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Chapter 12
The Worlds of the Fifteenth Century

A world tour around 1500: foragers, farmers, and herders, Ming China and Renaissance Europe, the Islamic empires, and the Aztecs and Inca.

The 1400s. Book pages 498 to 545.

Notes summary

The chapter in plain words, section by section. Highlighted words are the book's key terms.

The Shapes of Human Communities 12.1
  • Not everyone lived in states. Paleolithic persistence : foraging peoples still lived in places like Australia and the Pacific Northwest.
  • Farming village societies without states included the Igbo of West Africa and the Iroquois of North America, who formed a league of nations.
  • Pastoral peoples still mattered. Timur tried to rebuild a Mongol-style empire in Central Asia.
  • The Fulbe were West African herders who spread Islam and later built states.
Civilizations of the Fifteenth Century: Comparing China and Europe 12.2
  • Ming dynasty China drove out the Mongols and restored Chinese ways and Confucian rule.
  • Zheng He led huge naval voyages to the Indian Ocean and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. Then China stopped them.
  • The European Renaissance revived Greek and Roman learning and art in Italian cities.
  • Europe stayed divided among rival states, which pushed them to compete, including in sea exploration.
  • European voyages sought wealth and to spread Christianity, and led to colonies, unlike Zheng He's voyages.
Civilizations of the Fifteenth Century: The Islamic World 12.3
  • Four big Islamic empires rose. The Ottoman Empire grew in Anatolia and the Balkans.
  • The seizure of Constantinople in 1453 by the Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire.
  • The Safavid Empire in Persia made Shia Islam the state religion.
  • The Songhay Empire in West Africa ruled Timbuktu , a center of Islamic learning.
  • The Mughal Empire ruled most of India with a Muslim elite over a Hindu majority.
  • Malacca was a Muslim trading city that controlled a key Southeast Asian strait.
Civilizations of the Fifteenth Century: The Americas 12.4
  • The Aztec Empire ruled central Mexico from its capital Tenochtitlan by demanding tribute from conquered peoples.
  • Aztec religion said the gods needed human blood to keep the sun moving, which supported war and sacrifice.
  • The Inca Empire ruled the Andes with a strong central state, roads, storehouses, and labor service instead of taxes.
  • Inca women held some parallel roles, but men held more power.
Webs of Connection 12.5
  • Most of the world was tied together by trade, religion, and empire, but the two hemispheres were still separate.
  • Big changes were about to come as Europeans crossed the Atlantic and linked the whole world.