Chapter 9 - 11
Introduction Chapter 11
Mesoamerican civilizations postclassical period
separate Old World
large cities
political and economic organization
cultural systems
agriculture
Imperial states ( conquering state )
Aztec Empire
Inca Empire
Toltecs - Tula
Mayas - city-states
The Toltecs (968 - 1150)
The toltecs
Migrated into central Mexico from the North
militaristic ethnic
large empire
capital Tula 968
sedentary
Cult of sacrifice and war
Toltec art
The Toltecs
1000 C.E. — Chichen Itza in Yucatan conquered by Toltec warriors
1150 — Toltec Empire collapse
Destroyed by nomadic invaders north
Maya
300 - 900
temples, pyramids, complicated calendar
Maya — Political & Social Structure
Mayan cities central pyramid
city states each governed by a hereditary ruiling class often at war with each other
Rulers claimed to have descended from gods
Soldiers captured in battle became slaves and war leaders were used fro human sacrafice
Maya - writings
writing system based on hierogluphs
Spanish burned most books / writings
Maya - calendar
Created in 3114 B.C. scheduled to finish December 23, 2012
Only trained priests could read the calendar
Aztecs
Aztec Rise to power
After fall of Tula, center of population and political power in central Mexico shifted to valley of Mexico shores of large chain of lakes in that basin
Rich aquatic enviroment; shores of the lakes towns
3000 square miles in basin of the valley (400 square miles under water)
Various people and cities jockeyes for control of lakes
series of alliances Aztecs emerge independent power, building great empire
Empire → loose association of clans →stratified society
Aztecs
Spoke Nahual
Language of the Toltecs
Intrusive, militant group
Distrusted, disliked dominant groups in area
tough warriors
Fanatical followers of gods
Offered sacrifices
1428 - Aztecs independent power
Aztec - Social contract
Aztecs conquest empire
strengthened position of nobles
ruler supreme ruler with wide powers
Subject peoples forced to pay tribute, surrender lands, military service
Loose organization of clans to a stratified society under authority of supreme ruler
Tlacaelel — prime minister and advisor under three rulers
Human sacrifice greatly expanded
military class central role as suppliers of war captives used as sacraficial victims
Religion and the ideology of conquest
Religion in the Aztec empire
uniting, oppressive force
128 major deities
Gods of rain, fire, water, corn, the sky, and the sun
Yearly festivals and ceremonies, feasting, dancing, sacrifice
Human sacrifice - Justify Spanish colonization
Long part of Mesoamerican religion
Expanded considerably postclassical period of militarism
Types, frequency sacrificed increased → Under Aztec Empire
Religious conviction or tactic of terror for political control
Aztecs religious and spiritual questions
Is there life after death?
What is the meaning of life?
What does it mean to live a good life?
Do the gods really exist?
