Patterns in World History Before 1200: From the Paleolithic Era to Global Networks

Human Origins and the Paleolithic Era

• Homo sapiens emerged approximately $300,000\,\text{years ago}$ in regions of Africa.

• By $1200$, nearly every major landmass, with the sole exception of Antarctica, possessed a human presence.

• Human history begins with the Paleolithic era (also known as the Old Stone Age), which represents $95\%$ of the total duration humankind has occupied the planet.

• Paleolithic societies were small-scale, consisting of $25$ to $50$ individuals.

• Characteristics of Paleolithic societies:

  • Highly mobile and nomadic lifestyle.

  • Complete dependence on gathering wild plants and hunting wild animals.

  • Very low life expectancy of approximately $35\,\text{years}$.

  • Extremely slow overall population growth.

  • Cultural creativity reflected through cave paintings and sculptures.

The Agricultural Revolution and Pastoral Societies

• The Paleolithic era was followed by the Agricultural Revolution.

• The Agricultural Revolution unfolded independently and separately across Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

• Core features of the Agricultural Revolution:

  • Deliberate cultivation of plants.

  • Taming and breeding of animals.

  • Direct consequences: growing populations, establishment of settled villages, and a boom in technological innovation.

• Pastoral Societies:

  • Formed in regions where farming was difficult.

  • Composed of nomads who relied on domesticated animals (specifically sheep, goats, horses, and camels) to harvest meat and hides, and for transportation and warfare.

  • Prominently located across Asia and parts of Africa.

  • Dynamics with agricultural neighbors:

  • Frequent conflict occurred between nomadic herders and farming communities, driven by pastoral societies being attracted to the wealth of agrarian societies and seeking access to rich farming lands.

  • Simultaneous peaceful exchange of ideas took place that permanently enriched both types of societies.

• Agricultural Village Societies:

  • Permanently settled farming villages emerged as another kind of society resulting from the Agricultural Revolution.

  • In certain cases, agricultural village societies were organized politically as chiefdoms, wherein positions of power were inherited.

The Emergence and Structural Features of Civilizations

• The earliest civilizations emerged in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and regions of Peru.

• By $1200$, a considerable majority of humankind lived within one civilization or another.

• Definition and Foundations of Civilization:

  • Refers to societies based in cities and governed by states.

  • Direct product of the Agricultural Revolution, as only a productive agricultural economy could support a society containing many individuals who did not produce their own food.

• Political and Social Organization:

  • Led to the creation of states: governing structures organized around cities and territories, usually controlled by kings or other ranked officials.

  • Created many different kinds of specialized occupations: scholars, merchants, priests, officials, scribes, soldiers, etc.

  • Gender dynamics: Gender equality worsened as patriarchy took hold, with ideas of male superiority spreading throughout the values of almost all civilizations.

• Technological and Cultural Innovations:

  • Accompanied by artistic, scientific, and technological innovations.

  • Examples include Chinese bureaucracy, silk products, and gunpowder.

  • Islamic advances in mathematics, medicine, and astronomy.

• Environmental Impact:

  • Civilizations tended to be shaped by the environment in which they developed.

  • Larger populations led to intensive agriculture, leaving a bigger impact on the landscape.

  • Rigorous irrigation in southern Mesopotamia led to "white soil" (salinization) by $2000\,\text{B.C.E.}$

  • Other environmental impacts around the world included extensive deforestation and soil erosion.

Comparative Analysis of Civilizations and Social Systems

• Social Hierarchy Variations:

  • Chinese Civilization: Gave the highest ranking to an elite bureaucracy, selected based on their performance in examinations.

  • Indian Social System: Gave priority to religious status via a caste system; strictly forbade members of different castes to join together.

  • Slaves: Generally occupied the bottom of all social hierarchies.

  • Variation in Patriarchy: Patriarchy was a common component in the social life of all civilizations, but it varied from place to place (for example, the difference between the patriarchy of Athens versus that of Sparta).

• Influence and Cultural Role:

  • Civilizations differed in the range and extent of their influence.

