Song Dynasty (960-1279)

• wealth

• political stability

• artistic and educational advancements

• high manufacturing abilities

• religious growth (neo/confucianism, buddhism, taoism)

Government

• replaced the Tang dynasty, not as large but culturally flourished

• continued imperial bureaucracy - meritocracy

• meritocracy - power is determined by ability rather than position

• civil service exam based on confucianism teachings

• Taizu grew educational opportunities 

  • allowed upward mobility for poorer citizens

• bureaucracy made government grow too large - leading to its downfall

  • too many high-paying government positions that shrunk China’s wealth

Economics

• prosperity left over from Tang dynasty

• Grand Canal - inexpensive and effective waterway transportation system, internal trade and naval protection

• while gunpowder was not invented in the Song dynasty, along with guns, gunpowder and guns spread across Eurasia 

• Innovative farming techniques

  • Champa rice - fast growing and drought resistant rice breed (still used today)

    • could grow in not ideal conditions and allowed summer vs winter crops

  • manure, irrigation, and new plows enhanced agricultural productivity

• Chinese population increased substantially

• discovery of coal increased cast iron and steel production

  • strengthened agricultural equipment leading to increase in food production

• Proto-industrialization - community based production using simple tools, people in rural areas made more than they could sell, artisans

• travel advancements - compass, bigger cargo ships, printed maps

• CHANGE - local consumption to market production

• tribute system - states pay money or goods to the Chinese emperor, representatives

Social Structure

• CHANGE - majority of people in rural areas to urban aries

• scholar gentry - new social class comprised of Confucian philosophers and because the most influential social class

• lower classes went as followed: farmers, artisans, merchants (importance on hard work)

• aid and public hospitals were available for poor servants paying off debts

• women - respected but less than (ex. foot binding)

Culture and Intellect

• paper and woodblock printing (ex. farming booklets)

• most peasants were illiterate but higher classes took advantage of the privilege of books

• Confucian scholars were massive producers and consumers of literature (chinese renaissance men)

• Buddhism

  • Theravada - spiritual growth/discipline - Southeast Asia

  • Mahayana - spiritual growth/service - China and Korea

  • Tibetan - chanting - Tibet

• four noble truths and eightfold path

• Chan/Zen Buddhism - combination of Buddhism and Taoism, popular around China

• Conflict between religions because of Buddhism’s popularity and growth among individuals and growing away from Confucianism and Taoism, not promoted but tolerated

• growth/combination of Confucianism and Buddhism (ex. scholar gentry helped print Buddhist scriptures)

Japan

• Similarities

• Prince Shotoku Taishi (574-622) promotes Buddhism, Confucianism, and wood printing

• Heian period (764-1185) - Japan emulates Chinese politics, art, and literature

• The Tale of Genji - world’s first novel

• Differences

• Feudalism - no central government, daimyo (landowning aristocrats controlled land)

  • little social mobility, hereditary hierarchies, (serfs, samurai, daimyo)

• China - central government with emperor and civilian bureaucracy

• Japan - when the Heian court declined, an shogun (military leader) took charge

  • regional rivalries were very prevalent until the 17th century

Korea

• Similarities

• adopted Confucian and Buddhist beliefs, elite - Confucian and poor - Buddhist

• same writing system until the 15th century

• Differences

• landed aristocracy was much more powerful in Korea

• elites limited social mobility (ex. peasants couldn’t take the civil service exam)

Vietnam

• more different to China

• adapted Chinese writing and architecture

• vietnamese women had more independence and freedom and resented Chinese foot binding and polygamy

• immediate family housing, contrasting big family households in China

• merit-based bureaucracy but scholars were less loyal to the emperor and were more in allegiance to the peasants (ex. lead revolts against oppressive government policies)Developments in Dar al-Islam (Abbasid Empire 1100-1200) 

  • Islam spread rapidly after the death of muhammad (632)

  • Islam reach Spain to India

  • Islam was tolerant of other religions

  • house of wisdom - under the abbasid empire, baghdad housed this center of learning for knowledge from afro-eurasia

  
  

