Before 1200: Patterns in World History – Key Vocabulary

Return of Ancient Traditions in Modern China

• 2009 Confucius Anniversary
  • 2{,}560-year birthday celebrated in Qufu; 10{,}000+ participants (descendants, scholars, officials, foreigners).
  • Communist Party—once hostile—now embraces Confucius as “national treasure”; 300+ Confucius Institutes, TV dramas, temple prayers before college-entrance exam.
  • Parallel revivals: rebuilding of Buddhist & Daoist temples; rapid post-1970s Christian growth.

From the Paleolithic Era to the Agricultural Revolution

• Homo sapiens timeline
  • Emerged ext{ca. }300{,}000 years ago in Africa.
  • Out-of-Africa migrations 100{,}000–60{,}000 B.P.; all major landmasses settled by 1200 ext{ C.E.} (final step: New Zealand).

• Paleolithic societies
  • Subsistence: foraging, scavenging, hunting, fishing; stone tools (Old Stone Age = >95 ext{ ext{%}} of human time).
  • Social patterns: bands of 25–50, kin-based, nomadic/seasonal mobility, highly egalitarian (minimal gender & class hierarchies).
  • Culture: cave art, Dreamtime, oral mythologies, technological creativity.
  • Life expectancy <35 years; slow population growth.

• Agricultural (Neolithic) Revolution
  • Occurred 12{,}000–4{,}000 B.P. independently in Asia, Africa, Americas.
  • Defined by deliberate plant cultivation + animal domestication.
  • Consequences: exponential population rise; permanent villages; zoonotic diseases; metallurgy; chariots; writing; cities, states, empires.
  • Snapshot of world population (selected points):
  \begin{aligned}
  400\,\text{B.C.E.}: &\;153\,\text{million} \
  1\,\text{C.E.}: &\;252\,\text{million} \
  1500\,\text{C.E.}: &\;477\,\text{million} \
  2017: &\;7{.}55\,\text{billion}
  \end{aligned}

Agricultural-Age Societies

• Pastoral (herding) peoples
  • Regions: Central Asia, Arabian Peninsula, Sahara, parts of E & S Africa.
  • Mobility key; relied on sheep, goats, horses, camels, reindeer.
  • Absent in Americas (lack of domesticable large mammals).
  • Relationship with agrarian neighbors = conflict + exchange (tech, ideas, goods).
  • Dramatic illustration: 13^{\text{th}}-century Mongol Empire.

• Permanent village farmers
  • Kin/lineage based; no kings, aristocracy; retained Paleolithic equality.
  • Innovated settlement of vast eco-zones; rich ritual/art traditions; continuous interaction with neighbors.

• Chiefdoms
  • Inherited leadership, but chiefs ruled by charisma, gift-giving, ritual status (limited coercion).
  • Functions: ritual, warfare coordination, economic redistribution, conflict mediation.
  • Examples: Polynesian islands; North American Cahokia (near modern St Louis, flourishing \text{ca. }1200 ext{ C.E.}).

Civilizations

Definition & Rise

• Societies based in cities & governed by states; emerged 3500–3000 ext{ B.C.E.} in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Peru.

• Spread globally over next 4{,}000 years; by 1200 majority of humans lived in civilizations.

Core Features

• Cities = political capitals; cultural hubs; marketplaces; manufacturing centers (e.g., description of Uruk in Epic of Gilgamesh).

• States & Kingship: coercive power; bureaucracy; taxation (Hebrew warning about “way of the king”).

• Occupational specialization: scholars, merchants, priests, soldiers, artisans—all supported by peasant majority.

• Inequalities: class stratification; patriarchy; slavery (extreme in Greece/Rome—Athens \approx60{,}000 slaves \approx1/3 population; Roman Italy 2–3 million, 33–40\%).

• Innovations: bureaucracy (China); silk, paper, gunpowder (China); math, medicine, water tech (Islamic world); later science & industry (Europe).

• Monumental architecture: Mesopotamian ziggurats, Egyptian pyramids, Andes terrace complexes.

Environment Interplay

• Early centers in river valleys (Tigris–Euphrates, Nile, Yellow, Indus).

• Impact: irrigation salinization (Mesopotamia → wheat ↦ barley); deforestation & soil erosion in Greece, China (Yangzi expansion), Europe (forest cover ↓ to 20\% by 1300); Maya ecological strain → collapse (\text{ca. }900).

Comparing Civilizations

• Scale: small city-states (Maya, Greek, Swahili) vs. vast empires (Chinese, Persian, Arab, Inca, Mali).

