Download Rome For 500 years, from about 27 B.C.E. to 476 C.E., the city of

Rome
For 500 years, from about 27 B.C.E. to 476 C.E., the city of Rome was the
capital of the greatest empire the world had ever seen. Road markers for
thousands of miles showed the distance to Rome. But more than roads
connected the empire's 50 million people. They were also connected by
Roman law, Roman customs, and Roman military might. At its height,
around 117 C.E., the Roman Empire spanned the whole of the
Mediterranean world, from' northern Africa to the Scottish border, from
Spain to Syria. During this time, the Roman world was generally peaceful
and prosperous. There was one official language and one code of law.
Roman soldiers guarded the frontiers and kept order within the empire's
boundaries. Proud Romans believed that the empire would last forever.
This great empire straddled two continents, Europe and Asia. The Byzantine
Empire was the continuation of the Roman Empire in the east. Emperor
Constantine moved his capital from Rome to the ancient city of Byzantium.
The city was an old Greek trading colony on the eastern edge of Europe.
Constantine called his capital New Rome, but it soon became known as
Constantinople (Greek for "Constantine's City"). After Constantine's reign,
control of the huge empire was usually divided between two emperors: One
was based in Rome, and one in Constantinople.
After the fall of Rome, the eastern half of the empire continued for another
1,000 years. Today we call this eastern empire the Byzantine Empire, after
Byzantium, the original name of its capital city. East and west remained
connected for a time through a shared Christian faith. But the church in the
east developed in its own unique way. It became known as the Eastern
Orthodox Church. Over time, Byzantine emperors and church officials came
into conflict with the pope in Rome. The conflict eventually led to a
permanent split between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman
Catholic Church.
One of the lasting legacies of Rome was its republican form of government.
Certain Roman citizens were allowed to vote for government officials who
would then make the laws and help the Emperor manage the empire.
Future democratic governments would use this system as their model for
organizing their governments.
Americas
Mayan: A journey through the Americas begins with an exploration of the Mayan
civilization. This great civilization lasted 3,500 years, from about 2000 B.C.E. to 1500
C.E. At its peak, it included present-day southern Mexico and large portions of Central
America.
You can still see the ruins of some amazing stone cities built by the Maya. The ruins of
the ancient city of Tikal (shown on the opposite page) lie deep in the Guatemalan
jungle. Imagine standing at the heart of this city in the year 750 C.E. You are in a
large, open plaza surrounded by eight soaring temple-pyramids. They reach into the
sky like mountains. On the ground, as far as you can see, are structures on raised
platforms. The structures are painted in bright colors. Nearby, in the center of the city,
you see large palaces made of hand-cut limestone blocks. These palaces are the homes
of the ruler, priests, and nobles. The Mayans had a complex and intricate religious
belief system that was key to their daily lives. Farther out are the stone houses of the
merchants and artisans. At the very edge of the city, you glimpse thousands of small,
thatched-roof house-mounds where the peasants live.
The Aztecs: the Aztecs, a Mesoamerican people built a vast empire in central Mexico.
The Aztec Empire flourished from the 1200s C.E. to 1521 CE, when it was destroyed by
invaders from Spain. The religious beliefs of the Aztecs were central to their lives.
The Aztecs had a colorful legend about the beginnings of their empire. Originally a
wandering group of hunter-gatherers, the Aztecs had a belief that one day they would
receive a sign from the gods. They would see an eagle perched on a great cactus with
"his wings stretched toward the rays of the sun." In its beak, the eagle would hold a
long snake. When they saw this eagle, the Aztecs would know they had found the place
where they would build a great city.
In the mid 1200s C.E.; the Aztecs entered the high Valley of Mexico, a fertile basin in
central Mexico. Several times other groups in the valley pushed the Aztecs away from
their lands. In 1325, the Aztecs took refuge on an island in Lake Texcoco: here Aztec
priests saw the eagle, just as the gods had promised. And so the Aztecs set about
building a city they called Tenochtitlan, which means "the place of the fruit of the
prickly pear cactus."
The Incas: The Inca Empire was a great society with a complex religious and spiritual
complexity that developed in the Andes Mountains of South America. The Inca Empire
arose in the 1400s C.E. It lasted until 1532, when the Incas were conquered by Spanish
explorers. To communicate across this vast distance, the Incas used runners called
chasquis to relay messages from one place to another. Most of the natives to live in
Meso America died as a result of disease introduced by the European.
China
China was first unified under Emperor Shi Huangdi in the third century B.C.E. From the
beginning, emperors needed help to rule their large empire. Over time, Chinese
emperors tried several ways of finding qualified people to administer their government.
