Download The Geography of Islam Questions

AP World History
Era 3 Packet
Era 3:
600 CE to 1450 CE
The big changes in the period from 600 to 1450 did not involve political boundaries but the spread of major world religions across
political and cultural borders and the development of a new, more regular system of trade that connected much of Asia, Africa, and
Europe. The spread of trade helped disseminate religion, and confidence in a divine order helped merchants to take risks. A trigger for
this change was the economic decline and disorder associated with the decline of the classical empires. Religion and commerce were
the engines of change in the postclassical period. Both facilitated the spread of technologies, ideas, and disease. Even though the
classical empires collapsed, the successes of classical civilization encouraged many people to maintain or revive classical forms. The
impact of this time period on the daily life of women was noticeable. The postclassical period saw an intriguing tension on the roles of
women as religions insisted on equality but societies clung onto the patriarchal culture.
Must Know Dates for Era 3: 600-1450
622
c. 730
732
c. 900
1054
1066
1071
1095
1206
1258
Founding of Islam
Printing invented in China
Battle of Tours
Decline of classical Maya
Great Schism in Christian Church
Norman conquest of England
Battle of Manzikert
1st Crusade
Chinggis Khan begins Mongol conquests
Mongols sack Baghdad, end Abbasids
1271-1295
1279-1368
1324
1325-1349
1347-1348
1368-1644
1405-1433
1438
1453
Marco Polo’s travels
Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty in China
Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage/hajj
Travels of Ibn Battuta
Bubonic plague in Europe
Ming Dynasty
Zheng He’s voyages
Rise of Inca Empire
Fall of Constantinople
Chapter 12 – Byzantium
ID’s
Balkans*
Byzantine Empire
Cyril and Methodius
Cyrilic Alphabet
Hagia Sophia
Iconoclasm
Justinian
Justinian’s Code
Orthodox Christian Church
Schism
Slavs
Theme System
Theodora
Yaroslav I (The Wise)*
Reading Guide


Create PERSIAN Chart for the Byzantine Empire.
Guiding Questions
o
o
o
o
How did post-classical states avoid the mistakes of classical empires in the regions where classical empires collapsed?
How did Byzantine trade and business practices differ from the previous era?
What was the relationship between Byzantine Christianity and the government?
What domestic and foreign problems led to the decline of the Byzantine Empire?
Geography
Locate and Label the following: Byzantine Empire
Franks
Visigoths
Chapter 13 – Realm of Islam
ID’s
Abbasid
Abu Bakr
Ali
Allah
Bedouin
Caliph
Dar al-Islam
Five Pillars
Hajj
Hijra
Islam
Ka’ba
Mahdi*
Mecca Medina
Muhammad
Purdah*
Qur’an
Ramadam
Sharia
Shi’a
Sufis
Sultan
Sunnis
Umayyad
Umma
Reading Guide


Create PERSIAN Charts for the Umayyad Dynasty and the Abbasid Dynasty.
Guiding Questions
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
How did Muhammad’s background influence his beliefs and the early development of Islam?
What are the fundamental tenets of Islam?
After Muhammad died, what were the challenges faced by dar al-Islam and how were they resolved within a century?
How did the Abbasids come to power, and how did their rule differ from the Umayyads?
How did the growth of the realm of Islam contribute to agricultural, industrial, and urban development?
What people and institutions helped to promote and spread the values of Islam?
What factors contributed to the expansion of Islamic overland and maritime trade?
What was the status of women in the early centuries of Islam?
What is the significance of the hajj to Islamic religion and culture?
How did Persia, India, and Greece influence the realm of Islam?
Geography
Locate and Label the following: Mecca
Medina
Damascus
Baghdad
Starting with Mecca, draw an arrow to each of the succeeding capitals of Islam. In what direction was the “center” of Islam moving?
Create a key and color-code the expansion of Islam (to 632, to 661, to 733)
Chapter 16 – Christian Society in Western Europe
ID’s
Battle of Tours*
Carolingians
Charlemagne
Charles Martel
Clovis
Feudalism
Franks
Heavy Plows
Magyars
Manor/Manorialism
Middle Ages
Monasticism
Serfs
Vassals
Vikings
Reading Guide


Create PERSIAN Charts for the Franks and the Carolingians
Draw a diagram of Feudal Social Structure (include: lords, vassals, fief, benefice, serf, manor)


Guiding Questions
The Quest for Political Order (p. 380-390)
o What is the significance of Clovis’s conversion to Christianity?
o What were the contributions of Charlemagne’s reign, and why did it ultimately fail to last very long?
o Who were the Vikings? What were the motivations behind their behavior? What were their accomplishments? How did they disrupt
European society?
Feudal Society (p. 390-395)
o What were the obligations of lords toward their retainers and the retainers toward their lords? Why was this arrangement often
unstable?
o What role did the serfs play in early medieval Europe?
o What was life like on the manor?
o What was the significance of the invention of the heavy plow for European economy?
o Although trade constricted in the early middle ages, where and how was it still going on?
The Formation of Christian Europe (p. 395-400)
o What was the role of the pope in the early middle ages? How did his role evolve over this period of time?
o How did monasticism develop in early medieval Europe?
o What was the significance of the monasteries to the European society and economy?