Aztecs believed cyclical view of history
World destroyed 4 time before and would destroyed again
Evenrually.. sacrafices would be insufficient gods would again bring catastrophe
Tenochtitlan: The foundation of Heaven
Tenochtitlan
Capital city of the Aztec Empire
Metropolis, central zone of palaces and temples
surrounded by adobe brick residential districs, smaller palaces, markets
Drew tribute support from allies, dependents
Feeding the people
Food demand as tribute
Concentrating power and wealth in Aztec capital
Chinampas
Agriculture utilizing floating beds and artificial islands
20,000 Chinampas
A merchant class ( pochteca ) developed → developed market
Specialized in long-distance trade in luxury items
Government
controlled all trade
Managed the collection and redistribution of tribute
Surrendered - paid less tribute
Tribute payments - food, slaves, sacrificial victims
Widening social gulf
Aztecs had been divided into seven calpulli, or clans
No longer only kinship groups but also residential groupings
Neighbors, allies, dependents
Every person, noble, and commoner belonged to a calpulli
Aztec power Increased, social stratification emerged
Class of Nobility developed
Privileged families most distinguished calpulli
Accumulated high offices, private lands, and other advantages
Most born into class
Controlled priesthood, military leadership
Social distinctions apparent use of and restrictions on clothing, hairstyles, uniforms, other symbols of rank
Artisans → make stuff
Scribes → copies documents, artisans → make stuff, intermediate group
Overcoming technological constraints
Aztec women
peasant woman — worked in fields, primary domain household, where child-rearing and cooking took up much time
marriages often arranged
virginity at marriage highly regarded for young women
Polygamy nobility
peasants - monogamous
Remained subordinate in political and social life
Girls trained by older women in their calpulli
A tribute Empire
Each city-state ruled by a speaker chosen from the nobility
Great speaker — ruler of Tenochtitlan
The emperor
Private wealth and public power
Considered a living god
Magnificent court
Elaborate rituals
Century of Aztec expansion, social and political transformation
Newly powerful nobility
Emergence absolute ruler
local rulers tribute collectors for Aztec overlords
City-states unchanged if thei recognized Aztec supremacy met obligations of labor and tribute
Destruction of the Aztecs
1519 Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes
Made alliances with city states that were tired of Aztec rule
Aztec leader Montezuma offered gifts of gold and let Europeans stay
Cortes took Montezuma hostage revolt began
Aztecs had no immunity to new diseases of the Europeans
World of the Incas
Inca Empire
Around same time Aztecs
Imperial state
Andean highlands
3000 miles
centralized
irrigated agriculture → terrace
state organization and bureaucratic control
Cuzco (11,000 ft. above sea level)
Inca rise to power
1438, leadership of their ruler, inca, pachacuti (first leader), establish govern,ent over much of the highland region
Between 9 to 13 million people of different ethnic backgrounds and languages came under inca rule
Conquest and religion
Deceased rulers were mummified festivals
Inca religion
Sun highest deity
Considered the Inca (Ruler) sun’s representative on earth
Temple of the Sun
cuzco
center of state religion
Huacas — holy shrines
Prayers offered
animals, goods, and humans sacrificed
Techniques of Inca imperial rule
ruled by the inca
High priest
close relative of ruelr
Nobles
Responsible for state bureaucracy → government
Empire divided into four provinces (state)
Each run by a governor
Local rulers curacas
permitted retain power return for securing tribute for the Incas
exempt from paying tribute
Unifying the Inca empire
Quechua language
roads built, with bridges
Way stations (tambos)
served as inns, storehouses, supply centers for Inca armies
10,000
Inca Empire extracted land and labor from subject populations
Conquered peoples
Enlisted in Inca armies
loyal and pay tribute
Provided labor large building and irrigation projects
State claimed all resources (tribute) and redistributed them
Inca women
weave high-quality cloth court religious purposes
some concubines for the Inca (ruler)
some servants at the remples
worked in the fields, wove cloth, and cared household
Marriage between people of own social group
Expected to care for children
Inca nobles
Provileged
Distinguished by dress and custom
Noticeably absent Inca Empire long distance trade →no merchant class
Inca cultural achievements
Metal working most advanced in Americas
Artisans worked gold and silver
