ap world complete review

1200-1450: state building in Africa

They had largely adopted agriculture by 1000 but had not adopted a centralized government. Their government was based on kinship networks headed by a chief. Neighboring networks came together to form loosely connected districts where all the chiefs worked together. As the population increased, competition between these districts and their networks increased and it became harder to use this for, of government.

1200-1450: Hausa

African kingdom, great representation of the decentralized government. Split into several states (specialized). Grew very wealthy through the trans-Saharan trade which also helped to facilitate religious diversity through Muslim merchants bringing over Islam.

1200-1450: Ghana kingdom

Prosperous 8th - 11th centuries. More centralized form of government. Participated in the trans-Saharan trade by trading gold and ivory.

1200-1450: Mail

Rose to prominence after Ghana had weakened in the 12th century. Founded by a Muslim leader (sundiata) with trade connections who established a prosperous gold trade.

1200-1450: Swahili

Bantu and Arabic traders blended their languages to create Swahili.

Zimbabwe

In east Africa, wealth of a kingdom was shown by its architecture. Chiefs began to build their zimbabwes (dwellings) from stone instead of wood. Zimbabwe was similar to mail and Ghana in that it had large standing in gold trade though it also grew from agriculture, grazing, and other trade. Unlike Ghana and mail, Zimbabwe traded with many coastal cities and was connected to the Indian ocean trade. In the 13th century Zimbabwe built a large wall that enclosed their capital city (great Zimbabwe). It was among the first on the continent built without mortar and the royal houses inside were made of stone. It was eventually abandoned due to the negative effects of overgrazing.

1200-1450: Ethiopia

The kingdom of Axum formed here. It got its prosperity by trading goods obtained from India, Arabia, the Roman Empire, and the African interior. By the 7th century, the spread of Islam made the region more diverse. A Christian led kingdom emerged in the 12th century; it also expressed its power through architecture. It built many large churches out of stone (a feature of Ethiopian religion had been carved stone statues since BCE). From the12th to 16th centuries, Ethiopia was a christian majority, it developed independently from European Christianity and combined their traditional faith (ancestor veneration, spirits) to create their own version.

1200-1450: social structures in sub-Saharan Africa

Divided based on kinship, age, and gender.

Kinship: decentralized government

Age: younger people could do more hard labor but they sought wisdom from their elders.

Gender: men dominated more specialized fields and women took on both agricultural and domestic jobs

1200-1450: slavery in sub-Saharan Africa

debtors, prisoners of war, and criminals were often slaves. In kinship based communities you couldn’t own land privately but you could own slaves, which increased you standing. The demand for skates in the Middle East developed the Indian Ocean slave trade between east Africa and the Middle East. They served as workers on sugar plantations in Mesopotamia. In the 9th century, The slaves and some Arab workers headed the zanj rebellion where they captured the city of basras and held it for a decade before defeat.

1200-1450: sub-Saharan African culture

Centered around spirits. Music/lyrics were seen as communication with them. Metalworks of past rulers helped futures rulers to look to them for guidance. They had a lot of oral storytelling through griots.

1200-1450: Mayan

Reached their peak from 250-900. Form of government was the city-state, consisted of a city and its surrounding territory ruled by a usually male leader (in the absence of a male heir, a woman could rule). These leader claimed to be descended from god and elite scribes and priests (priests could be male or female) handled affairs. City-states didn’t usually compete for territory but rather tribute for human sacrifice. Didn’t have a standing army, so citizens were required to fight wars. They were not centralized but the strongest city-state usually dominant end the others.

Used the concept of zero, had a complex writing system, and employed the use of rubber. Religion and science were linked through astronomy. Keeping an accurate calendar was important for deciding religious ceremonies (believe in many deities of the sun, moon, water, etc).

1200-1450: Aztecs

I grated to central Mexico from the north in the 12th century. Had a capital called tenochtitlan, island surrounded by water for protection. Its higher architecture was made of stone. The employed the use of aqueducts, irrigation, and chinampas (floating gardens that increased area for food production.)

used a tributary system and grouped city states into provinces that were controlled by Aztec warriors. Ruled by a theocracy (religiously led) with an emperor (great speaker), followed by land owning nobles, scribes and healers, craftspeople and traders (pochteca were special luxury good traders) and then peasants.

