Empires

The aspect that drew my empire close to the Portuguese, was the heavy focus on trading with other empires. We were able to successfully bring our empire to power through trade with various African tribes, which in total, advanced our culture and technology. We also established tribute systems such as the Ming empire. Like the Moghuls, we unitied people who share common beliefs. The Moghuls united the Hindus, who all shared the same religion. We united the African tribes, who all shared the common lifestyle and beliefs.

Mughal Empire

From the reading over the Mughal Empire that I did, I get the idea that the text book is trying to make this man Akbar seem like a very nice and accepting guy. There is no doubt that he is a very accepting man, because he did accommodate foreigner as much as he could, but what were his intentions of doing this? 

I get the feeling that Akbar only did these nice deeds to everyone only because he wanted to be accepted by everyone. This seems very selfish because he should actually want to do it, because it really matters to him. He should not only do something because It is what is best for himself.

Even though Akbar might have done these good deeds because it was in his best interests, ultimately his actions helped shape a very accepting community. By him accepting the Hindus, other cultures came such as the turks, because they knew that they would be accepted there. This boosted the mughal economy and it thrived throughout Akbar's rule. Once Akbar died, Aurandzeb took over, and completely reversed what Akbar was doing, by banning traditions of other religions other than muslims, and also by implying the Jizya tax, a non-believer tax, he completely destroyed the mughal empire. He made the empire so weak, that after he died, Britain took over with ease.

The Sun Wizards

Carson, Dylan and I came up with the Sun Wizards, a very successful Civilization that started in the Panama area, and expanded to the North and South.

Ottomans:

The Ottomans were a very organized civilization that had very successful conquering expeditions. Like the Ottomans, the Sun Wizards are also a very organized civilization that easily conquered land because of there organized government. The Sun WIzards were very persistent like the Ottoman, and they never gave up until they had what they wanted. The Ottoman and the Sun Wizards are just simply very successful civilizations that lasted a long time because of there persistence.

Aztecs:

The Sun Wizards adopted many of the Aztec customs when they took over the Aztec Empire. One of the main inspirations to the Sun Wizards was the cosmopolitan of Tenochtitlan. The Sun Wizards fell in love with this great city on the Toxcoco Lake, and formatted their whole trade industry after Tenochtitlan. After discovering the way that the Tenochtitlan dealt with trade, the Sun Wizards placed plantations of different crops all over the Empire, and that way the Sun Wizards were dependent on only themselves, and not on different Empires around them. This lead to very little warfare, adding to the years that this civilization of the Sun Wizards survived.

Ming:

The Sun Wizards share one main thing with the Ming Dynasty, and that is that they both established great power, and were both seen as huge threats. The Ming acquired this by going on extensive maritime expeditions, and the Sun Wizards with there strong and organized government were seen as a threat to anyone, because they very easily took over the Aztecs. They only shared this main aspect, because the Ming were also a very weak and unorganized dynasty, which the Sun Wizards aren't.  The Ming were unorganized because they had opposing government such as the Eunichs vs the officials, which lead to huge disagreements that caused the Empire to fall by itself. This would never happen to the Sun Wizards  because they are not weak, and they are very organized. They only have one main form of government, and that is why they don't have disagreement in the empire.

Incas:

The Inca Empire was one of the empires that the Sun Wizards conquered, and prior to conquering them, we named our Empire after a very important element in the Inca civilization, and that is the sun. To the Sun Wizards the sun is the essence to everything, because it keeps the crops growing, which does two things. First having the crops keeps everyone alive, because nobody starves to death, and it also keeps the economy running. After conquering the Inca Empire the Sun Wizards also used the method of having storehouses, so that nobody in the Empire went hungry during times of war or bad seasons.

Spain: 

The Sun Wizards shared the ambition that Spain had to conquer new lands, but they also differed a lot from the Spaniards. The Spanish did have ambition when It came to conquering, but it was way too much. Unlike the Spaniards who treated the Indians very poorly, we Sun Wizards learned to live with our newly conquered people. During our invasion we only went to kill the main emperor of the civilizations instead of constantly inflicting violence on every single person. After the Invasion everyone was accepted into any position of the civilization, and no one was discriminated. This made everyone happy, and thats why the Sun Wizards were a more successful empire than any other empire.

Ottoman's Constantinople Invasion

Something that was mentioned during the Ottoman Empire reading was the fall of Constantinople. The brief comment about the Ottoman siege on Constantinople in Strayer's Ways of the World left me wondering, how was it that such a great capitol was taken over this easily by the Ottomans? 