copper and some bronze for weaponds and tools
Quipu — census and financial records
Extensive road system
Agricultural terraces
Over 100 different types of potatoes cultivated the Incas
Comparing Inca vs. Aztec
Both the Incas and the Aztecs
Imperial stage of political development
Tribute states
Agricultural systems (Chinampas - Aztecs) (Terrace farming - Inca)
Nobility administrative bureaucracy
allowed local governments subject to the payment of tribute
Religion (sun god) - Human sacrifices
Social structure
technological skill
Elaborate culture
large cities
Built on tradition on predecessors
Differences
Aztecs ←writing system, developed market, merchants; Incas ← no writing system, undeveloped market, lacked merchants
- climate, geography
Destruction of the Inca
1531 Francisco Pizarro ← conquers Inca
Steel weapons, gunpowder and horses
The inca had seen NONE of these
Experienced an epidemic of smallpox like the Aztecs died of disease
Chapter 10:
New civilization emerges in western europe
500 - 1500
Middle ages in Western Europe
Postclassical period
Began fall of Roman empire (476)
Aka - Dark ages, medieval times
Civilization extends gradually Western Europe - Christianity
Missionary activity - polytheistic to christianity
500 - 900 worst years to live there
— Medieval west took more from the emerging world network than it contributed
The Flavor of the Middle ages; Inferiority and vitality
Postclassical era - western Europe < Middle East (caliphate), Asia
Muslims think Western Europeans are barbarians
Muslims seize European slaves up to 1100
Arab control of Spain challenge Europe’s Christian leaders
Superior Arab wealth and trade
Only towards end of Middle ages could Europeans compete with Arab learning
Stages of Postclassical development
Western Europe - 500 C.E. to 900
Italy fragmented
cities commerce (trade) shrinking
Intellectual life declines
Few read part of Catholic church
Spain belongs to Muslims - 1492
Frequent invasions
Vikings from Scandinavia
Weak rulers
Decentralized
Subsistence agriculture
Catholic church dominates life
Manorial System
Manorialism (Manor)
System of economic and political relations between landlords and peasant laborers
source agricultural
mill, church, workshops, village where serfs lived
hierarchy reciprocal obligations masses and ruling elite
Manor: Law technology, self sufficient, serfs worked the land
3 field system
Serfs
Lived self-sufficient agricultural estates manors
agricultural workers
some protection and administration of justice from landlords
obligated to turn over part of their goods
relied on military forces provided by landlords
knights
Production low
Feudalism:
King
Nobles
Knights
Peasants
Feudal pyramid of power
serfs
Repair lord’s castle
Not slaves
Grouped in villages
Some escaped landlord control
wanderers, disorder
Medieval life:
Manorialsm = Economic system →Serfs working for lords
Feudalism = Political system → king
King
Lords (Vassals) →lesser lords
Knights (vassals) → Lesser knights
Peasants (Serfs)
9th century - Agriculture
Moldboard
A better plow
Three-field system
A third of the land was left unplanted each year to regain fertility
Increased production
The church-Spiritual and political powers
Middle ages- Catholic church was onlt extensive example of solid organization
Functioned government across europe
Pope was top authority
Missionary activity → Scandinavia
Did not always appoint bishops since monarchs and local lords often claimed this right
conflicts
Regional churches headed by bishops
Appointed / supervised local priests
Helped improve the cultivation of land
Provided some education and promoted literacy
Pope (World head)
Bishops ( Diocese Head )
Priests ( Local Church )
Catholics
Charlemagne and his successors
8th century- Frankish empire
Northern france, Belgium, western germany
Carolingians →Charles Martel, Charlemagne
Charles Martel
732 - Beating the Muslims at the battle of tours
Arab exhaustion overextended
Defeat helped confine the muslims to spain
Preserved europe for christianity
Charlemagne
800 - Established a substanrial empire in france and germany
Crowned emperor of Rome by the Pope
Further strained relationships between Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity
814 - Charlemagne died
Empire split into three (Treaty of verdun)
Europe sets up pattern of regional rulers, only united by Christianity
10th to 13th century -
Population growth
Greater regional stability and improved agriculture
Most serfs gained greater independence
Contacts with new countries brings knowledge new crops - Crusades → trade
Growth of towns
Increased trade and urban manufacturing
13th century - 20 percent of population urban
