Title Page | Table of Contents | Letter from the Series Creator | Introduction | Excerpt from the Teacher's Guide

 Teacher's Guide

The first video, Through the Looking Glass, establishes several themes that resonate throughout the 180 minutes of the two videos. These themes can serve as a framework for exploring the materials: the themes of "people, and products from all over the globe, meeting, mixing and trading in common experiences." Basically, this is the message of The Crucible of the Millennium - that people have met, traded goods and ideas, exchanged and adapted cultures, had both peaceful and warlike encounters, analyzed and in some cases accepted other people's faiths and religious practices, intermingled and competed and, in the long run, created a world that is a reflection of the world of the 15th and 16th centuries. Over the course of the last 500 years, this has had both positive and negative implications. The study of world history as one history, rather than as separate nations, separate cultures, separate regions and separate histories helps us understand how these events created and will continue to form the world of today and tomorrow.

The Crucible of the Millennium reflects many of the significant themes in world history. We intend to focus on four themes as we analyze how the material from a three-hour video documentary can be dissected and transformed into a high school or college course of study. These themes are:

· Trade: Throughout history, peoples and nations have been engaged in a system of exchange. They can be trading "goods," ideas, or people. It is through this exchange or interchange that change occurs, often spurring the need for new technology and jeopardizing those who make the decisions.

· Technology: For those of us living in the 21st century, technology often refers to the computer or the DVD player or whatever the local electronics store is currently featuring. On a more global scale, technology may best exemplify the adage, "Necessity is the mother of invention." Technology encompasses the impact of demography with issues of population growth, diseases and their spread, agriculture and agricultural production, the development of weaponry - in short, all the changes that are brought about by the changing needs of people.

· Change and Continuity: These are two old-time favorites that both global historians and world historians have relied on for years. We know change occurs (sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly) and that change often leaves parts of cultures and societies behind so there is a continuation of habits and traditions in society.

· Changes in the functions of the state: One of the interesting quirks of history that The Crucible of the Millennium shows most clearly is how events are determined by politics and political decisions. Changes in leadership, hierarchical shifts, the constant jockeying for placement among the major nations, all cause seismic changes in history.

The National Center for History in the Schools at the University of California, Los Angeles, has an excellent sourcebook for teaching World History. Bringing History Alive, edited by Ross Dunn and David Vigilante, refers to the years 1450-1770 as "The Emergence of the First Global Age." The sourcebook would be a valuable adjunct for teachers to use while developing classroom lessons for this era. Pages 169-170, 177-181 and 186-197 contain exemplary focus questions for classroom discussion or research projects. Many of the ideas expressed there are more fully stated in our teacher's guide and can be collated to the primary sources we have included.

Part I of the video, Through the Looking Glass, is a broad overview of the ideas stated above. The readings we have compiled are much more detailed and can easily be incorporated into a world history course of study. Although the 15th and 16th centuries were rich and often turbulent times, we are aware that other eras are also excellent illustrations of rapid globalization. A short review of this portion of the video will help frame the materials we have selected.

The video begins in the year 2000 according to the Christian calendar, but it is 4699 on the Chinese lunar calendar, 5761 on the Jewish calendar and 1422 on the Muslim calendar. The term "15th and 16th centuries" is the time frame of the West. That alone shows us early on that although the different regions of the world have traded, traveled and conquered for many millennia, these encounters have consistently been a meeting of the old and the new, the peaceful and the warlike, providing a canvas for all the multiple issues that govern the relationships between people and places in the 15th and 16th centuries. The basic premise of The Crucible of the Millennium is that the world of the 21st century reflects the world of the 15th century. Is that true? If so, how did that happen?

We begin our journey in Calicut, now a backwater on the coast of Western India, and we explore basic historical concerns: who came, what did they want, how did people react to them, how did the encounter change both the people who lived there and those who came to trade? Early on, we see there are vast misunderstandings and differences in world view. The Chinese thought the Hindus were Buddhists because Buddhism had crossed the Silk Road to China while Hinduism was unknown to the Chinese since it was largely indigenous to the sub-continent. The Chinese also recognized Muslims since many Chinese had converted to Islam as it too had moved across to East Asia. In reality, the Chinese believed they were the culture at the heart of the universe and very few cities could be the equal of Beijing - in the 15th century a city of two million people. Under the protection and encouragement of the Ming Emperor, the Chinese began to venture outside their usual travel routes, in spite of their ambivalence regarding the outside world.

