Exam Study Notes

Song Dynasty: Maintaining and Justifying Rule

  • The Song Dynasty (vague dates mentioned for context, not for memorization) maintained rule through two main methods:

    • Emphasizing Confucianism (Neo-Confucianism).
    • Expanding the imperial bureaucracy.

Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism

  • Confucianism: A philosophy defining Chinese culture from early days.

    • Experienced a revival during the Song Dynasty, carried over from the Tang Dynasty.

  • Neo-Confucianism: A revival with changes.

    • Sought to rid Confucian thought of Buddhist influence.

  • Core Idea: Hierarchical nature of society.

    • Prescribed orders with those above and below.

    • Examples:

      • Citizens submit to the state.
      • Women submit to men.
      • Juniors submit to elders.
      • Children submit to parents.

    • Harmony is achieved when those below defer to those above, and those above care for those below.

  • Filial Piety: Children obeying and honoring parents, grandparents, and ancestors.

    • Reinforced societal cohesion.
Role of Women
  • Women relegated to subordinate positions.
    • Stripped of legal rights and endured social restrictions.
  • Legal Rights:
    • A woman's property became her husband's.
    • Widowed or divorced women could not remarry.
  • Social Restrictions:
    • Limited access to education.
    • Foot Binding: Elite practice where young girls had their toes bent under and bound with cloth until they broke.
      • Served as a status symbol because women who couldn't walk couldn't work. Wealthy men could then hire servants or take additional wives.

Expansion of Imperial Bureaucracy

  • Bureaucracy: Government entity arranged hierarchically, carrying out the emperor's will.
  • Growth in scope during the Song Dynasty maintained their rule.
  • Civil Service Examination:
    • Eligible men had to take and pass a Civil Service Exam, based heavily on Confucian classes.
    • Jobs earned on merit, not favoritism.
    • Theoretically open to all socioeconomic statuses, but studying required wealth.

Influence on Neighboring Regions

  • Korea, Japan, and Vietnam were influenced by Chinese traditions.
    • Korea: Similar civil service examination, adoption of Buddhism.

Buddhism in Song China

  • Originated in India, spread to China before the Song Dynasty.

  • Four Noble Truths:

    • Life is suffering.
    • Suffering is due to craving.
    • Suffering ceases when craving ceases.
    • The way to cease craving is to live a moral life according to the Eightfold Path.

  • Shared beliefs with Hinduism, like reincarnation.

  • Ultimate goal: Nirvana (dissolving into the oneness of the universe).

  • Changes as it spread:

    • Theravada Buddhism (Sri Lanka): Confined to monks in monasteries who were trying to get enlightened by themselves.
    • Mahayana Buddhism (East Asia): Encouraged broader participation, Bodhisattvas helped others along the enlightenment path.

Song Economy

  • Inherited prosperity and population growth from Tang and Sui dynasties.

  • Commercialization: Manufacturers and artisans produced more goods than they consumed, selling excess in markets in China and across Eurasia.

    • Significant goods traded include porcelain and silk.

  • Innovations in agriculture led to a population explosion.

    • Champa Rice: Introduced from the Champa Kingdom; matured early, resisted drought, and could be harvested multiple times a year.

  • Innovations in transportation:

    • Expansion of the Grand Canal: Facilitated trade and communication.

Dar Al-Islam

  • Refers to all places where Islamic faith was the organizing principle.
  • Three major religions:
    • Judaism: Ethnic religion of the Jews, centered on the Torah and Hebrew Bible.
    • Christianity: Extension of Judaism, centered on the teachings of Jesus Christ.
    • Islam: Related to Judaism and Christianity, with Muhammad as the final prophet.
  • Monotheistic: Belief in one God. Used religions to shape their society.

Abbasid Caliphate

  • Center of power in Baghdad.
  • Ethnically Arab.
  • Began to break up, losing its powerful position.
    • New Islamic political entities arose, led by Turkic people.
Seljuk Empire
  • Established in the 11th century in Central Asia by Turkic pastoralists.
  • Abbasids brought in Seljuk warriors for military help.
  • Seljuks saw weaknesses and fought with Abbasids, establishing their own empire.
  • The Mongol's sacking of Baghdad flushed the remains of the Abbasid Empire.
  • Seljuks held power while Abbasids remained religious figureheads with limited power.

New Muslim Empires

  • Dominance of Arab Muslim empires faded, replaced by Turkic Muslim empires.
  • Continued practices from former empire:
    • Military administered the states.
    • Sharia law as organizing principle of legal systems.

Cultural and Scientific Innovations

  • Nasir al-Din al-Tusi: Muslim scholar who made advances in mathematics and invented trigonometry.

  • Preservation of Greek philosophy was done via Arabic translations and commentaries.

