Chapter 14 Focus Questions

The rise of the West from the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries involved distant explorations and conquests resulting in a heightening and redefining of relationships among world societies. During the classical era, larger regional economies and culture zones had developed, as in the Chinese Middle Kingdom and the Mediterranean basin, but international exchanges were not of fundamental importance to the societies involved. During the postclassical period, contacts increased and were more significant. Missionary religions—Buddhism and Islam—and trade influenced important changes. The new world relationships after 1450 spelled a new period of world history. The Americas and other world areas were joined to the world network, while older regions had increased contacts. Trade became so significant that new relationships emerged among societies and prompted reconsideration of existing political and cultural traditions.
The West's First Outreach: Maritime Power. Europeans had become more aware of the outside world since the beginning of the twelfth century. Knowledge gained during the Crusades and from contacts with the great Mongol Empire spurred interest. European upper classes became used to imports, especially spices, brought from India and Southeast Asia to the Middle East by Arab vessels, and then carried to Europe by traders from Italian city-states. The fall of the Mongol dynasty in China, the strength of the Ottoman Empire, lack of gold to pay for imports, and poor naval technology hindered efforts for change. Europeans launched more consistent attempts for expansion from the late thirteenth century.
New Technology: A Key to Power. Technological improvements during the fifteenth century changed the equation. Deep-draft, round-hulled ships were able to sail in the Atlantic’s waters. Improved metalwork techniques allowed the vessels to carry armaments far superior to the weapons aboard ships of other societies. The compass and better mapmaking improved