Ch 13: The Worlds of the fifteenth century

In 1500 c.e, the world had all types of societies, from bands of gatherers and hunters to empires, but the balance between them was different than it had been in 500 c.e. The main types of human societies were Paleolithic, agricultural, and herding societies. Paleolithic peoples were gathering and hunting societies, they existed throughout all of Australia, much of Siberia, the arctic coastlands, and parts of Africa and the Americas. Agricultural village societies were predominately in much of North America, in Africa south of the equator, in parts of the Amazon River basin and Southeast Asia. Herding people included the Turks and many African tribes.

By the fifteenth century c.e, a majority of the world’s population lived within a major civilization. Ming Dynasty China gained strength and created strong state. Western Europe experienced a process of demographic recovery, consolidation, cultural flowering. The Renaissance began in the commercial cities of Italy ca. 1350–1500. Further, The long-fragmented Islamic world crystallized into four major states or empires: The Ottoman, Safavid, Songhay and Mughal Empires. Moreover, the Aztec and the Inca empires were established in the Americas and the Spaniards and their diseases later destroyed both empires. The Large-scale political systems brought together culturally different people. Religion both united and divided far-flung peoples. Islam was particularly good at bringing together its people, through rituals like the annual hajj.