Unit 1: The Global Tapestry

East asia-china korea and japan

Han-Sui-Tang-Song dynasties

Confucianism is understood as a philosophical and ethical system originating in ancient China, emphasizing social harmony, moral integrity, and respect for authority. It's not a religion in the traditional sense, but rather a way of life and a guide to behavior, focusing on proper relationships and duties within society.
The song dynasty of china utilized traditional; methods of confucianism and imperial bureaucracy to maintain and justify their rule
In China, the system of using examinations for recruiting officials began under the Han dynasty. Candidates faced fierce competitions in a series of exams dealing with confucian texts on the local, regional, and state levels.

New classes appeared in China under the Song dynasty because of an increase in China's productive power, the examination system was open to all qualified applicants but wasn't available to poor people, and the number of men who were granted degrees increased.

Song dynasty used confucianism to maintain order and also policies and procedures

Daoism- founder is Laozi and originated in china, the key ideas of daoism are withdrawal from the worlds into contemplation of nature; simple living; end of striving

Buddhism- founder is Siddhartha Gautama and it was founded in China, the key ideas of buddhism is suffering caused by desire/attachment; end of suffering through the modest and moral living meditation practice.

Confucianism- Confucius was the founder and originated in china, social harmony through moral example; secular outlook; importance of education; family as model of the state

Cultural development and interactions
Influence of these belief in east asia

The assimilation of a major Indian religion into China, peaceful coexistence of the 3 traditions.

Cultural traditions continued to shape societies and have influenced on neighboring regions
-hinduism
-judaism
-christianity
-islam

In East asia
producing or creating were the free peasant and the artisanal labor
The people who were trading were the merchants
The people who were consuming were individuals or groups

Economy of east asia
The economy of song china flourished as a result of increase productive capacity, expanding trade networks, and innovations in agricultural and manufacturing

Envoy- someone who is on a assignment for an emperor or king, they are doing the trading

-the ways that societies produce, exchange, and consume goods and services will be seen throughout the course
-technological innovations and their effects will become increasingly more complex over time

Developments in dar al-islam from 1200-1450
Dar al-islam- the house of islam where islam is practiced: middle east, north africa, and the south part of western europe.
-Islam then spreads to east and west african, eastern Europe, northern part of India, and southeast asia after 900 ce
Islam began in mecha
islam , judaism, and christianity continued to shape societies in asia, africa, and europe

Canon of medicine- knowledge of medicine
-spread of belief systems across trade networks facilitated cultural exchanges
-interactions because more frequent and complex over time
-products and food

Judaism was monotheistic and a ethnic religion of jew which originated in the middle east
Christianity grew from Judaism and was established by the jewish prophet Jesus christ. The roman empire adopted christianity and that began the most significant influence of christianity upon society

Islam was founded by the prophet muhammad on the Arabian peninsula, muhammad taught his followers that salvation would be found in righteous actions like almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. After the prophet's death his faith started spreading rapidly through the middle east, north and sub saharan africa, into europe and down to south asia. This was dar-al-islam.

Islamic states became more prosperous because islam followers were merchants and this had a drastic influence on trade.

New islamic states arise

Abbasid caliphate which was founded in the 8th century
-ethnically arab
-in power during the golden age of islam
By the 1200s is started to fracture and lose its place as the center of islam
The abbasid rose to power replacing the umayyad caliphate by various fights

Power of the abbasids began to wayne in which several new islamic empires began to rise in this place
-these new islamic empires were largely made up of turkics not arab people
From the time of muhammad to the fall of the Abbasid, islamic empires were run by Arabs but now the Turkish muslims start coming in and setting up new rival empires out of the fall of the Abbasid empire.

