Topic 1: The world around 1600
What was the world like around 1600?
Europe is considered as one of the world’s major super powers which played a significant role in Southern Africa’s development. For topic one, which is The World Around 1600, the intention of this lesson is to provide learners with a broad comparative overview of some of the major empires, which includes China as a world power in the 14th and 15th centuries; Songhai, an African empire during the 15th and 16th Centuries, and the Indian Mughal Empire during the 16th and 17th centuries. This topic also includes a discussion on the European societal structures during the above mentioned time periods.
Topic Requirements as per CAPS Curriculum
Background and focus
At this stage, it was not at all clear that Europe would come to dominate the world. The intention is to provide a broad comparative overview of some of the major empires at this time with Europe, which was not an empire. Societies were dynamic and undergoing change - although the change was slower at that stage than after European expansion (Topic 2). In all units, include the role of women in society. The studies of the three empires should include accounts of the first contacts with Europe before conquests, when relationships were still balanced.
This consists of a broad comparative overview:
China: A world power in the 14th and 15th centuries (1368 to 1644)
- The Ming dynasty: government and society.
- Travel and trade: ship building, navigation (compass), Chinese mariners mapping the world; trade and influence along the Asian sea routes' treasure fleet expeditions of Zheng He from 1405 to 1433.
- Scientific and cultural achievements of the Ming dynasty
- China looks inwards after 1433.
Songhai: an African Empire in the 15th and 16th centuries (around 1340 to 1591)
- The Songhai Empire under Sonni Ali: government and society.
- Travel and trade in Songhai at the height of its power (Arab, Italian and Jewish merchants at Timbuktu)
- Learning and culture.
- Fall of the Empire: Moroccan invasion of 1591.
India: Mughal (1525 to 1858)
- The Mughal Empire: government and society.
- Trade in the Indian Ocean and Islamic world.
- Astronomy and technology (seamless and celestial globe).
- Architecture in the 16th and 17th centuries: the Taj Mahal
- Britain and the end of the Mughal Empire.
- Feudal societies
- The black death: plagues and the consequences.
- Travel and trade across Europe and the Baltic Sea.
- Art, science and technology: the Renaissance.
- Changes in Feudalism: emerging middle class.
Key terms and definitions for this topic
Ancient: Belonging to a period of history that is thousands of years in the past.
Bureaucracy: A system of government in which there are a large number of state officials who are not elected.
Civilization: A society, its culture and its way of life during a particular period of time or in a particular part of the world.
Colonize: To take control of an area or a country that is not your own, especially using force, and send people from your own country to live there.
Conquest: The act of taking control of a country, city, etc. by force.
Empire: A group of countries or states that are controlled by one ruler or government.
Expansion: An act of increasing or making something increase in size, amount or importance.
Explorer: A person who travels to unknown places in order to find out more about them.
Independence: Freedom from political control by other countries.
Indigenous: Belonging to a particular place rather than coming to it from somewhere else.
Kingdom: A country ruled by a king or queen; an area controlled by a particular person or where a particular thing or idea is important.
Merchants: A person who buys and sells goods in large quantities, especially one who imports and exports goods.
Monopoly:The complete control of trade in particular goods or the supply of a particular service; a type of goods or a service that is controlled in this way.
Prosperity: The state of being successful, especially in making money.
Settler: A person who goes to live in a new country or region.
Slavery: The state of being a slave; the practice of having slaves.
Smelt: To heat and melt ore (rock that contains metal) in order to obtain the metal it contains.
Trade: A person who goes to live in a new country or region.
Source: Oxford (2014), Oxford Learners Dictionary, from Oxford [online] available at http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/ [Accessed: 30 March 2020]|