• Social hierarchy models:
  • China—elite scholar-officials; peasants honored yet exploited; exam system = limited mobility.
  • India—Brahmin religious supremacy; rigid caste subdivisions; minimal mobility; inter-caste restrictions on marriage/eating.

• Patriarchy variations: looser in frontier/nomadic periods; Spartan women vs. Athenian seclusion; class differences (elite female seclusion > peasant women’s mobility).

• Cultural reach: Roman Mediterranean, Chinese East Asia, Islamic Afro-Eurasia; regional civilizations (Axum, Swahili, early Western Europe).

South Asian Cultural Traditions

Hinduism

• Nature: No single founder; evolved over centuries; tied to Indian people/land; polytheistic yet philosophically monistic.

• Brahmins: priestly caste managing rituals & sacrifices.

• Upanishads (800–400 ext{ B.C.E.}) articulate philosophical core:
  • Brahman = World Soul, ultimate reality.
  • Atman (individual soul) = Brahman; goal → moksha (liberation).
  • Samsara (rebirth) governed by karma; caste = spiritual progress ledger.

• Paths to moksha: jnana (knowledge), karma-yoga (duty), bhakti (devotion).

• Bhakti Movement (600–1300 ext{ C.E.}): emotional devotion to Vishnu, Shiva, Krishna; inclusive of women/lower castes; poetic expressions; responded to Buddhism.

Buddhism

• Founder: Siddhartha Gautama (566–486 ext{ B.C.E.}) → Enlightenment → Buddha.

• Core doctrine (Four Noble Truths & Eightfold Path): suffering (dukkha) caused by desire; cure via ethical living, meditation, wisdom → nirvana (extinguishing self).

• Contrast w/ Hinduism: rejected Brahmin authority, rituals, caste; de-emphasized speculation; individual self-effort.

• Branches:
  • Theravada (“Teaching of Elders”): Buddha = model/teacher, rigorous monasticism, limited deities.
  • Mahayana (“Great Vehicle”): compassion focus; bodhisattvas aid others; Buddha & other figures divine; merit transfer; popular salvation; spread to Central & East Asia.
  • Tibetan/Vajrayana: lamas, preparatory death practices, visualizations, mantras, syncretic Hindu elements.

• Decline in India: wealth of monasteries, Brahmin hostility, Islamic competition; absorbed into Hinduism (Buddha as 9^{\text{th}} avatar of Vishnu).

Chinese Cultural Traditions

Confucianism

• Founder: Confucius (551–479 ext{ B.C.E.}); ideas compiled in Analects.

• Solution to Warring States chaos: moral example of superiors in unequal relationships (father/son, ruler/subject).

• Key virtues: ren (benevolence), li (ritual propriety), xiao (filial piety).

• Education & Examination: classics, history, ethics; basis for Han-onward bureaucracy.

• Secular humanism: practical governance; Heaven = moral force, not personal god; rituals “as if” spirits present.

• Spread to East Asia: Korea, Vietnam, Japan (Shotoku’s Seventeen-Article Constitution); Song 960–1279 → Neo-Confucian synthesis.

Daoism

• Attributed to Laozi (legendary 6^{\text{th}}-century B.C.E. archivist); text Daodejing.

• Dao = underlying natural order; advocacy of wu-wei (non-action), simplicity, small communities, minimal gov’t, withdrawal from politics.

• Complementarity (yin-yang): coexistence with Confucian duties (day) and Daoist retreat (evening/retirement).

• Popular Daoism: magic, alchemy, immortality quests, Yellow Turban Rebellion; later blended with Buddhism.

Middle Eastern Cultural Traditions

Judaism

• Hebrews: small society amidst Mesopotamian empires.

• Monotheism: Yahweh—exclusive loyalty (First Commandment); evolved from warrior deity to universal moral god of social justice (prophets Isaiah, Amos, Jeremiah).

• Legacy: conceptual groundwork for Christianity & Islam.

Christianity

• Origins: Jesus of Nazareth (4 ext{ B.C.E.}–29 ext{ C.E.}), Jewish wisdom teacher; preached love, compassion, aid to poor; crucified by Roman-allied authorities.

• Saint Paul (6–67 ext{ C.E.}): missions across eastern Roman world; opened faith to Gentiles; formed house-churches.

• Appeal factors: inclusive salvation; miracles; moral order; women’s roles (initially prominent).

