Global History Flashcards

Judaism

• Founded in Jerusalem in the 1000s BCE by Abraham.
• Abraham was a shepherd from the city of Ur, located in Mesopotamia.
• Established a covenant (sacred agreement) with God:
  • Abraham received the land of Canaan (modern-day Israel) and many descendants (the Hebrews) if he swore to worship God and only God.
• Judaism is the first example of monotheism in world history.
• Second covenant between Hebrews & God:
  • Hebrews must follow the 10 Commandments; in exchange, God would protect the Hebrews.
• Arguments for & against Hebrews being ruled by a king:
  • For: provided order and unity for Hebrews
  • Against: “worshiping” a king made it so that God would not be able to protect the Hebrews
• After experiencing the Babylonian Captivity, the Hebrews wrote their teachings in the Torah.

Hinduism

• Founded in India ca. 1500 BCE after Aryan invasions.
• No single founder:
  • Blend of beliefs from Dravidians and Aryans.
• Holy text: the Vedas
• Polytheistic.
• Caste system created a rigid social hierarchy within the religion.
• Caste:
  • Brahmin
  • Kshatriya
  • Vaisyas
  • Sudras
  • Dalits -> untouchables
• Dharma -> role of your caste.
• Karma -> rewarded for doing your dharma.
• Reincarnation -> soul reborn into higher caste
• Moksha -> end of reincarnation.

Buddhism

• Founded by Siddhartha Gautama ca. 480 BCE.
• Gautama was a Kshatriya prince born in Northern India, later left his palace to find answers to life’s suffering.
• Both a philosophy and a belief system: no worship of any gods or deities.
• Dharma, karma, reincarnation.
• Nirvana -> end of reincarnation.
• Rejected caste system
• Cultural diffusion: Buddhist teachings spread throughout much of Asia including China, Korea, and Japan.
• 4 Noble Truths:
  • Life is suffering.
  • Suffering is caused by desire.
  • To end suffering, you must end desire.
  • To end suffering, follow the Eightfold Path.
• Eightfold Path: moral code of conduct for Buddhists.

Ancient China: Qin Dynasty

• 221—206 BCE
• Founded by Shi Huangdi.
• Despotic.
• Legalism: believed government should create strict laws with clear punishments.
• Ends period of Warring States and unifies China.
• Centralizes power.
• Standardizes Chinese society:
  • Writing system, weights & measures, etc.
• Constructs Great Wall:
  • Forced labor.
• Short lived dynasty:
  • Peasant revolts.

Han Dynasty (China)

• 206 BCE—220 CE
• Benevolent.
• Confucian.
• Silk Road.
• Civil service system/exams.
• Monopoly on silk production.
• Long lasting, over 400 years.

Rome

• Republic: representative democracy.
• Patricians & Plebeians
• Senate/Consuls.
• 12 Tables: Roman legal code, basis for later legal codes, lasting legal principles.
• Julius Caesar:
  • Dictator for life.
• Octavian/Augustus
• Pax Romana.
• Bread & Circuses.
• Christianity
• Germanic tribes invaded:
  • Led to the fall of Rome in 476 CE.

Christianity

• Founded in Judea ca. 30 CE by Jesus Christ.
• Jesus claimed to be the son and messiah of the Hebrews’ God.
• When Christianity was founded, Judea was controlled by the Roman Empire.
• Romans persecuted Jesus and his followers; eventually crucified (hung on cross).
• Edict of Milan (313 CE): legalized Christianity in Roman Empire.
• 400s CE: Christianity was the official religion of the Roman Empire.
• Holy book: the Bible
  • Old Testament -> Hebrew Torah
  • New Testament -> the Gospels, or Jesus’s teachings
• Both Jews and Christians follow the 10 Commandments.

Byzantine Empire

• Eastern half of Roman Empire, survives after the Western half falls.
• Preserved Greco-Roman culture.
• Constantinople was the capital:
  • Location at crossroads of trade on Black Sea & Med. Sea.
• Justinian reconquered former Roman lands, built Hagia Sophia.
• Justinian’s Code: laws based on 12 Tables and other Roman laws.
• Byzantines preserved ancient Greek and Roman knowledge.
• Great Schism (1054): Christian church splits into Roman Catholic & Eastern Orthodox.