Literacy spreads
merchant activity and craft production expands
High Middle ages 900 - 1300
11th century - first universities
Roman law medicine
Small minority of Europe’s population attends
Feudal Monarchies / Political advances
6th century - feudalism
key political and military relationships in western Europe
Limited Government
Limited Monarchy
West remained politically divided
Power of church continues to limit power of feudal monarchies
State was not supposed to intrude on matters of faith except to carryout out decisions of popes or bishops
Church has more power than kings
1215 - English King John
Faced Opposition taxation
Forced to sign the Magna Carta
Weakened power of the King
New Taxes Lords’ permission
13th century - parliaments
Bodies representing not individual voters but privileged groups such as the nobles and the church
1265 - First full english parliament
House of Lords - Nobles church hierarchy
Commons - elected representatives from wealthy citizens of the towns
Right to rule proposed changes in taxation
Advise the crown
represented three key groups
Church, Nobles, Urban leaders
Strongest example - England
France, Spain, Scandinavia
14th century - Hundred years war
England vs. France - win
Began over territories the English king conrolled in france
Joan of Arc
Medieval warfare changes for good
contributing factor in getting Western Europe out of the Middle Ages
Nationalism
Kings now rely on paid armies
handguns
China
The West’s expansionist impulse
Spain - The reconquista
10th century - Small Christian states remained in northern spain
1492 - full expulsion of Muslim rulers
Crusades
1095 - Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade
Crusaders promised full forgiveness of sins if died in battle, heaven
Attraction winning spoils from the rich Arab lands
Did not demonstrate a new western superiority
Helped expose the West to new cultural and economic influences from the Middle East
Led to great trade, helping get western europe our of Middle Ages
TRADE
The Effects of the Crusades
New Ideas and Peoducts: Europeans exposure to new Ideas, zero in mathematics, silk, rice, spices, coffee, perfumes, cotton, cloth, raisins, glass mirrors
Increased trade: European demand for foreign products, spices, sugar, lemons and rugs led to increased trade with the middle east
Growth of Intolerance: Crusades led to the Christian persecution of jews and muslims, Muslim persecution of Christians
Religious reform and evolution
Church was a wealthy institution
Reasons for the church’s power:
Role of faith: People were very religious. believed the church represented God send a person to heaven or hell. United
Power and Wealth: Many nobles left land to the church when they died, hoping to gain entry into heaven. Church largest landowner (Church taxes)
Center of Learning: Church main center of learning, Church officials, most educated people
Pope Gregory VII
Purify the church
tried to free the church from any trace of state control
fought with Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV state appointment, or investiture, of bishops in germany
Henry IV appealed to the pope for forgiveness
Theology
From 1000 onward
Clergy stressed the importance of absolute faith in God’s word
BUT, human reason
12th century - Peter Abelard - French philospher
Proclaimed his faith. he suggested skepticism
Both Christianity and Islam relied heavily on faith (Bible and Quran)
Combining rational philosophy and christian faith was the dominant intellectual theme in the Postclassical west
Thomas Aquinas
13th century
Western philosopher-theologian
Faith came first
Expanded Reason
Through reason alone, humans could know much of the natural order, of moral law, and nature of God
Religious themes in art and literature
Religious art
Intended to serve glory of God
Religious subjects used exclusively
Medieval architecture
11th century - Gothic architecture
France
Soaring church spines and tall arched windows
towers cast up to the heavens
showed growing technical skills and deep popular devotion
Religion was the centerpiece of medieval intellectual and artistic life
Changing economic and social forms
10th century - 900s = trade revived
Most regions produced primarily for local consumption
Growth of trade and Banking
Banking introduced by Italian businesspeople to facilitate the long-distance exchange of money and goods - 1300s
Largest trading and banking operations were in Italy, southern Germany, low countriesm France, Britain
capitalism
Wealthy developed a taste for some of the luxury goods and spices of Asia
Crusades bringing these products to attention
