15th Century Developments

During the 15th century there were many different types of organized human communities. In Australia and North America  humans were still in the Paleolithic era. They were gather-hunters who practiced "firestick farming" (set fires to burn the underbrush making hunting easier). Some other areas of North America, Amazon River basin, Southeast Asia, and Africa where partially gather-hunters, but also began to become agricultural village societies. In Central Asia and West Africa were nomadic pastoral people. 

During the 15th century in China the Ming Dynasty was trying to eliminate all foreign items. They did not want to support any foreign rule. During Emperor Yongle's rule, he tried to summarize all writings. Also under his rule he moved the capital to Beijing and build an imperial residence known as the Forbidden City. During the Ming Dynasty they reestablished the civil service examination system to create a centralized government. During the 15th century China rose to possibly be the best-governed and most prosperous of all civilizations that began to have the best expeditions visiting ports in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, India, Arabia, and East Africa. 

In Europe, they had their own "process of demographic recovery, political consolidation, cultural flowering, and oversea expansion". Their culture blossomed during the Renaissance period celebrating and reclaiming their classical Greco-Roman tradition. They patronized artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Their art portrayed the human body. Their economy was not thriving like the rest of the world. China and other states near the Indian Sea were thriving from the Sea Roads. Europe wanted to be able to be a part of the thriving trade however there was no easy access for Europe. They imposed a tax that was paid to Europe for protecting the seas from pirates. This brought some income however it was not enough for Europe, so they started exploring for new worlds. They found a huge natural resource of gold and silver in North and South America. They enslaved the native peoples to mine the Europeans newly found riches. The mining of gold and silver contributed to Europe's steady flow of income.