 This once prosperous capitol of the Byzantine Empire was conquered by the Ottoman Empire during April 5, 1453 through May 29, 1453.  It was a really well planned out attack that the Ottomans led, and the army protecting constantinople was greatly outnumbered. 

The seizer of constantinople took everyone by surprise, because the Muslims weren't the biggest threat to anyone. It was usually the Europeans that started all of the wars between themselves and the Muslims but now this Turk powered Ottoman Empire was relentless and overpowering. They started by first setting up forts along Dardanelles, a neighboring city to Constantinople, and then all at once they had the 80,000 to 200,000 men march to constantinople. The army protecting Constantinople was greatly outnumbered, as they only totaled to 7,000 men, while the Ottomans had 80,000 to 200,000 men. The majority of the Ottomans started by firing at the walls, while a small number of them went of to seize the less populated areas of Constantinople. The plans of the Ottomans to simple get in by firing at the walls did not work at all, and at one point the Ottomans tried to peacefully deal with the situation, and they offered to stop the conquest if the city was given to them. Then when this offer was denied by the Byzantine Empire, a massive wave of Ottomans charged at the walls, but they did not manage to enter the great city. After that wave, the city of Constantinople was hit by a second wave of Ottomans, and this wave did manage to breach a section of the walls. Shortly after that, the Ottomans discovered an unlocked gate, and they quickly flooded the city, ending the seizer. This picture here show the flood of the Ottomans into Constantinople. And that is how the Ottomans managed to take over this very powerful city of Constantinople.

The Ming Dynasty

The Ming dynasty expanded over east Asia, or China from 1368 to 1644. I like to call the Ming dynasty a time for China to recover and become very powerful in their new ideas and talents. They had a well built centralized government system in which the emperor was the main head, and the loyal eunuchs worked under them. Using this strong base, they strategized to repair the old work of the Mongols when they were in rule, restoring all the cultivation and doing a great amount of farming. They also repaired parts of the Great Wall and were known to built the "forbidden city." Through all these efforts, the international and domestic trades rose vigourously and the population flourished. This marked the spot of the Ming dynasty being the most successful and prosperous civilizations of the world. Since they were located along the coast of China, it gave them an advantage in creating large fleets of ships and sailing across the world in hope for progress. The muslim eunuch, Zheng He led one of these expeditions to many places like, India, Indonesia, Arabia and East Africa, bringing back people to make the Ming even stronger. "Bringing order to the world," the Ming presented tribute with these people and finished their trading opportunities.

Aztec

The Aztec Empire started off with the Mexico people who slowly emerged into an unstable empire of five to six million people. The empire was known for their various goods such as, impressive textiles, clothing, military supplies,  jewelry and other goods. The Aztec location was quite unique because they had multiple bridges, canals, causeways, beautiful garden around. Their trading industry strengthened the domains of the Aztec and created large markets of quantitative goods. Since this was their major accomplishment, the merchants were ranked very high in the society as well as their wealth. 

During the fifteenth century, the Aztec regularly performed human sacrifices as an important aspect of their religious lifestyle. They believed that the center of the world, the sun, and the god Huitzilopochtli would be hovered with darkness every now and then, and the only way to renew it was by using human blood. It was a form of return to the gods because they had shed their own blood in creating human kind in the beginning of the world. The best ways to supply this blood was human sacrifices, wars of expansion, and the prisoners of wars. This religious aspect spread into the political aspect because the emperors of other empires were impressed and also scared of this deadly style the Aztecs had. 

the Incas vs. the Aztec Empire

The Incan and Aztec Empires were politically and religiously very different, but followed the same idea of gender spots in their society. Very quickly, the Aztec empire did not make any of their conquered people do anything, they left them alone while the Inca empire made them do work in families households, on farms, and in temples. Discussing the religious subject, the Incas practiced human sacrifices on the religious events every now and then, but not as much as the Aztecs; they completed this sacrifice a great amount. 

Men and women's roles is a big topic in both ancient and modern history. The Incan and Aztec empire followed the same gender roles on a normal base. The men are generally ranked as a higher position and more involved in the military issues, while the women take care of the household, and do the cleaning and caring after the children. Politically speaking, both the empires acquired this same system on the people they conquered. 

Comparison between MY empire and the others

Megan, Lizzie, and I created the South-East Asian Empire, which was found right next to the Ming dynasty and close to the coast of South east asia, and near the Himalayas. 

~Ming 

Our Our empire followed the one of many similar tactics of the Ming. They slowly progressed into forming a large and strong empire. We followed the same path by gathering many different types of people and bringing them together into one powerful empire. 

