UNIT 1

1200-1450

State - territory politically organized under one government

Song China

960-1279

  1. Confucianism - is the idea or belief in which people work together and respect one another based on age, status, and relationship to ensure a peaceful and harmonized society.

    Song Dynasty created a revival of confuciansim from the tang dynasty which came right before the song

    • Now called Neo-Confucianism

      • Changes - rid Confucian though of the influence of Buddhism which had influenced it significantly in prior centuries

      • Filal Piety - children obey elders

    • Women in Song China

      • Stripped of legal rights

      • Husbands owned their property

      • If widowed cannot remarry

      • footbinding - broken of feet to show status symbol among elites

      • limited to education

  2. Imperial Bureaucracy

    Bureaucracy - government arranged in a hierarchical fashion that carries out the wills of the emperor

    • Men had to pass a civil service examination based on confucianism

    • Men got jobs based on merit - education - most qualified people got the jobs

    • Open to all statues, but in order to study for the exam, you must be rich enough to take time off from work, and devote yourself to study

How did song China influence Korea, Japan, Vietnam?

  • relationships w china, they had similar ties with one another

  • Korea + Vietnam used civil service examination for work and adopted buddhism + confucianism

  • Japan adopted art, achitecture, and chinese writing as well and buddhism and confucianism

Buddhism developed in India and spread to China as years passed by

  • 4 noble truths - life is suffering, we suffer because we crave, we cease suffering when we cease craving, eight fold path leads to the end of suffering and craving

  • Buddhism and Hinduism similarities - reincarnation, Nirvana (end of suffering and craving - refering to 8 fold path)

    • NEW BRANCES OF BUDDHISM

      1. Thervada Buddhism in Sri Lanka - monks isolated themselves to become enlightened and they believed regular people were too focused on other things rather than Nirvana

      2. Mahayana Buddhism in East Asia - Bodhisattvas attained elightenment and tried to help others to enlighten them as well

Economy of Song China

  • They already had wealth from the Tang Dynasty, and it only increased from the Song Dynasty leading to a population explosion

    1. Commercialization of Economy

      • Manufacturers and artisans began to produce more goods and they consumed, then they sold excess goods in China and across Eurasia, boosting their wealth even more

      • PORCELAIN AND SILK

    2. Agricultural Innovations - pop. explosion

      • Champa Rice - From Vietnam —> China

        • Grew fast, resisted drought, could be planted in various places, and harvested multiple times a year

    3. Transportation Innovations

      • Expansion of Grand Canal which facilitated trade and communication

      • Used Junks from Han Dynasty

Dar- Al Islam - House of Islam

Monothesistic religions practiced in Dar-Al Islam

  • Judaism - religion of jews - centered on teaching of torah (MIDDLE EAST)

  • Christianity - extension of judaism, centered on Jesus Christ (MIDDLE EAST)

  • Islam - Mohammed was the final prophet, salvation would be found in alms giving, prayer, hajj, fasting, etc (MIDDLE EAST)

  • All believed in ONE GOD

How did Islam shape societies?

Abbasid Caliphate

  • located in Baghdad

  • Ethnically Arab

  • Fragmented, new islamic entities rose who were dominated by Turkic people

    • Example : Seljuk Empire - Seljuks established it - Abbasids needed military help, so they brough in Seljuk warriors, and the Seljuks realized how weak the Abbasids were, so they took advantage and fought amongst them instead (SELJUKS HAD POWER) - Arab Muslim empires faded while Turkic rose

      • Turkic Empires: Continuity

        1. Military administered their states (military governance + in charge of government)

        2. Practiced Sharia (Sharia law is a legal system based on Islamic teachings from the Quran and Hadith, guiding Muslims)

      • Cultural Innovations:

        1. Nasir Al- Din-Al-Tusi = math and invented trig

        2. Muslim scholars preserved the greek moral and natural philospophies by translating it into Arabic - they did this in the house of Wisdom in Baghdad - Renasiance began in Europe after the rediscovery of those ancient Greek scripts

      • Expansion of Muslim Rule

        1. Military explansion such as Seljuks

        2. Traveling Muslim merchants

          • Mali became an islamic state primarily because of the increase access of trade among daar - al - islam

        3. Missionary activities of Sufis - mystical experience (adapted to local beliefs) - people thought sufism was better

South Asia + South East Asia

How did belief systems effect their societies?