  Invaders

  • Egyptian Mamluks - enslaved people (ethnically turks) who were able to take control of the Egyptian government, establishing the Mamluk Sultanate (1250-1517)

    • facilitated trade in cotton and sugar between Europe and the Islamic world

    • declined in power when Europeans made new sea trade routes

  • Seljuk Turks - muslim group from central asia that conquered many parts of the middle east and as far as western china

  • Crusaders - abbasids allowed christian travel but the seljuk limited it. crusaders were european christians hoping to regain travel access to jerusalem

  • Mongols - from central asia and conquered the rest of the abbasid empire in 1258, ending seljuk rule. They were stopped in Egypt by the mamluks.

  
  

  Culture

  • islamic world is very politically fragmented

  • the abbasid caliphate is left by arabs and persians and is later largely shaped by turks

  • 16th century 3 large islamic states - ottoman (turkey), safavid (persia), mughal (india)

  • trade spreads goods and knowledge

  • similar legal systems in the islamic world based off of shariah (daily law for muslims)

  • universities in baghdad, cordoba, cairo, and bukhara

  • cultural continuities 

    • translates greek texts into arabic

    • studied math texts from india and transfer info to europe

    • adopts chinese paper making techniques

  • cultural innovations

    • Nasir al-Din al-Tusi - islamic scholar in astronomy, law, logics, ethics, math, trig, philosophy, and medicine

    • Ibn Khaldun - historiography and sociology

    • ‘A’ishah al-Ba’uniyyah - one of the most prolific female writers before 1900, wrote poetry about the contrast between muslims and sufis; mystic form of islam, missionaries played an important role in spreading islam

  • islamic society viewed merchants much more prestigious than other societies at the time

  • slavery - islam allowed slavery but not slavery of other muslims, jews, christians, and zoroastrians; slaves were often from africa, northeast europe, and central asia

    • slavery was not hereditary and many slaves were converted to islam and freed

    • enslaved women often served at concubines to islamic men and had more freedom than their legal wives

  • treatment of women

    • muhammad said women must be respected - dowries are paid to the future wife, infanticide is forbidden, muhammad’s first wife owned her own business

    • islamic women had higher status than christian and jewish women

      • the could inherit property and retain ownership after marriage

      • they could remarry if widowed and receive cash settlement if divorced

      • they could use birth control

      • they could testify in court but is was worth only half a man’s testimony

  
  

  Rule in Spain (al-Andalus)

  • Battle of Tours - marked the limit of islamic expansion

  • like the abbasids in baghdad, the umayyad were tolerant of others

  • trade from asia was promoted and facilitated into spain

  • cordoba had the largest library in the world

  • muslims, christians, and jews (people of the book) lived among one another

  • islamic achievements paved way for the renaissance and scientific revolution in europe by bringing innovations and achievements from around the world to europe through spainIndia

    
    

    Politics

    
    

    • after the collapse of the gupta dynasty in 550, ending the indian golden age, south asia became disunited for the next 1000 years

    • northern and southern india developed separate political structures but both practiced hinduism

      • southern india - more stable than northern india, the first kingdom (chola) reigned for over 400 years (850-1267)

      • the second kingdom (vijayanagara) was created by people coming down from the delhi sultanate who wanted to extend their rule. they converted to islam when they were young for upward mobility in delhi but then created the hindu kingdom

    
    

    • northern india - less stable; after the fall of the gupta, the rajput kingdom formed in northern india and pakistan, the kingdom was made up of warring clans (disunity), the lack of centralized power led to many muslim attacks

    
    

    • the himalayas provided protection from the north and east, muslim armies attacked from mountain passes in the northwest, adding islam to a mostly hindu and buddhist region

    • 700s - islamic armies invaded pakistan but rajput princes avoided many changes

    • 1000s - islamic armies attack hindu temples and buddhist shrines; erecting mosques

    • early 1200s - islamic forces conquer delhi: the delhi sultanate (1200s-1500s)

    • while some people converted to islam, many hindus resent (foreign)muslims, taxed(jizya)

    • the delhi sultanate had a chinese style organized bureaucracy

      • sultans had difficulty imposing policies because india is so large and diverse

      • despite strong islamic forces, local kingdoms wanted to run a decentralized gov

