Video Transcript: Lesson 15

Unit 10 Conquests between 1000AD and 1500AD

Hello, welcome back to the Christian leaders Institute World History course, one on one. We are covering the period today between 1015 100 ad. And we're looking at that in terms primarily of the major conquests that have gone on. As one thinks about that elicit that there are, as Jesus says, wars and rumors of war throughout the world during virtually every period of time, and this is a no exception. And so it became a little bit of a challenge to decide which particular conquests to choose to focus on, I decided to look at these five that you see the Norman, the Turkish, the Aztec, Inca, and Mongol conquests. And I chose those for a couple of reasons. Number one, they, these conquests, all in common, changed the trajectory of the parts of the world where they are. So for instance, the Norman invasion of England, changed the way Europe was configured into the Middle Ages, and even the early modern period, the Turkish invasion changed, really the way the Middle East and Turkey and the Balkans were, and so forth. So because these invasions resulted in much longer changes and significance of world history, I thought that they would be important, they also helped to set us up to see that the world is becoming smaller. As history goes on. We talked today of the global village, that certainly wasn't true way back in history, people didn't know about each other very much. So by the time we get to 1500, the world is shrunken, so to speak. People know much more about each other. And these conquests are a basic reason that that's true. And, of course, apologize for places and important conquests that are not covered in this time in this course, today. We just can't get to it all. So let's start with the Norman invasion. Here's your assigned reading. If you're taking this course for credit, it's the Wikipedia article on the Norman conquest of England. You'll see it there. And the year 1066 ad, is the date that William the Conqueror invaded England in the Battle of Hastings. And that's a Canadian date to talk about the Norman conquest of England. This map will show you this is Norman noon, on the northern coast of France along the English Channel. And this map in pink shows, eventually the lands that William the Conqueror, and the Normans had control over in England. Prior to that they were in the hands of people called the Anglo Saxons. There's not a lot of time to talk about who they were, but they were. They were the folks who came over in earlier migrations and earlier invasions. The Anglos are are the older and the Saxons with dramatic background came later. The Norman invasion is intimately connected with a person by the name of William the Conqueror, and he is a very colorful figure in history. He is a descendant of a person named Rolo. I think he's a great grandson or maybe great, great grandson. Rolo, and Rolo was one of these Vikings that we've talked about. The Vikings were in England, but they were also in France. In France, the king made a deal with Rolo one of the Viking leaders, that if Rolo, would actually become his vassal become a mercenary for him. Then the king of England, the King of France, rather would give Rolo the area of Normandy that would become his kingdom. And so that's what happened. So Rolo, it is Vikings settled in that piece of France. And they were known as the Norseman. And soon that adapted to the Normans, and that's how the name came about. So the Norman clan is really Viking heritage, but they assimilated relatively quickly into the French culture. They adapted a lot of the French language sort of invented their own language. The combination of the Viking language and French language it became known as a normal language. And I took that from Normandy and over into England.

 

