The Diplomacy Challenge

World historians do not always agree on periodization, as a review of textbook chronologies will show. Most, however, do concur that the mid-15th century was a key turning point in World History. European exploration and settlement of the Americas and the cultural and economic exchange that resulted profoundly transformed the world. The Columbian Exchange; the role of China as a both consumer and supplier in the world economy; the development of the plantation system and chattel slavery; as well as the rise of the modern corporation all emerged during this period, which most historians call Early Modern (1450–1750).

Diplomacy is a good way to teach students about the Early Modern era. Diplomacy as we know it today, has its origins during this period. Many of the well-known Early Modern primary source texts we have are in fact documents related to diplomacy. Having students think like diplomats requires them to consider other perspectives. Primary source documents and information become “intelligence” that student need to analyze from the perspective of not only one empire but of others, as well.

The Early Modern era was the first time many empires and kingdoms in Africa and Asia had to deal directly with representatives of European empires, who were persistent in their presence and demanded recognition as equals. These “hairy barbarians”—as they were called in Japan—insisted on trade on their terms, often with the threat of force behind it.

Diplomacy, however did not only take place between European and Asian or European and African monarchs. Increased interaction between Asian states, for example, occurred as well. Letters between the Ottoman Sultan and the Safavid Shah show how the religious schisms within Islam paralleled those within Christian Europe.

Our unit also is about more than European conquest. It is important for students to understand that a great deal of Early Modern history was being made by non-European empires even after Spain and European empires settled the Americas.

We should not forget that the Early Modern period is the time of the Muslim “Gun Powder Empires” (The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughals), which dominated Central Europe to India. As historian Philip Curtain notes, the European economy was still less productive than the Indian economy, which during the time of Akbar was the wealthiest empire in the world. The Ottomans were the dominant military and political power in Central Europe and the Middle East. Although they struck fear in the hearts of Western Christian monarchs, Europe was only one of many concerns for the Ottomans, who were frequently at war with their Shi’ite Muslim neighbors the Safavids to the East. Read about the far-reaching cultural influence of the Ottomans in Humanities magazine feature "Women's Trousers and Such: The Ottoman Influence on Early Western Feminism." 

In East Asia, the Qing Empire already had a well-established maritime trade network within East Asia. No doubt, Europeans were often intentional “disrupters” of the trade systems they joined, but in the Indian Ocean, up until the mid-18th century, Asians carried more trade in the Indian Ocean than Europeans did.

[One note on this unit: While the lessons cover a range of empires and kingdoms throughout Afro-Eurasia, they do not address two key American empires (Aztec and Inca) in existence at the time of the European conquest because, as political units, those empires ceased to exist by the early 16th century.]