• Persecution → Acceptance: sporadic Roman repression; Emperor Constantine converts (312); Christianity state religion (380).

• Institutionalization: patriarchs → pope (Rome); doctrinal disputes → Eastern Orthodox vs. Roman Catholic split (1054).

• Geographic spread by 600: Middle East, N/N-E Africa (Axum, Egypt), Armenia, parts of India & China.

Islam

• Context: Arabian pastoralists + Mecca trading hub; proximity to Byzantium & Sassanids; Jewish/Christian influence.

• Prophet Muhammad (570–632): revelations 610–632 compiled as Quran—literal word of Allah.

• Message: strict monotheism; social justice (condemn hoarding, usury, mistreatment of women & orphans); creation of egalitarian umma community.

• Hegira/Hijra (622): migration to Medina; start of Islamic calendar.

• State-Formation: military unification of Arabia; rapid empire—under Muhammad 622–632, Rashidun 632–656, Umayyad/Abbasid 656–900—spanning Spain to Indus (Map).

• Division: Sunni (caliphs as political leaders) vs. Shia (leaders = Muhammad’s bloodline; imams); began as succession dispute, deepened doctrinally.

• Integrative Institutions:
  • Ulama—scholars of sharia; madrassas; trans-regional curriculum.
  • Sufis—mystics; personal union with God; flexible, syncretic; spread Islam to frontier zones; tension with ulama.

• Dar al-Islam: Afro-Eurasian “house of Islam” linking diverse cultures via language (Arabic), pilgrimage, shared texts.

Interactions & Encounters Pre-1200

• Empires as melting pots:
  • Roman Empire diffused Mithraism, Isis cult, Christianity.
  • Arab Empire facilitated Islamic, Persian cultural fusion; Persian bureaucrats indispensable.
  • Russian state adoption of Orthodox Christianity → spread across Siberia.

• Long-distance Commerce:
  • Silk Roads (200 ext{ B.C.E.}–1450): China ↔ Mediterranean.
  • Sea Roads: Indian Ocean-South China Sea network.
  • Sand Roads: trans-Saharan—North Africa ↔ West African interior.
  • American web: looser links among Mesoamerica, Andes, Mississippi valley.
  • Trade effects: new consumption patterns, state revenue, tech & disease diffusion.

• Religious/ideological diffusion: Buddhism into China/Korea/Japan; Islam into West Africa, SE Asia; Christianity into Slavic & Germanic Europe.

Reflections: Religion & Historiography

• Tensions
  • Religions claim timeless divine origin ⇄ historians track change & human construction.
  • Scholars cannot empirically verify mystical experiences but must acknowledge their historical power.
  • Competing sects claim authenticity; historians adopt neutral descriptive stance.

• Scholarly balance: respect believer perspectives while analyzing social, political, and economic contexts of religious evolution.

Key Terms (AP)

• Paleolithic era: Old Stone Age foraging epoch.

• Pastoral society: nomadic herders.

• Chiefdom: kin-based hierarchy with charismatic chiefs.

• Patriarchy: systemic male dominance.

Formula & Data Quick-Reference

• Population growth proportion \frac{7{.}55\,\text{billion (2017)}}{153\,\text{million (400 B.C.E.)}} \approx 49.4-fold.

• Maya population \ge5\,\text{million} by 750 ext{ C.E.}.

• Roman slave proportion \approx 0.33–0.40 of Italy’s population.

• Confucian revival institutes in modern China >300.

Ethical & Practical Implications Discussed

• Agricultural impact on ecology: salinization, deforestation, species displacement.

• Religious legitimization of inequality: caste, patriarchy, slavery, monarchy.

• Religious challenge to power: Buddhist critique of caste; Jesus’ defense of poor; Quranic social justice; Sufi dissent.

• Modern relevance: state appropriation of ancient traditions (Confucius & Chinese Communist Party).

Connections to Later Content

• Mongol Empire (Chapter 4) = pastoral-agrarian interaction apex.

• Neo-Confucianism (Song period) sets stage for Ming/Qing.

• Bhakti & Sufi devotionalism foreshadow syncretic faiths in early-modern Asia.

• Silk/Sea/Sand Roads evolve into 1200–1450 global trade networks examined in subsequent chapters.

Return of Ancient Traditions in Modern China - 2009 Confucius Anniversary

• 2{,}560-year birthday celebrated in Qufu; 10{,}000+ participants (descendants, scholars, officials, foreigners).

