Heimler 1.1

State Building in Song China

• Power in Song China

  • Maintaining and Justifying power

• Confucianism→ Human society is hierarchical by nature aka composed of unequal relationships

  • Continuity from previous dynasty (Tang dynasty but began in the Han dynasty)

  • Fathers greater than sons, Husbands better than wives, and rulers greater than subjects

  • Those with higher status treated those with a lesser status disrespectfully and the with lower status obeyed

  • Filial Piety→ the practice of honoring one’s ancestors and parents which translated to the emperor and the peasants

• Neo-Confucianism→ New Confucianism

  • Included the influence of Buddhist and Daoust philosophical ideas

  • The revival of Confucianism demonstrates historical continuity between ancient China and the Song Period and illustrates innovation

  • Used to maintain and justify power

• Women in Song China

  • relegated to a subordinate position in the hierarchy

  • Women’s rights were restricted

  • Her property became her husband’s and forbidden to remarry

  • Foot-Binding→ Wrapping feet in an unusual manner in order to make them smaller and negatively impacting their ability to move

    • More common amongst the higher members of Society bc if the wife can’t walk then they can afford to have someone else do the housework

• Bureaucracy→ Governmental entity that Carrie’s out the well of the emperor

  • Helped enforce laws within the dynasty as it was too big to be ruled by the emperor alone

  • Civil Service Examination→ Heavily based upon Confucian classics

    • Men had to ace the exam to obtain a position in the Bureaucracy

    • Allowed the Bureaucracy be staffed with the most qualified men (Jobs rewarded by merit and not nepotism)

    • Increased the competency and efficiency of tasks

  • Meritocracy→ Obtaining a job based on one’s ability and knowledge rather than Nepotism

China’s Global Influence

• Korea→ Independent politically due to a tribute system with China

  • Tributary system→ The honoring of one state to another through payment in either money, trade, services, etc

  • Used a similar civil service examination to staff their Bureaucracy

  • Adopted Confucian principles which organized their family structure

  • Further Marginalized the role of women

• Japan→ Geographical location allowed them to be less influenced by China

  • Adopted Chinese traits voluntary

  • Adopted Imperial Bureaucracy

  • Chinese Buddhism became popular among elites

• Vietnam→ Indépendant politically participated in the tributary system

  • Elite members adopted

    • Confucianism

    • Buddhism

    • Chinese literary techniques

    • Civil Service examination

  • Women were not as greatly marginalized

    • Some deities we’re female + female Buddha

• ALL THREE REJECTED FOOT BINDING UPON WOMEN

Buddhism in China

• Four Noble truths

  • Life is suffering

  • We suffer because we crave

  • We cease suffering became we cease craving

  • The eightfold path leads to the cessation of suffering and craving

• Eightfold Path → Outlines the principles and practices that a Buddhist must follow

  • Moral lifestyle and meditation

• Carried similar traits from Hinduism

• Theravada Buddhism→ emphasis on escaping a cycle of birth and death, only available to a selected few

• Mahayana Buddhism→ emphasized that Buddhist teachings were available to all, compassion, and Made Buddha into an object of devotion

• Tibetan Buddhism → emphasized more mystical practices

  • Lying prostrate

  • Elaborate imaginings of deities

Although Song Dynasty made their policies to emphasize more traditional Chinese ideas, like Confucianism, Buddhism continued to play a significant role in society

Economy in Song China

• Commercialization of the economy→ more goods than they needed + sold excess

• Paper Money leads to practices such as credit and promissory notes

• Iron and Steel production→ Enough was being produced for trade and taxation and many tools were needed for agriculture by the 11th century

• Agricultural Production

  • Champa Rice→ Came from Vietnam

    • Drought resistant

    • Harvestable twice a year (Doubling agricultural output)

    • Population boom

• Transportation innovations

  • Grand Canal→ They expanded it which made trade cheaper

  • Magnetic Compass

    • Improved navigation on water

    • Further facilitated sea-based trade in various regions

  • New shipping techniques

    • Improved design of Junk ships which led to more trade and economic prosperity

1.2 AMSCO Notes

Innovations and Shifts in Trade Routes

• Egyptian Mamluks- Arabs purchased enslaved people, who were ethnic Turks from central Asia, to serve as soldiers and later as Beauracrats

  • Had more opportunities for advancements

  • Later on, seized control and established the Mamluk Sultanate

    • facilitated trade in cotton and sugar from the Middle East to Europe

    • When Europeans developed new sea routes, they declined in power

• Seljuk Turks→ Threatened the Abbasids and were Muslims

  • Sultan→ Leader of the Seljuks + the title reduced the role of the highest-ranking Abbasid

• Crusaders→European Christians organized soldiers whose purpose was to reopen access to travel routes within Jerusalem that the Seljuks closed down

• Mongols→ Fourth group to attack the Abbasids and end the Seljuk rule

• Economic Competition

  • Trade patterns shifted to routes further north

    • Baghdad loses its place as the center of trade and therefore suffers economically

Cultural and Social Life

• Abbasid Caliphate→Originally led by Persians and Arabs but Turkey took over Islamic states later

• Three Larges Islamic states became involved in Turkic culture such as the Ottoman Empire, the Safavid Empire, and the Mughal Empire

• Trade allowed for the spread of new ideas, religion, and culture.

