Units 1-5 Study Guide

Unit 1: State Building and Economic Transformation (1200-1450)

Big Idea 1: Song China

  • Song China maintained rule through Confucianism and an imperial bureaucracy.
  • Buddhism continued to shape society.
  • The Song economy flourished.
  • State building in Song China had two primary sources of strength, both continuities.
    • Confucianism: A hierarchical philosophical understanding of the world.
      • Continuity from the Tang Dynasty.
      • Revival during the Song Dynasty.
      • Expansion of the civil service examination -> order, stability, meritocracy.
    • Imperial Bureaucracy: Appointed officials carrying out empire policies.
      • Continuity that had existed for centuries.
      • Song Dynasty expanded it to consolidate power and rule.
    • Buddhism: An outside influence that came to China from India via the Silk Roads.
      • Chinese innovation on Buddhism: Chan Buddhism (melding Buddhism with Taoism).
      • Chan Buddhism spread from China to neighboring regions (cultural diffusion).
    • Economy: Flourished due to several Innovations.
      • Champa Rice: From the Champa Kingdom (modern Vietnam); harvested more than once a year.
      • Grand Canal: Internal waterway that acted as a transportation system.
      • Led to commercialization, making China the most populous trading center.

Big Idea 2: Islamic States

  • As the Abbasid Caliphate declined, new Islamic political entities emerged.
  • These entities significantly expanded and facilitated intellectual innovations and transfers.
  • As the Song Empire flourished, the Abbasid Caliphate was crumbling, leading to the rise of other Islamic states (e.g., Delhi Sultanate, Mamluk Sultanate).
  • These states were Turkic rather than Arab/Persian like the Abbasids, marking the rise of Turkic Islamic Empires, relied on similar practices as the Abbasids to govern.
  • These states formed a cultural region known as Dar al-Islam.
  • Spread of Islam occurred through:
    • Military Expansion (e.g., Delhi Sultanate).
    • Merchants on the Silk Roads diffusing ideas and culture.
    • Example: West Africa -> literate officials and religious legitimacy for rulers.
    • Sufi Movement: Mystical form of Islam that adapted to local cultures.
  • Intellectual innovations and transfers occurred:
    • Innovations in mathematics (algebra, trigonometry).
    • Innovations in literature.
    • Muslims in Spain translated Greek classics into Arabic, preserving them for later rediscovery by Europeans during the Renaissance.
    • Transferred Indian mathematics to Europeans.
    • Adopted and adapted paper making from China, which was then transferred to Europe.

Big Idea 3: Influence of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam in South and Southeast Asia

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

  • South Asia: Delhi Sultanate in the north (Islamic state with a majority Hindu population).

    • Hindus paid a tax called the jizya.
    • Conversions occurred for social mobility.
    • The Delhi Sultanate did not maintain an efficient bureaucracy.

  • Vijayanagara Empire in the south (Hindu kingdom).

    • Established by two brothers who had converted to Islam but then reconverted to Hinduism.

  • Southeast Asia: Kingdoms and empires based on Hinduism and Buddhism due to trade.

    • Srivijaya Empire (Hindu): Prospered by taxing ships using sea lanes.
    • Majapahit Kingdom (Buddhist): Prospered by controlling sea routes.

Big Idea 4: Civilizations of the Americas

  • Civilizations of the Americas developed strong states, urban centers, and belief systems.
  • Examples: Cahokia, Mexica, and Inca.
    • The Mexica people (Aztec Empire) demonstrated continuity in state building with early American states (Maya).
    • Tenochtitlan: Magnificent capital city with monumental ziggurats and marketplaces, population 200,000.
    • Significant state-building effort: Tribute System.
    • The Aztec Empire was a decentralized state.
    • They sent local governors to extract tribute from conquered people.
    • They exercised political dominance over distant lands without direct involvement.
    • Practiced human sacrifice.