  • Cultural traditions were important in providing a common identity for civilizations.

  • Cultural differences made inequalities legitimate, but those inequalities also led to movements that challenged those in power.

  • Religion enabled millions of individuals to justify their suffering and helped many give meaning to the difficult lives they led.

South Asian Cultural Traditions: Hinduism and Buddhism

• Hinduism:

  • Oldest and most prominent religion in India.

  • Development: Unlike Christianity and Islam, Hinduism had no founder and developed as an integral part of Indian civilization.

  • Non-proselytizing nature: Did not seek converts; was instead associated with a particular people and territory.

  • Consisted of a vast amount of gods, spirits, beliefs, practices, and rituals.

  • The Upanishads: A series of texts written between $800\,\text{B.C.E.}$ and $400\,\text{B.C.E.}$ offering a unified understanding of reality itself from the perspective of Hinduism.

  • Core Philosophy:

  • Fundamental understanding that the individual human soul was part of Brahman.

  • The chief goal of humankind was to achieve union with Brahman.

  • Achieved through living many lifetimes via reincarnation.

  • The law of karma dictated that actions in one lifetime would determine the station of life in the next lifetime.

• Buddhism:

  • Emerged at around the same time philosophical Hinduism was emerging.

  • Founder: Siddhartha Gautama, a prince from a small kingdom in north India.

  • Origin: After an encounter with human suffering, he set off on a quest for enlightenment in which he became the Buddha ("the man who had awakened").

  • Core Teachings:

  • Suffering was a direct result of desire.

  • To live a peaceful life, one had to renounce human weakness and desire in order to reach nirvana.

  • Reflected some Hindu traditions such as karma and rebirth, but sharply challenged the idea of God as well as the Hindu-based caste system.

  • Branches of Buddhism:

  • Theravada Buddhism: Portrayed the Buddha as a wise teacher, but not divine. Original Buddhism put a premium on spiritual wisdom.

  • Mahayana Buddhism: Offered greater accessibility to a spiritual path, believing enlightenment was available to everyone. Took root in Central Asia, China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere, becoming the first major tradition to spread widely outside of its homeland.

  • Tibetan Buddhism: Gave special authority to teachers known as Lamas; emphasized an awareness of death as well as preparation for death.

• Status by $1200$ and the Bhakti Movement:

  • By $1200$, Buddhism had almost vanished from India but was expanding in other parts of Asia.

  • This decline in India was largely a result of the Bhakti movement.

  • Bhakti Movement: Involved devotion to several of India's many gods and goddesses. Began in South India and moved northward between $600\,\text{C.E.}$ and $1300\,\text{C.E.}$

  • Popular Deities: Vishnu (protector and preserver of creation) and Shiva (represented the Divine).

  • Doctrine: Outlined that through good deeds, simple living, and rituals of devotion, individuals could find salvation.

Chinese Cultural Traditions: Confucianism and Daoism

• Confucianism:

  • Derived from Confucius, a learned aristocrat who believed that in order to reach social and political harmony, respect had to be applied to unequal relationships:

  • Father and son.

  • Husband and wife.

  • Older brother and younger brother.

  • Ruler and subject.

  • Key to Harmony: Education, specifically language, literature, philosophy, and ethics.

  • Importance of Ritual: Rituals and ceremonies were important because they conveyed the rules of appropriate behavior.

  • Adoption: Became the official ideology of the Chinese state by the Han dynasty around $200\,\text{B.C.E.}$

  • Expectations for Superior Parties: Emperors should keep taxes low, administer justice, and provide for the people, or else natural disaster, famine, or rebellion would follow. At the family level, husbands were expected to deal kindly with their wives and children in order to not provoke conflict and disharmony.

  • Spiritual View: Confucius did not deny the reality of gods and spirits, but told his followers to conduct family and state rituals as if the spirits were watching.

• Daoism:

  • Ridiculed the efforts of Confucianism and urged withdrawing into the world of nature.

