Developments in Song China

• They maintained and justified their rule by:

  • Neo-Confucianism: they carried over a revival of confucianism from the Tang Dynasty

    • It sought to rid of confucian thought of the influence of buddhism

    • Society is hierarchical

      • To achieve social harmony those below had to serve to those above and those above had to care those below

      • Filial Piety

  • Imperial bureaucracy: 

    • Bureaucracy: a gov. entity arranged in a hierarchical fashion that carries out the will of the emperor

    • civil service exam: bureaucratic jobs were earned on the basis of merit (most qualified)

      • Open to everyone but has to be rich enough to be able to study wo financial worries

• Women:

  •  in song china were relegated to the subordinate position

  • Stripped of legal rights

    • Her property is her husband’s property

    • If she was widowed or divorced she could not remarry

  • Endured social restrictions compared to previous dynasties

    • Limited education

    • Elite women- foot binding

      • Status symbol among elite

• Influenced Korea, Japan, and Vietnam

  • Korea: civil service exam, adopted buddhism

• Buddhism

  • 4 noble truths:

    • Life is suffering

    • We suffer bc we crave

    • Cease suffering when we cease craving

    • The eight fold path will lead to cease of suffering

  • Similarities w hinduism:

    • Reincarnation

    • Ultimate goal to reach nirvana

  • New branches of Buddhism

    • Theravada Buddhism: 

      • Originated in Sri Lanka

      • Monks in monasteries do get enlightened 

      • Believed outsiders were too busy to fully absorb and get into the state of Nirvana

    • Mahayana Buddhism: East Asia

      • Made it a goal to help others reach nirvana 

• Economy:

  • Increased the prosperity from the previous chinese empires

  • Under Song rule, China’s pop doubled

  • Commercialization of Economy:

    • Manufacturers and artisans began to produce more goods than they consume

    • Sold excess goods in chinese markets and other countries

    • Porcelain and Silk

  • Agricultural innovations

    • Champa Rice: 2 harvests, resisted drought, matured early

      • Population growth

  • Transportation Innovations

    • Grand Canal Expansion

Developments in Dar-al-Islam

• All the places in world where Islam was main religion

• There were 2 other religions heavily practiced in this region:

  • Judaism

  • Christianity

  • These religions were monotheistic and wherever those religions were practices, it shaped their society

• Abbasid Caliphate:

  • Located in Baghdad

  • Ethnically arab

  • Started to break up and loose its power

    • New muslim empires started to rise who were ethnically Turkic, not arab

    • Muslim empires were still around but the dominant empires were led by turks, not arabs

• Seljuk Empire:

  • Established by turkic pastoralists

  • The Abbasids got help from the seljuks to keep their empire in line but they later fought w them and established their own empire

  • Although it was the Abbasids who remained power and remained as the religious head of Islam, it was the seljuks were were actually in control

• Turkic Empires: Continuity

  • Military administered their states

  • Established sharia law

    • Legal code based on the Quran

  • Nasir-al-din al- Tusi

    • Invented Trig

  • Preserved greek studies by translating them to Arab

    • House of Wisdom- baghdad

    • Golden age of Islam

• Dar-al-islam represented the center of Scholars and wealth

• Expansion of muslim rule

  • Military expansion

  • Muslim merchants

    • Mali

  • Muslim Missionaries

    • Sufi missionaries

South and Southeast Asia

• Three belief systems

  • Hinduism

  • Buddhism

  • Islam

• South Asia:

  • Buddhism was born here

  • Hinduism was the mode widespread

  • Islam was second most spread due to the Delhi Sultanate

  • Bhakti Movement:

    • Devotion to one hindu god

    • Mounted challenged to social and gender hierarchies

  • Delhi Sultanate: 

    • Ruled much of north india and had trouble holding onto that rule 

    • Rajput Kingdoms: warring hindu kingdoms that existed before the delhi sultanate and were able to keep muslim rule at bay

    • Vijayanagara Empire: South India 

      • Delhi sultanate sent emissaries who were hindus who converted to islam to spread islam to south india, but the emissaries converted back to hindu

• Southeast Asia

  • Competition between Buddhism and Islam

  • Many sea based and land based empires

    • Majapahit kingdom:

      • Sea based

      • Buddhihist kingdom

      • Maintained influence by controlling sea routes for trade

    • Khmer Empire:

      • Land based

      • Hindu kingdom but converted to Buddhist

      • Angkor Wat

State Building in the Americas

• The majority lived in Mesoamerica and Andean civilizations

• Aztec Empire:

  • Capital city: Tenochtitlan

  • Established an empire with an agreement with two other empires

  • Tribute states

    • The people had to provide labor for the Aztecs and regular contributions of good like food, animals, building materials, etc

  • Enslaved people played a large role in their religious sacrifices

• Incan Empire

  • Elaborate bureaucracy

  • Rigid hierarchy of officials spread throughout empire to ensure everyone was following them

  • Mit’a System

The aztecs were mostly decentralized in how they ruled while Inca were highly centralized

Developments in Europe

• Dominated by christianity

  • Eastern orthodox

  • Roman catholicism

• Byzantine Empire: represented the eastern half of the remaining roman empire

  • Eastern orthodox

• Kevan Rus

  • Eastern orthodox united the people

• Western Europe was dominated by the Roman Catholic Church

• Muslims and jews also exerted influence in Europe

• Political structure:

  • During this period, there were no empires. Decentralization and political fragmentation was the political flavor in Europe

  • Feudalism: A system of allegiance between powerful lords, monarchs, and knights

    • Vassals: received land from their lords in exchange for military service

  • Manorialism: 

    • Manor: piece of land owned by a lord in which was then rented out to peasants who worked the land

    • Peasants were bound to the land and worked on it in exchange of protection

      • Serfs: not personal property of the lord but were bound to the land and stayed their no matter what

    • The center of political and economic power was in the hands of landowning lords (nobility)