Which groups in Western Europe supported overseas exploration, and infer their motivations

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Chapter 12 Civilizations of the Fifteenth Century Review (50 points)Please answer all of the following questions on another piece of paper1.In the fifteenth century, what did the Igbo people in West Africa have in common withthe Iroquois League in North America?2.What was a principle underlying the Great Law of Peace of the Iroquois League?3.After the fifteenth century, how did the Chinese state resolve the problem created by agrowing population and land scarcity?4.Compare and contrast the Confucian revival in Ming China and the Renaissance inEurope.5.What was a motivation for European expansion but not for Chinese expansion in thefifteenth century?6.

Hunting and Gathering Societies
- tend to be small/ less then fifty members
- Mobility

Agricultural Societies
- agricultural societies were settled village-based farmers
- few signs of inherited social inequality surfaced
- no male/female dominance
- many village-based agricultural societies flourished well into the modern era
- lineage system performed the functions of government but without the formality of government
- developed modest social and economic inequalities
- pioneered the human settlement of vast areas; adapted to a variety of environments; created numerous cultural, artistic, and religious traditions; incorporated new crops, institutions, and people into their cultures; and interacted continuously with their neighbors

Pastoral Societies
- hunters who relied on milk, meant, and blood from animals
- this type of people came from Central Asia, Sahara, eastern Africa, and the Arabian peninsula
- domestication of animals led to the growth of the pastoral societies
- pastoral societies and agricultural societies were sometimes at peace, but generally the two groups did not get along

• If they had continued, Chinese maritime voyages could have had a profound impact on the course of world history. China was the richest, most prosperous, and most technologically advanced civilization in the world at that time, and it would be reasonable to think that, if the Chinese had aggressively competed with their European counterparts, they likely would have prevailed as the preeminent maritime power in the world. This would have had profound implications for the course of world history, most likely limiting the influence of Western Europe and of Christianity on other regions of the globe and increasing Chinese cultural, economic, and political influences beyond East Asia.
• The usefulness of counterfactual questions is debatable. They do allow one both to highlight the role of contingency in the course of human history and to highlight the difficulty of predicting the future because of contingency. Moreover, counterfactual questions go beyond mere speculation, because they encourage students to think of what was possible in light of known historical facts. Thus a good "what if" question can help scholars think their way into historical reality and to hone their analytical skills. Still, no one can fully predict what the consequences of a change in events would have been, and in any case, the reality of the situation as it happened is the subject of history.

• Several changes would undoubtedly have surprised a knowledgeable observer, including the emergence of Islam;
• the revival of China and Western Europe;
• the collapse of the Byzantine Empire;
• the emergence of Russia and the spread of Christianity into that region;
• the emergence of states in Southeast Asia;
• the emergence of Japan;
• the emergence of powerful empires in West Africa.
• However, some features would still be recognizable, such as the persistence of Paleolithic, agricultural village, and herding societies;
• the continuance, albeit at a more intense rate, of long-distance commerce and exchange;
• the persistence of broad cultural traditions, especially in the Mesoamerican, Andean, Chinese, European, and Indian civilizations.

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