Required Essay: Patterns of Life
A) Where and how people made their living:
• Nomads and Bedouin made their living mainly
by herding livestock, such as sheep and goats,
OR as traders
• Farmers and villagers made their living either
by
1. Farming: wheat, barley, olives, vegetables
2. Raising livestock
Required Essay: Patterns of Life
A) Where and how people made their living:
• People in cities earned a living as traders,
craftsmen, or civil servants
Required Essay: Patterns of Life
B) Physical Description of farm/town/city
• Villages consisted of farm houses, a mosque, and a
few stores. Houses were made of sun-dried mud,
clay bricks, or timber; one or two rooms
• Towns/Cities were usually surrounded by high walls
• Narrow, winding streets, with stores on the first level
and living quarters on second floor
• Mosque and the suq (marketplace) were the centers
of every town or city
Required Essay: Patterns of Life
C) Potential Conflicts
Farmers/villagers resented outside authority: feared
1. Higher taxes
2. Social change
3. Sons being taken away by military
Nomads and bedouin were resented by farmers/villagers
1.
2.
3.
Their livestock often trampled crops and grasslands of farmers
Bedouin forced traders to pay them money
Rarely paid taxes to local authorities
Optional Essay #1: Reforms of
Ottoman Empire
Weaknesses of Ottoman Empire:
1. Government corruption
2. Struggles for succession
3. Lost monopoly of trade routes
4. Failed to industrialize
Optional Essay #1: Reforms of
Ottoman Empire
Young Turks:
1. Abandoned tolerance
of other cultures &
religions
2. Supported Turkish
nationalism: fought
with other peoples
3. Led Turkey into World
War I
Kemal Ataturk
1. Industrialization
2. More rights for
women: can vote and
hold public office
3. Western laws
4. Replaces Arabic script
with Latin alphabet
5. Creates a secular
government
Optional Essay # 1: Reforms of
Ottoman Empire
Policies of Young Turks are disastrous:
• Turkey loses WWI: Ottoman Empire dissolves
Reforms of Kemal Ataturk succeed in making Turkey a
modern nation
Optional Essay #2: Policies of Imperial
Powers
Egypt
• Egypt borrows lots of money from England and
France to pay for Muhammad Ali’s reforms
• England and France try to control Egyptian economy
• Egypt bankrupted by construction of Suez Canal
• Egyptians try to drive out British: British take control
in 1882
Optional Essay #2: Policies of Imperial
Powers
Arab Nationalism
• Arabs help England drive out the Turks from Arab
lands during WWI.
• After the war, England and France control much of
the Middle East through mandates
England: controls Transjordan, Iraq, Palestine
France: controls Syria, Lebanon
Optional Essay #2: Policies of Imperial
Powers
Palestine
• England issues Balfour Declaration, which supports
the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine
• Sets up the partition of Palestine into Israel and
Jordan, which causes resentment among Arabs
• Leads to modern conflict between Arabs and Jews
Optional Essay # 3: Long-Term Effects
of Invaders
Seljuk Turks
• Capture Baghdad and control Abbassid Empire
• Weaken the Byzantine Empire and frighten the
Christian rulers of Europe
• Byzantine Emperor asks Pope for help
• Prompts Western Europe to start the Crusades
Optional Essay # 3: Long-Term Effects
of Invaders
Crusaders
• Crusader Kingdoms do not last long in the Middle
East, BUT bring Europe into closer contact with the
Middle East
• Leads to cultural diffusion and renewal of trade with
India and China
Optional Essay # 3: Long-Term Effects
of Invaders
Mongols
• Cause tremendous destruction
• Destroy Baghdad: burn thousands of town and
villages; slaughter hundreds of thousands of people
• Mongol control of trade routes leads to more trade
between Europe & the Middle East with China and
India