'The Worlds Of The Fifteenth Century'

Robert W. Strayer

Ways of the World: A Brief Global
History with Sources
Second Edition
Chapter 12
The Worlds of the Fifteenth Century

Copyright © 2013 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

I. The Shapes of Human Communities
A. Paleolithic Persistence: Australia and North America
1. Gatherers and hunters have a history, too: While non-literate and non-urban, these societies did change over time; we just don’t have written records of it.
2. Manipulation of the environment and trade: In Australia, aboriginal peoples manipulated the environment and engaged in relatively long-distance trade networks, indicating a certain degree of complexity.
3. “Complex” or “affluent” gatherers and hunters: In the Pacific Northwest, the abundance of food sources allowed
Instead they relied on kinship.
2. “The Igbo have no king” but they did trade: The West African Igbo of present day
Nigeria did not have kings or a state like their neighbors, but they did engage in trade with nearby kingdoms.

3. Great Law of Peace of the Five Nations: In what is now central New
York state, history developed in a complex manner. With a major agricultural shift, the Iroquois-speaking people became more productive and populations grew. The growing populations created conflict and frequent warfare until sometime in the fifteenth century when an alliance was formed and a truce established. This Great Law of Peace put an end to the bloodshed and allowed the development of limited government, social equality, and personal freedom.

I. The Shape of Human Communities
C. Pastoral Peoples: Central Asia and West Africa
1. Timur/Tamerlame (d. 1405): This was the last great Central Asian leader of warrior nomads. His armies attacked and plundered parts of Russia, Persia, and India, but he died before invading China. His descendants maintained control of an important central asian region. Yet in the coming centuries, most of the Turkic nomads
Tenochtitlán: The Aztec capital was a large city of up to 200,000 inhabitants. Set on an island in the middle of a lake, it had canals, causeways, markets, and floating gardens. When the Spanish arrived in 1519, they were stunned by the city’s sophistication and acknowledged that it was far superior to anything in Spain.
3. Conquest state and market centers: The Aztec Empire was a conquest-based state that required tribute from its conquered subjects. Tribute came in the form of goods for the markets, elite luxury items, and human slaves.
4. Tlacaelel (1398-1480) and ideology of human sacrifice: Human sacrifice was common in Mesoamerican history, but the Aztecs took it to a new level. The prominent official Tlacaelel promoted the idea that the god Huitzilopochtli needed human blood to rebuild his strength for his constant struggle with the forces of darkness. Massive ritual sacrifices also performed a political function and impressed the enemies of the Aztecs.

IV. Civilizations of the Fifteenth Century: The Americas
B. The Inca Empire
1. 2,500 miles and 10,000,000 subjects: The Inca were similar to the Aztec in that they were a small marginal group that came to rule a large empire and used