• Cultural Continuities

  • Islamic state’s quest for knowledge

    • Translating Greek text and preserving that knowledge

    • Studied mathematics from India and transferred knowledge to Europe

    • Adopted paper-making techniques from China and taught Europeans

• Cultural Innovation

  • Nasir al-din al- Tusi most celebrated Islamic scholar

    • contributed to many scientific fields and medicine

    • Most accurate astronomy charts under his observatory

• Sufism→ began as a mystical response to the perceived love of luxury of the Umyadd Caliphate

  • Sufi missionaries played a crucial role in the spread of Islam by mixing culture and religion

• Commerce, Class, and Diversity

  • Commerce assisted in powering the golden age of the arts, and natural and moral philosophy

  • Merchants were viewed as prestigious

Free women in Islam

• Muhammad´s policies →raise the status of women tremendously

• Islamic women acquired a higher status than Christian and Jewish women

1.3 Heimler Notes

Belief systems in South Asia + Southeast

• Hinduism

  • Poleyistic belief system

    • Adherents believe in many gods, not just one

    • The ultimate goal is to reunite their individual soals to the all-pervasive world soul known as Brahman

      • Involves cycling through death and rebirth aka reincarnation

  • Provided the conditions for a unified culture in India

  • The caste system→The top was considered better and the bottom was the refuse of society

    • Only able to move up through reincarnation

• Bhuddism→ Founded in India

  • Similarities with Hinduism→ Cycle of birth and death and reincarnation + dissolves into the oneness of the universe

  • Differences

    • Rejected the caste system and advocated for equality for all

      • Ethnic religion→ Bound to certain people in a certain place

      • Universalizing religion

• Islam

  • Turkic Muslim invaders came into South Asia and set up a Muslim empire known as the Delhi Sultanate

  • Because in large parts of India, the Mu slims were in charge, it became the religion of the elite, and then throughout southeast Asia

Belief system change

Hinduism

• Bakhti Movement→ Encouraged believers to worship god in the Hindu pantheon of gods

  • rejected the hierarchy of Hinduism

  • Encouraged spiritual experience to all people regardless of social status

Islam

• Sufism→ a more mystical, spiritual experience-based version of Islam

Bhaktis and Sufis→ Mystical experience Rejected elaborate doctrine and religious requirements of the elite

Buddhism

• Despite the original teachings of the Buddha emphasizing access to enlightenment for all people, by this time in South Asia, it had become more and more exclusive

• Was on the decline

State Building in South Asia

Delhi Sultanate→ Muslim rulers within the sultanate had a lot of trouble imposing Islam on India

• Hinduism was popular and Islam ended up being a minority religion

Rajput Kingdoms

Viayagandra empire

• Muslim rulers, I the Delhi sultanate wanted to expand to the south of India in a group of emissaries

  • The emissaries converted back and established a rivalry Hindu empire

Sea-Based States in Southeast Asia

• Srivijaya was Buddhist

  • The main source of Power was the Strait of Malacca

    • The best way for merchants to get anywhere

    • Slapped taxes on ships passing through the strait

• Majaphahit Kingdom

  • Strong Buddhist influences

  • Tributary System

Land-Based State in Southeast

• Sinhalah→

  • Land or sea whether they get their power from the sea or land

• Khmer Empire→ Hindu Empire

  • Angkor Wat→ represents the entire Hindu universe but then converted to Buddhism and added the Buddhist statue

1.4 Heimler notes

Essential Ideas- Continuity and innovation compared to those states that came before

Mesoamerica

• Maya Innovations

  • Built huge urban centers, the most sophisticated writing system in Mesoamerica, and expanded on math

  • State Building

    • State structure was a decentralized collection of city-states that were frequently at war with one another

    • Fought to create a vast network of tributary states among neighboring regions such as textiles, weapons, and building materials

    • Emphasized human sacrifice→ believed that the sun deity was losing energy to his darkness and reacquired life-sacrificing energy of human blood

• Aztec Empire

  • Mexica people were a semi-nomadic bunch who migrated south + built up militaries and gained power

    • Later on, entered an alliance with two other empires and established their empire

    • Ruled their state in a way to demonstrate continuity like the Maya

    • Decentralized Power→ the various people they conquered were set up as tributary states

      • This is how they administrated their rapidly growing empire aka tributary system

      • Motivation for expansion was religious due to needing more human sacrifice

    • Securing Legitemacy→ Mexica claimed heritage from older, more renowned Mesoamerican people

