---

Europe and others...

• Europe was internally diverse
• It was disorganized and economically weak
• It was flanked by other more powerful groups

Objectives:

• Europe and other powers: 400-1400 A.D.
• Forces of change in Europe after 1000 A.D.
• "Triggers" for European exploration
• How Europeans’ interactions with others conditioned their interactions with New World People

Extents of the Roman empire

Augustus

After the Fall of Rome

• The Byzantine Empire (The Eastern Church)
• What was to become the Islamic World (Arabia, the Near East, and North Africa
• Europeans (Germanic groups and others)

Europe in 814 A.D.

The Byzantine (yellow) and Islamic Empires (orange) controlled most of the Mediterranean world

The Byzantine Empire

• Similar in political organization and religion to the late Roman Empire
• More successful in holding off Germanic invaders
• Controlled Mediterranean territory from southern Italy to the eastern Black Sea until ~1000 A.D.

Byzantine Influence

• Ideology of Europe
• preserved classical texts
• basis for Eastern European and Russian ideology -- Eastern Orthodox Church

Byzantine Influence

• Buffered Western Europe from the Islamic Expansion
• Byzantine mercantile machine supplied Europe with goods and generated demand
• Called for the Crusades and thus pulled Western Europe into the battle and forced it to compete in the larger world system

Constantinople / Istanbul

The Islamic World

• Expansion centered on a regional trading center
• Mobilized by an ideology that promoted expansion
• Honored scholarship and rapidly became one of the most intellectual sophisticated societies (math, sciences, medicine, arts).

The Prophet Mohammed (c. 570-632)

• From a wealthy trading family in Mecca; widely traveled in the Near East, and familiar with other cultures

Tenets of Islam

• Monotheism
• Gradual revelation by prophets (Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed)
• Importance of adherence to code of laws concerning diet, marriage, reproduction, praying, giving to the poor
• Haj or pilgrimage to Mecca
• Promoting the spread of Islam

Extents of Islamic Expansion

(ca. 750 A.D.) Islam eventually expanded further, into the Balkans and Indonesia

Islamic Expansion into Europe

What factors made the Islamic Expansion possible?

• Ability to be viewed as liberators rather than conquerors
• Common language: Classical Arabic
• Ideological importance of gaining converts
• Relative tolerance of other cultures and religions
• Powerful infrastructure based on control of trade routes in Europe, Africa, and Asia

Alhambra Palace, Grenada, Spain

• Moorish Palace and citadel, built beginning in 1248, conquered by Castille and Aragon in 1492

Alhambra Interior

• Six centuries of Islamic control had profound impacts on Iberian society
• Iberian people share part of the long tradition of the Moors
• The "reconquest" -- with centuries of warfare -- strongly influenced Spanish culture

Reconquista

Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula

Spanish people had a centuries-long tradition of battling non-Christians

The situation in Europe, 500-1000 A.D.

• Compared to Byzantium and the Islamic Empire, Europe was the least prepossessing
• Simple agricultural economy
• Land was the primary means of production
• the "Villa System", from the Roman model, was still the primary way of organizing land, people, and production

Europe after the fall of Rome

Before 1000 A.D., Europe was the least powerful of the three main players (Islamic World and Byzantine Empire)

Three important institutions...

• Roman Catholic Church
• The Papacy
• The Monastic Orders

European Expansion

Ptolemaic map

• Europe in perspective

The Context of European Expansion

• Through history, Europe had interacted with other cultures and areas.

Ottoman Empire

• ~1500 A.D.

Marco Polo's Route

• With many other Europeans, M.P. traveled to the court of Kublai Khan, and returned to Venice in 1295 (b. 1254- d.1324)

Marco Polo

• Known for his account of his travels, recorded while in prison in Genoa

Marco Polo and the Gran Khan

The Impetus for Exploration

• Looks at what prompted Europeans to look to the West
• Why Europe headed West
• Trade routes to the east closing
• Islamic control of Constantinople / Istambul
• Rising class of traders
• Increasing population
• Increasing competition between Nobles

---

comments to Wilson
Created 8/21/98, modified by SMW 9/17/98
©SMW