But there never really were independent. or, on their own, they were always subject to the French king. And the French king. Of course, it was to his advantage, he thought, to make sure that there was always turmoil and chaos and confusion over on the English Channel in England. William is one of the sons of the previous king of England Henry. And there's a lot of debate about whether or not he was promised to become the next king of England, or whether that would go to one of His half brothers. But, as the case was, William had control of Normandy in France, and one of His half brothers, Harold eventually took control of most of the land of England, but William was potentially an authentic heir to the English throne. Well, in September of 1066, William assembles his armies they cross over the English Channel, and there is the important and famous Battle of Hastings on English soil. This is just a little map of some of the Normans about the Norman invasion of 1066. What happened is that a Scandinavian king by the name of Harold h a r a l. D, was harassing the north of England, Harold o LD, who was the king of Wessex and southern region here of England, took his armies and they were fighting against the Scandinavians and the Vikings up here. And during that period of time, William took advantage of that, and across the English Channel, and here at Hastings. Actually, the English Herald defeated the Scandinavian King, by the left has much much of his army up here, tried to fight William the Conqueror, and lost at the Battle of Hastings. Now, that didn't mean that immediately, William became the king of England that took many, many years actually a generation or so for the Normans to establish themselves as the real heirs and real monarchs in England. But after a generation or so they did. So this Norman invasion of England, marks the transition from the old Anglo Saxon culture, to the Norman culture. And that means, among other things, that the ownership of the land and this is one of the more significant things the ownership of the land passed from those old Anglo Anglo Saxons, into the hands of the Norman princes, the people that William the Conqueror, wanted to put into power. That's when so many of the castles are built in England by these Normans in order to protect their lands. William really helped to cement the relationship between the land and the Lord of the land, and himself. And so as he would grant the land to these lords, they would pledge loyalty, they would pledge their taxation, they would pledge their armies, they would pledge your personal loyalty back to William. And this is very fundamentally the way feudalism worked in England during the Middle Ages. In 1086, so later, after they got established, there's a famous book called The Doomsday Book that was created, it's basically just an accounting of the lands and who owns the land, and to whom did the land. How much of the land was given by William the Conqueror to these other lords, what their previous taxation rates would be, and how much we'll have to charge for taxes. So it's basically a tax and deed record. But it becomes one of the early and important books of the Middle Ages. It's called the Doomsday Book. It's called doomsday because back then do that judgment. And so this is the judgment of who owns the land, and how much taxes they owe. What are the other things, of course, is that the normal language became used much more broadly, although I'm sure most of the population still use their old Anglo Saxon language. The normal language also came, had to be spoken, it was spoken in all the courts. The official language of all the documents was Latin. The Normans brought that over as well.

 

But the normal language was a lot of its French terms and French words were brought over from France into England at that time. That's one reason why those of us who are English speakers can't quite understand why do some of us words come from Germany. And why do some of the English words come from France and some come from Spain and from all these other places, English is an amalgamation of so many languages. And here's how so much of that French language came into the English. William the Conqueror, retained his father's basic structure for bureaucracy and for law. And that was very important. There was a real continuity in how the people were ruled, and how they could, the rights that the people had and the people had considerable rights. They had the right to appeal a right to a jury, not necessarily their peers, but at least there was a jury trial, right to have the charges read before them. This is different from how it was in continental Europe, where it was just the whatever the kings had, or whatever the Lord said, that's what happened. In England, the courts become much more important. And this is the fundamental basis of English common law, which, again, those of us who live in cultures inspired by Britain. Those cultures are all over in Africa and India, China, the United States, Canada. We have that English common law, deep within our own civil structures. That was cemented, I would say, by William the Conqueror and the Normans. And one of the great changes that happen in the church is prior to William the Conqueror under the Anglo Saxons, the nobles in the land were really in charge of the church. When the Normans came, they made a large concession to the Pope. The Normans were very loyal to Rome and to the Pope. And so the Catholic Church became much more independent of the monarchy in England, and much more of a co equal in rulership. The Archbishop who previously was in York, moves down to Canterbury, and becomes almost a co equal ruler of England and the Norman parts of England throughout this period, so much of the future story of England is set here. There are even some longer term consequences to the Norman invasion. I just mentioned a few I talked about the loyalty that they had to the Pope. The Normans did much more so than the Anglo Saxon rulers. So that would the Crusades come up. And they're going to be coming up very shortly in this next period of time. The English, the sand, and many of their knights, and many of their nobles go over to help fight the Crusades when the Pope calls them. They also are very much loyal to the French king. Because remember that the Normans were subjects to the French king in significant ways. So when the French king who calls for help in fighting the Crusades, the English respond. So think of characters like Richard the Third, who is probably one of the most well known Richard the Lionhearted. Right? He's actually a Norman he doesn't even speak English, or Anglo Saxon who speaks French he lived almost his entire life in France, or in Normandy, or on crusades with very little time in England, and yet, he's the monarch He's the king of England during that time. The Norman invasion, of course, is well remembered in the British soul. They think of themselves as Britain's not as Normans. And that notion of Britain's goes back to the Anglo Saxon and even earlier, there comes a tension therefore, because the Normans had invaded and the Normans are French. There are tons of tension between France and England, that is going to last really until the beginning of the 20th century when they become allies.

