3.9: Chapter Summary and Key Terms

Chapter Summary

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw a massive increase in the interconnectedness between civilizations, a continuation of globalization that started to take place in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and grew further in the fifteenth century during the Age of Exploration in Europe. The sea-based empires expanded during this time also saw what many historians consider a “golden age,” showing an epitome of wealth and prosperity.

However, this wealth and prosperity came at a severe cost to many people. As empires and countries, particularly European countries, expanded beyond their borders to look for new raw materials and markets for their finished goods, they invaded and overran many of the indigenous populations already living in the areas those countries were “exploring.” The creation of colonies in the Americas, with their influx of settlers bringing new technology and diseases, led to violent clashes between them and the indigenous peoples, who often succumbed to this superior new technology and disease that the indigenous had no defense against. This prosperity also destabilized most of the land-based empires including the Ming and the gunpowder empires.

Overall, this period in world history is seen by historians as the first time when the entire world was “united” in terms of trade and economy since all the continents were combined; the first true era of globalization. Although this era certainly increased the growth and development of certain civilizations, it led to the subjugation and even annihilation of others and set the foundation for relationships between different groups of people into the modern age.

Key Terms

Sea-Based Empires: Primarily western European empires that promoted commerce and naval military power

Columbian Exchange: Exchange of plants, animals, and diseases between the Western Hemisphere (North and South America) and the Eastern Hemisphere (Europe, Africa, and Asia)

Legislative Assembly: Assembly composed of elected officials who approved of laws and taxes

House of Commons: The legislative assembly of England and later Great Britain

Estates-General: The legislative assembly of France until the French Revolution (1789)

Cortes: The name of the legislative assemblies of Spain and Portugal

Iberian Peninsula: Spain and Portugal

Cabildos: Municipal or city governments in the Iberian Peninsula and later Latin America

Haciendas: Large estates in the Iberian Peninsula and later Latin America

Corrigidores: The Spanish king's representative at the local level who often oversaw the cabildos

Atlantic Islands: Islands off the coast of west Africa where the Spanish and Portuguese used African slaves to produce sugar

Cash Crops: Valuable crops such as sugar that could only be grown in the tropics

Estado da India: Collection of Asia and African territories controlled by the Portuguese

Corporatism: A social and political system were individuals get their rights from their race, ethnicity, or occupation

Fuero: A special court usually for priests and military officers in the Spanish and Portuguese empires

Peninsulares: A Spaniard born in Spain

Creoles: A Spaniard born in Spanish America

Mestizos: Someone who is part Spanish and part indigenous from the Americas

Foresteros: An indigenous person in the Americas that is culturally Spanish

Joint-Stock Companies: Privately owned British and Dutch corporations that engaged in the Indian Ocean trade

Ayatollas: Shi's Muslim religious leaders in Persia/Iran

Dutch Learning: The study of European ideas in Japan

Serfdom: The system of forced labor in the Russian empire where peasants called serfs had to work on estates of the Russian nobilty