Geography
Locate and Label the following:
Angles and Saxons
Ostrogoths
Franks Visigoths
Byzantine Empire
Burgundians
Lombards
Carolingian Empire
Chapter 19 – Western Europe’s High Middle Ages
ID’s
Chivalry
Crusades
Francis of Assisi
Guilds
Hanseatic League
Holy Land
Holy Roman Empire
Investiture
Magna Carta*
Parliaments*
Pope Urban II
Reconquista
Saladin
Scholasticism
Thomas Aquinas
Three Estates
William the Conqueror
Reading Guide

o
o

o
o
o
o

o
The Establishment of Regional States (p. 452-457)
What did each one of these words (holy, Roman, and empire) mean to Europeans in this period? How was the Holy
Roman Empire none of those?
What did the monarchies that emerged in France and England have in common? How were they different?
Economic Growth and Social Development (p. 457-464)
What were the significant innovations in agriculture in Europe during this period? How did each one lead to increased
yield?
What was the role of the textile industry in the European economy during this period?
Where were the centers of the trade networks for Europe? Why there?
During this period Europe saw the emergence of a new social class in the cities. Who were they? What roles did they
play? How did they make a place for themselves in the medieval social order?
The Medieval Expansion of Europe (p. 469-475)
Where and how did Europe expand during the high middle ages?
Geography
Locate and Label the following:
Holy Roman Empire
France
England Papal States
Chapter 14 – Empire in East Asia
ID’s
Bushido
Equal-Field System
Flying Money
Fujiwara
Heian
Kamakura Shogunate
Middle Kingdom
Minamoto
Samurai
Seppuku
Shinto
Shintoism
Shoguns
Silla Dynasty
Sinification*
Song Dynasty
Sui Dynasty
Tale of Genji
Tang Dynasty
Reading Guide


Create PERSIAN Charts for the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty
Guiding Questions
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
How did post-classical states avoid the mistakes of classical empires?
What new innovations affected agriculture in the post-classical era?
What new technologies enabled the growth of inter-regional trade networks?
Why is Chan Buddhism considered a syncretic faith?
In what ways did China influence Korea?
In what ways did China influence Vietnam?
In what ways did China influence Japan?
Describe Japanese feudalism.
Geography
Locate and Label the following:
Tang
Sui
Song
Grand Canal
Korea
Vietnam
Japan
Chapter 17 – Nomadic Empires
ID’s
Baibars*
Battle at Manzikert
Chinggis Khan
Golden Horde
Ilkhan khanate
Kubilai Khan
Mamluks*
Marco Polo
Mongols
Muhammad Shah II*
Seljuk (Saljuq) Turks
Timur-i Lang (Tamerlane)
Turkish Peoples
Yuan Dynasty
Reading Guide


Create a PERSIAN Chart for the Mongol Empires
Guiding Questions
o How do nomadic societies adapt to the ecological conditions of arid lands?
o Describe the social classes generated by nomadic society.
o In what ways did Turkish migrants transform Anatolia?
o What were the causes for the decline of the Yuan Dynasty?
o Describe the Ottoman Conquests.
Geography
Locate and Label the following:
Khanate of Chagatai
Khanate of the Great Khan
Khanate of the Golden Horde
Ilkhanate of Persia
Chapter 15 – India and Indian Ocean Basin
ID’s
Dhows
Junks
Khmers
Melaka
Monsoons
Sultanate of Delhi
Reading Guide


Create PERSIAN Charts for
Guiding Questions
o Describe the rule of King Harsha.
o How did Islam spread into India?
o What agricultural changes took place in post-classical India? How did this lead to urbanization?
o Describe internal trade in India. What areas benefited from this trade?
o How did Hindu temples promote economic development?
o What factors led to a dramatic surge in trade in the Indian Ocean basin?
o How did textile production develop in the post-classical era?
o Describe the changes/expansion of the caste system.
o Why did Buddhism become a “minor faith in the land of its birth”?
o Describe the gradual acceptance of Islam in India.
o In what ways were Southeast Asian lands influenced by Indian society?
Geography
Locate and Label the following (use map on page 365):
Trade Routes
Monsoon Winds
Chapter 18 – Sub-Saharan Africa
ID’s
Axum
Bantu migration
Ghana
Great Zimbabwe
Griots
Mali
Mansa Musa
Sahel*
Sundiata
Swahili
Reading Guide

Create PERSIAN Charts for the Bantu, the Islamic States of West Africa (Ghana & Mali), and the Islamic States of East Africa (Swahili & Great
Zimbabwe)
Geography
Locate and Label the following:
Bantu homeland
Bantu migrations
Ghana Empire
Mali Empire
Songhay Empire
THE GEOGRAPHY OF ISLAM
Islam is one of the three great monotheistic faiths, which has had an impact upon
the world and history that is immeasurable. It was Islam, which preserved many
of the great texts of Greek knowledge from which the West would later learn.
Islam produced great scientists and philosophers. Islamic mathematicians
developed the numbering system we use today including algebra. Muslim
explorers and traders traveled the world, bringing their faith with them, as their
exchanged the goods and ideas.
THER IS NO
GOD BUT ALLAH
Islam is a universalizing religion and is made up of a large portion of ethnic groups and nations found in the East
Hemisphere. Although the Arabs make up a large portion of believers and were the first believers, they no longer
constitute a majority of believers. The Muslim world extends from Morocco on the Atlantic Ocean eastward to China in
Asia; in fact, it generally lies between 15 degrees and 45 degrees north latitude; the only fully Muslim land which straddles
the Equator is Indonesia. Southwest Asia up to the Caucasus Mountains is largely Muslim. From Central Asia in the North
it reaches southward through India and has spread to numerous islands of the Indian Ocean at its neighboring seas, such
as Indonesia, the Philippines, Maldives, and Comorros. In Africa it extends across the Sahara to the West African steppe
and Sahel (it stops at the forest regions) and down along the East African coast. Within Europe Muslim countries include
Bosnia and Albania, while Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Serbia (Kosovo) have large Muslim populations.