      • armies focused on protecting themselves from the mongols and expanding south

        • 1526 - sultans finally lost power to the mughals (descendants of mongols)

    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    Religion and Social Structure

    Hinduism	Buddhism
    polytheistic	monotheistic (allah)
    artworks of deities	disapprove of visual representation of allah
    hierarchical caste system	equality for all muslims
    several sacred texts	quran

    
    

    • relationship between hindus and muslims shapes south asian history

    • islam was peacefully forceful and wanted to proselytize(convert) hindus and buddhists

      • many muslims merchants moved to indian port cities and married/converted indian women

    • with its emphasis on equality, it was attractive to hindus in lower castes who wanted social mobility (like christianity in the roman empire)

    • most converts were buddhists because of corruption among monks and raids on monasteries by muslim conquerors, buddhism was left disorganized

    
    

    • islam did not change india’s social structure much; the caste system is india’s strongest historical continuity

      • the caste system was flexible and accommodated newcomers

      • those who tried to escape the caste system failed; converts to islam, in order to advance in the caste system, education and job opportunities were required

    • as islam spread, they varied teachings for the culture in which they were converting

      • treatment of women, women were seen as less than but with the arrival of islam they lost a little bit of their independence

      • converts easily accommodated their new culture and their past traditions

    • knowledge was shared from south asia and the middle east

      • architecture with hindu art and islamic geometric styles - Qutub Minar(delhi)

      • urdu - new language of muslims in south asia; combo of hindi, arabic, and farsi

      • hindu bhakti movement (1100) - emphasis on single deity instead of studying texts, less discriminatory against women and lower classes (1500s poet Mira Bai)

        • similar to sufi muslims;mystical, appealing to outsiders, converters

    
    

    Southeast Asia (indonesia, malaysia, cambodia, thailand, laos, and vietnam)

    
    

    • heavily influenced by its neighbors

    • sea based kingdoms

      • srivijaya (670-1025) - hindu kingdom based in sumatra, navy based

      • majapahit (1293-1520) - buddhist kingdom in java, controlled sea routes

    • land based kingdoms

      • sinhala - buddhist kingdom in sri lanka made by immigrants

      • khmer (angkor) (802-1431) - kingdom by the mekong river, thrived through agriculture; irrigation, one of the most prosperous kingdoms in southeast asia

        • capital - angkor thom, converted from hindu to buddhist in the 1100s-1200s, ½ a mile from angkor thom was the angkor wat

        •  the sukhothais forced the khmers out in 1431 but the culture stood

    • islam expansion in the indian ocean was like it’s expansion everywhere else; merchants

    • sufi - missionaries into southeast asia, tolerant - many converts, they could be muslim and still honor local deitiesThe Americas

      
      

      North America

      Mississippian Culture

      • the first large scale civilization in north america was created in the 700s or 800s in the mississippi river valley

      • mississippians were known for their cahokias; large earthen mounds (up to 100 feet)

      • they had an rigid classification system; the chief (the Great Sun) ruled, under him was an upper class of priests and nobles, then a lower class of farmers, hunters, merchants, and artisans, and at the bottom were slaves (prisoners of war)

      • matrilineal society; society standing is determined by the women’s side

      • decline of mississippian civilization - people abandoned cahokia in 1450 and every else by 1600, the cause of this is not determined

      Chaco and Mesa Verde

      • tribes in southwestern united states

      • chaco - built large houses out of stone and clay

      • mesa verde - built multi-story homes into cliffs with sandstone bricks

      • both groups declined in the large 1200s as the climate became drier

      
      

      Mayan City States (height in 250-900)

      • stretched over mostly mexico but also belize, honduras, and guatemala

      • max 2 mil. population with approx. 40 cities

      • government - city state

        • ruled by a king and consisted of an city and its surrounding territory (mostly male)

        • wars between city-states were common, overthrowing was common, but war was mostly about tributes and sacrifice rather than territory

        • mayan kings were descendants of a god, the king directed scribes and priests 

        • common people were required to pay taxes, usually in the form of crops or labor