  • Hinduism

  • Buddhism

  • Islam

South Asia

  • Buddhsim was born here then traveled to China and became extinct in India

  • They believed in Hinduism

  • Islam became widely believed in because of the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate

    • Because parts of India, Muslims were in charge, it spread to the elites and then spread in general

  • Hinduism Changes

    • Bhakti Movement

      1. Began on an innovation of traditional polytheistic hinduism

      2. It became devotion to one of the Hindu gods - this was more attractive to those who didnt like the hindu hierarchies and sacrifices

      3. Created challenges to social and gender hierarchies

South East Asia

  • Buddhism and Islam

State Building in South Asia

  • Although the Delhi Sultanate ruled much of Northern Asia, they couldnt hold onto the ruling, and create a total muslim state in a primarily hindu state

  • Rajput Kingdom (Hindu Resistance against Muslims) - Hindu Kingdoms that had existed before Muslim rule in India

  • Vijayanagra Empire (Hindu Resistance) - Established because of a failed attempt of the Delhi Sult. to exapnd muslim rule into the south, they sent emissaries to take over the south, but actually those emisarries were former hindus that were forced to be converted to islam by their conquerors, and once they got to the south they converted back and created a rival empire

South East Asia State Building

  • Sea based - Majapahit Kingdom (Java) - Buddhist Kingdom, very powerful, maintained its influence and power by controlling sea routes for trade, declined when China began supporting the sultanate of Malacaa + military conquests and tribute states

  • Sea based - The Srivijaya Empire, a maritime and commercial kingdom, controlled the Strait of Malacca between the 7th and 13th centuries, they taxed ships and goods to help create money. The empire's control over the strait facilitated lucrative trade with China, India, and Arabia. 

  • Land Based Empire - Khmer Empire - founded and a Hindu, then converted to Buddhism

    • You can see this in the structure Angkor Wat, built as a temple, but later they added Buddhist elements

State Building in the Americas

  • Mesoamerica and Andeans civilizations

Mesoamerica

  • Aztec Empire - founded by the Meshika people, tenochtitlan was giant

    • Entered an alliance and established an empire

    • Aztec Administration

      1. Created an elaborate system of tribute states

        • People they conquered were relied to provide labor for the Aztecs and provide regular contribuitions of goods

        • Enslaved people were used a candidates of human sacrifice

Adean

  • Incan Empire

    • used older indian languages

    • elabroate bureaucracy - rigid hierarchy of officials spread through out the empire to make sure rules were carried out

    • mit’a system - people under their rule should provide labor for their civilization

    • Built the Carpa Nan thru the mit’a system - had ellabroate roads

Aztects were decentralized while the Incas were centralized

Mississipian Culture

  • Grew up near Mississipian river valley, soil was very fertile there so they focused on agriculture

  • Large towns dominated smaller sattelite societies

  • Monumental mounds - Cahokia people constructed

Africa

East Africa

  • Swahili Civilization

    • Trading from Indian Ocean trade network

    • shared common social hierarchy, merchant elite above commoners

    • influenced by muslim traders

      1. New languages emerged because of this, Swahili was a mix of Bantu and Arabic as muslims created diasphoric communities there

      2. Swahili became more islamic introducing them more into Islamic trade

West Africa

  • Powerful highly centralized civilizations

  • Examples: Ghana, Mali, Songhay

  • Driven by trade, gave them reason to become muslim

  • Elite members and gov officials converted to islam while majority of the pop held onto their traditional beliefs

  • Hausa Kingdoms

    • Not centralized - city states

    • Common language among themselves

    • Grew powerful through Trans-Saharan trade

  • Great Zimbabwe

    • Grew thanks to trade

    • Cattle herding

    • Became wealthy and shifted to gold exports

    • They never converted to Islam

  • Ethiopia

    • Grew because of trade

    • They were Christian

    • Hierarchical power

Developments in Europe

Christianity

  • Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholicism

    • Byzantine empire = eastern orthodox, it was declining severly

    • After the declining of Byzantine empire, Kievean Rus errupted - eastern orthodox carried out Byzantine empire, united the people, more trade

  • Western Europe = Roman Catholic

    • Became fragmented after the fall of the Roman Empire

    • Roman Catholicism kept them united

    • Church influenced society, culture, politics

  • Jews and Muslims existed in Europe

    • Muslims conquered Al-Andalus

    • Jews lived in smaller parts - Anti - Semitism

    • Jews existed in the Ottoman empire, ottoman empire produced the Jizya tax upon them

How were European states organized?

  • No large empires

  • Decentralization and political fragmentation

  • Fuedalism

    • Powerful lords, monarchs and knights - land for loyalty and service

      1. Knights received land from their lords in exchange to protect them

  • Manoralism - Serfdom

    • Peasants/Serfs were bound to land and worked on it in exchange for protection from the lord and his military

    • Center of political power and economic power was in the hands of nobility

    • Later monarchs took power, but thats later!