Roots of the

American People Prehistory – 1500

Part II

The Silk Road, one of the great trade routes of ancient times, stretched 5,000 miles from China to Persia.

Merchants on the Silk Road brought silk, jade, pottery, spices, and bronze goods from China to Middle Eastern and European markets.

Trade

Trade in Africa began

with Egypt in 3100

B.C.E. Traders sailed

throughout the

eastern

Mediterranean and

Red Sea. South of

Egypt they traded for

ivory, spices, copper,

and cattle.

In about A.D. 1000,

trade centers began

to appear in eastern

Africa.

Trade

Zimbabwe became

the center of a

flourishing empire in

the 1400s.

Societies

of East

Africa

Trade brought prosperity to a number of cities along the east coast of Africa.

Goods traded by Africans included:

An active slave trade also developed between East Africa and Asia across the Indian Ocean.

pottery gold ivory

furs cloth

Societies of East Africa

Trade networks also

linked the Middle East and

West Africa.

Ghana, the first major trade

center in West Africa, grew

rich from its trade in gold

and salt.

Trade

War and shifting trade

routes eventually weakened

Ghana, which was absorbed

into the empire of Mali in the

1200s.

In the 1400s, Mali

weakened, and eventually

the empire was replaced by

the Songhai Empire.

The Kingdom of Ghana Became rich by controlling the busy trade in gold and salt. Ghana’s

King used the resulting wealth to build an empire which lasted from

the 700s to the mid-1000s. The Islamic religion was brought to

Ghana by Muslim traders.

The Kingdom of Mali By the 1200s Mali became West Africa’s most powerful state. In 1312

Mansa Musa became Mali’s ruler. He traveled to Mecca on a

religious pilgrimage and turned the city of Timbuktu into a center of

Islamic learning and trade.

The Empire of Songhai By the mid-1400s the Songhai Empire ruled West Africa. Songhai

rulers set up an organized system of government. They also

expanded trade, set up an efficient tax system, and supported

Muslim scholars.

The Kingdoms of Hausa, Yoruba, & Benin As the West African empires rose and fell, small city-states arose in

other parts of the region. The Hausa states emerged around 1000

and were independent of each other. The Yoruba were mostly

farmers but they also had gifted artists. The Kingdom of Benin was

also known for its art.

Societies of West Africa

• feudalism – a system in which a ruler grants parts of his land to lords

• Martin Luther – a German monk who sparked the Protestant Reformation in 1517

• navigation – the science of locating the position and plotting the course of ships

• Henry the Navigator – a Portuguese prince who, in the 1400s, set up a center for exploration to train sailors

• Vasco de Gama – a Portuguese sailor who found a water route around the southern tip of Africa in 1498

Terms and People

In A.D. 476, the Roman Empire fell to invaders.

The 1,000-year Middle Ages began as Europe fragmented into many small states.

Europe In the Middle Ages

Europe In the Middle Ages

The European Middle Ages lasted

from the late 400s, when the Western

Roman Empire ended, to about the

1400s. To fill the void left by the fall of

the Roman Empire, Europeans

turned to the political system of

.

Europeans also developed the

manor system in which lords

divided their lands into large

estates that were farmed mostly by

serfs, or landless peasants. In return

for the serf’s work, the lord of the

manor promised to protect them.

Lords built heavily fortified castles

where people could go in times of

danger.

Under the feudal system,

everyone had a well-

defined place in society.

Serfs were bound to the land. They were not slaves, yet they were not free.

Serfs made up the majority of the population in medieval society.

Life was very harsh.

Warfare was a way of life.

Many trained from boyhood to be knights, or mounted warriors.

PEASANTS NOBLES

Outside of members of the clergy, few people were able to read and write.

The Catholic Church was the center of learning.

The Roman Catholic Church had great power in the Middle Ages and daily life revolved around it.

By the 1000s, brought more stability to society.

As noblemen gained more control over their lands, long

periods of peace and security followed. Farmers were

able to grew more food, merchants felt safe to travel, and

populations increased. More people meant more

demand for goods, which spurred trade. Towns began to

grow and the barter system was slowly replaced by money.

As the economy grew, many serfs ran away to towns.

Some became craftspeople practicing trades such as

shoemaking or tailoring. Other became merchants who

sold the goods that craftspeople made. Merchants and

craftspeople formed a new middle class. They had

fewer riches, rights, and privileges than noblemen, but far

more freedom than serfs.

When the Roman Empire ended, its

government institutions and trade networks

were destroyed. With no trade people

stopped using money. They paid in goods,

such as chickens and eggs. This is called the

barter system.

Revival of Trade and Towns

The Rise and Decline of Feudalism

In feudalism, nobles

offered to protect peasants

from invaders. In return,

the peasants farmed

the noble’s lands.

Feudalism made people

feel safe enough to travel.

Trade increased and

towns grew. Then many peasants ran

away to towns, where they

could live more freely.

Feudalism declined.

Trade continued to grow.

What if the Middle Ages were a reality T.V. show?

While the term Viking is used in a

general way to describe the people of

Scandinavia during the medieval period,

it's really a name for a profession -- it's

like if we called all English or French

people Pirates. The Scandinavians, or

Norse, were also explorers, farmers,

fishermen and merchants -- not just

Vikings.