 

Prior to World War One. So much of European history for the next 800 years is really defined by this battle between the French and the English in a lot of respects between Spain as well, but the battle between the French and the English goes on and on and on, sometimes hotter than others. But this is a constant conflict and constant tension right up until the mitre period. It also because the Normans are very conscious lentils and their French, it ties the British story which had been quite independent in a lot of ways of the continental Europe, to Europe. This is one of the first moves in a union of Britain and Europe, they have the same history, the same story follows the same trajectories, they're involved in the same conflicts, for instance, and the same movements. And also, finally, you get a very strong papal influence, the Pope has tremendous authority in England for the next 400 years after William the Conqueror, when we get to the end of the period, and we talk about religious conflicts and the like, Henry the Eighth when he has his split, with the, with the Pope. That is a huge, huge split, because it's really the first time that a monarch defies in some definitive ways. Other Other monarchs do defy the papacy when things are Thomas, Rebecca Henry, the fourth in the light, but it's really Henry the Eighth, that makes the split, which is a very significant part of the Protestant Reformation that comes. So the Norman Conquest is one of those things that happened during this period of time 1066 and lasting influence all the way through to 1500. That sets the stage for how England and France and Europe in particular will develop. We're going to move now to a different part, we're going to move to the Turkish invasion, which is about Asia Minor, in the Middle East, and here's your reading assignment, the Byzantine and salute wars. That Wiki article. So here are these are minor. Constantinople is the capital of the Byzantine Empire, you'll remember from earlier in the course the Byzantine Empire is the eastern part of the ancient Roman Empire. But it became a Christian empire, ruled by Christians for 1000 years. And it's centered in Constantinople is your minor land today we call Turkey, the Asia Minor is really, during this period of time, prior to, let's say, around 1000, in many respects, the center of the Christian faith, the Greek Orthodox fathers, as they know, as they're known, this is where they live, this is where they come from. This is where so much of the writing, and so much of the theological discussion comes from the Byzantine Empire keeps Christianity alive in ways for instance, in Europe, that it had, it really died and almost passed out of existence, except for some monasteries in Ireland. So for us Christians, this is really a very important part of our stories, and content and close the center of that. Well. In the 10th century, around 900 ad, there are warriors who come from Central Asia seems like as always, were the warriors come from the Parthians game from their oodles and oodles of people seem to start there. And I migrate down in a group that is actually related to Chinese and related to the Mongols, called the Turks. They come from Central Asia, and they come in to migration down and to do war. Their lawyers enter the Middle East around 900 ad, they, at that point, become Muslim. So now you have Muslims, who are coming down and migrating. And one of the early leaders was a man called Seljuq, or salute. And so it's called the salute. Turkish invasion. First thing they do is they go down more into Persia, and

 

