The World Outside Europe (1700–1820)

The big picture, 1700–1820

Between 1700 and 1820 trade, new weapons and ships made Europe stronger. At the same time the old land empires of Asia faced problems at home: slow money systems, strong regional rulers and big populations. Every region answered in its own way, so we study them one by one.

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire stretched over parts of Europe, Asia and Africa and was ruled by the sultan from Istanbul. In the 1700s it lost lands to Russia and Austria. Local governors, such as Muhammad Ali in Egypt, became very powerful.

Selim III started a "new order" army, and Mahmud II ended the old Janissary corps in 1826. Their aim was a modern army, taxes and law.

Iran

The Safavid dynasty fell in 1722. Nadir Shah (1736–47) won wars and even reached Delhi in 1739, but his empire broke up after he died. In 1796 the Qajar dynasty took power. In wars with Russia (1804–13 and 1826–28) Iran lost lands in the Caucasus.

India

When Aurangzeb died in 1707, the Mughal emperor slowly lost real power. New regional states grew: the Marathas, Hyderabad, Awadh, Bengal and Mysore.

The East India Company, a trading company, won the Battle of Plassey (1757) and the Battle of Buxar (1764). In 1765 it got the right to collect taxes (diwani) in Bengal. By about 1818 it ruled or controlled most of India.

Qing China

Under the emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong the Qing empire grew large, rich and peaceful. The population rose very fast.

Foreign trade was allowed only at Canton (the Canton System, from 1757). Europeans wanted tea, silk and porcelain and paid mostly in silver. In 1793 the British envoy Macartney asked for more trade and was refused. After 1796 revolts and money problems showed new weakness.

Japan

From 1603 the Tokugawa shoguns ruled Japan from Edo (today Tokyo). The emperor was in Kyoto but the shogun held the real power. Society had four groups: samurai, farmers, craftsmen and merchants.

The shoguns allowed very little contact with the outside (sakoku, "closed country"). Only Dutch and Chinese traders came to Nagasaki. Inside, peace let towns, rice trade, theatre and woodblock prints grow.

Latin America

Spain and Portugal ruled large colonies in the Americas. Society was ranked: people born in Spain at the top, then creoles (Europeans born in the colonies), and below them mixed-heritage, Indigenous and enslaved people.

Revolutions began with Haiti (1791–1804). When Napoleon took over Spain in 1808, the colonies began to rule themselves. Leaders such as Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín led armies. Mexico (1821) and Brazil (1822) became independent, and most of Spanish South America was free by the mid-1820s.

Try it

Make six cards. On each write the region, one key date and one big change (for example "India, 1757 Plassey, the Company grows"). Mix them up and match them. Predict first: which region has the biggest change in tower height? Then check with the picker in the 3D.

Key formulas and definitions

• Ottoman: lands lost + reforms (Selim III, Mahmud II 1826)
• Iran: Safavids fall 1722 → Nadir Shah 1736 → Qajars 1796
• India: Aurangzeb dies 1707 → Plassey 1757 → Buxar 1764 → Company rule
• China: Canton System 1757 → Macartney 1793
• Japan: Tokugawa 1603 → sakoku → Nagasaki only
• Latin America: Haiti 1804 → Spain invaded 1808 → Mexico 1821, Brazil 1822

Worked examples

Common mistakes

• Saying Japan had no contact at all. Dutch and Chinese traders came to Nagasaki.
• Thinking the Mughal emperor ended in 1707. He stayed on the throne but lost real power.
• Mixing Plassey (1757) with Buxar (1764). Plassey is first.
• Thinking all of Latin America became free at the same time. It was between 1804 and the 1820s, country by country.