  • City Building Projects

    • Tenochtitlan→ peak religious power and authority

      • Heavy population

      • Vast market places meaning they had a commercialized economy

    • Acquired elaborate palaces and pyramids

• Inca Empire

  • Borrowed a lot from older civilizations including the wari

• Similarities between Incas +Aztecs

  • Outsiders who rose to power via military prowess

  • Expanded their empire rapidly

• Differences

  • Aztecs→ Decentralized power, relied on tributary relationships

  • Inca→ Centralized power, massive bureaucracy

    • Mit’a System→ Required labor of all people for a period f time each year to work on state projects like mining or military service

    • Made use of prodigious use of systems employed by earlier civilizations such as vast networks of roads and bridges

In order to legitimitize power, people would claim they had relationships with previous powerful empires and ruler

• North American Civilization

  • Mississipian Culture→ represented the first large-scale civilization in America

    • Due to fertile soil, their society developed around farming

    • Political stucture was dominated by chiefs known as the Great Sun

      • Ruled each town and extended political power over smaller satellite settlements

      • Society was hierarchical

    • Known for mound building process

1.5 Heimler Notes

State-Building in sub-Saharan Africa

• Swahili Civilization→ Collection of independent city states rising to prominence due to their strategic location on the coast

  • Merchants were interested in Gold, Ivory, Timber, enslaved people

  • Indian Ocean trade was main trading network for this place

  • Focused on trade + goods imported from farmers and pastoralists

  • Islam became a dominant belief system

    • Conversion among the Swahili elite took place voluntarily which was great for the Muslims because it connected them to the wider economic world of Dar-al-Islam

    • Islam influence the Swahili language→ Hybrid between Bantu Family of languages (Indigenous) and Arabic (Outside)

• Swahili vs Song China

  • Similarities→ Expanded wealth by participating in trade beyond their borders+ Featured hierarchical structures that organized society

  • Differences

    • Song China→ Highly centralized power structures with emperor at top

    • Swahili→ No larger, unified political structure

• Great Zimbabwe

  • Participated in the Indian Ocean Trade which they facilitated trade through ports

    • Their economy was based on bread and butter

  • Constructed massive structures, second largest structure in Africa after the Egyptians pyramids

State Building in West and East Africa

• Hausa Kingdoms→ Collection of city states that were politically independent and gained power and wealth through trade across the trans-Saharan trade network

  • Similar to Swahili states

    • States were urbanized and commercialized, and acted as middlemen for goods grown in the interior which they integrated into trade patterns with other states across West and North African

    • Each state ruled by a king who imposed social hierarchies on their societies

    • Ruler converted to Islam further facilitating trade with Muslim Merchants

African states during this period adopted Islam to organize their societies and facilitated trade with larger network present in Dar-al-Islam

• Ethiopia→ Christian state and only exception to the Islamic rule

  • Constructed massive stone churches, communicating to their subjects who was in charge

  • Grew wealthy through trade

    • Traded both in the Mediterranean Sea and in the larger Indian Ocean network

    • Salt was one of their most valuable commodity

  • Centralized Power

    • King on top

    • Stratified class hierarchies below the king

1.6 Heimler Notes

Christianity dominates Europe

• Official state religion due to constantine

• Byzantine Empire→ Keeps faith alive after the fall of the romans

Eastern Orthodox Christianity

• Provided a belief structure that helped Byzantine rulers justify their ruler consolidate power

• In the West, after the fall of the roman empire, they became decentralized

• Despite fragmentation Christianity maintained prescience in the form of Roman Catholic Christianity

• Kevan Rus became embodiment after the collapse of the Byzantine

Roman Catholic Christianity

• Despite fragmentation Christianity maintained prescience in the form of Roman Catholic Christianity

• Western Europe was isolated but only had this religion in common

• The church motivated them to go fight the Muslims for their lands

• Crusades→ Christian soldiers who were defeated by the Muslims big time

Christianity was the major religion but Islam and Judaism were minority religions within Europe

Islam

• Muslims ruled the Iberian Peninsula

Judaism

• Scattered throughout Europe and Facilitated trade

• Anti-Semitic→ Rose due to European suspicion

Political Decentralization in the West

• No large Empires in Europe

• Social, political and economic order was organized around feudalism

• Feudalism→ A system of allegiances between powerful lords, monarchs, and knights

  • Lords and Kings gained allegiance from lesser lords and kings

  • Land was exchanged in order to keep everyone loyal

• Manorialism

  • Peasants were bound to land and worked in exchange for protection from the lord and military forces

  • Called Serfs

    • Bound to the land and similar to slaves

Monarchs began to gain power and centralize their states by introducing large militaries and bureaucracies

• Prior to this the nobility held the most power

• But Monarchs grow in power as things become more centralized

• Monarchs will complete for influence and territory causing different wars during conquest