The man responsible for the Chinese naval explorations was Zheng He, and his voyages were, to the Chinese bureaucracy and leadership, examples of imperial virtue. While we now respect the pioneering spirit of Zheng He, during his time he was both admired and reviled. In a brief period of time he led seven expeditions, but by the time Columbus was sailing the Atlantic with the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, the Chinese ships had all but disappeared. Most of the documents of Zheng He were destroyed by fire, and the only surviving accounts are those of Ma Huan, a Muslim who sailed with him. However, these "treasure expeditions" did develop trade and cultural exchange between China and India, and shards of Chinese are found in India and Africa. Textiles and spices, especially pepper, became valuable commodities in the new trading partnerships. The Chinese developed a friendly and admirable relationship with the Zamorin at Calicut, which allowed this trade to prosper. Chinese naval technology, highly advanced compared to that of Europe at the same time, fostered large seaworthy ships that could cover the distance from China to Calicut in fifteen months of travel. The number of ships, combined with the sophistication of technology developed by the Chinese in the Nanjing ship yards, gave the Chinese a superior position in the Indian Ocean.

In China, however, life remained rural and unchanging and the general conservatism of Chinese society helped doom the further expansion of China. By 1433 there were no longer any ships of discovery for a number of reasons: some Chinese bureaucrats believed they were too expensive and the return from the voyages not sufficient to warrant the cost. The eunuchs at the Imperial court held great power and were against these expeditions. Internally, China feared the Mongols reentering their lands as well as other possible invasions from the North. A century later, when the European powers introduced large quantities of silver after their explorations in Latin America, the huge amount of silver on the global market destabilized the Ming Dynasty, even though China was well established in the global economy.

The Chinese were replaced by the Europeans who came for the same products but with different motives in other arenas. Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, Islam was the cohesive force that gave the Indian Ocean its cultural coherence. From the time of the Mughuls, Islam had been involved in the conversion of the peoples of South and Central Asia. The Portuguese had different motives from the Chinese and the Muslims who preceded them. In addition to economic gain, which all shared, the Portuguese came to Asia with a missionary zeal of dislodging Islam. From the onset, Vasco Da Gama and the Zamorin viewed each other with suspicion. The Portuguese wanted a trade monopoly and souls. By the time the British arrived, the traders were interested in becoming absolute rulers. The sense of "the other" had changed from simple economic motivation to conversion and total political as well as economic control.

The video focuses in on conversations with several well-known scholar. In his interview, Paul Kennedy, speaks of the 500 years of Western history, since Europe came into contact with Asia. The sense of "the other" remains a sense of Westerners fear of those they feel are alien or threatening, although they may just be different. This basic reaction to Asians by the West has created several dichotomies: cultural admiration as well as prejudice and racism and an active dislike in everyday interpersonal relationships. The West has often felt they had the right and the dictum to force Asians to do things the "Western way," even if that was contrary to established customs and practices. The major question for the 21st century is not what has been done but, instead, can these attitudes and behaviors be rectified 500 years later! Michael Tsin is insistent that the West realize that their model of development is not a universal one. After all, scholars around the globe are now questioning whether progress can only be defined in Western terms. It is true that the West did exercise an entrepreneurial spirit and experimentation but in analyzing the 500 years of their encounters with the West, Asians feel a strong sense of resentment. Many of the models of the West were applicable for Asia while others did not fit the prevailing traditional modalities.

If we look at the 500 years since the West and Asia met, we cannot help but be impressed by the ongoing globalization, the interaction among and between nations and, at the same time, the misunderstandings, the differing perspectives and the animosities that have developed. In some cases, the West has softened its attitudes and behaviors; in other cases, the West remains caught in the mindset of the 15th century.