The single most important teaching of Islam is the confession of faith known as the shahada: There is no God but Allah,
and Mohammed is his prophet. These are the first words spoken into the ears of a newly born child, and the last uttered at
death. Allah is the creator of the universe and is just and merciful. Allah revealed his word to sinful man to guide him back
to a life of sinlessness and an eternity in Paradise. God subsequently gave the earth to mankind in order to finish the task
of creation. And this has meant the transformation and development of the land and wilderness. Failure to use the land
properly is a sin and Satan leads men to sin. If men do not repent, they will spend eternity burning in the flames of Hell.
Other important teachings include the Five Pillars of Islam and obedience to the laws of Islam (the Shari'a).
Islam is an Arabic verb meaning to submit and a Muslim is one who submits. Islam is the religion of submission to God.
Islam does not agree with concept of a chosen people found in Judaism nor with the Christian abandonment of strict
monotheism in the doctrine of the trinity. For Islam, God is one and He alone is worthy of worship. The basics of Islam
may be summed up in the Five Pillars:
1. The daily confession that there is one God and Mohammed is His prophet
2. The conduct of prayer five times daily, facing Mecca
3. The month-long fast of Ramadan
4. Zakat or giving alms to the poor (ideally ¼ of the Muslim's income)
5. Making the hajj or the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a Muslim’s life
The Koran is the major scripture holy to all Muslims. It is the collection of revelations given by the angel Gabriel to the
prophet Mohammed, which is the final authoritative revelation given by God to the world. The "Old" and "New"
Testaments of the Jews and Christians are considered to have been corrupted at some time in the past. For instance, in
that Christians believe Jesus to be the Son of God and worship him (whom Muslims believe is a man and prophet),
Muslims feel Christians have perverted the word of God. Owing to the beauty of the Arabic prose in which it is written,
Muslims believe that it is impossible to translate the Koran to another language. The only thing that can be done is the
translation of the meaning of the Koran. Thus, Muslims are encouraged to learn to read Arabic. Also important is a
collection of traditions about the Prophet known as the Hadith. Sufi mystics use other collections of traditions. While there
are other collections of books and teaching about Islam, which are respected, only the Koran is considered the inspired
word of God. Additionally, because the Muslims have the first Korans, there is little conflict over original meaning, unlike
the Christians and Jews, who do not have their original holy books.
The Islamic year starts with the Day of Hijra, where the prophet Mohammed departed from Mecca with his followers and
migrated north to Medina in 622 CE. The year of the Hijra is also the start of the Muslim calendar from which the years are
counted. The next festival is the Birth of the Prophet, celebrated during the month of Rabi I. Next is Laila Al-Bar'h or the
Night of Forgiveness, observed in preparation for Ramadan, in which Muslims seek the forgiveness from each other.
Ramadan is observed for the whole month, in which all food and drink are withheld during daylight hours. Light meals are
then permitted after nightfall. Then comes Lailat Al-Qadr or the Night of Power, to celebrate the revelation of the Koran to
the Prophet Mohammed. 'Id Al-Fitr or the Little Festival is the celebration of the end of the Ramadan fast, where gifts are
given to children and the poor. Dhu Al-Hijja is the Month of the Pilgrimage when the hajj or the pilgrimage to Mecca
occurs. Finally, the 'Id Al-Adha is the Festival of Sacrifice, coinciding with the end of the hajj, is observed with animal
sacrifices and the distribution of the meat to the poor.
There are two major divisions in Islam today. The first and largest is the Sunni, comprising of 90% of all Muslims. Most
Muslims the world over are Sunni. They developed the Shari'a, or community law, which governs most actions in
everyday life. Sunnis believed that prophetic succession passed through the caliphs after the death of the Prophet. The
teachings of the caliphs together with those of the Prophet comprise the Sunna or custom of all Muslims. In practice the
Sunni are usually more orthodox and tolerant. For example, Sunni are generally not suspicious of outside ideas or change
provided they do not conflict openly with the Quran. The other major division is the Shia. Since Muhammad had no direct
male heir, the Shiites believe his authority passed to Ali, his nearest male cousin and his son-in-law. After the descent
became muddled through murder and lost history, Shiites believe that the 12 imams, or perfect teachers, still guide faithful
Muslims from Paradise. Shiaism tends toward the ecstatic and emotional, and this has led to great clashes with the
Sunnis. They are also quite reactionary when it is believed a foreign idea or change contradicts or conflicts with Islam.
The Shia live largely in Iraq, Iran, and Yemen. There are some smaller sects, but they tend not to be significant to Islam in
general. Sufism is the mystical tradition of Islam and believes in a special inner revelation from God.
Islam was delivered to the Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, by the angel Gabriel, beginning in the year 622 CE
at Medina on the Arabian Peninsula. Nevertheless, Muslims consider the biblical patriarch Abraham and his son Ishmael
as the first true Muslims. Consequently, there are many early contacts with Jewish merchants in not only Arabia but also
the surrounding lands of the Fertile Crescent. The Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him, was a member of the
Quraysh tribe, the ruling tribe of Mecca in the sixth century CE. Mecca was even then the most important town of western
Arabia. According to tradition, Abraham had established a there a pre-Islamic pilgrimage, making Mecca an important
economic and trade center. It was at Mecca in 610 CE on Mount Hira' that Mohammed received his first revelations at the
age of forty. Because of the economic consequences in the pre-Islamic pagan society, only the closest associates of
Mohammed converted. Due to extreme persecution, Mohammed and his followers migrated north to Medina in 622 CE;
this is now known as the hijra and the year is numbered 1 H.E.