they overcome Persia become the rulers of Persia. They establish their kingdom there, around 1063 ad and by that time, they have control really all of Mesopotamia. So you think about the current countries of Iran and Iraq, much of Saudi Arabia, Palestine, and they have made inroads serious inroads into Asia Minor by that time. They Are as significant power they are often in conflict with Egypt. Remember, in the story of the eastern part of the Mediterranean is a story of Egypt at war was at any particular time. It just seems endless throughout this period during significant conflict with Egypt, but they are also expanding north. They don't get into Asia Minor yuck into the land of Turkey, they, the Byzantine armies are still there. And they are resisting them. They're fighting them. But they do sort of an end run and go up north into Greece and into the Balkans and have significant very significant, good success. Success. They're in concrete. So there's constant conflict by the antium. Eastern part of the Roman Empire, and in 1071, is the battle of man's a trip. That's shown here on the map. The silk armies start in Aleppo, and they come this way. The Byzantine army started Constantinople and come this way. And they meet here at Bella desist. Marla molars, turret sorry about that pronunciation. And salute armies are overwhelmingly successful. The Byzantine armies are driven out, they're driven back. And after that period of time, the Turkish people begin to move steadily, constantly westward into Asia Minor. They don't take over the Byzantine Empire for a few 100 years yet, but they do take over almost all over Asia Minor. Well, they're rain this silk rain last until around the year 1200. were overcome by the Mongols and perhaps we'll be able to get to the Mongol invasion today. We'll notice that they do come back in another form the Ottoman Empire during their during their reign in in a number of places because they encountered a lot of different religions, Christianity, Judaism, Islam. Now the Turks are all Muslims. However, they are religiously tolerant of Christians and religiously tolerant of Jews. They they do tax non Muslims to a much greater extent. So there's a real tax advantage if you become a Muslim. And lots and lots of folks do that, of course, content and Opal and the Byzantine Empire experienced them as an overwhelming tract. In the course of the Turkish invasion, the Saluki invasion, the Byzantine Empire is shrinking, shrinking, shrinking, shrinking. And finally, they get to the point where they call out to the West, they call out to Rome, and to Europe, to come to their defense, as fellow Christians come to our defense, particularly the Holy Land, but really rescue us, as well in rescue the Byzantine Empire, from these Turkish invasions, it is a significant reason for the, for the Crusades, where you're obsessed, all these knights and soldiers and other people to retake, they talk about conquering the holy land that sort of begins to be called the Holy Land. They talk about taking back Jerusalem and the holy sites and areas of pilgrimage. And that is certainly one of the factors that is very significant for the Crusades.

 

There are other factors as well, that we'll discuss later. The Turks to some extent, disrupted the trades that was going on between China and Europe. And we spent a lot of time in our last class talking about how important the Silk Roads work. And whatever Europe experienced, and China experienced a disruption of that trade, they had to do something about it because that trade was where all the wealth came from, for Europe as well as China. So I suspect a part of the Crusades is also an economic move. Can we open up these routes? Once again, today the reason that is a minor is called Turkey is because of the Turkish invasion. And they they brought the Turkish language, they brought Islam to Turkey, and very much in Islamic Turkish culture, and that culture is different. The language is different, the culture is different from the culture, let's say of the Arabs that are more down in Syria or in Iraq. That's still true today, the Turkish culture is really closer in culture to, let's say, Pakistan, and to Central Asia than it is to the Arab countries. I mentioned that they lasted until the Ottomans until the Mongols came, and the Mongols held sway in that area for about 100 years or so. But following that came the Ottoman Empire, which also is they're really the heirs of the Turkish invasion, so I thought that we would consider them here. I asked you to read the Wikipedia article on the Ottoman Empire, you just need to look at the first two sections for our purposes today. So the Mongols came in, we'll get to them. They interrupted the Turkish rule for about 100 years. But after about the year 1300. The Middle East and Turkey are back in the hands of Turkish people. First, there, they're mostly about fighting against Byzantium and raiding Europe. But later on, they also then fight against Egypt. And they really consolidate their control over that area so that they become some of the most significant traders, economic power and military power in the whole eastern part of the Mediterranean basin, buddy or 1400, the Ottomans controlled almost all of Asia Minor, and the Balkans. So those countries of Bulgaria and Serbia, former Yugoslavia, Greece, are all now controlled by these Ottomans. And they they go all the way up into Hungary, and even into Poland, I recall, on raids. In Italy, the cities, some of the cities like Genoa and Venice, and others, they're really the powerhouses behind the economy. They're all built on that trade. With China. They sometimes they're at odds with them. And sometimes they're in league with them. It just depends on how it suits their purposes. The same actually is true with the Crusaders. There's a period of time in which Christian crusaders from Europe are allies with Ottoman Turks. Strange arrangements went on during that period of time. But they also fought each other as a famous battle of Kosovo, in 1389, at the topless in 1396. These are decisive battles in which the Ottomans were victorious. There was a time of decline, but then a real return to the conquest and expansion into Europe, as far as Hungary, between 1430 and 1450. So by the middle of the 15th century 1450 When the Renaissance is going on in Italy, and there are stirrings all over Europe. The new humanism is rising there in Eastern Europe, it is the Ottoman Empire and Ottoman Islamic culture