~Ottoman 

The Ottoman empire is the most similar to our empire because of its diverse people. Our empire brought together those of many cultures including people around China, India, the indonesian islands, and even the coast of australia. Ottoman's successfully worked with this variety of people and were able to manipulate different ideas to form a great empire. 

~Safavid

Whenever I read about the Safavid, I think of religious aspect of the people in that empire. Our empire had a rule to give religious freedom for everyone, because they all came from such unique backgrounds. I feel we had a combination of Safavid and Ottoman even though they were rivals.

~ Mughal 

The Mughal empire is known to try to keep a good partnership between the Islamic and Hindu civilizations. Our empire quite similarly did this, because we made sure to keep a good cultural connection with all the diverse people we had in our empire. Instead of rejecting their ideas, we brought all the cultures into some sort of connection, allowing us to find ways for even trading. So it only brought success for us. 

Aztec~

The Aztec empire were very confident in the things they did. They had slaves that worked for them, and they also performed human sacrifices as a ritual. Our south-east asian empire had slaves from many cultures, so we had many different capabilities of small peasants, bringing us speed in our physical needs. 

~Incan

The Incan  is known for their bureaucratic empire, in which a high emperor reigned for a period of time. Our empire had the exact same system, with Megan, Lizzie, and GG sitting at the top position of emperor. We also had peasants working under us, but they were also treated properly given their freedoms necessary. This peasants in the Incan army were called mita. An important similarity is the gender system. Like the Incans, we also believed that women should have a step up to their own empire. Not only did they do the housework, but were in power and capability to run some government issues for their Incan empire. This is why us three head emperors are women =] 

What should we call the 1500's-1600's?

I believe this era should be called the Powerful Era. From all the information I have learned from reading about the Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal, Songhay, Aztec, and Incan empire, they all seem to follow a similar path when they begin there "power." Each empire combined many great ideas, and built a good cultural structure to keep their empires running successfully. They pretty much covered every social and political aspect in which it helped them conquer others also. The better the chemistry among the people within, the better they will do surviving and taking over others. 

old assignment (inca)

The Incan empire had a majority of people that spoke Quechua. This large empire was located along the Andes mountains near the west coast of South America. Comparing it to the Aztec empire, the Incan was much larger, stretching to about 2, 500 miles. They are known for their bureaucratic system in which a high emperor  reigns at the top and covers about eighty provinces with peasants working below them. The Incan also allowed their group of people to follow their own religious traditions, so they were not forced to follow a specific Incan priority. The one thing that got me interested was the gender system. The book did not get very specific on every detail, but it made me realize how woman stood in society. 

Mughal Empire: Muslims and Hindus

The book states that the Mughal Empire had both Muslims and Hindu religion. The main division out in the Mughal Empire were caused by religious differences.About 20% of the population was Muslim and the rest were some form of Hinduism. Akbar the most famous emperor created a cult that had Islam, Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. It was essential to be loyal to Akbar. The Mughal empire had a culture where hindus and muslims could be a comfort with one another. Which was a plus for the Empire because then more people could join to grow the population of the empire. This new culture was a hybrid of Indian, Persian, and Turkish. THe philosopher Phayk Ahmad Sirhindi, disagreed with this idea of a mixed culture everything in support for hinduism represented impure Islam. Some Hindu temples were destroyed and music, dance, gambling, drinking, prostitution, and narcotics were very outlawed. There were many opposition movements that were opposed to the Mughals. This was a very different type of empire because it allowed two different religious traditions to attempt to combine. This technique of a multicultural empire worked for a while but eventually failed because of their differences which resulted in tension.

The Downfall of the Aztec Empire

The Aztec’s were once a great nation in Mesoamerica. Along with the Incas, they were one of the most powerful empires in the Americas. They were able to successfully build numerous temples that still stand today including the Chichen Itza, which is one of the world seven architectural wonders. Unfortunately for them, the Spaniards came to the Americas in the 1600^th century. Along with warfare and diseases, they individually, brought down the Aztec empire. With their first encounter with the Spaniards, the Aztecs wanted to use the Spanish soldiers as sacrifices for their rituals. Also, they demanded numerous tributes from the Spaniards to enhance their society. The Spaniards did not want to pay these immense tributes, so they destroyed the Aztec empires. The Aztecs would remain as one of the greatest empires mezzo-America had ever seen, but they cursed themselves with these sacrifices and tributes that they wanted.