Mohammed gained more converts in Medina and later returned to Mecca, winning two military campaigns in 624 and 627.
His generous treatment of the Meccans helped him gain adherents in high political positions. Almost immediately,
Mohammed sent forces south into what is now Oman, commanding the rulers there to embrace Islam. Once possession
of the port of Suhar was gained, one of the greatest religious expansions in history began.
Islam was spread through two major methods: through religious or mercantile contacts or through force. By 750 CE, Islam
stretched from the Atlantic Ocean east to China. They crossed over the Straits of Gibraltar in 711 and remained until
1492. Although Arabic and Islamic armies entered the Indus Valley, it was not until the 11 th century CE that Muslims
pushed further into the Indian Subcontinent. Later empires especially the Ottoman Empire pushed the realm of Islam into
Europe. The military expansion of Islam into non-Arab territory also increased the number of adherents, mainly during the
rule of the Ottoman Empire. Suleiman the Magnificent ruled from 1520-1564 during which Islam reached its greatest
penetration into Western Europe, taking Belgrade and Vienna. For its early history, the great caliphs or successors to the
prophet reigned. Ummah, or Muslim communities, were formed throughout this vast territory. Later, as Islam aged, the
empire fragmented and numerous Muslim states arose.
At the same time, Muslim merchants, who often functioned as missionaries carried Islam to West and East Africa, and
throughout the islands and peninsulas of Southeast Asia. There these people settled and became locally involved in
business. They usually married local women and raised their children as Muslims. Often successful merchants married
local chiefs or nobles, and converted their families as well to Islam. In this manner, clearly devoid of military force, Islam
penetrated Sub-Saharan Africa, portions of China, and Indonesia. There are generally two accepted reasons for the
success of Islam upon which scholars agree. The first is religious fervor, or the idea that a religion unites and strengthens
a people to help them accomplish goals that seemed impossible in the past. The other explanation is the systematic use
of religious tolerance, which did two things: made way for peaceful conversion and allowed different religious beliefs to coexist. Throughout the Muslim Empire, the dhimmi or a system of protected peoples was instituted granting Jewish and
Christian populations the right to keep their property and profess their religion, provided that they paid their taxes. It was
this type of religious tolerance that kept the great majority of India Hindu after many years of Muslim rule.
All Muslims are equal before Allah and in the laws of the Quran irrespective of their previous status or race. And because
Islam prohibited a tax on followers (Muslims tithed), millions of peasants converted to the egalitarian message of Islam.
Additionally, Muslims encourage economic acumen and Allah rewards a successful merchant. Early Christianity
discouraged economic success – profit making was considered a sin; Islam does not and many Christian merchants
around the Mediterranean converted to Islam. Then, too, the religiously mistreated such as the Christian Monophysites of
Southwest Asia, the Balkan Bogomils persecuted by Catholic and Orthodox Christians alike, and the lower castes of India,
saw in Islam toleration and acceptance.
In the practice of Islam, the mosque is the place of public worship and contact. While the mosque itself is important, it is
not critical except as a communal meeting place. Muslims are encouraged to pray at home or wherever the find
themselves. And generally only larger towns and cities had mosques. And the mosque is not sanctified. It must have a
minaret from which Muslims are called to prayer and be oriented toward Mecca. And it will have a central open-air
courtyard, weather permitting because Muslims are encouraged to pray out in the open and under the stars. Space
outside the mosque is organized according to religious law and social custom, and all mosques are supposed to have a
school and washing facilities for the faithful. This spacial organization is equally true of the home, towns, and markets, for
which the Quran has many pronouncements. Muslim towns are organized by religion and divided into quarters. Jerusalem
has its Muslim, Jewish, Latin, and Armenian sections, and all towns, which are not fully Muslim, followed this practice.
Tradition teaches that the Temple Mount in Jerusalem was the "farthest mosque" visited by Mohammed in the night
journey spoken of in the Koran (Surah 17.1). The site is now marked by the Dome of the Rock and the Mosque of Hadhrat
'Umar. The issue of control over the temple mount is a current source of contention between Islam and Judaism, and the
Arabs, who are usually Muslims and the Israelis have fought numerous wars since 1948 for control of Jerusalem and the
Holy Land. Mecca is the holiest site in Islam, being the place where the Kaa'ba is located. Medina is the second holiest
site and Jerusalem is the third. More important in Islamic world are places of pilgrimage. The Fifth Pillar mentions the
pilgrimage to Mekka but there are other holy sites for Muslims. The Shia maintain holy cities and other groups venerate
the tombs of great Muslim leaders. Around these sites have grown up whole towns and intellectual centers. Timbuktu in
Mali is an example.
Muslims, too, attach religious significance to the land. Allah made the world and gave it to his followers; they, too, must be
fruitful and multiply to fill the world. Religiously, they divide the world into the world of Islam and the world of nonbelievers. But all Muslims believe the world will eventually become Muslim. Once a land has become Muslim, it, like a
person who has converted, cannot be allowed to revert back to its previous religious status. This is apostasy and
prohibited by the Quran. The jihad or holy war to protect Islam against assault is frequently invoked to prevent this; it has
also been used to spread the faith to distant lands. Today, Muslims battle Christians and Jews not only for the more
famous Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, but for lands in the Balkans, the Caucasus Mountains, Lebanese valleys, the
Indian sub-continent, and islands of the Philippines. And any non-believer who visits Mecca or Medina can be killed for
profaning the sacred space.