One method was to rely on an aristocracy of wealthy landowners. Emperors like Han
Wu Di, however, preferred to choose officials- for their merit, or worth. During the Han
dynasty, candidates for government jobs had to prove their knowledge and ability by
passing strict tests. As a result, a class of scholar-officials evolved. Under later
emperors, this system developed into a meritocracy, or rule by officials of proven merit.
Chinese leaders also encourage its citizens to accept the ideals of Confucius who
instructed people on proper rules for relationships between family members, friends,
and government, bringing an order to the Chinese systems.
In the 13th century C.E., a nomadic people called the Mongols build a great empire in
Asia. Toward the end of the century, the Mongols took over China. Under Mongol
emperors, government officials were foreigners. Under this government by foreigners,
some officials were Mongol friends and relatives of the emperor. Others were trusted
people from other lands
The Song period was a time of great prosperity. Changes in agriculture, especially a
boom in the production of rice, fed the growth of the economy. Trade and commerce
flourished. These developments had started during the Tang dynasty. Under the Song,
these would help make China one of the most advanced societies in the world. Along
with prosperity came urbanization, or the growth of cities. During this period, China's
huge cities dwarfed the cities of medieval Europe.
Over the centuries, Chinese scholars and scientists studied engineering, mathematics,
science, and medicine, among other subjects. Their studies led to impressive scientific
and technological progress that, was often far ahead of European advances. By the
Song dynasty, the Chinese were using a compass to help them navigate on long
voyages. People still use the same kind of device today. Like the compass, other
Chinese inventions and discoveries allowed people to do things they had never done
before. The Chinese also were advanced in the fields of: exploration and travel,
industry, military technology, everyday objects, and disease prevention.
At times, the Chinese welcomed foreign contacts. Great cultural exchange resulted as
new ideas and products flowed into and out of China. In the seventh century, for
example, a Chinese monk named Xuan Zang traveled to India. He brought back
thousands of Buddhist scriptures. The Chinese honored him for making Buddhism
widely known. Although it was foreign in origin, Buddhism became very popular in
China. Many Chinese, however, resented foreign influence. At times, such feelings led
rulers to try to limit the influence of foreigners.
The Age of Exploration / The Scientific Revolution / The Enlightenment
The Age of Exploration was a period of discovery lasted from about 1418 to 1620. During this time,
European explorers made many daring voyages that changed world history. A major reason for these
voyages was the desire to find sea routes to east Asia, which Europeans called the Indies. When
Christopher Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean, he was looking for such a route. Instead,
he landed in the Americas. Columbus thought he had reached the Indies. In time, Europeans would
realize that he had found what they called the "New World=' European nations soon rushed to claim
lands in the Americas for themselves.
Early explorers often suffered terrible hardships. In 1520, Ferdinand Magellan set out with three ships
to cross the Pacific Ocean from South America. He had guessed, correctly, that the Indies lay on the
other side of the Pacific. But Magellan had no idea how vast the ocean really was. He thought his crew
would be sailing for a few weeks at most. Instead, the crossing took three months. While the ships
were still at sea, the crew ran out of food. Explorers like Magellan transferred good from Europe to
Africa and then to the Americas. This transfer of goods is called “Triangle Trade”.
Between 1500 and 1700, modern science emerged as a new way of gaining knowledge about the
natural world. This time period is called the Scientific Revolution. Before this time, Europeans
relied on two main sources for their understanding of nature. One was the Bible. The other was the
work of classical thinkers, especially the philosopher Aristotle. During the Scientific Revolution,
scientists challenged traditional teachings about nature. They based their work on observations and
experimentation. Inventions like the telescope showed them a universe no one had imagined before.
Careful observation also revealed errors in accepted ideas about the physical world.
A good example is Aristotle's description of falling objects. Aristotle had said that heavier objects fall
to the ground faster than lighter ones. This idea seemed logical, but the Italian scientist Galileo
questioned it. According to his first biographer, one day Galileo performed a demonstration in the city
of Pisa, where he was teaching. He dropped two balls of different weights from the city's famous
Leaning Tower. His students expected the heavier ball to land first. Instead, the two balls landed at
the same time. Galileo's demonstration is an example of the scientific method. Another scientist, Isaac
Newton used 0 to form theories on gravity and motion.
The word Enlightenment refers to a change in outlook among many educated Europeans that began
during the 1600s. The new outlook put great trust in reason as the key to human progress. In the
1700s, this way of thinking became widespread in Europe. Now thinkers wanted to take a similar
approach to problems of human life. Forget the teachings of the past, they said. A new age of reason
is dawning. In this new age, governments and social institutions will be based on rational
understanding, not the "errors and superstitions" of earlier times.