Big Idea 5: African State Building

  • African state building was facilitated through participation in trade networks and religion.
  • Great Zimbabwe prospered due to trade, agriculture, and gold deposits.
    • Participated in the Indian Ocean Trade Network, which connected East Africa to the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia.
    • Merchants influenced the development of the Swahili language (blend of Bantu and Arabic).
    • Great Zimbabwe: Capital city with 20,000 people within its walls.
  • Ethiopia: A Christian kingdom that emerged in the 12th century.
    • Known for monumental architecture (massive stone churches).
    • Ethiopian Christianity developed separately from Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions.

Big Idea 6: State Building in Europe

  • State building in Europe was characterized by religious belief, feudalism, and decentralized monarchies.
  • Religious Continuity:
    • Roman Catholic Church.
    • Universities and artists were typically men of the church.
    • Muslim presence on the Iberian Peninsula.
    • Jewish population diminished after the Reconquista.
  • Decentralized Political Systems: No empire of Europes, but many little centers of power.
    • Feudalism organized society.
    • King granted land to lords in exchange for tribute.
    • Lords hired knights for protection.
    • Peasantry worked the land and provided produce to the lords.
    • The manorial system contained the whole village. (serfs lived there their entire lives)
  • Agricultural Innovation: Three-field system.
    • Crops rotated through three fields (two planted, one fallow).
    • Enabled more food to be grown; led to a population explosion.

Unit 2: Networks of Exchange (1200-1450)

Big Idea 1: Expansion of Trade Networks

  • Networks of exchange expanded geographically, leading to increased interactions between states.
  • Three major trade networks: Silk Roads, Indian Ocean Network, and Trans-Saharan Trade.
    • Silk Roads: Luxury goods like silk were traded for elite markets.
      • Cities along the routes grew in power (e.g., Kashgar, Samarkand).
      • Innovations in transportation and commercial technologies:
        • Transportation: Caravan Sarai (inns and guesthouses).
        • Animal Tech: Yokes, saddles, and stirrups.
        • Commercial: Money economies (paper money), new forms of credit, banking houses.
    • Indian Ocean Network: The world's most significant sea-based trade network before 1500.
      • Causes of growth: Desire for goods, technological innovations, and the spread of Islam.
        • Goods: Chinese porcelain, Indian cotton and pepper, and spices from Southeast Asia.
        • Tech: Latin sails, magnetic compass, astrolabe, Chinese junks, and Arab dows.
        • Spread of Islam: Created connections and friendly relations among Muslim traders.
      • Growth of cities (e.g., Swahili city-states, Sultanate of Malacca).
        • Swahili city-states brokered goods (gold, ivory, enslaved people)
        • Malacca controlled the Strait of Malacca.
      • Effects: Establishment of diasporic communities (Arab, Persian, and Chinese) that facilitated trade; also lead to cultural and technological transfers.
        • Voyages of Zheng He (Ming Dynasty) -> increased power and influence over the Indian Ocean trade.
    • Trans-Saharan Trade: Connected North Africa and the Mediterranean with West Africa.
      • Innovations in transportation: Introduction of the Arabian camel and associated saddles.
      • New empires rose: Mali (Islam introduced in the 9th century).
        • Mansa Musa: Further monopolized trade, which increased the wealth of Mali and facilitated the growth of existing trade networks.

Big Idea 2: Cultural Diffusion

  • The growth of trading routes led to cultural diffusion.
    • Religion: Buddhism entered China from India (Silk Road).
      • Became Chan Buddhism (blended with Taoism) and spread to Japan (Zen Buddhism).
      • Hinduism and Buddhism entered Southeast Asia.
      • Islam spread throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia; Swahili (blend of Bantu and Arabic) and Timbuktu.
    • Scientific Innovations: Champa rice (Vietnam) -> population explosion.
    • Rise and fall of cities: Kashgar and Samarkand rose, Baghdad fell (sacked by Mongols).
    • Travelers: Ibn Battuta (traveled Dar al-Islam), Marco Polo, and Marjorie Kemp.
      • Ibn Battuta wrote detailed notes on places, people, and cultures.

Big Idea 3: Environmental Consequences

  • Increasing interconnectedness facilitated by trading routes led to environmental consequences.
    • Spread of crops: Bananas in Africa facilitated the rise of chiefdoms and larger kingdoms; Champa rice in East Asia.
    • Spread of diseases: Bubonic plague (Black Death).

