#AP World History: Modern - Unit 4: Transoceanic Interconnections (1450-1750) 🌍🚢

Hey! Let's get you prepped for Unit 4. Remember, this unit is all about how global trade changed everything. Think of it as the world getting its first real taste of globalization, with all the good, bad, and complicated stuff that comes with it. Let's dive in!

#🧭 Context: Setting the Stage for Global Trade (Pre-1450)

Before we jump into the deep end, let's remember what the world looked like before 1450:

• Regional Trade Networks: The Silk Roads, Indian Ocean trade, and Trans-Saharan routes were booming. Merchants and goods were flowing, but it was all very regional.
• European Motivation: Europeans were itching for a faster route to Asia. Overland routes were slow and expensive. They wanted direct access to spices and other valuable goods.
• The Mediterranean Problem: The Byzantine Empire and then the Ottomans controlled the Mediterranean, making it difficult for Europeans to trade.
• The Atlantic Solution: This led to European voyages across the Atlantic, which, of course, brought them to the Americas.

#🌍 The Shift: From Regional to Global (Post-1450)

This is where everything changes! The focus shifts to maritime trade and the establishment of global connections.

• Maritime Empires: Unlike the land-based empires of the past, we now see the rise of maritime empires, primarily European, focused on controlling trade routes and colonies.
• The Columbian Exchange: This is the big one! The exchange of goods, diseases, and food between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia.
  • Americas to Europe: Potatoes, tomatoes, corn, and other crops that boosted population growth.
  • Europe to Americas: Diseases like smallpox, which devastated Native populations.
• Mercantilism: This economic policy drove colonization. Empires aimed to export more than they imported, using colonies as sources of raw materials and markets for finished goods.
• Colonization: Europeans established colonies in the Americas, leading to massive political, social, and economic changes.

#💥 Key Impacts of Globalization

#📈 Economic Changes

• Mercantilism vs. Capitalism: Mercantilism was the dominant economic policy, but capitalism started to emerge.
• Rise of Joint-Stock Companies: Like the Dutch East India Company, these companies facilitated global trade and colonization.
• Global Economy: Trade became truly global, with long-lasting effects on economies around the world.
• Inflation: Increased money supply led to inflation in some areas.

#🫂 Social Changes

• New Social Classes: Race-based class systems like the Sociedad de Castas emerged in the Americas.
  • Peninsulares: Spaniards born in Spain (top of the hierarchy).
  • Creoles: Spaniards born in the Americas.
  • Mestizos/Mulattoes: Mixed-race individuals.
  • Indigenous Peoples and Africans: At the bottom of the hierarchy.
• Coerced Labor Systems: Chattel slavery and indentured servitude became widespread.
• Migration: Movement of people led to cultural exchange and syncretism.

#🏛️ Political Changes

• Rise of Maritime Empires: Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French, and British empires grew through colonization.
• Resistance: Native Americans and African slaves resisted European domination through rebellions like the Pueblo Revolt, Stono Rebellion, and Metacom's War.

#🦠 Environmental Changes

• Disease: Smallpox and other diseases decimated Native populations.
• New Foodstuffs: Introduction of new crops led to population growth in some areas.

#🗓️ Timeline of Key Events

• 1492: Columbus's voyage to the Americas.
• 1521: Cortes conquers the Aztecs.
• 1526: Beginning of the Mughal Empire.
• 1600: Beginning of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
• 1602: Dutch East India Company established.
• 1624: Queen Nzinga becomes ruler of Ndongo.
• 1697: Peter the Great travels to Europe.

#🔑 Key Vocabulary

• Colonize: To establish control over a territory and its people.
• Columbian Exchange: The transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and culture between the Eastern and Western hemispheres.
• Mercantilism: An economic policy focused on increasing exports and decreasing imports to accumulate wealth.
• Capitalism: An economic system where private individuals control the means of production.
• Chattel Slavery: A system where people are treated as property and can be bought and sold.
• Indentured Servitude: A system where people work for a set period in exchange for passage or debt payment.
• Genocide: The deliberate destruction of a racial, ethnic, or national group.
• Smallpox: A deadly disease that devastated Native populations.
• Dutch East India Company: A powerful joint-stock company that dominated trade in Asia.
• Queen Nzinga: A powerful African ruler who resisted Portuguese colonization.
• Peter the Great: A Russian Tsar who modernized Russia through westernization.

#📈 Major Trends (1450-1750)

• New Tech → Exploration → Columbian Exchange
• Columbian Exchange Impacts:
  • New foods increased populations (except in the Americas due to disease).
  • Disease decimated Native populations.
• Migration & Cultural Exchange: Spread of religion and syncretic cultures.
• Global Trade: Integration of the West into a truly global trade network.
• New Maritime Powers: Rise of European maritime empires.
• Colonialism: Establishment of colonies in the Americas.
• Mercantilism & Capitalism: Dominant economic policies.
• New Global Economy: Long-lasting economic effects.
• European Middle Class: Gained wealth, setting the stage for the Industrial Revolution.
• Inflation: Increased money supply led to inflation.
• Arts & Architecture: Prosperity funded artistic and architectural developments.
• Intensified Slave Trade: Increased demand for labor led to a surge in the slave trade.
• Coerced Labor Systems: Encomienda and mit'a systems emerged.
• Race-Based Social Classes: New social hierarchies based on race and ethnicity.

#💡 Memory Aids

#🎯 Final Exam Focus

• Columbian Exchange: Impacts on both the Americas and Afro-Eurasia.
• Mercantilism and Capitalism: How these economic systems shaped the era.
• Colonialism: The establishment and impact of European colonies.
• Coerced Labor Systems: Chattel slavery, indentured servitude, encomienda, and mit'a.
• Resistance to European Domination: Rebellions and conflicts.
• Social Hierarchies: Race-based class systems.

#Practice Questions

Practice Question

#Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of the following best describes the economic policy of mercantilism? (A) Free trade and open markets (B) Government regulation of the economy to maximize exports and accumulate wealth (C) Private ownership of the means of production (D) A system of barter and trade without currency

2. The Columbian Exchange had the most devastating impact on which of the following regions? (A) Europe (B) Africa (C) The Americas (D) Asia

3. Which of the following was a major cause of the expansion of the transatlantic slave trade? (A) The desire to spread Christianity to Africa (B) The need for labor in the Americas (C) The decline of feudalism in Europe (D) The rise of mercantilism in Asia

#Short Answer Question

1. Explain ONE way in which the Columbian Exchange impacted the Americas and ONE way in which it impacted Europe.

#Free Response Question

Analyze the social and economic effects of the Columbian Exchange on both the Americas and Afro-Eurasia between 1450 and 1750. Scoring Breakdown:

• Thesis (1 point): Presents a historically defensible thesis that establishes a line of reasoning.
• Evidence (2 points): Provides specific examples of social and economic effects of the Columbian Exchange in both the Americas and Afro-Eurasia.
• Analysis (2 points): Explains how the evidence supports the thesis and analyzes the causes and effects of the Columbian Exchange.
• Complexity (1 point): Demonstrates a complex understanding of the topic by considering multiple perspectives, nuances, or contradictions.

You've got this! Go get that 5! 💪