POV
GIST
Dr. Abdulla Omar Nasserf, former head of the Muslim World League, from
his Muslim Declaration on Nature, 2001
“For the Muslim, mankind’s role on earth is that of vice-regent or trustee of God.
We are God’s stewards and agents on Earth. We are not masters of this Earth;
it does not belong to us to do what we wish. It belongs to God and He has
entrusted us with its safekeeping. Our function as vice-regent of God is only to
oversee the trust. The overseer is answerable for his or her actions; for the way
in which he or she uses or abuses the trust of God.
It is these values which led Muhammad, the prophet of Islam to say: ‘Whoever
plants a tree and diligently looks after it until it matures and bears fruit is
rewarded.’ And ‘If a Muslim plants a tree or sows a field and men and beats and
birds eat from it, all of it is charity on his part,’ and again ‘ The world is green
and beautiful and God appointed you his stewards over it.’ Environment
consciousness is born when such values are adopted and become an intrinsic
part of our mental and physical make up.”
The Geography of Islam Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
How did Islam preserve Greek knowledge?
What is a universalizing religion?
How large is the Muslim world?
What is the single most important Islamic teaching?
How does a Muslim reach salvation and hell?
What does Islam mean in Arabic?
What does monotheism mean?
What are the 5 pillars of faith?
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
What is the Koran? How do Muslims feel about translation?
What is the Hadith and who is the Prophet?
What is the start date of Islam?
Describe Ramadan.
Describe in detail the two major divisions is Islam.
Division
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
How was Islam created?
Describe how Mohammed gained followers.
What two methods spread Islam?
What did Suleiman do?
What are the two reasons for the success of Islam?
Give an example of how Islam is egalitarian (equal).
What does Islam teach about merchants?
What role does the mosque play?
Why is Mecca the holiest site for Muslims?
Description
Crash Course World History: Wait for It…The Mongols #17
1.
List the four characteristics of herding/nomadic groups brought up in the Crash Course Video.
Complete the following chart:
Why
What
Migration
Trade
Living Conditions
Gender and social status
2.
Why were the Mongols more successful at emerging from Central Asia where larger groups were not?
3.
Genghis Khan successfully united warring groups due to these two factors:
a.
b.
4.
What was the significance of the Kurultai?
5.
Genghis Khan was declared the Great Khan in 1206 and by the time of his death in 1227 had formed an empire which
stretched from Mongolia to the Caspian Sea. Briefly describe what happened to the Mongol Empire after Genghis’ death?
6.
The high water point of Mongol Conquests was at the Battle of Ain Jalut. Where was it and what was significant about it?
7.
Genghis Khan failed to create a single political unit out of his conquests. After his death, the empire was divided into four
khanates. List each and its location by completing the following chart:
Khanate
Location
8.
John Green stated that the Mongol Conquests were similar to those of Alexander the Great. In what ways?
9.
What advantages did the Mongols have in warfare against Europeans?
10. What does John Green list as five primary arguments for Mongol “awesomeness?”
What?
Why?/Result?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
11. Recently, historians have reevaluated the Mongols. Some see them as precursors to the modern world. How so?
12. Why didn’t the Mongol Empires last?
13. Why are the Mongols probably responsible for the spread of diseases like the Black Death?
Crash Course World History: Russia, the Kievan Rus, and the Mongols #20
1. What groups are believed to have settled Kiev?
2. What goods did the Kievan Rus trade?
3. What happened to peasants who could not pay their taxes?
4. What religion did the Kievan Rus convert to?
5. What impact did the Khanate of the Golden Horde have on Russia?
6. What did the Mongols do that Hitler and Napoleon could not do?
7. What factors led to the growth of Moscow?
Southernization by Lynda Shaffer
The term southernization is a new one for many people. It is used here to refer to a multifaceted process that began in
Southern Asia and spread from there to various other places around the globe. The process included so many
interrelated strands of development that it is impossible to do more here than sketch out the general outlines of a few of
them. Among the most important that will be omitted are the metallurgical, the medical, and the literary. Those included
are the development of mathematics; the production and marketing of subtropical or tropical spices; the pioneering of new
trade routes; the cultivation, processing, and marketing of southern crops such as sugar and cotton; and the development
of various related technologies.
The term southernization is meant to be analogous to westernization. Westernization refers to certain developments that
first occurred in Western Europe. Those developments changed Europe and eventually spread to other places and
changed them as well. In the same way, southernization changed Southern Asia and later spread to other areas, which
then underwent a process of change.
Southernization was well under way in Southern Asia by the 5th century, C.E., during the reign of India’s Gupta kings [320535 C.E.]. It was by that time already spreading to China. In the 8th century, various elements characteristic of
southernization began spreading through the lands of the Muslim caliphates. Both in China and in the Islamic lands, the
process led to dramatic changes, and by the year 1200, it was beginning to have an impact on the Christian
Mediterranean. One could argue that within the Northern Hemisphere, by this time, the process of southernization had
created an eastern hemisphere characterized by a rich south and a north that was poor in comparison. And one might
even go so far as to suggest that in Europe and its colonies, the process of southernization laid the foundation for
westernization.
The Indian Beginnings
Southernization was the result of developments that took place in many parts of Southern Asia, both on the Indian
subcontinent and in Southeast Asia. By the time of the Gupta kings, several of its constituent parts already had a long
history in India. Perhaps the oldest strand in the process was the cultivation of cotton and the production of cotton textiles
for export.
Cotton was first domesticated in the Indus River Valley some time between 2300 and 1760 B.C.E., and gradually the
Indians began to develop sophisticated dyeing techniques. During this time, Indus River Valley merchants are known to
have lived in Mesopotamia, where they sold cotton textiles.