Turkic muslim empires
Slejuk empire- established in the 11th century in central asia, they were pastoral people which were brought in by the abbasids as a military force to expand empire and cultural integration. Abbasid were still in power and claimed to speak for all of islam but the seljuks had most of the political power

Mamluk sultanate- in egypt, the abbasid needed more laborers so they enslaved turkic warriors which were the mamluks. When the ruler died the mamluks seized power giving rise to another turkic muslim state

Delhi sultanate-muslim state and ruled over the indian populations for about 300 years

As the arab muslim empires, like the abbasid, declined, new muslim empires made up of turkic peoples were on the rise.
-these new muslim states also resembled the former arab empires in several ways.
Military in charge of administrations
Implemented sharia law (a code of laws established in the quran)

Islam continued to spread in places of afro eurasia through (how islam spread)
-military expansion (delhi sultanate)
-merchant activity which is trade, much of north africa was full of muslims and that stimulated trade and movement of merchants throughout africa.
Empire of mali turn to islam for many reasons but an important one was for access to trade in dar-al-islam
-islam spread due to muslim missionaries and a large branch of them were known as the sufis. (Sufism was a new and emerging form of islam that emphasizes spirit experiences and this experience disregarded class or gender. This became a significant force for the spread of islam.

Across dar-al-islam there are a lot of intellectual innovations and transfers
-mathematics by Nasir al-din al-tusi, made to see how plants and stars move through the sky. HIs ideas were then further used to make more concepts of the universe

-house of wisdom, this was during the golden age of islam and was established in bagdash. This was a world famous library in which scholars from around the world came to see.

State Building in South and Southeast asia year 1200
3 main religions with were hinduism, islam, and buddhism

India- dominant religion is hinduism.
Polytheistic belief system
Ultimate goal of believers is to reunite their individual souls to all pervasive world soul know as brahman, mostly achieved in reincarnation
Provided the conditions for a unified culture in india, structures indian society according to the caste system
Ethnic religion and doesn't spread very well

Buddhism in south asia
Founded in india
Believed in the cycle of birth and death and reincarnation such as hinduism
Shared a ultimate goal to dissolve into the oneness of the universe
Buddhism is a much more universal religions meaning buddhism is much more likely to spread
By 1200 buddhism in india was not very popular
-buddhism rejected the caste system and and believed in equality for all

Islam- in 1206 turkic muslim invaders came into south asia and set up muslim empires known as the delhi sultanate. While buddhism popularity decreads islam because the second most important religion
-in large parts of india the muslims were in charge, it became the religion of the elite, and then throughout south east asia.

Southeast asia had hinduism buddhism and islam
Belief system systems change
-hinduism
-Bhakti movement encourages believers to worship one particular god in the hindu pantheon of gods.
-rejected the hierarchy of hinduism
-encouraged spiritual experiences to all people regardless of social status
-islam
-sufism, both religions emphasize mystical experiences, reject the elaborate doctrines, and religious requirements of the elite, and emphasize access to spiritual experience to all people. Made them better candidates for spreading
-buddhism
-despite the original teachings of the Buddha emphasizing access to enlightenment for people, by the time in south asia it had become more and more exclusive. Only monks were looking for nirvana

How did states form and maintain their power, state building
South asia- leaders of the delhi sultanate had lots of trouble imposing islam on india, hinduism was too social and cultural entrenched to islam becoming a minority religion.
Resistance movement
rajput kingdom, rival hindus that existed before islamic rule. Some maintain independent states while others were conquered
Vijayanagara empire- hindu kingdom in the south
-North wanted from the Delhi sultanate wanted to extend rule from the north to the south so they sent emissaries. Those emmasaries were hindus turned islam so when they reached the south they join the vijayanagara empire to establish a rival hindu empire

Sea-based states in Southeast Asia

Srivijaya empire
-ruled there before from the 7th-11th centuries and they were a buddhist state but were heavily influenced by hindu culture. Their main power came from their control over the waterway strait of malacca. Best way for merchants to get access to the ocean and get anywhere so the rulers got very rich by taxing these ships who wanted to pass through the strait.

