Land-Based Empires

Period: 1450 to 1750

The AP World History: Modern course divides early modern empires in the period circa 1450 to 1750 into two types: “Land-based Empires” and “Maritime Empires.” Land-based Empires were large-scale Eurasian empires that used gunpowder weapons and administrative centralization to conquer and rule large, stable territories. Maritime Empires were overseas Western European empires established using ships, gunpowder weapons, corporate trading posts, and colonization in the Americas as well as Asia. Unit 3 focuses on Land-based Empires. Unit 4 focuses on European Maritime Empires. But both kinds of empires appear in both units.

The major historical processes in this period of World History include, the growth of land and maritime empires, the centralization of power through the growth of imperial bureaucratic institutions including professional armies, the Columbian Exchange, the colonization of the Americas, mercantilism and the rise of corporate joint-stock companies, the first interconnection of the world economy, and the Atlantic system of enslaved trade and cash-crop plantations.

This big picture view of large processes is very helpful in understanding the context skill or contextualization. For example, the growth of the Atlantic slave trade can be understood in the context of European colonization of the Americas and the growth of plantations. The power and flourishing of the Ottoman Empire in this period can be understood in the context of centralizing imperial administrations in many regions. The spread of smallpox among native Americans can be understood in the context of European transoceanic voyages and colonization of the Americas.