Download Really Old Stuff 600 CE to around 1450

Really Old Stuff
600 C.E. to around 1450
The Big Picture
 1. Do cultural areas, as opposed
to states or empires, better
represent history?
 2. How does change occur
within societies?
 3. How similar were the
economic and trading practices
that developed across cultures?
Rise of Islam
 Monotheistic
 Mohammad
 Qur’an
 Five Pillars of Islam
 Started in Mecca but was forced to
move to Medina – hijra
 Moved back to Mecca – from there
spread rapidly
Empire
 Mohammad dies, Abu Bakr takes
over
 Caliph – emperor/religious leader
 Theocracy
 Umar, Uthman, Ali
 Ali is assassinated – prominent
Umayyad family takes over
 Became more like a monarchy
 No clear successor
 Umayyad Dynasty
 Moved capital to Damascus
 Arabic became official language
 Conquered subjects were encouraged
to convert.
 Empire grew – Spain and S. Italy, as
close to Europe as they would get.
 Muslims split
Shi’ite - believed the hereditary line of
rulers should come from Ali.
Sunni - leaders should come from broad
base of people; not just Ali
 Abbasid Dynasty
 Umayyad defeated by Abu al-Abbas –
supporters of Ali
 Moved capital to Baghdad – cultural
center
 Trade/manufacturing of steel
 Medical and Math advancements
 Preserved Western Culture and
history – Ancient Greek and Roman
works
 Sufis converted many to Islam
 Women
 Before the Qur’an, women were seen
as property
 Qur’an – women were equal before
Allah – more respected, but still
subservient to men
 Men could have more than one wife;
wife could only have one husband
 Veiling of women
 Primary duty was to be loyal and care
for husband and family
 Fall of Islamic Empire
Mongols
Would not be united again until the
rise of Ottoman Turks
Europe
 Middle Ages
After fall of Rome (before the
Renaissance)
West and East Europe had
different forms of Christianity;
Catholic and Orthodox
E. Europe (Byzantine) was much
more centralized and organized
than the West.
Byzantine Empire
 Language: Greek
 Persian culture influence (dome buildings)
 Absolute Emperors
 Justinian – Justinian’s Code (preserved Roman
legal principles); major building projects (Hagia
Sophia)
 Considered secular (compared to Rome;
Pope head of church and state)
 Distinct differences from Catholic church
(priest marriages, communion, icons)
 Orthodox Patriarch and Catholic Pope
excommunicated each other
 Orthodoxy and Russia
St. Cyril – converted SE Europe
and Russia to Christianity – Slavic
alphabet
Vladimir – Kiev Prince – converted
to Orthodoxy
Russia becomes culturally
different from other powers of
Europe because of the cultural ties
to Russian Christian Orthodoxy
Western Europe
 Franks – Germanic people; converted to
Christianity
 United under King Clovis; Kingdom was
split among his sons and disintegrated
 Charles Martel once again united people
to defeat the Muslims – Battle of Tours
(stopped Muslim advance into Europe)
 Founded Carolingian Dynasty; Pepin (his
son) certified his rule with the Pope
 Charlemagne (Pepin’s Son)
 Revitalized the concept of empire to W.
Europe
 Holy Roman Empire
 Monasteries – center of art and
education
 Feudalism society
 After his death, empire was divided
among 3 grandsons
 Viking and Magyar invasions
 Catholic church became most
powerful institution in W. Europe
 Feudalism – Europe’s social,
economic, and political system in
the Middle Ages
King
Nobles
Vassals
Peasants (serfs)
 Manor system
 3 field system – produced food
surplus
 Code of Chivalry
 Females had few rights
 Serfs – eventually became highly
skilled workers – would help bring
Europe back into trading with the
world
 High Middle Ages
Towns grew
Burghers – middle class merchants
Hanseatic League – alliance of
towns and dominated trade in
Europe
Gothic Churches
 Church conflict:
 Scholasticism – relied on reason rather
than faith
 People questioned organized religion
 Heresies – religious beliefs or practices
that do not conform to the traditional
church doctrine
 Pope Innocent III – strict church
doctrines; persecution of Jews and
heretics
 Inquisition
 Thomas Aquinas – Christian realist that
faith and reason do not have to conflict
 Emergence of Nation-States
 W. Europe was not organized into
countries but was broken up into feudal
kingdoms
 Europe will begin to organize
themselves into cultural and language
groups
 Germany and Italy – decentralized;
strong group of independent
kingdoms (like city-states)
 England – unified quickly
 William the Conqueror
 King John – signed Magna Carta (laid
foundation for Parliament)
 Parliament – House of Lords and House of
Commons
 France – King Hugh Capet ruled small
area around Paris
 Conflict with England (England taking land
in France)
 100 Years War united France; led to
England’s withdrawal of France (Joan of
Arc)
 Bourbons become French monarch
 Spain – united by Queen Isabella by
marrying Ferdinand.