-13th century the majapahit empire
was established and it was a hindu kingdom but there were strong buddhist influences. They maintained power through a tributary system.
Tributary- empire had the most power so they required tribute or goods and service from other smaller estates and this is how they showed power

Land Based states in southeast asia
Sinhala dynasty
-existed in Sri Lanka and was a Buddhist state that existed for around 2000 years.
When designating a state as sea based or land based, what we are really talking about is whether they get their power from the sea or from the land.

Khmer empire
-founded as a hindu empire, hindu is a ethnic religion that doesn't spread but this was an exception. Khmer was prosperous and built the angkor wat. It was supposed to represent the entire hindu universe in one place but then khmer rulers converted to buddhism and they added buddhism to this place without taking away the hindu parts.
This is an example of syncretism where 2 religions blend as seen with the buddhist and the hindus

State building in the americas
Mesoamerican civilization-the mayans had urban centers, the most sophisticated writing and had contributions to math creating the idea of using 0
State structure was a decentralized collections of city-states that were frequently at war with one another
When the mayas sought out to expand they were not looking for territory but fought to create a vast network of tributary states among neighboring regions. So these regions remained independent but still have to give things to tribute the mayans such as textiles, military weapons, and building materials
Emphasis on human sacrifices, they believed that the sun was a dehiteen losing power in a struggle against darkness so they need to help by human sacrifices

-how states during this period demonstrated continuity and innovation compared to those states that came before

Aztec empire 1345-1538
-the mexica ethnic group were the folks that established the aztec power in relation with 2 other mesoamerican civilizations and they got power through marrying into power families.
-decentralized power, people had to give to the aztecs and this good be food materials and money. This is how the aztecs showed their vast expanding empire and had tributary systems
-religious motivation for expansion
In order to secure their legitimacy as rulers over these people, the mexica claimed heritage from older, more renowned mesoamerican people.

City building process- the seed of power and religious authority was located in tenochtitlan which had a population of 150-200,000 people.
-Vast markets were set of meaning their economy was commercialized
-has pyramids temples and palaces for rulers

Andean civilization/ inca empire
-Set up along the andes mountains
-earlier societies which was the wari and collapsed in 1000 ce
In the 1400s the inca is established around the same area as the mari and the inca borrowed a lot from those older civilizations
OUtsiders who rose to power via military prowess
Expanded their empire rapidly with this miliary
-difference between the aztec and the inca was that the aztec had a decentralized power and relied on tributary relations the inca had a centralized power
Incas set of a massive bureaucracy to insure the will of the ruler was followed in all parts of the empire
Mita system- the inca state required the labor of all people for a period of time each year to work on state projects like mining or military services. These were requirements to the people they conquered not through paper payments but through labor
Inca borrow other things from past civilizations and used bridges and roads

North american civilizations
Missisipian culture
emerged around the 8th or 9th ce, the first large scale civilization in North America
soil was very fertile there so their society was developed around agriculture
Political structure was dominated by powerful chiefs known as the great sun which ruled each town and extended political power over smaller satellite settlements, hierarchy system
Cahokia was the largest urban center, they had built on and around mountains for religious uses

Chaco and Mesa verde societies
-this region is very dry so they made innovations on transporting and storing water, they carved out his structures and built them under cliffs. This civilization came from the rise of the mississippian

State building in africa 1200-1450
Sub Saharan africa
Swahili civilization
-emerged on africa's east coast, independent collection of city states thats rose to prominence due to strategic location on the coast which gave the access to the bustling indian ocean trade
merchants that arrived here were interested in gold,ivory, and timber, and enslaved laborers
-focused on trade and there goods were imported from farmers and pastoralist
Islam became a dominant belief system, this is because this civilization focused on trade and the most popular merchants that were coming were muslim merchants. Connected them to dar-al-islam
Islam influenced the swahili language, hybrid between bantu which were the indigenous people and arabic which were the outside people

Swahili vs song china

-bow expanded wealth by participating in trade beyond their borders
-btih had a hierarchical class structure that organized society
China did it with confusion ideals and swahili elevated the merchant elites above commoners

