3 - Imperialism and Feudalism

ucla | GEOG 4 | 2023-10-09 09:29

Table of Contents

History

  • Until the 1500s, the world was organized into localist empires that waxed/waned
  • Western Europe and the Roman Empire gave way to -> a specific localized economy called “feudalism”
  • Feudalism created foundations of capitalism - private ownership, accumulation of capital

    Territories and networks

    Models of empires and connections

  • Four basic kinds of models that describe the distribution of empires and trade:
    1. Ensemble of Worlds - scattered empires with little interaction (Ancient empires)
    2. Field of Forces - a model of empires of Western Europe in the 1500s (characterized by interaction by means of trade, expansion, and early colonization, e.g., English conquest of Western Europe and colonization)
    3. Hierarchal network - a model of the development of an empire as hierarchical through levels of colonization or decentralized networks (very rare
    1. distinguished by levels of hierarchy - empires have business, diplomacy, oligarchy, etc., that operates beneath the empire/govt and aid the development of smaller locus of influence (e.g., British spheres of influence in China and India)
      1. World society - idealized more equal world with widespread networks and network-focused economies/structure

        Fluctuations of models through time

Empires and Redistribution

  • Roman, Arab, and Chinese empires focused on the subjugation of large territories and the redistribution of wealth from the periphery to central capitals
  • This requires expansion to sustain and threatens border conflicts and trade between large empires through periphery states

    Height of the Roman Empire - 117 CE

    Arab/Persian Empire - 800 CE

    Chinese empire - 900 CE

    Imperial Collapse and feudalism

    History

  • The collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th century unraveled trade connections
  • This resulted in localized organization/trade governed by warlords/nobles through private ownership of land
  • The continued growth of the Arab empire touched the secluded, feudal Mediterranean and induced the revitalization of international trade (e.g. Venice, Florence)

    Economic structure of Feudalism

    Social structure of European feudalism

    Network of trades in the medieval Mediterranean

Ottoman challenge

  • the increasing networks of trade across the world were at first threatened by a central power of the Ottoman Empire
  • but as the empire began to require the fruits of trade to sustain its economies, the empire slowly declined

    Creation of the Ottoman Empire

    Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire

    Modern empires (commerce) vs. Territorial autarky (self-sufficiency)

  • Post-1500s imperialist territories could have gone back to a model 1 territorial autarky, but the benefits of trade swayed them towards a hierarchal order (e.g., transatlantic triangular trade)
  • This imperialism, by the 1700s, was economically controlled by independent companies and individuals instead of feeding the empire
  • The privatization of trade and commerce led to the fall of almost all empires and gave way to democratic constitutions protecting trade and privatization
  • Gave way to European and new world trade and merchant operations

    Beginnings of trade dissolving imperialism

    Trade routes and networks developed by private companies

    British Foreign Direct Investment 1860-1960