The Norse didn't write down their history

(except for the occasional rune stone

inscription) until they had converted to

Christianity. Any history prior to that was

passed on through an oral tradition

carried on by skalds. Skalds recited epic

poems (called sagas) recounting the

deeds of famous Viking kings and lords.

These poems could be incredibly long

and detailed. Some of the sagas were

eventually written down in later eras, but

most of them are lost to history.

The Vikings

The Viking Long Ship We know what Viking ships looked like

because wealthy Norsemen were often

buried with their goods and that

sometimes included their boats.

These wooden long ships were equipped

with sails and oars. They reached an

average speed of 10 to 11 knots. Each

boat could hold 50-60 warriors.

The shallow drought of these ships

meant they were able to reach far inland

by river or stream to strike and move

before local forces could assemble.

These long ships or warships often had

a dragon’s head carved on the prow to

scare the enemy.

Scandinavians settled Iceland early on

in the Age of Vikings. A Norse Saga

tells the story of Erik the Red being

exiled from Iceland upon his conviction

for murder. Hearing tales of land to the

west, he set out with a boat full of men

and supplies and found Greenland,

where a settlement was established.

Although the Viking settlements of

Greenland didn't exactly thrive, they

didn't disappear. The next generation

would explore even further.

In Newfoundland, scientists have found the remains of a Norse settlement.

According to one Norse Saga, in 1003, a man named Leif Ericsson and 35 other Vikings sailed from a colony in Greenland to Newfoundland.

The Norse Settle in America

In the year 1003, Erik the Red’s son Leif,

usually called Leif Ericsson, headed west

from Greenland and found still more land.

He arrived on the shores of North America

near L'Anse aux Meadows in

Newfoundland. Leif named this new land

Vinland.

Voyages to the Vinland area were common

during the 400-year history of the

Greenland settlement. Norse settlers

came to Vinland to gather resource

material such as timber, to hunt sea

mammals, and to generally explore the

unknown wilderness.

Men made up the majority of the single

ship crews of approx. 30, but a small

number of women usually took part,

providing domestic support at the camp.

L'Anse aux Meadows was probably a

seasonal base camp.

The Norse Settle in America

Vinland, was occupied by Native Americans

that the Vikings didn't always get along with.

Still, Leif established new colonies and even

traded with the natives.

Over time the colonies fell into steady decline.

Within 100 years the settlements in Leif's

Vinland and in Greenland had been

abandoned completely. Only the Sagas

preserved the knowledge that the Vikings had

ever visited North America.

The Crusades In 1096, European Christians

launched a series of wars to

capture the Holy Land called the

. While the Crusaders

ultimately failed to keep the Holy

Land, the goods they brought

back from the Middle East and

Asia changed European life.

Spices such as pepper and

cloves helped disguise the taste

of unrefrigerated meat and Italian

merchants became very wealthy.

The Crusades had important long-term effects:

• Europeans had closer contact with the more advanced Muslim civilization.

• Europeans learned about advanced technology used for navigation.

The Crusades

Trade

By the 1500s, a global trading network linked the civilizations of Europe, Africa, and Asia.

The Silk Road became less important when alternative sea routes were discovered.

STRANGE but True

Europeans were desperate to get spices, such as

pepper and cloves. Before refrigeration, meat often

spoiled and spices helped disguise the rotten taste.

In the 1500s, just one shipload of spices could make a

merchant wealthy for life. The average working person

would have to work at least 1,000 years to earn as much

as a merchant could earn from one shipment of pepper.

The Renaissance Italy, which was thriving because of trade,

became the birthplace of the –

a time of increased interest in art and

learning. Renaissance is a French term

meaning “rebirth”. Lasting from the 1300s

to 1600, the Renaissance spread from Italy

throughout Europe.

In 1455, Johannes Gutenberg invented

. This new invention helped

to spread Renaissance ideas by allowing

books to be mass produced. More people

read, and ideas spread quickly.

Changes to Art and Learning

The Renaissance Changes Art

and Learning

• Study of humanism

• More realism in art

• Increased study of history,

philosophy, and literature

• Rediscovery of classical

science and exposure to algebra

• Printing press, which spread learning

In 1517, a German monk named demanded that the Church reform, but his demands were rejected.

Luther rebelled against the Church and led the Protestant Reformation.

Over time, the movement split, and many Protestant churches emerged.

The Reformation also started a long series of wars between Catholic and Protestant forces in Europe.

Protestants Catholics

The was a movement to

correct problems in the Catholic

Church. It ended the domination of the

Church and shifted societies’ focus to the

power of reason and the potential of

man.

The Reformation

An Age of Exploration Begins

An Age of Exploration Begins

In the 1400s,

started a school of navigation and

sponsored expeditions to explore the

Atlantic and the west coast of Africa.

There, sailors learned to use the magnetic

compass and the astrolabe.

He hoped these voyages would help

Portugal find a water route to Asia and the

spice trade.

The Portuguese also developed an

improved ship called a caravel. These

ships had triangular and square sails that

allowed them to sail in any wind conditions,

even into the wind.

N

E W

S

By 1498, Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama passed the southern tip of Africa on his way to India.

His course became an important trade route and helped boost Portuguese wealth and power.

An Age of Exploration Begins