Before American Hegemony Summary

China and Portugal held most of the global power with the Black Death, navigation and slave trade being the critical turning points in 1200-1800. China was a major global power based on the amount of territory it held, its advanced technology, and efficient trade system. The Song dynasty, 960-1279, were the first to use a monetized economy using silver coins and paper money which was revolutionizing since they no longer had to carry around heavy gold where they went. Song dynasty trade was at the top with high demand for their exotic products that the Europeans were slowly becoming more and more dependent on, “export of manufactured goods (silks, porcelain, books) and import of raw materials (spices, minerals, horses)”. Under the rule of the Mongols, 1279-1368, China’s territory expanded through rapid conquest from the east to the banks of the black sea.

Debra Rogers U.S. Diplomatic History Hist. 3306 CRN 21772 Dr. J. Parks The American Empire American Empire was written by Andrew J. Bacevich how seem to be an very intelligent book writer who attended and completed his schooling at West Point and late took interested in joining the United State army. Reading the book Bacevich talks about how he served in the Vietnam War, which at some point became very interesting to me. Bacevich gives me the impression that he is fully educated about the military.

In the time period from 600- 1450 C.E, at the beginning of the post classical era there was an increase in trade and major religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam began to spread through trading routes such as the silk roads. The silk roads made easier the spread of many ideas and goods such as weaponry across regions. As these religions spread they became the foundation of new empires and allowing a structure and keeping peace among the people. Over time trade became more and more important with merchants traveling long distances and selling luxury goods to the elites, and commerce on the Indian ocean allowed for an abundance of goods to be transported over a large distance by sea, thus new states and empires coming into greater

INTRODUCTION Over history the world has undergone massive transformations and has become increasingly globalised. According to BBC, globalisation is the manner by which “the world is becoming increasingly interconnected as a result of massively increased trade and cultural exchange” (Bbc.co.uk, 2014.) Globalisation has been achieved through liberalised immigration policies, the influence of cooperations, ‘mass consumer culture’ and increased international trade.

A. In the second half of the fifteenth century the monarchies of France, England, and Spain began searching for new opportunities to expand and stabilize their countries. A faster trade route to Asia and a share in the African gold trade fueled these countries interests outside their borders and to parts of the world that had yet to be discovered by the Europeans. B. Three reasons why Europeans believed in and desired imperialist growth.

World domination has been a common trait for Europeans in the 1500’s. Each countries’ ruler had a goal of conquering more land than their enemy. This led to bloody wars and tense times among many countries. The Spanish rulers had made an inference that winning land on their continent would be difficult. As a result, they decided to send conquistador, Francisco Pizarro and his crew across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World.

World domination has been a common trait for Europeans in the 1500’s. Each countries’ ruler had a goal of conquering more land than their enemy conquered. This led to bloody wars and tense times among many countries. The Spanish rulers inferred that winning land on their continent would be difficult, as a result, they decided to send conquistador, Francisco Pizarro and his crew across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World. When Pizarro and his crew reached South America, they took over the Incan’s land by having better resources, mechanical advantages, and having more experience than the Incas.

-Trends that characterized the First Era of Globalization include interludes of Vikings, Turkish, and Mongol peoples, integration of regional states, and inter-regional exchange of technology, crops, and diseases. From 1000 to 1500 C.E. rulership of societies changed from being controlled by large, central societies to being overrun by nomadic people like the Turkish and Mongols, but the political foundation that they laid helped to stimulate trade between regions and highly integrated them. They controlled the trade routes between societies. The government was mostly clan-based and one could attain a high office position based on merit and knowledge rather than kinship.

All in all the conflicts between Christians and Ottoman Muslims in Eastern Europe stems from vast cultural differences, coupled with the Muslims invading and conquering a significant portion of Eastern

The trading which occurred within the Middle East often offered several connections to Asia, with many routes allowing for the region to experience economic prosperity equal to that of Europe and Asia. The Middle East saw much in the way of conflict from the Mongols, where the system which was installed possessed many inherent flaws. Abu-Lughod cities with their

Title Economic inequality was created. Lots of factors lead to the long-standing social inequality, such as gender, ethnicity, age, level of education and so on. How would people split up income between the top ten percent and the rest if it were up to them? It depends on which group they belong to. They strive for more benefit for themselves.

Written by Peter Frankopan shows some great details of the history of Europe and Asia. But he claims to write about the history of the world, whole civilizations and continents, including Africa and the Americas, only are mentioned when he is already talking about Europeans. His main focus in the book is about Europe and Asian, and his goal is to educate reader that the stories about Asia and Europe are really one, that they interacted before the silk road and that they also interact even more today. Well researched and great writing Frankopan’s book is a good read, with ⅖ about the centuries before Columbus, ⅓ to the early modern era and ⅖ to the 19th and 20th centuries. The book’s theme is about globalization during the Silk Road and even

For over 400 years, the Ottoman Empire ruled over the region that we call today the “Middle East”. The closeness of the region to Europe and its geographical advantage led to a European power struggle for economic and political authority/control over the ‘Middle East’ (Lockman, 2004). Therefore, due to a weakened Ottoman Empire, the West started interfering in the regional affairs and gradually shaped the ‘Middle East’ as we know it today. The rise of strong local leaders within the Ottoman Empire, but also the invasion of ancient Egypt by Napoleon Bonaparte created the western concept of ‘The Eastern question’, which refers to the period from the end of the 18th century to prior WWI, to exert European influences and destabilise the Ottoman Empire. Internal dynamics were the creation of the independent province of Egypt within the Ottoman which led to a rise of uprisings in other parts of the Empire (Serbia:

How was the world interconnected in the early modern period, according to the introduction by Pomeranz & Topik? In what ways did the non-Western “peripheries” still have influence in their economic roles? The world was interconnected in the early modern period by trade. Many different countries traded goods with each other, and adapted different cultures and traditions.

I EMERGENCE OF REGIONALISM Global economic integration is a phenomenon that can be traced back to seven centuries ago since the travels of Marco Polo. Since his travel, integration has taken place through trade, factor movements and communication of economically useful knowledge and technology and is on the rise ever since. Regionalism is considered to be far from being uniform process; it has however emerged in various stages which are shaped by both external and internal factors. The starting point for regionalism is roughly estimated to be post the Second World War.