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Summary Global History
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Summary of all Global History lectures, best used as a study guide! Using this to study, I earned an 8.5 on the exam!
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LECTURE 1: WHY STUDY GLOBAL HISTORY?Approaches to history in IR – a spectrum
• The “closet of facts approach”
• Which theory?
• Main ideas?
• “shopping list approach”
• Middle way approaches
Essential tools for studying history
• History- the general study of the past
• Metahistory – emphasis on patterns and regularities over time
o Longue durée – taking a long view of history in order to identify longterm trends and patterns and
distinguish the accidental from the permanent
• Antihistory – when talking about history, non-fiction and fiction are the same thing
o Closely related to relativism = all narratives are equal
• Big history – all of the history of the world since the big bang
Global history and IR
• Crucial insight: human world is made up of a multiplicity of coexisting societies
• 5 implications of multiplicity
o Coexistence = the intl arises from the fact that multiple distinct societies coexist
o Difference = societies based in different environments develop differently
o Interaction (between different societies)
o Combination = societies are created based on the combination of identities and past societies
o Dialectical change = synthesis of seemingly different things leading to new things
▪ E.g. Bacon: printing press, gunpowder and compasses taken to Europe from China and then
developed into new things
LECTURE 2: THE RISE & FALL OF EUROPEAN EMPIRES
Imperial expansion processes
• Process of destruction (of precolonial societies), creation (new cities, commerce)
The geographical scope of European empires
• Dutch empire: was one of the smallest European empires
• British empire: biggest empire in history (the empire on which the sun never set and blood never dried)
o Last colony gained independence in 1997
o Queen is still HOS of 16 countries & reunited, the British empire would encompass 64 countries
• Few countries have never fallen under European rule or been influenced by it & it played big role in shaping
the world as we know it
The chronological scope of European empires
• Begin of European imperialism in 1492 with ‘discovery’ of the Americas
• From then on, various parts of the world are colonised until decolonizaiton (big phase post ww2 (50-70s), but
LatAm in early 1800s)
• Imperial expansion and collapse happened very suddenly
Broadening the focus of IR
o Basic unit in IR = the state
o Basic unit in modern IR (1400-now) = empire
o → focus on relationships between empires rather than between states
Empire – a large composite, multiethnic or multinational political unit, usually created by conquest and divided between
dominant center and subordinate, sometimes distant peripheries
, • Mix of direct/centralised and indirect/decentralised rule
• Established and maintained by violence (genocides, mass murders)
• Normally involves a dominant core economically exploiting the periphery
• Sense of cultural difference between people at the core and periphery (belief in superiority of core)
o Debate of whether to leave the periphery to their own culture but exploit them, or to teach them the
“civilized” way of life
• (European empires specifically) associated with racial hierarchies and racist beliefs
o Related: white man’s burden (Kipling): moral burden of civilizing and ruling over the non-white
population
• Mass movement of people through voluntary (e.g. settler colonialism) and involuntary (e.g. slave trade)
migration
Imperialism – actions and attitudes that create or uphold large political units, or less obvious kinds of control/ domination
Colonialism – systems of rule by one group over another, where one claims the right to exclusive sovereignty over the
other and to shape its destiny
Colonization – largescale population movements, where migrants maintain strong links with ancestors’ former country
and by doing so, gain significant privileges over other inhabitants of the new territory
Neo-imperialism/ neo-colonialism – postcolonial situations where an outside power still exercises great, but half-hidden
influence in ways that greatly resemble old patterns of more open domination
The post-colonial world – the parts of the world once under colonial rule
LECTURE 3: EUROPEANS FAR BEHIND
Eurocentrism – a point of view that places Europe at the centre of everything, esp modernity and progress and sees the
rest of the world as historically backwards
5 assertions about the pre-modern world
• World was stuck in stagnant traditions undermining econ development
• World was divided into insular regions (so no interconnection btwn societies)
• Governance by irrational despots
• Which is also why interdependent world was impossible
• World was connected through the European age of discovery from 1500s on
Why they are wrong
• Global economy already existed during Afro-Asian age of discovery from 500s on
• Terms by which Europe could join the economy and trade networks were dictated to them by Middle Eastern
Arabs, Persians and Africans
• Pre-1500s: considerable eastern econ progress
The oriental globalisation (500-1800)
• Middle Eastern Muslims, & North Africans begin creating a global econ after 500, which is maintained until ca
1800
Key facts about oriental globalization
• Begin in 500 with revival of the camel as a mode of transport for overland routes in central Asia
• 500-1000: connection of 2 main centres of civilization (Middle East + China)
• Mainly pacified relations btwn empires → extensive trade
3 main empires: T’ang China (618-907), Islamic Umayyad/ Abbasid empire in Middle East/ Sunni caliphate (661-1258),
Fatimid empire in North Afric/ Shia Islamic caliphate (909-1171)
The silk roads
• Network of roads enabling inter-regional trade = world’s first global supply chain
, • More developed areas of Europe became connected to the system and Eastern ideas began emerging there
To the west: Islamic global pioneers
• Why Islam was central to globalization
o Religion had a penchant for trade
o Unity through Islam in a previously fragmented region
• Famous cities in the Islamic world: Baghdad, Samarkand, Ifsahan
o Commercial hubs, movement of ideas and people
• Trade with Africa
o Muslims were particularly dependent on African trade
o Was one of the most profitable branches of trade (gold and copper)
o Accessible through the revival of the camel as a mode of transportation
o Egypt was a critical junction
o Africa traded with India and as far away as Polynesia even prior to Muslim arrival
• Explorers
o Marco polo (venetian): inspired others with his travels to India and China
o Columbus: ‘discovery’ of Americas
o Ibn Battuta: can compare to MP, but more extensive travels and documentation
To the east: Chinese pioneers and the industrial revolution from the 1100s
• 1100: became more internally powerful than Islamic counterparts
• By 1400s: begins influencing global econ even more than Islamic empires
• Why was china so powerful?
o Enormous wealth bc of the 1st industrial mmiracle during the Song period (960-1279)
o Developed characterics normally associated with the GB industrial rev.
• What was the Chinese industrial revolution about?
o Revolution in steel and iron: Figured out how to cast iron → faster production and allowed for steel
production
o Taxation system which forced all members of society to engage in the economy bc it was cash-based
o Agricultural innovation (higher yield ratios)
o First military revolution incl development of huge navy
o Revolution in navigation techniques (invention of compass & new ships)
• 1433: China renounces imperialist expansion at sea and sinks fleet (despite potential to rule world)
o New emperor who embraced Confucian identity = emphasis on isolationism and cost concerns
o Remained open to intl trade and continued development, remained an example and model of advanced
civilization to Europeans until ca. 1800s
From silk roads to Indian Ocean trading network
• Silk roads = essential for connecting main empires during oriental globalization
• 13-1400s: trade on land replaced by trade at sea in Indian Ocean
• Europeans not yet involved but wanted to from late 1400s
LECTURE 4: LAND VS. SEA EMPIRES
The mongols
• Rise and fall betwn 12-1300
o Genghis Khan = 1206 became leader and created largest continuous land empire in world history
o Connected china, Silk Roads & Middle East to Europe
o Factors in their success: brutality and specially bred horses (stamina, speed & sturdiness)
o After conquest: religious tolerance, trade, diplomacy and travel, opened cities in Asia to intl exchange
o Decline begins ca. 1350
• Tamerlane/ Timur The Lame
o Stepped into the void left behind by Genghis Khan’s death
o Undefeated commander & last great nomadic conqueror who tried to rule entire ‘world island’
o Died in 1405, on his way to China →turning point
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