from multiple causes: a rising population, an
affluent merchant class and land-owning peasantry (reluctant to support
feudalism) but lacked political and social status & visibility, crop failures
and a declining economy by the 1780s, rulers’ ideas on ‘enlightened
despotism’ when faced with a cry for reform, and the American Revolution.
Paradoxically, the Fr Revolution ended with the return of monarchy in
Napoleon Bonaparte, yet a new social, legal system influenced by the
revolution, esp a rational law that was guided not by tradition but reason.

63
Napoleonic
Europe, 1812
By mid-1812, the peach-
colored areas were included
in France. Much of Europe
was directly controlled by
Napoleon or was in an
alliance with him. By 1814,
France was threatened with
multiple attacks by the
Allies. Napoleon’s defeat at
Waterloo was followed by
his abdication and exile in
1815.

64
Agricultural Revolution, 1650-1850
- Created a firm base for the Industrial Revolution
• Agricultural Revolution (AR) preceded the Industrial Revolution (IR) – in fact, it was essential
for AR to happen prior to the IR. Why?
• AR refers to a series of labor and land productivity innovations resulting in the rise of
agricultural output consistently higher than rise of population
• A series of agricultural innovations allowed for food production for a larger population via the
following methods: (1) more productive use of cultivable land (2) the four-field crop-rotation
methods that increased soil fertility and reduced fallow land (3) selective breeding to reduce
genetic diversity of livestock (4) use of water meadows for better pasturing (5) land
reclamation (6) Manufacture of new agricultural tools like the plough, threshing machine and
seed drill (a device to sow seeds – invented in China, 2nd c BCE) that increased efficiency of
agricultural labor.
• Mechanization & Optimization of agr – in 1789, England had made 86 kinds of ploughs for
various soils
• Particular kinds of land ownership, e.g., Enclosure Movement (The Enclosure Act restricted
use of land to the owner) made farm sizes larger and more compact. This led to a release of
labor from the countryside, migrating to cities – factory labor
• Increased investment in technical improvements
65
Use of horse-powered threshers, France

66
Industrial Revolution, 1750-1830 (1st Phase)
• IR refers to a long process of shift of production from agricultural & artisanal to a predominantly machine
manufactured & industrial production.
• Initial change in England & in the textile industry, 1750s
• Several important changes ushered in w/ IR: (1) hand tools replaced by machines (these were invented in late
18th c) (2) shift to new power sources, e.g., steam (3) factory system (division & specialization of labor) (4)
generalized use of basic materials like iron & steel (5) innovations in transport & communications, e.g., railway,
steamboat, telegraph (6) intensive resource use through technological changes (7) development of colonies for
raw materials while home countries as manufacturing centers. Thus, imperialism supported and sustained IR in
W. Europe through colonies abroad – India its most important colony
• English East India Company (established 1600) gains a fresh foothold in India through conquest of Bengal – by
the 18th century, Europeans in Asia and Africa trade deeply entrenched
• Trade patterns reversed in the 19th c, when colonies became suppliers of raw materials
• Factory system – basis of modern industrial production – workers in a factory setting – idea of human body as a
machine (connected to nature as machine) & focus on productivity
• Coal mining and its dynamics – shift to fossil fuels in the Industrial Revolution signaled a new irrevocable phase
in the history of human-nature interactions – coal mining also opened up child labour issues – literature of this
period captures the distress and hope
• Second IR: late 19th c

67
Imperialism & Colonialism
• Imperialism: Origin = Imperium (Roman) – extension of authority & subsuming sovereignty
• An ideology that becomes the key instrument of a state’s policy, practice to extend power and
dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control
of other territories and peoples. It is, thus, a policy of extending a country's power and influence
through diplomacy or military force. Territorial merger. Subjects.
• It always involves the use of power, whether military or economic or some subtler form. Best
examples Alexander (r. 336-323 BCE) and 18th c Britain.
• Colonialism: Origin = colonus (farmer) – transfer of settlers from the home country to the colony –
subjects vs citizens
• Control over other territories, forming colonies, populating those and exploiting them. Colony-
Metropolis hierarchy – driving force = profit, prestige & trade. Colonialism implies acquiring full or
partial political control over another place (via occupation and economic exploitation)
• Connection b/w the two?
• 18th c colonialism: Became the driving force or rationale for empires
• 19th c: Return to imperialism

68
69
How did trade shape the history of Europe &
the World?