  • Encouraged behavior that was spontaneous, individualistic, and natural.

  • Emphasized simplicity in living, small self-sufficient communities, limited government, and the abandonment of education.

  • Complementary Relationship: Elite Chinese believed Daoism complemented Confucianism, an outlook facilitated by the ancient Chinese concepts of Yin and Yang. Thus, one might pursue Confucianism during the day but behave in a more Daoist fashion in the evening.

Middle Eastern Cultural Traditions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

• Abrahamic Faiths:

  • Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are often known as Abrahamic Faiths because all of them believe in the biblical character called Abraham.

  • All affirmed a distinctly monotheistic faith with an idea of a supreme deity or divine presence.

• Judaism:

  • The earliest of these traditions, born among the Hebrews (also known as Jews).

  • Believed in a God who was a powerful and jealous deity who commanded their exclusive loyalty.

  • Featured Jewish prophets such as Isaiah, Amos, and Jeremiah.

• Christianity:

  • Jesus of Nazareth began a small career of teaching and healing before he got in trouble with local authorities and was executed.

  • Historical Impact: A small story barely noted in historical records became the basis of the world's most widely practiced religion.

  • Jewish Heritage: Jesus inherited from his Jewish tradition an intentional devotion to a single personal deity, with whom he was on intimate terms, referring to him as father.

  • Social & Political Edge: Jesus' teaching spoke on behalf of the poor and the oppressed and criticized the powerful.

  • Separation: Jesus did not intend to establish a new religion but rather to revitalize Jewish tradition; however, Christianity soon emerged as a separate faith.

  • Spread & Hierarchy: Christianity spread within the Roman Empire and beyond, developing an elaborate hierarchical organization with patriarchs, bishops, and priests.

  • Papacy: The Bishop of Rome gradually emerged as the dominant leader, or pope, of the church.

  • Diversity by $600$: By $600$, the Christian world was geographically extensive as well as politically and theologically very diverse.

• Islam:

  • Emerged from the land of pastoral people that also contained some regions of settled agricultural communities.

  • Founder: Muhammad Ibn Abdullah, a trader from Mecca.

  • Revelation: Troubled by religious corruption and social inequalities, he took periods of withdrawal into the mountains outside of the city. There he had a powerful religious experience that left him convinced he was Allah's messenger to the Arabs, tasked with bringing the Quran down from Allah.

  • Prophetic Lineage: Muhammad saw himself as the last of a line of earlier prophets: Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.

  • The Umma: The just and moral society of Islam that replaced tribal identities, where women too had an honored and spiritually equal place.

  • Sectarian Schism: After Muhammad's death in $632\,\text{C.E.}$, Islam split into the Sunni and Shia branches over a disagreement over who should succeed him:

  • Sunnis: Believed that the Caliph should be chosen through a decision by the community.

  • Shias: Believed that the Caliph should be someone who was related to Muhammad. Shia Muslims saw themselves as the minority and felt that history had taken a wrong turn.

  • Political Fragmentation: After $900$ or so, any political unity that Islamic civilization had possessed vanished.

  • The Ulama: Responsible for transmitting the beliefs and practices of Islam. This included the Quran, the sayings of Muhammad, grammar and rhetoric, sometimes philosophy, theology, mathematics, medicine, and above all else law.

  • Sufism:

  • Represented Islam's mystical dimension, emerging by $1000$.

  • Viewed the success of Islamic civilization as a distraction and a deviation from the spirituality of Muhammad's time.

  • Sought a direct and personal experience of the Divine.

  • Pursued an interior life seeking to tame the ego and achieve spiritual union with Allah.

  • Felt the ulama was compromised and challenged their religious authority.

Interregional Networks of Interaction and Encounters

• Silk Roads: Began around $200\,\text{B.C.E.}$ and served as a complex system linking China and the Mediterranean world.

• Sea Roads: Traversed the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, linking the diverse people living between southern China and East Africa.

• Sand Roads: Linked North Africa and the Mediterranean world with the people of interior West Africa.