domain: Dictionary Information

Domain n. 1 area under one rule; realm. 2 estate etc. Under one control. 3 sphere of control or influence. [french: related to -demesne]

domain: Geographic Locations

2538401 Ras el Ma Ras el Ma Domaine de Ras el Ma,Ras el Ma,Rasse-Ma 33.97399 -5.09613 P PPL MA 03 591 22345 476 Africa/Casablanca 2024-01-18

domain: Historical Excerpts

In the five centuries between 500 bc and 1 bc three great empires succeeded one another in the mediterranean and Middle Eastern areas. Persian conquests by 500 BC created the largest empire hitherto established: it included the sites of the three most ancient civilizations for it stretched from Egypt and mesopotamia to the Indus River. The Persians failed (490-480), however, to subdue the city states in the Greek Peninsula, and a century and a half later Alexander the Great (336-323) with his Greek and Macedonian forces conquered the Persian Empire. After his death his generals carved his vast domain into half a dozen political fragments, but the entire Middle East felt the impress of the newly dominant hellenistic culture. Farther to the west diuing these five centuries the Romans pursued their inexorable march of conquest. By 270 they were masters of Italy; by 146 they had defeated and





Global perspectives he rapid expansion of Islam ivas the utstanding development of this period nd had a profound influence on the iture of Asia, Africa, and Europe. All /estern Europe had declined by the th century, following the division of le Roman Empire in the 4th and the ivasions of the Goths in the 5th. The.astern Roman (byzantine) half of le empire survived and enjoyed a modrate revival in the 6th century under ustinian. What finally shattered the nity of the mediterranean world were le Moslem conquests (7th to 9th cenuries) The spread of Moslem rule and culure throughout the area marked in •lack on the map isolated Western :uropc. christianity, which had beome the dominant faith in the Roman empire before its breakup, suffered a evere reverse. Most of the leaders of he early churdi had lived and worked n the areas the Moslems overran, and erusalem itself came under their conrol. By the 8th century the regions emaining to the Christians (christeniom) were only one-fourth as extensive.s the regions dominated by the Mosems. The Christian Church was further /eakened by a persistent schism. The.-atin Christians (Roman Catholic), leaded by the bishops of Rome, differed n doctrine from the Greek Christians (byzantine) in the Balkans and Asia vlinor. The Byzantine Empire remained prosperous and populous throughout most of the Middle Ages while Western European society became isolated and semibarbaric From the 5th to the 14th centuries the great cities and centers of civilization lay in the Islamic domains, the Byzantine Empire, China, and..^ndia. Even the Mayan peoples of America had cities during this period more impressive tlian the ruined and shrunken towns of Western Europe. For a thousand years after the rise of Islam (7tli to 17th centuries) the pressure of the Moslems helped to shape tlie fate of Christian Europe. Europe was the ‘prison of Medieval christendom’ and the difficulties the Europeans experienced in their efforts to break out may be traced on subsequent maps. The Chinese and Islamic empires were dynamic and aggressive in die period 500-1000. The Moslems advanced to the western frontiers of India and pushed beyond the Caspian Sea into central Asia, where they encountered the outposts of tlie Chinese realm whidi had expanded into Turkestan. h dicsTollowccl: ana in aao uic yiu





Western Europe The period 500-1000 saw the prosperity and civilization achieved in Western Europe under Roman rule all but disappear. Roads and bridges fell in disrepair: trade languished; cities were abandoned; the torch of learning almost flickered out. Society disintegrated into thousands of isolated settlements where people fell back on their meager local resources to keep alive. By 1 000 the worst was over. Amid the inchoate conditions, close to barbarism, into which Western Europe had declined, a new society slowly took form. It was a society shaped around three great institutions. 1) The Catholic Church, headed by the bishops of Rome (popes) gave Western christendom religious unity. The priests and monks preserved the Latin language, the art of witing, and the doctrines of the Christian faith, 2) Feudalism, a system of landholding that involved military and administrative responsibilities for the landlord (nobles) and traditional dues and duties for the peasants (serfs) who w orked the land, developed haphazardly. It was a decentralized systern under which the lord of the manor was tlie virtual ruler of his local domain, and it reflected the fragmentation of medieval society. 3) The Holy Roman Empire. The g;reat Frankish conqueror charlemagne (768-814) was crowned ‘Roman Emperor’ by the pope in 800, The hope of reuniting Western Europe was never realized, but tlie concept of a ‘Holy Roman Empire’ was to survive for a thousand years (8001806).