Part II of the series, Echoes and Resonances, carries forward the themes cited above. While the end of the 15th century exhibited a huge exchange of products, increased human contact and an exchange of philosophical and spiritual ideas, these movements did not end with the century. Instead, they "echoed" and "resonated" through the next century and continue to do so today. Although our world today suggests economic unification from Wall Street to Asia, and we are culturally entwined in the arts, architecture and life styles around the world, many of the issues we now face can be traced back 500 years - the issues of environment, diseases, immigration, economic inequality, nationalism and racism. We will begin this video by turning to The Americas.

On the eve of Western exploration at the end of the 15th century, Venice was the hub for shipbuilding (like Nanjing 75 years earlier) and a source of great wealth. Extensive trade with North Africa and Africa, as well as other regions, was part of the Venetian landscape. The printing press and moveable type was spreading information about these changes throughout Western Europe, a disparate group of peninsulas and islands that named themselves a continent. When Columbus left in search of the Spice Islands, his voyages just accelerated the process of globalization.

Columbus, followed by Cortés, del Castillo, and Pizarro, contacted Tainos in the Caribbean Islands, Aztecs in Mexico and Incas in Peru. In all cases, the goal of these "explorers" was to subjugate the indigenous peoples and strip the countries of their wealth, while converting the natives to Christianity. The encounters between the usurpers from Europe and these ancient civilizations brought in diseases that killed as many as 8,000,000 people in the Caribbean in four years. The defeat of the Aztecs by Cortés can be attributed to smallpox. By 1521 the morale of these people was destroyed and death was rampant. In the conquest of the Incas at Machu Picchu in Peru, the Spaniards destroyed over 1,000 Incan religious symbols and melted them down to 9,000 pounds of gold! Disease, violence and excessive labor demands created a lack of the will to live among the native peoples.

The major debate of the 16th century revolved around the issue of the treatment of the native peoples. Two prominent Spaniards, de las Casas and Sepúlveda, held differing positions. De las Casas pleaded for colonization, not conversion and refused to accept the denial of liberty for native peoples. Sepúlveda, on the other hand, took the position of the encomedaros who regarded the indigenous people as inferior human beings to be used like livestock. This debate, held in Spain rather than the colonies, resulted in the crown urging the minimum use of force and the policy of pacification. Yet, in spite of this dictum, in eighty years the Aztec population was decreased by over 20,000,000 people and native architecture was destroyed; the stones were used to build churches and create a New Spain. All of the new structures were closed to the indigenous peoples and a Spanish class system established a hierarchy where people were divided along color and class lines.

The question remains as to how whatever did remain of the indigenous culture was retained. Although there was an ongoing effort to destroy it all, the culture was carried forth in native pictographs and oral history. The Florentine Codex, a document that viewed the Europeans through Indian eyes, was suppressed for centuries. The writings of de la Vega about the Spanish conquest of Peru were also muffled. The adventurers and missionaries who came to the New World were interested in bringing the "one true faith." In the American Southwest, Indian religions were outlawed and the attempt was made to recreate Indians as imitation Europeans. Finally, in 1680, the Great Pueblo Revolt spread from the Zuni Pueblo through all nineteen pueblos along the Rio Grande. For the Indians, it was an issue of resistance and endurance. It needs to be remembered that through this conquest, the Indians taught Europe about their crops, and today's legacy is that a large part of the world's food supply was introduced by native Americans. Native Americans also left a legacy of democracy through their representative councils, their regard for the environment, and their dependence on herbal medications. Yet strong examples of European culture are found in Indian architecture traced back to Europe and then the Moors. This narrative does present some moral dilemmas, which were discussed by Montaigne and Sir Thomas More. But the merchant-adventurer was paramount and put Europe on a "fast track."