Bankers lending money to monarchs and the papacy - church
Limited Sphere for woman
New limits on the conditions of women
women’s work remained vital in most families
women in the West had higer status than women under Islam
less segregated
less confined to the household
Decline of Medieval synthesis
1300 - characteristics medieval life decline
Medieval agriculture could no longer keep pace with population growth
Hundred Years’ war
Kings reduce reliance on nobility
favor paid armies of their own
Growth of professional armies and new weapons (cannon and gunpoweder) made traditional fighting methods increasingly irrelevant
The Bubonic Plague
The bubonic plague
disease China, India, Italy, England and most of Europe
Greatest population decline in Europe
1348
Black death
Spread by thte dirty living conditions and carries by fleas that fed on rats → crowded European cities
People blamed positions of planets to Jews
Helped get Europe out of middle ages
People moved from manor to cities looking for job opportunities
Labor shortages in cities
Scarcity of goods
Chapter 9:
Byzantium and Orthodox Europe
500-1453 C.E - Byzantine Empire political, economic, cultural life
territory in Balkans, Middle East, Eastern Mediterranean
Eastern Roman Empire: Byzantine Empire (East)
Med sea: Balkans
from Rome’s collapse in the West to final overthrow of regime by Turkish invaders
Constantinople (capital)
Orthodox Christian churches
Major impact on Russia
476 - Roman Empire falls
- Anatolia
- Asia Minor
- Balkans
Origins of the Empire
4th century Romans set up their eastern capital in Constantinople
Emperor constantine elegant buildings, Christian churches
Latin court language, Greek common language
6th century (500s) - Emperor Justinian declares Greek the official language; Latin inferior, barbaric
Latin - Roman language
Commerce flourished in Constantinople
Byzantine Empire foreign enemies
Preassure less severe Germanic tribes
Recruited armies in the middle east
Justinian’s achievements
Justian and Theodora
Emperor Justian
reconquere western territory restore Roman empire
High taxes weakened the East
Rebuilt constantinople - capital
Code of Justinian - collection of Roman laws
Hagia sophia - Church for orthodox christians
Arab pressure and the Empire’s defenses
7th century - Arab muslims challenge Byzantine naval supremacy in eastern mediterranean attacking Constantinople
Greek fire devastated Arab ships
Wars with Muslims economic burdens
Weakened small farmers
Byzantine Religion, Society, and Politics
Emperor - Head of church and state
Emperor appointed church bishops and passed religious and secular laws
Large bureaucracy - government workers
Trained in greek classics, philosophy, and science
all social classes
Highly centralized government
Bureaucracy > military
Kievan Russia - Vikings
Byzantine Empire - 9
Tang China - 12
Byzantine military
Adapted the later Roman system by recruiting troops locally and rewarding them with grants of land in return for military service
Sons inherited land continues military responsibility
Bureaucracy regulating trade and controlling food prices
Large peasant class
Supply goods and provide bulk of taxes
Food prices kept artificially low by government
Byzantine Empire trading network
East - Asia; North - Russia and Scandinavia
Silk production expanded
Luxury products, cloth, carpets, spices, sent north →1# export - luxury items
Only China produced luxury goods of comparable quality
Traded actively with India, the Arabs, and east asia
large merchant class never gained significant political power
Byzantine cultural life
Education of bureaucrats
Eastern (Orthodox) Christianity
Roman domed buildings
Icon painting
The great split - East/west
As the Empire grew apart so did Christianity
Several Issues divided them:
Supremacy od the pope in rome
use of local languages in church
Orthodox - vernacular (local)
Differing rituals
Kind of bread christ’s last supper
Use of religious icons
Charlemagne being crowned “Roman emperor” →Franks
Celibacy for its priests
West - no ; East - yes
1054 - Finally the pope excommunicated the eastern church
Patriatch response - excommunicate all roman catholics
The decline of the byzantine empire
11th century - seljuks seized almost all the asiatic provinces of empire ( cuts off tax revenue and food supply )
1071 - byzantine emperor lost battle of Manzikert →byzantines lose Asia minor
Led call for help that became the crusades
The crusades
crusades
Goal liberate the holy land
The final fall
1453 Mehmed II ( Turkish sultan) captures constantinople
Ottoman (muslims) take over Byzantine (Christians)
Fall of the byzantine empire ended christian dominance in the area
Islam