Global perspectives The 13th ccnturjwas the century of die Mongol conquests. As die map indicates, Genghis Khan and his descendants (Conquered an empire that reached from Korea to Poland, from Siberia to die Himalayas and the Persian Gulf. Its total area of nearly 10 million square miles equaled one-sixth of the land surface of die globe. Ses cral interesting points arc worth consideration ill a study of the Mongol expansion. 1. The greatest desert region of die globe stretches across central Asia to die Black Sea and die Persian Gulf, and continues dirough the Arabian Peninsula and iNorth Africa. Throughout recorded history’ periodic waves of nomad peoples from these -semi-arid wastes have assailed die greener settled regions tliat border them. The Chinese built the Great Wall to check diem. The ridi cities of the Fertile Crescent sufTcfed repeated assaults by the desert tribes of Arabia (Islamic expansion ladiaied from Mecca). The coastal cities of North Africa declined in the llth century under die attacks of Sa. haran nomads. 2. Climatic variations, marked by cycles of heavier rainfall, brought a rapid increase of animal life in the semiarid regions, and a consequent rise in the human population. It has been suggested that this surplus population stimulated the pressure behind the nomad was cs. TJie theory, though provocative, lakes too little account of correlated factors. For instance, divisions in Sung China and in the Ishmiic domains facilitated die Mongol advance in die, I3ih century S. The Mongols were hardy warriois, armed and trained from youth to hunt. bygrc.it encircling moveniems and then slaughter the surrounded quarry. Their swiftness and mobility in war, whicli paralyzed dieir opponents, depended on a simil.ir strategy Tlicir merciless massacres of peoples that opposctl them spread terror and brought submission. iTiey alio proved, ingenious and ad.ip; live, riiey learned lo use siege madiin; cry against cities, and as tbeir victories inuhiplietl, hon-rcsistance appeared to offer the only hope of sums al.. 1. liie Mongol practice of sending Koiiiing. parties ahead, locating the enemy forced and then consrrging bn dtcrs iuddenly, suited die open terrain in which they were accustomed lo oper ate, rhitk fomts impeded dseir movememt and.denied ditir, horses grass. ^ In beerthttp Asia iheir wnqtiesw halted ■,• at dm of -die great ’ conifarous





Western Europe FRANCE. The Hundred Years’ War reached its climax in 1420, Henry V of England was acknowledged as regent (Treaty of Troyes) but he died two years later. A revival of the French national spirit (Joan of Arc) expelled the English by 1453 (save for Calais) Louis XI (1461-1483) wove the strands of royal power into a strong web and defeated Charles the Bold of Burgundy (1467-1477) ENGLAND. The power of the great barons was weakened by the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) and Henry VII (1485-1509) opened the period of ‘Tudor Despotism.’ SPAIN. The marriage (1469) of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile united most of the Iberian peninsula under their rule. In 1492 their armies captured Granada, the last moslem-held segment of Spain. ITALY. The 15th century was the ‘Age of the Despots.’ Most of the flourishing city-states were controlled by popular dictators or narrow oligarchies. The popes tried to expand their temporal domains in central Italy (Cesare Borgia) Many of the ‘despots vrere generous patrons of art and literature (notably the Medici in Florence) In 1494 Charles VIII of France invaded Italy, opening a long period during which it became a battleground for French, Spanish, and Austrian armies. In northern and eastern Europe the consolidation of centralized territorial states proceeded more haphazardly. The three scandinavian kingdoms, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark were united under one ruler (Margaret of Denmark) by the Union of Kalmar (1387), but after 136 years Sweden broke away (1523) under Gustavus I of the House of Vasa.





Central ond Eastern Europe GERMANIES. A hohenzollcrn prince became Frederick I, Elector and Margrave of brandenburg, broadening the influence of a dynasty that was later to play a great role. RUSSIA. Ivan III (1462-1505), grand duke of Muscovy, married the niece of the last emperor of Byzantium, annexed Novgorod, conquered part of Lithuania, and took the title of Czar (Caesar) His enlarged domains were the nucleus of the later Russian empire. In contrast to the centralizing trend noted in these various monarchical states, ttvo large realms (polandlithuania and the Holy Roman Empire) failed to coalesce and one (the Byzantine Empire) was overthrown in the 15th century. Poland and Lithuania were loosely united in 1386 and the Poles defeated the German Order of Teutonic Knights at Tannenbcrg in 1410. But the efforts of the Jagellon kings to unify their vast domains failed and by 1500 Poland had become a weakened and disorganized realm with an elected king. The emperors of the Holy Roman Empire likewise failed to consolidate their domain into a unified state.. Although after 1438 the emperors were chosen from the House of Hapsburg they were weakened by their exaggerated ambitions, by concessions yielded the ‘Seven electors’ who controlled the elections, and by the tlircat of Turkish armies in the Danube Valley which menaced the Hapsburg capital at Vienna. In the 15th century the strengthening of royal authority in most European countries was accompanied by a check or decline in the growth of representative assemblies which had developed in the 14th century. This trend was also observable in the papacy; the ‘conciliar Movement,’ an attempt to limit papal power by a church council, failed to prosper.