 

that is controlling things. 1423 the Ottomans finally take control of Constantinople. And that's the end of the Byzantine Empire at that time, by the way. When Constantinople fell to the Ottomans, many of the Christian Greeks who lived there fled to the west. And they brought with them among other things. There are copies of a Greek New Testament which the West did not have. And that the those copies of the Greek New Testament and the Greek Bible became very influential in the early You're particularly in the early stages of the Reformation, so that people like Martin Luther and Erasmus and John Calvin, and other scholars, they are learning to read this Greek and learning how to put manuscripts together and they're learning all sorts of new things. There's an explosion of Biblical Studies. That happens. When Byzantium falls, Constantinople fall, and all those Greek refugees come to Western Europe. The Ottomans renamed Constantinople Istanbul, the city that we know today. And like I said, at the end of the Byzantine Empire, for the next 100 years, there is a great expansion by the Ottomans, particularly they are become the primary naval power in the Mediterranean, they are as well are, for the most part religiously tolerant. When in Spain, the rekon questa expelled the Islam as well as they expel the Jews from Spain. Those many of those refugees are welcomed into areas of the Ottoman Empire, particularly in the Balkans. So that there becomes a very strong press Jewish presence in particular, in the Balkans. But some of those Jews actually as well, during this period of time settle around the Sea of Galilee. And there becomes a pretty strong Jewish population in what we call Palestine. Like I said, it's a period of conflict in times and if somebody was to your advantage, even if you were previously at war with them. So in the 16th century, in the 1500s, there is a period of time in which the Ottomans are allied with France. Remember, they're the major power the Mediterranean, they allow allied with France in order to do some battles against the Holy Roman Empire. So this is a map of the Ottoman Empire at its largest extent, you can see its influence is huge. Drum all the way from from Iraq, Baghdad, all down the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, into all of Turkey, the Crimea, and here into the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire. And actually, it lasts until the end of World War One, the Ottomans were allies, with Hungary, the Austro Hungarian empire, and with the Germans. And when that side Lost World War One, the Ottoman Empire was carved up by the victorious Allied powers. So it had, let's say, an 800 year history implications of the Turkish and ottoman, particularly the ottoman, they control the trade routes. And they became extremely wealthy, because of places like Mosul and Aleppo, and Elmira, and gays, and other cities become fabulously wealthy during this period of time. They control both silk routes, the land as well as the spice routes, the sea routes between India and Southeast Asia and China in Europe. And they control those very tightly. And we're not allowing the European merchants much profit, not as much as as they wanted or as much access. As previously. The Europeans wanted to trade particularly with China, and particularly with India.

 