 Used Catholic church as their ally
 Spanish Inquisition – forced non-Christians
out of Spain
 Led to Spanish culture and Christianity to
the New World
 Russia – Fell to the Tatars (Mongols)
 As Mongol power declined Russian princes
grew in power
 Ivan III declared himself Czar
 Ivan the Terrible - centralized power
China
 Tang Dynasty
 Empire spread
 Became too large it collapsed (local
warlords)
 Song Dynasty
 Reunified China
 Eventually fell to the Jurchens and the
Mongols
 Ming Dynasty
 Drove out Mongols; restored traditional
Chinese Rule
 Strong bureaucratic system (civil
service exam)
 Built canals, roads, paper money
 Song Dynasty – Gunpowder,
compass, ship technologies,
production of steel
 Champa rice – from Vietnam led
to population explosion in China
(also the rise of urban centers)
 Women
 Wu Zhao – only Empress of China
 Foot binding
 Subservient to men
 Religion
 Buddhism – Mahayana – focused on
peaceful, quiet lives and Zen –
attracted educated classes who
followed Confucianism
 Daoists and Confucians tried to stop
spread of Buddhism
Japan
 Influenced by Korea and China
 Yamato clan – first and only dynasty
 Religion – Shinto “the way of the gods”
– worshipped kami
 Chinese influence grew in Japan Buddhism; bureaucratic and legal
reforms; however rejected
Confucianism and Civil Service Exam;
nobility was hereditary not earned.
 Heian Era – lost a little Chinese
influence
 Fujiwara – powerful aristocratic family
 Literature flourished
 Feudal system
 Feudal Japan – developed about the
same time as Europe’s feudal system
 Shogun (like King)
 Daimyo (land owners; like lords)
 Samurai (knights) – Code of Bushido
 Lesser Samurai
 Peasants and artisans
 Women were demeaned (not adored)
India
 Islam vs. Hinduism
 Islamic Empire spread to N. India.
 Islamic Sultan made much
progress in India
 Much of N. India converted, and
S. India held on to Hinduism =
conflict
 Mongols swept in with destruction
and left
Mongols
 Rivalries between clans kept them
from uniting
 Genghis Khan unified the clans and
led them to the largest empire ever!
 Did not establish a culture
 2 major consequences of Mongols
 1. Russia didn’t unify and develop as
quickly as W. Europe
 2. globally world trade, cultural
diffusion and awareness grew
 Kush
Africa
 Developed around same time as
Ancient Egypt
 Conquer Egypt then retreat back
to Meroe - Iron manufacturing city
 Axum – had much contact with
Mediterranean world
 Converted to Christianity
 West African Kingdoms
 Ghana, Mali and Songhai –
trade gold and salt with Islamic
traders
 The kingdoms ended up
converting to Islam
 Timbuktu – W. Africa cultural
center
 Arts
 Oral literature
 Benin – bronze sculpting
 Maya
Americas
 S. Mexico and Central America
 Collection of city-states; pyramid
builders, hieroglyphics
 Tikal – important political city
 Kings, priests, nobles, merchants,
peasants, slaves
 Not sure what caused the Mayan
civilization to decline
 Aztecs
 Central Mexico; Tenochtitlan
(Mexico City)
 Professional army dominated
neighbors – demanded heavy
taxes
 Not bureaucratic – conquered
areas were allowed to govern
themselves
 Religion was tied to military –
human sacrifices
 Incas
 Andes Mts. in Peru
 Human was main source of labor
 Women worked in fields, took care of
household, had property, played a role in
religion
 Polytheistic – sun god was most important
 Ruler descended from sun and therefore
ruled all of the earth
 Bureaucracy – nobles
 Machu Picchu – temples
 Never developed writing; used quipu –
knotted strings to keep records
READ pages
149 – 154 !!!