Western Europe The 16th century in Europe was the golden century of Spain, the century of Spanish ascendancy. In the first half the outstanding political figure was the Emperor Charles V (151956); in the second half it was his son Philip II (1556-98) Like Charles, but more dogmatically, Philip supported the Catholic Church against the forces of the Protestant reformation that wrenched half of Europe away from it. By 1550 the Church was reacting strongly against the Protestant attack. A Catholic (or Counter) reformation (Council of Trent, 1545-63) reduced abuses, defined Catholic dogmas, rejected Protestant claims, and recaptured some areas that had seemed lost. A new religious order, the Society of Jesus, organized by Ignatius Loyola and approved by Pope Paul III (1540) became the spearhead of the Catholic reformation, The vast empire of Charles V was divided when he abdicated in 1556. Philip II inherited Spain, the netherlands, the Free County of Burgundy, Milan, Naples, and Sicily, but charles’s younger brother Ferdinand received the Hapsburg domains in Germany and was elected (1556) Holy Roman Emperor. He had already (1526) been elected king of Hungary and Bohemia but most of Hungary was held by the Turks.





Globol perspectives Spain, Portugal, Holland, England, and France built empires, overseas, tlie Russians crossed the almost empty regions of northern Asia. Between the 15th and the IStli centuries they proved themselves, in terms of territory conquered, the most ambitious empire-builders of all. Between 1462 and 1796 the czarist domains expanded 7 million square miles, a rate of growth that averaged over 20,000 square miles a year. By 1800 the Spanish empire in America included some 5 million square miles, but it was a more remarkable achievement because of the distance and the geographical obstacles overcome. Like the English and French in North America the Russians penetrated an area sparsely populated and without any high culture. Their advance was an occupation ratlier than a conquest. By 1647 they founded a post on the Sea of Okhotsk, but did not realize for nearly a century that it opened onto the Pacific. In 1741 Vitus Bering crossed to Alaska. Russian fur traders followed the coast of North America as far south as California where they set up a post at Fort Ross in 1812. Wherever tlie Russians encountered finn resistance their advance slowed or halted. In Europe they took over two centuries to reach the Baltic Sea and over three to reach the Niemen River. In the south they fought the Turks for three centuries before they arrived at the Dniester and the Caucasus. In tlie Far East tlieir efforts to encroacli on the boundaries of the Chinese Empire met with very limited success. The nations of Western Europe, preoccupied with their own concerns and conflicts, gave little thought to the Russian penetration into Asia and beyond. There were, however, several awe-inspiring facts about the Russian realm and its prospects that merited their serious attention. 1. /Irea. By tlie 18th century the Russian Empire included half of Europe and one-tliird of Asia: in all it comprised one-eighth of the land surface of tlie globe. The nortliern coastal regions that bordered the ice-bound PoLir Sea were treeless tundra. But four-fifths of Russia was covered witli forest or temperate grasslands. 2. Population. With large, areas suitable for culth-ation Russia could support a large population, but its resources had not been intelligehtly ex





Central ond Eastern Europe PRUSSIA (Brandenburg). Frederick William, needing money for his armies, introduced rigid economies, improved tax system, raised revenue of domains from 500,000 to 2 million thalers; built better communications, new roads and canals, postal system, stimulated trade; Hollanders received grants of land on condition they would teach brandenburgers better farming methods. RUSSIA. Peasant revolt in Southeast, led by Don Cossacks under Stephen Razin, suppressed with difficulty, 1670-1671; Peter the Great visited Western Europe, 1697; attempted to change a medieval society into a modern one; stimulated trade and manufacturing; encouraged mining of silver; founded more than a hundred factories; planned network of canals to link Russian rivers; experimentation with sheep-breeding, conservation, and other schemes never passed planning stage. Asia CHINA. Dutch entered Chinese trade, 1656; k’ang-hsi opened all Chinese ports to foreign trade, 1685. JAPAN. Great fire destroyed Edo, 1657; Genroku, period of chonin (townspeople) ascendancy, despite restrictive measures, 1688-1704; high bourgeois culture. INDIA, CEYLON. Dutch took Colombo (1656) and Jaffna, portugal’s last possession in Ceylon (1658); first French trading station in India, 1668; English settled in Calcutta, 1690. SIAM. Dutch gained monopoly of Siamese foreign trade by commercial treaty, 1664, but thwarted by French intrigue. Middle East In the Ottoman Empire Mohammed Kuprili, grand vizier, raised money by taxation and confiscations, 1656-61; French secured permission to trade in Persia; first Russian mission to Isfahan, 1664.





