Powerful Empires of the 1300 and 1500

Empire (name and details)	Society Structure	Travel and Exploration	Science and Culture	Decline
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)	A society very highly based on class and or work and centered around the Emperor and his power.	Very little expansion, mainly  exploration by sea rather then land, rumored to have discovered Africa and the Americas before the Europeans.	Literacy was the main culture of the Ming's, in term of science, the main developments were in architecture	Centralization of resources and power around Emperor and the royals. A main cause was the expansion of the Mughal Empire.
Songhai empire (1340-1591)	Different chiefs controlled there various provinces under the rule of the King	There was little expansion and exploration in the Songhai empire, it was more trade, people traveled from all over the world to trade with songhai, causing Africa to become a trade center of the world.	Islam was brought to North Africa by Islamic Countries, most knowledge of maths, astronomy, medicine and science was brought by Arabs to Africa.	Caused by civil war between the provinces and the invasion of Morocco under Sultan Ahmad l al- Mansur Saadi.
Mughal Empire(1526-1858)	Local Hindu who paid taxes to the Mughal empire. absolute monarchy. Emperor originated in Persia	Trade was first between China and East Asia, but when european ships arrived there was new opportunity for trade, there was little exploration	They were a Muslim Dynasty. The Mughal India was also admired for its architecture, most culture was Islamic Arab brought from Persia.	Caused by the revolt of the Hindus, the minority region against the Islam rulers of the Mughal Empire.