    • House of Wisdom in Baghdad: Library with scholarly works under the Abbasid Empire which became known as the golden age of Islam.

Expansion of Muslim Rule

  • Military expansion: Seljuk, Mamluk, Delhi Sultanate.
  • Traveling Muslim merchants: Stimulated trade and movement in North Africa and West Africa, the Empire of Mali gradually converted to Islam.
  • Sufis engaged in missionary activities: Represented a new sect of Islam emphasizing mystical experience and adaptation to local beliefs.

South and Southeast Asia

  • Focus on how belief systems affected societies and state-building efforts.
  • Three main religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam.

South Asia

  • Buddhism was in decline.
  • Hinduism remained widespread.
  • Islam became influential with the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate.
Bhakti Movement
  • Began in Southern India, an innovation on traditional polytheistic Hinduism.
    • Emphasized devotion to one Hindu god.
    • Challenged social and gender hierarchies.

Southeast Asia

  • Buddhism and Islam fought for dominance.

State Building in South Asia

  • Delhi Sultanate ruled much of Northern India but struggled to impose Muslim rule.

    • Meatball sub sandwich analogy: Religious conversions must to be voluntary.
Hindu Resistance
  • Rajput Kingdom: Collection of rival Hindu kingdoms resisted Muslim rule.
  • Vijayanagara Empire: Rose in the South as a counterpoint to Muslim rule.

State Building in Southeast Asia

  • Diverse set of sea-based and land-based empires.
Majapahit Kingdom
  • Based in Java, Buddhist kingdom, controlled sea routes for trade.
  • Declined when China supported its trading rival, the Sultanate of Malacca.
Khmer Empire

  • Founded as a Hindu kingdom, leadership converted to Buddhism.

    • Angkor Wat: Hindu temple with added Buddhist elements.

The Americas

  • Two major centers of civilization: Mesoamerica and the Andean civilization.

Mesoamerica

Aztec Empire
  • Founded in 1345 by the Mexica people.
  • Capital city: Tenochtitlan.
  • Alliance with two other Mesoamerican states led to aggressive expansion.
  • System of tribute states: Conquered people provided labor and goods.
  • Enslaved people played a large role in Aztec religion, often as candidates for human sacrifice.

Andean Civilization

Inca Empire
  • Stretched across the Andean Mountain Range.
  • Incorporated land and languages of older Andean societies.
  • Developed an elaborate bureaucracy with rigid hierarchies.
  • Maydas system: Required labor on state projects.
  • Aztec were decentralized, Inca were highly centralized.

North America

Mississippian Culture
  • First large-scale civilization, grew around the Mississippi River Valley.
  • Large towns dominated smaller satellite settlements.
  • Known for monumental mounds, for example, Cahokia people's burial mounds.

Africa

East Africa

Swahili Civilization
  • Series of cities organized around commerce along the East African coast.
  • Independent politically, shared a social hierarchy.
  • Deeply influenced by Muslim traders.
  • Swahili language: Hybrid of indigenous Bantu languages and Arabic, demonstrating cultural intermingling.
  • States rapidly became Islamic, increasing integration into Islamic trade.

West Africa

  • Powerful and centralized civilizations: Ghana, Mali, Songhai Empire.
  • Growth driven by trade, leading to conversion to Islam (mostly elites).
  • Hausa Kingdoms: Series of city-states, brokers of the Trans-Saharan trade.

Great Zimbabwe

  • Capital city built between December '14 '50.
  • Grew thanks to trade, shifted from farming to gold exports.
  • Rulers and people never converted to Islam, maintained indigenous shamanistic religion.

Kingdom of Ethiopia

  • Grew and flourished because of trade, especially with Mediterranean and Arabian Peninsula.
  • Christian state in a sea of African states dominated by Islam and indigenous beliefs.
  • Hierarchical power structure.

Europe

Belief Systems

  • Dominated by Christianity, with two flavors: Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholicism.
Byzantine Empire
  • Represented the Eastern half of the Roman Empire, practiced Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
Kievan Rus'
  • New state emerged to carry the belief system forward.
Western Europe
  • Dominated by the Roman Catholic Church.
  • Split into tiny decentralized states, largely isolated from international trade.
  • Church had significant influence over society and culture and politics.
  • Muslims and Jews also exerted influence in Europe.

State Organization

  • Decentralization and political fragmentation.
Feudalism

  • Powerful lords and kings gained allegiance from lesser lords and kings (vassals).

    • Vassals received land in exchange for military service.
Manorialism

  • Manor: Huge piece of land owned by a lord, rented out to peasants (serfs).

    • Serfs were bound to the land and worked in exchange for the lord's protection; almost like the landowners slaves.

  • Nobility held political and economic power.

  • Monarchs began to grow in power after 1,000 CE, centralizing states.