Russia under Peter the Great (1889-1725) expanded to the Baltic shore (St. Petersburg founded, 1703) and defeated Sweden in the Great Northern War (1700-21). Peter also fought the Turks, who held their own although the Ottoman Empire was in decline. In America the British gained the Hudson Bay region. newfoundland, and Acadia, checking French expansion. The English colonies on the North American mainland had over 1 million white inhabitants by 1750 while the larger French domains there held less than one-tenth as many. In India likevdse British influence expanded although the French began to challenge it. In China Jesuit activities were curbed by Yung Cheng (1723-35): under Chien Lung (1736-98) prosperity increased, population rose, and the arts flourished. russo-chinese frontiers were delimited by the treaties of Nerchinsk (1689) and Kiokta (1727).





The outcome of the war (Peace of aix-la-chapelle, 1748) was inconclusive. Prussia kept Silesia, but otherwise all conquests tvere restored. Maria Theresa kept the remainder of her domains. France, Britain, and Spain restored all conquests and reverted to their status of 1740, but Britain abandoned the Asiento accord with Spain. Maria Theresa was not resigned to tlie loss of Silesia, and the British were disappointed at their failure to reduce French power in America and India. As a result, the War of the Austrian Succession proved no more than a rehearsal for a more decisive struggle. RUSSIA. Peter the Great (16891725) brought his retarded country into the circle of European powers by introducing European customs and tedinology and by opening windows to the west.’ After a tour of Europe (1697-98) he returned to crush an outbreak at Moscow (Revolt of the Streltsi) and then plunged into a protracted struggle (Great Northern War, 1700-21) with Sweden. The audacious young Stvedish king Charles XII defeated the Russians at Narva (1700), and later (1708) attempted to march on Moscotv. Defeated at Pultawa (1709) Charles escaped to Turkey, returned to Sweden in 1715, and was killed in 1718, leaving Sweden exhausted. Russia advanced to the Baltic by annexing Livonia, Estonia, Ingria, and Carelia. Peter moved tlie Russian capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg at die head of the Gulf of Finland. Peter strengthened and centralized Russian administration, and brought the orthodox clergy under closer con trol.





Europe international RELATIONS FRANCE. Growing anglo-french tension in America and India moved the British to ally themselves with Frederick the Great of Prussia (1756) who agreed (for subsidies) to protect Hanover. Thereupon France joined Austria (diplomatic revolution) whicli was already allied with Russia and the three powers planned to dismember Prussia. PRUSSIA. Without waiting, Frederick began hostilities by occupying Saxony (Seven Years War, 1756-63). frederick’s speed and generalship worsted the French (Rossbach, 1757), the Austrians (Leuthen, 1757), and the Russians (Zorndorff, 1758). But when he met a combined austro-russian army (kunersdorf, 1759) he suffered a serious defeat. He rallied his forces for another victory over the Austrians (Liegnitz, 1760) but he lost Berlin to the Russians. The British halted their subsidies but on the death of Czarina Elizabeth of Russia (1762) her successor Peter III changed sides and Prussia was saved. By the Treaty of hubertusburg (1763) Frederick emerged with his domains intact and kept Silesia. GREAT BRITAIN. The British troops in Europe were ineffectual and at first the fighting went badly for them in America also. A new coalition cabinet (1757) included William Pitt (later Earl of Chatham) and he infused new vigor into the war effort. By 1759 Britain was winning astonishing triumphs in Canada and India. The accession of George III (1760-1820), followed by Pitt’s resignation, weakened, the British effort. Yet, although Spain entered the war to aid France (1762), Britain emerged victorious and made extensive gains (Treaty of Paris, 1763).