        • city-states had no standing armies - war ment citizens must serve

      • religion, science and tech

        • had concept of 0, developed a complex writing system, and made rubber

        • astrology - observed the sky on the tops of pyramids (chichen itza), developed the most accurate calendar at the time

        • priests (m or f) ran ceremonies honoring deities, offerings to important deities (of sun, rain, or corn) for prayers to be answered, sometimes offered war captives

      
      

      Aztecs (1200s-1519)

      • hunter-gatherers that migrated to mexico, founded the capital (tenochtitlan) in 1325

      • tenochtitlan (modern day mexico city) had over 200,000 people

      • many aqueducts, pyramids, temples, and palaces, floating gardens (chinampas)

      • government, economy, and society

        • they conquered much of mesoamerica, used a tribute system to rule

        • conquered people paid tribute, surrendered land, and gave military service

        • local rulers kept their positions and served as tribute collectors

        • the aztec had political dominance without direct administrative control

          • conquered people were protected

        • city-states were groups into provinces

        • the government was a theocracy - rule by religious leaders

        • social hierarchy -  emperor (Great Speaker) political and divine ruler, land owning nobles, scribes/healers, craftspeople/traders, luxury merchants (pochteca), peasants/soldiers, and slaves (in debt, criminals - often religious sacrifices)

        • religion - central in aztec society with hundreds of deities, gods sacrificed themselves to make the world, sacrifice was repayment for human sin, human sacrifice may have been for political reasons and was prob exaggerated by spanish to justify their conquests

        • role of women - wove tributary cloth (!!), most women worked in the home, some had jobs as priestesses, healers, merchants, or scribes, some were literate

        • decline - the aztecs didn’t have advanced tech: agriculture was inefficient, empire grew too big, tributary systems caused resentment towards the gov, spain

      
      

      Inca (1438-)

      • pachacuti - conquered tribes in cuzco, peru and combined the tribes into one state

      • from ecuador to chile, rulers focused on consolidating/managing conquered land

      • government, economy, and society

        • incan empire is split into four provinces, each with a governor and bureaucracy

        • conquered people did not pay tribute, loyalty was rewarded

        • mit'a system - mandatory public service

      • religion - inca means people of the sun, inti (sun go)

        • temple of the sun - core of incan religion

        • rulers were mummified, rulers would not inherit land, motivator for expansion

        • priests had say in important decisions and were seen as ultimate knowers

        • animism - elements of the physical world had supernatural powers (huaca)

      • achievements

      • quipu - knotted string abacus system

      • terrace agriculture system, waru waru (raised beds with water channels)

      • carpa nan - 25,000 miles of roads done by captive labor, lots of bridges and roads

      • deline - civil war when spain arrived (francisco pizarro), maybe a weakened army or maybe disease caused the downfall of the inca empire

      Sub-Saharan Africa 

      • development was shaped by migrations of bantu people

      • by 1000, most of the area had adopted agriculture

      • communal kin-based networks opposed to centralized government; family government

        • chief - male head who mediated conflicts with neighboring groups,chiefs in a district would work to together to fix the district’s problems, districts - groups of villages

      • as populations grew, kin-based networks became more difficult to govern, fighting

      • larger kingdoms became normal especially after 1000

      
      

      Hausa Kingdoms (nigeria <1000)

      • hausa people formed seven states in the hausa kingdom

      • states were loosely connected through kinship ties, no central authority

      • despite no sea access, trade was very important; Trans-Saharan trade

      • a western state specialized in military to protect the kingdom

      • in the 1300s missionaries introduce islam to the region

      
      

      West and East Africa - benefited from trade; wealth, political power, diversity

      
      

      Ghana (not in the same location as current day ghana)

      • possibly founded around 400 but gained its peak in the 700s-1000s

      • traded gold and ivory for salt copper cloth, and tools

      • capital city - Koumbi Saleh, centralized government with king, nobles, and iron army

      Mali

      • by the 1100s, ghana was declining, leading way for new powerful trading societies

      • founder sundiata was muslim and used to faith to establish trade relationships with north african and arab merchants; thriving gold trade and immense wealth

      • mansa musa (nephew) led pilgrimage to mecca, displaying mali’s gold/wealth

      Zimbabwe

      • zimbabwe - stone houses (opposed to wood)

      • the most powerful east african kingdom of the time (1100s-1400s)

      • built their prosperity on agriculture, grazing, trade, and gold(!!)