Englishman John Locke influenced future governments with his writing on the role of citizens in the
rights to government themselves. Out of the Enlightenment came the ideas of natural rights,
separation of powers, and political equality. Many governments in the 18th and 19th century would
use these ideas as the basis for their new democratic governments.
All three of these eras changed the way people view the role of humans. People began to realize that
people could solve their own problems and answer the questions of the universe through observation,
experimentation and reason/logic.
Islam
The Arabian Peninsula is in southwest Asia, between the Red Sea
and the Persian Gulf. It is often called Arabia. Along with North
Africa, the eastern Mediterranean shore, and present-day Turkey,
Iraq, and Iran, it is part of the modern Middle East.
Traders during the 700s AD spread new technologies, food, and
customs as they travelled throughout Europe and Asia
There are vast deserts dotted by oases. Coastal plains line the
southern and western coasts. Mountain ranges divide these coastal
plains from the deserts. The hot, dry Arabian Peninsula is a
challenging place to live.
Muhammad taught the faith called Islam, one of the great religions
of the world. Muhammad's birthplace, Makkah (Mecca), was an
ancient place of worship. By the time of Muhammad's birth, Makkah
was a prosperous city that stood at the crossroads of great trade
routes. Many people came to worship at the Ka'ba. But instead of
honoring the one God of Abraham, the Ka'ba had become a shrine
to many traditional gods.
Muhammad was living in Makkah when he experienced his own call
to prophet hood. Like Abraham, he proclaimed belief in a single
God. At first the faith he taught, Islam, met with resistance in
Makkah. But Muhammad and his followers, called Muslims,
eventually triumphed. Makkah became Islam's most sacred city, and
the Ka'ba became a center of Islamic worship.
Muhammad), this book guides Muslims in the Five Pillars of Faith.
The Five Pillars are faith, prayer, charity, fasting, and making a
pilgrimage to Makkah.
Japan
Many cultural ideas traveled to Japan by way of the Korean Peninsula. Some
of these ideas had originally come from China and India. For example, Japan
learned about Confucianism from a Chinese scholar who came to Japan from
a Korean kingdom. In the mid 800s, Buddhist priests from Korea visited
Japan. In this way, Japan was introduced to Buddhism, a religion that had
begun in India 1,000 years earlier. In 593, a young man named Prince
Shotoku came to power in Japan. The prince admired Chinese and Korean
culture, and he encouraged contact with the mainland. In 607, he sent an
official representative to the Chinese court. Upper-class Japanese began
traveling to China, where they learned about Chinese literature, art,
philosophy, and government. Over the next 300 years, Japan eagerly
absorbed elements of culture, objects, ideas, and customs-from the Asian
mainland.
Minamoto Yoritomo came to power in Japan. In 1192, he took the title of
shogun, or commander-in-chief. Yoritomo did not take the place of the
emperor. Instead, he set up a military government with its own capital in
the city of Kamakura. While the imperial court remained in Heian-kyo,
emperors played a less and less important role in governing Japan. The
start of the Kamakura government marked the beginning of a new era in
Japanese history. Increasingly, professional warriors-samurai-became
Japan's ruling class. The era of the samurai lasted for 700 years, until the
emperor was restored to power in 1868. Samurai were famed for their
courage and skill.
One young samurai told of being shot in the left eye with an arrow. Plucking
out the arrow, he used it to shoot down the enemy marksman. Over time,
an elaborate culture and code of conduct grew up around the samurai. A
samurai was expected to be honest, brave, and intensely loyal to his lord. In
fact, the word samurai means "those who serve." The samurai code was
very strict. Samurai often killed themselves with their own swords rather
than "lose face" or personal honor. The samurai were more than fearless
fighters. They were educated in art, writing, and literature. Many were
devout Buddhists. Their religion helped them prepare for their duties and
face death bravely.
Medieval Europe
After the Roman Empire collapsed, life was dangerous and difficult ill Western Europe.
People worked hard simply to survive and to have enough to eat. They also needed to
protect themselves from conquest by invading barbarians and nearby kingdoms. The
These challenges gave rise to the economic and political system historians call
feudalism. In the feudal system, people pledged loyalty to a lord-a ruler or a powerful
landholder. In return, they received protection from the lord, whose job it was to
maintain order. Knights, or armed warriors, fought on behalf of their lords. Peasants
worked the land. At the bottom of the system were serfs, peasants who were not free
to leave the lord's land, they were responsible for farming the land for the lord.
During the Middle Ages, the church provided education for some, and it helped the
poor and sick. The church was a daily presence throughout a person's life, from birth to
death. In fact, religion was so much a part of daily life that people determined the
proper time to cook eggs by saying a certain number of prayers! People also looked to
the church to explain world events. Storms, disease, and famine were thought to be
punishments sent by God. People hoped prayer and religious devotion would keep
away such disasters. They were even more concerned about the fate of their souls
after death. The church taught that salvation, or the saving of a person's soul, would
come to those who followed the church's teachings.
