Period 1: 1200–1450 — Foundations & Networks
Connectivity increases through Silk Roads, Indian Ocean, and Trans-Saharan routes. New states: Song, Mali, Abbasids, Mongols, Aztec, Inca.
Silk Roads: Luxury goods like silk, porcelain, spices.
Indian Ocean Trade: Bulk goods such as textiles, spices, and timber.
Trans-Saharan: Gold and salt trade connecting West Africa to North Africa.
Important technologies:
- Magnetic compass
- Lateen sails
- Sternpost rudder
- Caravanserai along Silk Roads
- Champa rice (pop growth)
- Pax Mongolica (safe trade)
- House of Wisdom (knowledge exchange)
Economy: Champa rice & proto-industrialization → markets & cities. Politics: civil service & meritocracy. Culture: Neo-Confucianism.
The Mongols created the largest land empire in history under Genghis Khan.
- Promoted trade and cultural exchange
- Established the Pax Mongolica
- Spread technologies like gunpowder and printing
Baghdad, Cairo & Cordoba as learning hubs. Islamic merchants and scholars preserved and improved Greek, Indian, Persian ideas (math, medicine, astronomy).
Mali (Mansa Musa), Great Zimbabwe, Swahili Coast trade; Aztec & Inca complex states with tribute/mita systems independent of Afro-Eurasian contact.
Period 2: 1450–1750 — Exploration & Early Globalization
Transfer of crops (potatoes, maize), animals (horses), diseases — huge demographic & economic impacts. Silver (Potosí) integrated global trade networks.
- Astrolabe: helped sailors determine latitude
- Caravel: fast ship designed for ocean travel
- Magnetic compass: allowed navigation across open seas
- Improved maps: cartography helped explorers plan routes
These innovations allowed Europeans to begin long-distance exploration across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
The Columbian Exchange was the massive transfer of plants, animals, people, and diseases after contact between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia.
To the Americas:
- Horses
- Wheat
- Sugar
- Diseases like smallpox and measles
To Afro-Eurasia:
- Potatoes
- Maize (corn)
- Tomatoes
- Cacao
Disease devastated Indigenous populations and transformed labor systems.
Portuguese & Spanish lead oceanic exploration; later Dutch & British trade companies structure colonial trade. Mercantilism & joint-stock companies emerge.
Encomienda → African slave labor for plantations. Growth of plantation economies reshapes Africa & the Americas.
Mughal, Ottoman, Safavid: centralized military power and cultural patronage; control of trade routes boosts wealth & political power.
Period 3: 1750–1900 — Industrialization, Revolutions & Imperialism
Industrialization transforms production & society; nationalism & liberal ideas lead to revolutions; Industrial powers colonize Africa and Asia.
- Access to coal and iron
- Agricultural Revolution increasing food supply
- Population growth providing workers
- Capital from global trade and colonies
Industrialization began in Britain and spread to Europe, the United States, and Japan.
- Liberalism: individual rights and constitutional government
- Nationalism: loyalty to a shared nation or identity
- Socialism: government control of industry for equality
- Communism: classless society proposed by Karl Marx
Steam power, mechanized textiles, railroads; urbanization → labor movements & reform. Global effect: tech advantage → imperial expansion.
Scramble for Africa, British Raj, French Indochina; motives include raw materials, markets, prestige, and racial ideologies (Social Darwinism).
Period 4: 1900–Present — Wars, Cold War & Globalization
World Wars reshape maps & institutions. Cold War divides the globe. Decolonization, globalization, tech revolutions, and modern challenges (climate, migrations) dominate.
The Cold War was a global ideological struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union.
- Capitalism vs Communism
- Nuclear arms race
- Proxy wars in Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan
- Space race and technological competition
- Rapid communication through the internet
- Growth of multinational corporations
- Global supply chains
- International organizations like the UN and WTO
While globalization increases connection, it also raises concerns about inequality and environmental impact.
WWI: M.A.I.N causes & trench warfare; WWII: fascism, Holocaust, atomic age. Postwar: UN, new global institutions.
US vs USSR; proxy wars; end of empires; many new states in Asia & Africa in the mid-20th century.
Internet & global finance, migration, environmental crisis, international terrorism, and cultural convergence.