Topic 4.6

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📍Topic 4.6 Internal and External Challenges to State Power
📖 AMSCO p.243 - p.250
Main Idea
⭐ There were many internal and external conflicts that challenged the pre-existing government rule of countries. From slave revolts to clashes between indigenous people and colonists, the period between 1450-1750 was ripe with conflict. Out of the conflict came many successes and protection of human life and territory, like Nzinga’s protection of Ndongo from the Portuguese.
Key Timeline

Timeline of Conflicts between the period 1450 - 1750
Image Courtesy of Grace
Things to Know
Fronde civil disturbances
- In response to heavy taxation, the nobility and commoners attempted to curb the power of the monarchy, King Louis XIV.
Metacom’s War
- Indigenous people (the Wampagnoag people) attempted to drive the British away from the land in the New England colonies
- The English managed to defeat the Wampanoag people and are declared the winners over the indigenous tribes
Nzinga’s Rule
- Nzinga was an African queen who ruled Ndongo (present-day Angola) from 1624-1663.
- The Portuguese wanted to come to Africa in search of gold, copper, and ivory
- Nzinga allies Ndongo with Portugal, thereby stopping Portugal’s raids and gaining Portugal’s protection
- The Portuguese ended up supporting Nzinga’s brother, Ngola, which led to a power struggle between Nzinga and her brother.
- To avoid this, Nzinga takes her people and flees west and takes over the state of Matamba
- Nzinga makes Matamba allies with the Dutch and frees the enslaved people
Local Resistance in Russia
- Serfdom in Russia
- Serfs were essentially enslaved as their labor was bought and sold. They were angered by the nobles’ harsh treatment
- Peasants became angered by becoming assimilated into serfdom because of their massive debt
- Cossacks and Pugachev’s Rebellion
- The Cossacks were skilled fighters who were hired as mercenaries for Russia and sometimes clashed with the Tsars
- Pugachev’s Rebellion
- Yemelyan Pugachev started the Pugachev Rebellion against Catherine the Great, who made conversion to Christianity mandatory
- Pugachev promised religious freedom and gathered peasants and the Cossacks to form a rebel army to oppose Catherine the Great’s rule.
- Pugachev was captured eventually by the Russian army
- The rebellion caused Catherine the Great to have even stricter rule over the serfs
The Maratha Warriors
- The Maratha Warriors were Hindu warriors who fought the Mughal Empire (an empire in present-day India and Pakistan) for control of India
- The Maratha Warriors eventually overpowered the Mughals and ended up taking over most of India in the early 1700s
- Eventually, these warriors formed the Hindu Maratha Empire
The Pueblo Revolt
- The Pueblo Revolt took place in 1680 in present-day New Mexico
- The Revolt consisted of a clash between indigenous groups and the Spanish colonizers
- The colonizers were trying to force religious conversions.
- 400 colonizers were killed and the other colonizers were driven out of the area
Maroon Wars
- The Maroon Wars occurred in the Caribbean and the Americas
- Enslaved people fought for their freedom against colonizers.
- The First Maroon War ended in freedom for the Jamaican Maroons against the British colonizers.
- The Second Maroon War ended in a bloody draw, although the British heavily outnumbered the Jamaicans.
- Queen Nanny, a Jamaican leader, escaped slavery and united all escaped slaves on Jamaica
Gloucester County Rebellion
- Enslaved Africans and White indentured servants conspired to demand freedom from the governor of Virginia
- They were arrested after the plot to rebel was discovered and reported.
The Glorious Revolution
- James II enraged many English people with his Anti-Protestant actions
- After being prompted by nobles, William of Orange leads an army to invade England
- William defeats James II and takes the position of King of England (1689)
- Parliament passes a law that bans Catholics from ruling England; the throne remains in Protestant hands
Terms to Remember
| Term | Definition + Significance |
|---|---|
| Cossacks | Russian warriors who often completed mercenary tasks for the Russian government; took influence from the Mongols due to their similar nomadic lifestyle |
| Tribute | Money collected from peasants to support the Russian nobles |
| Indigenous People | People who are native to the land, those who did not migrate to the land. Many clashes occurred between the indigenous people and colonists due to land possession. |
| Serfdom | Essentially the Russian version of indentured servitude, serfs provided free labor for landowners and were forced to pay heavy tribute and taxes |
| Maroons | African descendants who managed to escape slavery and form independent settlements |
| Ndongo | A former country in south-central Africa that sits in modern-day Angola, ruled by Ana Nzinga in the 17th century |
| Matamba | The African state that Nzinga and her people fled to from Nzongo after the alliance with Portugal broke down |