At one point during this era the Church ordered a series of Crusades in Jerusalem, a
city holy to the Jews, Muslims and Christians. The holy city changed hands several
times but ultimately the Muslims retained control. As a result of these Crusades the
was s cultural diffusion between the Middle East and Europe. This exchange included
bringing new cloth materials and spices to Europe.
At the start of the Middle Ages, most people lived in the countryside, either on feudal
manors or in religious communities. But by the 12th century, towns were growing up
around castles and monasteries and along trade routes. These bustling towns became
centers of trade and industry. At this time a disastrous disease hit Europe, the Bubonic
Plague (Black Death). The disease was transmitted by traders from Asia and carried
aboard rats stowed away on their ships. These rats carried fleas that would bite the
infected fleas then pass that disease on to humans. The bubonic plague killed
approximately 25% of Europe’s population.
Reformation
The Reformation began in the early l500s and lasted into the l600s. Until
then, all Christians in western Europe were Catholics. But even before the
Reformation, the church's religious and moral authority was starting to
weaken. Problems within the church added to this spirit of questioning.
Many Catholics were dismayed by worldliness and corruption (immoral and
dishonest behavior) in the church. Bishops and clergy often seemed devoted
more to comfort and good living than to serving God. Sometimes they
used questionable practices to raise money for the church. Some popes
seemed more concerned with power and money than with spiritual matters.
These problems led a number of Catholics to cry out for reform. They
questioned the authority of church leaders and some of the church's
teachings. Some broke away from the church entirely. They became known
as Protestants because of their protests against the Catholic Church. The
establishment of Protestant churches divided Christians into many separate
groups.
As Protestantism spread, it branched out in a number of directions. By the
start of the 1600s, there were many different Christian churches in Europe.
Each Protestant sect, or group, had its own beliefs and practices. But all
Protestants had much in common; they shared a belief in the Bible,
individual conscience, and the importance of faith. They were also united in
their desire to reform Christianity. England became a Protestant kingdom
when its king named himself the head of the Church of England, also called
the Anglican Church
The growth of Protestantism helped to spur reform within the Catholic
Church as well. This Catholic reform movement is called the CounterReformation. Church leaders worked to correct abuses. They clarified and
defended Catholic teachings. They condemned what they saw as Protestant
errors. They also tried to win back areas of Europe that had been lost to the
church.
During the Spanish Inquisition, courts were set up to test the faith of
heretics, or non-believers. These courts often resorted to torture in order to
“purify” the souls of those believed to be heretics.
Renaissance
Renaissance is a French word that means "rebirth." The Renaissance got its
name from a rebirth in interest in classical art and learning that took place
from the 1300s through the 1500s C.E. (Classical refers to the cultures of
ancient Greek and Rome.) Typical Renaissance art showed people as they
really were, showed people on Earth (as opposed to heaven). Artists of this
time period also developed the use of perspective, or the ability to draw in
what appears to be three dimensions.
Beginning in Italy, a philosophy called humanism developed. Humanists
believed in the worth and potential of all individuals. They tried to balance
religious faith with belief in the power of the human mind. Humanists took a
fresh interest in human society and the natural world. This way of thinking
contributed to the burst of creativity during the Renaissance.
Florence is located on the Arno River, just north of the center of Italy. The
city is often called the "cradle of the Renaissance." Between 1300 and 1600,
it was home to some of the greatest artists and thinkers of the Renaissance.
Renaissance Florence was a beautiful city. One of its most notable buildings
was the duomo, or cathedral, of Santa Maria del Fiore. The domed cathedral
was the center of the city's religious life. Nearby was the Palazzo Vecchio
(Old Palace). This building was the headquarters of the city government.
The grand Palazzo Medici was the home of Florence's ruling family, the
Medicis. During Renaissance times, Florence was the banking center of
Europe. People from around Europe came to the Mercato Nuevo (New
Market) to trade their coins for florins, the gold coins of Florence. Another
busy spot was the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge). This beautiful bridge spanned
the Arno River and was lined with the shops of fine jewelers and goldsmiths.
Florence's wealth helped to make it a cultural leader during the Renaissance.
Renaissance ideals stated that people should be educated in many areas.
People who studied art or music, for example, were also interested in
science. To this day we still use the phrase "Renaissance person" to describe
someone who is skilled and knowledgeable in many fields. Leonardo da
Vinci. Leonardo trained as a painter, but he was also a scientist, engineer,
musician, and architect. William Shakespeare wrote many plays that are still
seen in theaters and in movies today.