Chapter 15: The West and the Changing Balance of World Power

1. Chapter 15: The West and the Changing Balance of World Power Trace social, political, economic and cultural changes associated with the renaissance, reformation, the rise of nation-states and absolutism Examine European exploration and analyze the forces that caused and allowed the acquisition of colonial possessions and trading privileges in Africa, the Americas and Asia Cite the effects of European expansion on Africans, Asians, Europeans and the pre-Columbian Americans Compare the influence of religion, social structure and colonial export economies on north and south American societies Evaluate the effects of colonialism on Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe

2. Summary • By 1400 there was a shifting in the balance between world civs. • The international role of the Islamic world, with the fall of the Abbasids and other Mongol disruptions, was in decline • The Ming dynasty for a time attempted to expand into a vacuum • The most dynamic contender was western Europe

3. Summary • The west was not a major power • But important changes were occurring with in its civs. • Italy, Spain, and Portugal took new leadership roles • The civs. outside the international network, the Americas and Polynesia also experienced important changes

5. Changing World Power • Ch. 15 establishes the rise of western European nation-states within the larger context of world events • This chapter deals with Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Polynesia as well as western Europe • A major factor is the influence of shifting trade patterns in the 15th century • After the Ming dynasty receded from world leadership in the area of trade, western European nations began to take the lead • By the end of the century, the relative power of civs. and trading networks had dramatically shifted westward