DIfferences
China had a highly centralized power structure with an emperor at the top
Swahili had no larger unified political structure

Another commercial african state, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe got rich by participating in the Indian ocean trade by controlling several ports on the coast. They were exporting gold while their main economic source was farming and cattle.
-With all this money coming in they established a massive capital city with some of the biggest structures in africa

State building in west and east africa
-hausa kingdom
Collection of city-states that were politically independent and gained power and wealth through trade across the trans-saharan trade network. The hausa deeply resembled swahili

Swahili vs hauses
States were urbanized and commercialized, acted as middlemen fro goods grown in the interior which the integrated into trade patterns with other states across west and north africa
Each state ruled by a king who imposed social hierarchies on their societies
Rulers converted to islam which furthers facilitated trade with muslim merchants

African states during this period adopted islam to both organize their societies and facilitate trade with larger network present in dar-al-islam

Ethiopia
Grew wealthy through trade
-traded in both the mediterranean sea and in the larger indian ocean network trading one of their most valuable commodities which was salt

Centralized power
-king sat at top
-stratified class hierarchy below the king

Europe 1200-1450
-christianity dominated europe
During the time of the roman empire christianity became the official stage religion because of the emperor constantine. Over time this belief system united romans all over the place
Western half of the roman empire fell but the eastern side known as the byzantine empire kept the faith and the politically and socially organizing structure for another melania

Christianity in Europe
Eastern orthodox christianity provided a belief structure which helped the byzantine empire consolidate the power which was highly centralized
Roman Catholic Christianity, by 1200 the byzantine empire had experienced a loss by neighboring islamic powers and losing lots of territory to them

Byzantine still had a large influence on eastern mediterranean and south west europe
Until 1453

1453 a new muslim power known as the ottoman empire, they took the capital city of constantinople and changed it to istanbul and that was the end of the byzantine empire

While the byzantine empire fell eastern orthodox christianity will be picked off the ground and embraced by another group alive named the kievan rus
-kievan rus had adopted eastern orthodox christianity long before the fall of constantinople but after the fall of the byzantine the kievan became the man embodiment of this religion
-they borrowed things from the byzantine such as architecture, their alphabet, and using church structures to organize the state

Western Europe
This kinds of centralization was not occurring
-these states were isolated from the rest of the world in term of trading connection
-roman catholicism was still popular around the entirety of western europe
-church hierarchy of popes, bishops and cardinals provided common structure of states across western europe

While christianity was certainly the dominant belief system here, islam and judaism held important minority positions

Iberian peninsula- muslims invaded in the 8th century and this was an example of muslim rule in europe, by our period they ran the place

Jews- were scattered throughout europe and facilitated and participated in trade, but european christians were sus of jews and some ways of anti-semitism kept them living
In the edges of european societies

Political decentralization in west europe
-Around the time of this period there were no large empires in europe. Decentralization and fragmentation was in europe
In western europe, the social, political, and economic order was essentially organized around a system known as feudalism

Feudalism- a system of alliances between powerful lords, monarchs, and knights
-greater lords and kings gained allegiance from lesser lords and kings and this is known as feudalism
-land was exchanged to keep everyone loyal

manorialism -peasants were bound to land and worked it in exchange fro protection from the lord and his military forces
Serfs- they were basically slaves but they were bound to the land and not the lords

During the 1200s, monarchs in various states began to gain power and centralize their states by introducing large militaries and bureaucracies
-prior to this the nobility were the ones with power but more and more monarchs centralize authority

consequences of this were competition of influence and power between monarchs

Compare 1200 to 1450
Recap:

Americas
Continuity in the aztec empires to use religion to show off political power
Incas using roads for communication and trade

Africa
Coptics as a syncretic blend of christianity and animistic beliefs
Port cities rise as a part of the indian ocean trade

Dar al-islam
Abbasid caliphate dissolves
New empires, like the ottoman empire emerge

East Asia
Song dynasty rises
Uses confucianism and old bureaucratic ideas to rule

South and Southeast asia