Islam & the Umayyad Empire

• Founded in 600s CE by Muhammad in Mecca (Arabian Peninsula).
• Muhammad became both religious and political leader.
• Islam spread after his death throughout the Arabian Peninsula and Middle East.
• Rightly Guided Caliphs govern growing Islamic Empire after his death (all knew Muhammad personally).
• Umayyads: first dynasty to rule the Islamic empire.

Islamic Abbasid Empire

• Abbasids: overthrow Umayyads, create stable, effective government, prosperous economy.
  • This is the Islamic Golden Age.
• Islamic Achievements:
  • Calligraphy, algebra, medical encyclopedias, optics, translated Greek texts into Arabic, astronomy, lunar calendar.

Islam

• Holy book: Qu’ran
• 5 Pillars of Faith:
  • Set basis for Islamic code of behavior:
    • Faith, Prayer, Fasting (Ramadan), Charity, Hajj (Pilgrimage)
• Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all Abrahamic religions because they trace roots back to Abraham.
• Muslims refer to Jews and Christians as People of the Book.

African Kingdoms - Ghana, Mali & Songhai

• Advanced West African civilizations BEFORE arrival of Europeans.
• Mansa Musa & Mali Empire:
  • Spread Islam in Africa.
• Wealth from gold-salt trade:
  • Trans-Saharan Trade Routes.

Sui, Tang, & Song Dynasties (China)

• Sui: Reunited China after 350 year period of disunity; short and harsh (like Qin).
• Built Grand Canal, which linked the Huang He and Yangtze Rivers.
  • This helped China’s economy by contributing toward trade.
• Tang & Song: China’s Golden Age.
• Stable government, civil service system revived, agricultural boom.
• Achievements in technology:
  • Magnetic compass, mechanical clock, porcelain, gunpowder, moveable type, paper $
• Inventions will spread to Europe:
  • Influence events in Europe (Protestant Reformation, Age of Exploration).
• Foot-binding practiced by women.

Mongols

• Asian steppes (dry grasslands with hot summers and cold winters).
• Harsh environment/survival difficult/lived in tribes/ frequent tribal warfare.
• Genghis Khan unified warring Mongol tribes and began building Mongol Empire through conquest.
• His children and grandchildren expand empire.
• Largest unified land empire in world history—China to Eastern Europe.
• Peace and prosperity:
  • Pax Mongolia (or Pax Mongolica).
• Empire divided into 4 khanates.
• Kublai Khan (grandson) becomes “Great Khan’ & ruler of Yuan Dynasty in China.
• Kublai treats Chinese as second class citizens/suppresses Chinese culture/promotes trade.
• Tang & Song inventions flow via Silk Road toward Europe.
• Russia isolated from rest of Europe and Renaissance during Mongol rule.

Japan

• Mountainous geography/archipelago
• Geography hindered political unity.
• Korea (closest neighbor) introduces Chinese culture.
• Selective borrowing from China.
• Feudalism develops:
  • Emperor only figurehead.
• Emperor/Shogun/Daimyo/Samurai/ Artisans/Peasants/Merchants
• Code of Bushido:
  • Samurai code of behavior.
• Seppuku:
  • Ritual suicide.
• Shintoism:
  • Traditional Japanese religion, all things in nature have spirit or “kami”.

European Middle Ages

• 500-1000 CE
• Period following fall of Rome in Western Europe.
• Dark Ages, Medieval Times, Age of Faith
• Feudalism:
  • Serfs = peasants.
• Manors/Manorialism
• Christianity/afterlife emphasized
• Church was the most powerful institution
• Little education, no trade
• 1096—The Crusades was a turning point
  • Series of holy wars fought between Western European Christians and Muslims over control of the Holy Land
  • Pope Urban II calls for the wars to begin
  • Breaks down feudal system
  • Opens up trade
  • Growth of towns/cities
  • Social mobility possible
  • Power of Pope reduced
  • Kings begin to grow wealthy/powerful from taxing trade
• 1348 Black Death is a turning point due to the outbreak of Bubonic Plague.
  • One-third of Europe’s population dies.
  • Labor shortages:
    • Serfs demand wages for work
    • Feudal system further breaks down,
  • Secularism:
    • “Eat drink and be merry”
  • Renewed interest in medicine/human body
  • People question their religious beliefs (how could God let the plague happen to us?)
  • Medieval society is unraveling