• Communist Party—once hostile—now embraces Confucius as “national treasure”; 300+ Confucius Institutes, TV dramas, temple prayers before college-entrance exam.

• Parallel revivals: rebuilding of Buddhist & Daoist temples; rapid post-1970s Christian growth.

#### From the Paleolithic Era to the Agricultural Revolution - Homo sapiens timeline

• Emerged \text{ca. }300{,}000 years ago in Africa.

• Out-of-Africa migrations 100{,}000 – 60{,}000 B.P.; all major landmasses settled by 1200 \text{ C.E.} (final step: New Zealand). - Paleolithic societies

• Subsistence: foraging, scavenging, hunting, fishing; stone tools (Old Stone Age = >95 \text{%} of human time).

• Social patterns: bands of 25–50 , kin-based, nomadic/seasonal mobility, highly egalitarian (minimal gender & class hierarchies).

• Culture: cave art, Dreamtime, oral mythologies, technological creativity.

• Life expectancy <35 years; slow population growth. - **Agricultural (Neolithic) Revolution**

• Occurred 12{,}000 – 4{,}000 B.P. independently in Asia, Africa, Americas.

• Defined by deliberate plant cultivation + animal domestication.

• Consequences: exponential population rise; permanent villages; zoonotic diseases; metallurgy; chariots; writing; cities, states, empires.

• Snapshot of world population (selected points):

\begin{aligned}

400\,\text{B.C.E.}: &\;153\,\text{million} \

1\,\text{C.E.}: &\;252\,\text{million} \

1500\,\text{C.E.}: &\;477\,\text{million} \

2017: &\;7{.}55\,\text{billion}

\end{aligned}

#### Agricultural-Age Societies - Pastoral (herding) peoples

• Regions: Central Asia, Arabian Peninsula, Sahara, parts of E & S Africa.

• Mobility key; relied on sheep, goats, horses, camels, reindeer.

• Absent in Americas (lack of domesticable large mammals).

• Relationship with agrarian neighbors = conflict + exchange (tech, ideas, goods). Conflict often arose from competition for land or resources, leading to raids. Exchange involved mutual benefit, with pastoralists trading animal products (wool, hides, meat) for agricultural goods (grains, textiles) and sometimes disseminating military technologies (like composite bows or horse riding techniques, which influenced warfare).

• Dramatic illustration: 13^{\text{th}}-century Mongol Empire. - Permanent village farmers

• Kin/lineage based; no kings, aristocracy; retained Paleolithic equality.

• Innovated settlement of vast eco-zones; rich ritual/art traditions; continuous interaction with neighbors. - Chiefdoms

• Inherited leadership, but chiefs ruled by charisma, gift-giving, ritual status (limited coercion).

• Functions: ritual, warfare coordination, economic redistribution, conflict mediation.

• Examples: Polynesian islands; North American Cahokia (near modern St Louis, flourishing \text{ca. }1200 \text{ C.E.} ).

#### Civilizations ##### Definition & Rise - Societies based in cities & governed by states; emerged 3500–3000 \text{ B.C.E.} in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Peru. - Spread globally over next 4{,}000 years; by 1200 majority of humans lived in civilizations. ##### Core Features - Cities = political capitals; cultural hubs; marketplaces; manufacturing centers (e.g., description of Uruk in Epic of Gilgamesh). - States & Kingship: coercive power; bureaucracy; taxation (Hebrew warning about “way of the king”). - Occupational specialization: scholars (preserving knowledge, advising rulers), merchants (facilitating trade), priests (performing rituals, interpreting divine will), soldiers (providing defense and conquest), artisans (producing crafts and goods)—all supported by peasant majority. - Inequalities: class stratification; patriarchy (systemic male dominance over women in society and household); slavery (people treated as property, often through forced labor and a key economic foundation, as seen in Greece/Rome—Athens \approx 60{,}000 slaves \approx 1/3 population; Roman Italy 2–3 million, 33–40\% ). - Innovations: bureaucracy (China); silk, paper, gunpowder (China); math, medicine, water tech (Islamic world); later science & industry (Europe). - Monumental architecture: Mesopotamian ziggurats, Egyptian pyramids, Andes terrace complexes. ##### Environment Interplay - Early centers in river valleys (Tigris–Euphrates, Nile, Yellow, Indus). - Impact: irrigation salinization (Mesopotamia → wheat ↦ barley); deforestation & soil erosion in Greece, China (Yangzi expansion), Europe (forest cover ↓ to 20\% by 1300 ); Maya ecological strain → collapse ( \text{ca. }900 ). ##### Comparing Civilizations - Scale: small city-states (Maya, Greek, Swahili) vs. vast empires (Chinese, Persian, Arab, Inca, Mali). - Social hierarchy models:

• China—elite scholar-officials; peasants honored yet exploited; exam system = limited mobility.