70
Eurasia –
Connectivities
b/w
Europe &
Asia, up to
the late 15th c

71
World map shows
Spanish and Portuguese
claims and voyages in
the 15th and 16th
centuries.

72
Trade and empire in
Africa, 1500-1800
Summary

This map of Africa provides an overview of the history of

trade and empire
in Africa in the three hundred years before 1800.
The map shows areas of Ottoman control in Africa by 1574,
the location
of Ottoman and European coastal settlements (Netherlands,
France,
Portugal, Denmark, Britain, Spain, Brandenburg), and the
extent of
Islamic influence by 1800.
The map also gives the locations and dates of Ottoman
conquests, and
shows the expansion of Moroccan territory
Arrows on the map indicate slave trade routes; other trade
routes; the movement of peoples; the extension of Islamic
influence; Moroccan military expeditions; and the Spanish
offensives against Algiers and Tunis.
73
Colonial
Trade in Asia
and Africa in
the early
18th c
This map shows
Dutch, English,
Spanish, French,
and Portuguese
colonial areas and
European trade
routes between
them in the early
1700s.

74
Late 16th c onwards - Europe, Asia, Americas (The Columbian Exchange)
“Mosquito Empires” 17th c w/ Europ. exploration & imperial expansion
The Columbian Exchange
marked a new era of
exchange and connectivities
in world history. This entailed
the movement of knowledge,
diseases, animals, plants and
technology. Disease caused
high mortality rates in the
Americas because of lack of
immunity against the
diseases settlers brought with
them (small pox, measles)
b/w 1492 and 1650. The high
death rate in America led
settlers to populate black
slave populations in
Americas.

75
The Columbian Exchange, transfer of goods and
diseases from the Columbian Exchange, 16th c onwards
Two kinds of movement in
the Columbian Exchange:
1. East to West: African-
Eurasian animals & crops
brought by European
settlers + cultivation of cash
crops (cotton, coffee, sugar,
tobacco). Sugar production
is labor-intensive, thus,
sugar and slaves colonies
2. West to East: Crops from
the Americas (maize,
potato, cassava) were
cheap and high calorie
Exchange networks bigger
in the Columbian Exchange
76
Exploration and Trade,
1500-1800
This map shows the vast amount traffic of
Spain, and other European countries, to and
from the Caribbean from 1500 to 1800. Upon
discovery, the Spanish exported many
resources such as gold, silver, tobacco and
sugar from Central America and the Caribbean,
financing their empire during this time period.
The major exports taken by Spain were gold,
silver, sugar, tobacco and cochineal.

77
This map illustrates the arrival and advance into
North America by European explorers, such as
Columbus, Verrazzano, and de Soto in the 15th
century and later. The discovery of America started
with the Norse expeditions in the early 11th
Century. The exploration of America quickly turned
into Europeans vying for control over North
American resources. Expeditions into North America
resulted in trading posts all over the continent.

78
This top view of the globe shows
the European empires and their
trade networks in 1770.

===Inset===
Caption: European World Trade
1500
The inset map indicates the global
maritime trade routes of 1500.

79
Key Asian Polities – Gupta, Mughal &
Ottoman Empires

80
Gupta Empire, India
This map shows how empires could
rule indirectly through a central state
exercising control over surrounding
territories. Note that the Gupta’s core
area was smaller than the territory it
controlled.

Nomadic invasions contributed greatly

to the Gupta decline by 550 CE. The
core state survived by another 100
years.

The example of the Gupta empire

illustrates how an empire’s core &
peripheries may have independent
trajectories. Contrary to this, the
Western Roman Empire disappeared
with the last ruler.
81
Mughals in India,
1526-1857
Map showing the extent of Mughal empire over various
times until the early 1700s when the empire split.

One of the richest polities in world history, the Mughals

were Turko-Persians from Central Asia, who ruled over a
large part of the Indian subcontinent. Initially founded by
conquest, the Mughal empire emerged as a cosmopolitan
empire that created new institutions of governance and
adapted itself to local cultural traditions.
The Mughals were patrons of trade, artisanal manufacturing
and the arts. The English East India Company gained its first
footing in India’s trade through a royal decree of 1617 to
trade in the hinterland as well as the ports.
The empire ended at the hands of the British in 1857.
82
The rise of the Ottoman
empire, 1301-1520
Summary:

This map depicts the history of the Ottoman empire

from about 1300 to 1520.
In addition to showing the approximate extent of the
Ottoman state in about 1300, 1451 and 1512, the map
also shows:
- the main routes of Ottoman advance
- the sites of major battles
- the conquests of Osma, Orkhan, Murad I, Bayezid
- the invasion route of Tamerlane in 1402
- vassal states
- Venetian territories in about 1510
- western frontiers of Safavid state, in about 1512,
including tributary states
- the Ottoman sphere of influence in about 1520.

83