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Study Questions
Chapter 13 Byzantium
What is the significance of the story of the monks smuggling the silkworm eggs to Byzantium?
What elements did Byzantium inherit from the Roman empire that helped it to survive?
Describe the Byzantine form of government.
What was the significance of Justinian's Body of Civil Law?
What were the consequences of the rise of the Islamic empire for Byzantium?
What was the theme system? How did it work? Why was it so successful? What led to its demise?
What economic advantages did the Byzantine empire possess?
Trace the development of the Byzantine church to the schism. What caused the schism?
What kinds of problems eventually led to the constriction and fall of the Byzantine empire?
What was the relationship between the Byzantines and the Slavic people, including the Russians?
Chapter 14: Islam
How did Muhammad's background influence his beliefs and the early development of Islam?
What were the fundamental tenets of Islam?
After Muhammad died, what were the challenges faced by dar al-Islam and how were they resolved within the first
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 factors contributed to the expansion of Islamic overland and maritime trade?
What was the status of women in the early centuries of Islam?
What people and institutions helped to promote and spread the values 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?
Chapter 15: Resurgence of Empire in East Asia
What is the significance of the Grand Canal?
Compare and contrast the Tang and the Song dynasties.
What policies helped to account for the early success of the Tang?
Explain how China's view of itself as the Middle Kingdom shaped foreign relations.
What factors led to the decline of the Song?
What agricultural developments helped to transform the Chinese economy?
What important technological, industrial, and commercial innovations occurred during this period?
Trace the development of Buddhism in China and how it interacted with Daoism and Confucianism.
What was the extent and nature of the influence of China on Korea, Vietnam, and Japan?
What is the significance of foot binding?
Chapter 16 India and Indian Basin
What factors led to the collapse of unified, imperial rule in India before and after the reign of Harsha?
When and how did Islam enter northern India?
How did Indian agriculture improve in the post classical era? What was the impact of these improvements on the
population of the subcontinent?
What were some of the significant trade goods produced in southern India?
What was the function of the Hindu temple within Chola society?
How did the seasonal monsoons affect the trade of the Indian Ocean?
What were some of the specialized goods and manufactures to emerge from India into the world markets at this time?
How is it that Buddhism declined after the Muslim invasions while Hinduism survived?
To what extent did Indian culture penetrate southeast Asia before the arrival of Muslim traders in the eighth century?
When and how did Islam reach southeast Asia? Where did Islam take root?
Chapter 17: Foundations of Christian Society in Western Europe
What is the significance of Clovis's conversion to Christianity?
What were the contributions of Charlemagne's reign, and why did it ultimately fail to last very long?
Who were the Vikings? What were the motivations behind their behavior? What were their accomplishments? How did
they disrupt European society?
What were the obligations of lords toward their retainers and the retainers toward their lords? Why was this arrangement
often unstable?
What role did the serfs play in early medieval Europe? What was life like on the manor?
What was the significance of the invention of the heavy plow for European economy?
Although trade constricted in the early middle ages, where and how was it still going on?
What was the role of the pope in the early middle ages? How did his role evolve over this period of time?
How did monasticism develop in early medieval Europe?
What was the significance of the monasteries to the European society and economy?
Chapter 18: Nomadic Empires and Eurasian Integration
What does the story of Guillaume Boucher represent? How does it fit in with Mongol strategies for Eurasian integration?
How did the geography of central Asia affect the development of the nomadic cultures? How did these people adapt to
their environment? What advantages did their adaptations give them?
Discuss the military organization, techniques, and strategies of these Asian nomads. How did these abilities make their
military so formidable?
How did the Mongols come to conquer China? What were the key elements in their success?
What does the book mean when it states that most of the Mongol leaders were better conquerors than administrators?
How was this evident in the various Mongol states? Were there exceptions to that rule?
Through what means did the Mongols integrate Eurasian cultures? List and explain at least five ways they did this.
Discuss the role of epidemics in the decline of the Mongol empires.
Who was Tamerlane, and what was his lasting legacy?
How did the Turks come to topple the Byzantine empire?
What role did religion(s) play in the nomadic empires? What generalizations can you make? What are the significant
differences?
Chapter 19: States and Societies of Sub Saharan Africa
What was the function of the griot in sub-Saharan African culture?
Why were bananas and camels so significant in early African history? What do they represent? How did they change the
way people lived?
How are kin-based societies structured? How are they organized politically?
Compare and contrast the Kingdom of Kongo with the Kingdom of Ghana.
Where and how did Islam spread to sub-Saharan Africa? How was it different from north African and southwest Asian
Islam? Why?
What was the role of the Mali empire in the Eurasian trade network? How did Mansa Musa influence its development?
In what ways was Kilwa a good example of a Swahili city-state?
What was the important of gender and age grades in sub-Saharan African societies?
Discuss the history of slavery in Africa. How did the developments in the slave trade from 1000 to 1500 set the stage for
the Atlantic slave trade to come?
How did Christianity and Islam supplement native African religions in this period?
Chapter 20: Western Europe during the High Middle Ages
What do the journeys of the Polos represent about European society during the high middle ages?
What was the Holy Roman Empire? What did each one of those 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?
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?
How did the development of chivalry affect the noble classes?
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?
What is scholasticism and what broader intellectual movements did it reflect? How did it contrast with popular religion?
Where and how did Europe expand during the High Middle Ages?