• India—Brahmin religious supremacy; rigid caste subdivisions; minimal mobility; inter-caste restrictions on marriage/eating. - Patriarchy variations: looser in frontier/nomadic periods; Spartan women vs. Athenian seclusion; class differences (elite female seclusion > peasant women’s mobility). - Cultural reach: Roman Mediterranean, Chinese East Asia, Islamic Afro-Eurasia; regional civilizations (Axum, Swahili, early Western Europe). This reach occurred through various means, including imperial expansion, long-distance trade, missionary efforts, and the adoption of successful governance or cultural models by neighboring societies.

#### South Asian Cultural Traditions ##### Hinduism - Nature: No single founder; evolved over centuries; tied to Indian people/land; polytheistic yet philosophically monistic. - Brahmins: priestly caste managing rituals & sacrifices. - Upanishads ( 800–400 \text{ B.C.E.} ) articulate philosophical core:

• Brahman = World Soul, ultimate reality.

• Atman (individual soul) = Brahman; goal → moksha (liberation).

• Samsara (rebirth) governed by karma; caste = spiritual progress ledger. - Paths to moksha: jnana (knowledge), karma-yoga (duty), bhakti (devotion). - Bhakti Movement ( 600–1300 \text{ C.E.} ): emotional devotion to Vishnu, Shiva, Krishna; inclusive of women/lower castes; poetic expressions; responded to Buddhism. ##### Buddhism - Founder: Siddhartha Gautama ( 566–486 \text{ B.C.E.} ) → Enlightenment → Buddha. - Core doctrine (Four Noble Truths & Eightfold Path): suffering (dukkha) caused by desire; cure via ethical living, meditation, wisdom → nirvana (extinguishing self). - Contrast w/ Hinduism: rejected Brahmin authority, rituals, caste; de-emphasized speculation; individual self-effort. - Branches:

• Theravada (“Teaching of Elders”): Buddha = model/teacher, rigorous monasticism, limited deities.

• Mahayana (“Great Vehicle”): compassion focus; bodhisattvas aid others; Buddha & other figures divine; merit transfer; popular salvation; spread to Central & East Asia.

• Tibetan/Vajrayana: lamas, preparatory death practices, visualizations, mantras, syncretic Hindu elements. - Decline in India: wealth of monasteries, Brahmin hostility, Islamic competition; absorbed into Hinduism (Buddha as 9^{\text{th}} avatar of Vishnu).

#### Chinese Cultural Traditions ##### Confucianism - Founder: Confucius ( 551–479 \text{ B.C.E.} ); ideas compiled in Analects. - Solution to Warring States chaos: moral example of superiors in unequal relationships (father/son, ruler/subject). - Key virtues: ren (benevolence), li (ritual propriety), xiao (filial piety). - Education & Examination: classics, history, ethics; basis for Han-onward bureaucracy. - Secular humanism: practical governance; Heaven = moral force, not personal god; rituals “as if” spirits present. - Spread to East Asia: Korea, Vietnam, Japan (Shotoku’s Seventeen-Article Constitution); Song 960–1279 → Neo-Confucian synthesis. ##### Daoism - Attributed to Laozi (legendary 6^{\text{th}} -century B.C.E. archivist); text Daodejing. - Dao = underlying natural order; advocacy of wu-wei (non-action), simplicity, small communities, minimal gov’t, withdrawal from politics. - Complementarity (yin-yang): coexistence with Confucian duties (day) and Daoist retreat (evening/retirement). - Popular Daoism: magic, alchemy, immortality quests, Yellow Turban Rebellion; later blended with Buddhism.

