AP World History - Unit 1 Notes

Unit 1: c. 1200-1450

This unit focuses on how different civilizations around the world built and maintained their states during this period.

What is a State?

In AP World History, the term "state" refers to a territory that is politically organized under a single government (e.g., The United States, Japan).

Song Dynasty (China)

The Song Dynasty ruled China during this period. We will examine how they maintained and justified their rule.

Confucianism

• The Song Dynasty emphasized Confucianism, a philosophy that had defined Chinese culture for centuries.

• The Song Dynasty saw a revival of Confucianism from the Tang Dynasty, called Neo-Confucianism.

• Neo-Confucianism sought to rid Confucian thought of Buddhist influence.

• Confucianism emphasizes a hierarchical society with prescribed orders:

  • Citizens submit to the state.

  • Women submit to men.

  • Juniors submit to elders.

  • Children submit to parents.

• Filial piety: children obeying and honoring their parents, grandparents, and ancestors.

Women in Song China

Women were relegated to a subordinate position. They:

• Were stripped of legal rights (property became husband's, couldn't remarry if widowed or divorced).

• Endured social restrictions, including limited access to education.

• Practiced foot binding, a status symbol among the elite, where young girls had their toes bent under their feet and bound with cloth until they broke. This restricted their mobility.

Imperial Bureaucracy

• The Song Dynasty expanded the imperial bureaucracy, a government entity arranged in a hierarchical fashion that carries out the will of the emperor.

• Bureaucratic jobs were earned through civil service examinations based on Confucian classics.

• Theoretically, the system allowed for merit-based hiring.

• In practice, only the wealthy could afford to study for the exam.

Chinese Influence on Neighboring Regions

The kingdoms of Korea, Japan, and Vietnam were influenced by Chinese traditions.

• Korea adopted a similar civil service examination.

• All three adopted Buddhism.

Buddhism in Song China

• Buddhism originated in India and spread to China before the Song Dynasty.

• Four Noble Truths: life is suffering, suffering is caused by craving, ceasing craving ends suffering, and the eightfold path leads to the cessation of craving.

• Shared beliefs with Hinduism such as reincarnation, and nirvana.

• Theravada Buddhism (Sri Lanka): confined the practice of Buddhism to monks in monasteries.

• Mahayana Buddhism (East Asia): encouraged broader participation; bodhisattvas help others achieve enlightenment.

Song Economy

• The Song Dynasty inherited prosperity and population growth from the Tang and Sui dynasties.

• Commercialization: manufacturers and artisans produced more goods and sold them in markets across Eurasia.

• Significant goods traded: porcelain and silk.

• Agricultural innovations, such as Champa rice (introduced from the Champa Kingdom), led to population increases. Champa rice matured early, resisted drought, and can be harvested multiple times a year.

• Transportation innovations, such as the expansion of the Grand Canal, facilitated trade and communication.

Dar-al-Islam

Dar-al-Islam translates to "the house of Islam," referring to regions where Islamic faith was the organizing principle.

Major Religions

• Judaism: ethnic religion of the Jews, based on the Torah and Hebrew Bible.

• Christianity: an extension of Judaism, based on the teachings of Jesus Christ.

• Islam: related to Judaism and Christianity; Muhammad is considered the final prophet. Salvation is found through righteous actions.

• All three religions are monotheistic.

Abbasid Caliphate

• Prior to c. 1200, the Abbasid Caliphate, ethnically Arab, was a major power.

• By c. 1200, the Abbasid Caliphate began to decline.

• New Islamic political entities arose, dominated by Turkic people.

Seljuk Empire

• Established in the 11th century in Central Asia by Turkic pastoralists (Seljuks).

• The Abbasids employed Seljuk warriors for military assistance.

• The Seljuks eventually fought with the Abbasids and established their own empire.

• The Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1258, ending the Abbasid Empire.

• The Seljuks became the dominant power, with the Abbasids remaining as religious figureheads.

Cultural and Scientific Innovations

• Nasir al-Din al-Tusi made advances in mathematics and invented trigonometry.

• Muslim scholars preserved Greek works by translating them into Arabic (House of Wisdom in Baghdad).

