Maritime Empires

c. 1450-1750

Maritime Empires, c. 1450-1750

Objectives
Great Britain
- The Kingdoms of England and Scotland
- The United Kingdom
The Dutch Republic
Bourbon France
Ming and Qing China
Tokugawa Japan
African Kingdoms and the African Diaspora

Objectives

return to top of page

Explain the process of state building and expansion among various empires and states in the period from 1450 to 1750.
Explain the continuities and changes in economic systems and labor systems from 1450 to 1750.
Explain changes and continuities in systems of slavery in the period from 1450 to 1750.
Explain how rulers employed economic strategies to consolidate and maintain power throughout the period from 1450 to 1750.
Explain the continuities and changes in networks of exchange from 1450 to 1750.
Explain how political, economic, and cultural factors affected society from 1450 to 1750.
Explain the similarities and differences in how various belief systems affected societies from 1450 to 1750.

Great Britain

The Kingdoms of England and Scotland

return to top of page

Henry VIII in 1540, by Hans Holbein the Younger

Elizabeth I by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, 1592

Virginea Pars map depicting the location of the Roanoke colony in 1585 along the coastline of present-day North Carolina.

Article: Why Oliver Cromwell may have been Britain's greatest ever general - new analysis of battle reports

Northern Atlantic crossings were undertaken under English, French, and Dutch sponsorship, often with the goal of finding alternative sailing routes to Asia.
Europeans established new trading posts in Africa and Asia, which proved profitable for the rulers and merchants involved in new global trade networks. Some Asian states sought to limit the disruptive economic and cultural effects of European-dominated long-distance trade by adopting restrictive or isolationist trade policies.
Driven largely by political, religious, and economic rivalries, European states established new maritime empires, including the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French, and British.
The growth of the plantation economy increased the demand for slaves in the Americas, leading to significant demographic, social, and cultural changes.

audio pronunciation guide:

The development of british constitutional monarchy from Dave Phillips

England and Scotland

The United Kingdom

return to top of page

George I (1714–1727)

Lord Clive of the East India Company meeting his ally Mir Jafar after their decisive victory at the Battle of Plassey in 1757

Mercantilist policies and practices were used by European rulers to expand and control their economies and claim overseas territories. Joint-stock companies, influenced by these mercantilist principles, were used by rulers and merchants to finance exploration and were used by rulers to compete against one another in global trade.
Economic disputes led to rivalries and conflict between states.
The Atlantic trading system involved the movement of goods, wealth, and labor, including slaves

audio pronunciation guide:

Article: British Empire

The United Kingdom of Great Britain

The Dutch Republic

return to top of page

Dutch fleet

Rembrandt, The Night Watch (1642)

Dutch plantation owner and slave in Suriname, c. 1792–1794

Northern Atlantic crossings were undertaken under English, French, and Dutch sponsorship, often with the goal of finding alternative sailing routes to Asia.
Europeans established new trading posts in Africa and Asia, which proved profitable for the rulers and merchants involved in new global trade networks. Some Asian states sought to limit the disruptive economic and cultural effects of European-dominated long-distance trade by adopting restrictive or isolationist trade policies.
Driven largely by political, religious, and economic rivalries, European states established new maritime empires, including the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French, and British.

audio pronunciation guide:

The Dutch Republic

Bourbon France

return to top of page

Louis XIV, the Sun King (r. 1643–1715)

The Palace and Gardens of Versailles were built to awe French nobility. They were widely imitated in palaces built by other European monarchs.

Seaport at sunset (1639) by French painter Claude Lorrain

Northern Atlantic crossings were undertaken under English, French, and Dutch sponsorship, often with the goal of finding alternative sailing routes to Asia.
Europeans established new trading posts in Africa and Asia, which proved profitable for the rulers and merchants involved in new global trade networks. Some Asian states sought to limit the disruptive economic and cultural effects of European-dominated long-distance trade by adopting restrictive or isolationist trade policies.
Driven largely by political, religious, and economic rivalries, European states established new maritime empires, including the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French, and British.

audio pronunciation guide:

Article: The French Expedition That Shaped the Earth

Bourbon France

The Maritime Empires of Early Modern Europe.pdf from Dave Phillips

Ming & Qing China

return to top of page

The Forbidden City as depicted in a Ming dynasty painting

The Great Wall was built during the Ming dynasty.

Kangxi Emperor in Court Dress

Article: 5 Significant People Who Shaped Ming China

Despite some disruption and restructuring due to the arrival of Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch merchants, existing trade networks in the Indian Ocean continued to flourish and included intra-Asian trade and Asian merchants.
Political and religious disputes led to rivalries and conflict between states.
Recruitment and use of bureaucratic elites, as well as the development of military professionals, became more common among rulers who wanted to maintain centralized control over their populations and resources.
Rulers continued to use religious ideas, art, and monumental architecture to legitimize their rule.
Rulers used tribute collection, tax farming, and innovative tax-collection systems to generate revenue in order to forward state power and expansion.
Imperial conquests and widening global economic opportunities contributed to the formation of new political and economic elites, including in China with the transition to the Qing Dynasty.

audio pronunciation guide:

Article: Qing Dynasty

Ming and Qing China

Tokugawa Japan

return to top of page

Tokugawa Ieyasu

Miyamoto Musashi, sword-saint of Japan, killing a giant creature, from The Book of Five Rings.

Article: Iron Sand to Honed Steel: How to Make a Real Katana Samurai Sword

Despite some disruption and restructuring due to the arrival of Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch merchants, existing trade networks in the Indian Ocean continued to flourish and included intra-Asian trade and Asian merchants.

audio pronunciation guide:

Article: The Amazing Story of Yasuke: The Forgotten African Samurai

Article: How centuries of self-isolation turned Japan into one of the most sustainable societies on Earth

History of Japan to 1868 CE.pdf from Dave Phillips

Tokugawa Japan

African Kingdoms and the African Diaspora

return to top of page

Queen Nzinga

nomadic Khoikhoi dismantling their huts by Samuel Daniell (1805)

major Atlantic slave trading regions of Africa, 15th–19th centuries

diagram of a slave ship from the Atlantic slave trade

Article: The Gold Coast King Who Fought the Might of Europe’s Slave Traders

Slavery in Africa continued in its traditional forms, including incorporation of slaves into households and the export of slaves to the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean regions.
The expansion of maritime trading networks fostered the growth of states in Africa, including the Asante and the Kingdom of the Kongo, whose participation in trading networks led to an increase in their influence.

Some notable gender and family restructuring occurred, including demographic changes in Africa that resulted from the slave trades.
The Atlantic trading system involved the movement of labor—including slaves—and the mixing of African, American, and European cultures and peoples, with all parties contributing to this cultural synthesis.
In some cases, the increase and intensification of interactions between newly connected hemispheres expanded the reach and furthered development of existing religions, and contributed to religious conflicts and the development of syncretic belief systems and practices.

audio pronunciation guide: