Unit 1 Notes

Dar Al Islam

  • These states relied on similar practices as the Abbasids to govern their empires.
  • These states formed a cultural region known as Dar Al Islam.

Spread of Islam

  • Islam spread significantly due to:
    • Military expansion (e.g., Delhi Sultanate).
    • Merchants on the Silk Roads, diffusing ideas and culture.
      • Example: West Africa, where Islam created literate officials and gave rulers religious legitimacy.
    • Sufi movement: a mystical form of Islam that adapted to local cultures.

Intellectual Innovations and Transfers

  • Innovations:
    • Mathematics: algebra and trigonometry.
    • Literature.
  • Intellectual Transfers:
    • Muslims in Spain translated Greek classics (Plato, Aristotle) into Arabic, preserving them for the European Renaissance.
    • Transferred Indian mathematics to Europeans.
    • Adopted papermaking from China, which later spread to Europe and aided the printing press.

Influence of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam on State Building in South and Southeast Asia

South Asia

  • Delhi Sultanate:
    • Islamic state in northern India with a majority Hindu population.
    • Hindus had to pay the Jizya tax.
    • Conversions occurred for social mobility from lower to upper castes.
    • Inefficient bureaucracy hindered consolidation of power.
  • Vijayanagara Empire:
    • Hindu kingdom in southern India.
    • Founded by two brothers from the Delhi Sultanate who converted back to Hinduism.

Southeast Asia

  • Merchants introduced Hinduism and Buddhism.
  • Srivijaya Empire:
    • Hindu empire that prospered by taxing ships using its sea lanes (ended in 1025).
  • Majapahit Kingdom:
    • Buddhist kingdom that prospered by controlling sea routes.
  • Continuity: Religions shaped societies.
  • Diversity: Religions affected different societies in different ways.

Civilizations of the Americas

  • Developed strong states, urban centers, and complex belief systems.

Aztec Empire (Mexica)

  • Continuity in state building with earlier American states (Maya).
  • Capital city: Tenochtitlan (population around 200,000).
  • Tribute System:
    • Decentralized state (like the Maya).
    • Local governors extracted tribute from conquered peoples.
    • The Mexica exercised political dominance without direct involvement.
    • Practiced human sacrifice (carried over from the Maya).

African State Building

  • Facilitated through participation in trade networks and religion.

Great Zimbabwe

  • Prospered due to trade, agriculture, and gold deposits.
  • Participated in the Indian Ocean Trade Network.
  • Merchants influenced the development of Swahili (a blend of Bantu and Arabic).
  • Capital city: Great Zimbabwe (population around 20,000).

Ethiopia

  • Christian kingdom that emerged in the 12th century.
  • Known for monumental architecture (stone churches).
  • Ethiopian Christianity developed independently from Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions.

State Building in Europe

  • Characterized by religious belief, feudalism, and decentralized monarchies.
  • Religion:
    • Cultural continuity with the Roman Catholic Church.
    • Universities and artists were typically men of the church.
    • Muslim presence on the Iberian Peninsula.
      • Many Muslims were ejected after the Reconquista, leading to a revival of Catholicism in Spain.
    • A small but influential Jewish population diminished after the Reconquista.
  • Decentralized Political Systems:
    • No single empire; many centers of power.
    • Organizing principle: feudalism.
      • King granted land to lords (nobility) in exchange for tribute.
      • Lords hired knights for protection.
      • Peasantry worked the land and provided produce to the lords.
  • Manorial System:
    • Contained the whole village.
    • Serfs lived their entire lives without leaving the manor.
  • Agriculture:
    • Three-field system: crops rotated through three fields.
      • Two fields planted, one left fallow, then rotated.
      • Increased food production, led to population growth.