Post-classical Civilizations ~600-1200 CE

After the fall of classical civilizations, new ones emerged through the more profitable Silk Road, Indian Ocean, and Trans-Saharan routes, spreading tech, ideas, & disease

Islam

Islam

- Created in early 600’s Arabian Peninsula when Muhammad received revelations from God, unifying Arab nomads Bedouin who est. ~polytheistic kin-based clans

• Quran: 5 pillars include Shahada (declaration of faith), Salah (5 daily prayers), Zakat (Almsgiving), Sawm (Fasting), Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca)

• Sharia: Islamic civil law

• Death of Muhammad (632) led to Sunni (caliph=anyone like Abu Bakr, most Muslims) & Shi’a (caliph=relative to Muhammad like Ali, mostly Iran & Iraq) Muslims

Spread of Islam

-Monotheism & anti-idolatry threatened polytheistic Arabs & wealthy merchants, esp. those who exchanged shrines w/ pilgrims to Mecca = Persecution & Muhammad’s flee into Medina

• Umma: Muhammad led Muslim community w/ sharia, commercial ventures, & military expansion

• 630: Conquered Mecca & replaced pagan shrines w/ mosques except for Ka’ba, cube house for deities that attracted pilgrims, for the first Islamic pilgrimage in 632

-Unified tribes & well-org. Muslim armies attacked when Byzantine & Sasanian (Persian) empires were exhausted from battles w/ e/o, overtaxed peasants, & minorities, stretched from North Africa-Northwest India

Umayyads

-661-750 Elite Meccan merchant clan that est. dynastic & conquering rule & capital in Damascus, Syria, oppressing ethnically & religiously diverse empire w/ Arab military aristocracy as governors & jizya

-711: Muslim forces who refused to recognize Abbasid rule defeat Byzantine & invade Spain/Al-Andalus

• Battle of Tours 732: Marked limit of Islamic expansion when defeated by Frankish forces

• Trade: Religious toleration for monotheists & allowed Chinese/SEA products into Europe

  • Dhows: Indian or Chinese ships w/ long thin hulls good for bulk but not warfare

• Cordoba: Capital & largest library atp

  • Muslim, Jewish, & Christian (respectively) philosophers Ibn Rushd, Maimonides, St. Thomas Aquinas paved way for European Renaissance & Scientific Revolution

  • High-quality ceramics, tiles, lead crystal, gold jewelry

Decline: Luxurious leaders that ignored Islamic doctrines disillusioned both commonwealth & aristocracy

Abbasid Caliphate

- 750-1258 Abu al-Abbas, Sunni Muslim, leads rebellion w/ Shias & non-Arab Muslims by arresting & slaughtering Umayyads

• Governance: Multiethnic bureaucracy did not conquer & adopted Persian/Mesopotamian methods, provincial leaders to oversee large empire

• Agriculture: Staples (sugarcane, rice, sorghum, wheat) + Vegetables (spinach, eggplants, artichokes) + Fruits (oranges, lemons, limes, bananas, coconuts, watermelons, mangoes) + Industrial (cotton indigo, henna) = Diverse, rich diets grown year-round & textile manufacturing + experimentation + urban growth

• Baghdad: Prospered Silk Road, Indian Ocean, & Trans-Saharan trade routes w/ Persian (Kings, literature adv.), Indian (Med, astronomy, math), & Greek influences (Preserved philosophical & med. texts, natural reason resented by madrasas)

• adv. in med, astronomy, & women’s rights, invented algebra, preserved Greek/Latin texts, est. Jizya (non-Muslim tax)

  • Ulama: Scholars dev. Islamic public policy

  • Qadis: Islamic judges

  • Madrasas: Higher educated institutions recruited Muslim students for administrative positions

Sui Dynasty

- 581 - 618 Centralized gov. that built Grand Canal (1k mile canal that connected agricultural South w/ North & cultural groups)

Tang Dynasty

- 618-907 Created fast ripening rice (pop growth & extended borders), gunpowder, paper currency

• Concept of Middle Kingdom (surrounding kingdoms must pay tribute) led to invasions & uprisings

Song Dynasty

- 960 - 1279 Neo-Confucianist (Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, etc.) Meritocracy & lead manufacturer of steel, iron, porcelain, & silk

The Mongols

-Early 1200 Nomadic & more egalitarian military of fast, horse-mounted soldiers skilled w/ bow & arrow

• Traded w/ or raided sedentary ppl for extra produce they couldn’t get from animals

• Camels carried commercial bulk

Japan

-800-1200: Painting & literacy achievements, decentralizing hierarchy

• Emperor’s power declined as clans of land-owning nobles rose & created warfare

• Hierarchy: Shogun (general), Daimyo (landlord), Samurais, Peasants, Merchants

- Shintoism: Official religion mixed w/ Buddhism, filial piety & nature spirits

Sub-Saharan Africa

- 600-1200: Small, kin-based, self-governing chiefdoms that worked together to sometimes form larger political units

-1000 BCE - 1500 CE: Bantu-speaking ppl moved from West Central Africa, spreading lang, farming techniques, & knowledge on iron, influencing diverse cultures

-1000: Stronger gov. for surplus production & distribution & trade (camels & saddles)

Ghana

- 700 - 1240 Very wealthy from Trans-Saharan trade & taxed entry/exit on gold & salt

Great Zimbabwe

- 1100 - 1400 Southeast Africa, declined b/c less gold? (Unconfirmed)

East Africa

-Traded gold, ivory, & slaves for silk, spice, porcelain (Indian Ocean)

North Africa

- Joined Dar al-Islam

South Asia

-After 550, caste system kept South somewhat stable, while North faced invasions (Islam 711) & weak govs

• India’s center of trade influenced Buddhism, Islam, & Hinduism in Southeast Asia

Europe

- As East Europe flourished, West & Central Europe didn’t reap the benefits of Afro-Eurasian trade, & even as Christianity held them together, it split into 2:

• Eastern Orthodox: saw their practice as retreat from world

• Roman Catholic: replaced many gov. institutions & education

  • 1095: pope called for a Holy Crusade to free Jerusalem from Islam. It failed after 2 years, but made Europe more aware & interested in intellectual & tech adv.

Mayan cities

- Abandoned (besides notably Chichen Itza) b/c of environmental degradation, drought, & warfare

Mississippian

- Present-day St. Louis

- flourished 700 - 1500, esp. Cahokia ( large trading hub)

Toltecs

- 900- Mesoamerica, polytheistic & animistic, Mayan practises, inspired Aztecs