Renaissance

• Starts at about 1500
• Rebirth of Greek & Roman (classical) knowledge
• Starts in Italy - wealth from trade, inspiration
• Three values: Secularism, humanism, and classicism
• Da Vinci:
  • Mona Lisa, Last Supper
• Machiavelli:
  • The Prince – “it is better to be feared than loved”

Protestant Reformation

• Starts in Germany in 1517
• Martin Luther:
  • German monk
  • Posts 95 Theses to church door
• 95 Theses:
  • Arguments against corruption and beliefs of the Catholic Church
  • Indulgences wrong, salvation through faith alone, priesthood of all believers, only 2 sacraments needed (baptism & communion), people should read Bible for themselves
  • Beliefs directly challenged authority of Catholic Church
• Luther excommunicated
• Diet of Worms, Luther refuses to recant (take back) his beliefs
• Edict of Worms
• Luther’s ideas spread due to printing press
• Other individuals will challenge the authority of the Catholic Church
  • King Henry VIII (England) -> creates Anglican Church
  • John Calvin (Switzerland) -> predestination
• The impact of the Protestant Reformation is a turning point
  • Permanently breaks the religious unity of Western Europe
  • Catholic Church is forced to make reforms
  • Reduced power of Pope/Catholic Church

Age of Exploration

• Takes place 1400-1600, also known as Age of Discovery
• Causes/Motivations
  • Gold, God, Glory
• Ocean-going technology makes exploration possible
  • Astrolabe, magnetic compass, caravel
• Europeans want to find a sea route to Asia and get spices for cheap!
• Monarchs support exploration
  • Prince Henry the Navigator - Portugal
  • Ferdinand & Isabella - Spain
• Major Explorers
  • Bartolomeu Dias (Portugal):
    • Reached tip of Southern Africa
  • Vasco da Gama (Portugal):
    • Rounded tip of Africa and reached Asia
  • Christopher Columbus (Spain):
    • “Discovered” the Americas
• “The Encounter”:
  • Turning point
  • Columbus’s first contact with indigenous people in Hispaniola (Caribbean)
  • Columbus & his men brutalize and enslave the natives and give them European diseases
    • Most die off.
  • The Encounter opens up European exploration and colonization of the Americas (Columbian Exchange, Triangular Trade)

Mayas, Aztecs, & Incas

• Pre-Columbian civilizations of the Americas
• Mayas:
  • Mexico & Central America
  • Advanced city-states, glyphs, 365-day calendar, number system
• Aztecs:
  • Advanced cities (Tenochtitlan), medicine, human sacrifice
• Incas:
  • Peru
  • Advanced cities (Machu Picchu), adapted to mountainous geography, road system, quipu for recordkeeping

Age of Exploration (cont’d)

• By early 1500s, Spain sends conquistadors to Americas
  • 1519 - Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico
  • 1532 - Francisco Pizarro- conquered Inca Empire in Peru
• Aztecs & Inca:
  • Advanced civilization BEFORE arrival of Europeans
• Both civilizations decimated after Europeans arrive
• Encomienda System:
  • Forced labor
  • Natives work for Europeans on plantations, mines, etc.
• Mercantilism:
  • Economic policy
  • Colonies exist to benefit the mother country
• Columbian Exchange:
  • Global exchange of plants, animals, & disease between Europe, the Americas, and Africa
• Demographic decline:
  • Millions of natives die primarily from European diseases
• New social class system in Americas:
  • Based on race
• New governments:
  • Spanish and Portuguese set up colonial governments in the Americas natives don’t govern themselves
• Atlantic Slave Trade (Middle Passage):
  • After death of indigenous people, Europeans take Africans to the New World and enslave them