      • unlike ghana and mali, they based their trading in coastal cities; indian ocean trade

        • arabic and bantu mix to create swahili

      • rise and fall were due to their large stone defensive walls around great zimbabwe (cap.)

        • provided protection but overgrazing destroyed the surrounding environment

      Ethiopia (kingdom of Axum)

      • prospered in trade from india, arabia, and rome

      • 600s - islam makes the area more diverse

      • 1100s - christian led kingdoms in ethiopia rise

        • expressed their power through architecture (11 rock churches)

      • Ethiopian christianity developed separately from the rest of the christian world

      
      
      Social Structures in Sub-Saharan

      • strong central government over large territories are rare

      • communities are organized by kinship, age, and gender

        • family connections, age differentiated responsibilities, men do more specialized tasks while women work in agriculture, food gathering, and domestic chores

      • slavery has deep roots in africa; most commonly prisoners of war, debtors, and criminals

      • in kin-based societies, people did not really own land but rather people

        • number of enslaved people owned increased one’s social status

      

      
      

      • large demand for slaves in the middle east - indian ocean slave trade

      • enslaved east africans (zanj) worked on sugar plantations in mesopotamia

      • 869-883 - Zanj rebellion, 15,000 slaves revolted and captured Basra

      Culture

      • music, visual arts, and storytelling held cultural significance

        • religious purposes - ancestor veneration

      • griots and griottes - storytellers with encyclopedic knowledge, kora (harp)

        • griots were worshiped and feared because they were seen as all knowing and could tell of your success or downfall

        • kings often sought counsel in griots

        • griottes provided women with a sense of empowerment in an patriarchal societyEurope

          
          

          • Feudalism - decentralized government based of exchanging land for loyalty

          • Manorial system - economic self-sufficiency and defense for large estates

          • tech developments that promoted population growth - three field system (crop rotation), windmills, and new plows

          • later middle ages, monarchies gain more popularity; no more feudal lords, bureaucracy and a military that work directly for the monarch, countries look more modern

          France

          • under King Phillip iv(r. 1285-1314), estates-general meet - an body of king’s advisors from the three legal classes (clergy, nobility, commoners) 

            • upper two classes weren’t really taxed so estates-general had little power(upper two classes wanted to protect a government they weren’t financing), one cause of the french revolution in 1789

          Holy Roman Empire

          • German Otto is crowned Holy Roman emperor in 962, similar to charlemagne

          • otto’s successors survive power struggle between the papacy over the lay investiture controversy; whether an secular ruler could invest bishops into office

            • solved in the concordat of worms in 1122 when the church gained freedom from secular rulers

          • holy roman empire remained in power until 30 years war,1618-1648

            • the empire was formally ended when napoleon invaded in 1806

          Norman England

          • descendants of vikings that settled in normandy and moved when william the conqueror took over england, fusing anglo saxons and normans into english people

          • english nobles were resistant to normans, limiting their power; the magna carta 1215

            • english parliament started in 1265, increasing rights of nobles (not others)

          • house of lords + house of commoners = first parliament meeting, strong government

          Hundred Years' War (1337-1453)

          • battles between french and english monarchs

            • unity within countries, use of gunpowder and longbows

          Roman Catholic Church

          • 1054 - Great Schism between orthodox and catholic

          • catholic institution is the strongest in europe, divided into hundreds of political states

          • church staff were sometimes the only literate members of society (!!)