Worshipped a pantheon of gods through rituals, feast, and human sacrifice.

Women wove valuable cloth for tribute and if a man needed more he could get another wife. Some women could read and write due to being healers, priests, midwives, merchants, or scribes to royal women if they were noblewomen.

Declined in late 15th century due to underdeveloped technology, overexpansion, and resentment through the tributary system that gave tribute states a reason to rebel once the Spaniards came.

1200-1450: Inca

In the 15th century a leader called pachacuti began conquering tribes and eventually established the Incan empire. It was split into 4 provinces each with their own governor and bureaucracy. Loyal rulers were rewarded. They didn’t have a tributary system but had a mit’a state which was required public service.

believed in a sun god (inti), their rulers were the physical representation. Practiced ancestor veneration, extended the rule of leaders as dead ones were mummified and continue to “rule”. This was a motivator for expansion because new leaders could not expect to inherit what the old leaders left.

Priests were consulted before decisions because they could communicate with the gods. Disasters called for human sacrifice but it was not as frequent as the Aztecs sacrifice. Animism: the beliefs that aspects of the world (mountains, bridges, a pebble-called huaca ) could hold supernatural power.

good at building bridges and roads. Built a network called Carpa Nan using enslaved labor.

Developed quipu (abacus of knitted strings to record numerical information). Used terraces for crops with a waru waru system that redirected water to store it and prevent erosion.

In the midst of a civil war of succession in the 16th century the Inca were conquered by a Spanish conquistador.

Feudalism

A structure a society where each class has an obligation to each other

Kings gave land to nobles in exchange for service and tribute

Nobles contracted knights for protection

Peasants (serfs) were tied to the land they worked.

Magna Carta

Guarantee rights to nobles like the right to a jury trial and for all free citizens to own and inherit property.

English parliament

Body of individuals representing the individuals of the noble class.

Renaissance

Rebirth of Ancient Greek and Roman culture, literature, etc.

1200-1450: Europe

Previously fractured and led under the Byzantine, composed of fractured territories all competing for dominance. Rose from 1000 to 1450 in a period called the high Middle Ages. Monarchs grew more powerful because they better consolidated land and power by creating larger bureaucracies and armies. In the 13th century power shifting back to nobles was facilitated by the signing of the Magna Carta and later the English parliament.

due to the establishment of universities by the Roman Catholic Church, the educated thinkers and other educators were religious men. Art was also heavy with Christian themes to provide the illiterate peasants with religion.

the position of the church was being threatened by the growing power of the monarchs. They responded with crusades. Many religious leaders encouraged Christian’s to take up arms against Muslims for Jerusalem (helped to shift allegiance back to the church).

The journey and publishing of the writings of Marco Polo led to t developments in map making and cartography due to the increased interest in exotic cultures.

The middle class began to rise during this time.

Temperatures gradually fell leading to a decrease in agriculture production and therefore a population decline which led to less trade and a sinking economy.

Experienced the renaissance after 1300.

1200-1450

Smaller, decentralized governments and nomadic communities began to wane as larger, more centralized governments grew.

• song dynasty in china

• The Abbasid caliphate in the Middle East was fragmented and led to the growth of new Muslim states.

• South and SEA: Trade was used to build the Chola and Vijayanagara while the Delhi sultanate was more land based.

• Ruler of mail created a government more powerful and centralized than the previous kingdom of Ghana

• The americas lacked centralized states but some like the Inca and Aztecs relied on things like the mit’a systems and tribute.

• Feudalism declined in Europe as centralization grew. Clearer in Western Europe and France than Eastern Europe.

• Japan was a contrast as it became more feudal and decentralized.

Religion was consistently used to strengthen control over regions and spread of major religions helped to facilitate their power.

Trade increased cultural exchange and overall innovation.

Nomadic people like the mongols facilitated trade throughout Eurasia through political stability. The Turkish peoples also increased their dominance over land based empires though they did so independently unlike the unity of the mongols.