ITALY. Camillo di Cavour, able minister of Victor Emmanuel II of piedmont-sardinia, obtained the aid of Napoleon III to expel the Austrians (battles of Magenta and Solferino, 1659). Parma, Modena, Tuscany, and the Romagna joined the newly proclaimed Italian kingdom; Giuseppe Garibaldi liberated Sicily and Naples; and the papal domains (Rome excepted) were also annexed (I860). For aid given, France received Nice and Savoy as compensAion. In 1866 Italy sided with Prussia (austro-prussian War) and gained Venetia from Austria. In 1870 the city of Rome was occupied, completing the unification of Italy. SPAIN. A liberal revolt drove Isabella II from the throne (1868) and seven years of disorder followed until her son, Alfonso XII (1875-85) established a constitutional regime. Central Europe AUSTRIA. The long duel between Austria and Prussia reached a decision in the 1860’s. The two powers took Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark (Danish War, 1864), then quarreled, and Prussia swiftly defeated Austria (Seven Weeks’ War, 1866). reorganization of the Hapsburg Monarchy followed (Ausgleich, 1867), whereby Austria and Hungary became a constitutional Dual Monarchy, with the Magyar element dominant in Hungary and the German element in Austria. PRUSSIA. Otto von Bismarck as chief minister of William I (after 1862) defied the Prussian parliament (Landtag) and strengthened the army. After defeating Austria (1866) Prussia formed (1867) a North German confederation with William I as president. War with France (Ems Telegram





Africa BRITISH POSSESSIONS. Africa was three times the area of Europe, but it was partitioned among the European powers in the final decades of the 19th century. The British occupied Egypt (1882), part of Somaliland (1884), British East Africa (1885), and the Sudan (1899). On the west coast they held Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, and Nigeria. discoveries of gold and diamonds brought them into conflict witli the Boers in the Transvaal and Orange Free State; the resulting South African War taxed British resources. Rhodesia was acquired (1889) and Togoland (1894). FRENCH POSSESSIONS. Came to • exceed in Africa those of any other power. They included Algeria (conquered from 1830 on), Tunis (1881), French Somaliland (1882), the greater part of the Sahara Desert by 1900; protectorates over the French Congo and the island of Madagascar (1896). GERMAN POSSESSIONS. Germany, late in entering the colonial race, gained Kamerun, German Southwest Africa, and German East Africa in the 1880’s. PORTUGUESE POSSESSIONS. From their early explorations the Portuguese claimed two long coastal strips, Angola and Mozambique, which they retained through their alliance with Britain. SPANISH POSSESSIONS. The Rio de Oro coast, facing the Canary Islands and Spanish Guinea, were the major Spanish territories, but Spain also held a claim to part of Morocco. BELGIAN POSSESSIONS. The Congo Free State, pre-empted by Leopold I of Belgium as his personal domain (1885), was ruthlessly exploited for profit. In 1890 Leopold provided for its subsequent annexation to Belgium.





Global perspectives significant changes after 1925 included the weakening position of Europe, the emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as superpowers, the revolt against colonialism, and the accelerating growth of the global population. The shaded areas on the map represent former dependencies that won sovereign status after World War II. collectively these colonial domains comprised nearly 6 million square miles, an area substantially larger than Europe. Their combined population, c715 million or 26 per cent of the world population, exceeded the population of Europe. Two of the liberated states, the Philippine Republic and Korea, had been subject before World War II to the United States and Japan respectively. The initiative of so many Asian and African peoples in winning independence forecast a change in the global balance of power. Other colonial peoples, still under European supervision, began to agitate for self-government or for complete separation. This provoked serious difficulties in Algeria, where the French attempted to retain their control, in the Suez Canal area where Egy pt took over the Canal, and in South Africa where the white popu; lation sought to keep the nonwhites in subjection. The hegemony the Europeans won in the world between 1500 and 1900 rested on their technological, maritime, and military superiority. Their weakening position in the 20th centur), which encouraged their colonies to revolt, can best be measured by the population trends, shift in maritime influence, and technological le.adership. In 1900 the population of Europe (excluding Russia) formed 20 per cent of the global total. By 1950 it had fallen to 17 per cent. This relative decline was likely to continue, because the population of Western Europe was an aging population. In 1950 only 2 1 per cent of the Western Europeans were under 15 while 14 per cent were over 60. In Asia and Latin America (which held nearly twotiiirds of the world’s people) 40 per cent were under 15 and only 5 per cent were over 60. Before IVorld War I die Europeans owned three-fourths of the world’s merchant tonnage and die world’s battleships. Between 1900 and 1950 Europe’s share of the merchant marine fell from 77 to 50 per cent. European naval power fell more sharply, from 75