The document describes the state of major world civilizations in 1492. In Europe, Spain was uniting under Ferdinand and Isabella and sponsored Columbus' voyage. Turkey dominated North Africa and the Middle East. South Asia was ruled by Muslims except in the Hindu south. China struggled with bureaucracy while Japan remained independent. In the Americas, the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans had powerful empires until the arrival of Europeans. Wheat and rice were the main foods in Europe and Asia while Americans ate maize and lacked large animals. The Europeans conquered through advanced weapons, ships, and religious zeal.

1. The World in 1492
The Grand Tour: Europe
The Grand Tour: Turkey to Africa
The Grand Tour: South Asia
The Grand Tour: China and Japan
The Grand Tour: Western Hemisphere
The Staff of life
The Great Traditions
The European Challenge
Alison Venegas

2. The Grand Tour: Europe
• In 1492, many small states at the time were
uniting for the beginning of a new kingdom. It
was the time in Spain, the new king and queen
Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile
sponsored Columbus to his big voyage to the
new world. Columbus’ exploration made
Ferdinand and Isabella very rich with the gold of
Mexico and Peru’s silver. The kings felt it was the
perfect time to spread out since Italy was
struggling since its leader, Lorenzo de Medici
died. But eventually the wealth spread out in
Europe and the dominant Spain eventually lost
its domestic economy. Orthodox Christendom
spread and other countries dominated the
northern and eastern Europe. Peasants, the
descendants of eastern Europe lost their
freedom and were forced in farms to serve
western Europe.

3. The Grand Tour: Turkey to Africa
• In 1453, the last Byzantine Empire, the last
ancient Roman Empire, was taken over. In 1492,
the population rose from 100,000 to 700,000 a
century later. In the beginning of 1492 the Turks
and other Islamic people dominated land from
south of Spain across North Africa. Muslim
spread all over Persia and Asia, except for
Christianity, and it would seem the Muslims was
the dominant religion at the time. It is said that
Columbus saved Christianity by giving the
Western Hemisphere to the Spanish and they
would be able to spread the religion elsewhere.
In Latin America the people had a great
influence on Christianity, and a place where the
Muslims were not planning to go. Later, the
Spanish had a great population of Jews, but they
didn’t want to be baptized, so the Spanish
decided to push them out of the country.
Eventually they ended in Muslim territory. In
Africa the kingdom of Congo was influenced by
Christianity, but eventually left the faith and
welcomed the Portuguese trade.

4. The Grand Tour: South Asia
• In 1492, most of India was under
Muslim rule except for the south
Hindu kingdom. India was a country
visited by a lot of people and
eventually became versatile . Many
cultures were absorbed and India
became a liberal place because they
welcomed any culture or religion.
They welcomed Portuguese and
started a big trade with them. Spain
thought they were the only ones with
spices, but in 1492, Vasco Nunez de
Balboa would travel to the west and
start his own chain of Spices.

5. The Grand Tour: China and Japan
• In 1492, China’s emperor was struggling with
bureaucracy or governing problems, people
thought he was relying on other people to think
for him. Fifteen century China had the potential
to expand, but when the chief minister asked to
see for earlier records of the last emperor, he
realized China had failed an attempt to
dominate more countries. The records were
hidden because many Chinese troops and
equipment had gone to waste when nothing
was gained, except a few gifts, giraffe and
prisoners. In 1492, China had no main religion or
anything to fight for, so they just expected an
attack from the North and spent their money on
the Great Wall of China, which at the time was
the first priority. To the east Japan stayed an
independent country. Columbus was hoping to
find Japan when he was traveling west, but he
never reached Japan because he found America
first.

6. The Grand Tour: Western Hemisphere
• In 1492, the Aztecs ruled a successful capital
with a leader who believed the way to keep his
allies in line was to terrorize them and let
everyone fear him. One of the Spanish’s first
sight of Mexico was the city of Tenochititlan
which was built in an aquatic environment and
was considered an enchanting and dream like
city. The Mayan culture was destroyed and only
a few books remained and prevented people
from learning anything about their culture. The
Incas were a successful tribe like the Aztecs with
the leader Tupac Inca Yupan-qui. They built
many roads that would reach south were they
were able to trade and pass messages a little
faster since they didn’t have big animals to ride.
Its said he Mayans, Peruvians, and Aztecs never
tried to cross the Atlantic Ocean except for
maybe a Inca leader, but returned home empty
handed.

7. The Staff of Life
• In 1492, the Europeans nutrients and main
food source was rice and wheat. The most
nutritious food was the wheat, but also the
hardest to cultivate especially when
famines where happening at the time. The
Chinese mostly grew rice because it was a
little easier to grow and was able to feed
more people than wheat did. In America,
people would grow corn, and although it
wasn’t as nutritious, it was easy to grow and
could be eaten in many ways. Big animals
were rare in America and didn’t allow
people to eat meat. Eventhogh Europe had
more animals, they struggled to feel and
keep people healthy. Then the Black Death
hit and many people died which caused the
population of Europe to decrease.
Columbus was the reason for change in all
over the world because he brought many
spices and different foods from America to
Europe. Columbus also brought animals
into America, but it didn’t turn out so well
because it brought a lot of diseases and
killed almost 75% of the American people.

8. The Great Traditions
• Every empire or country had its own way to
protect themselves from invaders. Some
counted on their castles and others on new
inventions like fire arms. During the thirteenth
to fifteenth century Turks and Mongols would
try to force themselves into China, India, and
North Africa. But eventually the countries being
invaded learn from their enemies and began to
use their war tactics against them. Civilizations
were beginning to settle with bureaucratic
structures, improving their cities and finding
new tools, and also advancing in technology and
forms of writing. Those groups of people with
old fashion lives, like hunter gatherers,
eventually after being invaded by more civilized
groups adapted to the life style and became
more successful afterwards.

9. The European Challenge
• Europeans were able to conquer a lot of lands
because they were determined to find new
sources, new land, to spread their religions and
customs. Europeans at that time were a little
more advanced than other countries because
they had science, math, and religion to help
them be more creative and improve their
weapons. The Europeans also traveled a lot and
took other cultures ideas, weapons, different
styles and made them their own. For example
their ships were not strong, but with the help of
others and science, they improved their ships
and were able to navigate the ocean faster. They
had fire weapons to easily take over little
villages. Also, their strong beliefs in religion
caused them to be judgmental with other
religions and encouraged them to kill those with
another god. Europeans fully used all their
sources to improve and expand their lands
which made their European challenge a success.