And they thought that they could eliminate the middle Ottoman Empire, if they could avoid particularly going over those land routes. And so they began really to invest deeply in sea, so that by the end of our period of time 1492, we know about Columbus, who, who sails West in order to get to India, well, in a fundamental way that he's doing that because of the economic strain that the Ottoman Empire had put on the Silk Route. Others Vasco de Gama sails around the Cape of in Africa in order to get to India, and he makes the first successful seat ship Magellan goes around the world in order to find different ways. And all of this is in lots of respects to for Europe and European powers to find a new trade routes to get around the Ottomans control the former routes The spread of Islam into the Balkan and Eastern Europe areas really is cemented during this period of time. So that match some of the states of Russia, for instance, Czech, Belarus, Ukraine, in many of the nations in the Balkans were heavily influenced by Islam. We see that even in in today in Moscow, as you see the, the architecture of the Kremlin, for instance, has very much Islamic, the dome on the top. And that is really from these, these Ottomans. They are really strong rivals for the both the Holy Roman Empire and also for those Italian city states. And they become the check and balance against them. And lastly, they they become the infidels, they become the bad guys, that if you want to whip up fear in the hearts of children before you put them to bed, which some people seem to want to do by telling them ghost stories, to tell them stories about the wicked Ottomans. They became the villains and were demonized by Christian Europe in particular. They successfully expelled all the Crusaders, out of the Holy Land, for instance. The threat of the Ottoman invasion and the threat of the spread of Islam. And the fight that the Holy Roman Empire has to have against them all the time. That is one of the reasons that the reformation is actually able to succeed in Europe. Without that investment on the part of the Holy Roman Empire, when Martin Luther and other others would have tried to have some difference of opinion and different going different directions. The Holy Roman Empire would have just crushed it by saying, had it not been to the Ottomans. Because the Holy Roman Empire had to expend so much of its energy fighting against. So the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish invasions, changed again, the course of history significantly, and set the stage for subsequent European and world history. Now we're going to change direction, we're going down into Mexico, to the Aztec empire. And you'll remember that the Mayans are very significant they all Macs and other tribes are very significant in Mesoamerica. But around 1200, a group seems to have migrated down to the north of Mexico and southwest, North America, Southwest America. And they entered the grand basin around Mexico City. Now there was already the town's era there was civilization there. Significant ones, and these early migrants were really became the lower class many of them were slaves or they became mercenaries. But they gained power and relatively quickly after only a couple of generations. They take over as the rulers really some of the major cities states tenor to churn, Texas Tech, cocoa

 

to La so Pon again, pardon my Miss Strauss. See Asians I'm sure the city have a tendency to chime dominates. And that's really the city that we know today is Mexico City. Here's a great map of the areas of the asset control. Remember, this was our around 1200 1300 ad. And the Aztec empire last until the time of Cortez and Montezuma, the second 1520 Just about the same time Martin Luther is bringing about the Reformation in Europe, Cortez is conquering and wiping out the Aztecs. So this is the area in Mexico of their greatest strength. The greatest cities and the cities were independent. There really was no single ruler in the Aztec world. The city had its own king, and but the kings were in collaboration with each other. A lot of that was the economic. The Aztecs were known, particularly as traders. They established trade as far down as the Incas. So true, or at least as far down as today's Costa Rica and Panama. So with the Mayan Civilis nation and they also went north. There are legends at least among some of the ancient tribes in southern southwest United States curious traders who would come from the south and they had great items and his some of those items seem to have come from Mexico into America southwest. They were they were the Aztecs weren't necessarily trusted. They were called often called tricksters. Some believe that the, the percentage or you see him all over the place Kokopelli he's the guy was a dancer that that might be an Aztec trickster who or Trader who's come so the Aztecs have had were significant in trading throughout throughout Mexico and southwest United States, and Central America. By 1450, they had secured most of the Mexico, Central Mexico basin. And they were in control of the economy and control the war and control of the religion. They were seemed to be constantly at war, although it's unclear how much of this is actually like these don't seem to be large, large forces battling against each other as more smaller selective forces, sort of special forces. And sometimes it's even the case that the kings would just rather than have battles, they would just exchange exchange prisoners with each other. And of course, these captured people would be sacrificed to the gods. There is evidence of mass, massive 1000s and 1000s of human sacrifices during this period of time by by the Aztec priests to keep their gods happy. As I mentioned, trade was the lifeblood of the Aztec world, as well as some agriculture. And they linked one of the reasons that they have lasting significance for us is that they really linked southwest United States and central to Central America, in basically one sort of, loosely attached area so that when Cortes comes, when the Spanish come by if they overcome Montezuma and they overcome the Aztec leaders, they have not just conquered the area around Mexico City, they gained tremendous control over a much larger area. And sure enough, that's just what happened in 1519. And finally just kind of lost its significance. The current name of Mexico today comes from these Aztecs, the Mexicans are one of the sub tribes who are part of the Aztec people.