• Dar al-Islam, along with Song China, was a center of scholarship and wealth.

Expansion of Muslim Rule

• Military expansion: Seljuk, Mamluk, and Delhi Sultanates.

• Traveling Muslim merchants: trade in North Africa and conversion in West Africa (Mali).

• Sufis missionaries: Sufism emphasized mystical experience and adapted to local beliefs, facilitating conversion in South Asia.

South and Southeast Asia

Belief Systems

• Hinduism: remained widespread in India, but Islam became the second-most important religion with the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate.

• Bakti Movement: devotion to one Hindu god, challenging social and gender hierarchies.

• Buddhism and Islam: competed for dominance in Southeast Asia.

State Building

• Delhi Sultanate: Muslim rule in Northern India, faced resistance from Hindu kingdoms.

• Rajput Kingdom: collection of warring Hindu kingdoms that resisted Muslim rule.

• Vijayanagara Empire: established in Southern India by former Delhi Sultanate emissaries who converted back to Hinduism.

• Majapahit Kingdom: a sea-based Buddhist kingdom in Java that controlled sea routes for trade. Declined when China supported its rival, the Sultan of Malacca.

• Khmer Empire: A land-based empire, originally Hindu, but later converted to Buddhism. Angkor Wat stands as a monument to both religions and the kingdom's history.

The Americas

Mesoamerica

• Aztec Empire: founded in 1345 by the Mexica people. Tenochtitlan was their capital city.

• Alliance: In 1428, the Aztecs allied with two other Mesoamerican states and launched an aggressive program of expansion.

• Tribute System: conquered peoples provided labor and goods (tribute) to the Aztecs. Enslaved people were often used for human sacrifice.

Andean Civilization

• Inca Empire: emerged in the early 1400s and stretched the Andean Mountain Range.

• Incorporated land and languages of older Andean societies.

• Bureaucracy: highly centralized, with rigid hierarchies to maintain control.

• Mita System: required labor on state projects.

• Aztecs were decentralized; Incas were highly centralized.

North America

• Mississippian Culture: the first large-scale civilization in North America, focused on agriculture in the Mississippi River Valley.

• Political Structure: large towns dominated smaller satellite settlements.

• Monumental Mounds: towns were organized around these mounds. Cahokia was known for its burial mounds.

Africa

East Africa

• Swahili Civilization: a series of cities organized around commerce along the East African coast.

• Influenced by the Indian Ocean trade.

• Independent politically, but shared a social hierarchy.

• Deeply influenced by Muslim traders, leading to the emergence of the Swahili language (a hybrid of Bantu and Arab).

• The Swahili states rapidly became Islamic.

West Africa

• Ghana, Mali, Songhai Empires: powerful and centralized civilizations that grew through trade and became Muslim.

• Hausa Kingdoms: a series of city-states with a common language and culture, similar to the Swahili states.

Great Zimbabwe

• Economic Strength: farming, cattle herding, and gold exports.

• Retained indigenous shamanistic religion.

Kingdom of Ethiopia

• Grew and flourished because of trade.

• A Christian state amidst Islamic and indigenous beliefs.

• Hierarchical power structure, with a monarch at the top.

Europe

Belief Systems

• Christianity dominated, but with two branches: Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholicism.

• Byzantine Empire: represented the eastern half of the Roman Empire and practiced Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

• Kievan Rus: A new state that emerged and carried on the belief system after the decline of the Byzantine Empire.

• Western Europe: dominated by Roman Catholicism. The Roman Catholic Church's hierarchy influenced society, culture, and politics.

• Muslims: conquered much of the Iberian Peninsula.

• Jews: lived in smaller pockets throughout Europe but faced Anti-Semitism.

State Organization

• Decentralization and political fragmentation were common.

• Feudalism: powerful lords and kings gained allegiance from lesser lords and kings (vassals) in exchange for land and military service.

• Manorialism: a manor (land owned by a lord) was rented out to peasants (serfs) who worked the land in exchange for protection.

• Serfs were bound to the land but not personal property of the landowners.

• Nobility: Land-owning lords held center political and economic power.

• Monarchs: Began to grow in power after c. 1000 CE, centralizing states and diminishing the nobility's power.