In the 1st century C.E., Egypt became an important overseas market for Indian cottons. By the next century, there was a
strong demand for these textiles, both in the Mediterranean and in East Africa, and by the 5 th century, they were being
traded in Southeast Asia. The Indian textile trade continued to grow throughout the next millennium. Even after the
arrival of European ships in Asian ports at the turn of the 16th century, it continued unscathed. According to one textile
expert, “India virtually clothed the world” by the mid-1700s. The subcontinent’s position was not undermined until Britain’s
Industrial Revolution, when steam engines began to power the production of cotton textiles.
Another strand in the process of southernization, the search for new sources of bullion, can be traced back in India to the
end of the Mauryan Empire [321-185 B.C.E.]. During Mauryan rule, Siberia had been India’s main source of gold, but
nomadic disturbances in Central Asia disrupted the traffic between Siberia and India at about the time that the Mauryans
fell. Indian sailors then began to travel to the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Indonesia in search of an alternative
source, which they most likely ‘discovered’ with the help of local peoples who knew the sites. [This is generally the case
with bullion discoveries, including those made by Arabs and Europeans.] What the Indians, and others later on, did do
was to introduce this gold to international trade routes.
The Indians’ search for gold may also have led them to the shores of Africa. Although its interpretation is controversial,
some archaeological evidence suggests the evidence of Indian influence on parts of East Africa as early as 300 C.E.
There is also one report that gold was being sought in East Africa by Ethiopian merchants, who were among India’s most
important trading partners.
The 6th century Byzantine geographer Cosmas Indicopleustes described Ethiopian merchants who went to some location
inland from the East African coast to obtain gold. “Every other year they would sail far to the south, then march inland,
and in return for various made-up articles they would come back laden with ingots of gold.” The fact that the expeditions
left every other year suggests that it took 2 years to get to their destination and return. If so, their destination, even at this
early date, may have been Zimbabwe. The wind patterns are such that sailors who ride the monsoon south as far as
Kilwa can catch the return monsoon to the Red Sea areas within the same year. However, if they go beyond Kilwa to the
Zambezi River, from which they might go inland to Zimbabwe, they cannot return until the following year.
Indian voyages on the Indian Ocean were part of a more general development, more or less contemporary with the
Mauryan Empire, in which sailors of various nationalities began to knit together the shores of the “Southern Ocean”, a
Chinese term referring to all the waters from the South China Sea to the eastern coast of Africa. During the period, there
is no doubt that the most intrepid sailors were the Malays, peoples who lived in what is now Malaysia, Indonesia, the
southeastern coast of Vietnam, and the Philippines.
Sometime before 300 B.C.E., Malay sailors began to ride the monsoons, the seasonal winds that blow off the continent of
Asia in the colder months and onto its shores in the warmer months. Chinese records indicate that by the 3 rd century
B.C.E., “Kunlun” sailors [the Chinese term for Malay seamen] were sailing north to the southern coasts of China. They
may also have been sailing east to India, through the straits now called Malacca and Sunda. If so, they may have been
the first to establish contact between India and Southeast Asia.
Malay sailors had reached the eastern coast of Africa at least by the 1st century B.C.E., if not earlier. Their presence in
East African waters is testified to by the peoples of Madagascar, who still speak a Malay-Polynesian language. Some
evidence also suggests that Malay sailors had settled in the Red Sea area. Indeed, it appears that they were the first to
develop a long-distance trade in a southern spice. In the last century B.C.E., if not earlier, Malay sailors were delivering
cinnamon from South China Sea ports to East Africa and the Red Sea.
By about 400 C.E., Malay sailors could be found 2/3rds of the way around the world, from Easter Island to East Africa.
They rode the monsoons without a compass, out of sight of land, and often at latitudes below the equator where the
northern pole star cannot be seen. They navigated by the wind and the stars, by cloud formations, the color of the water,
and swell and wave patterns on the ocean’s surface. They could discern the presence of an island some 30 miles from its
shore by noting the behavior of the birds, the animal and plant life in the water, and the swell and wave patterns. Given
their manner of sailing, their most likely route to Africa and the Red Sea would have been by way of the island clusters,
the Maldives, the Seychelles, etc.
Malay ships used balance lug sails, which were square in shape and mounted so that they could pivot. This made it
possible for sailors to tack against the wind, that is, to sail into the wind by going diagonally against it, first one way and
then the other. Due to the way the sails were mounted, they appeared triangular in shape, and thus may be the prototype
of the Arab triangular sails which were then used to tack against the wind.
Indian traders and shippers and Malay sailors were also responsible for opening up an all-sea route to China. The
traders’ desire for silk drew them out into dangerous waters in search of a more direct way to its sources. By the 2 nd
century C.E., Indian merchants could make the trip by sea, but the route was slow, and it took at lest 2 years to make a
round trip. Merchants leaving from India’s eastern coast rounded the shores of the Bay of Bengal and went on to the
coast of Vietnam and on to China with the monsoon winds.
It was also during this time period that the Indians discovered how to crystallize sugar. There is considerable
disagreement about where sugar was first domesticated. Some believe that the plant was native to New Guinea and
domesticated there, and others argue that it was domesticated by Southeast Asian peoples living in what is now southern
China. In any case, sugar cultivation spread to the Indian subcontinent. Sugar, however, did not become an important
item of trade until the Indians discovered how to turn sugarcane juice into granulated crystals that could be easily stored
and transported. This was a momentous development, and it may have been encouraged by Indian sailing, for sugar and
clarified butter [ghee] were among the dietary mainstays of Indian sailors.
