Introduction

During the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries C.E., the postclassical world experienced a major shift in power. Up to this time, the Chinese and Muslim empires had dominated the world economically and politically. However, in 1258, the Islamic Abbasid caliphate was defeated by the Mongols, and Baghdad was conquered. On top of this, The Chinese withdrew from global overseas trading in 1433 for various political reasons. At the same time that this international power vacuum was established, several factors in Western Europe, including trade imbalance, fears of the Ottoman Empire, and the Renaissance, triggered a Western expansionist movement. The expansion of the West combined with the fall of the Middle East and the decline of the Far East, led to a swing in international power from the East to the West.