 

This is a quote from a Wikipedia article, I didn't assign a specific article for the Aztecs, but this is important, quote for you to remember, the Aztecs loved rulers of conquered cities and powers so long as they agreed to pay semi annual tribute to the lions. So the pain of taxes was crucially important. Those taxes maybe they didn't come in coinage so much as they came and goods and corn and other valuable things, as well as supply military forces when needed for the Aztec war efforts. In return, the Imperial authority offered protection and political stability and facilitated an integrated economic network of diverse lands and peoples who had significant local autonomy again, so when we think about the Aztecs, and how they ruled, they weren't like one central power that had sent out armies and controlled everybody. They really were city states that then had other vassal states that responded to them, but they were able to establish those trade lines. Let's move down into South America at the Inca Empire. I'll ask you to read this article by Mark Hart right. Think of civilization and you see the web link there.

 

Think Empire is actually quite short lived. Peru and along the western coast of South America around 1438 Indian tribal groups are speaking the correct language, expanded control over all others. There are lots of different tribes and different groups living along the coast there. But is this quick us freakin language, people who begin to come control and within 120 years, they have the largest empire that existed in the Americas pre pre Columbus and spanned over 3800 miles north to south. Incas had control and lasted until the 1530s, when the Spanish to particularly general Pizarro came, as well as smallpox. And we'll talk later when we, in this course, about the importance of diseases and the spreads of diseases how that changes history. But the coming of smallpox brought by the Europeans to North and South America was one of the more significant things estimates are somewhere between 50 and 90% 90% of the native population was wiped out, was killed by smallpox, maybe even some years ahead, the actual coming of the Spanish or English or whoever came over the disease spread faster than the Europeans than the conquerors did. Again, you think about those trade routes and how significant they are in linking large areas. Well, disease traveled those trade routes. That was true from China, to Europe and Europe to China. Without that's also true throughout the areas of North and South America. The populations are decimated. And that's one reason the Europeans were able to conquer those cultures. Inca is actually not a name of a group, it's a name given to the ruling class. And that in Indian society, it very much was there was a ruling class who pretty much everybody served. And there was one general King, who was not NGA. And everybody served him. They lived in the capitol to Cusco. And I'll show that in a map in a second. And somewhere around 1415, they built a special retreat place for them. Some think of it as a pleasure place. Others suspect as a religious center is known today as lots of Picchu, and then visited by many, it's a World Heritage Site. And we'll take a look at that as well as the map of the Inca influenced and Inca empire, in the 15th century, you see, it goes all the way really extends up into Columbia, way up the coast, to Ecuador, always Purdue, Peru. Here's Cusco, the capital city of Machu Picchu is not too far away. And here is Chile and extends into the design of Argentina and Bolivia. And there is evidence that does beginning to come out of the archaeological ways that they even have trading partners with people into the Amazon and over to the Amazon into Brazil. So the Inca, particularly economic influence is spread really almost all the way throughout South America. This is a picture about your Picchu. Clearly, impressive sights still exists. We don't precisely know what it's for it's near 10,000 feet up in the mountains. And so it's not easily accessible. But it was built for the Inca ruling class for them to have as their special retreat center. So again, the Incas were able to link this huge area in South America, particularly along the western coast. And so when the Europeans come

 

late, later with their diseases, and with their conquistadores and with their gunpowder once they're able to take control of the ink and the main cities they They end up controlling a huge area. They don't have to go and go conquer city by city by city or mile by mile by mile to conquer the main people and suddenly you inherit huge swaths of territory. So the Inca Empire consolidated the west coast of South America. And when the Spanish came, there's really only one empire to conquer. And they also consolidated the wealth the area into the hands of nobility, so that when the Spanish calm and they conquer the nobility, they also take virtually all the wealth of the area. Save the best or most significant, at least conquests for the last, the Mongol conquest. But I think that we've had enough for today and so we'll pick that up. In our next session, the Mongol conquest. Thank you very much. Pray that God blesses you today and looking forward to seeing you in our next class.