The Indians also laid the foundation for modern mathematics during the time of the Gupta Empire. Western numerals,
which the Europeans called Arabic since they acquired them from the Arabs, actually came from India. The Arabs still call
them ‘Hindi’ numbers. The most significant feature of the Indian system was the invention of the zero as a number
concept. The oldest existing work that used the zero in the modern way is a mathematical work attached to a text on
astronomy, which is dated 499 C.E.
The Indian zero made the place value system of writing numbers superior to all others. Without it, the use of this system,
base ten or otherwise, was fraught with difficulties and did not seem any better than alternative systems. With the zero,
the Indians were able to perform calculations rapidly and accurately, to perform much more complicated calculations, and
to discern mathematical relationships more aptly. These numerals, and the mathematics the Indians developed with
them, are now universal – just one indication of the global significance of southernization.
As a result of these developments, India acquired a reputation as a place of marvels, a reputation that was maintained for
many centuries after the Gupta dynasty fell. As late as the 9th century, Amr ibn Bahr al Jahiz [c. 776-868], one of the most
influential writers of Arabic, had the following to say about India:
“As regards the Indians, they are among the leaders in astronomy, mathematics – in particular, they have Indian numerals
– and medicine; they alone possess the secrets of the latter, and use them to practice some remarkable forms of
treatment. They have the art of carving statues and painted figures. They possess the game of chess, which is the
noblest of games. They make swords, and excel in their use. They have splendid music. They possess a script capable
of expressing the sounds of all languages, as well as many numerals. They have a great deal of poetry, many long
treatises, and a deep understanding of philosophy and letters. They are intelligent and courageous. Their sound
judgment and sensible habits led them to invent pins, cork, toothpicks, and the dyeing of hair. They were the inventors of
astronomical reckoning which was subsequently adopted by the rest of the world. When Adam descended from Paradise,
it was to their land that he made his way.”
The Southernization of China
These Southern Asian developments began to have a significant impact on China after 350 C.E. The Han dynasty had
fallen in China in 221 C.E., and for more than 350 years thereafter, China was ruled by an ever-changing collection of
regional kingdoms. During these centuries in which Buddhism became increasingly important in China, Buddhist
monasteries spread throughout the disunited realm, and cultural exchange between India and China grew accordingly.
By 581, when the Chinese empire was reunited under the Sui dynasty, processes associated with southernization had
already had a major impact on China. The influence of southernization continued during the Tang dynasty [618-906] and
the Song dynasty [960-1279]. One might even go so far as to suggest that the process of southernization underlay the
revolutionary social, political, economic, and technological developments of the Tang and Song.
The Chinese reformed their mathematics, incorporating the advantages of the Indian system, even though they did not
adopt the Indian numerals at that time. They then went on to develop an advanced mathematics, which was flourishing
by the time of the Song dynasty. Cotton and indigo became well established, giving rise to the blue-black peasant garb
that is became common in China. Also in the Song period, the Chinese first developed cotton canvas, which they used to
make a more efficient sail for ocean-going ships.
Although sugar had long been grown in some parts of southern China, it did not become an important crop in this region
until the process of southernization was well under way. The process also introduced new varieties of rice. The most
important of these was what the Chinese called “Champa rice”, since it came to China from Champa, a Malay kingdom
located on what is now the southern coast of Vietnam. Champa rice was a drought-resistant, early ripening variety that
made it possible to extend cultivation up well-watered hillsides, thereby doubling the area of rice cultivation in China.
In southern China, the further development of rice production brought significant changes in the landscape. Before the
introduction of Champa rice, rice cultivation had been confined to lowlands, deltas, basins, and river valleys. Once
Champa rice was introduced and rice cultivation spread up the hillsides, the Chinese began systematic terracing and
made use of sophisticated techniques of water control on mountain slopes. Between the mid-8th and early 12th century,
the population of southern China tripled, and the total Chinese population doubled. According to the Song dynasty
household registration figures for the 1100’s, there were 100 million people in China by the 1 st decade of the 12th century.
Before the process of southernization, northern China had always been predominant, intellectually, socially, and
politically. The imperial center of gravity was clearly in the north, and the southern part of China was perceived as a
frontier area. However, southernization changed this situation dramatically. By 600, southern China was well on its way
to becoming the most prosperous and most commercial part of the empire. The most telling evidence for this is the
construction of the Grand Canal, which was completed around 610, during the Sui Dynasty. Even though the rulers of the
Sui dynasty had managed to put the pieces of the empire back together, and rule the whole of China again from a single
northern capital, they were dependent on the new southern crops. Thus it is no coincidence that this dynasty felt the need
to build a canal that could deliver southern rice to northern cities, and northern military regiments to the south.
The Tang dynasty, when Buddhist influence in China was especially strong, saw two exceedingly important technological
innovations – the invention of printing and gunpowder. These developments may also be linked to southernization.
Printing seems to have developed within the walls of Buddhist monasteries between 700 and 750, and southwestern
China was one of the earliest centers of the art. The invention of gunpowder in China by Taoist alchemists in the 9 th
century may also be related to the linkages between India and China created by Buddhists. In 644, an Indian monk
identified soils in China that contained saltpeter and demonstrated the purple flame that results from its ignition. As early
as 919 C.E., gunpowder was used as an igniter in a flamethrower, and the 10 th century also saw the use of flaming
arrows, rockets, and bombs thrown by catapults.
By the time of the Song dynasty, the Chinese also had perfected the ‘south-pointing needle,’ otherwise known as the
compass. Various prototypes of the compass had existed in China from the 3rd century B.C.E., but the new version
developed during the Song dynasty was particularly well suited for navigation. Soon Chinese mariners were using the
south-pointing needle on the oceans, publishing ‘needle charts’ for the benefit of the sea captains, and following ‘needle
routes’ on the Southern Ocean.