The prevailing question in World History today is "Why Europe?" Why didn't the Ottomans, or the Mughals, or the Ming, or the Songhai or the Aztecs or the Incas take the lead? The discussion of Professors Knight, Kennedy and Tsin is instructive. Knight states that in the 15th and 16th centuries the West was marginal and compared to these other regions had poor manpower. The strength of the West was in establishing niches and the sea became their avenue of expansion. Kennedy stresses the competition in the West, often spurred by the desire for profit. The West created a military revolution but concentrated on long-range armed sailing vessels. Knight agrees, stating that competition bred competition, often culminating in war. Kennedy also cites the West's nexus between power and profit and the establishment of insurance, letters of credit, bills of deposit and bankers who willingly funded these adventures. Michael Tsin, on the other hand, feels that the question should not be "Why Europe?" There are different trajectories and they require different questions. China took a different path, not the European path. These are timely and significant questions that scholars are examining as they also discuss the decline of the West.

Four products are used as case studies of echoes and resonances: sugar, tea, tobacco and potatoes. Sugar became the prime opportunity for profit in the West Indies, especially through the use of slave labor. In the early contact between Africa and Europe, kings on each continent treated each other with respect and admiration. When Europe realized they needed Africans as slaves because Native Americans would not do the required work, everything changed. Slavery became the modus operandi for relations. The Portuguese built over 100 forts along the Atlantic coast for the holding and transshipping of slaves. By 1810, over 1,000,000 Africans had been shipped to Jamaica and Barbados and 600,000 to Brazil. In all, there were over 40,000 crossings of the Middle Passage in 300 years, and by the end of the 16th century alone, 12,000,000 Africans had been enslaved. When the King of the Kongo protested to the King of Portugal, the Portuguese tried to assassinate him.

The history of slavery in America is not the topic of this video. Instead, Knight points out that slavery was intrinsic to the growth of American society, both for free men and for slaves. Even though every attempt was made to totally subjugate the Africans through the banning of their religious practices, mixing groups who spoke different languages, breaking up families and providing no economic rewards, the spirit of the slaves could not be quelled. Slave rebellions could not be eradicated and the African slaves developed their own kind of syncretistic religious practices. Abolitionists finally effected the end of slavery in 1865 but it took another 100 years for full enfranchisement of the African in the United States. And all of this was spurred by the desire for sugar, especially when sugar was needed to sweeten the tea the British took from India and brought to the teahouses of Great Britain.

Tobacco became the substitute for the gold that was never found in the New World. The wealthy landholding class owned slaves while they spoke about democracy. Tobacco became a source of revenue for a democratic government and even today, when we are all aware of the ill effects of tobacco, we export the product around the world. The lowly potato, brought by the Spaniards from the New World to Spain and then spread around Europe, became the main food of the Irish. When the Irish did not diversify the seed and the potato failed, 1,000,000 Irish came to America where, as early as 1861, they came into conflict with the Africans. Racism and immigration - two by-products of globalization that began benignly but continue to be major concerns in the 21st century. Today people around the globe are all vulnerable, especially with the spread of AIDS, which has marked 35,000,000 people worldwide.

We are now at the beginning of the 21st century. Colonialism is largely part of the past, but artificial boundaries still mark nations, small; groups remain privileged and some claim colonization has been replaced by economic imperialism. Cultural groups continue to split apart, liberation movements proliferate. Natalie Davis believes that everyone on the globe has been complicit in the racism and ethnocentrism of the past and today. After all, if we look at the world today, we are all a "mixed product!" Our art reflects echoes of Asia and Africa and our architecture hints at the Middle East and Africa. Jobs are multinational and our spiritual life encompasses everything from "yoga to Yoruba." In our daily life, as we encounter other peoples and other cultures, we generally have positive experiences. As the 21st century progresses, where and how can we find solutions to the issues of immigration, disease, economic and cultural imperialism and racism?

What is the message of The Crucible of the Millennium? There are things we can and cannot change. We can't change economic inequality but we can change the distribution of wealth. We can think globally about the environment, the human condition, better political leadership, the status of women worldwide and education. We can look at the sustainable societies and nature-based traditions. If the 21st century means the relative decline of the West, there needs to be a rearrangement of the power relationships to be more equitable and more just. We are creating a richer tapestry. Now is the time to see history with a better perspective.