          • established the first universities in europe

          • held large power in the feudal system, determined manor success

          • hierarchy - priests, bishops, pope

          • monasteries become important in european economic function

          • corruption in the church (economic and political) leads to reform theologies (lutheran)

          Crusades

          • seeking to reclaim the holy land of palestine

          • primogeniture - eldest son gets the estate, younger sons don’t get any wealth or land

          • landed nobles led military campaign to help restless nobles and unemployed peasants

          • tensions between popes and kings strengthened the catholic church to take control

          • the church used the crusades as an opportunity to recruit converts, joining=heaven

          • 1st crusade, christian victory but muslim forces gain jerusalem back in 2nd crusade 

          • the crusades did promote trade and cultural exchange 

          • marco polo - brought knowledge about asia to europe

          • long distance trade grew and changed the social pyramid of western europe

          • economic success rivaled with religious or military success

            • the middle class began to grow

          • commerce led to larger cities and an decline in the feudal system

          • agricultural surplus led to the growth of towns and markets, need of more labor

          • plagues depleted the populations gave serfs bargaining power over lords

          • urban growth slowed during the little ice age, less agricultural growth

            • jewish people are scapegoated for negative effects

          Persecuted people

          • small jewish communities were all throughout the middle east and south europe

            • moving north was too expensive, amsterdam was welcoming

          • christians could not charge interest on other christians so they charged jews

          • anti-semitism spread among christians

            • jews were expelled from england in 1290, france in 1394, spain in 1492, and portugal in 1497

          • also faced discrimination; spanish king expelled them in 1492 and non-christians

          • 1200s - muslim ottoman empire expands to the balkan countries, larger muslim pop.

          • jews and muslims helped shape society

          • jews lived in urban areas and bridged christians and muslims who wanted trade

          • contacts with muslim caliphates opened a world of trade and ideas that was not existent under the isolatedness of feudalism 

          • women rights declined because of a wave of patriarchal ideas

          • less women were educated but many women could join religious leadership or become craftspeople/merchants (less rights though)

          • women in islamic societies had more equality, especially in africa and se asia

          Renaissance

          • expansion of trade, agricultural surplus, and rise of the middle class sparked creativity

          • printing presses allowed mass production of texts, growth of literacy and spread of ideas

          • humanism - focus on individuals instead of god

          • increased vernacular language, powerful monarchs, centralization of gov, nationalism

          • art sponsoring, criticism of religion, breaking barriers, human concerns, different vernaculars

          Russia

          • trade for furs, fish, and grain connected scandinavia to the mediterranean

          • kievan rus - orthodox city in this center of trade

          • later conquered by mongols, developed very separately from the rest of europe

          • nobles were required to collect taxes but used the money to resist mongol rule

          • ivan the great helps russia become free from mongol rule

Overview

• song dynasty - continued an long period of technological and cultural change

• abbasid - fragmented and shifted trade, brought islam to africa, middle east, and spain

• south/east asia - chola and vijayanagar used trade to build strong states, delhi sultanate was more land based

• africa - mali  became larger and more centrally administered than the previous empire of  ghana

• aztecs - formed a tributary system and relied on a strong military, decentralized 

• incan - used the mit’a system to state building

• europe - feudalism lost importance as centralized states grew, monarchies

• japan - became more decentralized and feudal

Religion

• china/east asia - confucian beliefs run deep, civil service

• confucian scholars run a powerful bureaucracy

• only state that was able to run such a large and powerful government over that size

• neo-confucianism spread to korea and japan, letting them consolidate their power

• south/east asia used hinduism and buddhism to strengthen their states

• europe - roman catholic church sometimes plays a role in state building

• the church offered structure where states lacked such in the middle ages

• between 1200 and 1450, powerful states emerge and sometimes rival the church (france and the holy roman empire)

• diffusion of religion - large spread of religion occurs

• islam, buddhist, and christians are encouraged to convert people, missionary activity

• hinduism remains dominant in south asia along with islam, later causing conflict

• trade networks help spread religion

• social organization remains patriarchal; some cultural variation

  • some women’s rights: convent life, south asia 

  • women’s loss of independence - china, foot binding

Trade

• technology and innovations are spread with trade - champa rice

• china becomes more urban and manufacturing - paper

• printing helps spread literacy and knowledge

• europe and asia traded a lot, not all interaction was peaceful

• mongols conquered but also spread knowledge

• nomadic people 

  • mongols - political stability allowed eurasia to expand

  • turks - many separate empires but very strong and large