Big Idea 4: The Mongols

  • The Mongols created the largest land-based empire in history, which facilitated further interconnection and interaction across Afro-Eurasia.
  • Facilitated trade by controlling the Silk Road network, encouraging international trade and extracting great wealth.
  • Increased communication and cooperation across Eurasia because Persian and Chinese courts often worked together.
  • Facilitated cultural exchange through the transfer of skilled artisans, ambassadors, and military intelligence.
  • Facilitated technological and cultural transfers through the transfer of people and ideas.
    • Ilkhanate region: Made significant advances in astronomy and astronomical tools (increased accuracy of calendars and improved tools like the astrolabe).

Unit 3: Land-Based Empires (1450-1750)

Big Idea 1: Development and Expansion of Land-Based Empires

  • Land-based empires expanded through the use of gunpowder.

  • Ottoman Empire: Rose after adopting gunpowder weapons. They sacked Constantinople which later was named Istanbul (1453).

    • Expanded due to fierce military (Janissaries: Christian slaves trained as elite fighters).

  • Safavid Empire: Established in 1501 under Shah Ismail, built a Shiite Islamic dynasty.

    • Conflict with Sunni Mughals and Ottomans arose.
    • Shah Abbas built up the Safavid military which including the adoption of gunpowder weapons.
    • Safavid military expansion.
      • Like Ottoman's they enslaved Christians from conquered regions.

  • Mughal Empire: Established in 1526 by Babur by displacing the Delhi Sultanate using gunpowder weapons.

    • Akbar expanded Mughal rule and was religiously tolerant.

  • Qing Dynasty: Mongol rule declined, and they established a new dynasty.

    • Prior to the Qing Dynasty the Ming where in charge of China
    • The Manchu people of the North raided China and established themselves as the leaders of a new Qing dynasty (1636).
    • Tension arose because Qing rulers were Manchu, not Han Chinese.

  • States clashing with on another.

    • Safavid-Mughal conflicts: Fought between the 2 Muslim empires over conflicting territory and religious territory (Shi'a versus Sunni).
    • Songhai-Moroccan conflict: Similar war.

Big Idea 2: Gaining and Maintaining Control

  • Rulers gained power and maintained control by:
    • Establishing bureaucracies,
    • sponsoring the creation of art, centralizing tax collection,
    • developing large militaries.
    • Legitimizing power: Methods used to communicate who is in charge.
    • Consolidating power: Methods used to transfer power from other groups to a single ruler.
  • Large bureaucracies: The Ottomans used the devshirme system.
  • Military professionals: The Janissaries of The Ottoman Empire.
  • The development of Military Professionals.
    • Japan's Tokugawa Shogunate Samurai. They were put on the government's payroll and became salaried warriors, but mostly bureaucrats.
  • Religious ideas, art, and monumental architecture for legitimizing & consolidating power.
    • Louis the Fourteenth of France built the Palace of Versailles.
    • The Aztecs practiced used human sacrifice to consolidate and legitimate power.
    • Incan rulers built the Sun Temple at Cusco.
    • Emperor Kangxi (Qing ruler) used art to consolidate power.
    • Qing ruler, Kangxi had portrait made. Also had books surrounded that suggested Confucian wisdom.
  • Tax collection systems contributed to power consolidation.
    • Mughal Empire:: Zamindar tax collection system.
    • Ottomans: Tax farming.

Big Idea 3: Role of Belief Systems

  • Belief systems played different roles in and among land-based empires, either uniting people or causing conflict.
  • Christianity in Europe:
    • Shifting beliefs, like those displayed by Martin Luther who displayed a 95 thesis which denounced corruption of the Catholic church.
    • The Protestant Reformation from Martin Luther caused a fundamental breakdown of unity in the 16th century through Europe.
    • Catholic Reformation: Led to the reformation made by The Catholic Church.
  • Sunni-Shia split in Islam: Intensified division between Ottoman and Safavid empires which lead to those wars that you remember.
  • Interaction of belief systems: Led to new belief systems like Sikhism in South Asia (blend of Hindu and Islamic doctrines).

