Unit 1 (1200-1450): State Building

Song China maintained its rule through Confucianism and an imperial bureaucracy. Buddhism continued to shape China’s society. The Song economy flourished during this period

• Song China expanded the Civil Service Exam (Meritocracy)

  • People are appointed to Bureaucracy because they are most fit for it, not because of the status they were born in

• Imperial Bureaucracy - A group of people who work in the government to make sure the will of the emperor is followed throughout the empire

  • Song Dynasty expanded it

• Buddhism → Outside Influence from India

  • Buddhism in SE Asia took the form of Theravada Buddhism (Personal Spiritual Growth)

  • Buddhism in China & Korea took the form of Mahayana Buddhism (Spiritual Growth for All Beings)

    • Zen (Chen) Buddhism → Blend of Buddhism and Daoism

    • Meditation, Direct Experience of Reality

    • Filial Piety → Organized Families & Society 

      • Obedience to One’s Parents & Male Head

    • Foot Binding → High Social Status Sign

      • Women's feet are wrapped at a young age to prevent the growth

      • Unable to walk around; kept women at the home

    • Song Economy

      • Champa Rice → Entered China from the Vietnam region

        • Ripened Quickly, Greatly Expanded Chinese Production

        • Population “Explosion”

      • Grand Canal → Internal Waterway & Transportation

        • United China economically for trade

      • Tribute System

        • Various states around China had to offer goods & money to honor the emperor. 

        • Those who paid tribute were able to trade with China

        • China had economic power over other states

  • Tibetan Region saw a more outwardly expressed form

As the Abbasid Caliphate declined, new Islamic political entities emerged and they engaged in expansion, while creating the occasion for intellectual innovations and transfer

• As the Song Dynasty flourished, the Abbasid Caliphate began to crumble

• Delhi Sultanate (Northern India), Mamluk Sultanate (Egypt) began to rise 

  • Different from Abbasid because they were made up of Turkic Muslims, not Arab or Persian

  • Formed a Cultural Region bound together by Islam

• Expansion

  • Military (ie. Delhi Sultanate)

  • Merchants → Trade Routes (Silk Roads)

    • Cultural Diffusion

  • Sufism (Islam) → more able to adapt to local forms and cultures without damaging the faith.

    • Islamic Purification

• Innovations → Algebra, Trig (Nasir al-Din al-Tusi)

• Literature → Poetry with Sufi themes

• Cultural Transfers

  • Muslims in Spain translated Greek Classics into Arabic

  • Indian Mathematics to Europeans

Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam deeply influenced state-building in South and Southeast Asia 

• Delhi Sultanate → Established in Northern India

  • A majority of India was Hindu

  • Some Hindus converted, but many did not

  • Jizya tax on Hindus for not converting to Muslim

  • Many lower-caste Hindus switched to Islam to “move up in the world”

• Vijayanagara Empire (South) → Hindu Kingdom

  • 2 Brothers from Delhi Sultanate were sent to the South to Claim Land

    • Switched back to Hindu and established a rival empire

• Bhakti Movement 

  • Strong Attachment to a particular deity (like Sufi Muslim)

  • Could easily attach to other cultures

• SE Asia was heavily involved in trade

• Srivijaya Empire (Hindu) → Taxed trade

• Majapahit Kingdom (Buddhist) → Controlled Sea Routes

• Land-Based Kingdoms

  • Khmer Empire →  Complex Irrigation and Drainage

    • Began Hindu and then Changed to Buddhist

    • Angkor Wat → Buddhist Temple with Hindu Inspiration (Blended)

The various civilizations of the Americas developed strong states, large urban centers, and complex belief systems

• Cahokia → Mississippian Culture

  • Largest Urban Center of the Mississippian Cultures 

  • Mound Builders → Religious/Ceremonial/Elite Residential Purposes

  • Class System → Each town had a ruler, priests, etc.

    • Complex civilizations in the Americas

• Mexica (People); Aztec (Empire)

  • Tenochtitlan → Capital City

    • Ziggurats → Monuments

    • Marketplaces

    • 200,000 Inhabitants

  • Tribute System → Sent governors to take tribute from those they’ve conquered

    • Paid in land, money, military, goods & services, etc.

    • Economic & Political Dominance

• Inca Empire

  • Provinces had Governors & Bureaucracies

  • Mit’a System → Men aged 15-50 had to provide public service

    • Roads, Agriculture, etc.

African state-building was facilitated through participation in trade networks and religion

• Trade networks & Religion helped build Empires

• Great Zimbabwe → grew because of its location on trade routes

  • Agriculture, Gold, etc.

  • Indian Ocean Trade Network connected them to the Middle East, South Asia, SE Asia, East Asia

  • Merchants helped develop a new language → Swahili

    • Mixed Bantu and Arabic

    • Islamic Merchants were responsible for the emergence of this language

  • Massive protective walls around their capital

  • Died near the end of the 1400s due to not having enough food, etc.

• Ethiopia → 12th Century; Christian Kingdom in Africa

  • Monumental Architecture (Stone Churches)

    • Put Power on Display

  • Developed outside of Europe (not much outside influence)

  • A very syncretic blend of Christian and traditional beliefs

  • Kinship Based Communities

    • Men did specialized skills

    • Women did agricultural work

State building in Europe was characterized by religious belief, feudalism, and decentralized monarchies

• Roman Catholic Church

• Outside Beliefs

  • Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula

  • Some Jews in Europe too

  • Helped shape European society

• Political Systems → Decentralized

  • Feudalism → A system of loyalty between different classes of people

    • Based on Land-ownership

    • Organized society

    • Kings → Lords → Nobles → Knights & Peasants (Serfs), etc.

    • Manorial System → Serfs were tied to the land

    • Agriculture: 3 field-system → Crop Rotation

      • Planted in 2, Left 1 Empty

      • Abundance of Food

  • More monarchs rose who shifted away from Feudal lords

    • Established bureaucracy

    • Created massive armies