Mughals

Akbar was a Muslim leader in the nation of what is now India. He was able to successfully unify the native tribes that inherited the nearby native tribes. He was able to accomplish this task by intermarrying with all the major political and influential leaders in India. He had over 400 wives and by doing this, he was able to gain trust with these leaders by marrying their oldest and wisest daughter. Once he was able to unify India, he removed the Jazya tax, which taxed non-muslim believers. Do to the fact that 80% of India was Muslim, he did not want to tax all of his citizens. Imposing this tax, he was able to appeal to all Hindus across the world to his nation. This was one of the first unification of Hindus and what Akbar created will later become the Hindu capital in 5 years.

Age of Oceanic Trade

I think the time period between the 1500's and 1600 can be described this way because almost every empire was involved with trade across vast seas. Their was an extensive amount of trade between the Portugese, Chinese and East Africans. As Spain began to conquer the Aztecs and Incas, trade began increasing between Europe and the Americas. Most of this consisted of livestock and crops such as potatoes, corn, tomatoes and fruits. However, along with this came diseases. There was also a lot of trade between the Indian Ocean. Europe also benefitted greatly from this because they were able to make a connection with Asia. This gave them access to resources they would never have.

The Age of Maritime Connections

The era that describes the 16th/17th century is essentially an era of maritime connections. This period time saw an influx of sea trade, naval exploration, which lead to discovery and economic growth throughout the world. This era was marked by events such as colonization across the Atlantic sea, East Asian trade throughout the Indian ocean, and more generally, connections being formed between every populated continent on the planet.

Had this era been omitted from history, Asian countries would most likely be our contemporary super powers. Resource-empty Europe only was able to succeed because of the pressure that Asian countries put on them. Europe had to find resources in order to stay alive in this competitive game of survival, that we call the 16th century. By exploiting the Americas and Africa, Europe was able to take advantage of the resources around them. And there's no way they would have been able to even reach these countries with such ease, if not for their powerful navy.

Trading and Expanding

I think that this whole section is mainly about two things, trading, and expanding. At the same time that some of the civilizations were expanding, they were also trading along the way. Most civilizations had something different to offer another civilization except for a few that didn't have any goods to offer to the outside world. These groups were the ones that tended to expand because of there naval success. After they expanded, they would then use those resources to trade with the outside world. The civilizations that did have something to offer from there lands, tended to stay in there lands, and not travel around seeking great fortunes. They were already self sufficient, and did not need to rely on any country for there success.

1500s the Period of Knowledge

I personally call the 1500s the period of knowledge. All throughout the 16th century, empires were expanding, trying to gain more knowledge about what else is out there in the world. By doing this, the empires were able to discover eachother, and learn from eachother. From this encounter, culures were able to feed off of eachother and enhance them their own society too like the encounters between the Spainards and the Incas. Also, trade routes were established which were vital to the development of such powers like the British Empire whose establishment in India would catapualt them into the power seat later in the 19th and 20th centuries. Also this time period is when empires began the technological race, trying to obtain the best ships that can take them the farthest. With the beginning of the technologic race, empires were able to learn more about the world and what they can and cannot do like the Portugeuse develpoping their ships that could take them almost around the world. I personally believe that the 16th century is probably one of the most important because of the knowledge about the world and ourselves that we aquired was so important to the development of humans.

Age of Conquest and trade

I would call the 1500s the age of conquest and trade. Most major empires were exploring and expanding their Empires, conquering whoever necessary. There was much cultural mixing, and violence during the process. Also there was a lot of trading happening between empires and societies to grow stronger. They would take advantage of their own resources, and use it to gain resources from others. They learned a lot from doing so.

Period of Rapid Transition

Marjory:


I would call this period the rapid transition. The evidence that most prominently would agree with this tittle is the the history of Spain in the 1500s. All of a sudden, Spain was exporting 85% of the world's sliver out of the AMericas and taking it directly to China and the Philipeans where due to the Chinese's now single tax instead of many tax levies, it was possible to import tons, literally, of silk and other goods out of China. Due to all of this trading, the Spaniard's economy boomed but it was only an inflation because people didnt continue to stimulate it through more buisness ventures and other things besides jut silver trading. The America's also would support this tittle because all of a sudden westerners came bringing with them diseases and the idea of free labor from the Native Americans. They were killed off by the thousands and in some places only 10% of the population survived the mass take over. Due to Japan's healthy changes in population control, enviornment, and economy their economy was able to outlast the silver boom. SO this could be interpretted as not being evidence to support my title. Their transition took more time, because one of their biggest problems was population. There is no way a population can be healthily controled in less that a couple of generations. Japan did however make a tranistion for their future. 

The Period of Development

I would call this period The Period of Development because all the different empires were just getting started.  They all had to developed and grow before they became strong and this is the time they advanced and began to become more advance. Developing their cities and towns was extremely important because it was one of the main bases for their empire.