Unit 4: Maritime Empires (1450-1750)

Big Idea 1: Maritime Technology and Transoceanic Trade

  • It was through new and updated maritime technology that it was possible for transoceanic trade and sea based empires to develop.

  • European used some classical technologies to come to ascension during this period. Technologies are listed below:
    *Astrolabe. The Astrolabe was borrowed by Greeks and Muslims for maritime technology.
    *Magnetic compass. This technology was borrowed from China.
    *Latine. This particular sale was borrowed from the Mediterranean trade network.

  • Europeans also innovated for themselves specifically with ship design.

  • Caravelle.

    • Developed by the Portuguese with cargo hulls made for better trading.

  • Dutch Flout.

    • Developed by the Dutch VOC with extra metric Butt load cargo space enable the to dominate trade

Big Idea 2: European State-Sponsored Exploration

  • European had developed maritime empires through this process. Also fueled by wealth building through what could be called Gold, God, And Glory. *European states wanted access to the lucrative, Indian Ocean trade, and access that was facilitated by Southeast Asia.
    • This was initially facilitated by the Portuguese establishing a trading post empire around all of Africa.
      • They set up trading post on the coast that would dominate all the spice trace from it
  • It became problematic after monarchs found it was more useful to establish maritime empires.
    * Christopher Columbus went further across the ocean when Ferdinand and Isabella helped fund this trip.
    * Other European states begin to sponsor west travels with the purpose of finding these trading states. They could not because there was no sea route

Big Idea 3: The Columbian Exchange

*European used the process called the exchange of animals foods and from the Americas to the new exchange route that was previously unavailable with

  • European started to colonize America as well in the process starting off:

  • Portuguese colonized Brazil.
    * The focused on agriculture especially the tropical climates and cash crops.

    • Initial enslaved work for the population occurred as the Spanish brought diseases like smallpox, measles.

Big Idea 4: European Empires Fueled by Mercantilism and Coerced Labor

  • Europeans used empire such as the Asante empire and their trade routes.

  • Britian took over India with the use of British Indian Companies.
    *Spain was the next major player with the Aztec & Inca empire, which were then destroyed by population reduction.

    • These wars were then fought based on economics (trade). The most notable trade agreement due to this was the Treaty of Tornesias.

  • In the new world the Spanish turned to Agriculture. With:

    • Encomendero system. coercieve labor systems was a method that colonial societies could obtain certain types of goods.
      • This lead the spanish creating:
      • Hacienda system paid labelers very low wages and debt remained very high.

  • The Spanish, with the encomienderada system, could have their villages sending the villages dangerous silver mines with mutilation to create dangerous silvermines.
    Mercantilism was the practice of making money through colonial routes. European would take goods through ships. That was driven by Spanish routes in order to grow the wealth of the nation with Gold and Power

  • The process ended with an increase in population being enslaved from Africa where they would develop language shaped their cultures with their with food like Orka and languages.

Big Idea 5: Economic and Societal Changes in Maritime Empires

*Joint stock company was the rise of the Dutch East Indian company and the British easy Indian Company.
*   These help exploration and colonization with limited risk of investors
  • Ecomonic Disputes came in Moroccan conflicts with the Songhai state after losing a battle that was fought against the Portugese.

Triangle from from Europe of Africa to Caribbean and the Americas was because these states became increasingly inter inter depended across economy amongst each other

This led to 2 responses of society:
* Syncritism, which mixed indigenous religions which European Christianity,
* Conflict such as the Sunni Shia divides with between muslims.

Big Idea 6: Resistance to Imperialism

*A couple of resistance took place such as the Maratha rebiliion which where Hindu rebelling against that what they percieved from the Mughal empire. And the Pueblo revolt in North America where they killed hundreds of Spanish

*And finally one of the social categories and practices underwent because of social categories for the Qind dynasty who kept there civil service intact but a social hriarchy began to change with the Spanish Castia system in the americas