Once the Chinese had the compass, they, like Columbus, set out to find a direct route to the spice markets of Southeast
Asia. Unlike Columbus, they found them. They did not bump into an obstacle, now known as the Western Hemisphere,
on their way, since it was not located between China and the Spice Islands. If it had been so situated, the Chinese would
have found it some 500 years before Columbus.
Cities on China’s southern coast became centers of overseas commerce. Silk remained an important export, and by the
Tang dynasty it had been joined by porcelain, which was developed in China sometime before 400 C.E. China’s southern
ports were also exporting to Southeast Asia large quantities of ordinary consumer goods, including iron hardware, such as
needles, scissors, and cooking pots. Until the British Industrial Revolution of the 18 th century, no other place equaled the
iron production of Song China.
The Islamic Caliphates [Empires]
In the 7th century C.E., Arab cavalries, recently converted to the new religion of Islam, conquered eastern and southern
Mediterranean shores that had been Byzantine [and Christian], as well as the Persian empire of what is now Iraq and Iran.
In the 8th century they went on to conquer Spain and Turkish areas of Central Asia, as well as northwestern India. Once
established on the Indian frontier, they became acquainted with many of the elements of southernization.
The Arabs were responsible for the spread of many important crops, developed or improved in India, to the Middle East,
North Africa, and Islamic Spain. Among the most important were sugar, cotton, and citrus fruits. Although sugarcane and
cotton cultivation may have spread to Iraq and Ethiopia before the Arab conquests, only after the establishment of the
caliphates did these southern crops have a major impact throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
The Arabs were the first to import large numbers of enslaved Africans in order to produce sugar. Fields at the northern
end of the Persian Gulf were the most important sugar-producing areas within the caliphates, but before this land could be
used, it had to be desalinated. To accomplish this task, the Arabs imported East African slaves. The Arabs were
responsible for moving sugarcane cultivation and sugar manufacturing westward from southern Iraq into other relatively
arid lands. Growers had to adapt the plant to new conditions, and they had to develop more efficient irrigation
technologies. By 1000 or so, sugarcane had become an important crop in much of the Middle East and Spain. By this
time, cotton had also become a major crop in the Islamic empires, with cotton industries producing for both local and
distant markets.
Under Arab auspices, Indian mathematicians followed the same routes as the crops. By 825, mathematicians within the
Islamic empires drew upon the Indian tradition, as well as the Greek and Persian. On this foundation, Muslim scientists of
many nationalities made remarkable advances in both algebra and trigonometry.
The Arab conquests also led to an increase in long-distance commerce and the ‘discovery’ of new sources of bullion.
Soon after the Abbasid caliphate established its capital at Baghdad in the 700s, the caliph remarked, “This is the Tigris
River; there is no obstacle between us and China; everything on the sea can come to us.” By this time, Arab ships were
plying the maritime routes from the Persian Gulf to China, and they soon outnumbered all others using these routes. By
the 9th century they had acquired the compass [in China, most likely], and they may well have been the first to use it for
marine navigation, since the Chinese do not seem to have used it for this purpose until after the 10 th century.
Conclusion
By 1200, the process of southernization had created a prosperous south from China to the Islamic Mediterranean, based
on mathematics, the pioneering of new ocean routes and ‘discoveries’ of bullion and crops such as sugar, cotton and
spices.
In the 17th century, Francis Bacon singled out three technologies that changed the face and state of things throughout the
world. These were all Chinese inventions – the compass, printing and gunpowder. It is most likely that the Arabs
introduced the compass into Mediterranean waters. Block printing and gunpowder appeared first in Italy in the 1300s,
probably through the Mongols.
The rise of Europe’s northwest began with the appropriation of those elements of southernization that were not confined
by geography. In the wake of their southern European neighbors, they became partially southernized, but they could not
engage in all aspects of the process due to their distance from the tropical sources of cotton, sugar and spices. Full
southernization, and the wealth we now associate with northwestern Europe, came about only after their outright seizure
of tropical and subtropical territories as they rounded Africa and participated in the Southern Ocean trade.
In conclusion, many scholars now argue that Europe’s northwest did not rise until it was reaping the profits of
southernization. Therefore, the rise of the North Atlantic powers should not be oversimplified so that it appears to be an
isolated and solely European phenomenon, with roots that spread no farther afield than Greece. Rather, it should be
portrayed as one part of a hemisphere-wide process, in which a northwestern Europe ran to catch up with a more
developed south – a race not completed until the 18th century.
Southernization Questions
1. What is Ms. Shaffer’s thesis in the article?
2. What does the author mean by “Southernization”?
3. How is the “South” defined in her article?
4. List the ideas, the agricultural, mineral, and manufactured products and the inventions that she
associates with “Southernization” and the area(s) with which each is associated.
Ideas/Products/Inventions
Area(s)
5. What were the major contributions of Indians, Malays, Chinese, and Arabs to hemispheric
development?
6. According to Shaffer, what role did the Arabs and Mongols play in the spread of “Southernization”?
7. Why does she say that northwestern Europeans were most fully participating in the “Southernization”
process only after they acquired tropical colonies?
8. Do you agree with her thesis? Why or why not?
HIGH MIDDLE AGES PP SLIDE #26-33
EARLY CHRISTINITY DOCS FROM STRAYER
BLACK DEATH DBQ (UNIT 3 DOCS)
ISLAM/CHRISTIANITY 2002 DBQ