#### Middle Eastern Cultural Traditions ##### Judaism - Hebrews: small society amidst Mesopotamian empires. - Monotheism: Yahweh—exclusive loyalty (First Commandment); evolved from warrior deity to universal moral god of social justice (prophets Isaiah, Amos, Jeremiah). - Legacy: conceptual groundwork for Christianity & Islam. ##### Christianity - Origins: Jesus of Nazareth ( 4 \text{ B.C.E.}–29 \text{ C.E.} ), Jewish wisdom teacher; preached love, compassion, aid to poor; crucified by Roman-allied authorities. - Saint Paul ( 6–67 \text{ C.E.} ): missions across eastern Roman world; opened faith to Gentiles; formed house-churches. - Appeal factors: inclusive salvation; miracles; moral order; women’s roles (initially prominent). - Persecution → Acceptance: sporadic Roman repression; Emperor Constantine converts ( 312 ); Christianity state religion ( 380 ). - Institutionalization: patriarchs → pope (Rome); doctrinal disputes → Eastern Orthodox vs. Roman Catholic split ( 1054 ). - Geographic spread by 600 : Middle East, N/N-E Africa (Axum, Egypt), Armenia, parts of India & China. ##### Islam - Context: Arabian pastoralists + Mecca trading hub; proximity to Byzantium & Sassanids; Jewish/Christian influence. - Prophet Muhammad ( 570–632 ): revelations 610–632 compiled as Quran—literal word of Allah. - Message: strict monotheism; social justice (condemn hoarding, usury, mistreatment of women & orphans); creation of egalitarian umma community. - Hegira/Hijra ( 622 ): migration to Medina; start of Islamic calendar. - State-Formation: military unification of Arabia; rapid empire—under Muhammad 622–632 , Rashidun 632–656 , Umayyad/Abbasid 656–900 —spanning Spain to Indus (Map). - Division: Sunni (caliphs as political leaders) vs. Shia (leaders = Muhammad’s bloodline; imams); began as succession dispute, deepened doctrinally. - Integrative Institutions:

• Ulama—scholars of sharia; madrassas; trans-regional curriculum.

• Sufis—mystics; personal union with God; flexible, syncretic; spread Islam to frontier zones; tension with ulama. - Dar al-Islam: Afro-Eurasian “house of Islam” linking diverse cultures via language (Arabic), pilgrimage, shared texts.

#### Interactions & Encounters Pre-1200 - Empires as melting pots:

• Roman Empire diffused Mithraism, Isis cult, Christianity.

• Arab Empire facilitated Islamic, Persian cultural fusion; Persian bureaucrats indispensable.

• Russian state adoption of Orthodox Christianity → spread across Siberia. - Long-distance Commerce:

• Silk Roads ( 200 \text{ B.C.E.}– 1450): China \leftrightarrow Mediterranean.

• Sea Roads: Indian Ocean-South China Sea network.

• Sand Roads: trans-Saharan—North Africa \leftrightarrow West African interior.

• American web: looser links among Mesoamerica, Andes, Mississippi valley.

• Trade effects: new consumption patterns, state revenue, tech & disease diffusion. - Religious/ideological diffusion: Buddhism into China/Korea/Japan; Islam into West Africa, SE Asia; Christianity into Slavic & Germanic Europe.

#### Reflections: Religion & Historiography - Tensions

• Religions claim timeless divine origin ⇄ historians track change & human construction.

• Scholars cannot empirically verify mystical experiences but must acknowledge their historical power.

• Competing sects claim authenticity; historians adopt neutral descriptive stance. - Scholarly balance: respect believer perspectives while analyzing social, political, and economic contexts of religious evolution.

#### Key Terms (AP) - Paleolithic era: Old Stone Age foraging epoch. - Pastoral society: nomadic herders. - Chiefdom: kin-based hierarchy with charismatic chiefs. - Patriarchy: systemic male dominance.

#### Formula & Data Quick-Reference - Population growth proportion \frac{7{.}55\,\text{billion (2017)}}{153\,\text{million (400 B.C.E.)}} \approx 49.4 -fold. - Maya population \ge5\,\text{million} by 750 \text{ C.E.} . - Roman slave proportion \approx 0.33–0.40 of Italy’s population. - Confucian revival institutes in modern China >300 .

#### Ethical & Practical Implications Discussed - Agricultural impact on ecology: salinization, deforestation, species displacement. - Religious legitimization of inequality: caste, patriarchy, slavery, monarchy. - Religious challenge to power: Buddhist critique of caste; Jesus’ defense of poor; Quranic social justice; Sufi dissent. - Modern relevance: state appropriation of ancient traditions (Confucius & Chinese Communist Party).

#### Connections to Later Content - Mongol Empire (Chapter 4) = pastoral-agrarian interaction apex. - Neo-Confucianism (Song period) sets stage for Ming/Qing. - Bhakti & Sufi devotionalism foreshadow syncretic faiths in early-modern Asia. - Silk/Sea/Sand Roads evolve into 1200–1450 global trade networks examined in subsequent chapters.